Callisto finished her incantation and raised her right arm. She brought it down hard against her thigh and the chain started to move downward as the acolytes turned the wheel, slowly lowering Iole into the pit.
"No!" Pandy screamed. Never before had she known such panic. Not when the box was opened, not when the floor had disappeared from beneath her on Olympus, not standing before Zeus. Never.
Iole was now only a meter or so from the opening. She was wailing and squirming wildly on the hook. Her bumps, now three times their original size, began to sizzle and pop. Golden liquid sprayed out from each eruption and Pandy saw small, shiny things fall into the flames below. An instant later, beautiful blue-winged creatures the size of small coins flew up out of the pit and into the darkness above.
"THIS IS SO NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Pandy cried at the top of her voice, straining at the ropes with everything in her.
Suddenly, Pandy went deaf.
She saw everything going on around her but it was all in complete silence. She shook her head, trying to clear her ears. Then she felt a tingling sensation on the soles of her feet. It was more of a burning, actually, and she looked down to see if perhaps a spark had jumped from the pit. But her feet were fine. The fiery sensation spread up her legs, over her torso, and down her arms. The odd thing was, there was absolutely no pain. It was quite comfortable. Then the sensation crept up her neck and enveloped her head. She still saw Iole being lowered another quarter of a meter and Alcie thrashing in her chair. Looking up she saw Callisto smiling at her evil handiwork, mouthing words Pandy couldn't hear. Pandy became aware that her joints were seizing up and her limbs were growing heavy as the sensation of heat permeated her body. The veins above her eyes felt ready to burst.
Then the image of her father unexpectedly filled her head. In her mind's eye, she saw his rough, bearded face bathed in a blue and yellow light.
"We are connected to the eternal flame, Pandora," she heard him say. "Remember, fire is a family friend, part of you . . . part of who you are."
Then, as if by command, Pandy started staring, unwavering, at the opening of the pit and the white-hot glow coming up from underneath. She knew there were no words to utter, only the concentration of her mind to the task.
Silently, she willed the fire to die. No other thoughts existed; she focused only on lowering flames and cooling embers. Using only the force of her mind, she stamped out the furnace below Iole by every means possible. She envisioned throwing water on it, covering it with sand, piling mounds of dirt high into the pit.
Slowly, the fire in the pit began to go out. The flames grew smaller and smaller. Callisto didn't notice at first, her mind occupied with thoughts of how, once the thieves were gone, to best dispose of Ino and Nera. But without the intensity of the heat, she looked down into the pit.
Pandy had managed to quench the inferno, and was concentrating on the residual flames, now barely able to keep themselves going. Callisto screamed and signaled again. The acolytes lowered the chain faster. Iole was almost below the rim of the opening; only a few more meters and she'd be burned by the red-hot ashes. But Iole had stopped squirming and was staring at the diminishing fire below her.
Alcie couldn't see into the pit and had no real way of knowing what was happening. But when she looked at Pandy, she saw her friend sitting straight and still, every muscle in her body bulging as if she were lifting the temple off its foundation. Alcie strained forward to look and saw that Pandy's eyes were completely white. There were no pupils or iris rings . . . nothing but bright, glowing white.
Callisto yelled at the acolytes, who stepped away from the wheel and let lole's own weight plus the weight of the chain carry her fast into the pit.
"No!" Pandy roared as Iole disappeared beneath the rim and into the hole.
Pandy leapt up from her chair, looking at the ropes that, only an instant before, had held her fast. Where they touched her skin, the ropes had been burned away, as if Pandy herself had been made of fire. The heaviness and the fiery sensation were gone, and her hearing had returned. She jumped over the small retaining wall and raced up the stairs. Pandy stopped short of going over the rim herself and peered down into the pit.
Iole, very red but neither blistered nor burned, was staring up at her from where she lay upon a slightly warm mound of sacrificial ash, sniffling softly.
Pandy raised her head up toward Callisto. The high priestess stood gaping for a moment, then, without a word, turned and fled through a small door in back.
"Pandy, I can't get out!" said Iole.
"Oh! Oh, right!" said Pandy. She looked at the acolytes, who stood cowering by the wheel.
"Urn . . . raise the chain!" she commanded, and then added, "Please."
The two acolytes instantly obeyed and Iole was lifted out of the sacrificial pit. When she had cleared the rim, Pandy reached out for lole's hand and swung her over to the flat surface of the platform. After Pandora removed the hook from under lole's training girdle, the two girls clung to each other, crying in shock.
"Okay . . . hellol" said Alcie. "Somebody's still tied to a chair, you twisted little apricots!"
"Oh, Alcie!" said Pandy. She and Iole ran down the stairs and, after a few moments spent undoing some very hard knots, released Alcie from her chair.
Gathering their pouches, Pandy made certain that everything was still inside. With Alcie between them, all three started up the stairs, past the altar pit, and up to the second platform. Ino was still bound to the marble chair, her eyes wide and fearful as she looked at Pandy. As Iole removed Ino's gag, Pandy and Alcie made fast work of her ropes. Ino stood quickly and backed away from Pandy.
"Who are you? Are you god or mortal?"
"Puh-leeze," said Alcie, although there was the slightest tremor in her voice.
"I'm . . . um . . . mortal," said Pandy.
"Well, technically . . . ," Iole began.
"What you did . . . to the fire," said Ino, still staring.
"Yeah. I don't know about that," Pandy replied honestly. "Look, I don't mean to be rude . . . but. . . that woman . . . the high priestess . . . why did she try to kill us? What's going on?"
"Great Apollo . . . my child! Tereus!" Ino interrupted with a start. She dashed from the top platform and through the small door in the back wall.
"Wait!" cried Pandy.
But Ino had disappeared into the darkness.
"Come on," said Pandy, rushing after her with Iole right behind.
"Oh, just wonderful. . .," said Alcie, hoisting her pouch over her shoulder and following as best she could.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The High Priestess
They were once again in a dim, narrow corridor lit only by torches.
"Maybe we shouldn't go so fast," Iole said, walking through the muted light. "There might be someone waiting for us around a corner . . . or something."
"Good . . . not so fast. I love that idea," whispered Alcie, bumping into the wall to their right.
The girls slowed their pace. They passed a steep flight of stairs leading down to their right.
"Those must be the stairs we went by on our way in," said Alcie.
A few moments later, moving as silently as they could, they saw a soft light at the end of the corridor and heard faint voices.
"Callisto? Callisto, come out." Ino was rapping furiously on a door. "Oh, Nera, where were you?"
"You know where I was, Ino," said another woman. "I was at the market picking up Althea's medicine, although it was a little difficult because there was a white dog wreaking havoc . . . oh, never mind. What did she do, Ino?"
"Nera, if Apollo doesn't strike us all dead and burn this temple to the ground . . . ," said Ino, shock now hitting her with full force. "She tried to murder three little girls who wandered in during lunch! She opened the pit and was going to burn each of them alive. Alive, Nera! They're probably outside now telling everyone. Where's Tereus?"
"He's right here with Althea," said Nera. Pandy heard the giggles
of two little children.
"Nera, this one girl . . . you have no idea. She put out the sacred fire! She did it. At least, I think she did it. Callisto, please come out! We want to help! Nera . . . this girl. . . her eyes were glowing. And the fire simply died. Just like that. Nera, put the children in your room and come help me open this door."
Pandy, Alcie, and Iole had reached the end of the corridor. Before them were the living quarters of the high priestess. There was a large main room with three oil lamps suspended from a high ceiling. Off of this room were two corridors, including the one they were in, and several smaller rooms. Ino was leaning against a closed door at the end of the main room. Another woman, slightly shorter than Ino, with bright red hair and a round face, wearing simple cotton under-robes and holding a baby, was ushering little Tereus into a second room. Pandora had expected bare simplicity and perfect order befitting a chaste servant of Apollo, but there were children's toys scattered everywhere. Clothes were drying on a rope strung between the lamps across the middle of the windowless room. A standing iron floor sconce had been overturned and made into a makeshift toy chariot. One entire wall had been finger-painted in bright colors and there were countless jars of food on the drainage counter, with labels like "strained apricots," "mashed boar," and "feta and fig medley." Pandy flashed on her little brother for a distressing split second.
"Ares' teeth, this is a pigsty!" said Alcie.
"Ahh!" yelled Nera, quickly protecting the baby girl in her arms.
"No!" said Ino. "No, Nera, don't worry . . . this is them! I mean these are the girls. And this is the one who . . ."
Ino crossed the room and took Pandy by the shoulders. She stared into Pandy's face for a moment, her eyes focusing on the Harpy bite on Pandy's head. As Ino embraced her, Pandy saw small streaks of gray in her dark hair, but her blue eyes were bright and her delicate features gave no true indication of her age. Ino released Pandy and looked at Iole.
"And you," she said. "Gods, what you've gone through. Are you all right? What would you like? Let me get you some juice . . . or wine? Should they have wine, Nera?"
"I should," said Alcie.
"Stop it," said Pandy, pinching her.
"I'd like some water," said Iole.
"Come, sit down," said Ino.
She led them to a large table, then poured out three goblets of water. In her own room, Nera placed her baby on a high pallet with wooden railings. Then she gave Tereus some colored chalk and a sheet of papyrus and told him to draw something funny. She returned and sat at the table as Ino excused herself and rapped on the door at the far end of the room.
"Callisto! Please open the door! We only want to help. I'm sure we can find a simple solution," she said.
"There's only one solution," came a muffled answer on the other side. "Both of you . . . get out of my temple!"
"Same old song," said Nera under her breath.
"Callisto, we can't do that and you know it," said Ino.
"Then leave me alone!" said Callisto.
Ino sighed, then came and sat at the table next to Nera. The two women were silent, suddenly at a loss for words. Pandy, Alcie, and Iole looked at one another, also not knowing what to say. There were so many questions; no one knew where to start.
Finally, Alcie broke the tension.
"I didn't know acolytes wore the same robes as the high priestess," she said, pointing to Ino's clothes. Pandy and Iole looked at Alcie like she had just asked Poseidon if he liked fish.
"They don't," said Nera.
"But. . . aren't you acolytes?" said Pandy.
"No, my dear," said Ino. She pointed to herself, Nera, and the door at the end of the room. "We're the high priestess."
"Ino! You can't!" said Nera.
"What are we going to do, Nera, keep them here so they can't tell anyone? Murder them the way she would have done? I'm sick of this. After what they've been through, they deserve an explanation. Enough is enough."
Ino stood and, moving to a shelf above the drainage counter, took down a small clay jar.
"But I think we should get a little explanation too, yes?" she continued, applying a soothing balm to Pandy's bite. "I don't know how you put out the fire, but we can get to that later. First of all. . . who are you?"
"I am Pandora Atheneus Andromaeche Helena, of the House of Prometheus of Athens, and this is Alcie and Iole," she answered, the balm feeling wonderfully cool against her skin.
"Actually, it Alcestis Artemi—," Alcie began.
"Athens! Why are you here in Delphi?" said Nera.
"I never get to finish a sentence," said Alcie quietly.
Pandy told Ino and Nera the story of her quest, trying to be brief and still give all the important details.
"And this is the net and this is the box," she said finally, withdrawing them from her leather pouch and placing them on the table.
"Brave girls, each of you," said Ino after a long pause. "And your father is the famous Prometheus. Well, that explains the fire."
"How, exactly, does that explain the fire?" said Alcie. "I'm so not getting this."
"It's all connected, my dear," said Ino. "Pandora, do you know how your father stole fire from Zeus?"
"Yes . . . he carried it," she replied.
"In what?" asked Nera.
"In his hands," Pandy said.
"In his hands, Pandora!" said Ino.
"I thought he meant a box in his hands," Pandy said.
"Nope," said Iole. "Oh, I get it! I think I get it!"
"I don't," said Alcie.
"It's the legend," said Ino. "He lifted a burning branch from the eternal flame and carried it down off Olympus in his bare hands! He had a Titan's power over the flames. And you have it as well. Is this the first time you've experienced a . . . a . . . closeness with fire?"
"Well, no," Pandy answered. "I can kinda do one other thing."
And she told them all about the trick.
"I knew it!" said Alcie. "I knew there was something fishy about that fire you started in the rain."
"I'm not surprised at all," said Iole.
"You mean you knew?" Alcie asked.
"I deduced. But I'm smart," she added.
"Wow . . . totally neat," was all Pandy could think of to say.
Ino and Nera smiled at Pandy's innocence.
"Yes. Very neat. And I've a feeling it will get neater," said Ino.
"Um . . . how can there be three high priestesses? Doesn't that go against the rules?" asked Alcie.
Ino and Nera looked at each other.
"Go ahead, Ino. You might as well," said Nera.
"A few weeks ago, terrible things began happening in the city and the outlying areas," Ino began. "Actually, Pandora, now that you've explained what you've done, it all makes a bit more sense. People were fighting in the streets for no reason, even quarreling over the price of figs, for Olympus' sake. Two men killed each other right on the temple steps. People became depressed and irritable, spouses were unfaithful, gossip, envy, and hate were everywhere."
"People started coming to the temple in droves," Nera continued. "The oracle was going constantly. You saw the long line waiting to get in? Well, that is merely a fraction of what we deal with day after day after day. But we're a public service; we have to be there for the populace. Callisto has been the high priestess, we just say THP, of the temple for many, many years; it's a position that's been in her family for generations. But people began leaving the temple unsatisfied—"
"Frightened, actually," Ino broke in.
"Right," Nera agreed. "Many were questioning her words, not really believing they were receiving messages from Apollo. Also, her attitude had changed. She'd become vicious in her prophecies. Especially toward..." Nera broke off, looking into the room where her baby was sleeping soundly and Tereus was eating his colored chalk.
". . . children," Ino picked up. "The Council of City Elders received so many complaints from mothers who'd been told to harm or even kill their children as sac
rifices to Apollo that they had to take action."
"Why doesn't she like children?" asked Pandy.
"No one knew that she didn't, at first," said Ino.
"We only knew," said Nera, "that she was exhausted and her prophecies were faulty. She told one man he would live only to the age of sixty-five, and he was already seventy-one. The council couldn't simply remove her, for fear of angering Apollo . . ."
"Besides, it's a civil service job . . . can't fire, must retire" said Ino.
"But," Nera went on, "no acolytes were ready to assume her position. Also, the city couldn't afford her pension and a new THP. Besides, she's not equipped for anything else: what's a chaste and barren woman with very few skills going to do?"
"Barren?" said Iole.
"Yes," Nera continued. "The high priestess must not only be chaste and avoid the company of men, but it's always helpful, though not entirely necessary, that she be unable to conceive a child as well. Callisto fit the bill perfectly."
"The council just wanted to take a little pressure off her," said Ino. "So we were brought in as part-time THPs. I was working at the oracle on Mount Ossa, which was destroyed when Ossa erupted."
Nera cut in. "And I was oracling in Thebes. Oh, the pillaging and looting! I'm lucky little Althea and I got out alive."
"Didn't you have to be chaste?" asked Pandy.
"Ah . . . yes. That," said Nera. "Well, you see, I'd left the prophecy business about two years ago. I met a man . . . my darling Thersander. He used to service the temple well at Thebes and we got to talking . . . oh, he was the nicest guy. I realized I wanted a little more out of life than soothsaying offered, even with the pension and benefits. So I retired and married. And then I had Althea seven months ago. Thersander was called to war about two months after that. I received word a little later that. . . um . . . he'd been killed."
Nera looked away. She tried to smile, but it was very hard for her to continue.
"When the position opened up," she said after a bit, "I prayed to Apollo, we talked, and he agreed that these were desperate times. So one, two, three . . . and he restored me."
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