“What have your prisoners revealed?”
I glanced up at my master and friend as he entered the isolated apartment where I lived on a compound in central DC. The compound housed little else than my quarters; there were too many secrets for me to live among normal humans.
“Nothing.” Washing my bloodied fists in the sink at the bar, I dried them and poured him his favorite drink. Unlike most men, the Supreme Priest preferred fruity drinks with umbrellas. “They won’t say what’s in the forest.”
“But you felt something.”
“I did.” Something … familiar.
“It bothers you.”
My hands paused as I finished his drink.
Lantos sat on a stool at the bar. He removed the mask he wore in public to reveal the face of a man in his thirties with sparkling green eyes and a smile that seemed out of place for someone with such a stately position as the religious leader of the world.
“I know you, Adonis,” Lantos chided gently. “Better than you know yourself. What did you sense?”
It was unlike me to hesitate to share any thought with the man who saved my life, yet something about what I’d experienced made me balk at the idea. I closed my eyes and tilted my head, bringing up the memory from the night before, of the calm lake reflecting starlight, the scent of pine and other trees in the air, and the peace that always came with leaving the confines of the city to hunt.
Beyond the pleasures of nature, I’d sensed … a flicker of awareness, an instinct buried so deeply, it shocked me to feel it. What I’d experienced had nothing to do with the lake or what might’ve been present. It was something inside me, and I wasn’t accustomed to such mysteries or surprises about myself.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Whatever they hide there, it’s familiar to me on a level I should know.”
“Your memories have begun to return?”
Opening my eyes, I shook my head. “Not at all. There is nothing before the night you saved my life.”
“Your beast instincts?”
“Baffled.”
Rustling from below me drew a smile. The tiny creature – an animated stuffed animal – was pawing my leg like she did every time I returned to the apartment. I had no memory of obtaining her, no idea how she’d come to life. I only recalled waking to find her and Lantos hovering over me in worry and the life threatening wound in my side healed by the magic of Lantos’ father.
“Hello Mrs. Nettles,” I greeted the toy and picked her up. I didn’t remember how she came by that name either, but she insisted I call her this.
Pink. She said and shuffled over to the Supreme Priest. At times uncannily wise beyond my years, she was at other times nothing more than a moth drawn to sparkly or bright things. She was currently fascinated by the umbrella in his drink.
“For you, Mrs. Nettles.” Lantos handed her the umbrella. “How are you today?”
I shook my head at his look. She was too bedazzled to respond. No one heard her but me.
“Any luck on figuring out if the Silent Queen or Magistrate are involved?” Lantos asked.
“They’re keeping things tightly held.” I mentally went over the reports and activities of the day. “We destroyed the forest and found these everywhere.” I lifted a gym bag onto the counter and withdrew a red cord.
Lantos’ eyes lit up. He picked up one and held it over his forearm then lowered it. The rope cord turned to something resembling smoke. His body absorbed it.
“Part of your power,” I observed. “What is it?”
“These, Adonis, keep gods and men and everyone but my father from seeing what they protect.” He lifted another and dropped it into his forearm. “I gave these to someone around the time I rescued you, under orders from my father.”
“Who isn’t about to tell you what he was protecting.”
Lantos grimaced. A demigod, he was the disowned son of a Titan, marooned on earth when he disobeyed his father and cut off from everything and everyone but his own eclectic mix of powers. “No, but I can guess. The men downstairs in prison. What are their names?”
“Herakles and Thiebauld.”
Lantos grinned. He stood and paced, his step energized. “Adonis, you are incredible! One tiny instinct gave way to all this! We only need Herakles. Send the others to the House or wherever you make men disappear. And … go back to the forest tonight. We need to know what happened to Herakles’ charge.”
Alessandra, said Mrs. Nettles. She was gazing at me. At times, I considered the notion my toy was possessed even more so than usual. Her voice was different when she said the name, and the gleam of intelligence was in her eyes. The umbrella was forgotten at her side.
An image I’d never seen before flashed into my thoughts, that of a little girl clutching a blue gem. Just as quickly, it vanished. “His charge? You think that’s what the forest and cords were hiding?”
“I know it is. I gave these to Herakles and a priest twelve years ago. It was the last order of my father’s I obeyed: to hide the new Oracle.”
“Oracle,” I repeated. “Finally. We’ll be able to start Phase Two soon.”
“Exactly. But … we need to beat the Queen and Magistrate to her. The gods are too busy to prepare her trials. I’ve maneuvered them into letting the Triumvirate determine what challenges she must overcome before her power manifests fully, as is customary. Each of us gets to task her once.”
I listened. Lantos was a man of shadows and secrets buried beneath a brilliant smile. That he’d been planning for an event no one knew was coming didn’t surprise me. “You have a trial in mind already.”
“I do.” He smiled. “And it has to do with Phase Two.”
Lantos’ sole motivation in life was to carry out his father’s revenge in the hopes of being granted asylum with the rest of the Titans. His single act of disobedience – saving my life – had seen him cut off. Together we’d risen in power with a combination of my unusually strong adeptness at political maneuvering and his magic, combined with his ambition. Despite my skill at obtaining power, I had no desire for it, but I would always bend my will to Lantos.
“We will get to her first.” I considered. “You said Herakles is her guardian?”
Lantos nodded.
“I’ll let word leak that he’s here. If she’s got a fraction of the power of a goddess, she won’t hesitate to unleash it find her guardian.” I placed Mrs. Nettles on the ground and moved out from behind the counter. It was almost past sunset. I peeled off my weapons and watch in anticipation of the change. “Tonight I’ll return to the forest and look for any trace of where she went.”
The image flashed once more and this time, brought a stab of pain.
“Your nose is bleeding,” Lantos said.
I touched my nostril and gazed briefly at the drop of maroon on my fingertip. The pain subsided and with it, the vision of the girl. “Just sinuses.” Why did I say that? It wasn’t sinuses, and I knew it. The urge to lie to the man to whom I owed my life had been instinctive.
Alessandra, Mrs. Nettles said once more.
Lantos was gazing at me closely, a flicker of something dark in his gaze. Normally, Lantos was the moon and me the night sky. His outgoing, optimistic personality sometimes grated on others whereas my silence was usually taken with caution if not fear. People were able to sense the predator I was without seeing me in my secondary form. It helped that my reputation – well earned – was nonetheless much larger than my deeds.
I cleaned up my nose and felt the trickle of fire that went through me every time I was about to change. “How go your Holy Wars?”
“Exactly as planned. We’re keeping the Magistrate’s men busy outside the Wall and the gods in disarray, fighting one another rather than us. I brokered another truce today.”
“Only you could do something like this.”
“Stop baiting me. It was your idea. Divide and conquer.”
By nature, I tended to toy with the people around me. It wasn’t malicious, more instinctual. I made every effort not to do so around Lantos for the simple reason that he was my friend.
“Like a true war leader. How do you come up with such ideas?” he asked, half in jest.
I shrugged. “It made sense for the situation.”
“It’s tied to your past. Your hunches are too … good for them to be just hunches.”
“And I told you I’m not remembering anything yet. If I guess correctly, it’s not consciously.”
“Any insight or hunches as to what Artemis is up to?” Lantos asked casually.
Of all the gods stuck on earth, Artemis was the only who hadn’t sought him out to help establish a territory or broker deals with the Supreme Magistrate’s men. It was common knowledge among the gods and goddesses that Lantos was one of them. Crisis kept them from demanding his exact lineage or asking too many questions that might reveal him as the son of their enemy. “None. The gods are your business, not mine.”
“You’ve proven frighteningly accurate in everything.”
“If I knew, I’d tell you,” I replied. “I hear nothing through the networks and no indication your fellow Triumvirate members have any insight either.”
Lantos nodded.
“I’m about to change,” I said and pushed off my boots. “See you in the morning.”
“Fly well.” Lantos’ smile returned. He replaced his mask, bowed to Mrs. Nettles and left my flat.
I went to my room and stripped out of my clothing before heading to the balcony to change.
Mismatch. Mrs. Nettles was shuffling after me as fast as her stubby legs would go.
“What is it, Mrs. Nettles?” I asked. “Quickly. It’s my time.”
Don’t hurt her.
“You know what Phase Two is. I must obey Lantos,” I replied gently.
You will see.
This was definitely one of her double possession stages when she seemed have knowledge beyond her or my ability to access.
My attention shifted to the fire growing inside me. The moment the sun dipped beneath the horizon, my body began its nightly transformation. Black wings sprouted and spread from my shoulders outward. The hair on my body disappeared, and my head grew heavy, my features malformed and hideous, my body thickening and growing half a foot taller. Talons sprouted from my hands and toes followed soon after by a barbed, whip-like tail.
Not even Lantos knew how and why this transformation occurred. I resembled the stone grotesques and gargoyles perched on the temples of the gods. Many nights, I flew and sat among them, waiting for any of them to come to life and join me for my nightly hunt.
They never did and I was left with a sense of loss to reinforce the knowledge I was alone.
Fly! Mrs. Nettles clapped silently and watched my wings flare out. The vacant look was back in her face. Whatever secondary possession took hold of her, it was gone once more.
Not entirely alone. I had never met another animated toy, either. We were different and unique, thrust together by circumstances I didn’t recall.
I bowed my head to her and turned my attention to the sky. While my beast senses were strong even in human form, they were unleashed when I was a creature. I swept into the sky, barreling upward until I was above the city, then flinging out my wings to catch an air current and hover. My heart raced from the ascension, and my shoulders warmed from the exercise.
I turned my focus north, towards the forests of Maryland, and began flying. My grumbling stomach would wait for now; I needed to complete Lantos’ mission first. The odd instincts were stronger in my beast form, the draw of what was hidden in the forest, the compulsion to find it … her … nearly beyond my ability to curb. I needed to know for certain if the image in my mind was accurate and why I’d done the unthinkable and lied to my only friend about something as unimportant as a nosebleed.
Whatever was going on, it didn’t take the primal urges of a beast for me to know the world was about to change.
***
Omega releases October 26. Click here to add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Omega Series – one teen girl stands between the Greek gods and the human race they seek to enslave
Omega (2015)
Theta (2016)
Alpha (2017)
The Omega Beginnings Miniseries is now available! Learn about the characters from Omega and what started them down the paths they’re on! Short stories in the series release every month between the fifteenth and twentieth!
Omega Beginnings Series
Alessandra
Mismatch
Phoibe
Lantos
Theodocia
Niko
Cleon
Herakles
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