I photocopied flyers of my “Keeper—Keep Out” symbol and circulated them around the school. It described her human form and warned students that if they saw her, to stay far away but tell me immediately. I conned everyone into thinking it was part of an interactive drama project. The flyers promised candy to whoever found her first. Hopefully, my student alarm force would work.
I spent the next several days glued to a cubicle seat in the library. I even stayed focused, only taking the occasional thousand glances or so out the window. First up? A ten page paper on Shakespeare’s ill-fated love between Romeo and Juliet.
Talk about timing. Or was it irony? The jury was still out on Kai and me, but the way things were going, Romeo and Juliet had a Disney ending compared to us. While our history didn’t involve a well-meaning priest, I wasn’t ruling out some goat-horned shaman dropping in at any time. Feuding families, star-crossed lovers, and death and deception. There were enough similarities in our stories to put me off old Billy S. for good.
Somewhere between writer’s cramp and cramming, I slept. Not a restful snuggle-into-the-covers refresher, but a lay-face-down-on-my-study-table-and-drool, glorified nap.
Bless Hannah. She pimped me food and made sure I maintained a socially acceptable level of hygiene.
Wednesday afternoon, all papers in and exams taken, I got changed for what had previously been my biggest nightmare—gym class. Now it was my last chance to touch base with Theo and Hannah before going to find Keeper. To once and for all put everything into place.
Our teacher, Mr. Naiman, was one of those disgustingly robust types that never got sick, and proclaimed fresh air to be good for every ailment under the sun. The fact that the sun would be hard-pressed to fight its way through the gloomy November cloud cover mattered not.
Shivering in our sweats and hoodies, most of the class grumbled their way outside, following him as he took loud, deep breaths and led us in an energetic sprint to warm us up.
Last week, I would have been the grumpiest. Today, I burst through the door in a gleeful bound.
“What’s wrong with you?” Hannah’s confusion was understandable.
The look on her face as I picked up a pine cone and tossed it at her was priceless. “Nature, baby. Race you to the track.”
“Oddess-gay o-fay ing-spray,” Theo clarified as they caught up.
“She’s manic and sunny,” Hannah muttered. “It’s scaring me.”
“Roll out, kitten.” I slapped Hannah’s butt and broke into a brisk jog.
As we ran in the fabulously fresh air, we reviewed our findings and discussed our plan of attack. I hoped that the more Hannah heard about it, the more it would reinforce that Ms. Keeper was a danger and prevent further memory loss in case she resurfaced.
“The good news,” Theo began, checking over his shoulder to ensure no one was too near, “is that I don’t think Cassie is dead. I believe that Keeper won’t show up until she’s completed whatever task she has set for herself. And given her interest in Cassie, Keeper seems to need her participation. So for now, at least, Cassie is probably safe.”
A knot of tension I didn’t realize I’d been carrying loosened. I crossed my fingers and hoped the good fortune extended to Bethany and Mrs. Rivers as well.
“That’s good,” said Hannah. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.”
“You remember?” I was delighted.
Hannah blushed and pulled a cue card out of her of hoodie pocket. “Theo helped me write everything down so I’d be in the loop. I’ve memorized facts about them. Like they’re an English assignment, not real.” She paused. “I’m sorry I don’t remember them, though.”
“So where are they?”
Theo pushed his glasses back up his nose. “Not sure.”
Huh. “Okay, if she’s not dead, what happened while we were in Hades to make everyone forget about her?”
“No clue.”
I fixed Theo with a disapproving look. “You’re wowing me with mediocrity.”
“Get stuffed,” he replied smoothly. “You’re asking the wrong questions. What you should be asking is ‘who took Cassie?’”
“Who took Cassie?” Hannah asked obediently.
“Hey, Bloom! I mean, Sophie.”
I startled, not having realized Anil had arrived and worried about what he might have overheard.
“Hey, Anil.” I glanced over at Hannah and Theo for enlightenment on this jovial salutation but merely got an indifferent shrug from Theo and a smirk from Hannah. So no help there.
“Feeling better?” he inquired solicitously.
This was getting weirder and weirder. “Fine, thanks.”
“Cool. Cool. What’d you think of that bio exam? Brutal, huh?”
Hannah smothered a laugh.
It dawned on me that Anil was attempting to chat me up. In a blatantly unsupportive act, my former best friends jogged ahead, as if to give us some privacy.
Thanks a bunch.
I consoled myself with the thought that I really could kill them. Not that I’d ever do that. (And Psycho violins play … now.)
Anil was still waiting for me to answer. I opened my mouth to blow him off as per our usual discourse. “The dissection was pretty fun.” Apparently, some latent manners had just kicked in.
“Did you hear about Jackson’s eyeball?” He then proceeded to regale me with a hilarious story about Jackson squirting eye fluid during his dissection exam.
I found myself laughing. And dare I admit it, kind of flirting back. When Anil wasn’t being a total meathead, which was most of my past association with him, he was kind of cute. He had beautiful brown skin and darkly fringed eyes. A solid grin, too. It was nice. Normal.
I sighed. Normal was not in my cards. At least, not until I’d resolved the immediate crisis at hand. I had to finish talking to Theo. “I should probably find Larry and Moe and go stretch.”
He nodded. “Sure. Catch you later?”
I meant to say, “Sorry, no.” Had a list of reasons why not, including how shallow he was to only start noticing me in my new, improved Sophie form, but I couldn’t blame him. He was just a regular teenaged guy who’d never done anything worse to me than mouth off and get mouthed off at in return. I didn’t want to lead him on but I wasn’t going to be a bitch either. “For sure. We’ll always have eyeball dissections.”
He grinned and jogged off.
I went and found my turncoat friends, who greeted me with kissy noises. “Perhaps we should be focusing on the important issues at hand,” I retorted loftily. “Who’s behind this?” I asked Theo.
“All scales point to Delphyne,” he replied with triumphant finality.
I glanced at Hannah, who shook her head.
“Theo, while I’m thrilled you’ve figured it out, we have no idea who that is.” We completed our final lap and headed for the grassy area where kids had started to cool down.
“You’ve got to learn your basic Greek history.”
“I’ll do that with all my free time. Cheat sheet, please?”
He humphed. “Delphyne is a dragon who used to guard the Oracle at Delphi.”
“Where Cassandra was,” Hannah said.
“Clever girl.” He bestowed a pleased smile on her.
“So why is she here?” I still was missing the big picture.
“For Cassie, obviously.”
We stood there, lamely stretching but mostly chatting. “Obvious how? To do what?”
He looked a little less certain. “You know. Cassie foretells things. Delphyne guarded the Oracle.”
“Still not making the connection.”
“The ‘why’ of it is still a tad unclear,” he admitted.
“Less talking, more stretching,” Mr. Naiman called over to us.
We lowered our voices and followed directions.
I turned to Theo. “Can Delphyne be killed?”
“Mos’ def.”
There had to be a catch. “We need a magic bow dipped in poison and forged by an elf chained to a tree on Mt. Olympus?” I asked, attemping to keep my balance as I stetched out my right thigh by bringing my foot back to touch my butt.
“No elves,” Theo said. “You’re reading all the wrong books. The poison has possibilities, though. Gorgon’s blood would be brilliant.”
“No problem.” I turned to Hannah. “I think Mrs. Singh has some in the lab.”
Theo shot a look of contempt my way.
“Where do we find a Gorgon and how do we convince it to give up its poison?” Hannah cut to the chase as she dropped into a lunge stretch.
“It’s not so much a bargaining process as a killing process,” Theo explained. “That, or we need to get close enough to nick her left side and get a drop of her blood.”
“Why left?” Hannah didn’t seem to make the distinction. I sure didn’t.
Theo sat on the ground and stretched forward toward his feet. “Because the blood of a Gorgon’s right side brings people back to life and her left kills people.”
“How very yin and yang,” Hannah murmured, shaking out her shoulders.
“It’s hopeless.” I steeled myself to begin the grieving process for Cassie.
“Ye of little faith.” Theo shook his head at us. “We’re not going to have to get anywhere near a Gorgon because I have another way. Check it, yeah? I’ve got a source.”
We stood up and followed Mr. Naiman back toward the gym.
I could only begin to imagine. “Let me guess. This fatal poison is what was used on both Hades and me. But it stays in the blood for a long time, so we sneak back to the Underworld, acquire Hades’ blood with said poison still in it, put it on some sort of stabby thing and presto. Dragon be gone.”
Theo looked at me with admiration. “I was thinking that you could use your persuasive charms on Kai to get it for us.”
“Get bent.” I retorted.
“I’m kind of impressed with how you figured that all out,” Hannah said.
“I’ll tell you.” Theo beckoned her close. “It’s because it’s a load of rubbish. Sophie’s twisted mind running rampant with neuroses.”
“Tabling the fact that you’re a jerk for that Kai crack, I wasn’t poisoned with Gorgon blood?”
“No way. That stuff is instantly fatal. I wouldn’t have had any time to put your soul anywhere. By the time I found you, it would have been too late.”
“That was stupid. Why poison me with something on a timer? It’s like those villains who spill their entire plan to the hero, giving them time to get away.”
“If I ever decide to poison you, I promise I’ll make sure your demise is instant,” he replied. “Remember, when we got back from Hades, I told you the knife you’d been stabbed with was enchanted. Whoever cut you didn’t just want you dead. They wanted you to suffer, as well. It was a fluke I was even there. No one knew I was supposed to meet with your mother.” He thought about it a moment. “Come to think of it, the palace was oddly empty, which meant that some kind of diversion had been arranged. Ask Kai about that one.”
“And Hades?” Hannah asked. “Why take the chance that having him suffer would foul up his death?”
“Hades is one of the big three, along with Zeus and Poseidon. I’m not positive that even Gorgon blood would be instantly fatal to him. It would take something massive to off them. In all my years, I’ve never come across anything that could do the job.”
Hannah bounced up and down excitedly as she walked. “Then it was a message. Someone showing that they could get to him. Make him vulnerable and worried. Maybe the seeds were a gift? Like a pair of gloves, but the insides were lined with crushed glass and poison so the wearer put them on and bam! Snuffed out.” At our curious expressions, Hannah shrugged. “I’ve been reading a lot about the Borgias.”
“Sure thing, psycho. Who’s your source for the Gorgon blood, Theo?”
“No one. We’re not using Gorgon blood.”
“But you said—”
“I said it would be brilliant. I also said I had another way. To kill Delphyne. Not sure why you’re so obsessed with Gorgons.”
“Tell me the way,” I said wearily, stepping back into the smelly warmth of the gym.
“You. Shouldn’t be much of a problem to take her out.”
“Aim for the eyes or the soft underbelly,” Hannah added thoughtfully. “Those are your best targets.”
“It can’t be that simple,” I protested.
“You’re a real cynic, aren’t you?” Theo rolled his eyes at the look I shot him. “Fine. There is the matter of the box.”
“There we go. What box?”
“The enchanted one. For Delphyne’s head. After you decapitate her.”
I felt queasy. Killing with my awesome powers from afar, excellent. Getting up close and personal to saw through something? Not so much. “I need to cut off her head?”
“After she’s dead. See, Apollo already killed her once.”
“And yet she’s here. That bodes well,” I snarked.
“His problem,” Theo continued ignoring me, “was that he didn’t properly finish her off.”
“You have that in common.” Hannah smiled brightly at me.
“Yeah. Some things just don’t have the common courtesy to stay dead,” Theo agreed.
“I think we have you to blame for Sophie,” Hannah pointed out to him. “I could have had a lovely roommate all these years. Maybe with a boat. I always wanted a friend with a boat.”
“See if I save you, Nygard. Where do we find this box?”
Mr. Naiman gave a sharp blast on his whistle. “Stations, people! One minute vigorous activity for each exercise. On my count.”
“Nysa. A nymph,” Theo replied as we made for the hand weights.
He was looking at me expectantly. I called him on it. “Am I supposed to know her?”
“Yeah. Wondering if you remembered her.”
“Sorry. I’m sure she’s very nice,” I said, picking up a couple of five-pounders.
Theo picked up a set of ten pound weights and laughed as Mr. Naiman blew his whistle.
We met Theo’s very nice nymph at 2am the next morning. “She some kind of vampire nymph? Can’t keep daylight hours?” I was tired, shivering despite the many layers of sweatclothes under my jacket, and would have liked just one Greek figure to behave normally.
I was also somewhat edgy since we were waiting near the bank of the creek and even though Theo had assured me a thousand times that the portal was safely shut, I continually worried that Cerberus was going to poke his triple-headed ugly mug out and finish me.
One worry led me to another and soon I was thinking about what Theo had given up. “Do you ever miss it?”
He stared off into the sky, up at the few visible stars. I worried that maybe I’d overstepped and he wasn’t going to answer, but after a moment he looked at me. “You know how people who’ve had limbs amputated can still feel them? Phantom limbs. They itch and they tingle and the person swears that arm or whatever is still there?”
I nodded.
“I swear I can still feel that part of me. Sixteen years since I was a Titan, and every single day I wake with a moment of dread and shock at what I’ve lost.”
“Then why?”
“Because when you’ve been around forever, you have to find something outside yourself to believe in or go mad. I believe in humanity. I believe in you.”
My palms were sweaty and my heart was racing. “What if I’m not worth it?”
“You have to be.” He gave me a crooked grin. “Because you
’re going to have to compensate for Kai.”
Well, if Theo could joke, maybe the situation wasn’t totally bleak.
The creek began to shimmer. Instinctively, I took a step back, placing Theo square between me and the water. A form rose gracefully from the surface.
Nysa was everything one might expect of a nymph. Slender, with waist length auburn ringlets and large blue eyes, her skin was creamy white. Basically, she was gorgeous.
Unfair! I punched Theo who turned confused eyes my way. “Next time,” I hissed “prepare me so I can dress appropriately.” I’d never been a girl to care about keeping up with the Jones’, but sheesh! Sweats versus the dazzlingness of a nymph was a little too unbalanced, even for me. All I needed to complete the moment was Kai showing up.
I tensed, unsure of how to greet such a spectacular creature and thinking of possible formal salutations. Then she opened her mouth.
“Ahhhhhh” she squealed. “Oh my goddess, I can’t even believe it’s you!” She bopped out of the river—clad only in some strategically placed seaweed—and rushed me like a twelve-year-old girl reunited with her BFF at summer camp.
She jumped up and down as she clenched me in a hug. Squashed, I looked past her to Theo, who was lamely attempting to keep his composure.
“Like, I can’t even believe you’re here? When I heard from Prometheus, I was all ‘no way.’ But he was like ‘way.’ And he’s such a serious ninny that I totally knew he wasn’t lying.”
That description of Theo so failed to resonate with me that I made a mental note to learn whatever I could about Prometheus. Turning human must have entailed a massive personality switch.
Nysa hadn’t stopped talking this entire time. “… She was being such a Medusa head about letting me come. We both knew it was about that seriously cute shepherd liking me and not her. So. Not. My. Fault.” She tossed her hair. “I can’t help being beautiful.” Nysa screeched again. “I love your new size. You used to be so tall, but now …” She pranced around me in a gleeful jig. “We’re the same height. It’s like we’re sisters!” She poked my padded (99% clothing, 1% chocolate) belly. “‘Cept I’m the skinny one!”
My Ex From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy) Page 16
