Illusions: A Grace Murphy Novel

by Nicole Hamlett

  My eyes went wide with shock. “You’re joking.”

  “I am absolutely not. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

  I wanted more information. No, I needed more information. Drew was so panicked that it was probably best to just do what he asked, but well, when have I ever done what was advisable?

  “Stop. Tell me what is going on in your head. I can’t read minds, remember?”

  “That was Hecate. She’s the other person responsible for the scar over my kidney. She swore Apollo would have a taste of his own medicine, and picked me to deliver the dose. Evidently, it didn’t go well. Grace, Hecate’s powerful and she’s insane courtesy of Apollo, and that is why we have to leave.”

  “She seemed entirely reasonable to me. How in the world did she get here?”

  “One day she just – well, disappeared. Nobody knew where she went, but the relief of her being gone was so palpable that we didn’t question it, we just gratefully accepted it. Now the monoliths make sense.” He muttered. “She’s not reasonable. Please, just get packed.”

  I saluted him and started throwing random items I thought would be useful in my pack. For one, we weren’t going over the side of the balcony. I didn’t have quite the death wish he did right now. Secondly, there must be more information on the palace. We’d get out of here safely, one way or another.

  "We're going to need some different clothes. I'd pull a glamour, but I want to reserve any energy I have for a weapon, just in case." I kept my tone casual. Drew was already jumpier than a crack addict looking for a fix.

  He looked at me with surprise. "Just when I think that you can't say something to shock me, you do. When did you become so prudent?"

  I flipped my hair over my shoulder and waved him off. "I have my moments." That was easier than telling him that he’d lost his marbles and I had to step it up.

  A knock sounded at the door. Our eyes met across the room, and his were wide with panic. I stopped mid-shove and took a deep breath. Drew was the guy that fixed the problems, not the guy you had to babysit. But, I couldn’t ignore the evidence of his deterioration any longer. I wasn’t born a leader. I certainly don’t naturally fall into a leadership role. However, I can if I have absolutely no other alternative.

  “I’ll answer it.”

  He started to nod but instead shook his head. Then, he threw our bags under the bed and walked over the door. “No. I got this. Stay behind me, just in case.”

  If you were paying close attention, you could see the line of his shoulders creeping up and the trembling hands as he reached for the latch. He was trying his best to be brave, but I knew Drew was terrified of who he thought could be on the other side of the door.

  A new servant entered the room and curtseyed. She was cloaked and hooded, but a length of auburn hair peeked out from the shadows of her cowl. I tried to keep the disappointment from my face as I guided her toward the table. Despite my mistrust, I was secretly hoping that Nemah would show back up and get us the hell out of here.

  Drew shoved his head out the door and looked around, double checking. I suspect that he was expecting Hecate to pop out at any minute like some deranged jack in the box. "Where is the serving girl who was here earlier?" He asked the guard at our door, voicing my own thoughts. "We were hoping she'd be able to give us the best places to visit while we were in town."

  The guard grunted. "She's busy elsewhere in the palace. You'll have to make do with this servant for now. Just tell her what you need, and she'll do as you wish." With that, he shut the door, and we were back to square one.

  I watched as the girl stacked plates onto a serving tray. There wasn’t much left there to clear away aside from a few dirty dishes. "Hi there, um – I’m sorry I don’t know what to call you." I paused and waited for her to acknowledge me.

  Her shoulders tightened, but after a moment she finally stopped what she was doing and turned toward me. With her head bowed, I couldn't see her face. "Can you tell me your name?”

  She gestured to her mouth and shook her head. Damn. Sending us a mute maid was so unhelpful. Didn’t they know I was trying to come up with an escape plan here?

  Finally, she looked up and Drew let out a horrified gasp. The girl's mouth had been sewn shut.

  "Jesus Christ on a crutch! Who did that to you?" I wanted to reach up and touch her face. I clenched my hand into a fist instead and shoved it behind my back. The looks on our faces were probably enough to make her feel like a circus freak without me exacerbating the situation.

  Beyond the tattered strips of flesh that had once been lips, hard ridges of scarred tissue traveled across her face like rivers and valleys. This girl had been burned as well as mutilated. I couldn't wrap my mind around the kind of monster it took to instigate this level of torture, and it was a test of will to keep what little I’d eaten for dinner from fleeing my stomach.

  She shook her head and waved an arm at the door, the fear evident in her wide eyes. Drew apologized and moved out of her way.

  "Wait," I hissed. "Don't let her go. She might know a way out."

  I received an 'are you kidding me' look. "And how is she going to do that?"

  "Can't you read minds?" My own look was in the genre of 'duh!'

  He closed his eyes and tamped down the flush that was spreading up his neck. After a small shake of his head, he turned back to the servant. "Excuse me, Miss."

  I looked between them, baffled. Oh, my God. He had lost that ability too? The panic was getting harder to suppress. The girl turned back to him, her bearing tense. She wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, that much was obvious. Finally, she nodded and set the tray back down on the table.

  "Do you know a way for us to leave without being seen?" he continued. "We were supposed to meet a friend, but it doesn't look like she's coming back."

  She nodded again, this time reluctantly, and walked over to the bed.

  I was exhausted, and the bed beckoned my weary bones, but maybe if this girl knew of a way out, we could get out and get home. It was the energizer I needed to keep moving. If we didn't leave now, who knew when it would be possible.

  "You want us to sleep?" Drew asked, confused.

  She let out of a heavy sigh which sounded wrong and shook her head. Drew wasn't watching, but I could swear she rolled an undamaged eye at him. I got that; he was obtuse sometimes.

  "Is there a passage behind the bed?" I asked, stepping around the table and moving to where she was standing.

  She nodded and started tapping on the walls.

  I began feeling behind the bed frame, looking for a latch. "How do you know about this?"

  The girl stopped what she was doing and gave me a hard stare. Her hand shot out imperiously, and she scribbled something in the air. I blinked. "Drew get the tablet out. She'll be able to write whatever it is she's trying to tell us." I continued looking for a latch, but now I felt an uneasy sensation crawling up the back of my neck. I wondered if Drew had seen that hard look too. It wasn't the kind of thing you'd think to see on a victim.

  "Oh, right. Let me get that" He dug through the bag and I ignored that we weren't talking about the fact that he couldn't just skim her mind for the answers. We'd have to address that later. Our priority was an escape.

  He handed over the tablet and took a step back, giving her plenty of space. I don't think he realized that his body language was giving off signals that she was scaring the hell out of him.

  "I'm not feeling a—" Just then I felt a small click beneath my fingertips, and a panel swung away from the back of the headboard. "Never mind."

  I turned to see her impatiently thrust the tablet at Drew and then stand back, waiting for his reaction. His face clouded over with anger. I expected to see his father's power manifest and strike us all down. "You will come with us," he stated imperiously.

  She shook her head and gripped the toggles at the top of her robe, her knuckles whitening. I didn't know if it was because she was afraid of Drew's anger or if she
was just terrified in general.

  "What do you mean you can't come with us?" Drew asked with a frustrated growl.

  She pulled the neckline of her dress down exposing a heavily scarred breast, and I shot back around with a furious blush. The Atlanceans didn't have many taboos regarding nudity. I mean, look at all the statues of the naked gods and goddesses littering the world. Aphrodite's bare bosom wasn't just dreamed up. Those perfect breasts are a reality. However, having been raised with human standards, I still became a blushing virgin when met with a "Surprise I'm naked!"

  "Oh Grace, what have they done to her?" Drew heaved in a great breath, and I could hear the pain in his voice. I forced myself to turn around and look at what had given him that anguish.

  You could have knocked me over with a feather. A spider web of black metal spread from the woman’s sternum downward. It pulsed with each of her heartbeats. I know that inanimate objects don’t have feelings or intentions, but that contraption across the girl's chest felt menacing.

  "I’ve seen this before. If she leaves the palace grounds, the metal will constrict and crush her internal organs, and then slice her body apart."

  " That is the most horrible thing I've ever seen done to a person, and I've seen some gnarly shit in the last few years.” My fist clenched at my stomach. Whether it was to keep me from smacking someone or to keep my stomach from twisting, was anyone’s guess. “Who would do this to her? I need to know, so I know who to kill. "

  Drew growled, "The woman who so kindly gave you your new clothing. We need to leave, right now."

  "We still have a problem of not knowing where we’re going," I argued.

  "She wrote directions here. It looks like we're going to end up to the east of the palace and in a forest. If we continue northeast, we'll run into a village."

  I pulled Drew close to me and hissed in his ear, "That doesn't do much good if I can't open a Rift, Drew."

  "Yes, but we'll be able to wait for your mother in relative safety."

  Louder, I said, "And she's okay with the consequences of her staying? I don't like it. They're going to blame her for our disappearance." Guilt was overruling my desire to flee.

  She gestured to her body and gave me a scathing look. Okay, fair enough. I guess they'd already done their worst.

  Drew gathered his pack and shoved the remaining bread and portables into a pillow case. "We'll go, but I promise that we'll return. You’ll just need to lay low. Zeus will know how to remove that – thing. For now, I'll see you out the door and make sure that the guards know we're still here so you can hide. We may not be able to get back before tomorrow."

  She nodded, fixed her robe, and lowered the hood over her face, but not before I caught a smirk. No, she wouldn't be smirking, it was just likely the angle of her mouth. I moistened my lips, looked down, and tried to hide the doubt on my face before she could see. Had Drew seen the smirk? Was I suffering from hallucinations? Between the lack of decent sleep and the strange new food, anything was possible.

  Oblivious to the (imagined or not) smirk, Drew ushered her out of the room and let the guards know that we'd be taking a nap. He didn't have to use that cursed eyebrow waggle, but from the appreciative noises that the men made, it was unlikely that they'd disturb us. Still, it rankled a bit how easy it was for men to get to that back slapping, congratulatory place.

  "Are you finished?" I asked, impatient.

  He gave me an apologetic grimace, studied the tablet a moment more before packing it back up, and gave me an elegant bow. "After you my lady seductress."

  "Are you sure you want to do this now? We weren't in a hurry before dinner. Is what’s in here, worse than what could be out there? I don’t like how convenient is was that she showed up just when we were in the process of escaping."

  "Did you see that girl? Do you want something like that to happen to either of us? Besides, Nemah told us that we needed to escape. We have a way so it would be stupid for us to stay here. Quit looking this gift horse in the mouth, Grace. Smile and nod so we can get moving."

  "Speaking of which; this is all moving too fast. Don't you think that we should take a minute, do some reconnaissance and then work out a plan?"

  "I'd rather escape while I have my head attached to my shoulders thank you very much Miss Debbie Downer. It was Hecate, Nemah was talking about, Grace. If we don’t leave now, we’re going to end up like that servant, or worse."

  "Ass," I muttered. "I'll go, but I want my protests noted when this all turns into a giant trap. And also, you are explaining this in more detail when we get to relative safety because this feels sudden, and I don’t like sudden. You’re making me twitchy."

  "Protests are noted. Now move that healthy butt."

  I scowled, but I took a hesitant step into the blackness anyway.

  Please allow me to take a moment to tell you how squicked out I get at the dank, dark passages filled with spider webs. I don't have an issue with spiders per se, but the webs? They're nearly invisible, so walking face first into them is inevitable. Then, it’s like you’ve become some kind of Kung-Fu master with all the chopping, kicking, and flailing. After that, it takes about five minutes of you screaming and waving your hands around some more before you realize that some alien hasn't attacked your face. Finally, you never feel clean again. Never, because you know that some spider poop is still clinging to your pores despite the atomic scrubbing.

  "Flashlight?" I called, with little, okay a lot, of panic.

  A click sounded, and a narrow beam of light illuminated the passage in front of me. It was of little to no use. Unless I held the light, I wasn't going to be able to see very far ahead.

  "It looks like if we follow the right-handed passages, it will take us out of here," Drew said staring down at the tablet.

  "How long do you think we have before they sound an alarm?"

  "Hopefully a few hours. We'll be well into the forest by then with any luck."

  I trailed my hand over the gritty wall and tried not to think of what I was touching. I needed something to take my mind off what we just saw. Intrinsically, I knew that I had to keep moving because we couldn't help Aliana (who I still hoped was alive somewhere) if I were dead. And to be honest, I certainly didn't want to end up like that servant. I could still see her ruined body flashing through my brain like a bad slasher flick. Who could do that to someone? Instead of asking that, I said, "You know something's been bugging me lately, and I can't put my finger on why. Mind if I ask you?"

  I could feel him tense behind me. He didn't want to talk about what he saw of that servant either. And that was okay. I wasn't going to ask about it.

  "Please, ask away." His voice sounded tired in the dark, and I wanted to turn around and hold him. I was grateful I couldn't read minds. It had to be exhausting to not only handle all your own thoughts but also deal with everyone else's crap too.

  "Why how do they get the truffle fillings inside of the special Hershey’s Kisses? I mean, I know how they make the kisses, but how do they fill them so that they’re still so perfectly shaped?"

  "What?" I smiled at his surprised exclamation.

  "What do you mean what? I mean, it’s almost like they’re using magic. I have to know. Do you think if I went there, they’d tell me?"

  "You're asking me this now?" He gave me a little push, and I started off through the narrow corridor.

  "Why not now? When would be a better time?"

  "Maybe when we're not running for our lives?"

  "Hmm," I pouted. "Okay fair point, but remind me to ask you about it later. It's been driving me crazy lately."

  He snorted through his nose, and I couldn't tell if it was amusement or disbelief. Either way, he wasn't thinking about that woman’s pain anymore. "Turn left up ahead."

  "I can't see a damn thing. How far is up ahead?"

  "Keep your hand on the left wall. When it opens up, make the turn," Drew replied.

  "Your Logic. It burrrrns me!"

  "Shhh, you're going
to bring the palace down on us with your chattering."

  "Probably better than ending up a rotted corpse down here where nobody will ever find us," I muttered.

  We successfully made the turn, and then he said, "There's going to be a right in about ten feet. Take that and then it's straight-on to the city wall." He fell silent, and for once I didn't prod.

  Look at Grace be sensitive! Look at Grace go! Go Grace Go!

  I blinked at the blinding light hitting my eyes as we walked out of the tunnel. As promised, we were on the other side of the palace wall. "I thought we were in there longer. How can it still be daylight? Didn’t we just have dinner?"

  "I don’t know. Let me check my guidebook and see what it says."

  I fell right into that verbal trap. “There’s a guidebook? Why didn’t you share that with me before?”

  He thumped the back of my head and groaned. “No, Grace. There’s not a damn book.”

  "Okay.” I flushed, rubbing the back of my head. “I asked for that. Where to now?" I turned back to see Drew blinking owlishly. I couldn't help myself. I let him see my wide grin. "You're so cute sometimes."

  "Only sometimes?" He cocked his head and gave me one of his sardonic smiles.

  "Don't push your luck. I'm picturing the billionty-mile jog ahead of me, and you’re acting cagey. It’s making me testy."

  His head swiveled back and forth slowly, but he didn't mock me.

  "It looks like we can approach that copse of trees to the east and just keep going." Drew was bent over his tablet, studying a rough map on the screen.

  "Didn't we come from the North, though?"

  "Yeah, she drew little explosions everywhere except for to the Southeast. There is a windy path we need to take, but it shouldn't be booby trapped." He traced the path the girl had drawn with his finger.

  "If that way isn't booby trapped, what in the world are we going to have to face?"

  "Oh, thought of that, did you?"