by DL Kopp
Then I resumed threading his innards together, pulling the sac off of the intestines. They slipped between my fingers, and I had to be very gentle to connect the colon. “Does this hurt?” I asked Byron, and he shook his head.
“No. It does tickle a little.”
I sewed it together, careful to make sure there were no leaks. “What do you think you’ll do when you’re free?”
“I want to be with you,” Byron said earnestly, sitting up a little to watch as I worked. “Wherever you go, I’m going to go with you.”
“I’m staying with my parents,” I said. I leaned far enough to watch the blood vessels I was working on that my nose nearly brushed the meat of his insides. “The idea in finishing you before Father gets back was to keep you from being subject to his plans. You’ll have to leave for at least awhile.”
“I just wish I knew what I was being made for.”
I glanced up at him. “I’m sorry, Byron.”
Working in silence for well over an hour, I carefully assembled the internal portion of his reproductive organs against the front half of his pelvis, still laying on the table without connection to the rest of his body. Then I reached a point where I could settle the second hemisphere in place. I watched carefully to make sure it all fit in properly, and then smushed it right on. It made a little bit of a squirting noise as I did.
“I’m done!” Byron said, and I smiled at him.
“Not quite. I still have to sew you up.” I pulled out the surgical thread and needle and began to work. I was a good seamstress, so it wouldn’t take long. “And you’ll have to continue on your medication regimen until we find someone to initiate the powering sequence. Once we do, though, these stitches all over your body should heal and the thread should come out naturally. You’ll be a real boy.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Your reproductive organs and a lot of the vessels in there should finish connecting once you’re powered, too,” I said. “It looks like, based on the diagrams, you’ll definitely be able to perform without it—as long as I connected it all right.”
“I’m sure you did,” Byron said.
When I finished sewing him up, I stepped back, taking my gloves off carefully to avoid getting his blood on my skin. I tossed them in a trash can. “I think that’s it. How do you feel?”
Byron sat up again, turning on the table to let his legs dangle off the side. Everything stayed together the way it was supposed to. “I feel great!” he said. “All these new sensations!”
I grabbed a damp cloth and mopped at his hip where blood had oozed out of his new stitches. After working so long close to his new equipment, I had completely forgotten it was supposed to bother me.
“It’ll get even better once you’re powered,” I said. I frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe I should go find someone for you tonight. A prostitute or something.”
He caught my hands, hopping off the table. Byron looked deep into my eyes with his own, one of which I had attached myself. “Calliope,” he said. “You helped make me. I can’t imagine anyone but you finishing the job.”
Byron bent to kiss me, and I tried to pull back, but he held my head in place. After a moment, I relaxed, and he pressed his hips against mine. There was definitely something new there.
“Byron,” I gasped.
“I’m your responsibility,” he murmured against my lips.
Well, he did have a point.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Afterward, I felt like falling asleep. I'd been working all night, and all the concentration had been tiring enough without adding activating Byron to it. Not to say that it wasn't the best task of the night...or one of the best of my life, even. Byron was tender and enthusiastic, and I'd responded in kind.
But I was about ready to pass out, and he was so wired he couldn't keep still.
“How do you do it?” he asked. “It's just...so much.”
I laughed. I couldn't help it; he looked so happy, and crazy at the same time. “There's a bit of an adjustment,” I said. “You're not fully powered yet. Once you are, you'll probably feel a lot more normal.”
“I hope so!” he said, laughing a little as well. “I don't think I could keep up with this is if I was like it all the time!”
“Try some Red Bulls and get back to me,” I said.
He kissed me, and even though my body was tired, heat flooded me once more. “I want to be with you,” he murmured.
I thought of what he was concealing under the pants I'd found for him, and wondered just how everything fit under there. Then I shook my head. “No, you need to go. You need to hide.”
“But what if something breaks?”
I bit my lip. I hadn't thought about that. “I'm sure you'll be fine. Do you think you could stitch yourself if something broke?”
He nodded. After all, he was the one who'd helped me put the motor together. I had no reason to question his ability to fix things, but it made me worry. Which I supposed was the point; he wanted an excuse not to leave.
I crossed the lab and went for the supplies I'd grouped together. I grabbed the needle and thread that was left after all the work we'd done – surprisingly, there was still quite a bit, probably because my dad had overstocked – and handed it to him. He caressed my hands like they were the most delicate things that had ever graced the face of the planet.
“Ask me to stay,” he whispered. “Please.”
“I can't,” I said. “We don't know what Father wants you for. I'd rather not find out; I can't think about losing you.”
“Don't you want me?” he asked. “Don't you love me?”
“Of course I do,” I said. “But my destiny isn't with you.”
“It could be.”
I shook my head. “Don't make this any harder than it has to be.”
“How will I know when I'm supposed to come back?”
“You'll know,” I said. I put my hand over his chest. “We're connected.”
He pat my hand. “I don't want to lose you.”
I didn't want to lose him either.
I'd almost lost Octavius and Rich earlier through their own machismo. This particular situation probably wasn't one I could talk my way out of, simply because I didn't know everything about it. I didn't know who this Father was, and I didn't know what he wanted with Byron.
It hurt.
My heart pounded, and my breath grew shallow. I put both hands on either side of my head and made myself small on the floor. I started rocking; it was comforting, in its own way.
Byron came up to me and put a palm on my back. “Calliope,” he whispered. His voice was like a breeze flying through the still air.
“Go!” I yelled. “Go now!”
“Please--”
I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tears roll down. It felt like my heart was tearing out of my chest. I couldn't bear it, so I shut the world outside. If there was no world, it could hurt me, couldn't keep crushing my heart like it had a bullseye on it. It felt like my heart's blood was coating every inch of my interior.
In a moment, I opened my eyes and lowered my hands. The room was quiet, and I knew he was gone.
I couldn't help it. I ran out of the room and out of the house, crying as I did so. I ran out into the apple orchard and saw Byron's hulking form lumbering away. I held out a hand and resisted the urge to cry out.
But I should have.
There was the flapping of wings, and Byron was snatched from the ground. His arms and legs flailed as he went up into the sky.
I screamed and ran forward. As soon as I reached the spot where Byron was, I looked up.
The sky was empty.
Chapter Fifty
“Octavius! No!” I screamed.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I spun, half-expecting to see him behind me. But it wasn’t Octavius. Or Byron. Or Rich. Or even my dad.
It was… an old guy.
Well, not old, really. Only probably about as old as my dad. He had salt-and-pepper hair and a grizzl
ed face with goggles perched atop his head and a lab coat. “You’re Calliope,” he said, and it was distracting enough that, momentarily, I forgot entirely about my other problem.
“What? Yeah… I guess so,” I said. “Who are you?”
He smiled a gentle, paternal smile. He reached out and touched my hair, cupped my cheek in his hand. “I knew you could do it,” he said. “My creation. He is complete.”
“Your creation…?” Realization dawned, and I took a step back. “No. You’re Father, aren’t you?”
When he only kept smiling, I got a horrible feeling of dread.
So I ran.
Well, tried to, anyway. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, grabbing me by the arm. Father’s grip was painfully tight, and I cried out.
“Let go of me!”
“The Queen-to-be,” he murmured, jerking on my arm hard enough that I thought it might rip from my socket. “What can we do about that?”
I managed to tear free, then bolted across the orchard.
For a minute, it looked like he wouldn’t chase me. I felt a surge of hope.
Then he yelled, “Get her!” Seconds later, I felt claws bite into my shoulders, and then I was airborne.
I struggled, twisting around to look up at what had grabbed me. It definitely wasn’t Octavius. It was a half-woman, half-bird monster with wide, flapping wings the color of a hawk’s.
The trees receded underneath me and the wind whipped around my body, frigid and damp. I kicked and writhed, trying to get out of the monster’s grip, but she held me tight with her talons wrapped all the way around my shoulders.
She swooped and redirected, wheeling toward the ocean.
I stopped struggling. I didn’t want to get dropped.
“Where are you taking me?” I shouted, and my voice disappeared into the wind.
Unsurprisingly, she didn’t answer. With every flap of her massive wings, I felt myself slipping little by little from her grasp. I tried to grab a hold of her legs, but the skin was spiny and sharp, so all I could do was helplessly begin to slip.
Out of the fog in the ocean, a large, dark form began to develop. An island?
“What in the world…?” I muttered.
Then the talons released, and I plummeted to the earth.
Chapter Fifty-One
I hit something soft and green, bouncing several feet into the air before landing again on my face.
“Oof!”
My ribs hurt, and my head ached, but I was alive.
As soon as I was certain I was done moving, I lifted my head to stare around at my new surroundings. I was ringed by massive trees, ancient and dripping green with moss and leaves. There was almost no sun, casting everything in gray half-light, and it smelled like rotten leaves.
I squinted up at the sky to see the dark silhouette of the half-bird that had caught me wheeling around, flapping hard, and disappearing into the clouds.
Groaning, I sat up and took inventory of my wounds. It really wasn’t all that bad. The distance from the bird to the ground must have been closer than I thought.
But where was I?
I stood and peered through the trees, trying to make out paths, or any other sign of human life. Or civilization. I couldn’t help but think of Father and wonder if I really did want to come upon civilization, though.
On the other hand, sitting still wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I picked a direction and started to walk. I was immediately immersed in thick green foliage, having to step carefully around muddy places and pick my way through bushes.
After a time, I came across a path of flattened soil. Frequently trafficked. Surely it would lead me somewhere.
On impulse, I changed directions, heading down the path opposite to the way I had been walking before. Maybe if I was unpredictable, I’d find my way out before someone else found me.
It didn’t take long for me to feel very thoroughly lost, and more than a little bit scared. I wished so badly to have Octavius, or Byron, or even Rich. Maybe all of them. I just wanted to be held and comforted and told it was all okay by a reassuring, manly presence.
The path abruptly ended in a building. More of a tower, really. It was huge and tall, not unlike Byron, and at the top – suspended between two spires – was a crackling ring of molten blue energy.
A portal.
How I knew that, I wasn’t sure, but I did and it was weird.
“Where the hell am I?” I whispered to no one in particular.
I was so scared.
Chapter Fifty-Two
“Go inside.”
I whirled around. Standing behind me was Father...or whatever his name was. I didn't think this was the time to ask.
“Why should I?” I dared to say. “What would make me want to go in?”
“Because it's your destiny,” he replied. “And Byron's waiting inside for you.”
I felt my soul grow cold. “What are you doing to him?”
“Me?” he asked, putting a hand to his chest. “Nothing. Yet.”
“You jerk!” I shrieked.
He waggled a finger at me. “Now, now. That's no way to behave.”
“I'm not going in the portal, and you can't make me,” I said firmly. Somehow, I knew I was right.
Father did, too. “Maybe not by simple force, but there are other ways. Ways I'd rather avoid, and ways you'd probably rather avoid, too.”
“Talk sense,” I demanded.
“No need to,” he said. He snapped his fingers.
Two of the half-bird, half-women creatures appeared in the sky above the water. Between them, Octavius dangled, unconscious...or worse. He looked as pale as a corpse, and I couldn't tell if that was the moonlight or his own skin.
“Octavius,” I whispered. I raised shaking hands to my mouth to keep from screaming.
“Yes,” Father said distractedly. “Your siren. If you do not go in the portal, we'll kill him. And Byron will be in dire straits as well, let's put it that way.”
I set my jaw grimly, and I knew, in that instant, I would go. But I walked up to Father and stared him straight in the face.
“You promise that you won't harm them if I go in?”
“Not at all,” Father said. “I promise they won't die. That's the most I can do.”
“Your word.”
He held out a hand. “Let's shake on it.”
I look at his extended appendage suspiciously. “Why?”
“That's what civilized persons do, to my knowledge,” he said. “When an accord is reached.”
“You're blackmailing me into walking in a glowing ring of light,” I hissed. “That's no accord.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. You'll regret it if you don't.”
“I'll take my chances.”
He held up his hands and stepped away. “No more wasting time. Go in, or the siren dies first.”
I looked up at Octavius's prone form – he was beautiful even in his wasted agony – and felt my heart tear. I didn't think I could take any more of this.
With a gulp, I walked in.
Chapter Fifty-Three
To my shock, I was in my apple orchard.
It wasn't the apple orchard as I normally knew it, all dark and suspicious even with Octavius present. It was the glowing, beautiful one from my dreams. The one where I was surrounded by beauty and safety and the men I loved.
It had never been as beautiful as this.
The moon, which was only a sliver in the real world, was full and round here, spilling her silver light on the foliage. The pedals that were gone from the real world were in full flower here, and I was enveloped by beautiful white light.
Despite everything, I couldn't help but feel happy. This was my home, my love. I was always loved here. Nothing was harsh, or ill done. It was all perfect.
I saw commotion at the end of the orchard. I floated down, and I wasn't sure if my feet touched the ground.
A group stood at the end of the orchard. They turned their heads to m
e, and I noticed they were unicorns in their half-human, half-horse form. I didn't spy Rich, but they all looked a lot like him: golden and beautiful. Oddly enough, there were only men in the group, and their muscles were gleaming in the moonlight.
I missed Octavius, but I was so blissful I couldn't care.
Byron lay on a stone slab behind them. I peeked, then giggled. I wasn't alone here! Of course! And the unicorns had been nice enough to tie him down for me so he wouldn't escape and be scared. They were so considerate.
His face was contorted, so I stepped up and caressed his cheek. “Don't be scared.”
“Calliope!” he said. “We have to get out of here, now!”
I laid my finger across his lips. “It's okay. I know what I'm doing.”
It was true. I knew what they meant now about being Queen. This was my kingdom, and I was going to set it free.
And Byron was going to be my king. Forever.
Chapter Fifty-Four
“No, Calliope! Don’t do it!”
I turned to see Octavius limping toward me, a dark patch in my golden garden. But even he was radiant here: glowing skin, glowing eyes, his hair and snug black clothing effervescent.
He was bruised, battered. It almost detracted from the beauty of the orchard, but not quite.
I ran to him, and he half-collapsed in my arms. “Oh, Octavius,” I sighed, gently lowering him to the lush grass. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, but pain contorted his face. “They hurt me bad, Calliope. And now they aim to hurt me even worse.” Octavius reached up and cradled my face between his hands. “If you do this ritual the way Doctor Muzhchyna wants, you’re going to be permanently bound to Byron. And Byron is the doctor’s creature! You will give total control of the Radiant Lands of Myth and Faerie to Doctor Muzhchyna and be imprisoned with Byron forever—not to mention you’ll get pregnant.”
