Something True (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Orion

“Oh my gosh! Did you see that? What a catch!”

Darla grabbed my arm and shook it. We were hanging by the stoves in the kitchen at the back of the cafeteria, waiting for the school chef—who was an entirely silent old guy with an earring and a skinny black mustache named Geraldo—to load up two more trays of pancakes. The players, cheerleaders, fans, and parents were pretty much on their third helpings by now, but still hankering for more. The tiny TV mounted to the wall was playing college football highlights on ESPN. I had sort-of-kind-of seen the catch, but sort-of-kind-of not. Because my mind kept replaying that kiss with True over and over again, making me feel either nauseous or heart-poundingly turned on with no warning.

“That game was crazy,” Darla said, leaning against the wall. “Did you see it?”

She grabbed a piece of bacon out of one of the trays and crunched into it, then picked up another and handed it to me. I thanked her and ate it like the good boyfriend I was pretending to be. On the other side of the propped-open door into the cafeteria, dozens of kids from school sat around eating and laughing and gossiping, but of course the only person I saw was True. She was mopping up a puddle of maple syrup, her long hair pulled back in a bun.

“Orion?”

“Sorry,” I said, blinking. I somehow felt like I’d just woken up. “What?”

“I said, did you see the Michigan game on Thursday?” She gestured at the TV. Geraldo flipped a pancake onto a stack of about ten and transferred the whole thing into a wide silver tray.

Last weekend if you’d told me that Darla would have seen a football game I hadn’t seen and that she’d be psyched to talk to me about it, I would have laughed so hard I would have ruptured something.

But here she was, looking at me all bright-eyed and eager. She was spending her Saturday morning at a Boosters pancake breakfast instead of sleeping in or working at the boutique she loved, and she was vibing on ESPN. It was obvious to the world that she was trying. Which meant it was well past time for me to stop thinking about True. The kiss was a mistake. It was a blip. Darla was my girlfriend. My homecoming date. I should start treating her like she was.

I reached for her hand. She looked at me, startled, and popped the last bit of bacon into her mouth.

“Hey, listen. Do you want to do some campaigning tomorrow?” I suggested. “It’s supposed to be nice out, so everyone will probably be hanging out in town. Maybe we could walk around and, like, press the flesh or whatever.”

Darla couldn’t have looked more stunned if I’d dropped down on my knee and popped the question.

“Really? I’d love to!” she said. “I can’t believe it!”

Geraldo added more pancakes to the tray, then pushed it in our direction. Which I took as my cue to go. I lifted one tray and Darla took the other.

“You don’t have to sound so shocked,” I said with a laugh as we walked through to the cafeteria. The line for more pancakes was already a mile long. We brought them to the serving table, where Claudia, Peter, Wallace, and some other people were holding down the fort.

Darla wiped her hands on her white apron and turned to me. Underneath that apron she was wearing gray leggings and an oversize LCHS sweatshirt, her hair pulled to the right in a side ponytail. I noticed for the first time that she was also almost makeup free—nothing but some shimmer stuff on her lips. She looked pretty this way. Younger. Like she wasn’t trying so hard.

“Sorry. I just figured if someone was going to bring up homecoming today, it would be me,” she said with a wry laugh. We walked back to the kitchen for the smaller trays of bacon. “But guess what? Wallace came up with this great idea.”

From the big front pocket on her sweatshirt, she pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out to me. Printed on it were two sides of what looked like business cards. The first side was a pretty black-and-white picture of Darla. The image below it showed the second side, which read
Darla Shayne for Homecoming Queen. All friend requests accepted!
Underneath was her Facebook URL.

“I don’t get it,” I said.

“We’re not supposed to give out gifts or anything, right?” Darla said, biting her lip. “So we were trying to figure out what we could do virtually, and everyone wants more friends on Facebook, so we’re going to have these business cards printed and hand them out. Actually, my mom’s assistant is rush printing them and bringing them over tonight.”

I laughed and shook my head. “It’s brilliant. You can give them something without actually giving them something.”

“Exactly!” Darla said with a grin. “I’m glad you like it, because we had some made up for you, too.”

She pulled out another page, this one showing my card. On it was the picture she’d taken at practice the other day, right before we’d bitten each other’s heads off. I actually felt touched, even though I didn’t care about winning homecoming king. She totally didn’t have to do this, especially considering everything I’d said to her that day.

“Darla, this is really cool,” I said, looking her in the eye. “Thank you.”

I leaned in and touched my lips to hers. My whole face felt tight as I remembered vividly the last place my lips had been, and I pulled back quickly, but Darla didn’t seem to notice.

“No kissing in my kitchen,” Geraldo said tonelessly, speaking for the first time in the last hour.

“Sorry,” I said, turning beet red.

Darla laughed.

I bet 90 percent of the guys at my school would have killed to be in this situation—kissing two hot girls in one day—but I wanted to crawl under a rock and wait until they both graduated just so that I wouldn’t have to deal anymore.

“So why don’t we hit Goddess tomorrow and hand some out?” Darla suggested, folding the pages back into her pocket.

I tasted bile in the back of my throat. “Goddess?”

As if on cue, True’s laugh sounded through the cafeteria and bounced around inside my chest like it was trying to find a cozy spot to rest.

“Yeah.” She shrugged and grabbed a tray of bacon, balancing it between her hip and arm. “That’s where pretty much everyone will be, right? We can go there and then hit Moe’s and Pizza City.”

“Makes sense,” I said, reaching for a second tray filled with sausages.

“Maybe I’ll ask Wallace to come too,” she said. “He could do some polling and see how we’re doing.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I reached for her free hand and squeezed. Maybe this was like a test from the universe. Or my penance or whatever. Go to the place True worked and be the perfect boyfriend to Darla. If that was what I had to do to prove myself, then I’d do it. I didn’t want to feel guilty anymore. I wanted everything to go back to the way it was a couple of weeks ago, when my world was golden, uncomplicated, carefree.

“Thanks, Orion,” Darla said, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “This is gonna be so much fun.”

“Yeah,” I said, trying to ignore the way the pancakes I’d devoured earlier were sitting like a rock-solid lump in my stomach. “So much fun.”

*    *    *

Darla and I spent the whole day together, doing homework at her house, going for a walk, watching TV. Basically me being the best boyfriend I could possibly be. When I left Darla’s around ten o’clock, I was exhausted, even though we hadn’t really done much. Apparently juggling feelings for two girls took a lot out of a guy. My car was parked on the street in front of her house, and when I came around the tall bushes at the edge of her yard, there was a girl standing next to it. She looked up when she heard me coming, and I realized it wasn’t just any girl. It was the girl from True’s gang, wearing a leather jacket with shiny gray sleeves and the tightest pants I’d ever seen.

“Hello, Orion,” she said calmly. “I knew I would find you if I followed Eros. I hope you don’t mind me waiting until dark to approach you.”

“Who the hell is Eros?” I took a step back. “How do you know my name?”

Her brow creased. “They told me you wouldn’t remember me, but I had to see it for myself.”

“Remember you?” I asked, glancing around. Had she brought anyone else with her, or was she alone?

“It doesn’t matter now,” she said. “The queen will fix everything.”

Suddenly she lunged at me and grabbed my wrist. “I have him!” she shouted at the sky. “Bring us home!”

I ripped my arm out of her grasp and backed away. “You’re crazy.”

The girl looked down at her palm. It shook like my thighs after a squat workout. “No,” she said through her teeth. “No! No! No!”

Slowly she clenched her fingers into fists at her sides. I backed up even farther. Girl looked like she was about to blow.

“You gave me your word!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Not at me, but at the world. At least, that was what it seemed like. She turned in a circle, bent at the waist, just raging.

“Orion?” The front door of Darla’s house swung open. She stood on the step, framed by the light. “Is everything okay?”

“Go inside,” I said, jogging toward her as I ripped out my phone. Whatever was going on with this girl, I didn’t want Darla to get caught up in it. “Go inside and we’ll call the police.”

But by the time I got to the door and looked back, the girl was already gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

True

I stood shivering next to the war monument at the center of Lake Carmody, unsure as to whether my shakes were due to fear, excitement, or the serious temperature drop. Next to me, Hephaestus was subdued and serious, his eyes trained on some crack in the brick walkway as he breathed in and out at a steady rhythm. For the last ten minutes I dared not speak and risk breaking him out of whatever trance he’d put himself into in order to survive these last moments before Harmonia would appear, but I couldn’t contain myself any longer.

“What do you think she’s going to say?” I blurted.

“I don’t know,” Hephaestus replied, his voice thin.

I paced back and forth in front of him, my boots crunching over fallen leaves. “Do you think Zeus is going to let us come home?”

“I don’t know,” he repeated.

“Well, do you think Hera’s annoyed with us for making a deal with Artemis?” I asked.

“I don’t know!”

Hephaestus’s shout echoed throughout the deserted park. He pressed his lips together and glared up at me. “I’m sorry, True. I’m barely holding it together here. What time is it?”

“It’s eleven fifty-nine,” I told him after a glance at the clock tower above the post office across the street.

At that moment, Artemis and Apollo crested the stairs leading up to the park, their steps timed in perfect unison. Each wore a formfitting black leather jacket and tight black pants with black flat boots. For the first time I wondered where on Earth they were getting their clothing. I hoped they hadn’t beaten some poor hipsters to death to get it.

“We’re here,” Artemis said with a scowl. “Where’s your sister?”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Apollo said, his head pivoting from side to side as if he were no more than a mechanized puppet. A boil of a pimple had erupted on his chin, and his left eye kept twitching. Life on Earth was not agreeing with him. “What if they intend to ambush us?”

“Harmonia, part of an ambush?” Hephaestus said with a snort. “You’ve forgotten who you’re dealing with.”

Suddenly a stiff wind kicked up, sending the leaves at our feet into a fantastic, swirling vortex. I lifted my hands to shield my face from the whipping debris but was still nicked below the ear by a particularly sharp stem. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the wind stopped, and Harmonia stood before us. She wore a white dress with cinched waist and capped sleeves, her hair pulled back from her face on the sides. The sight of her left me speechless, but it didn’t stop me from flinging myself into her arms.

“Eros,” she said quietly, burying her face in my hair as she clung to me, her cool fingertips pressing into my back. “It’s so good to see you.”

I pulled away and we held on to each other’s elbows. Her skin felt as silky and smooth as ever, the blush on her cheeks high and bright. She smiled at me—a reassuring, patient, loving smile—then turned and knelt before Hephaestus. There was so much love in her eyes as she gazed up at him, I couldn’t believe I’d never seen it before. He reached down and cupped her face with both hands, his fingers trembling.

“My love,” Harmonia breathed.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, smiling through tears. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

She stood up, slid onto his lap, and kissed him. My heart swelled and I pressed my palms against my chest, one on top of the other. Thousands of years of longing went into that kiss. Anyone could have felt it. I was hardly able to contain my own tears.

“Can we get on with this?” Apollo groused.

Harmonia pulled back, still gazing admiringly at Hephaestus, but he shot a scathing look at Apollo that made him pause.

“What?” Apollo said. “We’re here for a reason, are we not? What news does Hera send? Is she restoring my powers so I can smite Eros?”

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation, shifting his weight from foot to foot as his mouth and eye twitched. He looked like some sort of evil imp, his pupils dilated, his movements jerky. The old, scheming Apollo was threatening enough, but this new Apollo—the one who seemed to be holding on by a thread—was a whole new kind of terrifying. He seemed as if he could snap at any moment.

“No.” Harmonia stood, smoothing the front of her dress. Hephaestus reached over and took her hand, clearly unable to let her go, now that he had her near him again. Harmonia looked me in the eye. “But she knows of this pact you two have made, and she’s not happy.”

“Oh, really?” Artemis blurted, speaking up for the first time. “You’re here to tell us
we’ve
angered the
queen
?”

“Yes. You and Apollo pushed her and pushed her about Orion for a fortnight, and then, when she finally heard you, she took your side.” Harmonia gently tugged her hand away from Hephaestus and approached the twins. “She gave you what you wanted—a chance to spill Eros’s blood and win back Orion—and instead you make a pact for peace.”

Harmonia looked over her shoulder at me, calming me with her eyes. She was the queen’s mouthpiece right now. Hera was listening to every word. I knew Harmonia didn’t agree with anything she was being forced to say.

“Is that what she told you? That she gave me what I wanted?” Artemis spat. “What I wanted was Orion, and she gave me her word that as soon as I had him in my clutches, she would bring us back to Mount Olympus, but she lied.”

“What?” Apollo snapped.

“I had Orion in hand tonight,” Artemis told us, her nostrils flaring. “I called to Hera to bring us home.”

“You did
what
?” I demanded. “We made a pact!”

“I had to see him for myself. Witness this memory loss you spoke of and make sure it was true,” Artemis said, looking me up and down. “You would have done the same. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t.”

I clenched my teeth, seething, but unable to deny her words.

“But when I saw him, I realized I couldn’t just let him go, so I tried to take him home, but Hera forsook me.”

“Is he all right?” I demanded. “Did you hurt him?”

Artemis turned on me, her eyes on fire. “I would never hurt Orion. How dare you ask such a thing?”

“Was it not you who pierced his skull with an arrow?” I shot back.

I knew it was a low blow even as the words spilled from my mouth, but I was too angry, too upset, to stop myself.

“Because
he
tricked me!” Artemis cried, pointing at Apollo. “You know what that did to me! You know how I suffered!”

“Enough!” Apollo roared. “I will not hear this!” He lunged for me, the thirst for vengeance dripping from his tongue, but Harmonia lifted a hand, sending a lightning bolt zipping across the park, where it exploded at his feet. Artemis screamed. Somewhere nearby a car’s brakes squealed. In the commotion, Harmonia grabbed me and whispered in my ear.

“The queen doesn’t care which one of you dies, but she doesn’t intend to bring the other home,” she said furtively. “She’s forsaken you both, Eros, but one of you will die, and one will be banished. Please make sure it is you who lives. Please.”

“But she can’t do that,” I breathed. “Zeus will bring me home. Me and Orion.”

“Not if she has her way. And she is determined to have her way. Please don’t chance it, Eros. As much as it pains me to say it, you must kill Artemis. You must prepare yourself.”

As she released me, the thundering explosion caused by her outburst died off, but the frantic pounding of my heart had only just begun. It was either die or be banished forever. If I lived, I would never see my home again. Never match couples from my earthen window. Never get my powers back.

I staggered backward to the edge of the monument and sat on the cold, hard marble. Harmonia whipped around to face the twins.

“Come near my sister again in my presence and I will burn more than the toes of your shoes,” she said imperiously, staring down her nose at Apollo. “This fight is to be between Eros and Artemis.”

“I’ve never seen you resort to violence. Not once in our existence,” Apollo said, as the last of the smoke danced its way toward the stars. “I rather like it on you, Harmonia.”

Harmonia sniffed. “What say you, Artemis?”

“This is about Orion,” Artemis replied, the color high on her cheeks. “It’s about Orion’s heart. Eros was right. We can’t know whom he’ll choose until she matches her couple and restores his memory. I will not fight her until that happens. Tell the queen I will not be a pawn in her little game.”

“Artemis, sister, I beg of you,” Apollo countered. “Hera has set her demands. Just end her and get it over with!”

“The queen was quite serious about this,” Harmonia warned Artemis. “I would not test her.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Harmonia,” Artemis said, moseying casually over to me with her hands clasped behind her back. “The queen will have her blood. But on
my
timeline. Eros will restore Orion’s memory, she will watch him choose me, and then
he
will watch
her
die.”

And with that, Artemis turned, took her brother’s arm, and marched to the edge of the park. “Seven days, Eros! You have seven days.”

Then they dipped down the hill and were gone. I bent forward, my head between my knees, and heaved in air. Harmonia’s hands came down on my shoulders, and she crouched in front of me.

“Don’t worry, Eros,” she said. “Everything will be well. You have our father’s blood in you.”

I lifted my head to meet her eyes. She nodded ever so slightly, and my heart fluttered with hope. She was telling me to call on my father. To ask him to teach me how to fight.

“You are right, Harmonia,” I said. “Perhaps all is not lost.”

Together we rose to our feet, and Harmonia took Hephaestus’s hand again. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. She smiled, but gently tugged her fingers away.

“There’s something else you should know.” Harmonia faced us as a doomed man might face his firing squad, chin lifted, but with fear in her eyes.

“Harmonia, what is it?” I asked.

“It’s my fault,” she said. “My fault that any of this happened. That our father found you and Orion in Maine, that he threatened Orion’s life and you were forced to make the pact that got you banished here. It’s all my fault, Eros, and I’m so sorry.”

Harmonia bent her head forward and covered her face with her milky-white hands. Hephaestus and I exchanged an alarmed look. I hardly knew what to think.

“Your fault? How can that be?” Hephaestus asked finally.

“She’s been spying on us,” Harmonia said, her voice cracking. “The queen told me she’s known for years that we’ve been communicating. She’s listened in on every conversation we’ve had through our mirror since the turn of the century.”

Hephaestus blanched. I could practically see his mind reeling, recalling what had been said, imagining the secrets and promises he and Harmonia had told and made. Private things. Personal things. The queen had heard every word.

“I kept your secret for months, Eros. I did,” Harmonia told me, her eyes pleading. “But one night a few weeks ago I slipped and ended up telling Hephaestus where you and Orion were. The queen told the king, and he told Father. I’m so very sorry. If it weren’t for me, you and Orion might be in Maine to this day, content in your love.”

My palms were clammy as I stared at my sister. But even though she painted a pretty picture, I knew it wasn’t true. I reached for her hand and squeezed.

“This is not your fault, Harmonia,” I said. “You had no idea you were being watched. And if it wasn’t for the mirror, we would have been found out some other way. Or Orion would have given in to the wanderlust he was starting to feel and struck out on his own.”

“No. Never. Not without you,” Harmonia told me.

I smiled. “Okay, maybe not without me. But I can’t imagine we’d still be in our little paradise now. Or at least not for long. Things change. The world changes. We know that better than anyone.”

“So you forgive me?” she asked.

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

Harmonia and I hugged for a long, long time. It was so good just to be near her again, I didn’t want to let go. But eventually, Hephaestus cleared his throat. Harmonia laughed and took his hand.

“Look at the three of us, together again,” she said. “Just like old times.”

I smirked. “Yes, but I think it’s time I leave you two alone.”

“You needn’t go, Eros,” Harmonia said.

But I slipped away from her. As hard as it was to leave her, I knew that she and Hephaestus needed this.

“I’m sure you only have a short while to visit,” I said. “What kind of love goddess would I be if I didn’t leave you to it?”

Hephaestus shot me a grateful glance as I turned around and walked away. My knees shook beneath me and my heart felt about ready to give out, but I somehow kept moving. As soon as I was out of sight of my sister and her love, however, I lowered myself down on the nearest step.

Yes, it was a shock to know that Harmonia’s loose lips had been instrumental in getting me banished, but what was done, was done. It was none of my concern. What mattered was that the queen wanted me dead. Me or Artemis. Apparently it didn’t matter to her which. And when the queen wanted someone dead, she generally got her way.