The Last Oracle (32 page)

“And incredibly brutal,” Max interjected, “particularly when it came to their young.”

Alex continued, “Max is right. Cronus, fearing that one of his children would kill him, ate his first five offspring. Zeus, the sixth child, survived and forced Cronus to regurgitate the others. At the end of the war, three of the brothers divided up the earth. Zeus took control of the land and sky, Poseidon took control of the seas, and Hades, having drawn the short straw, took control of the underworld. The
second generation were called Olympians, for their residence on Mt. Olympus.” Alex nodded to Max.

“Hecate was a Titan,” Max said. “However, during the War of the Titans, she assisted Zeus. She was known to be skilled with herbs and magic and developed an ability to see through another’s eyes without them being aware of it—although that was not well known, as Zeus considered it his secret weapon.

“In order for Zeus to use this secret weapon, Hecate required a personal possession of the host. As Hecate’s friendship with Zeus was too well known, she required someone that could infiltrate the home of the Titans.

“By Hecate’s recommendation, and because of Circe’s beauty and charms, she was selected. A week later, Circe returned triumphant with a lock of hair from Hyperion, Cronus’ brother and a Titan.

“But Circe had taken the plans even further; when she was young, she had witnessed the madness and ill-effects of Envy’s bite. So she lured Envy to the Titan’s camp. As expected, Envy’s bite created a rage that assisted the Olympians in winning their battle—but it also permanently infected Circe.

“At first, with Hecate’s assistance, Circe was able to resist the madness. Hecate rewarded her by making her a priestess and teaching Circe the secrets of her magic. But it was as if Circe had stood too close to the flame. Soon, it seemed that she only desired what others possessed—Circe wanted immortality. She approached Zeus and demanded that he make her immortal. Zeus sensed her selfish intent and, instead, granted her a life of 1,000 years and promised to preserve her beauty.

“Not long after that, Hecate went to the underworld to serve as an attendant to Hade’s wife.  Before Hecate left, she gifted Circe with a magic kris.”

“A
kris?” Valeria asked.

“A
kris is a sword-like dagger with a distinctive wavy blade,” Alex said. “But besides being a weapon, it is considered a talisman with magical powers and a symbol of heroism. It was said to blind one’s opponent with its sheen and heal any wounds during battle.”

Max continued, “Many years later, Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister, invited Circe to join a nation of female warriors known as the
Amazons. Circe agreed but only under the name of Hecate. The story goes that she was killed during the Trojan War. And that is why Hecate is listed among the dead—and led to the historical confusion as to whether Hecate was a goddess or mortal.”

“Circe was killed?” Valeria asked.

Max drew a deep breath. “I believed her to be dead for many years. Until I saw her.”

“You…know Circe?”

“Yes,” Max said as his jaw tensed. “She was my wife.”

The stunned expression on Alex’s face was mirrored on Elliot’s.

Max turned his eyes away from Alex and Valeria. “It was long ago, and completely unimportant in this discussion.” Pain pierced the cover of his gruff exterior and then morphed into a mask of mild interest—as if he were discussing a book he had read. “I can tell you that she was obsessed with immortality and would have willingly sold her soul to the devil in exchange for it. I know that she sought out Myrdd—believing that he could assist her in that purpose. I saw her many years later. By then, Envy’s bite had taken its toll on her.”

“I don’t recall Myrdd ever mentioning Circe,” Alex said.

“‘Circe’ was the name that Hecate had given her. Her birth name was Vivianna.”

Alex’s eyes widened.
“Vivianna! Myrdd warned me of her repeatedly. But to my knowledge, I’ve never met her.”

“Perhaps Myrdd meant that you would find her sometime in the future,” Valeria wondered aloud.

“Zeus only gave her 1,000 years,” Max said.

Brushing his hand along his jaw, Alex looked absorbed in thought and then asked, “Max, did Circe ever mention an immortal by the name of Kristiana?”

“No. I’ve never heard of a Kristiana. Of course, with that name, she would have come after the birth of Christianity.”

“I knew her long before that,” Alex said. “Do you know what became of Circe?”

Max shrugged. “The only thing I know of her, is that Circe was rumored to have been named the Sibyl of Cumae—I understand they now call the town Cuma. Other than that, all evidence of her existence was gone long before my last and only meeting with the Council.”

Valeria narrowed her eyes. “Is that the sibyl who…” She turned toward Alex. “There was a story about her. What was it?”

Alex squeezed her hand. “There are several. Evidently she led Virgil’s Aeneas on a tour of the underworld—”

“That sounds a bit more gracious than the Circe I knew. Perhaps it was more of a fantasy on Virgil’s part. Though, Circe might have done it—if the reward was large enough,” Max said.

“She also authored several books that were called
The Sibylline Books,
” Alex added. “She took them to the king and offered him her written prophesies of Rome for a fortune. When the king refused, she burned the first volume and demanded the same price for the remaining books. He turned her down again and she burned another. Finally, the king paid. The books disappeared long ago. Although three different religions claim to possess them.”

“Now that sounds more like the girl I knew,” Max said. “Because of her access to the underworld, she would have also had continued access to Hecate. Circe may have been able to enlist the aid of the Fates or Hecate in causing an accident a few thousand years ago. But not today, as I am equally certain that neither the Fates nor Hecate would have gifted Circe with immortality.”

“Could Circe or Hecate have taught others about the evil eye?”

“Hecate only taught Circe...and Circe was not one to share! If she had power, the last thing she would desire is for anyone else to possess it. Speaking of power, she did have an uncanny ability to find sources of power.”

Max pressed his lips together and then narrowed his eyes in thought. “The last time I saw Myrdd, he was rambling with insanity, but there was something that he said that seemed to make sense. He said that I needed to use caution because ‘she’ could find the real power in any endeavor and use it to her advantage.”

Stopping, Max glanced at Valeria, whose eyes were at half-mast. “I believe I have overstayed my welcome,” he said.

“Not at all!” Valeria insisted.

Smiling at her, Alex said, “Beautiful, you’ve got about three minutes left until you’re out.”

“I look forward to seeing you later!” Max said and left with Elliot.

Once they were gone, Alex turned to Valeria and said, “I’ve been thinking about what Max said, and there is something odd about Hecate’s gift to Circe. The
kris that was given to Circe is now known to be a weapon of the South Pacific.”

“Yes? So, why is that important?”

“That is where Jeremiah resides.”

That night, Valeria could hear a considerable amount going on outside. After putting on a touch of makeup, Alex picked her up and carried her outdoors to a lounge chair where Valeria successfully pulled off being surprised.

The trees were strung with twinkling lights and there was a bonfire nearby. On the grass were tables and chairs for nearly thirty people. It was considerably cooler than the previous year, so heaters were set up by each of the tables and Valeria’s lounge chair. Caleb brought out a blanket for her and handed it to Alex.

Ava and Camille brought Valeria a glass of liquid and Valeria raised her hand. “I can’t have any champagne,” she pouted.

Camille nodded. “We knew that—well, I knew that. So I brought you a sparkling cider instead.”

The Three Musketeers toasted to another great year. As Valeria took in the crowd and the festivities, she noticed someone and tapped Alex.

“Who is that girl over there?”

“Who?” he asked, looking around. Then he spotted the young beauty dreamily sitting on a log alone. “Oh, that’s Olivia.”

The girl was perhaps seventeen with oracle blue eyes, perfectly pink pouty lips placed on her creamy complexion, and nearly white
hair. Like the others, she wore a blanket as a poncho and a leather belt was wrapped twice around her waist. Even in that, she was stunning.

“I have something for her,” Valeria said. Alex walked the short distance and tapped Olivia on the shoulder. She seemed shocked to be approached, but then she smiled sweetly and walked over to Valeria as Alex requested.

“Hello, Olivia, I’m—”

“Yes, yes, I know who you are. You are the Princess Cassandra.” Her voice was as soft and sweet as Valeria had expected of such a delicate creature.

“I was Cassandra, but now I’m called Valeria.”

“Oh,” she said, as her eyebrows shot down in confusion.

“Olivia, I have a letter of introduction for you from—”

“A letter for me?”
Olivia interrupted.

“Yes, it’s from Elliot,” Valeria said, as the girl’s blush deepened. “The boy—”

“I know who he is,” she said as her blush deepened. Valeria handed the letter to her and Olivia grasped it hungrily; without another word, she left to sit on the edge of the porch as she devoured every word.

After a few minutes, when it was clear that Olivia had read it at least a few times over, Valeria said, “Olivia, we can talk if you would like.”

The girl sprang from her seat and threw her arms around Valeria, who suppressed a groan, as she was still quite tender after the crash. Then just as suddenly, Olivia returned to her seat on the edge of the porch and read the letter again.

Valeria felt Alex’s smile as he pulled a chair up next to hers. “Young love,” he said with a snicker.

“I would like to say a few words,” Lars said as he stepped toward Alex and Valeria.

“Please,” Alex replied.

Picking up a knife from the tray of a passing waiter, Lars clinked it against his champagne glass to silence the crowd. Then he said, “Welcome to the second annual celebration of Valeria’s birthday! We’ve made a tradition of recognizing our Greek heritage and so, with that in mind, ‘Opa’ is a Greek statement for a celebration of life,” he said. “It is an affirmation that all that really matters is health, family, and friends. It means,” he glanced across all of the new faces, “that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. You are home! Alex has invited each and every one of you to make Morgana your home if you so desire!”

Alex leaned down and whispered into Valeria’s ear, “I hope that was all right with you.”

A tear escaped her eye.
“All right?
You have no idea the gift that you’ve given all of these people! I adore you!” She squeezed his hand. Morgana was home now and always would be.

Trays of food and drink started arriving by uniformed waiters coming from a trailer that was set up along the road to Mani’s house. Another round of “Opa!” passed through the group.

Valeria sat watching the festivities and Alex said, “I’m going to chat with Doc for a minute. Is it all right if I leave you here?”

“Of course!
I’m with family!”

Within a few minutes, Max approached.

“Hello, Max!” Valeria said.

“Good evening, Mistress Morgan!”

“Please, call me Val,” she said.

“Val. That is a beautiful name,” he said as he sat down next to her. “Forgive my ignorance. I’ve been absorbing the changes in language and customs. I’m not certain that casual communication is an asset. There is something to be said for a well-composed sentence and thought before speech. Still, I am enjoying the learning adventure.”

“I agree! Still, it seems you are picking up the customs and language quite well,” she said with a smile.

Max shrugged. “I have always had a way with language and hanging with the kid has been helpful.”

Valeria raised her brows. “Caleb?”

“
Yeah.”
Max smiled. “See, I am catching on! Incidentally, please tell your husband I said thank you. Evidently, he’s established funds for all of us. Some ridiculous amount that I’m certain, with practice, I will be able to squander in a lifetime.” Then his gruff mask reappeared as he saw Elliot approaching Olivia. “Oh, for the love of God! That man and his romance will drive me to drinking!”

Valeria watched Max for a moment and then raised a brow.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Sometimes it seems as if you despise Elliot, but I have
an inkling that there is another emotion at play,” she said.

“He’s an imbecile!”
Max said in defense. “He falls in love at the drop of a hat. He has these ideas about impropriety that drive me mad.”

“But…” she said.

Max lowered his eyebrows and shook his head as if that was all there was to say. Valeria waited and finally Max sighed, and said, “But, I love him like a brother.”

Valeria raised her eyebrow and the corners of her mouth turned up.

“I had some…issues. I guess that’s what you call them now. Issues. And Elliot was there for me.”

“Can I…can I intrude on your privacy to ask what kind of issues?” Valeria said, feeling quite self-conscious. As much as she respected other’s privacy, for some reason, she felt compelled to ask.

“Love,” Max said with a sardonically musical lilt. He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe that he had been affected by Cupid’s arrow. “Love…love left me sad and depressed and crying like a baby. It left me drinking too much, far too often, in an attempt to erase my unholy turn with immortality.”

“Circe?”

The line on Max’s mouth widened in a grimace. “Christ, that woman ruined me for life.”

“What happened, Max?”

“Come now. I’m certain you have better things to do at your birthday celebration than to listen to my pitiful story.”

Valeria tilted her head to let him know she was interested. Max rolled his eyes again and dropped his head as he pushed his fingers through his hair.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said with a side-glance. “I met her during the War of the Titans while she was Hecate’s priestess and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Oh, I had my fair share of women…” Suddenly, Max realized that was a fairly indelicate matter to be discussing with a woman. He turned to study her reaction and saw that she didn’t seem offended in the least. “Forgive me.”

“It’s all right, Max. Go on.”

“I met with her on several occasions. Eventually, I found myself completely obsessed with her. I even asked her if she had cast a spell on me—to which she sobbed for hours and refused to see me for days. Women!” he said with a huff. “Finally, I begged her to marry me and she agreed. As a gift of our union, she wanted me to grant her immortality. When I told her that I would give her the world but that I did not have that gift to give her, she asked me to take her to Apollo so that we could be together forever.

“Finally, Zeus awarded her 1,000 years of life. I thought that would make her happy and we would be able to settle down. And for a while, she was satisfied. It was I who suddenly became obsessed with her immortality. As hundreds of years went by as if they were nothing, I began to feel terrified at the thought of losing her. I made the unforgivable error of accusing her of bewitching me.”

Max looked down as if stricken with the repercussions, and when he spoke again, it was with great sadness. “She refused to ever see me again.”

“You never saw her again?” Valeria asked, placing her hand on his arm. Max continued to stare at the ground.

“Years later, I heard that she had gone to Myrdd to seek his assistance in the matter. Myrdd admitted that a woman had gone to see him and that he had first given her visions of the future. My guess is that she used those visions to convince Aegemon that she was a sibyl. It was then that I realized that she had bewitched Myrdd with her herbs. Then, in order to destroy the evidence, she drugged him further.

“Several centuries later I was travelling in what is now Southern Italy. I stopped for the night and awoke to the feeling that I was being watched. When I opened my eyes, I saw her outline in the starlight. She was kneeling beside me in the darkness. I believed her to be visiting me from the underworld and I begged her to take me with her.” Tears formed in his eyes and he swallowed them back. “That night I dreamed that we...” he sighed heavily as he picked up a stick and tossed it into the brush. When he spoke again, his voice was cold and indifferent. “In the morning she was gone and I was even more certain it was only a dream. Still, her sweet smell lingered on my bed.”

“Four years later, I was drunk—as I was most of the time. She again came from the underworld into my dreams. This time, she was not so welcoming. I asked her how it was that she was permitted to leave the underworld and she blamed me for her plight. She said that she had decided to give me one last chance...because of our child.”

“You had a child?” Valeria asked.

“According to...the apparition. As I said, I believe it to be only a dream. She went down the trail and returned a moment later with a beautiful dark-haired boy. I kept my distance, knowing that it was not possible for the child to be mine. Circe demanded that I take both her and the boy to the River Styx so that we could all be together forever. Perhaps it was all a dream, but it felt very real. I told her that I could not violate Apollo’s sacred trust by bringing a mortal to Delos.

“She asked me if I truly wanted her to be gone. I was desperate, but I told her that there was nothing that I could do. I pleaded with her to take me with her to the underworld where we could stay together forever. Then she told me that, although it had taken many years, she now loved someone else.”

He sighed heavily. “I made several attempts to end my sorry existence. Elliot decided that he was my nursemaid and nursed me back to health many times. Despite being an idiot...he’s a good lad.”

“And he loves you, too.” Valeria said.

“Yeah—the imbecile should have better sense than to hook up with a cynic like me,” he said.

Valeria smiled softly. “I think he has excellent taste in friends…and so do I.”

Just then, Alex returned and slid onto a bench near Valeria. “Flirting with my wife again, Max?” he teased.

“Only mildly, but given the appropriate opportunity, you do know that I am completely without scruples,” Max said with a smile.

Lowering an eyebrow Alex said, “Max, remember that I do know you.”

Max shook his head. “Obviously you have manufactured evidence to the contrary. However, your dear wife has heard my tale of woe and can confirm my selfish nature.”

“While I’m certain that you treasure your reputation as a rogue and a scoundrel, I do know the truth,” Alex said as the corner of his mouth turned up. “Val, did Max tell you why he was executed?”

Taking Alex’s hand in hers Valeria said, “I thought Max also signed the petition.”

Max scoffed. “I have absolutely no interest in a council of immortals.”

“Is that why you swore to Jeremiah that you were the one who had drafted the petition?” Alex teased.

Max huffed and rolled his eyes. “Elliot is the walking-talking poster child of naivety. He believes the best in everyone—including me. Damn fool! However, I assure you that my response was due to a brief moment of idiocy—of which I have been known for.”

“Max insisted that Elliot had only signed the petition at his demand. As a result, Max was executed first,” Alex said.

Max shrugged. “The boy hasn’t even bedded a woman.”

“You’re a good man, Max,” Valeria said with a smile.

Smiling kindly, Max said, “It has been my pleasure dominating your time. But I had better resume my role as chaperone or Elliot may find himself engaged to a woman with whom he has never even kissed! I’ve advised him to bed them and then you may never need to marry them.”

“Spoken as a man with experience,” Alex said with amusement.

“Yes, and it has been far too long.” He pointed toward Ava. “So, is that one spoken for?” Max said eyeing Ava as she laughed in conversation with Tavish.