Then it all stopped.
She heard the water ebb back into the lake. She could no longer feel the moonlight above. All her senses went blank, as if someone had pulled a shroud over her mind. Only the pulse of a vein against her fingers broke through.
Selene opened her eyes. Theo stared back at her.
Her brother gave a small gasp of surprise. Hippo barked happily, then started sniffing Theo as if he were a newly discovered treat.
Memories flooded back… the feel of his hand in hers by the riverside, the sound of his laughter as he crawled across his office floor in a safari hat, the look in his eyes as he took her in his arms beneath the waterfall.
Theo raised a shaky hand to Selene’s cheek. “Goddesses don’t cry,” he murmured hoarsely. “No, don’t look away.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but one look at Theo’s awestruck face and she found that for once, she couldn’t lie.
“I’m not hallucinating this time, am I?” He looked down at the bloody crust on his chest where the knife had been, watching it scab over before his eyes. “How did you—”
“Apollo and I healed the wound,” she admitted. Despite her dulled senses, her strength remained. Calmly, she tugged at the handcuffs around his wrists until the steel snapped beneath her grip.
“Wow.” He struggled onto his elbows, looking down at the twisted metal. “I finally catch a break, huh? Just what you need when you get stabbed by your ex-girlfriend’s insane fiancé—an Olympian god to bring you back to life.” He laughed weakly, then groaned and clutched at his chest.
“Whoa there, hero. You’re going to need to take it slow for a little while.” She helped him ease back onto the ground.
He reached for her hand. “Selene… I…”
Paul’s strangled gasp interrupted him. “Artemis. Artemis. Something’s wrong.”
And in that instant, Selene felt a wave of weakness wash over her. She flexed her hands, knowing with a terrifying certainty that all the power she’d possessed just a moment before had fled. Still on her knees, she swayed woozily. It took all her effort just to turn her head toward her twin. A streak of white ran along a curl of his hair. Paul held out his shaking hands toward her. “You didn’t say it would weaken me.”
Selene clapped her hands to her head, trying to banish the rush of dizziness. The cave suddenly grew darker as her radiance leaked away. Theo, still shaky himself, caught her as she slumped forward. Hippo whimpered piteously, staring at her mistress.
Paul rose to his feet, bracing his hands on his knees like an old man, and stumbled backward toward the cave entrance. “We were connected,” he said with a moan. “When your power drained, so did some of mine. You’ve got… you’ve got a white streak in your hair.”
“So do you. I’m so sorry, Sunbeam,” Selene managed. “I didn’t know. I thought—”
Orion’s wheezing laughter interrupted her. “Thank you, my Huntress,” he said. “You finally avenged my murder.” He looked to Paul. “Bringing the dead back to life has made you weak, Gilded God,” he spat. He turned to the others. “Men follow musicians like dumb sheep, and their worship has kept Apollo strong. We must kill him now, before he recovers.”
The Smith stepped forward, his hammer raised. “You think we’ll let you harm our brother?” he rumbled.
“Oh yes. In fact, I think you’ll do it for me.”
Dash laughed. “You’ve been playing with mortals too long, Hunter, if you think you can get us to do your bidding.”
“This is no joke, Hermes,” Orion seethed. “Even you are not as powerful as you once were. No one is. I can change that.”
The Smith glowered at him suspiciously. “How?”
“You stole one Corn King from death. Give me another. Give me Apollo. Once he’s crowned and blessed, as Theo was, he’ll be a sacrifice more powerful than even a Makarites—a sacrifice so great it would do more than bring Artemis and me back to strength. It would make you all truly Athanatoi once more.”
“He lies,” said the Smith.
“Tell them, Artemis!” Orion cried. “She had the power of a goddess again before she threw it all away. Sacrifice Apollo to the ritual and you, Hermes, will fly through the air on winged sandals. Hephaestus, your fading will cease, volcanoes will erupt at your command! Dionysus—you can bring men to madness or lust with a flick of your finger.”
Dennis merely snorted. “Sounds like an average Saturday night in my apartment.”
But Dash looked intrigued. “My sandals will work?”
Dennis lifted his thyrsus and pointed it at his brother. “Look at that. You’re considering it. Damn, Dad was right. Give the gods hope of return and things get all kinds of fucked up.”
“What do you say, Apollo?” Orion demanded. “Theo sacrificed his life for Artemis. Will you?”
Paul could only look from Dash to the Smith to Dennis, his expression panicked.
“Don’t answer that, Sunbeam.” With Theo’s help, Selene struggled to her feet. “No one is sacrificing anything for me. Not anymore.”
She turned to her brothers, unsurprised by what she read in their faces. Dash and Dennis eyed Paul curiously, as if mulling over the possibility of his demise. Even the Smith, usually one of the least bloodthirsty of the Olympians, looked at her twin with something like hunger. If they chose to listen to Orion, she’d be unable to stop them. By relinquishing her omnipotence and weakening Paul, she’d put him in great danger. Now it was up to her to save him by convincing the others to spare his life. She was used to urging people at the point of an arrow. I’m no good at this, she thought. I’m no stitcher of songs, no weaver of words. That’s Theo’s gift, not mine. As if he heard her, Theo laced his fingers through hers. His touch was a rope thrown right into her desperate hands. Through it flowed love and confidence, and most of all, hope. She gripped his hand a little tighter, then let it go and stood upright on her own. As the shock from losing her powers faded, her dizziness dissipated, and some of her strength returned. She took a deep breath and turned to her siblings.
“There will be no more killings. The cult is finished. And we must swear tonight that there will never be another,” she began.
“Don’t listen to her!” Orion interrupted. “Apollo’s at his weakest right now—you must do it now if you have any hope of killing him before he recovers.” Before he could say more, Theo retrieved the roll of duct tape from Nate’s body and slapped a gag across Orion’s mouth. Selene nodded her thanks, then continued.
“I see how you look at my brother even now, wondering if maybe it’d be worth it. One dead god and an eternity of power. But tonight’s sacrifice would not be the last. Every year, the ritual must be repeated. More innocents dead. Not a god, you’re thinking—you would only kill thanatoi after tonight. But each time we condone the murder of a guiltless mortal, we take one step further from our own humanity, one step closer to a version of ourselves better left in the mists of memory. We were heartless, cruel, fickle creatures, bereft of empathy, of true human emotions. Only jealousy, rage, lust, despair were left to us. I had forgotten until Orion brought me back to godhood. I could control the tides, that’s true, but I couldn’t control my own choices, my own memories, my own heart. Is that what you would return to? Long ago, Father put a stop to the sacrifices in the Eleusinian Mysteries when he decided we should cease to grant immortality to mankind. Tonight we must do so again, even though we deny godhood to ourselves as well. But if our millennia on earth have taught us anything, it’s that the world changes, and we must change with it. You may yearn for what is lost. I prefer to see all that we have gained. I say this because… because I have never felt weaker than I do at this moment. But here, with all of you around me”—she looked at each of her brothers in turn and then at Theo, who stood just within reach, solid and strong and vitally alive—“I have never felt stronger either.”
Shame creased the Smith’s face. “She’s right. What Orion offers comes at too great a price. We must learn to accept our new
lives. None of us are perfect anymore. I’ve had a little longer than the rest of you to get used to that idea. We’ll be all right.”
Paul heaved a sigh of relief as Dash patted him on the back. “You didn’t really think I’d kill you for a pair of flying shoes, did you?” Selene thought Dash’s grin a little forced, but at least Paul seemed out of immediate danger.
Dennis just rolled his eyes. “So everything’s settled, then? Apollo, looks like you’ll live another day—even if you are looking a little worse for wear.”
Paul bristled and ran a hand self-consciously through the streak in his hair. “It was… a shock, that’s all.” He stood up a little straighter and met Selene’s gaze. “If losing some of my powers is the price I must pay for getting my sister back, I do so willingly. I’m no thanatos yet, just a little… dimmed. It was bound to happen eventually.” Fine words, but he couldn’t hide the grief that pulled at his mouth.
Selene walked to her twin and leaned her forehead against his. They were exactly the same height. Very lightly, she kissed his tanned cheek, then stepped back to look him in the eye. “Do not despair. Whether gods or not, our lives still have purpose,” she said quietly. She took his hand in hers and faced the others. “The mortals need us, even if they don’t know it. And, most of all, we need each other. The Smith made me a bow and arrows to wield. The Messenger carried him word that I needed it. He Who Unties unraveled the truth of the Mystery. And you, Bright One, God of Healing, Son of Leto, Twin of Delos, brought the man I… brought Theo… back to life.”
Hippo barked in protest. “She doesn’t want you to leave her out,” Theo said with a laugh.
Paul chuckled, and his mirth warmed Selene like a sunbeam on a winter’s day. “True. Your dog found me wandering through the park and led me to the cave. I felt the pull when you invoked me, but turns out my directional sense isn’t quite as specific as it used to be.”
“That’s that, then,” Dennis said, yawning. “Sorry, Orion. Guess your plan didn’t work. Seems we’re not quite as desperate as you thought. Maybe try again in another hundred years or so.”
“Now can we kill him?” Dash asked, spinning his pistols like a gunslinger.
“He doesn’t look very dangerous,” Theo interjected. “Shouldn’t we just turn him over to the police?”
Selene looked at him incredulously. “You would spare the man who ordered your death? Who killed Helen?”
“He’s unarmed. Helpless. I don’t believe in vengeance killing.”
“What do you say about that, Orion?” asked the Smith, tearing the tape from the Hunter’s mouth. “This man would show you mercy, even now.”
But Orion just spat at the ground before Theo’s feet. “Don’t do me any favors, Makarites. I’m one god you don’t understand.” With a cry of pain and fury, he twisted free of the wall, the arrows’ fletching tearing great wounds in his wrists. He stumbled forward, drenched in blood, and dove toward the cave’s mouth. Moving with surprising speed, Dennis swung his thyrsus at Orion’s head, just as the Smith launched his hammer through the air. With a hollow thud, the heavy wooden staff connected with his skull, sending Orion sprawling on the ground, while the hammer struck him in the chest with an audible crack of breaking ribs. Orion fell with one arm flung behind him and the other trapped beneath his body. He lifted his head, his eyes unfocused, and let out a low moan. Dennis lowered his thyrsus with a smug smile.
Orion’s face remained slack, but his left arm whipped out suddenly, reaching for his fallen sword. “Watch out!” Theo cried. He grabbed Selene’s bow off the ground while she yanked an arrow from Bill Webb’s fallen body. Just as the Hunter rose to his feet, Theo tossed her the weapon, his green eyes bright with urgency. Whatever hesitation he’d shown before had vanished. He might not believe in killing for revenge, but he would do anything to protect the people he loved.
Once before, Selene had killed Orion in a wild rage, only to regret it for the rest of her life. This time, as she nocked the divine arrow to her bowstring, her heart was stone within her breast. There would be no coming back for the Hunter, not with his father Poseidon out of reach. The thought gave her only comfort. She sent a golden shaft straight through his heart.
He blinked once, twice, and the sword slid from his fingers to clatter upon the stone. He swayed on his feet and looked up at her—his immortal love, his eternal Huntress. His face softened. His hate dissolved. Only anguish remained.
He sank to the ground, his dark eyes still glued on Selene, even as they clouded over. She knelt by his side and took his hand in hers. The gleaming gold and silver arrows jutted from his flesh in a parody of divine radiance. For a last few breaths, his mouth moved with a dry clacking sound, unable to form words of entreaty or accusation. Selene fought the grief that nipped at the edges of her composure as she watched an old dream die.
“I know,” she said softly. “You killed for love. So did I.” With a last, choking breath, he was gone. I forgive you, she admitted. And I forgive myself. Gently, she touched his eyelids, closing forever the gaze that had once captured her heart.
Chapter 48
THANATOS
Theo sat with his back against a tree for the next two hours, watching five mostly immortal Olympian gods cover up a crime scene. First Hermes had dashed off into the woods. Minutes later, he returned, his body blurring with speed before he came to an easy halt, casually brushing a few leaves from his impeccable linen suit and holding a shovel no doubt illegally procured from a park ranger’s storage shed. Dionysus gave him a sardonic golf clap upon his return. Theo was finding it surprisingly easy to think of his old roommate as the Wine Giver. It made more sense than many of Dennis’s other exploits.
Between the shovel and Hippolyta’s strong claws, it didn’t take them long to dig a ditch deep in the woods. They laid Everett’s body—Orion’s body—carefully inside. Hephaestus the Smith did something uncanny with a match and a jar of black goo that made the corpse burn nearly smokelessly. At Selene’s direction—and with a little help from Dionysus, God of Wild Vines—they made the entire area look untouched and natural once again. Hermes and Selene, with their experience on the police force, inspected the cave and wiped any prints that would indicate someone other than the professors and Everett had been there. They removed the gold and silver arrows and Orion’s bronze sword, but left the professors’ knives. Before they burned the corpse, they pressed Orion’s fingers against the knives’ handles. Theo would explain that the professors had taken him to the cave, but he’d managed to escape before the ritual began. The cops would blame Everett Halloran, the mysteriously missing classicist, for killing his colleagues as part of their cult. That much is true, anyway, Theo thought. Everett’s the one who really killed them, with his flattery and his promises. They were decent men once. Or at least, they weren’t evil. Soon, I’ll mourn them all. But right now, I’m just glad it’s over.
Theo felt a little lame for not helping with all the burning and digging, but he had just died and been brought back to life. And they were gods, after all.
Finally, as the Olympians placed the final shrubs and branches on Orion’s grave, the sky grew light. Now Selene sat beside him, a scant two feet away, her head thrown back against the trunk of a neighboring tree, her eyes ringed in dark circles. New lines creased her forehead. She wouldn’t look at Theo.
“It’s almost dawn,” Theo said quietly. “The park crew will be here soon.”
She nodded wearily.
“Artemis?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?” he asked a little giddily. “Isn’t that your name?” It wasn’t every day that Olympians stepped out of myth to stand beside him. It would mean reworking all his lectures on the “real” meaning of myths, but he’d deal with the philosophical ramifications later. For now, he might as well just enjoy it.
“That’s the name of a goddess,” Selene murmured. “I haven’t been a goddess in a long time. Right now, I barely feel human.” She raised a hand
to the new streak of white in her black hair.
“You feel exhausted, and overwhelmed, and like you can barely stand?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that’s exactly what being human feels like most of the time,” he said with a laugh.
“I hate it.”
“You’d rather have let Orion turn you back into a goddess?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
She finally met his eyes. “No. You knew, didn’t you, that I hadn’t really gone back to him?”
“I knew you weren’t the type of woman to forgive someone who’d killed so many innocent people. And I’d begun to suspect, although I still couldn’t believe it, that you weren’t really an ordinary woman at all.”
“What gave me away?” A hint of a smile brushed her lips.
“Hmmm. The talking to mice? Breaking steel handcuffs? Bringing me back from the dead? Something like that.”
“I don’t think I’ll be performing many supernatural feats again anytime soon. That was my last hurrah for a while. Maybe forever.”
He looked again at the white in her hair, the new creases around her mouth. “It weakened you to bring me back, didn’t it? Without the sacrifice…”
“You died. I think we’re even.”
He laughed at her rueful smirk. If she can smile, even when her entire future is in doubt, then I may have finally met my match.
“In the cave…” he began. She looked away from him, but he pressed on. “You said you wanted me to kiss you.”
The Immortals Page 40
