by T. G. Ayer
Max got to his feet. “If you have even the slightest bit of self-preservation then you will listen.”
“And if you have even the slightest bit of concern for the safety and well-being of the ambassador and his wife, then you will listen.” Allegra hadn’t realized she’d spoken the words until they were already out of her mouth.
Max gave her an odd look, but he didn’t appear to want to stop her.
Allegra walked toward Celestra. “I’m sorry to be so hard on you, and I know you’re scared, but it’s not just about you or me any longer. The whole city is in terrible danger.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Celestra shook her head, her voice rising until it cracked. “I wish I could do something, but I don’t want to end up dead.” She began to cry, soft whimpers that touched Allegra’s heart and brought a light sheen of moisture to her own eyes.
Allegra took a shaky breath and glanced over at Max. He gave her a barely perceptible nod. She took another step toward Celestra, stopping in front of the girl. “You are going to end up dead.”
Chapter 14
Allegra’s harsh words stopped the soft sobs, and Celestra’s head rose as she glanced at Allegra, shock widening her eyes.
Allegra continued, “Whatever it is you are trying to do, obeying every command because they are threatening you with death . . . it doesn’t matter because there are going to kill you.” Allegra half reached out to the terrified woman, but she stopped midway, retrieving her hands and holding them tightly at her waist.
Celestra was silent, and when Allegra glanced curiously at her, she found the woman was staring at Allegra’s hands, a look of pure grief on her face. Slowly her gaze shifted away from Allegra’s hands and settled on her face.
“What did you see?” she asked so softly Allegra would have thought she’d imagined it had she not seen Celestra’s mouth move.
Allegra put an arm around the woman and drew her to the sofa. She had to force herself not to flinch when her fingers touched the bare skin on Celestra’s arms. Thankfully she wasn’t hit with a second vision.
Then she stiffened.
No. Not thankfully. No more visions likely meant Celestra was dead for sure, no matter what they did to avoid the circumstances that could have led to the death Allegra had seen in her vision.
The thought weighed heavily on Allegra’s heart, but she walked Celestra to the sofa and sat her down, taking a seat beside her.
“Tell me.”
“I don’t—”
“Please tell me.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you. But you have to tell us whatever you can about these people. We have to do whatever it takes to stop them.”
Celestra sniffed and nodded, taking a tissue from the box that seemed to magically appear in front of her. She gave Max a grateful glance, and he smiled and put the box on the coffee table.
All done, she met Allegra’s eyes. “I need to know.”
Allegra inhaled deeply then let the breath out. “I saw you in your room. You were on the bed.”
Celestra stiffened, staring hard at Allegra’s face. “My room?” She seemed to be asking Allegra more than what her words were.
Allegra nodded. “I’m not sure. The place was pretty run-down. But I saw your dress hanging on a hanger on a rack beside the bed.”
“My dress?”
“The long white one. With the patterns . . .” Allegra waved at her ankles indicating the hem pattern on the white dress.
Celestra nodded.
“Is that where you live?”
Another nod. “You say they . . . it happened there?”
“Yes. In my vision, I saw your body after . . .”
“So, you didn’t see it happen?”
Allegra shook her head. It was a good thing too. “You’d taken a pretty bad beating.”
“They beat me to death?” Her voice shook again.
Allegra nodded unsure of whether it made any sense to tell the woman all the terrible details.
She cleared her throat. “Can you think of what would have sent them over the edge? So far, you’ve toed the line with them, so what could have made them decide . . .” Allegra fell silent unsure of how to continue the questioning.
Thankfully, Max took over.
Allegra was grateful he’d let her take the lead on the questioning, and she was glad she no longer needed to. She’d much rather be watching or listening than to be the one actually doing the interrogation.
“I can get you to safety. You just need to be willing to do it.”
“How can you possibly do that?” She shook her head. “What if they find out what we’re doing?”
“I can get you recalled to the States, have your job role changed in such a way that it will not be under your own control, so they won’t think you are a risk factor for them.”
She was still shaking her head when Max finished speaking. “They have spies everywhere. They know every move I make.” She gave a soft laugh. “If I hadn’t first verified the building was empty I would bet they’d know I was here with you now. I made sure I had a good cover with the visa paperwork but still . . .”
“Tell me how it started.”
She shook her head and began to fidget. “Does it really matter?”
“Yes. It’ll help us figure out their pattern, maybe how they operate.”
She sighed deeply. “After you and I . . . after we were over, I took the job with Senator Calvinius but eventually this position came up. It meant I could get away from everything and it sounded like . . . like an adventure.” She glanced up at Max. “It was good for me. But they got to me early.”
“How?”
“The best way to a girl’s loyalty is through her heart.” Her laugh was cold and self-deprecating. “I was lonely, and they played me. A man approached me, young and handsome and charming. I fell for it. Eventually, he introduced me around, and I became part of a larger circle. I thought I had friends . . . a place I could call home.”
“They use the long game. It says they are patient. In no rush for whatever it is they have planned.”
She nodded. “Then one day they took me to the mountains to see a man. I never saw his face . . . they blindfolded me all the way there and back.”
“Right. BAO is nearby,” murmured Max.
“BAO?” asked Allegra.
“Base of Operations,” said Max and Celestra in unison.
Allegra nodded. “What did the man want?”
Celestra stiffened. “My complete loyalty or my lover would be killed.”
“And did they keep their word? Or was he involved.”
Celestra snorted. “Of course, they didn’t. He was in on it. The bastard.” She sighed. “I was played big time. I saw that not too long after I met the kingpin. Olivio changed . . . he became harder. At first, I thought he was under pressure with his life on the line. But eventually, I realized it was his true nature. Everything else about him had been an act to win me over.”
Allegra sat forward. “You can’t blame yourself.”
“I can. I was blind and stupid.”
“No. They are the ones to blame. You did nothing wrong. People play with each other’s emotions all the time. Even in loving relationships. It’s part of human nature. And when people like Olivio and his gang decide to prey on an innocent there is no knowing about it. They are predators, and it’s not your job to know they are out to get you. Yes, you need to be aware and careful. Yes, you shouldn’t be reckless. But with people like these . . . well, they are too good at what they do. Had it been me or even Max? It would have likely gone down the same way. Seduction, bribery, abduction . . . they would do whatever it takes to get what they wanted.”
Max nodded and patted Celestra on the back in an almost awkward show of comfort. Allegra wondered if he’d have done better had she not been in the room.
He leaned toward Celestra. “I’m going to speak to a few people back home . . . see if I can pull a few strings and get you moved back.” He paused as if
considering something else. “I want you to just quietly disappear, so you don’t tip anyone off.”
She nodded. “We’ll have to tell the ambassador though. Surely he’d need to know?”
Allegra and Max both shook their heads. “No,” said Max. “If he is involved he could tip them off. We need it to be a clean removal.”
“How will she get out of the country?” asked Allegra. “Won’t they have people at the airports? If they are so well connected then they’d know as soon as she booked a flight out.”
Max nodded. “I think I can get her a different passport. We are FAPA after all.”
Both women smiled at that and Allegra sat back feeling slightly relieved. Celestra too appeared calmer now, but Allegra was worried. Celestra had spent such a long time under their control. Who knew how affected she had become by their doctrines. There was a slight chance she could have been converted to their thinking. There was also a slight chance Celestra was playing them right that very moment.
Celestra sighed and got to her feet. “I’d best be going. I’d rather not make anyone suspicious.”
Max nodded, and he and Allegra got to their feet too. Max walked to the door, but Celestra stopped and turned to Allegra. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m very grateful to you. You didn’t have to help me.”
Allegra wanted to tell her it wasn’t about Celestra at all. That nothing she or Max were doing was for Celestra or McIvor. It was all a means to saving an entire city from total destruction.
Instead, she smiled as Celestra gave her an awkward nod. Then the woman turned and was gone, refusing for Max to walk her out or help her get home. Perhaps she didn’t want Max to see how she lived, or perhaps there was something more sinister going on.
There was nothing to do but wait.
Chapter 15
Exhausted, Allegra finally made it to bed, falling heavily onto the mattress with a groan that resonated somewhere between pleasure and agony.
She fell asleep almost instantly.
The air is warm, and has a dry and dusty taste to it. Sounds drift toward Allegra’s ears, but they echo and waver on the air as if drifting in from a distance.
When Allegra opens her eyes the bright sun almost blinds her, sending a sharp stab deep into her brain. She flinches, squeezes her eyes shut and waits as the throbbing fades.
Moments later she opens them again slowly.
This time she cracks her lids open and stares at the room around her through shuttered lashes. She sees dusty white stone walls and a rough ceiling which appears hand-plastered, the finish rough and uneven in places.
Slowly her eyes adjust to the glare, and she tries to sit up, knowing instantly that something is wrong.
Though her mind urges her body to move, it seems her limbs are functioning on a level beyond her own control.
Overlaid upon her thoughts are those of another person, someone who is more in control than Allegra is.
Her mind feels split in two, a separate awareness who is sure and calm, and much stronger in mind than Allegra. The other consciousness overshadows Allegra’s mind, a mind now terrified because she knows with absolute certainty she is no longer in control.
Oddly she finds herself aware too that this feels more like a vision. Her first assumption had been that this was one of her many visions, a terrible prophetic window into a future she’d rather not see.
It is easier to believe this strange episode is a dream. And with everything she’s been through in recent weeks, her most basic instinct demanded she follows the path before her to see where it leads.
Perhaps there is a path she must follow before she understands the true meaning of this vision.
She pays closer attention now as she finds herself rolling over, feeling the thin mattress shift beneath her as she gets to her feet. A woman enters the small sleeping quarters. She wears a simple white shift dress, her feet shod in slim leather sandals giving Allegra the impression she is house-staff. She carries an earthenware jar and a deep bowl which she sets on a table beside a small square window. She pulls apart the drapes before hurrying out without a word.
No glass covers this window, and the only protection from the elements outside are two faded lengths of fabric masquerading as drapes. They hang over a long piece of string nailed into the stone above what is essentially an uneven hole in the wall.
Allegra—or rather the woman about whom she is dreaming—performs her morning ablutions and begins to untie her hair. She runs her fingers through her waist-length red tresses and begins to comb out the knotted locks.
There are no mirrors in the room, and from her current surroundings, Allegra is already assuming she is not dreaming of the modern world. This is a time from the past, a window into the life of someone long dead, rather than of something still to happen.
The thought scares Allegra as she begins to wonder if she is in any danger from this strange dream state.
Still, when nothing happens over the next few minutes to threaten her life, she calms down and begins to pay closer attention.
Though the sleeping quarters are simple, the home itself is fairly large and well-appointed. Plants in large earthenware pots dot the halls, and here and there the floor is decorated with pieces of colored pottery, and unusual mosaic tile.
The woman goes deeper within the house, emerging into a small courtyard where a quartet of sentries stand waiting. Their skins gleam, tanned dark in the hot sun, and yet they remain there unmoving. They are wearing the uniform of soldiers, brass breast-plates, plumed helmets, and armor.
Between them sits a large shaded seat set on poles, and Allegra understands these men are here to transport her elsewhere.
A word echoes in her mind. Lectica. She assumes this refers to the litter the men are standing beside.
Whoever this woman is, she appears to be powerful and respected. At least powerful enough to have soldiers perform her transport requirements.
Allegra’s host climbs inside the lectica and seats herself without a word. The sentries bear the woman through the front gates of the compound and down a hillside.
They walk sedately through a bustling town, skirting a market filled with shouting and laughter, filled with the lowing of cows and the bleating of goats and the screaming of children.
As they go, people stare, and some come closer, calling out to the woman. Allegra doesn’t hear what they say, but it is of a concern because being this close to the unknown makes her aware that when she wants to go back home, it may not be as simple as merely opening her eyes and waking up.
The sentries walk through the town and up another hillside where they stop at a pair of giant doors set into a stone wall. The walls run around another compound and Allegra finds herself holding her breath during the wait for the doors to open.
She isn’t sure what she’d expected, but it is certainly not Delphi.
Up on the hills before them sits the Temple of Delphi, and Allegra’s heart twists both with fear and with joy.
Is this really a dream? Or is it perhaps a memory from a Pythia long dead?
Allegra forces herself to stop speculating and concentrate on the sentries as they come to a stop and lower the seat. She feels a little queasy as the four men rock the lectica as they kneel and set it carefully onto the ground.
She supposes there is a first time for everything, and she’s just experienced her first time being carried around in a chair on the shoulders of four strong men.
As Allegra studies the compound, she catches sight of a group of toga-garbed men drawing closer, speaking hurriedly in low tones, their eyes furtive as they glance Allegra’s way.
Though she tries to listen in, she finds their language —though familiar—difficult to fully comprehend. She hadn’t expected to understand the Ancient Greek tongue, but she begins to find that if she listens through the woman—who Allegra had begun to refer to in her mind as her Host—then she is able to better understand the men.
It takes some getting used to, but she
eventually absorbs the understanding and soon she is no longer listening and translating using the woman’s knowledge. Instead, she is simply knowing.
The woman steps off the chair, accepting the help of the sentries with an easy grace, and Allegra finds herself walking up a slight incline toward the gathered men.
Many are smiling as she draws abreast of them, but though they wish her good morning, she merely nods and waves, and continues walking.
As Allegra passes the men, one particular face stands out, so familiar and yet she cannot put a finger on where she’d seen him before.
Though she struggles to remember, she has little time to spend on it as the woman continues walking and is soon out of sight of the men. Allegra is certain, from their bearing and dress that they are senators.
That begs the question as to who the woman is that Allegra has hitched a ride within. She is at the mercy of the woman’s physical movements, and suddenly Allegra has an overwhelming need to go back to her own consciousness.
Panic strikes her, and she finds herself growing lightheaded again.
Is it perhaps all just a truly strange dream?
That chocolate had been too good to be true…had there been something in it?
But as she moves with the woman, as she feels the sun on her skin she knows it’s more than just a dream.
She begins to feel that it is some sort of strange astral projection, only one that has taken her back in time.
To the era of a very different Pythia.
The woman makes her way up the hillside and passes a number of smaller buildings before she reaches the main temple.
The Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
The multitude of columns, the large triangular pediment, the long rectangular building. A stunning piece of architecture she is seeing in its own time, an opportunity she is sure is not a common one.
So many of Apollos temples had been destroyed during a particularly horrible period in history during which almost every Apollonian place of worship in the world had been badly damaged. The only other time in her life she’d seen an Apollo temple intact was when Apollo himself had taken her away from her torture at the hands of Lord Langcourt, the High Priest of the Order of Hermes. The god had transported her to another place and likely another time, in which she’d seen a temple of Apollo in all its glory.
