Highlander Enchanted (35 page)

“I always do.”

“Did you leave the boundaries at any point recently? Or ever?”

My flushing face answered his question.

“I need to know when and where,” he said.

“Does it matter right now? I mean, shouldn’t we figure out where we’re going to put all the nymphs? I doubt they can survive in the forest,” I pointed out.

“We have it all figured out. The girls will stay in town. You will remain in the forest for now.”

I frowned, dismayed. “That’s not fair!”

“Now, where did you step outside the boundaries?” Father Ellis was always good at deflating my anger and tantrums. It was hard to oppose him when he was quiet, gentle and genuinely the nicest priest on staff.

“By the lake,” I sighed and pointed in the general direction.

“When?”

“Sundown last night.”

He appeared thoughtful, gaze on the charred ruins of our home.

“It was only for, like, ten minutes,” I added quickly. “I wanted to dip my toes in the water.”

“Did you?”

I nodded.

“How was it?” he asked almost absently.

“Amazing. So much better than the pool.”

“Did anything happen at the lake?”

My mouth dropped open. It wasn’t possible for him to know about the creature, yet he was asking the question like he did. At my silence, he met my gaze with another of his calm smiles.

“Whatever you did, it’s okay, Lyssa. I just need to know,” he said.

“I didn’t
do
anything!” I replied. “I dipped my feet then went back to the forest. Then …” I drifted off and shifted feet, not sure how to tell him about the creature. “Well … I saw something at the lake early this morning.”

He waited, brows furrowing.

“It was a creature of some sort. Wings, tail, standing on two feet.” I cleared my throat.

“This … creature. Did you speak to it?”

“Oh, no. I stayed in the forest. It was kind of freaky.”

By his expression, this wasn’t the news he was expecting, though he wasn’t surprised either. “Grotesque.”

“It wasn’t gross. I’d probably say terrifying.”

“No, Lyssa,” he said with another patient smile. “It’s called a grotesque. It’s like a gargoyle only different.”

“A gargoyle,” I repeated. “It was ugly enough. Never heard of gargoyles flying around, though.”

“The grotesque has been rumored to exist in the service of the Triumvirate. Glimpses are seen every once in a while but have never been confirmed.”

“Um, okay.”
The old man’s lost it.
Then again, I was the one who witnessed said creature.

An awkward silence fell between us. My gaze drifted once more to the school.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked. “Have classes in a tent or something?”

“The plan is to move the girls out to their assignments immediately instead of waiting for graduation and for you to go to a similar site.”

“But I’m supposed to graduate and move on, too. Why do I need to go to another stupid school?”

“Father Cristopolos will tell you.” He glanced at me. For the first time since arriving, I sensed he was hiding something. I had always found the monks and their dedication to the Old Ways mysterious, but I never felt like their secrets pertained to me. Whatever he wasn’t saying about
me
, however, snagged my attention.

The remaining three priests approached. I bowed my head to each of them as was appropriate. They exchanged looks I wasn’t able to decipher but which made me uneasy.

Father Cristopolos addressed me. “Alessandra, why don’t you take us to your and Herakles’ favorite spot in the forest. I think it’s a meadow?”

I nodded. My pulse was starting to race at the calm request. I’d wanted the attention of the priests my whole life and watched them dote over the nymphs instead. Now that the four of them were focused on me, I suddenly wanted them to leave me alone. “This way,” I said quietly and spun on my heel, leading them deeper into the forest. “Was Herakles in the house or something?” I asked uneasily, unable to identify why they wanted to go to my favorite place.

No one answered. They simply followed me.

I swallowed hard, edgy and scared that something had happened to Herakles. For all my complaining about the forest adventures and him not letting me near boys, I loved him. He was the only father I really remembered, and I wasn’t going to handle it well if something happened to him.

Maybe they know that.
Maybe that was why four priests were following me, in case I went crazy and they had to tie me up or something. My sense of dread grew as we approached the meadow where Herakles and I trained. My step slowed out of fear of the bad news they’d give me once we reached it.

Setting foot in the meadow, I faced them with my arms crossed. “Is Herakles okay?” I asked and braced myself for bad news.

“He is well,” Father Cristopolos replied.

I sighed. “Omigods. Then why all this?” I demanded and waved at their grave visages.

“We need to talk to you about your future,” Father Ellis replied.

“Now? After our home was just destroyed?”

“Our home was destroyed because you left the boundaries,” another of the priests, Father Renoir, replied coolly. He was probably my least favorite staff member.

“Renny,” Father Ellis said gently. “This is a delicate situation.”

“What’re you talking about?” I asked. “So I left the boundaries for ten minutes. Am I being expelled for it? The nymphs go to town every weekend!”

“My dear,” Father Ellis approached. “This all exists because of you. The school. The orphanage and property.”

I waited, not understanding.

“Once every other generation or so, a very special woman comes along,” Father Cristopolos started. “Someone with great power that rivals the gods’.”

“Yeah. The Oracle of Delphi who becomes the bridge between humans and gods,” I recited from class. “They found the new one. Again.” There had been five new Oracles found the past year alone, though they all turned out to be frauds.

“Focus, Alessandra,” Father Cristopolos said with tried patience. “You are about to learn how different the world is from the sanctuary we created here, from the education we’ve given you. We brought you here to protect you from gods and men, to teach you how to survive in a world that wishes you crippled so they can use you. We wanted you to be the strong woman you are so you can bring back the Old Ways and save our people from wrath of the gods.”

“You aren’t making sense,” I said with a glance at Father Ellis. He as patient with me, the reason I preferred to deal with him.

“The Oracle is captured and held in a state of tortured suspension, Lyssa,” Father Ellis said. “Every second of her life is filled with pain and suffering. She is kept immobilized physically and her powers harnessed for use by gods and politicians, to keep the bridge between the world of the gods and our Earth open, to use her power to suppress the people. The process is one of excruciating pain. But without her, the gods cannot draw off their sources of power and interfere with human affairs.”

I listened, able to follow Father Ellis’ explanation better than Father Cristopolos’.

“Twelve years ago, her successor was accidentally found during a raid and brought to us. We have protected her since then, sheltered her and most importantly, shielded her from discovery. These cords,” he motioned to the rope he wore at his waist, “are infused with the power of invisibility granted to us by our patron Lelantos, the Titan of everything unseen, whose goal has been to protect the next Oracle. Our patron goddess, Artemis, granted us this forest to hide you in. When you are enclosed by the cords, you cannot be seen by men or gods, only by Lelantos.”

“When you stepped outside the boundaries, everyone was able to see you again. The attack on our school was the first step. They cannot see you while you are here, so they destroyed the school to break Lelantos’ magic and will send in a ground force next to find you,” Father Cristopolos added.

They gazed at me.

I stared back.

“For the love of the gods … you’re the Oracle, Lyssa,” Father Renoir snapped. “You revealed our location, and now, there is probably nowhere for us to hide where we won’t be hunted down and slaughtered like you hunt rabbits.”

I don’t slaughter rabbits.
The irrational thought gave way to astonishment. I laughed. “No, no! You all have always told me I’m the
least
special orphan here, that I was graced by Tyche to be around the nymphs, who really are special!” I said with a shake of my head. “This is a well thought out practical joke, though.” My gaze fell to Father Ellis.

He wasn’t smiling. In fact, he appeared dead serious.

I choked on another laugh. There was no way –
no way –
their claim was real. “I don’t have godly powers! I don’t even get an allowance.”

“The cords shield you from the world and the world from you,” Father Ellis replied. “It prevents your power from awakening. Why else do you think we permitted Herakles to train you as he did? To survive at the hands of humans and gods, you need to be able to adapt to any circumstance if you are to fulfill your destiny.”

None of this made sense to me. Something really weird was going on, and only I seemed to realize it. My chest was being squeezed by an invisible hand. I couldn’t wrap my head around how any of this was possible – but they truly believed it, no matter how insane it sounded. “I’ll play this weird game. My destiny. What is it?”

“To break the bridge and send the gods back where they belong. To return humanity to the Old Ways, to freedom,” Father Renoir said quietly. “You only need to outlive the current Oracle. We hoped to hide you until that day when she passed, after which, you could live a normal life once the gods were gone. It is the deal we struck with Lelantos, the reason he wanted you hidden, and the promise we made to Artemis, whose heart has been weighed down with the treatment of each Oracle. When she discovered you were only a child, she offered us her help. We must in turn deliver on our promise.”

I wanted to laugh, but something about the severity of their features stopped me. Everyone knew Artemis had a soft spot for little girls in trouble and about the brittle nature of the relationship between the Olympic gods and Titans after the war that saw the Titans exiled to another dimension. The Titans swore vengeance. The idea I was in any way involved in the doings of
gods,
when I’d barely been allowed to participate in sports on campus, was absolutely crazy. “You guys can’t be serious!”

“We are, Alessandra. And now that they know where you are, they’ll be hunting you.”

“They … who?”

“Everyone.” Father Ellis said with a shrug. “The Supreme Magistrate will hire, coerce or order all of those beneath him to locate you, and the Supreme Priest will enlist SISA to do the same. You are worth more material wealth than anything that exists today. The gods will reward whoever finds you with … I can’t imagine. A priest knows nothing of wealth except the reward is beyond the most ambitious dream of anyone alive.”

“You’re starting to scare me,” I said. “If this is a joke, it needs to end now.” I searched the face of each. “If this is not a joke, then …” It was the craziest thing I’d ever heard. I had spent my life being treated like a burden by the priests and an ugly little stepsister by the nymphs only to find out
this
? That I was the reason we were all in the forest? That everyone on the planet was searching for
me
?

That the Supreme Magistrate, the most powerful man in the world, and the person the priests despised most, knew who I was?

“We will have to go to the alternate plan,” Father Renoir said. “We need to reach the existing Oracle.”

Father Cristopolos responded, but my thoughts were in splinters after the bombshell they dropped on me. I struggled to digest all the new information I’d learned today and do what Herakles trained me: focus on what had to be done next.

“Anyone have a cell phone?” I asked. “I need to talk to Herakles.”

They fell silent and exchanged another look. “That won’t be possible,” Father Cristopolos replied.

“Because …” I prodded.

“Because your disobedience not only cost us the school, but tipped off someone who knew to look for him,” Father Renoir replied. “He was captured.”

“No. He’s too strong.” Even as I said the words, I had the urge to run, to find him and demand he refute the story the priests were telling me.

“You’re right, honey. He’s probably distracting them to give us time to evacuate you,” Father Ellis said.

“Then we have to go get him!”

“Think about this, Alessandra. Assume everything we’re telling you is the truth, if you can’t believe it outright. People will give anything, do anything, to find you. The best thing you can do to help Herakles is to not be where he thinks you are. He loses his value to his captors at that point.”

“And they’ll free him?” I asked.

“Possibly.”

It wasn’t a ringing reassurance. If action movies were remotely based on reality, Herakles was probably in danger of being killed if he wasn’t useful to his captors. I was starting to worry this all was real. “All this just because I stepped outside the boundaries.” It seemed too crazy to be true.

“It was inevitable,” Father Ellis replied. “It was foolish of us to think we could cage you forever. What’s important is we find a safe place for you now.”

“And rescue Herakles,” I pressed.

“Herakles is the strongest man in the world. Chances are he will buy us time and won’t need our help to be rescued,” Father Cristopolos said.

For once, he made sense. I didn’t see Herakles staying anywhere involuntarily. “Can I ask where he went at least?”

“Washington DC,” Father Ellis answered.

I was born and lived just out side of DC until I turned six. If everyone in the world was looking for me, I doubted I could walk into the nation’s capitol and find Herakles unnoticed. Not that I was buying this nonsense …

Except that I kind of was. I was scared enough to believe what they said without understanding exactly what it meant to be someone of importance. To be hunted.