Prophecy of the Setting Sunrise (Oracle of Delphi #2), page 36
"Promise me you'll come back?"
He leaned in and planted his reply on her lips. She clung to him and he pulled her as close as he could.
"I love you, Red."
"I love you, Irish."
His lips twitched with a smile. "Red and Irish."
They were quiet for a long time, then he said, "When I come back, because I am comin' back, I'll finally be worthy of you."
She wanted to tell him again that he already was, but he got up to leave and the words evaporated into thin air. She wanted to hold onto him, but she let him go.
"Don't do anythin' stupid while I'm gone, yeah?" he said, stopping at the doorway.
She smiled in the darkness, but didn't respond. And then, she was alone.
The tears didn't come as she had expected them to. She figured she was all cried out. Besides, she knew Strafford was about to do something extraordinary. She could feel it in her heart and her Intuition told her she had to let him go. For just a little while, because when it was all over, he would be a better person. A better hero. A better Prince.
Still, she felt the pain of his absence and couldn't help but wonder when he would come back to her.
Even further away from sleep than before, she threw on more appropriate clothes for exploring. Thankfully, a knob had been added to the inside of the door so she was able to escape without any trouble.
She carried the keys to the Delphic Chateau with her, the anxiety of leaving them behind too much to ignore. She played with the ember key, and the diamond one, and a shiny silver one that she was positive was made out of Netherworld Steel. She wondered what doors or wonders they opened, but was scared to find out. Apollo had given her his castle for a reason and it was that reason that frightened her.
Chloe found her way with little problem. Now that the Chateau was hers, she seemed to know its every twist and turn. At one point she caught a whiff of a medicinal aroma in the air and knew she was near Dr. Life's lab. But she didn't venture down that hallway and continued in the direction of her original destination.
She was happy to find the door to his room open. She peeked in and saw him reading a book. From the doorway, she couldn't see the cover, but he was so engrossed in it that she thought it had to be something very intriguing.
"Hey, Ace."
The hero jumped and looked up. His tired eyes connected with hers and she swore something strange happened when they did. It was like he was seeing her for the first time, like he had never met her before.
Then, just like that, it was over.
He shook his head, as though he needed to clear it, and flashed a tight smile. "Hey, Chloe." He slid the book into his backpack that was lying on the bed beside him and stood. "Come in."
She stepped inside. "How are you?"
"I'm in pain."
The guilt lurched around in her gut. "I'm so, so sorry, Ace."
"Theseus dyin' wasn' your fault, Chloe."
"I still feel like it is. He died protecting me. I feel like I could've done something. Like, I should've known it was him the prophecy spoke of."
"How could you have known tha', wan? There was no way of knowin' tha' and it could've been any of us. We all accepted this honor knowin' tha' we might have to die for you. I have no regrets and I know Theseus is in Elysium smilin', because he doesn' have any either."
She believed him, though it didn't lessen her guilt in any way.
"That is really cool." She pointed up at the entire drum set hanging from his ceiling. Parts of the set were lit up, illuminating the suite. It was by far the coolest chandelier she had ever seen.
"Thanks."
They stared at each other.
"Strafford's gone," she said.
"I know."
"Apollo gave me the keys to the Chateau." She jingled them.
"I'm aware of tha' too."
She swallowed. "I know about Isolde."
"I know, Chloe."
The staring continued.
Then, "Sit down, please."
She nodded and sank down into one of the lounges against the wall nearest her. Ace settled himself on the one next to it and faced her. It took him a minute before he spoke, however.
"Everyone blames Stafford for Isolde's death."
She nodded. "I figured. But why exactly?"
"Because they all think he abandoned her in the Labyrinth and left her to die."
She cocked her head. "They all think?"
Ace nodded and cracked his knuckles. "Wha' do you know abou' our Achilles' Heel?"
She frowned. "Your what?"
"Our Achilles' Heel. Every demigod has one, like the hero Achilles. It's somethin' tha' makes us weak or scares us to death. Or both."
"I don't understand."
Ace sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Six years ago, when I was eleven years old, Isolde told me somethin' tha' I now know she never told another person, not even Strafford. She said the Fates had appeared to her and told her tha' she was meant to play a part in a future tha' would change Myth forever. She said tha' she had accepted her fate and would not let Strafford down. At the time, I thought she was off her nut. Even at eleven, I knew the Fates hadn' appeared to anyone in thousands of years, let alone directly prophesied to anyone besides our da. But nevertheless, I kept her secret and eventually forgot all about it. Until two years later."
She did the math. "That was four years go. The year of the last Olympics."
He shrugged, then nodded. "Because I was undeclared, I wasn' there, but they always broadcast the Games over the Salamander network..." He trailed off, but was back a minute later. "At the last Solstice Games, Strafford and Isolde were chosen for the main event, The Quest of the Twelve Labors."
"You mean, like the twelve labors of Hercules?" She knew of them. Duh, from the Hercules pop-up book, of course.
"Exactly. Every Olympics, three pairs of heroes from Olympian families are chosen to compete for the title of Campus Solstitium, or Solstice Champions, by achievin' the twelve labors as Hercules did. Last time, Skirmish, the War Prince and his brother, Alex Harm; Robo, a son of Hephaestus, and his sister, Creation; and Solar and Isolde Daystar, the Prince and Princess of the Sun, were the chosen competitors. And to date, it has gone on record as the fiercest Quest competition ever. Never had the competitors been so equally matched, or as skilled.
"The labors included things like capturin' a golden-horned Cerynithian Deer, stealing a feather from a Stymphalides bird, a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides, or takin' the girdle from an Amazon, and others. The last true labor of Hercules was battlin' Cerberus, but as you know, Hades isn't an Olympian nor is he welcome in Olympus, so venturin' into the Underworld is not a labor; it's a possible death sentence. So every Solstice Games, Zeus chooses a new twelfth labor for the competin' heroes. Last time, he chose —"
"The Minotaur," she finished. The labor Isolde spoke of...
Ace nodded. "Aye. The Minotaur. The heroes were required to bring back its horn, which could only be done by killin' it. Whichever team accomplished this would be Campus Solstium. By this time, however, Robo and Creation had already had to bow out of the competition because Robo had been wounded. And since both siblings have to complete the labor for it to count, tha' jus' left Skirmish/Alex and Strafford/Isolde."
She swallowed. "Okay, so what happened?"
"They all went into the Labyrinth, through two different entrances tha' Daedalus unlocked. They were given three days to find the Minotaur and bring its horn back to Olympus, but...things went horribly wrong."
She shivered, though not really sure why. "What went wrong exactly?" But as soon as she asked, it came to her. "The Minotaur is Strafford's Achilles' Heel, isn't it?"
Ace nodded. "He told me abou' the Minotaur only a month or so before the Solstice, 'cause at the time I was worried abou' him. He had come to Ireland to visit and had been havin' really bad nightmares abou' the thing. And I'm not talkin' abou' those childhood there's-a-monster-under-my-bed night terrors. I'm talkin' abou' the kind of nightmares tha' haunt your soul and taunt your sanity, even when you're awake. The kind of nightmares tha' only a demigod would be so cursed to have."
She swallowed, thinking of what Morpheus had said to Strafford in Adel. Would her refusal to turn Benjy over to Hypnos force Morpheus to act on his threat to haunt Strafford's dreams again? She didn't want to cause Strafford anymore pain than she already had, but she couldn't curse Benjy to be an icey either. She wanted him as far away from all of this as he could get. Maybe he was safer with the Thetans after all.
"Strafford killed the Minotaur," she said. "Is he safe from it now?"
"He is, but it's not jus' because he finally conquered his Achilles' Heel, wan. Simply killin' it wouldn' have helped Strafford, otherwise, tha's wha' they would've done. A personal sacrifice had to be made. It's the only way to truly conquer the beast."
"A sacrifice?" she questioned. "What kind of sacrifice?"
He sighed again. "It's said tha' in ancient times, a female sacrifice was given to the Minotaur to satisfy its thirst for mortal blood, once every fourth Summer Solstice. Without this sacrifice, there was a chance the Minotaur would escape the Labyrinth and help itself to all the mortal blood it wanted. Accordin' to some philosophers, a sacrifice is still made every fourth Solstice to keep the beast contained inside the maze."
Ace looked her right in the eye. "Four years ago, my sister sacrificed herself to the Minotaur. Not jus' to keep the beast trapped in the Labyrinth, but to keep it out of Strafford's head. It was the only way. Isolde never planned on making it out of the Labyrinth alive."
She felt her blood turn cold in her veins. "How do you know all of this?"
Ace's eyes dropped to the floor. "Isolde wasn' the only one the Fates visited. Two years ago, before I was declared, they came to me in a dream and told me everythin'."
She leapt to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You knew! All this time, you knew! You have to tell everyone!"
Ace shook his head. "I can't, wan."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because I swore on the River Styx tha' I wouldn' speak on it, and we sure don't need two broken vows hangin' over our heads." He glared back at her.
"Tell me then, and I'll tell him. That way you won't break your vow." She didn't know why she hadn't thought of this loophole before.
"See, Chloe. Tha's a lil' thing we demigods call effin' with Styx. And nobody effs with Styx. Except you, it seems."
She crossed her arms. "You have to tell him. You knew he didn't abandon Isolde and you've let all of Myth blame him for her death for four years!"
"Tha's where you're wrong, Chloe. He did run. He did leave her there. He didn' avenge her. And he came back without the horn."
"But she sacrificed herself! If everyone had known —"
Ace jumped up. "If everyone knew wha' she had done, our entire family would be disgraced right now, not jus' Strafford."
She pressed her lips together in anger and glared at him.
"There's no honor in wha' she did, wan. None at all. She only did it to save Strafford. Because tha' was her twin brother and she loved him."
"But —"
He grabbed her arms. "But nothin'. Listen to me. Strafford hasn' had a nightmare since Isolde died. Not a single one. The only reason he was able to take the beast on was because of the sacrifice she made. And now he's abou' to regain everythin' he's lost by competin' in the Quest again."
She jerked out of his grip. "Will he get Isolde back? Huh? Will competing bring his twin sister back to him?"
Ace looked at the floor. "No, wan."
His admission made her realize something else, too. "Apollo knew. That's why Strafford hates him. He knew Isolde was fated to die, didn't he?"
He shrugged. "Strafford assumed he did. He's the god of the Prophecy, how couldn' our da have known?"
"Gods don't know everything." Was she actually defending Apollo?
"Tha's true. But if you had to bet drachmas on it, wha' would you say?"
She barely took the time to think about it. "He knew."
Ace nodded and was quiet for a moment. "The Quest was created to demonstrate to all of Myth wha' true heroism is. To prove tha' the gods breed warriors who are powerful and courageous. If there is any time to show your true strength, it is in the Quest. He should have avenged her, or died tryin'. There's honor in tha'. But runnin' away in the Quest? There's only disgrace waitin' for you when you finally stop. If he had brought back the horn, everythin' would've been different. But he didn'."
He stepped closer to her. "I believe, deep in my soul, tha' Strafford was meant for more than this. He was meant to be more than jus' some demigod Prince. He was meant to be more than the Champion of the Quest. I think he's going to be the greatest hero to ever live, and the secrets to his greatness are locked away in the mind of the mos' powerful Oracle Myth has ever seen." His fingers brushed over her temples. "And Strafford jus' happens to be in love with her."
They were silent for a long time while she thought this all over.
Something was bothering her. It wasn't the what of the situation, it was the why. Why had Isolde sacrificed herself for Strafford? It wasn't just for his peace of mind or to keep it in the maze, this she was sure of. Her one theory scared her.
Apollo had known better than to interfere with fate. As Cupid had once told her, it was never wise to put desires before destiny, not even for gods. Even if Apollo had wanted to interfere, he never would have. Because the fate of the celestial world he'd seen in his visions proclaimed him King of Myth and nothing was going to get in the way of that. She had looked into his divine eyes and seen his intentions. He wanted this war and if what Ace had said was true, it explained a lot.
In history, heroes had always helped the gods win wars. But it was the chosen hero whose name was passed down through the generations. Apollo wanted Strafford to be that hero.
And she was in love with him. The Oracle whose birth fated it all.
"Who else is competing?" she asked.
"Skirmish and Alex will want to defend their title, I'm sure of it. But the third pair are being kept under wraps for wha'ever reason. I jus' know it's not Robo and Creation wantin' a rematch."
And that was when she remembered.
"Strafford's Kismet..." she breathed.
She had caught a glimpse of it, just once, one night in New Elysium. It had said:
Shattered but restored, from the dark and the marrow gates abhorred, he will rise for the divine one's plight, they who was once adored...
Now she knew. Apollo had cursed Strafford, not just so he would never forget the tragic event in his past that brought about his disgrace, but so she could never know what was in his future.
There was something important. Something Apollo was trying to hide.
Nothing was going to keep her from finding out what.
"So Strafford's going to Olympus," she said.
"Yes. He petitioned Hermes, the Master of the Games, before we even met you. He wasn' sure if he would after you two got together, but now..."
She understood and didn't press him to finish. "What about you and Swindle?"
"We'll join him there later, closer to the start of the Games. Right now, you are wha's mos' important. Besides, Hector needs some time and we don't want to go without him."
She thought of something else. "I'm not allowed in Olympus. I can't go."
Ace shook his head. "Not without a special mandate from Zeus. But for Solstice, there's hardly a chance tha' he would issue one. Not to a mortal, not even the Oracle."
She looked away, already plotting her way around this. Miss the Olympic Games? The games where Strafford would compete to regain his honor? Not in a million years.
Besides, she had begun making plans—BIG ones—and having all of the gods in the same place at the same time would only set those plans into motion faster. She was tired of stumbling and fumbling around with no sense of direction. She was going to make her own way. Apollo had to be stopped and the Zodiacs had to be found. Quick.
So whatever she had to do, whatever god she had to bribe or strike a bargain with, she would. She was going to Olympus, and there wasn't a deity in existence that was going to stop her.
"My Pythia?"
She looked up to find Mystic standing in Ace's doorway, holding a scroll in her hand. The sparkly Chaotic seemed anxious for some reason and immediately, Chloe became skeptical of what was written on the piece of papyrus.
"What is it, Mystic? What's happened?"
Mystic came forward and curtsied. "An Iris Post came for you." She placed the scroll in Chloe's waiting hand. "It's from the Olympian Queen."
Hera, she thought.
Shooting Ace a frowning glance, she quickly unrolled the scroll. She was only slightly relieved to find the post written in good old English and not Greek.
"Go ahead," Mystic prompted her. "Read it."
Hera didn't even bother with a salutation and got right to the point.
I scribe this on behalf of the King of Myth, Zeus, my lord husband and Olympian Lord Dominion of the Sky.
Solstice approaches and the deities gather for another assembly of the divine. We will discuss important matters of fate, punish those who sought to wrong us, and enjoy the festival that is the Olympic Games. You, as the first Oracle in almost half a century, will be a guest of the King and I for the duration.
Accommodations have been prepared and all other arrangements have been made for your stay. A list of acceptable items that you may feel inclined to bring along is to follow this post at a later date. Do take in mind that Olympus will not be as anything you have seen before. Therefore, a change in manner, dress and attitude are required. You will remain on your best behavior at all times and abide our laws with the utmost precision.
Failure to do so will result in grievous consequences.
Present yourself to the King immediately upon arrival into Olympus.
~H~
She lowered the letter.
Despite what it seemed, Chloe knew this was not an invitation. It was a summons.
It looked like bribes weren't going to be necessary. The gods were welcoming her into the heart of the kingdom with open arms.
