Theta (17 page)

I didn’t spot it a third time. At long last,
my hunger lured me into a different kind of hunt, and I left the
bay to kill a wild deer for dinner. When I returned, it was close
to dawn, and the creature was nowhere in sight.

Landing near the cottage, I caught the faint
scent once more and whirled. No creature broke the peace and quiet
of my surroundings – but I sensed it was close. Treading forward
silently, I kept my eyes trained just beyond the cottage as the
first rays of morning pierced the horizon.

My body changed, and I shook off the fiery
pain of the transformation, determined to find out what was
stalking me.

As I rounded the corner of the cottage, I
stopped.

Menelaus was hunched over near the back
entrance, his elderly frame naked.

Surprise shot through me, along with angry
realization.

Artemis hadn’t sent me here
to find a plaque or my name. She sent me here to find
him.

I stood in silence, observing him as he
seemed to have trouble catching his breath. Returning to the front
of the cabin, I snatched my clothing and dressed in jerky movements
then returned to the backside of the cabin.

Menelaus had managed to pull on his
oversized shirt but was struggling with his pants, since his knee
inhibited most of his lower body’s range of motion.

“
Did you plan on telling
me?” I asked calmly and knelt. I helped him carefully, as I had
been doing for the past week or so.

He chuckled without otherwise
responding.

Bending, I scooped him up and walked him
back into the house, setting him down on the couch. His features
were drawn, and circles lined the skin beneath his eyes, which were
dark again.

Uncertain whether I was
angrier with him or Artemis for deceiving me – for it was not
coincidence she had sent me
here
– I said nothing and poured him a glass of water.
Returning to the living area, I sat down across from him and waited
with a predator’s patience.

“
I can fly easier than
walk,” he said. “Last night was my first flight since I hurt my
knee.”

“
Did you plan on telling
me?” I repeated in a low, controlled tone.

“
Not at first,” he replied.
“If you had come and not been kind to me, I was going to let you
wonder the rest of your life why your goddess sent you
here.”

I stood, edgy and angry, and paced a short
distance away to keep from saying or doing something I wouldn’t
regret – but knew to be foolish anyway.

“
But here we are,” Menelaus
said. He shifted his weight with a grunt.

“
Who are you? Really?” I
asked.

“
Menelaus.”

I turned and studied him.

“
Not named for him,” he
answered my silent question. “The original.”

“
How is that
possible?”

“
How are
you
possible?” he
countered.

Before this moment, I had never considered
there might be another living grotesque anywhere in the world.

“
Sit down, and I will tell
you what you need to know,” he said.

I debated leaving, suspecting Artemis and
the ancient Spartan king before me were conspiring, and I wasn’t
going to be pleased by the reasons behind their deception. I was
too shocked to find another monster like me and too intrigued to
walk away. I did as he said and sat.

“
You’re the Menelaus who
lost Helen to the Trojans and started the Trojan War,” I
said.

“
The Trojans started it,”
he corrected me. “I am he. The Bloodline –
our
Bloodline – extended down through
the Mycenaean kings of that time period, as you well know.” He
displayed his wrist, which bore an identical mark to mine, the
hereditary sign of the omega.

“
But you aren’t a temple
guardian.” I shifted forward, anxious to hear his tale. “I thought
all of the rulers in our Bloodline were turned to stone and forced
to watch over the temples.”

“
Our history is a little
more complicated,” he said with a patient smile. “At first, this
curse didn’t exist. We made a pact with the gods and goddesses to
protect them when we all arrived ten thousand years ago. Our kind
stood as watchful, living guardians during the day, and when Nyx
swept across the sky, we turned into our beast forms and left for
food before returning to our posts. The gods respected and favored
us above all others. We –”

“
Stop there,” I
interjected. “I don’t understand. We transform into monsters. Was
this not the curse of the Bloodline?”

“
What did you think, that
we were
humans
who
became monsters?” Menelaus laughed hoarsely. “It was passed down
through oral tradition that our kind were created when Apollo
brought his favorite guardian beasts with him across the bridge
between our worlds ten thousand years ago. He combined our
ancestors with humans to create the perfect protector who was more
suited to this world and could blend in, at least for half the day.
But in changing us, Apollo removed our savage, beastly ways and
gave us independent thought, which I imagine he’s regretted since
that day.” He laughed again. “In any case, we protected him and the
other gods there, in our original home, and again here. We were
never of this world and certainly never human. Not fully. We’ve
always been monsters. This much I know.”

“
The gods didn’t curse us
into becoming monsters, because we were already monsters?” I asked
in disbelief. “We are born monsters.”

“
Yes.” He was quiet,
allowing me to absorb this stunning truth.

“
Then what is the curse?” I
asked when I’d recovered from my surprise. “Being turned to
stone?”

His eyes turned light brown as I watched.
Menelaus shifted to make himself more comfortable, took a sip of
water, and continued. “The traditional role we enjoyed as
protectors with free will ended during a time period too old for
either of us to have witnessed. Perhaps eight thousand years ago?
Oral tradition doesn’t specify the point in antiquity when our
favored position with Apollo changed. One of our ancestors broke
the sacred pact we had to guard the gods in this world and in doing
so, angered Apollo. Apollo condemned the Bloodline to stone as
punishment. This period was known as the first Dark Ages, which has
been forgotten by modern human history.”

“
I hate the gods,” I
muttered. “This happened before both of us were born. Why are you
not a stone guardian?”

“
Because Apollo wished to
punish me.”

My head was swimming with questions as I
listened. Menelaus paused, but my thoughts were racing too quickly
for me to know what to ask first.

“
Sacking Troy brought the
second curse of Apollo upon our bloodline and also brought about
the second Dark Ages, where gods fought one another.” Menelaus
shook his head. “Troy was his prized possession, a city of beauty,
light, and wealth. It was said he helped build the walls with his
own hands. You can imagine, when my brother and I sacked it, Apollo
became furious. I won’t tell you what Agamemnon did to Apollo’s
temples, but our Bloodline has not been forgiven to this day for
his actions.” Menelaus grinned.

“
He’d already condemned us
all to stone. What else could he possibly do to punish us?” I
demanded acidly.

“
The second curse of Apollo
upon the Bloodline forced us to serve him, without question,
whenever he called upon us. He stripped away what remained of our
free will,” Menelaus answered. “My brother’s punishment for Troy
was to become a temple guardian for Apollo and prevent anyone else
from doing to Apollo’s holy places what Agamemnon did to the
temples of Troy.”

“
The second curse sounds
far less damning than the first,” I said. “The Crown doesn’t appear
to favor Apollo now.”

“
Until he calls upon a
member of the Bloodline to do what he commands. We are compelled to
obey.”

Of all the horrific curses I had heard of,
originating from angry gods and goddesses, this combination of
curses was potentially the worst. There was no greater curse than
to steal one’s life and also replace free will with divine
commands. If I dwelt on how shady, evil, backhanded and horrific
this one-two curse punch really was, I’d explode. I focused instead
on the history Menelaus was relating.

“
Agamemnon was a successor
of mine,” I said.

“
The bloodline continued
through his union with Cassandra, the Oracle of Troy. Cassandra
bore him twins. Both were said to have died, but one
lived.”

Nowhere in history was it recorded that the
Bloodline members turned to stone.

How many disappearances of Bloodline rulers
had been explained away as tragic deaths to hide the truth of what
happened to the rulers of Greece, once the curse took hold of them?
I had never thought to inquire into how the disappearance of
Phoibe’s mother was handled in an era where smart phones and the
Internet prevented major government conspiracies from
propagating.

Menelaus continued talking. “Apollo banished
the Bloodline from power for many years after Troy. The Bloodline
went underground for several generations and was nearly lost during
the Dark Ages. It reemerged quietly when a member of the Bloodline
married another Mycenaean princess, and our family rose again to
power, only to fade away from the historical records when the
Mycenaean civilization collapsed and the Dorians invaded. We
regained power by marrying into an ailing Spartan dynasty, with the
permission of Apollo.”

As I listened, I realized how differently
historians had recorded the events that the man before me lived
through.

Menelaus’ eyes returned to their dark brown
color. “Even when Apollo was furious with us, we were always
favored by the gods. If our ancestors weren’t in a position to
rule, they were well taken care of,” he said.

I disagreed silently. “Are there others like
you?” I asked.

“
To my knowledge, no.
Agamemnon and I were twins. Those in the Bloodline normally birth
one child and then disappear, as long as the Fates believe the
child will survive,” he said. “I don’t think Apollo wanted me in
stone, anyway. He wanted me to see my world change and collapse,
over and over, and to witness how my actions had caused the
Bloodline to do his bidding. Gods love vengeance.”

I understood this too well.

“
You
are not supposed to be like you are. Did Apollo awaken you?”
Menelaus asked.

“
No.” I was too interested
in his story to explain mine. “Did you know of my
family?”

“
How old are
you?”

“
Four
millennia.”

He considered. “I might have their names
recorded. I kept track of those members of the Bloodline who came
after me and researched those who came before me. The records are
incomplete. It was difficult to find the names of our Bloodline
before my time.”

“
I remember my father’s
name and that of my grandfather.”

“
And your mother and
grandmother?” he asked.

“
The Bloodline passed
through my father and grandfather. I had no need to know my
mother’s name. She and my father died soon after I was born.” My
heart began to beat harder. “I came here to find a plaque with a
name written on it. My name.”

“
That’s why you’re here?”
Menelaus’ brow furrowed.

“
Yes.”

“
Artemis sent you to me, so
I might tell you your name?” He appeared puzzled. “What could be so
important about it that you obeyed her?”

“
She called in an oath,” I
replied. “But … it was more than that. I
want
to know. If I can remember
everything about the past four thousand years, except my name, then
isn’t it important to find out why I’ve forgotten it?”

“
If you forgot it, or
were
forced
to
forget it, do you really want to remember it?”

I was quiet, pensive. It was very unlike me
to want to share my internal angst with anyone, but if I ever chose
to do so, I could think of no one capable of understanding better
than Menelaus.

“
I am … conflicted,” I said
finally. “About what I was, what I am, and what I should become.
The beast is my good side, and I fear my human side. I know what
that part of me is capable of. Once, four thousand years ago, I
needed to be the military commander and the ruthless ruler. Those
traits were prized in that era. I do not need that side of me now,
but it feels dominant.”

“
And you think learning
your name will resolve this conflict you feel?” Menelaus
frowned.

“
I hope learning my name
will show me the path I was meant to be on before I learned all I
know now.”

“
You want to go back to the
beginning.”

“
I want to
understand
my beginning
and therefore, hopefully myself.”

“
Your time came before mine
by a millennia, maybe longer.” He appeared thoughtful. “I do not
possess this plaque you insist you must find. If a goddess sent you
for that specific purpose, it’s likely it never existed at
all.”

“
I now believe I was meant
to find you.”