Omega (37 page)

It was working. The others wouldn’t get near
us.

“
I’ve seen this thing
before.” Herakles was the nearest, his treelike form
tense.

“
He’s not a thing,” I said
and turned. “He’s a grotesque.”

I met his gaze. The happy glow in his faded.
His arms were outstretched for a hug.

I didn’t move. All I could think about was
what he did to my parents.

“
What lies have they told
you?” he asked in a low voice.

Mismatch drew me into his body once more,
prepared to fly, but I pushed his hand away and stepped
forward.

“
No lies. I learned the
truth about a few things,” I replied. “You’re with these
people?”

“
I am. I already tossed
their leader over the side of the wall for disobeying Mama’s
orders. No one else will hurt you, Lyssa.”

Gods help me, I trusted him. I stepped
forward and grimaced at the pain then limped towards him, throwing
myself into the arms of my guardian. I had done this a million
times in the forest, but never had his strong embrace been so
welcome.

“
I’ve missed you,”
Herakles whispered fiercely into my hair.

“
I missed you, too,” I
said. He felt like home, as usual, despite the revelation of what
he had done before me.

“
Is your pet
dangerous?”

“
Mismatch isn’t a
pet.”

“
He’s one of your
creations isn’t he?”

I twisted in his grip to see the grotesque.
Mismatch’s wings were folded at his back, and his hard gaze was on
the men behind Herakles. “Sort of. He kind of grew a life of his
own, though.”

“
My Lyssa. Always changing
the world around her,” he said with gruff affection. “Send him away
so we can talk.”

“
No,” I replied softly.
“He stays with me.”

Herakles gazed down at me, and I saw his
disappointment. “You have changed much already. I wanted to protect
you from the ugliness of the world.”

“
From you?”

“
Yeah, sweet Lyssa. From
me and all the people like me.”

My eyes filled with tears at the admittance.
I wasn’t ready to lose my hero, my adopted father. I wasn’t ready
to feel so alone facing my fate as I watched the layers between me
and reality peel away. I wiped my eyes.

Your leg,
Mismatch said.

“
I know,” I said and left
Herakles’ grip. “I need a doctor.”

“
We have one
here.”

I glanced doubtfully at the ruffians behind
him. “Really?”

Herakles laughed. “Welcome to my world,
Lyssa. We live beneath the city. Come. I’ll show you.” He started
away.

“
Are we really safe?” I
didn’t follow. “Both of us?”

“
I give you my
word.”

Mismatch drew abreast of me. I didn’t have
to ask to know his opinion on accompanying my guardian anywhere.
The two looked at each other with anger, if not death, in their
eyes. Rather than try to convince him, I slid my hand into the
monster’s.

He glanced down at me but didn’t object when
I began to follow Herakles.

“
Out of curiosity, what
did you learn?” Herakles tone was terse. “About me.”

“
It’s not important,” I
said, recalling how curious Adonis had been about my relationship
with Herakles.

Your toes are
curling,
Mismatch said a second before
Herakles spoke.

“
I can always tell when
you’re lying.”

“
Oh, my gods! Can’t a
crippled girl get some compassion instead of an interrogation?” I
complained.

Herakles stopped and scooped me up in his
arms. Mismatch growled, but Herakles ignored him. “Now. What did
you learn?”

I sighed. “About my parents.”

Herakles stopped walking and stood rigidly
in place, eyes on some point in the distance.

He killed them?
The flying creature sounded surprised for the
first time since we met.

I didn’t answer.

“
Then why are you here
with me now?” Herakles’ question was barely audible.

“
Because I love you,” I
whispered. “Because you’re my Herakles.”

I am sorry, Alessandra.

I stretched to see the creature trailing us
and offered him a small smile. He was learning how to be a better
human.

“
Let’s get you to the
doctor,” Herakles started forward once more. His face had blanched,
and his eyes were blank.

True wisdom comes to each
of us when we realize how little we understand about life,
ourselves, and the world around us.

–
Socrates

Neither spoke the rest of the way to the
medical facility. We entered the walls and walked along roughly
hewn tunnels slanting downwards gradually, until they met stairs
that took us beneath the ground level. Mama’s men had managed to
expand the sewer systems and underground bunker and tunnel network
beneath Washington DC to the walls and beneath the city.

The result was a shadowy honeycomb of uneven
tunnels and paths that smelled sometimes of rot, sometimes of must,
and led to cavernous rooms, some as large as a city block. It was
amazing yet scary, as I wasn’t entirely certain the men around
Herakles would listen to him.

The medical facility was its own private
chamber the size of my villa and partitioned into sections by
curtains. Herakles set me down on a bed next to a man in a white
lab coat.

I wasn’t about to admit weakness in front of
Herakles or Mismatch, but I was a little lightheaded. The two
waited outside the exam room. Gritting my teeth, I bore through a
shot to numb the area around my thigh so the doctor could clean and
stitch it then tugged up my shirt for him to check the slash along
my ribcage.

“
Lyssa, clothes!” Herakles
called and stuck his arm into the room. The doctor grabbed them and
set them on a stool near the table. After a shot of antibiotics, he
washed his hands.

“
You’re done,” he said.
“Local anesthesia will wear off in an hour. Painkillers on the
table.”

I stood. He left me alone to change, and I
did my best to clean up the blood remaining before pulling on black
cargo pants and a sweatshirt that smelled of Herakles and fell to
my knees. Weary and achy, I tested my body before joining Herakles
outside the exam room.

“
Good as new,” I said.
“Where’s …”

He pointed up. Mismatch was perched on a
cement beam high above us, appearing ever so much like the
grotesque he was.

“
That thing tried to
kidnap you when you were six,” Herakles said quietly.

“
He was trying to rescue
me,” I replied and met his gaze, once more thrown into deep
confusion. “How much do you know about me? About what I am and what
they want to do to me?”

Herakles was silent for a moment before he
spoke hoarsely. “You really have grown up.” His emotions were too
jumbled for me to read.

I wasn’t certain I wanted to know what he
felt. I needed distance between me and the world, or thought I did.
The moment I saw pain and sorrow on his features, my desire to
remain impartial to my caretaker melted.

Crossing to him, I hugged him. “Don’t be
sad,” I murmured. “Just be honest with me. I don’t need you to
protect me anymore.”

“
You need it now more than
ever, Lyssa.”

“
I need to know what I’m
facing. What I am. How I can possibly survive this.”

“
I’ve been as cut off as
you from the world since we entered the forest.” He eased away.
“Let’s find a place to sit and talk.” He led me out of the medical
area and into what appeared to be a community space filled with old
furniture and televisions and a few old video games.

I knew without looking Mismatch was tracking
our movements from his perch above. Mama’s men stopped speaking and
whatever they were doing as I passed. I understood their resentment
after the incident earlier, and I began to wonder how I was
supposed to fulfill the Silent Queen’s purpose and lead people who
wanted nothing to do with me unless it was to throw me off the
wall.

Herakles led me to a quiet area and started
to sit when he caught sight of someone behind me and rose.

“
Didn’t expect to see you
here,” he said. A flicker of warmth was in his gaze.

Turning, I saw Dosy as she lowered the hood
of her cloak. “I was on my way here when the Magistrate raised the
alarm about the kidnapping,” she said. “Sorry, Alessandra. We are
working out the kinks in the alliance. You’ll need to magically
reappear in your villa soon.” Though speaking to me, her eyes were
on Herakles, and I sensed … more between them. It was different
than the level of intensity between her and Niko. Far less
homicidal.

“
You two know each other?”
I asked curiously.

“
Only met recently,” Dosy
replied. “Am I interrupting?”

“
Sort of,” I
said.

“
No,” Herakles replied at
the same time.

I rolled my eyes and sat down. “Fine. He was
about to explain how messed up things are. You might as well join
us.”

Theodocia is Mama.
Interesting.
When Mismatch sounded this
intrigued, I didn’t think it was good. His loyalty was to me and
Lantos. I didn’t know which one won out, though, when it came down
to Triumvirate business.

Resting my head back on the couch, I gazed
up at him. “No. The Silent Queen is,” I replied aloud.

“
Who …” Dosy followed my
gaze and gasped. She uttered several foul curses. “You brought him
here?”

“
You know each other?”
Herakles asked.

“
Yeah. Unfortunately. If
you tell your boss, Adonis, I’ll hunt you down!”

I laughed.

“
Adonis.” Herakles was
frowning. “That thing is Adonis.”

“
At night,” I
supplied.

“
I met him when I was
younger. He appeared out of nowhere and a couple of cops brought
him in off the street. Disappeared that night but not before he
shredded the police station.” Dosy was glaring up at the creature.
“That was before his boss twisted him into a monster worse than
that.”

My amusement faded. Mismatch was watching
me, unconcerned with Dosy.

“
So that’s what happened,”
I murmured.

No. Lantos saved my life after Herakles
almost killed me, but I was the person I am long before Lantos.
I’ve begun to remember what I was.

“
It’d be nice to
know.”

“
Not to butt in, but do
you want to talk?” Herakles eyed the grotesque. He sat on a
loveseat opposite me.

“
Yeah,” I said and shifted
to see them both.

“
I’d advise you to make it
quick. You need to be back where the Magistrate can find you before
the Queen’s efforts to calm him wear off,” Dosy said.

“
You’d turn her back over
to the man who wants to steal her life and turn her into a monster
like he did me?” Herakles bristled.

“
My orders are to avoid
confrontation with him and his people at all costs. All this,” Dosy
swept her arms out around her, “is at risk. We aren’t in the
position to act yet.”

Herakles’ jaw was ticking.

“
It’s okay. I get it,” I
spoke before he could argue. “I’m under the impression I’m
relatively safe for now.”

“
You’re never safe,” Dosy
countered.

She’s right,
Mismatch agreed.

“
I’ll give you ten
minutes. Then I suggest you have him take you back.” Dosy pointed
at Mismatch. She rose and moved away, leaving Herakles and me
alone.

Now that I had the chance, I didn’t know
what to say. I’d already seen the look on his face when I mentioned
my parents.

“
You want to talk about
that night,” he assessed.

My guardian always knew how to read me. I
nodded with some reluctance.

“
After I knocked that
thing out of the sky and caught you, you changed me. It was your
magic. You took what I’d become and reversed it until I knew who I
was again.”

“
I don’t understand,” I
said.

He studied me. I saw he didn’t want to
reveal everything. “When I was ten, I was twice the size of the
other kids in my class. Twice as strong, twice as fast. I caught
the attention of a wealthy man who specialized in grooming
Olympians. My parents were thrilled. We were poor, and he offered
them a stipend if I’d live with him and train. He became my
benefactor. But … part of his program didn’t involve training until
after I’d been transformed genetically and physically into the
person that could survive his training. I spent ten years on my
back alternating between surgery and recovery. He replaced every
part of me he deemed weak. Add to that genetic manipulation, and
facial reconstruction surgeries so I resembled his illustrious
grandfather when he was younger, and the real me became lost.
Buried beneath scars, body parts that weren’t mine, and new genes.
I couldn’t remember what my real face and body looked like or my
parent’s names.”

My mouth was agape. I
couldn’t imagine rebuilding someone’s body the way he described or
the amount of time, money …
pain
he went through to become the most athletic,
successful Olympian of all time.