Reborn (16 page)

Chapter 22

My
sisters watch me walk to Farrah’s room as slowly
as a criminal walking
toward the electric chair. Once I’m inside she slams the door behind us.

“I let you off
the hook last time,” Farrah hisses, getting right to the point. “And what do
you do? You must have complete disregard for authority.”

“Just yours,” I
fire back. “Why should I follow your rules? Why should I trust
you
? I
know who you are.” I don’t know if I’m being brave or stupid, but I continue,
“You’re the one who killed me.”

Farrah’s
answering smile is smug. “I see my son has told you some things. What exactly
has he said to you?”

“That he and I
were husband and wife, once, back on Olympus. When I was Psyche,” I reply, my
bravado faltering. “He said you were always jealous of me and murdered me.”
Amusement mingles with pity on Farrah’s features, making me second-guess
myself. Is it all a lie—has Jasper actually tricked me into thinking I’m a
reincarnated goddess?

I’m not doing a
very good job of concealing my doubt from Farrah because next she assures me,
“Oh, no, that’s all true. But did he tell you why he’s here? On Earth?”

Flooded with
relief, I nod earnestly. “He told me he came back for me.” This makes Farrah
burst out into uproarious laughter. “What’s so funny?”

Farrah wipes a
tear from her eye. “And humans think
we’re
conceited? You foolish girl.
Eros didn’t come here for
you
.”

“Don’t get me
wrong,” she continues, perching on her bed. She gestures for me to sit down in
her desk chair. “Now that he’s been reunited with you, his desire to repair
your relationship is sincere. My son has always been inexplicably drawn to
you.” I balk at her emphasis on “inexplicably,” but she doesn’t give me a
chance to be offended. “But as far as he knew, you were dead. No, something
else brought him to Earth—something he wouldn’t want his precious butterfly to
know about.

“Let me back up.
It’s time for a little history lesson.” Her sick joy over my seeming naiveté
vanishes, replaced with gravity. “I’m about to change your view of your world
and its history. Are you ready for that?”

Can a person
ever be ready for that? I nod anyway.

“This isn’t the first time my people have visited
this planet,” she begins. “In fact, we used to visit Earth regularly. The
Ancient Greeks called us gods to try to explain our superior intellect and
abilities. We gave them a nudge here and there to keep their intellectual and
technological progress moving.

“But
many of us interfered in other ways—myself included, although I’m not proud of
it.” Her neutral tone of voice doesn’t betray whether she means this or is
merely trying to make herself look good for my benefit. “We tricked them.
Seduced them. Finally many of us realized that it would be in humankind’s best
interests if we left and allowed humans to develop on their own. But still, a
few of us resisted. They didn’t think there was any harm in toying with you.
They believed humankind was and always would be inferior.

“With the help
of our human allies, those of us who wanted to cut all ties with Earth were
able to seal the portals between our worlds.” She stops to consider me, as if
waiting for my reaction, but I sit unmoving with my hands folded in my lap, my
face stoic. “As you may have already worked out, we left a little something
behind: our DNA. Hundreds of thousands of little demigods, so to speak, running
around Earth. Blind to their Olympian heritage because only exposure to a
specific compound from my world awakens it.”

Ambrosia. Jasper
must have had some of it on his hand the night we found him. At the mixer he
acted like he had given me something back, bestowed this gift upon me, when
really all the ambrosia did was turn my silent, Olympian DNA back on. At last
Jimmy’s self-healing ability makes sense—he and Anna must be part Olympian,
too. “What does this have to do with Jasper’s return?” To my chagrin, I choke
on the question, giving away how deeply her chilling rewrite of history is
affecting me. I wish she’d stop the build up and get to the point.

“My son
was…distraught after your death.” Farrah chooses the wording after a lengthy
pause in which she again appears perplexed over the depth of his feeling for
me. “He was hopeless. Morose. I guess you could say he started hanging out with
the wrong crowd. Rumors circulated around Olympus that some of the young people
were plotting a rebellion, but the other Elders and I didn’t take them
seriously. The rumors mostly involved troubled siblings Apate and Dolos—none of
their peers actually sided with them. Finally they, along with Eros, figured
out how to cross over to Earth, breaking our sacred promise to no longer
interfere with this world.

“We were forced
to send a few others across to find out what they were doing here. From the
intelligence we’ve been able to gather, it looks like they’re awakening the
demigods to build an army—an army they can bring back to Olympus to overthrow
Zeus and Hera.”

My first
instinct is to scoff at this ridiculous story, but then I remember Genie’s
gills and scaly skin, the group coming out of Jasper’s office and the bottle of
ambrosia in his bathroom.

I
cross my arms over my chest and raise my eyebrows in skepticism. “Why should I
believe
you
? You killed me, and you enjoyed it. You really expect me to
believe you give a crap about Earth?”

“I’ve always had
a soft-spot for humans, especially the halflings—it’s
you
I don’t like,”
she clarifies, her jade eyes narrowing at me. “And yes, I liked killing you—I
enjoyed it immensely—but I only gave into the urge because I suspected you’d
come back.” This gets another eyebrow raise out of me.

“Every Olympian
has a quality, an essence unique to them,” Farrah explains. “It’s why humans
used us to explain or personify certain concepts. Usually a demigod inherits
the essence of his or her ancestor, but yours seems to be unique—or at least we
don’t know who your power originated from.” Farrah’s lip twitches. “I bet that
pleases you, knowing you’re special.” She couldn’t be more wrong. My wings
never made me feel special—just lonely.

“Your essence is
that of the spirit, the soul. When an Olympian dies, she simply vanishes.”
Farrah snaps her fingers on the last word. “Same goes for the demigods. We
don’t have souls. Except for
you
. I thought you might come back. You’re
a biology major. Think of it as an experiment.”

“An
experiment
?”
I repeat through gritted teeth, but then I think about all the
E. coli
,
Drosophila
flies and other lesser organisms I’ve tampered with in bio lab.

“I’m not
planning a second trial, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Farrah says,
although her voice doesn’t sound too reassuring. “Even if I was, I wouldn’t off
you just yet. I need you.”

I hesitate
before asking, “Why?”

“To help
Hephaestus and me send Eros back to Olympus.”

“
What?
”

“He loves you.
Trusts you. He won’t expect you to turn on him.”

“Why should
I
help
you
prevent rebellion on
your
world?” I ask. “I barely
remember Olympus. I don’t care what happens there.”

“He’s bringing
Earth into what should be a war amongst Olympians,” she says almost in
exasperation. “Brainwashing humans to fight his battle for him in exchange for
awakening their Olympian heritage—bringing them as close to immortality as any
being can come.

“You won’t be
alone,” she adds. “Your Gamma Lambda Phi sisters will be there to help you.”

“Wait.” I close
my eyes for a moment, an ache blossoming on my forehead, probably from
information overload. “What does my sorority have to do with this?” I ask,
looking at her again.

“Some of your
sisters are descendants of Nike. They helped her seal the connections between
Earth and Olympus those many years ago. Today, only a select few of the women
at Headquarters know about Gamma Lambda Phi’s original purpose: to guard the
connections and keep them sealed.” I think back to the bronze chalice filled
with water, the unusual ceremony we practiced after our chapter meeting:

Where the fabric
wears thin/And our enemy’s at hand/We must thrust him back/Into his own land…

“The girls you
kicked out,” I recall. “They’re normal humans.”

“That’s right.”

“Kind of sounds
like ethnic cleansing, or something.”

For once, Farrah
looks genuinely offended. “I’m trying to protect them. The task ahead of us may
be dangerous—I don’t want to endanger human lives.”

“Your sisters
will perform the ceremony.” She ignores my distrusting stare and gets back to
the plan. “All you have to do is get Jasper to come with you to the house.”
Farrah gets up and crouches down in front of me. I instinctively push back in
the chair. “What do you think? Will you help us?”

I swallow hard
over the lump congealing in my throat. “I need some time to think about it,” I
tell her quietly. Despite Jasper’s lies, his secrets, I’m not sure I like where
this is going. How can I use his feelings for me against him? That would make
me no better than him—than
any
of them.

“I understand,”
Farrah insists in a tone suggesting she doesn’t understand, at all. She rises
to her feet. “As soon as you decide, let me know.” She walks to the door,
hinting that our meeting is over, but I have one last question.

“What about his
followers?” I press. I recall the look of reverence on Liz’s face, and her
calling Jasper
Master
. “How can we make them see what Jasper and his
friends are doing is wrong?”

“I think once
we’ve sent them back, restored order between our worlds, the people Eros, Apate
and Dolos have transitioned will be easy to convince.”

I shake my head.
“How could that be easy? Who wouldn’t want to be more Olympian than human if
they could? More beautiful, stronger, just…better. Who would turn down
immortality?”

Farrah twists
the knob and pushes the door open. “Trust me, Siobhan—you don’t really want to
be like us. Despite our obvious strengths, we have manipulative tendencies.
Even when we’re well-meaning, we only end up causing upheaval.”

Thankfully
over the next several days, I don’t have to make up excuses to avoid seeing
Jasper outside of class; he’s preoccupied taking over Dr. Mars’s schedule while
the history professor is away. The absence of beard and brawn at the front of
the classroom leaves a gaping hole that even Jasper can’t fill. There’s a knot
in my stomach that only grows tighter with each passing day that doesn’t bring
the return of Eric and Anna. I believe what I told Peter at The End: I don’t
know how Eric fits into all this, but he’s taken Anna to Olympus. I highly
doubt there are cell towers there; Anna has no way to let me or her brother
know she’s safe.

In
the meantime, I immerse myself in homework and the sorority, especially
preparations for Friday’s Find Your Sister a Mister dance. I can’t really say
I’m surprised that Jimmy hasn’t texted or called me after our argument. At the
end of Friday’s World Myth’s class, I take out my phone for the hundredth time
to message him, but just like the last ninety nine times, end up staring at his
name on the screen instead before tucking my phone back in my purse.

“Siobhan!”
I feel the light but desperate touch of Jasper’s hand on my arm as I’m leaving
the auditorium. “I’ve tried to catch up to you every day after class, but you
always seemed like you were in a hurry. Sure you’re not avoiding me?” he asks
playfully.

I
answer with a laugh, albeit a nervous one. “This week has just been crazy.
Planning this dance has taken over my life.”

“Sounds
like you need a break. I want to take you out tonight.” He takes my hand in
his, and the tender brush of his fingers sends a tingle of anticipation
throughout my entire body. “Dinner, just the two of us.”

I
shake my head. “Like I was saying, the dance is tonight. You can be my date, if
you want,” I add. I already know he won’t because Farrah is chaperoning. Just
as I expected, he grimaces.

“Come
out with
me
instead.” Today his eyes are the color of shining sapphires
rather than the blue-black of a night sky. I quickly look down at our entwined
hands, unable to look into his eyes without falling.

“I
can’t. I really have to be at the dance. Speaking of which—” I release his
hand—“I should get going. There’s a lot to do.”

“Tomorrow,
then. I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.” He says it with a mischievous smile,
but his eyes have clouded over again. I give a start as he sweeps by me without
waiting for my response. Pushing through the double doors, I leave Frasier Hall
and walk out into the dry but gray late morning, the sky a thick stew of charcoal
storm clouds. As soon as I open the door to the sorority house, I hear panicked
footsteps coming down the stairs and Victoria’s manic voice.

“Siobhan,
I hope that’s you!” She runs up to me, waving a packet of papers in my face.