by Kate O'Hearn
“You’re asking the man who spent ages as a tree what I mean. I was a tree, Emily. Leaves, bark, and roots. Then, from that, you turned me into a Sphinx. So you know full well what I’m talking about. We’ve both gone through some pretty extreme changes.”
“But you wanted to be a Sphinx.”
“Oh yes, I did, and I’ll be eternally grateful to you and Riza for doing it for me. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t go through some major adjustments. I still am. You know, of all the stupid things I miss, it’s having thumbs. Can you imagine how difficult it is to pick things up with paws?”
Emily dropped her head and chuckled. “I hadn’t thought about it.”
Tom laughed too. “Trust me. Spoons are no fun. It’s a good thing I don’t wear shoes anymore, because there’s no way I could tie laces with these babies!” He held up his two large lion paws. “I won’t even tell you what it’s like to shave in the morning.” He became serious. “So I kind of know what you’re going through. I’ve seen it on your face and on the faces of everyone else around here.”
“It’s because I look like Diana.”
“No, it’s not that you look like Diana. It’s because you don’t look like Emily anymore. It’s taking time for everyone to adjust and for you to get used to yourself.”
“But . . .” Emily felt herself starting to break. “But Joel . . .”
“I know,” Tom said. “I’ve seen it too. Joel is hiding himself away in Vulcan’s forge as he tries to process the changes in you. That doesn’t mean he cares any less for you. It’s just going to take him time.”
“What if he can’t accept me?”
Tom sighed. “Emily, until I met Alexis, I believed I was immune to emotions. I was a CRU agent and nothing more. But the moment I laid eyes on her, everything changed. So I may not be the best one to give advice on relationships. But what I will say is that if Joel can’t get used to you, if he can’t see that you are the same amazing girl you’ve always been, then he isn’t worthy of you. The loss will be his, not yours.”
“It will be both of ours,” Emily said softly.
Tom leaned forward, kissed her forehead, and lifted her chin with his large golden paw. “You’ll find your way, Emily. I know you will. This face, beautiful in all that it is, isn’t yours yet. You haven’t worn it long enough to let your character shine through.”
“And if it never does?”
“It will, Emily. I can promise you that.” Tom shook his head sadly. “Back on Earth, magazines and television were always pushing the idea that external beauty is all that matters. It isn’t. Faces and bodies change; we all get older—it’s a fact of life. It’s what’s inside that really counts. Not this temporary exterior.”
He chuckled again. “Okay, so it’s not quite so temporary here on Olympus, with this immortality thing going on, but you know what I mean. You have been the new Emily for only a short while. Give yourself time to get used to yourself. I’m sure you’ll soon see that you haven’t changed all that much. Soon as you accept yourself, you’ll find everyone else treating you the way they always did.”
Emily threw her arms around Tom and held him tightly. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” he said. “Now, let’s go in there and celebrate the return of Emily!”
• • •
After dinner Pegasus disappeared into the evening sky without telling anyone where he was going. He returned a short while later with Emily’s father. When he touched down, Pegasus wouldn’t meet Emily’s eyes, and she realized he must have been listening in on her conversation with Tom. He thought she needed her father. Pegasus was right. Of all the wonderful people on Olympus, it was Pegasus who knew her best.
When her father slid off the stallion’s back, he embraced Emily. “I still can’t get over you being taller than me.”
“Not taller,” Emily said. “We’re the same height.”
He grinned. “Maybe, but I seem to be getting shorter all the time. Joel is taller than me now, Paelen, Diana and you.”
Emily grinned back, feeling all the better for seeing him. “This means I can do this to you.” She ruffled his hair.
As they walked together in the setting sun, Emily told her father about the encounter with Paelen and Lorin at the beach, and how Joel had been avoiding her. With her father at her side and Pegasus walking behind them, Emily felt her worries start to fade.
Finally they stopped and her father turned to her. “Em, I know this has been hard on you and that you’re still feeling very out of sorts because of Hawaii. . . .”
Emily dropped her head but nodded.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like for you, especially all these changes. But you can’t let it get you down. You’re alive. That’s all that matters—to me and to everyone else. You’re alive and we’re in this beautiful place. Yes, it’s been damaged, but look how fast the Olympians are repairing it. That is what’s important. Not that you’ve changed—or are much taller than me.”
“But . . .”
“Yes, I get it. Joel is being an idiot. But he’s a teenage boy. That’s what they’re supposed to be! I was the same when I was his age. Heck, I’d be worried if he wasn’t an idiot. You’ve just got to give him plenty of space and time. You’ll see. He’ll come around soon enough. Besides, worrying won’t change things. And that thing with Paelen and Lorin? It’s hard, but you have to give them time too. This is all new to Paelen. He’s feeling things he’s never felt before. I bet you five bucks things get back to normal sooner than you think.”
Speaking to her father made all the difference to Emily. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Thanks, Dad. . . .” They laughed and talked until the sun completely set and stars came out. Eventually, Emily and Pegasus took her father back to Hercules’s home. After dropping him off, Emily climbed onto the stallion’s back and they took off into the night sky.
“Pegs, I know it’s getting late, but I don’t feel like going back yet. Can we go flying for a bit? Would you take me somewhere we’ve never been before?” Pegasus nickered loudly and put on more speed.
Beneath them the night dwellers came out and worked silently in the streets, clearing rubble and helping with the rebuilding of Olympus. With day and night shifts working full out, destroyed buildings were being rebuilt in record time. Emily noticed that a lot of the new buildings were different from the ones that had stood before, and she realized that the Titan invasion had changed more than just her: Olympus itself was different. If it could rise from the rubble, surely she could too.
Pegasus took her higher into the clear night sky. The air was warm and sweet, as always, and the stars and constellations that had seemed so alien to her at first now greeted her like old friends.
“Faster, Pegs,” Emily cried excitedly, catching hold of his mane and leaning forward.
Pegasus obliged and flapped his wings harder. He climbed higher in the sky than he normally did and flew over parts of Olympus that Emily hadn’t yet fully explored.
They traveled to the neighboring city of Helicon, where the Muses lived, and to Mount Helicon, on the large mountain beside it, where Pegasus had spent a lot of his childhood.
Helicon looked much like the part of Olympus where Jupiter’s palace had been, with its cobbled roads and stunning buildings. As always, art and sculpture played a big part in its architecture. Just like the palace area, many of its marble statues now lay in rubble on the street. It was obvious that it too had borne the wrath of the Titan invasion. But also like the main city, it was rising from the ashes.
Farther along toward Mount Helicon, Emily saw a flash of light in the darkness of the mountain. “Did you see that, Pegs?”
Pegasus whinnied and changed directions. Gliding closer, they soon saw a single figure standing on a platform at the very top of Mount Helicon. Emily squinted. Old Emily would never have been able to see any details, especially in the dark. But Emily Version II was able to make out the shape of a woman.
&
nbsp; Before Pegasus landed, Emily recognized the woman as one of the Muses, Urania. She was standing before a large telescope and studying the stars. The flash had been from a shooting star reflecting off the glass of the telescope. Urania was best known for her love of astronomy, and she spent most nights up here, cataloging the night sky. Tall and lean, she had long brown hair, which she styled on the top of her head, deep olive skin, and entrancing hazel eyes. She was dressed in a traditional Olympian gown, but it had dirt smudges all over it. If ever there was a tomboy Muse, it was Urania.
When Pegasus landed, Emily slid off his back. Urania turned and frowned. “Pegasus, what brings you up here so late? And who is that with you?”
“It’s me, Urania,” Emily said.
“Who?”
“Me, Emily.” She held up her hand and summoned a ball of flame. “Flame of Olympus . . .”
The Muse’s eyes flashed opened. “Oh, Emily, I am so very, very sorry. I did not recognize you.”
“I know,” Emily said. “No one does these days.”
Urania stepped away from her telescope and came closer. “I heard that you had changed. But my word, child, you are the spitting image of Diana when she was young.”
Pegasus nickered and whinnied. Urania looked from Emily to Pegasus and back to Emily again, and her expression changed—became sympathetic. “I am sorry it has been difficult for you. I am certain in time people will see you for you.”
“I hope so.” Emily walked over to the large golden telescope. “So are you looking at anything interesting?”
“Actually, I have been watching Titus for Father. He wants to make sure that Saturn does not try to cause more trouble.”
Jupiter was the father of the Muses and had a very active part in their lives. “Can you actually see Titus from here?”
Urania nodded. “But this telescope is not my only means of watching. Come, I would like to show you something.”
Emily and Pegasus followed the Muse away from her telescope and across the peak of the mountain. They descended some marble steps on the opposite side. When they reached a plateau, Urania walked over to a large stone bowl. It was sitting on the ground, but the top reached their waists.
“Pegasus made this for me a very long time ago. It is filled with water from his spring.”
The winged stallion had his own special powers to draw water from the ground. He’d created four springs on Mount Helicon that had healing properties and never dried up. Emily had also witnessed him using his powers at Area 51 to restore Groom Lake and then in the Diamond Head crater in Hawaii.
They walked up to the stone bowl, and Emily peered into the clear spring water. It reflected the stars above but nothing more. “I don’t understand.”
Urania smiled and waved her hand across the top of the bowl. “Show me Saturn.”
The water started to swirl and fill with white fog. Soon images began to move within its depths and the fog cleared.
Emily jumped when she saw the cold, hard face of Saturn staring right at her. The sight of him struck terror in her heart and made her shiver. She could still hear his menacing voice and see the rage in his dark, stormy eyes. He had tried to imprison her in Tartarus, and when that had failed, he’d tried to kill her.
Pegasus nickered and nudged her gently while Urania chuckled softly. “Do not fear, child. He cannot see you. But we can see him.” Then she called to the water, “Pull back. Where is he?”
The image changed and seemed to draw away from Saturn’s face. He was seated alone on an ornate throne, staring blankly at nothing. The room around him was tall and opulent and adorned with statues—some of them Emily recognized from the prison Tartarus. These were of Saturn, his four brothers, and his top commanders. But apart from the statues, he was alone.
“He actually looks really lonely,” Emily said softly.
“I am sure he is,” Urania said. “Saturn is a warrior leader to a people who are tired of war. He remains the head of the Titans, but everyone there now focuses on agriculture and the arts. They are rebuilding their lives and society. I have seen nothing to suggest that they are planning another assault on Olympus.”
“So we’re safe?”
“I believe so.” Urania pulled her arm back over the water, and the image of Saturn faded. “Perhaps you would like to try it.”
“Really? May I?”
The Muse nodded. “You just wave your arm over the water and say what you wish to see. When you are finished, you bring your arm back to close the image.”
Emily looked excitedly to Pegasus. “Finally I can show you who I’ve been talking about all this time.” She paused and looked at Urania. “Does this show current time, or the past?”
“It will not reveal the past or the future. Only what is happening at this moment.”
Emily waved her arm over the water and said, “Show me Agent B—also known as Benedict Richard Williams, from London, England, Earth.”
Once again the water swirled and fogged. Emily’s heart fluttered with excitement when she first saw the flash of familiar, dark curly hair. This was much better than television. But as the image cleared, she gasped.
Agent B was tied to a chair by leather straps. His hair was longer than she remembered, and he had grown an unkempt beard. One of his eyes was bruised and swollen shut, and he had scratches on his face. He looked as though he’d suffered a severe beating. “Pull back!” Emily commanded. “Show me where he is.”
The image obeyed and pulled farther back to reveal Agent B locked in a small dark cell with thick bars on the front. Other men were outside the cell, seated at a desk at the end of the cell block.
“Focus on those men outside the cell.”
At Emily’s command, the image moved away from Agent B and shifted to the men holding him. Their distinctive black suits and grim expressions left no room for doubt. Finally she said, “Take me farther outside the building. Where are they?”
The image shifted again and seemed to be moving in reverse as it backed out of the cell block, down long, brightly lit corridors, and up through an elevator shaft. Up and up it climbed, until it seemed to float through an old stone wall and into a dark and dusty brick corridor with narrow walls and a low ceiling. Then it came to a set of rough wooden steps, and at the top, went through another old-looking door. It moved along a short corridor with two doors along one wall, marked as men’s and women’s restrooms. Past the bathrooms to yet another set of steps that opened at the top into a vast concourse filled with people. Large moving information signs hung above a long line of payment barriers. Beyond them were trains loading and unloading travelers. It reminded Emily of a smaller version of Grand Central Terminal in New York. But none of it made any sense. What was Agent B doing beneath a train station?
From the concourse, the image backed out onto the street. “Stop!” Emily called. She read the sign above the entrance: CHARING CROSS STATION. With the image paused, Emily looked around the driveway entrance to the station and saw black cabs and two bright red double-decker buses.
Emily looked back up at Pegasus. “How is this possible?”
“What is it, child?” Urania said. “I do not understand. Who is this man who suffers so?”
“You won’t know him, but that’s Agent B. He helped save Olympus when we traveled back in time to the very first war with the Titans. He sacrificed his life for all of us. Then the time line changed and peace was restored with no one remembering what happened. What he did made it all possible. But now, somehow, he is no longer an agent of the CRU. He’s their prisoner!”
“Are you certain?” Urania said.
“Yes,” Emily cried. “But how?” She was pacing the area, trying to figure out how things could have gone so wrong for her friend. “When I destroyed the weapon, the time line changed and Agent B was restored to his life at the CRU. There is no way he could have told anyone what happened because in the new time line, when the gold box was opened in Greece, the weapon wasn’t inside it. So the disaster n
ever happened. No one from Earth could know about that. Only a few of the original Olympians, Titans, and me, remember. But all the Titans are on Titus.”
“You are speaking in riddles,” Urania said. “What do you mean by time lines, weapon, and disaster?”
Emily shook her head. “It’s very complicated and might be hard to understand. But the history you know is very different from what originally happened because we went back in time and changed the past. Trust me. Agent B saved Olympus when Saturn created a weapon that killed Olympians. Without him, none of you would be alive. But until he traveled back in time with us, he was a ‘by the book’ agent. He was cold, mean, and efficient. When the weapon was destroyed in the past and the time line reset, he would have gone back to being that same coldly efficient agent. I can’t imagine what crime he could have committed to end up like that.”
She looked imploringly at Urania. “You’re sure what we’re seeing is happening is right now? Not in the past?”
“I am. The pool only shows present time.”
Dread settled in the pit of Emily’s stomach. “May I use it again?”
“Of course, child. Feel free.”
Emily’s hands were trembling as she waved her hand over the water. “Show me Stella Giannakou.”
The waters obeyed, and Emily was just as sickened to see Stella, not in her home in Athens, Greece, but instead, locked in a small cell, not unlike Agent B’s. There was no wheelchair for her, so the disabled Greek girl was unable to move around her cell. “Show me the guards outside her cell.” The image shifted and revealed two men in suits sitting at the desk at the end of the corridor. They were not the same men from Agent B’s cell block.
Her voice was little more than a whisper. “Now show me Earl Jenkins and Little Frankie.”
The image shifted and showed Earl also sitting in a darkened cell. Like Agent B, his hair was long and he looked haggard, as though he’d been there some time. Then the image moved to the cell next door. A boy in his teens with a head full of bright red hair sat on the narrow bunk. Frankie wasn’t so little anymore. But there was no mistaking that it was him.
