Reborn (21 page)

“The
girls aren’t here.” Farrah’s cool, calm voice behind me sends a chill down my
spine.

“O-oh,”
I stammer as I whirl around to face her. “Are we having chapter somewhere
else?” My voice squeaks at the end of the question.

Farrah’s
laugh is as close to a cackle as I’ve heard anyone come to in real life. “I
sent them away. I realized that, if you’re really not going to help us, then I
really have no use for you. And killing you is just too much fun.” She backs
away from me a step at a time, keeping her icy jade gaze fixed on me, and I
instinctively lunge forward, my fingers curled and reaching for her slender,
pretty neck—

—but
instead I collide with an invisible barrier that sends me crumpling like a rag
doll to the floor.

I
get to my hands and knees, breathing hard and glaring at her. Hef has
materialized next to her, a ball of orange fire in his brown hand. I swipe my
fingers through the air in front of me, and the cage crackles, a translucent
ripple running through it that distorts their figures. Hef tosses the fireball
casually at the entertainment console, and it goes up in flames.

“Goodbye
for now,” Farrah says just as the fire licks the floor between us all the way
up to the couches, which are consumed instantaneously. The fire spreads
impossibly fast, like the floor and furniture are coated with gasoline. Farrah
and Hef meander away from it and out the front door as though they’re going outside
for an evening stroll. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know this is a
ridiculous and ostentatious way to kill someone, but as the room fills with
smoke, fear and panic dispel any rational thought. I lay down on my stomach,
gasping as smoke infiltrates from above—I can’t get out, and the flames can’t
get in, but my enclosure apparently doesn’t have a ceiling. I’m getting
breathless and woozy as I fumble my phone out of my purse, scrolling
frantically for Jasper’s name through bleary eyes. When I find it, I text one
word:

help

I
drift in and out of a sleep-like state. Maybe I should just let myself slip
into blissful unconsciousness. Maybe it’s supposed to be this way. I wasn’t
supposed to come back, so the universe or some force has been conspiring to
make things right, regain balance…

“Siobhan!”

I
hear his voice, but it sounds dream-like and faraway. Two arms pick me up and
shake me gently but urgently.

“Siobhan,
snap out of it!” With every desperate word, Jasper’s voice becomes louder and
clearer. “What happened?”

My
eyes flutter open, meeting his blue ones. Those beautiful, deep blue pools that
pull me under like the current of the ocean. Mmmmm…

“Stay
with me!”

I
peer at him from under heavy lids.

Despite
Jasper’s pleas, the first thing to really jar me back to my senses is the
clean, smokeless air now reaching my nostrils, flowing into my lungs. I open my
eyes wider. The room has gone back to normal—the fire quashed, the furniture
unscathed.

“The
fire—” I say in confusion, but before I even realize what’s happened, Jasper
has flipped me around so that my back is molded to his front. One of his arms
has snaked around my waist while the other is lodged under my throat, where
it’s pressing into me bit by agonizing bit, suffocating me.

“Son.”
Farrah appears, pink and golden, into my line of sight. “How nice of you to
join us.”

Jasper’s
breath is hot against my ear as he hisses at me.

“You
must think I’m a
fucking
idiot
.”

Chapter 28

“No,”
I gasp. I try to get more out, but instead just
open my mouth and gag
under the pressure of his forearm against my throat. There’s a flutter of white
cloth and feathers, and then my fellow executive board members file into the
room and form a circle around me and Jasper. They’re clad in billowing white robes
with long, dangling sleeves and hems that kiss the floor.

A
feather brushes my skin. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the black down of
Jasper’s own wings. I keep waiting for him to drop me and make a run for it—he
might be able to catch my sisters by surprise and bolt out the door. Then I see
the tip of one of Victoria’s brilliant white wings send a quiver through the
invisible enclosure wrapping around the outside of the circle. Jasper wouldn’t
make it very far.

Victoria
cradles one of the stones we found in Farrah’s room in her hands. It glows red
like a hot coal, yet she doesn’t flinch. Farrah takes two steps back to join
them in the circle.

“First
we must reaffirm our pledge to Nike,” Farrah announces. A few mouths open, no
sound coming out, eyes glancing uncertainly between me and Jasper and back to
Farrah. “
Now
.”

The
first few words of the oath start off shaky, but soon the voices of the sisters
of Gamma Lambda Phi blend together in unison, crisp and solemn:

“Sisters we gather,

In answer to the call,

To fulfill our destiny

As guardians this side of the wall.

“Where the fabric wears thin,

And our enemy’s at hand,

We must thrust him back

Into his own land.

“We honor our legacy

And before the night is done,

Sisters past, present and future

Will unite as one.”

After the final
word rings out, Carly takes over. “To Nike we have sworn a promise, to uphold
three main duties as her agents on Earth: the first being
gregoreuo
, to
watch.”

I spasm in
Jasper’s clutch as a tearing sound splits the air in front of us. Tanya picks
up the oath: “
Latreuo
, to serve.”

The
ripping noise is followed by what reminds me of a loud, sharp intake of air,
like a giant inhaling through the mouth. It almost drowns out even Victoria’s
strong, commanding voice as she ends the ritual.  “
Phroureo
, to
protect.”

Whatever
is forming before us seems to collapse in on itself, the hiss fading along with
it. A second later, a soundless explosion pummels my face as a silver whirlpool
bursts open in the air at our feet, hovering just above and parallel to the
floor. Its edges slither out like ghostly fingers, drawing Jasper closer to the
brink, but he staggers back just out of its pull without loosening his grip on
me.

“Oh,
please
,” Farrah groans above the roar of the whirlpool. “You can’t
possibly think holding onto
her
is going to stop me from knocking you
into that portal.”

“I
know it won’t stop you, but it’ll stop her.” I have no idea who Jasper is
talking about until Victoria steps forward.

“Let
her go, Eros.” She says it firmly, although her eyes are pleading. “She’s
innocent. Leave her out of this.”

“Innocent?”
he spits. I feel his warm breath on my ear. “I was wrong—you’re just like
Psyche. One word from your sisters, and you betray me.”

“I…didn’t…”
I look to Victoria for help, but she doesn’t hop to my defense, doesn’t even
try to tell him that I wanted nothing to do with their plan—that I’m being
used. Instead, she reminds him of something that does nothing to soothe my
pounding heart.

“You
know portals only allow one person to cross over at a time.”

“I’m
counting
on it, dear sister.”

“You
love her!”

“I
did. Once.”

“She
was your
wife
.” Her fearful eyes graze my face before returning to meet
his resolutely. “She’s
my
best friend. No harm will come to her on my
watch, so you might as well—”

“Enough
of this chitchat.” Farrah’s voice has moved behind us, but I barely have enough
time to register this. At the same time Jasper spins around, making me the
receiving end of whatever Farrah has planned for us.

“Aphrodite,
no
—”

Something
slams into my stomach like an invisible bowling ball, knocking me and Jasper
over the edge of the spiraling portal.

Despite
the nauseating pain in my abdomen and the roar of wind in my ears, my brain can
only fixate on Jasper’s final act of betrayal, of putting me in harm’s way in a
last ditch effort to save himself. His grip on me has slackened, and I turn my
head to meet his gaze one final time, hoping my own eyes reflect the hatred
coursing through me. Eyes wide, lips pulled back in a silent scream, his hands
thrust forward to push me up and away from him just as his back hits the
churning silver pool below us.

“
Jasper
!”
I shriek. His outstretched hands are the last to be swallowed up. I shut my
eyes as the suction of the portal reels me in.

An
instant later, my body lands with a thud on the hardwood floor.

“
Why
did you have to do that?” demands Victoria.

“I
did what I had to,” Farrah insists. “I knew he wouldn’t let her die.”

“Did
you?”

“Didn’t
you
?”

“
Guys
!”
Tanya yells, cutting off Victoria and Farrah’s explosive argument. She’s the
only one who seems to have noticed me crawling around on my hands and knees. I
hear wailing, and I know in my head it’s coming from me, but I feel dissociated
from the girl clawing at the floorboards where the portal vanished, screaming
Jasper’s name over and over again.

Tanya
bends and tries to pry me from the floor. “He’s gone. Please get up. Come lay
down on the couch.”

“It’s
for the best—” Victoria starts to assure me, but I bat away the hand she offers
me.

“I
don’t need
your
help!” I get shakily to my feet, my roommate hovering
beside me. “You couldn’t even tell him I didn’t want anything to do with this!
And
you
,” I breathe, glowering at Farrah. “You set me up. You made me
think I was in danger so that I’d call Jasper for help.” A few sharp intakes of
breath go up around me as my sisters gape at Farrah.

“It
was the only way to get him here,” Farrah replies unapologetically. “It
is
for the best. You may not see it now, but it is.”

“Go
away.” I curl up on the couch and cover my face with a pillow. “I just want to
be left alone.”

There’s
a pregnant pause before footsteps creak on the stairs. The door to the guest
room opens and closes.

“Let
me know if you need anything.” Victoria flips off the ceiling lights and then
follows the others upstairs.

I’m
alone in the dark, sinking into the plush sofa cushions, wanting to disappear.
My sobs eventually turn to whimpers, which finally fade altogether as welcome,
forgetful sleep overtakes me.

***

I
wake up what feels like hours later, my head fuzzy, feeling even more tired
than before I lied down. It has to be Monday morning, but when I lift my head,
the Quad is dark beyond the blinds on the picture window. Victoria sits on the
other olive couch, her feet tucked under her, a book propped open on the arm.
Orange and blue plaid pajama pants and sorority letters have replaced her regal
white robe. I look at the round face of the clock by the TV: It’s only a little
after nine.

“How
are you feeling?” Victoria asks me as I sit up a little further.

“Okay,
I guess.” I stretch the sleep out of my arms. The pain in my stomach is gone
but has moved to my chest: a hollow ache I suspect isn’t from Farrah’s attack
or my fall to the floor.

“Look,
I’m sorry—”

“Don’t,”
I insist.

“No,
I need to say this.” Victoria sets her book down on the coffee table and comes
to sit next to me. “I’m sorry it had to be this way. Truly, I am. Aphrodite
believed strongly you were the only person that could lure Eros to us, but
since she couldn’t get you to go along with it…I wish we could say we’d do it
differently if we had to do it again, but…” She shrugs helplessly.

“You
did what you had to do.”

Victoria
looks skeptical. “Are you sure that’s how you feel?”

“I
just know I’m ashamed for the way I acted when it was over. I don’t know what’s
been going on with me lately. The euphoric highs and the miserable lows. I
guess it’s all because of him.”

“It’s
not
all
because of him.” She doesn’t look like she wants to elaborate,
but one exasperated glance from me and she explains, “Our emotions run deep.
What a human feels, an Olympian feels one thousand-fold, maybe more.”

“Ugh.
Isn’t there a way to make them go away? To feel like a normal human again?”

“I’m
afraid not.”

I
look away from her and try to make out the title on the glossy cover of her
abandoned text book, but glare from the lamplight obscures it. I don’t want
her, a full-blooded Olympian, to see the hopelessness I know must show in my
eyes, to see how badly I don’t want this for myself. But apparently it’s too
late. There’s no going back.

“You
don’t look anything like your picture,” I tease her to lighten the mood. My
eyes shift to the stained glass portrait of Nike in the window, red hair long
and tumbling around a heart-shaped face, full cheeks and curvy mouth.

Victoria
follows my gaze and smiles, giving a bark of laughter. “I guess I should grow
my hair out. And get Botox. Eros got all the good genes.”

“I
still can’t believe you’re his
sister
.”

“
Half
-sister,”
she quickly corrects me. “We have different fathers. Which reminds me of
something I need to tell Aphrodite—”

“What
do you need to tell me?” Farrah’s—I mean Aphrodite’s, whatever—voice says from
the doorway of her room. She emerges wrapped in a pink silk robe, her blonde tresses
piled high on her head in a careless bun, and joins us on the sofa. I pull my
legs up to my chest and hug my knees.

“I
think we’ve been missing something,” Victoria explains. “Now that I’ve realized
it, it seems kind of obvious.” Farrah raises her perfect eyebrows. “I started
to feel it after—after our fight,” Victoria continues, looking at me. “There’s
another force at work here; one that’s turning us against each other. Sure,
Eros, Apate and Dolos are mischievous and manipulative, but even combined they
can’t stir up this kind of upheaval. It’s only going to get worse. War is
here.”

“You
think Eros’s father is behind this,” Farrah muses. “But only three portals were
opened the day of the escape. Not four.”

Victoria’s
mouth is set in a grim line. “And only three crossed over: Eros, Apate and
Ares
.”

“No
one has seen Dolos back home.” Farrah’s voice remains skeptical. “We’ve never
come across Ares on our reconnaissance here.”

“We’ve
never actually seen Dolos here, either. Because he’s not,” Victoria insists.
“He could be dead for all we know. You know Ares better than most. If he
doesn’t want us to find him, we won’t.”

“Eric!”
I blurt. “I mean, Dr. Mars. My World Myths and Legends professor—Jasper’s dad,”
I realize, my heart sinking into my stomach. Anna has run away to Olympus with
the god of war.

“Dr.
Mars
? Cute.” Farrah rolls her eyes. “Looks like he’s been hiding in
plain sight.”

“Wait
a minute.” Something else has just occurred to me. “If each portal only lets
one person through, how is Jasper planning to bring an entire army back to
Olympus with him?” Farrah opens her mouth to answer me, but then two voices
float down from the second floor landing. Tanya and Carly plod down the stairs.

“How
are you doing?” Tanya asks me.

“I’m
okay,” I tell them.

“And
I’m off to bed.” Farrah gets up from the couch. Tanya and Carly squeeze in next
to me. “Goodnight, ladies.”

“’Night!”
we call out, our voices staggered. After tonight’s whirlwind events, I’m surprised
at how mundane we sound.

Victoria
glances nervously past me and starts to rise. “I should turn in, too.”

“It’s
not even ten. Stay!” Tanya exclaims.

“Really?”
Victoria sits back down.

“Of
course!” Carly chimes in.

“I
mean, I would understand if you didn’t…you know, if you weren’t comfortable
with the whole...”

“What,
the lesbian thing?” Tanya interjects. “Why would we care about that?”

“Well,
I know how you feel about Samantha.”

“I
don’t like Samantha because she’s a huge bitch. You could do
so
much
better than her.”