“No,” Cohen said. “That’s not engineering.” He spread his hands. “Anyone who’s spoken to me knows how I feel about this. I think it’s important that the muses do what they can to be practical. I feel that we need to conserve as much muse magic as possible to send on inspiration threads to the mundane world. I feel like that is what our purpose is. However, the rest of the engineering enclave is tired. They feel they don’t get enough chance to be creative in their own right. They are refusing to do any more of this menial labor.”
“But what will we do?” Techne said. “The science and math enclaves rely on the engineering enclave for the gala in the summer. Without the help of the engineering enclave, I don’t see how will be able to pull off—”
“Well, that’s not our problem anymore,” Coeus said.
Phoebe cleared her throat. “Perhaps another enclave would like to volunteer to help with setup and teardown.”
One of the other muses stood up. Owen didn’t recognize him he thought he might be from the wine and spirits enclave. “Why not make the tweens do it?”
Next to Owen, Nora stiffened. She caught his eye and shook her head in disbelief.
The tweens and rebels enclave was the only enclave that did not have a voice on the council. It wasn’t exactly an enclave at all, it was just a place for all of the tweens to hang out and be obnoxious without bothering everyone else. Owen was fairly sure that it had been created because the adults couldn’t deal with the young people.
“As tempting as that sounds,” Phoebe said, “I have serious doubts that the tweens would be, well, reliable.”
Coeus shot a sneering glance towards Themis. “I don’t see why the philosophy enclave can’t do it.”
Themis’s nostrils flared. “That’s just like you, Coeus. I believe this whole thing is a stunt. I doubt the engineering enclave isn’t interested in doing their jobs. I think you simply want to torture us in the philosophy enclave.”
“Well, tell me,” Coeus said. “What is it that’s so important that you philosophers are doing that you don’t have time to tear down and set up?”
“We contribute to just as many inspiration threads as anyone here,” Themis said.
“Well, the engineering enclave has been forced to not contribute to inspiration threads because we’ve been spending so much time doing cleanup instead. It’s not our turn anymore. Someone else take a hit.”
Another muse raised her hand. “May I speak?”
Phoebe inclined her head. “The council recognizes Genevieve Elderberry.”
“I propose that we make a committee to figure out which enclave should be in charge of this from here on out,” she said.
“Is that a motion I hear?” Phoebe said.
“So moved,” called out Techne.
“And seconded,” said the guy from the wine and spirits enclave.
Owen smirked. This was so typical. What did the muses do in case of a problem? Delay.
Delay, delay, delay. They never faced anything head on. The place was a disaster. It was amazing that nothing terrible had happened to them thus far. It was amazing Helicon was still standing.
“The motion has been moved and seconded,” said Phoebe. “Any discussion?”
There wasn’t.
“All in favor of forming a committee to determine who will be in charge of setup and teardown of various events signify by saying ‘aye,’” Phoebe said.
The motion passed.
* * *
“So I was thinking there’s that stream up to the north of Helicon, and if we hiked up there early to find a nice really private little spot for the two of us, we could share our basket there. We could exchange Valentines there. I think it would be really nice,” Agler said. He and Maddie were sitting outside the tweens and rebels fire pit. No one else was there. It was afternoon. Agler hadn’t had much to get into, and since Maddie didn’t seem busy, he thought he’d get their Valentine’s Day plans settled.
Maddie was staring at the remnants of last night’s fire. She didn’t answer.
“You like that idea?” Agler asked.
Maddie scuffed her toe against the ground.
“Maddie?”
Still no answer.
“Hello? Maddie? You alive?”
Maddie looked up. “What?”
“Have you heard anything that I just said?”
Maddie nodded. “Sure, I have.”
“So, what do you think?”
“About what?”
He sighed. “I was trying to talk about Valentine’s plans.”
“Oh.” She sighed. “I don’t know about Valentine’s this year, Agler.”
“What do you mean you don’t know about Valentine’s this year? What’s there to know? We’re a couple. It’s like the required thing that we spend the evening together.”
“Well, not necessarily. Sawyer, Nora, and I used to help out in the babies and toddlers enclave.”
“Yeah, when you were single.”
“We weren’t always single,” Maddie said. “It was almost a tradition.”
Agler digested this. “So, you’re saying you want to babysit?”
Maddie shook her head vehemently. “Oh, no. I don’t want to be anywhere around babies or anything like that. I was only pointing out that it’s not set in stone that we have to hang out. We could do something else.”
Agler was completely confused. “Something else?”
“Yeah.”
“And by something else, you mean something with other people?”
“Well, yeah, I guess so.”
“What other people? All the other muses will be with their significant others on Valentine’s Day.”
Maddie sighed. “I guess so. I’m only being hypothetical.”
Agler was quiet for several seconds. “Are you mad at me?”
“No.” Her response was far too fast.
Agler’s shoulders sagged. “What did I do? I swear to God, I don’t think I did anything.” He wracked his brain. Certainly he hadn’t done anything that had made her angry lately. Had he?
“I’m not mad.” Maddie stood up. She thrust both hands into her hair. She started to pace. “Ever think about how much easier things used to be?”
Agler felt extremely confused. Where was this coming from? Was she going to explain why she was mad at him or not? “I guess not?” He made it a question because he was afraid that if he disagreed with her, he would make her more angry.
Maddie dropped her hands. “Of course you wouldn’t.”
“What are you even talking about? I want to relate, but I have no idea what’s going on.”
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been remembering what things used to be like when we were younger. When there wasn’t all of this…”
“This what?”
“Well, you know how everything is with Nora and Owen. That’s a big mess. And then all this relationship stuff is so complicated. I remember when things were simple. Easy. When we used to have fun. We would dress up and go to parties and get drunk and everything was great.”
Agler arched an eyebrow. “I seem to remember you were the teetotaler of the group. Didn’t you not drink at all?”
Maddie glared at him. “Not the point.”
“Well, we can do that, you know? Come Valentine’s Day, we’ll have fun. Me and you. We’ll get a bottle of wine. We’ll go nuts.”
Maddie kicked a rock into the fire pit. “No. I can’t do that. I can’t have fun anymore.”
“Why not?” What was she going on about?
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Maddie said. “I don’t want to think about it. And every time I see you, it’s all I can think about. So, I don’t want to be around you right now.”
“What?” Agler felt as if he had been hit in the head with a brick.
But Maddie didn’t answer. She was already stalking out of the tweens and rebels enclave.
Agler stared after her, feeling bewildered.
CHAPTER
FIVE
Sawyer walked into the visual arts enclave, which had been exploded into Valentine’s Day. Everywhere he looked, there were things set out for people to make their own valentines—lace, red and white fabric, paints, glue... There was also a table full of pre-made valentines which muses could pick up if they didn’t want to take the time to make their own. Sawyer was there under the guise that he was going to make a Valentine for Lute.
Really, he was looking for Nora. He scanned the tent, hoping to see her somewhere.
And there she was, off in one corner. Sawyer hurried over.
Nora had her head down, sorting through various pieces of red cardboard that had been cut into heart shapes.
Sawyer waited. He tried to think of something to say, but he couldn’t come up with anything.
Eventually, Nora lifted her head and saw him. She started. “Sawyer.”
“Hey there,” Sawyer said.
“Um, I thought Maddie told you. It’s probably best if we all keep our distance for a bit.”
Sawyer maybe remembered Maddie saying something like that. But it was ridiculous. He wasn’t keeping his distance from Nora. He had to help her. “Yeah, I’m just here to make Lute a Valentine. Maybe you could help out.”
Nora looked around at the other tables, where other muses were working. “Sawyer, there are tons of other people who can help you. You and I… we have way too much history. If I spend too much time talking to you, maybe Owen will get jealous.”
Sawyer clenched his jaw. “Let him.”
Nora sighed. “That is the last thing that I need from him right now. It’s like I told Maddie. You guys need to trust me.”
“Trust you?”
Sawyer went around the the other side of the table and sat down next to Nora in one of the chairs. “Look. You explain to me what it is that’s going on. Level with me. If you’re honest with me, and it makes sense, then I’ll trust you.”
Nora didn’t look at him. “I told you this already, Sawyer. I’ve gone through all of it. Owen needs another chance. All of the things that he did, he did when he was under the influence of the spell—”
“I don’t buy that. He did a lot of really crappy things.” Sawyer held up his hand and wriggled the stump of his finger at Nora.
Nora flinched. “You’re right. He did.”
“So? So, we should forgive him?”
Nora licked her lips. “We should give him a chance to be different. We should give him a chance to make up for it. Maybe he wants to apologize to you. You don’t even know.”
“I don’t think he has any intention of apologizing to me. He wasn’t sorry for what he did to Daryl when Daryl started hitting him, was he? By the way, why is it that no one’s gotten in any trouble for that? When Agler hit Owen, it was this huge, big deal. But this time, nobody’s said anything about it.”
Nora shrugged. “Phoebe thought it was best not to make a lot of noise about it. We’re not even supposed to discuss it.”
“Well that sounds typical,” he said.
Nora turned to him. “Look, Sawyer. I get that you’re upset. You made that abundantly clear on numerous occasions over the past few months. But if you’re only coming here to harass me, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I can’t deal with this right now. You’re really raining on my creative buzz.”
Sawyer’s entire body sagged. “That isn’t how I want this. I’m not trying to upset you or make it difficult for you to create. I’m your friend, Nora. We used to be best friends. You can tell me anything. Anything at all. If you really are in love with Owen, I want to know about that. Because I’m your friend. I want to experience everything that you experience—”
“No, you don’t. Because I have told you all about it, and you don’t want to experience it. You just want to deny it.”
“That’s because I don’t understand it. Maybe you could help me understand.”
Nora rubbed her forehead. “How do you explain how you feel about someone? Owen and I have a history.”
“Sure. Okay. But when did these feelings start? Did they start when you were in the mundane world? Did they start after you saw him kill his mother?”
Nora looked at him, and she looked tired. She looked downright exhausted. “Let it go.”
“That’s the thing. I can’t.”
The sound of a throat clearing.
Both Sawyer and Nora looked up. Maddie was there.
Nora looked back and forth between the two of them. “What is this? The two of you are tag-teaming me?”
“No,” Maddie said. “I didn’t know he was going to be here. Actually, Sawyer, I want to talk to Nora alone.”
“What?” Sawyer said. “Why?”
“I want it to only be girls,” Maddie said.
Sawyer folded his arms over his chest. “I’m practically a girl.”
“I think I was pretty clear that I’m not going to talk to either of you,” Nora said.
“This isn’t about you, Nora,” Maddie said. “It’s about me. I know you’re angry with me. I know that you don’t want to deal with me. And I know that you told me to stay away. But I don’t have anybody else to talk to. I need you.”
“Oh,” Nora said in a different voice. “What’s up?”
“Not here,” said Maddie, looking around.
“Let’s go for a walk, then.” Nora stood up.
“I’m coming,” Sawyer said. No way was he being left out of this.
* * *
Maddie looked around. “Okay, I guess we’re far enough away.” She turned to her two friends. It was strange. These were the two people that she had confided all of her problems to over the past few years. But now, everything was messed up.
“So what’s going on, Maddie?” Nora asked. “You’ve really got me worried. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is this about the anorexia?”
Maddie furrowed her brow at the word. Then she remembered that was what Nora had called her starving herself. Apparently it was a regular disease in the mundane world. “No, it’s got nothing to do with that. It’s about my, you know, period.”
Sawyer spoke up. “Hold on a second. If you had said something back there, then I would have happily kept out of this.”
Nora glared at him. “Stop whining. You said you were practically a girl. Get over it.”
Sawyer made a face. “Just… do you think you could try to not be extraordinarily detailed about this? Like keep the blood imagery to a minimum.”
“Don’t worry,” Maddie said. “The problem is that there is no blood.”
Nora raised her eyebrows. “You mean when you sped up your aging, nothing happened?”
Maddie nodded. “Yeah.”
“Oh, crap.”
“What?” Sawyer said.
Nora turned to him. “Please tell me you understand something about the way babies are made.”
Sawyer looked confused. “Babies?”
“I don’t understand why they don’t have like a Sex Ed class in Helicon,” Nora said.
“I really don’t have any reason to worry about that kind of stuff,” Sawyer said. “I’m gay.”
“Yes, recently,” Nora said. “Look, if Maddie isn’t getting her period, it could mean that she’s pregnant.”
“But I might not be,” Maddie said. “It could all be a false alarm.”
Nora nodded. “Oh, definitely. That’s happened to me before. I’ve skipped a month.”
“You have?”
Nora nodded.
“Well, were you completely freaked out?” Maddie said.
“No,” Nora said. “It was before I was, you know, doing it.”
“Oh,” Maddie said. She wrapped her arms around herself. “The worst thing is not knowing. I think if I knew one way or the other, I could make a plan, and I could figure out how to deal with it. It’s not like I don’t have options.”
Nora nodded. “Right. The babies and toddlers enclave.”
“Well, I don’t know if I could do that,” said Maddie. “But ma
ybe, if I had to…”
“I can’t understand why you don’t know,” Nora said. “Don’t they have some kind of magical pregnancy test here in Helicon?”
“Pregnancy test? Maddie said. “What’s a pregnancy test?” It sounded like the most wonderful thing she’d ever heard of.
Nora looked disgusted. She shook her head. “In some ways, Helicon is the best place on earth. In other ways, it is so far behind the times that it’s not even funny. A pregnancy test is a test that you take early on in your pregnancy to find out if you are, in fact, pregnant or not. They have them in the mundane world. They’re in drugstores. Anyone can go in and buy one.”
Maddie felt irrationally angry. “Why don’t we have something like that here?”
They were all quiet.
Sawyer was shaking his head. “You can’t be pregnant. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you would be a wonderful mother, Maddie. But we’re so young.”
“No,” Maddie said. “I can’t… I’m not ready.”
“Well, you’re putting the cart before the horse,” Nora said. “We need to find out whether or not you’re pregnant. If you’re not, you’re worrying about all this stuff for nothing.”
“But how can I figure that out?” Maddie said. “The healer told me that I need to wait until next month. She said if my cycle doesn’t start up again, then it’s fairly likely that I’m pregnant. She said I could not halt my aging now, and I might experience some symptoms and that might give me a clue.”
“Obviously, we’ll go to the mundane world and get a test,” Nora said. “It might be a little weird. But as long as while we’re there, we aren’t creative, then we should be fine.”
Maddie swallowed. She didn’t want to let on that they had actually been to the mundane world about a month ago. “Um, but how would we get there? We can’t just trek over to the mundane world whenever we want.”
“Owen can take us,” Nora said.
It was quiet.
“I don’t know if I want Owen to know,” Maddie said. “I haven’t even told Agler yet.”
“Well, you have to tell Agler,” Nora said. “No wonder you’re freaking out. You’re going through this alone. He should be freaking out too. This is just as much his problem as it is yours.”
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