 
## **Contents**

Welcome

Synopsis

Copyright

Acknowledgements

Title Page

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Goodbye Blue Sky, Chapter One

Welcome to Helicon.

Welcome Home.
Dancing Days:  
The Helicon Muses, Book One  
by Val St. Crowe

As long as Nora Sparrow can remember, Owen has protected her. He's been there through years of miserable foster homes and snobby mean girls, always whispering to her that she doesn't belong here. Telling her that this is the mundane world, and someday, he'll get them back to Helicon, the world of the muses. The world where they belong.

But Nora's fifteen years old, and she isn't sure she quite believes it anymore. When he begs her to try another ritual to open the dimensions, she agrees mostly to humor him. Owen's rituals never work.

But this one does, and Nora is flung into the whimsical, bohemian land of Helicon, where she's expected to do nothing more than create and inspire. With the help of her new muse friends, Nora sets out to discover who is creating holes in the fabric of Helicon and draining away the muses' energy.

Everything would be perfect, if only Owen's protectiveness wasn't starting to seem so...obsessive.
DANCING DAYS  
© copyright 2012 by V. J. Chambers  
http://vjchambers.com  
Punk Rawk Books

Please do not copy or post this book in its entirety or in parts anywhere. You may, however, share the entire book with a friend by forwarding the entire file to them. (And I won't get mad.)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  
I am indebted to my fabulous beta reader N. R. Wick for helping me get this manuscript into shape. Thank you so much, Nikki.

Dancing Days

The Helicon Muses, Book One

by Val St. Crowe

PROLOGUE

The dismissal bell cut clear and cold into the air, so loud that anyone standing outside Tressa Middle School could hear it echoing from within. And seconds later, the thud of hundreds of feet rent the air. A crowd of young adolescents shoved open the doors of the school. It was a warm spring day, but the buzz of the newly freed students drowned out the sound of the birds chirping.

Nora Sparrow, twelve years old, trailed behind a group of four girls, who were tittering over a magazine full of pictures of teen idols. The girls passed the magazine back and forth amongst themselves as they walked, each cooing over pictures of actor Matt Tint, who one girl proclaimed was, "Delicious enough to eat."

None of the girls noticed Nora walking behind them as they cleared the doors of the school and bounded down the steps into the warm air. No one noticed Nora. No one ever had. This was the tenth school she'd attended and the eleventh foster family she'd lived with. Adults often asked her if she was making friends. Nora wasn't, but she wanted to.

It was harder than ever anymore. It seemed like, with every passing day, it got more important for Nora to be wearing the right kinds of clothes or styling her hair the right way for people to notice her. For Nora, who'd just gone through a growth spurt and had a collection of pants that were too tight at the waist and too short for her legs, trendy clothes were not an option. She'd tried asking her foster mother about getting her hair styled but had been ignored, so her red hair had been cut (by her foster father) in a short bob.

There was one thing that Nora thought she could do to make friends. Owen always told her not to do it, but she wasn't sure if she believed those stories Owen was always telling her. She wasn't a little kid anymore. She didn't need Owen's bedtime stories. She knew he meant for them to make her feel better, but following his rules was only making her miserable. So she was trying to get up the courage to talk to these girls.

The girls all paused at the end of the steps, hovering over the magazine, their mouths wide.

"I love his smile," sighed one girl. Nora knew that her name was Angela.

Taking a deep breath, Nora tapped Angela on the shoulder.

Angela turned. She gave Nora a look of disdain. "What?"

"You're looking at pictures of Matt Tint, right?" Nora asked.

One of the other girls, who was named Ashleigh, rolled her eyes. "Did anyone ask you to come talk to us?"

"We're having a private conversation," said the third girl, who was called Caitlyn.

Nora shrugged. "Well, okay, but I draw Matt Tint. I thought you guys might want to see." Nora pulled out a sketch pad. She'd been working on various drawings of the teen hunk for days, trying to get them perfect. She thought this one was her best. She hoped it would impress the girls.

"Whoa." Angela snatched the sketch book from Nora. "That's really good."

Caitlyn and Ashleigh crowded closer to peek. They looked at Nora with different eyes, as if they'd never really seen her before. Their eyes flitted from the sketch pad to Nora's face, and the expressions on their faces were ones of wonder.

"How'd you do that?" asked Caitlyn. "It looks just like him."

Ashleigh shook her head. "No way, it looks better than him. The guy in this picture is too delicious to eat."

The three girls giggled, and Nora joined in, smiling. She couldn't believe it. Not only had they noticed her, they were impressed by her.

"You're Nora, right?" said Caitlyn.

Nora nodded.

"We're going back to my house to play dance games on my Wii," Caitlyn said. "Do you want to come?"

Nora couldn't suppress a huge grin. "I love to dance," she said.

Overhead, the sky was abruptly changing. Dark clouds were rolling in, obscuring the blue sky. The air was growing colder. Nora looked up, shivering a little, but the other girls were too engrossed with the picture she'd drawn to pay it any mind.

Ashleigh called out to another group of girls on the steps. "You should see this picture that Nora drew! It's amazing."

The other group of girls drew close, passing the picture around amongst them, each giving Nora rapturous looks when they saw it. They whispered and sighed, and Nora could hear the awe in their voices. It made her feel buoyant and alive, more happy than she thought she'd ever felt. Ever.

Thunder rumbled overhead. Nora looked up at the sky apprehensively. "Do you think it's going to rain?"

"You should show this to Mrs. Garn," said Angela. Mrs. Garn was the art teacher. "She would be really impressed."

By now, other students were noticing that a small crowd had gathered at the bottom of the steps, and they were stopping to see what the fuss was about. In turn, they all examined Nora's picture. More exclamations were made at its greatness. Everyone was extremely impressed. They congratulated and flattered her. Nora found herself in the center of a group of middle schoolers, laughingly deflecting their praise. It felt so good.

The sky grew darker.

Across the street, the sound of another bell sounded, and the older students who attended Tressa High School began to exit the larger building. Nora bit her lip. That meant Owen was getting out of school. And if he saw her and realized what she'd done, he might not be happy.

Noticing all the kids crowded up outside the middle school, several of the high school students wandered over, demanding to know what was going on. Nora's picture was passed to them as well. There was more generalized amazement, everyone admiring the picture.

Nora was starting to feel nervous. Was her picture really that good? If it was, that meant that all those things that Owen said about muses were real. And if it was all real, then the danger was real too.

The sky was purplish black overhead. Nora stared at it in fear, noticing the strange purple sparks that leapt from dark cloud to dark cloud. She didn't think this was a normal storm. Thunder crashed, shaking the air, but no one seemed to care. They were all too interested in Nora's drawing. Nora watched the sparks of purple in the clouds join together, forming a large lightning bolt that danced in the sky above, growing thicker and longer with each passing moment. She gulped.

"Nora!" screamed a voice.

Owen. He was here.

She took her gaze away from the clouds for a moment to look for him. He was pushing through the crowd that had gathered around her, his dark hair in his eyes. "What did you do?" There was panic in his voice.

"I drew a picture," she squeaked.

A bang of thunder.

Owen glanced upward and then tackled Nora, knocking her to the ground and covering her body with his own.

Nora could barely see the huge purple lightning bolt descend from the cloud and strike Owen's body. He lit up from the hair on his head to the tips of his fingers. He shuddered above her, crying out in pain.

Nora squeezed her eyes shut. No. She whimpered. She should never have shown them the picture. Owen said if she ever showed anyone anything creative she'd done, she'd be in danger. The Influence killed muses if they were in the mundane world, he'd told her. And now it was killing Owen.

But the bolt ceased, and Owen, gritting his teeth, got to his feet and helped Nora up. Above them, the clouds were already clearing. He turned on the crowd of people, who were all standing shocked around them. They backed up a few paces, seeing his fierce expression. "Who's got the picture?"

No one moved.

"The picture," Owen growled. "Someone's got it. Give it to me."

And Angela stepped forward, holding up the sketchbook.

Owen snatched it from her and took Nora by the arm. He dragged her away from the other students. "I told you never to do that, didn't I?" he said. "Didn't I tell you never to do that?"

"I'm sorry." Nora hung her head. She hadn't really believed him.

"You're lucky I was there, and I could take the Influence's energy," said Owen. "Otherwise, you'd be dead."

CHAPTER ONE

three years later...

Nora Sparrow clutched her books to her chest and did her best to hide behind her hair as she walked into art class. She hated art class. She was required to take it. Everyone was. But she couldn't produce any actual art. She'd learned that lesson well enough three years ago when she was twelve. She would never forget the lightning bolt from the sky, the way Owen had cried out in pain. Not to mention the fact that Owen'd had to finagle something to get them moved out of that foster home immediately afterward, considering that everyone had seen her art and kept asking questions about it. It wasn't worth it.

They'd put her in freshman art last year, no matter how hard she'd protested. And then she'd spent an entire year doing nothing. She got a zero for the whole year. Her art teacher had informed her, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, that Nora was the first student in the teacher's career to get such a low grade in art.

The art room didn't have desks, just several long tables with six chairs at each of them. Nora always sat in the back at a table alone. She was lucky the art class was small enough that she didn't have to share a table with anyone. She came into class every day and put her head down. She was in her second quarter of the same freshman art class this year—her sophomore year—and she was making a zero yet again. At this rate, she wasn't going to graduate high school. It was ridiculous. And trying to have a conversation with the school counselor or her social worker or her foster mother about it was worthless. They didn't understand. She couldn't tell them the truth, or they'd think she was crazy. Sometimes Nora thought she was.

Nora peered through strands of her red hair as she made her way back to the table she usually sat at. She liked to keep her hair in her face. She felt like it meant people didn't really have to look at her. And Nora often wished she could simply be invisible.

After sweeping several thumbtacks off her chair and hearing the jocks sigh in disappointment that she hadn't actually sat on them, Nora settled in her chair and buried her head in her arms. Art wasn't the only class that she had to be careful about being creative in, but it was the only class she took that was completely about creativity. She had to avoid some assignments in English class or history occasionally. She had to make sure she chose electives carefully. Home ec was out—too many chances to cook or sew creatively. Gym was fine, but she hated gym. Still, it usually ended up on her schedule. Foreign languages were fine. She filled in the rest of her schedule with study halls and teacher assistant classes. The French teacher really liked her.

And overall, it was easier now that she was in high school. As a first grader, her teachers had been so concerned when she wouldn't color in class.

The tardy bell rang, and her art teacher closed the door to the classroom, coming inside from the hall. "You guys are supposed to be finishing up your perspective drawings," she said. "Get to work."

Other students in the class pulled out sketchpads or went to get charcoal from the art supplies cabinet. Nora just kept her head down. She could hear the clacking of the art teacher's shoes as she approached Nora's table.

"Nora," said the teacher, "I've told you before you can't sleep in class."

Nora raised her head defiantly, glaring at the teacher.

The teacher sat down in a chair next to Nora. She smiled.

Oh great. This was worse than when they were mean. Nora looked away.

"I was talking to Mrs. Fields yesterday," said the teacher. Mrs. Fields was the French teacher, the one that liked Nora.

Nora shrugged. "So?"

"She says you doodle in her class sometimes. She says she's seen you do it, and you always hide whatever it is you're drawing."

Note to self, thought Nora. Stop drawing in French class. She hadn't thought anyone noticed, or she never would have done it.

"Why don't you try drawing something in here?" said the teacher. She was pleading with Nora. "You don't have to be Michaelangelo to get a good grade in this class, you know. But if you won't try at all, how am I supposed to reward you? You have to make an effort."

Nora shrugged. Often, if she didn't speak to teachers too much, they gave up.

The teacher's shoulders sagged. "I don't know what to do with you. You're failing art for the second year in a row, and it's only because you won't do anything."

"I'm not a creative person, okay?" Nora kept her voice sullen. Teachers hated it when you were sullen.

The teacher got up out of the chair. "Fine with me." She turned away. "No one can say I haven't tried," she muttered.

It was that part that always annoyed Nora. That teachers somehow thought it had something to do with them. It didn't. Nora made her own decisions. The teachers had nothing to do with them.

Overhead, the classroom speaker crackled. "Mrs. Flint?"

"Yes?" replied the art teacher, looking up at the ceiling as if she was actually talking to someone up there.

"Can you send Nora Sparrow to the office for dismissal?"

Dismissal? Her? That made no sense. There was no way either of her foster parents would pick her up early from school. What was going on here?

The teacher turned to Nora. "Did you hear that?"

Nora nodded. She gathered up her books and started to the front of the classroom. Something struck her on the back of the head. She turned, noticing a ball of paper on the floor.

The jocks were snickering.

"Jordan!" admonished the teacher.

"What?" said Jordan, who was sitting at the jock table, jeering. "I didn't do anything."

The teacher simply shook her head.

Nora fixed Jordan with the cruelest glare she could manage. Then she swept out of the room. She stalked up the hall, feeling angry about everything. It wasn't like she didn't want to draw. She loved to draw. She'd never gotten the chance to paint, but she was sure she'd love that too. She loved to write poems and make up songs and put together outfits and think up dance moves. But she wasn't allowed to do any of those things. It made her nuts. If she didn't have to hide everything, maybe she wouldn't be a freak. Maybe stupid idiots like Jordan wouldn't put tacks on her seat or throw things at her or call her Spare-Ribs in the hall. That was an oh-so-witty play on her last name—Sparrow. She supposed they also said it because she was so darned skinny, but that wasn't her fault either. She barely got fed in her current foster home. There were three other foster kids, and food always seemed scarce.

She stopped at her locker to get her coat and bag. Why was she being dismissed? Who was here to pick her up? The school had strict rules that said that only parents could pick up children.

She rounded the corner to the main office. Outside, the sky was gray and white. It was calling for snow, even though it didn't usually snow in December, even this close to the holidays. She'd heard buzz from other students, who apparently hoped it would snow enough to get them out of school all the way until Christmas. They were so hopeful. Such idiots. They didn't know what the world really was—an empty hollow space that drowned dreams.

Nora glowered as she entered the office.

And there he was. Owen.

So he was back. He'd disappeared for over three months this time. And he was back. She watched him, leaning over the counter and talking to the office secretaries, an easy grin on his face. It was so easy for him to convince people to do what he wanted. His abilities didn't call up purple lightning in the sky to strike him dead. She should have figured it was Owen. He could charm anyone into doing what he wanted, even the office into letting her go home early.

Truthfully, she hadn't been sure that he'd come back at all.

His eyes lit up when he saw her. Owen had this unsettling beauty to him. He was a slender boy-man with dusky olive skin and dark hair that curled at the ends. But his eyes were a startling blue color, giving him an otherworldly look. Which she guessed was warranted, all things considered.

She glared at him. He wasn't going to smile at her and make it all better. Not this time. They weren't kids anymore. This whole disappearing act was getting old.

If Owen noticed that she was pissed at him, he didn't let on. He strode over to her, arms wide, and engulfed her in a huge hug. "It's so good to see you," he whispered in her ear.

In spite of herself, his silken voice made her melt a little.

Releasing her, he gave the secretaries a careless wave. "Thanks, Mindy. Jennifer."

Of course he knew their names.

"Oh, no problem," said one of the secretaries, smiling at him adoringly. "Our pleasure."

"You two have a happy holiday," Owen said and ushered Nora out of the school, to the parking lot, and into a beat-up blue Chevy. He was always somehow acquiring cars. Nora half-wondered if he stole them. Maybe he just charmed the owners out of wanting them. She wouldn't put either past him.

Owen opened the passenger side door for her with flourish. She rolled her eyes at him and got in.

He walked around to his side of the car and let himself in. He settled behind the steering wheel. "You're mad."

Nora shrugged. Shrugging worked on other people besides teachers too.

Owen put the key in the ignition of the car and started it. "I have good news."

The sounds of The Sex Pistols roared out of the stereo.

Nora reached over and turned the music down. "You said you'd be gone a week. It's been three months."

Owen pulled the car out of its parking space. "Things got complicated."

Typical. With Owen, things always got complicated.

He glanced over at her, giving her one of his dazzling smiles. "Oh, come on, Nora. It's almost Christmas. How about some peace on earth, huh?"

She turned away from him, looking out the window at the bare tree limbs against the gray sky. Winter was depressing. Barren. Maybe if it did snow, things would seem a little bit magical again, like they had when she was a little girl, and she and Owen had camped out in that abandoned house in the woods, huddled around fires they built, wrapped in blankets. Before child services had found them. Before they were always getting separated. Maybe if things were like that again, she'd believe him when he told her he was going to get her back home. Not that the home Owen told her about was a place she even really remembered.

"Peace in this car?" Owen said.

Nora was never sure if the few snatches of pictures she had of home were from her own memory or from her visualizing when Owen had told her stories. She knew there was something wrong with her. She believed that she and Owen were different. But she didn't know if she believed they'd ever be able to get back to Helicon. Sometimes, she didn't know if she even believed Helicon existed.

The car slowed and pulled to a stop. Owen had pulled the car into a dirt road in the woods. There was a chain drawn over the road, a battered sign hanging from the center reading, "No Trespassing."

Nora turned to him. "Where are we?"

He turned off the car and opened the door. "Walk with me. I'll show you."

Sighing, Nora got out of the car. She shoved her hands in her pockets and burrowed into her coat against the cold. Owen stepped over the chain blocking the road. Nora did the same and trudged after him, following him into the woods.

"Come on," Owen threw over his shoulder, and she hurried to catch up to him.

They walked until the road bent, and Nora could barely see the car through the naked tree trunks of the woods. Then they emerged into a clearing. There was an old barn squatting amongst long strands of dead grass. Several rusty cars and an ancient tractor littered the ground in front of it. The wind whistled through the trees and chilled Nora. She shivered. "It's cold, Owen."

He turned to her, brushing her hair away from her face. His voice was soft. "Hey. I'm sorry I was gone so long."

She chewed on her lip and moved away from his touch. He wasn't allowed to disappear like that and then just show up and act like everything was the same. She couldn't handle it anymore.

Owen closed the distance between them, his arms going around her, pulling her close. He kissed her.

She shut her eyes, felt his soft lips against hers, but when he tried to put his tongue in her mouth, she pulled away. "Where are we? Why are we here?"

Owen reached for her. "Don't be mad, Nora."

"It's cold," she said again.

He pointed at the barn. "This is where we do it."

"Do what?"

"A ritual," he said. "One I've been hunting down while I've been gone. I had a hard time finding the people I needed to talk to. But I've figured it out now, and I know we can do it. This is a remote enough place that no one will bother us. This barn's completely abandoned. The people who own this land don't even farm anymore."

Another ritual, huh? Well, what did she think he was going to show her? She'd half-wondered if he hadn't dragged her out into the woods to try to convince her to get it on with him in the abandoned barn when it was thirty degrees outside. Owen had never tried to get her to have sex with him, but from what she understood, that was what seventeen-year-old boys usually did with their girlfriends. If you could really consider her Owen's girlfriend. She guessed she was.

For the most part, Owen was everything to her. She couldn't remember a time that they hadn't been together. He was her protector, her companion, her best friend. When the kissing started, well, it had only seemed natural.

She folded her arms over her chest. "What makes you think this one's going to work?" She couldn't count the stupid things they'd tried in order to get back to Helicon, dancing around, chanting words in Greek, drawing strange runes in patterns on their skin. Each time, Owen had been sure that this ritual was it, that this time they'd be on their way home. But nothing had ever worked. Ever.

Owen sighed. "Don't be like that. You know we have to keep trying. If we give up, we'll never get back."

She looked at the desolate barn and at Owen's earnest blue eyes. Then she turned and started back for the car. She wasn't sure what to say. After this ritual failed, how long would it be before Owen took off again?

Owen ran up behind her, taking her by the shoulders and turning her to face him. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Nothing," said Nora.

"Did Tim try anything else, because—"

"No." Tim was her foster father. He'd gotten drunk and fresh with her one night, but Owen'd had a talk with him, and Owen was a pretty convincing guy when he needed to be. She shook her head. "It's just maybe I don't want to go through all of it again, you know? Maybe I don't want to get my hopes up, just to have them get dashed. And last time we tried one of these, we screwed up our foster placement, and we had to come here, and maybe I don't feel like getting uprooted again."

Owen raised his eyebrows. "You like living with Tim and Laura?"

"Laura's okay."

"Laura's a bitch," said Owen. But Owen was only saying that because Laura was one of the few people on earth he couldn't charm. When Nora and Owen had first arrived here, they'd been placed together. Owen was usually pretty good about convincing people not to split them up. But Laura had immediately taken a dislike to Owen and no amount of charm or convincing on his part would change her mind. She'd insisted he leave her house. She said Owen gave her the creeps. Owen had decided foster families weren't worth it. Instead, he managed to convince some lawyers to work for him pro bono and get himself emancipated. Immediately afterward, he'd dropped out of school. Now he could focus completely on searching for ineffective rituals.

"I don't want to start all over is all."

"If it doesn't work," said Owen, "I'll work on getting you emancipated too. Then you can come with me."

"Then I won't graduate from high school."

"People like us do not need high school."

"We do if we're stuck in this world." She sighed. "When do you want to do this anyway?"

"The Roman Solstice," said Owen. "That's when the barrier between this world and Helicon is easiest to penetrate."

"Christmas Eve? Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be to get out of my house on Christmas Eve?"

"I'll help," said Owen. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"

Of course she was. She could complain all she wanted, but when it came down to it, these little rituals were the only bright spots in her otherwise dreary, hopeless life. She nodded.

Owen grabbed her hand. "I really am sorry. I think it's gonna work this time."

But he always said that.

"I missed you," he said. "I thought about you every day."

She looked up into his strikingly blue eyes, feeling her anger drift away. "I missed you too."

He grabbed her other hand and kissed her again. This time, she opened her mouth to him, pressing her body against his, gripping his cold fingers with her own.

"Nora," he murmured, and she loved the way he said her name.

"Can we move this make-out session to the backseat of your car?" she asked, grinning. "It is cold."

"Mmm." He kissed her nose. "Absolutely."

* * *

"Out of the question," said Laura, standing in the kitchen of the double-wide where Nora lived. "And if he doesn't leave in five minutes, I'm calling the police."

Laura had caught Nora trying to sneak out the back door to go meet Owen. It was ten o'clock in the evening on Christmas Eve. When Owen had realized Nora couldn't get out, he'd come into the house. Now, Owen stood in the doorway to the kitchen, his hands in his pockets, glaring at Laura. Laura was seething too. Tim, Nora's foster father, looked caught in the crossfire from where he perched on a chair at the kitchen table.

"Christmas Eve is a time for family," Laura said.

"Owen is my family," said Nora. "We've been together for eleven years. He—"

"No," said Laura. "I told you before that I didn't want you seeing him anymore." She put a finger in Owen's face. "You are not taking her out of this house and knocking her up, when you're too irresponsible to even stick around for longer than a couple months at a time. She is too young, and I'm not letting you screw her up anymore than you already have." She turned to her husband. "Back me up here, Tim."

Tim shot a look at Owen, who smiled easily at him. "Well, they did grow up together, hon. Maybe it's innocent—"

"Nothing about that boy is innocent," said Laura. She turned to Nora, her expression softening. "Sweetie, I know you can't see it, because you are just a girl, and he is the only boy who's ever paid a bit of attention to you, but there is nothing good about this one. I know his type, and I don't want you mixed up in it."

"Mrs. Gore," said Owen, "I know you and I got off on the wrong foot, but let me assure you that my intentions toward Nora are—"

"Don't talk fancy at me," said Laura. "I can tell you think I'm some dumb cunt, but I'm not. I see right through you, buddy."

Nora had known trying to get out of the house on Christmas Eve wasn't going to be easy.

"I would never refer to you with words like that," Owen said, shock all over his face.

Nora knew him well enough to know he was faking it. Owen was good at faking things. She knew that. Owen was good at convincing people of stuff. It wasn't as if she hadn't wondered before if Owen couldn't convince her to do things the same way he did other people. It didn't matter, though, even if he could. Owen was all she had.

"It's Christmas Eve," said Laura.

"I realize that," said Owen, "and I won't keep Nora out late. I promise."

Laura shook her head, closing her eyes. "I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to keep this girl away from you."

Owen was getting annoyed. Nora could tell. His jaw was twitching the way it did when he was trying to keep himself under control. He didn't get really mad often, but when he did, Owen could be a little terrifying. Nora went to him, taking his hand. "Maybe it's just not meant to be, and we should let it go."

He glared at her. "You're coming with me tonight. That's all there is to it."

"Oh, no, she is not," said Laura.

"Could we give them an hour or something?" Tim suggested. "She'd have to be back by eleven or—"

"When you turn eighteen," Laura said, ignoring Tim and locking eyes with Owen, "I will turn you in for statutory rape so fast if you put a finger on her."

Owen's whole face twitched.

"Owen," said Nora.

"You have no clue about anything, do you know that?" Owen said. "That is not what any of this is about. And for all you know, I already have knocked her up. For all you know, I've performed eighteen coat hanger abortions on her myself." He took a step closer to Laura. He looked taller, and his face was twisted and enraged. "Someone like you cannot keep me away from Nora. Nobody keeps me away from Nora."

In spite of herself, Laura was cowering. She caught Nora's eyes with her own. "Does he ever hit you, honey?"

"Of course not." Owen's voice was ice. He took another step closer to Laura. "I don't have to hit people, Laura." His gaze bored into hers.

Laura suddenly went slack, collapsing back against the counter, still staring into Owen's eyes. Her mouth had fallen open. Drool was starting to trickle onto her chin.

"Go get in the car, Nora," said Owen, still staring at Laura.

"What are you doing to her?" Nora said. Sometimes Owen kind of freaked her out.

"She'll be fine," said Owen. "Just go."

Nora looked at Tim, who didn't look the slightest bit upset at this turn of events. He was already under Owen's thrall. "I'm sorry about all this," she muttered, and then she turned and ran out of the double wide.

A few minutes later, Owen got into the car, slamming the door after himself. "Why'd you apologize to that jerk after what he tried to do to you?"

"I..." Nora wasn't sure. "Sometimes it doesn't seem fair, you know. What you do to people's heads. You keep them from thinking for themselves, and it's sort of..." Scary. But she didn't say that out loud.

"I only do what I have to do," Owen said.

They were quiet for the rest of the drive to the barn. It had snowed since they'd been there before, and Owen had a tougher time pulling the car in front of the chain on the road. Also, they had to walk through the snow to get back to the barn. Nora was wearing boots, but the snow was almost a foot deep, and it soaked into the bottoms of her jeans, chilling her legs. She didn't even want to think about what she'd be going back to after this ritual was over. Owen might have permanently damaged Laura in some way. Owen could do things to people's minds, and sometimes they weren't exactly the same afterwards. Even if he hadn't, Laura would be terrified. Nora was going to have to move out again. And maybe her living situation was less than ideal, but Laura had always been nice to her. Why did Owen have to do things like that?

They traipsed through the snow back to the barn. Owen had apparently already been there, because Nora could see the glow of a fire inside coming through the cracks in the barn. When they went inside, she saw a small fire in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a ring of stones. Snow had fallen into the barn, and a faint trace of white powder covered the stalls. Inside one of the stalls was a goat, tied up and bleating.

Nora turned to Owen. "I thought you said that no one farmed here anymore. What's with the goat?"

"I brought it here," said Owen. "We need it."

Nora wandered close to the goat, peering at it. "For what?"

He ducked into another stall and came out with a bottle of wine. He pulled out a pocket knife and started screwing the corkscrew into the top of the bottle. "Look, this ritual is different, Nora. It's a little more intense. That's why it's going to work." He pulled the cork out of the wine and handed the bottle to Nora. "Drink up."

She held the bottle up for a second before taking a sip. "Intense, how?"

He got another bottle of wine out of the stall and began to open it. "It's part of the Dionysian Mysteries."

"We need two bottles of wine?" Nora was feeling confused. The rituals were always a little weird, but they'd never really involved alcohol before. Or goats.

"We have to be drunk," said Owen. "It's part of the thing with Dionysus. He's the god of wine, you know."

Dionysus. She hadn't heard Owen say that name in a long time, not since they were both much younger. Back then, he'd been determined to find Dionysus, the Greek god. Owen claimed that Dionysus was his father. And given the weird things that he could do, maybe he was right. "Are we trying to find your dad again?"

"No," said Owen. "Not exactly. But this ritual is supposed to open the dimensions. It's supposed to let us through, back to Helicon."

Helicon. Home. The world of the muses. Would this work? "So what do we do exactly?"

"First we get drunk," said Owen. He clinked his wine bottle against hers and took a long swig.

Nora surveyed her wine bottle. Well, it wasn't as if she had a foster home to go back to anymore, not really. She might as well get wasted. It was the holidays. She tipped the bottle into her mouth.

* * *

Nora swayed on her feet, the nearly empty wine bottle dangling from her fingers. Owen was behind her, his arms around her waist, his lips on her neck, sending tingles through her body. He'd plugged an mp3 player into some portable speakers, and a tribal kind of drum and string music was pulsing around them. Even though it was cold outside, the fire and the wine made her feel warm. She gazed sidelong at Owen through half-lidded eyes. The music and drinking had entranced her. "We're going to kill the goat, aren't we?"

Owen kissed her ear lobe. "Yes."

"I don't want to." There had never been any killing in any of these rituals. Stupid chants, yes. Weird dances, yes. But killing something... It made her feel sick. And she didn't think it would work anyway.

Owen's breath tickled her ear as he talked. "Blood is power, Nora. We've been trapped here long enough. I'll do most of it. You just have to help."

The drums sped up around them, becoming frenzied. Owen's hands moved on her hips, making her sway with the tempo. She closed her eyes, feeling swept away by it.

The goat bleated behind them. Nora pushed away from Owen, stumbling on her feet. The wine made it hard to move, made everything seem exaggerated. "I don't want to."

"Nora." He put his fingers under her chin and tilted her head up so that she was staring into his eyes. Reflections of the flames danced inside them. She felt dizzy. "Blood is power."

The sound of the words wrapped tendrils around her brain. She nodded slowly. They had to.

Owen got his pocket knife out again. He slid the blade up. It winked, flickering in the firelight. He turned up the music, louder. It pulsed into Nora's mind. The beat of the drums seemed clear. Everything else seemed fuzzy and distant.

Owen pulled the goat out of its stall. It was shivering. He put his arm around its neck and pulled it against him. He brandished the knife. Nora winced.

Owen whispered. "I call upon loud-roaring and reveling Dionysus, primeval, two-natured, thrice-born, Bacchic lord, savage, ineffable, secretive, two-horned and two-shaped. Ivy-covered, bull-faced, warlike, howling, pure." The knife slashed against the goat's neck. It was quick, glinting in the firelight.

The goat twitched, kicking its hind legs out. Blood poured from its throat.

Nora hid her face.

"Take this raw flesh," whispered Owen, "and take us home to Helicon."

Owen tossed the goat's carcass at Nora. She shrieked. It was warm and twitching and blood was getting on her clothes and skin. She shoved the goat away from her, screaming.

Owen took her hands, pulling her in a circle around the fire. "Take this raw flesh and take us home to Helicon. Say it, Nora." His eyes burned into hers. "Say it."

She repeated the words with Owen, allowing him to drag her as they half-ran, half-danced around the fire. The goat blood was sticky and hot. She didn't like the way it smelled. And the drums were still loud, and the wine was still making everything exaggerated and fuzzy. She thought she might be sick if they kept going in circles like this. Her stomach constricted. She struggled not to heave.

Did the fire seem hotter? Were the flames climbing higher, licking the ceiling of the barn. Was the color different? Less orange and red, more silvery-blue? She tried to focus on it, but she was twirling so fast with Owen, and she was yelling about raw flesh and home at the top of her lungs. She couldn't tell. Everything was spinning. Everything was moving too quickly.

Suddenly Owen seized her wrists tightly, and they stopped running. He was breathing hard. He cast a glance into the fire, which was different—a huge mass of bright white flame—and yanking her with him, he leapt into the blaze.

Nora cried out. She tried to pull herself back, tried to keep Owen from doing it. But the heat was all around her before she knew it, licking over her limbs, searing into her skin. She smelled the acrid scent of burning hair. They were going to die now, weren't they? Owen had completely lost his head.

CHAPTER TWO

The drum beat was changing. It was louder, more intricate, losing its tinny forced-through-the-speakers sound, becoming fuller, richer...more real. Nora thought it was strange that she could be thinking about drums while she was burning to death.

Strong arms came up under her armpits, wrenching her out of the fire. The air outside was cool, but not bitingly cold, the way it had been. Sweet air filled her lungs—summer air, full of the smells of green grass and meat cooked over an open flame. Nora realized her eyes were closed.

She opened them.

At first, she only saw the fire. It was huge—far bigger than the fire they'd made, its enormous raging flames climbing upward, sparks snapping up into the starry night sky. Stars? Where was the roof of the barn?

It was only then that she looked around her. She wasn't in the barn anymore. She was outside somewhere, surrounded by hundreds of people wearing flowing white shirts, loose gathered pants, and patchwork skirts. They stared down at her, surprise all over their beautiful faces.

The drum beat faltered and stopped.

Owen was next to her. Someone had pulled him out of the fire too. He scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide with wonder. Nora stood up too, hurrying close to him. She grabbed his hand, and he squeezed her fingers.

Nora could see that the strange, pretty people in their bohemian outfits were all gathered around the fire. Some squatted over huge drums, others had guitars and strange stringed instruments—they were all shaped differently, some pear-shaped bodies, others square, others round like balls—tied to their bodies, others had tambourines or bells in their hands. Still others didn't hold instruments at all. They were all silent now, staring at her and Owen.

Were they here? Had it actually worked?

A woman pushed through the crowd toward them. She had smooth coffee-colored skin and an unlined face, but it was surrounded by a halo of bright white curly hair. She carried herself regally, like a queen, but she smiled at Nora, and her smile was kind. Reassuring.

The crowd parted for her, letting her close to Owen and Nora.

"Phoebe Rain?" said Owen. "Your hair...?"

When Owen spoke, he let out a string of musical syllables, but Nora could understand them. The muse language! She'd nearly forgotten. Huddling against the cold with Owen, both of them just children. They'd always spoken to each other in it. But years ago she'd insisted they speak English, and no matter how Owen had protested, she wouldn't talk to him unless he spoke English. She thought that some part of her had thought that their language must be some sort of childish made-up gibberish.

The woman took Owen by the chin, turning his face this way and that, studying him. "It is you, isn't it? Owen Asher." And the woman spoke the musical language as well. It was real. They were in Helicon. Nora felt elated and terrified at the same time.

The woman turned to Nora. "And Nora Sparrow." She looked back at Owen. "You kept her alive." She shook her head in wondering disbelief.

"Of course," said Owen.

The woman studied each of their faces. She swept her gaze over them, taking in their clasped hands. "Follow me," she said, turning away from them. She waved her hand carelessly at the people surrounding the fire, and the drum beat began again hesitantly.

Owen was walking after the woman, so Nora did as he did. They left the fire and the crowd of people, strolling behind her over a grassy plain. It was dark, but Nora could see the outlines of tents set up in clusters. She wanted to look more closely, but the woman was walking ahead of them so quickly that she couldn't linger.

Eventually, she stopped in front of a cliff face that rose out of the ground. There was a large archway, ornately decorated with vines carved directly into the rock. The woman stepped onto a wooden walkway complete with a hand rail and walked inside the cliff. Owen followed her as if it were the most natural thing in the world, so Nora did too, although the walkway was too narrow to hold hands anymore, so they had to go single file. Where was this woman taking them?

Inside the cavern, lanterns dangled from chains in the rock ceiling, illuminating an open cavern filled with water. In the center of the pool was a fountain depicting nymphs and mermaids, water cascading over stone leaves and hands, splashing down into the water.

The woman smiled at them. "You both look a little worse for wear. I thought you might want a bath."

Nora looked down at herself. She was still covered in sticky goat blood. It was on her hands and clothes. "We killed a goat," she blurted. Everything was extremely strange at the moment.

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Indeed." Her expression softened. "You don't remember me, do you, Nora?"

Nora shook her head. She didn't remember any of this, even though it seemed familiar to Owen. He was pulling his shirt over his head. She looked away, a little embarrassed.

"I'm Phoebe Rain," said the woman. "I'm the head of the muses' council here at Helicon." She smiled again. "Welcome home."

Home. Nora wasn't sure if anyone had ever said that to her before. She looked back at the fountain, at the jets of water spraying over the sculpted stone. Maybe it would be nice to wash, but this wasn't the way she would think of bathing—not exactly. There were stone steps along the walkway, leading down into the water. It certainly didn't look very...private.

Owen had his hands on the button of his pants. "The muses are pretty comfortable with nudity," he said, as if he could tell she was feeling confused. He undid his fly. Nora averted her eyes. "The baths are public. Like ancient Rome."

Nora was pretty sure that the ancient Romans had at least had separate baths for men and women. There was a splash. She looked back up. Owen was in the water. He swam over to the fountain and ducked his head under one of the jets of cascading water. "Get in," he said.

"Is it cold?" Nora asked.

"Oh, no," said Phoebe Rain. "It's quite warm. Bubbles up out of the ground that way."

Hot springs, huh?

"I'm closing my eyes," Owen yelled from under the small waterfall. "I won't see you."

Nora wasn't sure she felt comfortable undressing in front of Phoebe Rain, either. She didn't know this lady at all.

"Humans in the mundane world are often ashamed of their bodies," Phoebe said. "We here at Helicon frankly don't understand it. But I can turn around if you like."

"I'm not ashamed," Nora said. "It's just that..." That what? She didn't want anyone to see her naked because she thought they'd... Well, she didn't want Owen to see her naked. He never had, and he was a boy, and he... Well, it wasn't as if she thought that Owen had never seen naked girl parts, was it? Still, there was something about taking off her clothes in front of people that felt wrong. But for the life of her, it didn't make any sense right now. Phoebe Rain clearly wasn't going anywhere, and she was sure Owen wasn't going to try to...do anything with her with the woman around. So, she guessed the only thing to worry about was... Was nothing. Fine. Okay. She peeled her shirt off, happy to get the crusty fabric away from her skin.

In seconds, she was scampering down the steps into the water, which was a deliciously perfect temperature—not scalding hot, but not tepid either. It enveloped her entire body. It felt wonderful against her skin.

The pool was relatively shallow. She could stand, and the water covered her to her shoulders. She made her way over to the fountain and ducked her head under one of the sprays of water, the way Owen had.

"The last we saw you, Owen, your mother was taking you away from Helicon against your wishes," said Phoebe. Nora brushed water out of her eyes. Phoebe was sitting across from them on one of the steps into the bath. She was dangling her feet into the water, her skirts pulled up to her knees. "We'd assumed you were still with her."

Owen made a face, ducking out of the stream of water over his head. "I got Nora and me away from her. I got rid of her."

Mother? This was a little strange. Owen talked about his father, or at least used to, but she'd never heard him say anything about his mother. Nora was intrigued.

"So, she didn't send you here?" said Phoebe.

"Of course not," said Owen.

"The council will suspect, of course," said Phoebe. "But I believe you're here in good faith, both of you."

"We've been trying to get back for years," said Nora. "Owen was always hunting down rituals for us to use. But none of them worked until now."

"You've been living among humans for quite some time then," said Phoebe.

"Eleven years," said Owen. "The whole time."

Phoebe furrowed her brow. "Well, I don't understand. We thought for sure that Nora was dead or still imprisoned by Nimue, because we never felt her use her muse powers. You mean to tell me you've never been creative in front of anyone for eleven years?" She chuckled.

"Only once," said Nora. "Owen said the Influence would come and kill me if I did. And I tried it and—"

"Oh dear," said Phoebe. "That was you, then."

"You could feel it if I was creative around others?" Nora said. She wanted to understand this.

"Certainly," said Phoebe. "Any muse using creativity outside of Helicon creates a ripple that we can feel here. We were waiting for your ripple so we send out scouts to go and get you."

"But..." Nora trailed off. It had killed her to keep the creativity locked up, made her miserable. And now this woman was saying that if she'd done it, she could have been back here in Helicon years ago?

Owen was next to her, his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Nora. I didn't know."

"This once that you did it," said Phoebe. "Was it about three years ago?"

"Yes," said Nora. "Why didn't you come then?"

"We were distracted," said Phoebe. "But that's a complicated story. You see, there have been two holes ripped open in Helicon over the last three years. When that happens, the Influence can get into Helicon and cause damage. We were so worried about closing the hole that we were distracted, and we didn't get to you in time. We assumed the worst. By the time anyone made it to the spot where the power had been used, it was clear the Influence had been there. We thought we'd lost someone."

"Owen saved me," Nora said. "After that, I never tried it again."

"Well, you're here now," said Phoebe, "and I don't believe you intend to do any damage to Helicon, so none of that is important anymore."

Nora huddled in the warm water. "We killed a goat." And if she'd just shown more people drawings, they wouldn't have had to.

"I'm sorry," Owen said again. "No one told me that. I knew about the Influence, but I didn't know they could sense you."

Phoebe Rain stood up. "Don't dwell on it further. It can't be changed now." She gestured to the wall next to the walkway where several robes were hanging on hooks. "If you two are feeling refreshed, I'd suggest you join us at our Solstice Celebration. I do believe I can find you some clean clothes as well."

* * *

The clothes were made of the softest fabric Nora had ever felt. The shirt hugged her torso, somehow strong enough to support her breasts, but airy enough not to feel constricting. It had long bell-shaped sleeves. She wore a skirt too, long and flowing like Phoebe's. The fabric felt divine against her legs as they walked back from the baths to the fire. The clothes made her feel free and comfortable. They were like a second skin.

"So it's the Solstice for you here as well?" Nora asked Phoebe as they walked. "The Winter Solstice."

"Indeed. It's our most sacred festival," said Phoebe.

"But it's not winter," said Nora. Her feet were bare and the grass was luscious against her toes. "It's warm."

Phoebe laughed. "Well, it can be winter around here when we want it to be. We all like snow, of course. The council decides when it should snow, and then it does. But for festival nights like this, everyone usually agrees on warm weather."

"You control the temperature?"

"Well, of course," said Phoebe. "Helicon is a place where the muses must have the perfect conditions for creativity at all times. It's important that we're always inventing and designing. The mundane world depends on us." She touched Nora's shoulder and pointed. "It must all be so strange for you. But I think tonight is a night for laughter and joy, not long-winded explanations. There's still quite a bit of food, if you're hungry."

Phoebe was pointing at a long wooden table which was groaning under the weight of overflowing platters of strangely shaped fruits, hunks of cheeses, and piles of roasted meat. Nora's mouth watered. Before getting here, she'd drunk an entire bottle of wine. Food seemed like the best idea in the world suddenly.

Later, her stomach full, she sat cross-legged next to the fire, music swelling around her and Owen. There were so many instruments, and they all worked together to create melodies too sweet to imagine. The muses sang too, their voices in perfect ethereal harmony. Nora watched Phoebe Rain across the fire, her head thrown back, belting out words in a deep, velvety voice. Scattered in the field around the fire pit, she saw muses with round glowing circles, twining them around their necks and torsos. They were like hula hoops, she thought to herself, only they glowed with an otherworldly light, and they left rainbow-colored paths of light everywhere they were thrown. She watched the lights, mesmerized by the intricate and beautiful colors.

But at some point, it was too much to simply sit, and she found herself on her feet, whirling amongst other dancing muses, moving in ways she'd never been able to. Her own voice joined the singing, though she knew neither the words nor the tune. And, as if in a trance, she was buoyed up into all of it, her heart beating with the drums, every ecstatic movement pulling her deeper into a sense that Phoebe was right. This was where she belonged. She had finally come home.

Still later, Nora collapsed onto the ground, pleasantly exhausted. She thought she might just sleep right here on the grass as the music continued around her, even though she'd begun to notice that the circle around the fire was becoming smaller, and that less people were here than had been when she and Owen arrived.

Phoebe knelt next to her. "I have a hammock in my tent you can use if you're tired," she said.

Hammocks? Cool. Nora had never gotten to sleep in a hammock. She got up and followed Phoebe away from the fire to a tall tent made of thick burgundy fabric, swirling patterns woven into the cloth. Phoebe brushed aside tasseled edges to lead her into the tent. There were compartments inside, doorways leading to other rooms, but Phoebe led her into the first one where a hammock smothered in blankets and pillows waited.

Gratefully, Nora climbed into it.

"I don't mean to be indelicate," said Phoebe, "but given your shyness with Owen earlier, I can assume the two of you are not expecting to share sleeping arrangements?"

Nora blushed, pulling covers up to her chin. "No. We don't—We haven't—"

Phoebe held up a hand. "Well, that's good, I think. At your age, I think it's usually a bit too soon. Most people tend to regret it when they're too young. Of course, there's nothing wrong with regrets. The best lessons are usually learned that way. And I'm not so foolish as to think that young people take older people's word for anything. They've always got to try things for themselves." She strode across the small room to the doorway of the tent. Then she turned. "About Owen."

Nora looked at her expectantly.

"He's never...hurt you, has he?"

"No, definitely not," said Nora. But that made the second time that night someone had asked her a similar sort of question about Owen. And this woman apparently knew Owen, or at least had known him when he was younger. "Why would you ask something like that?"

Phoebe sighed. "He was an odd child." And then she slipped out of the room, leaving Nora alone.

Nora tried to puzzle over what she'd just said, or even to take stock in everything that had happened to her, but she was too tired, and sleep claimed her almost immediately.

Sometime later, the cold light of dawn seeping under the cracks in the tent, voices woke her. It was Phoebe Rain and a man. They spoke quietly.

"This is the only home he ever knew. Of course he'd come back here," Phoebe said.

"I'm not sure he's trustworthy," said the man's voice. "His mother—"

"Is not him," Phoebe interrupted. "And besides, Owen claims he left her anyway, years ago."

"And you believe him?"

"I don't believe any child would want her for a mother," said Phoebe. "She's not exactly a nurturing type. And I don't believe she's the one who's been creating these holes in Helicon. I don't think she's trying to let in the Influence. At any rate, I think we need to give Owen the benefit of the doubt."

"And the girl?"

"Nora? She's a complete innocent. There's not a malicious bone in her body."

The voices drifted away, and Nora found herself sleeping again. When she woke later, she wondered if hearing them had only been a dream.

CHAPTER THREE

It was late morning when Nora emerged from Phoebe Rain's tent. She thought about wandering through it to see if Owen was sleeping in the tent somewhere as well, but thought she might encounter Phoebe asleep somewhere, and that seemed a little impolite.

The sun was high in the sky outside. In the daylight, Nora could see her surroundings better. The fire pit was nothing more than smoking embers now, but around it, she could see tents, clustered together in small groups, stretching as far as she could see. They weren't the kind of tents you bought at a camping supply store, made of synthetic grays and blues, but instead were like Indian teepees, except crafted from the every color of the rainbow. Some had flags extending from their main poles, making them look like medieval pavilions or something.

The tents appeared to be grouped around smaller fire pits. Between them, Nora could see fields of lush, green grass. Far to her left, a sparkling stream wound through Helicon, complete with a bridge to get back and forth. On the other side of the stream, she could see greenhouses glinting in the sunlight. But everything seemed quiet and still, as opposed to the frenzied crowd of revelers the night before. The world was pristine and bright. She drew fresh air deep into her lungs, savoring the scents of summer.

She wondered where Owen was. If he was inside Phoebe's tent, then she supposed he'd wake up eventually. Despite her euphoria the night before, dancing and feeling at home, in the morning light, she felt like a stranger in a foreign land. No one seemed to be awake yet. At least, she couldn't see anyone. Maybe everyone slept late here in Helicon.

Truthfully, she could hardly believe she was here. It was one thing for Owen to tell her stories about this place, it was another thing to actually be there. As a little girl, she'd believed Owen when he said that coming here would solve all their problems, that it was a magical land of constant happiness and perfection. She wanted to believe that now. But she had no idea where Owen was. She didn't see any other people—not that she was sure she wanted to talk to anyone she didn't know right now anyway. And she was hungry.

Her stomach rumbled at her as if to punctuate her thought.

The table of food from the night before was still sitting next to the fire pit, and though it had been picked over, there was still food sitting on it. Nora thought that some of the prepared dishes might not be good after sitting out all night, but there was fruit left, and certainly that would be okay to eat. She made her way over and selected a few round, greenish fruits. They were fuzzy on the outside like peaches, and sweet and juicy inside. She also put some apples in one of the pockets in the skirt she was wearing. She sat down on one of the benches around the fire pit and ate, wiping away fruit juice as best she could. Her fingers were going to get sticky. Was there any way to wash her hands besides going to the baths she'd been in last night? And how clean could those things really be if all of the muses used them? There were hundreds of people here. The water hadn't been stagnant, and it came from natural hot springs, so she supposed it was less likely to be growing the sorts of disgusting funguses you might find in a pond, but it certainly wasn't treated, was it? Was there bacteria in Helicon? Parasites?

There was a clunking sound, and Nora looked up to see a pudgy man making his way down to the food table. The clunking was coming from four wooden buckets that he was carrying, which were knocking against each other as he walked.

She stood up. "Hello."

The man gave her a confused look.

Oh. Right. Muse language. She had to remember to speak that. "Hello," she said again, this time in the language of Helicon.

The man smiled. He was wearing a loose white tunic, and his hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. "You're one of the ones they pulled out of the fire last night, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Nora Sparrow."

"Mack River," he said. "Sorry to say I don't remember all the hullaboo about why you left us in the first place. I tend to skip council meetings or sleep through them when I actually do show up."

"Well, I was just a kid. I don't remember it," Nora said. She felt awkward. She'd been excited to see someone else, but she had no idea how to conduct a conversation in this place. Was it customary to remark on the weather? She remembered that Owen had explained to her, long ago, that the muses organized themselves in various enclaves devoted to different creative enterprises. Owen said there were enclaves for story and dance and even math. There were too many to keep straight. Owen said some of the muses spend all their time in one enclave, while others flitted about from one to the other. "Um, do you belong to a certain enclave here?"

The man chuckled. "Sort of, I guess. I'm the only member, though. I breed chimeras. I was actually up here to gather up the leftover feast food to take back to feed the animals."

"Chimeras?" Nora had heard the word before, but she wasn't sure what it meant.

The man nodded. "Oh yeah. You take different animals and sort of squish them together. Some come out better than others, of course. The winged horses are always popular. You see those everywhere. But right now I'm working on duck-cats."

Nora furrowed her brow, trying to picture it. "A mixture of a duck and cat?"

"Yeah. They're very cute. Eat just about anything too. These feast leftovers will be a real treat for them."

Nora still couldn't picture it. "Do you need any help taking the food back to them?"

The man handed her a bucket. "Sure thing, if you don't might. Just scoop whatever you can into here."

A few minutes later, Nora set out after Mack carrying two buckets full of feast leftovers. They wound through the colored tents, over a footbridge that spanned a wide stream, and into a wooded area. If Nora turned, she couldn't see the fire pit anymore, but she thought she'd be able to make her way back.

Mack's tent was squat and brown. It had seven or eight poles holding it up, so that it spanned the area of a small cottage. All around it, within the tree trunks, were strange and wonderful animals. There were two white horses with silvery wings, grazing beyond the tent. A dog with the hind legs of a kangaroo hopped forward to greet them, its long tongue hanging out of its mouth as it panted and grinned. Three or four rooster-headed snakes slithered near the entrance of Mack's tent. One made a sort of hissing crowing noise.

"This isn't all of them," said Mack. "Sometimes, if they're useful, they get sent off to other enclaves to help out. Some of them are just shy."

Nora wasn't sure what she thought about the mixed-up animals. "Where are the duck cats?"

"Oh, they're still kitten-ducklings," said Mack. "They're inside. Come on." He led her into his tent. Inside it was dimly lit. The floor was covered with swaths of soft fabric. There were a few overstuffed easy chairs sitting against the tent walls. Immediately, six kitten-ducklings came bobbing out. They had cat heads, but long duck necks, bodies, and feet. They were completely covered in fur, however, not feathers, except for their webbed feet. They were all different colors. One was the yellow of a baby duck, another pure white, two striped orange and white, and the final one was black with a white spot over one eye. They began rubbing against Mack's feet, making sounds that were half quacks and half meows.

Nora was charmed. She set down her bucket and sat down on the ground, reaching out to pet them. The kitten-ducklings purred as she scratched them under their chins. The little black one hopped into her lap and curled up on her thigh. "They're so tiny!"

"Yeah," said Mack. "I can't decide whether to let them mature into grown-ups or keep them like this."

"You can stop them from growing?"

"Sure thing. Every muse can do that, even to ourselves. Most muses stop aging at some point or another. I was twenty-five for nearly fifty years. I aged normally for another fifteen, but I've been forty for quite some time now. It's a good age."

"So I could do that too?"

"Absolutely."

How strange. But how would she decide what age to stop at? Should she stop now? But maybe her boobs would get bigger if she waited. Of course, maybe she'd get fat. Nora chewed on her lip, absently stroking the little black kitten-duckling in her lap.

Mack spooned some of the feast leftovers into little dishes for the kitten-ducklings, who rushed over to begin eating. "So, you were born a muse, but you got stuck in the mundane world for over ten years, huh?"

Nora nodded.

"Must be strange coming here now," said Mack. "You must feel like you don't know where you belong."

Nora had been contemplating how different Helicon was, how she didn't feel comfortable.

"Thing is," said Mack, "Helicon's a good place for most anyone, no matter what your fancy is. When I started wanting to breed these chimeras, most people thought I was crazy. They said there was no call for inspiration threads about mismatched animals. But they let me do it anyway, and some of them even like the chimeras. We're all freaks at heart, you know? Everyone's different."

Nora smiled. What he'd said had been comforting, she had to admit. "I like your chimeras."

She helped Mack feed his animals, but afterwards, she started to feel uncomfortable again, like she didn't really belong up here with him. She also wanted to find Owen. He had to be around here somewhere, didn't he? She'd go back to the fire pit. Owen would probably look for her there. Besides, Phoebe Rain's tent was right next to it, and Phoebe was the only other person she knew in Helicon. So, she said goodbye to Mack and made her way out of his tent. He followed her, waving from the opening. But as she began to walk away, she noticed that the little black kitten-duckling was coming after her. She stopped and picked it up. She was going to take it back to Mack.

Mack shook his head. "I think she likes you. Why don't you keep her? They're easy to take care of. Got a very independent cat temperament. And they eat most anything."

A pet? She'd never had one, not of her own. There had been one foster family that had owned a bunch of hunting dogs, but they'd been penned up in the back yard and had always barked and growled at her. Nora stroked the head of the kitten-duckling, who purred in contentment. "Thanks," she said to Mack. She went back to the fire pit with it curled up in one arm.

As she walked, she noticed that there was more activity in Helicon than there had been before she went to Mack's tent. Muses were standing outside their tents stretching. Some were milling about. In the distance, she could hear faint strains of music carrying on the wind. Owen had always said that the muses created all day long. Their purpose was to create things that sent inspiration for creativity to the mundane world. She guessed that meant that musically inclined muses made music pretty much as soon as they woke up.

She hoped it was okay to have this kitten-duckling as a pet. She realized maybe she should have left it with Mack. After all, she didn't really have anywhere to keep it now. Was she going to be sleeping in Phoebe's tent for a long time? Would Phoebe object to the cat-duck being around? If so, Nora would simply have to take it back to Mack. For now, she stroked its head as she walked.

When she arrived at the fire pit, no one was there. There were other muses standing around their tents nearby, but they paid no attention to Nora. She sat down on one of the benches around the fire pit as she'd done earlier. The kitten-duckling hopped out of her arms and began furiously rubbing against her, purring like a fire engine. She giggled at it, scratching behind its ears. She should have asked Mack whether it was a boy or a girl. She couldn't really check, as its nether regions were duck, not cat, and it didn't seem to be displaying its gender between its legs. Then she remembered that Mack had called the little animal a "she" as Nora had been leaving. So, it was a girl. And perhaps it needed a name. "What would you like to be called?" she crooned. It was half-cat, half-duckling... "How about Catling?"

Catling emitted a squawking meow. Nora took it as acceptance of the name. She absently pet Catling and looked around for signs of Owen. He had to be somewhere, didn't he?

There was a loud cracking sound, and in front of her, the fire pit lit up purply-red.

Nora stood up, hugging Catling to her chest.

A huge beam of crackling purple energy emanated out of the fire pit, reaching for the sky. At its ends, sparks bent off like branches on a tree, bolts of lightning like she'd seen the day she'd shown the picture. They were like sparkling fingers, reaching out from the fire pit.

Nora tried to back away, but her feet got tangled up in the bench she'd been sitting on and she thumped down hard onto it again, her backside stinging.

There were screams and yells as other muses nearby had noticed the strange light in the fire pit.

"Get away from there!" yelled a voice, and then someone had her by the arm, dragging Nora away from the bright thing—which now resembled a kind of octopus made of lightning, tendrils of light sweeping out over the landscape of Helicon.

"Down," said the voice at her ear.

Nora shot a glance at the person who was now yanking her to the ground. It was a girl, maybe her age. She had a round face and dark hair. Together, they lay flat against the ground.

The tendrils were striking things—trees, tents, benches, the ground—and as they did, they shriveled up, their ends solidifying, dropping solid biscuit-shaped red things to the ground where they'd hit something. One of the red cylinders rolled over in front of Nora's face. She eyed it, her breath coming in gasps. What was going on here?

As the beams of light hit things, they gradually all began to transform and shrivel, until there was nothing left but a glowing mass of light in the fire pit. The girl who'd pulled Nora to the ground sat up, so Nora did too.

"Nora!" Owen was rushing to her. He skidded to the ground, his arms going around her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said. "What was that?"

He crushed her against him. "I thought it was going to get you. It's the Influence. Don't you remember it?"

The Influence? Why was it coming out of the fire pit in Helicon?

Phoebe's voice rang out. "Alexander!" Phoebe was standing outside her tent at the edge of the fire pit.

A man in jeans and a white t-shirt hurried forward. "Here," he said. He must be Alexander, Nora decided.

"You need to take a team and close this portal," Phoebe said. "Clearly, the path that Owen and Nora used to get to us last night has been left open and the Influence has found it."

Nora put a hand over her mouth. This was their fault?

Owen stood up. "I volunteer to be part of the team."

Nora stood up behind him. He was leaving her again? Typical Owen. And she didn't know anyone here. Plus, it might be dangerous, not that Owen particularly cared about that. She touched his shoulder. "Owen, stay."

Owen patted her hand, but didn't respond.

Alexander was sizing Owen up. "You opened this portal."

"Which is exactly why I should be the one to help close it," said Owen. "I'm not vulnerable to the Influence like the muses are. Let me help."

"Phoebe," another man spoke up, "how do we know this boy didn't open this portal on purpose? Maybe he's leading our people into a trap."

The muses who'd gathered around mumbled amongst themselves, eyeing Owen with suspicion.

"I didn't know the portal would stay open," said Owen. "I wouldn't want to put Helicon in danger. This is the only place I've ever been welcome. Let me correct my mistake."

Nora bit her lip. She didn't want Owen to go, but she didn't want everyone suspicious of him either. And if they were suspicious of Owen, perhaps they'd also be suspicious of her.

"We don't have time to debate," said Phoebe. "Alexander, I leave it up to you."

Alexander jammed his hands into his pockets. "You can come," he said. "But we're keeping an eye on you."

Owen nodded once, apparently satisfied.

Alexander yelled out five or six more names, and more people dressed in jeans and t-shirts came running to him. He spoke softly to them and to Owen, and Nora couldn't make out what he was talking about. Then, without warning, all of them turned and leapt into the middle of the glowing pit. They disappeared.

Nora felt queasy. What had just happened? She was so confused. At her feet, Catling rubbed against her ankles and mewed. She picked the tiny furball up. Where had Owen gone? Was he going to be okay?

The girl who'd pulled Nora away touched her tentatively. "Hey, he'll be okay. The Influence only hurts muses."

Nora turned to look at the girl. She was smiling. She was young enough that she hadn't shed a layer of baby fat, but her figure let Nora know that she wasn't a little kid. "Thanks for getting me out of the way."

"Sure," said the girl. "I'm Madeleine Salt. Most people call me Maddie, though." She offered Nora her hand.

Nora shook it. "Nora Sparrow."

Maddie looked away shyly. "Yeah, I know who you are."

Right. Nora guessed that she was probably the talk of Helicon, showing up the way she had. "What do you mean, it only hurts muses? Weren't the other people who jumped into the portal muses?"

"Oh, no, they're the muse police," said Maddie. "Officially, they're called the security enclave, actually. They aren't creative."

Nora didn't understand.

"The Influence sucks away creativity," said Maddie. "That's how it hurts muses. If you aren't creative, it can't hurt you."

"There are people who live here who aren't muses?" Nora didn't know that. Owen had never told her.

"Sometimes," said Maddie. "It's because muse blood's gotten mixed in with human blood over time. Once every four years or so someone sneaks into the mundane world and some human falls madly in love with them and then there are half-muse babies. That's what the police do. Whenever anyone feels the ripple of a muse in the regular world, they go and get the muse and bring him here. And then because of the mixed blood, sometimes babies who aren't creative are born to muses. So the uncreative people usually end up in the police—the security enclave. They can fight off the Influence. They have weapons and things."

Nora shivered, thinking of the bolt of purple lightning that had struck Owen instead of her three years ago. The Influence, as Owen had explained it to her, was the direct opposite power of the muses. The muses had powers of individual creativity. The Influence was the concentrated power of conformity. It tried to stamp out creativity wherever it could, and that included killing muses. According to Owen, it was okay for conformity and creativity to coexist for humans in the regular world, but if the Influence touched a muse, it destroyed that muse.

Before Nora could ask anything else, Phoebe Rain's voice carried over the conversation that had broken out after Owen and the others had disappeared. She was holding up one of the red cylinders. "You should be able to pick these up now," she said. "Gather them up and bring them to me. They'll have to be destroyed."

There was one at Nora's feet. She reached down to pick it up. Almost immediately, she felt a surge of exhaustion go through her.

"Don't hold onto them for too long," Phoebe continued. "They can be dangerous."

Nora showed the red cylinder to Maddie. "Do you know what these things are?"

Maddie shook her head. "Not really. But the last time the Influence got into Helicon, those things showed up too. It's like when it touches anything here that's not a muse, it turns into these."

"Why do they make you feel so tired when you touch them?"

"I don't know. They probably still have some of the Influence in them," said Maddie. She spied one a few feet away and went over to pick it up. Nora followed her. Maddie picked up her skirt so that it formed a little indentation for the red things, like carrying berries in an apron. She held it out to Nora and Nora dropped hers in. "So that Owen guy is like your boyfriend?"

Nora shrugged. "Kind of."

"And you two really spent your whole life living in the mundane world, acting like humans?"

Nora nodded.

"Whoa," said Maddie. "Was it horrible?"

Nora had to grin. "A little bit horrible, yeah." She considered. "Okay, really, really horrible. But...it's all I've ever known, you know?" She glanced around at the tents and grass in Helicon. "Owen always told me this place would be better. But I don't know anyone. And I don't know what to do with myself. And apparently we opened up a portal getting here that nearly killed everyone."

"Not on purpose," said Maddie. "They'll fix it anyway, you'll see. The police fix everything." She picked up another red cylinder. "And you know me now, so it's not like you don't know anyone." She smiled.

Nora smiled back. A friend? She'd never really had one, not besides Owen, anyway. "I'm glad to know you, Maddie."

Maddie beamed.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Tweens and rebels enclave?" Nora asked as she and Maddie climbed a hill a few hundred feet away from Mack's tent. Catling was small enough to tuck into one of the pockets on Nora's skirt, and the tiny furball was curled up and asleep there. The area here was wooded, but there were tents pitched between the trees. The shade of the leaves made the air cooler here. "This is like the enclave for preteens?"

Maddie giggled. "Oh no. I'd forgotten they've started using the word in the mundane world like that. In Helicon, tween means anyone from twelve to twenty-four. Actually, someone put it in an inspiration thread and J. R. R. Tolkien used it to mean pretty much the same thing in The Lord of the Rings. Of course, he didn't have his hobbits come of age until thirty-three, and in Helicon, you can start making inspiration threads at twenty-five."

The two crested the hill and passed under an archway constructed of welded scrap metal. A sign, spray painted overhead, said "Tweens and Rebels." There was a fire pit in the center of the enclave and tents of various shapes and sizes flanking it. Behind the fire pit stood a massive tree house, with at least ten levels. Some had roofs and walls, others were only platforms. They extended all the way up the trunk of the tree, so high that the top levels were obscured by branches and leaves. The levels were navigable by a spiral staircase that wound around the tree, traveling higher into its leafy greenery.

Nora stared up at it, her mouth open.

"Cool, huh?" said Maddie. "A group of tweens made it years ago. They all ended up in the architecture enclave as you might expect. They're the ones who founded the enclave."

"Can we go up in it?"

"Sure," said Maddie. "But the very top levels are off limits except to the oldest tweens. They get really annoyed if you go up there. They'll start mumbling about tradition and privilege and all this other crap." Maddie rolled her eyes. She strode past the fire pit and started up the spiral staircase.

Nora was right on her heels. She'd never seen a tree house so elaborate. "I would have loved this when I was a kid," she said.

"Oh, you should see the tree house in the kiddie playground," Maddie threw over her shoulder. "It's seriously like a castle. It has turrets and stuff. And it spans a ton of trees, so you can roam all over on this awesome swinging rope bridge." Maddie signed wistfully. "I'm too big for it now, though. They made it the perfect kid size, so adults couldn't fit."

They'd gone past two or three platforms already, when Maddie swung off the steps and ducked underneath a roofed platform. They were about halfway up the tree.

Nora stepped onto it as well. It was very sturdy underneath her feet, but there wasn't enough room to stand up completely. The roof was too low. The area had obviously been made for sitting. Sure enough, on the platform were three round cushion-y things that resembled beanbag chairs. The chairs, the back wall, the floor, and the ceiling were all completely covered in spray paint. The back wall was a detailed mural of the sunset, but the rest of the place was simply a sort of graffiti mishmash, like the side of a boxcar or the bottom of an underpass.

Maddie flopped down on a chair. "This room's neat. I like it."

Nora sat down too. The chairs didn't have the kind of squishy give of a bean bag. Instead, they hugged her body the way a stress ball might, taking the impression of her limbs as she sat in it and holding the shape. Once she settled, Catling woke up, crawling out of Nora's pocket. She squawked at Nora once and then curled up in Nora's lap, going back to sleep immediately. "Who did the painting?"

Maddie shrugged. "Lots of people probably. There are paint cans down in the camp, and you can add to it if you want. Do you like to paint?"

"I've never tried," said Nora, stroking her sleeping cat-duck. "But I like to draw."

"We can go to the visual art enclave later if you want. Of course, between everyone being tired from the Solstice celebration last night and freaked out about the Influence coming through that portal, it's possible no one's really doing anything."

Nora realized that it was Christmas Day. If she hadn't come to Helicon, she'd be in the double wide with Laura and Tim, forced to watch Christmas movies and stare at their gaudy, fake tree. Laura always insisted that Christmas was a time for family. Nora had always preferred to be alone, because she could create things without anyone seeing them. "So the...tweens don't live with their parents anymore? You guys live here, all on your own?"

Maddie nodded. "I mean, you don't have to come live in the tweens and rebels enclave if you don't want. You can still live with your parents. I guess before they founded the enclave, that's what everyone did. And even though it's its own enclave, it's the only one that doesn't have a voice on the council, because you have to be older than twenty-five to be on the council." She leaned back in her chair. "I couldn't wait to move in here, though. I still see my mom and dad whenever I want, but it's nice to have your own space, you know?"

"Yeah." Even though Nora didn't really know. She'd never really had anything she could call her own space. With Laura and Tim, she shared a bedroom with another of the foster kids they kept, and in most other places she'd stayed the same had been true. Even if she did have a room to herself, it wasn't Nora's space. Not really. It belonged to her foster parents. And Nora had always been moving from one place to another, meaning that nothing had ever seemed very permanent. But she guessed that now... "So I can stay here too?"

"Of course you can," said Maddie.

"And Owen? He's seventeen."

"And Owen."

"Even though he's not a muse?"

Maddie thought about it for a second. "Well, you don't have to be twenty-five to join the muse police. They take younger recruits. So he might want to stay in their enclave. But there aren't any rules about it, not really. So he can stay here too." She smiled mischievously at Nora. "So Owen's your boyfriend, huh?"

Nora shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. "Maybe he is. I don't know. We never really talked about it. It's always been me and him. He's the only person I've ever trusted."

"I've never had a boyfriend. No boy has ever even looked at me twice. I guess it's because I'm fat."

Nora squinted at Maddie. Maybe she was a little pudgy, but it was a very pleasant amount of pudge. Nora liked the way she looked. "I don't think you're fat."

"Growing up in the food enclave, you get fed," Maddie said. "And it would probably be fine if I were staying in the food enclave, because muses there tend to look well fed. But I want to dance, and I don't think anyone wants to watch a fat dancer."

"You shouldn't keep saying you're fat," Nora said. She'd overheard conversations like this amongst other girls and always thought they were sort of silly. She'd assumed those girls were fishing for compliments. Talking to Maddie, though, she realized the girl was really insecure, that it wasn't a front. She wished there was something she could do or say to make Maddie feel better. "It's not true."

Maddie shook her head, but didn't say anything else.

Nora could see she hadn't convinced her. She tried to think of something else to say, some way to show Maddie how attractive she actually looked.

But Maddie was standing up. "If you're going to stay here, we should go to the architecture enclave and see if they have any spare tents for you. We can set it up so that you have someplace to sleep tonight. It's much nicer to sleep here than anywhere else, because it stays cool under the leaves, and you can sleep until noon."

Nora grinned, glad of the subject change. She picked up Catling, tucked her back in the pocket of her skirt, and stood up. "Can we get a tent for Owen too?"

"Absolutely," said Maddie.

* * *

The architecture enclave was like another world. It was located on the other side of the stream, down from the main fire pit. Surrounded entirely by high stone walls, they entered through iron gates, wrought into the shapes of leaves and flowers and fairies. Unlike the haphazard archway in the tweens and rebels enclave, these gates were deliberate and ornate. Inside, the enclave had streets and sidewalks and buildings of varying heights and styles, all made from different materials. Maddie strode through the streets without giving them a second look; she was familiar with the place. But Nora spent so much time gazing at her surroundings, she had to run to catch up with Maddie more than once.

There was a stone cathedral, complete with gargoyles and bas relief figures. A high dome rose out of its center. There was a cluster of towers, like a castle, with a moat and a drawbridge. There was a circular house made of wood with a bright copper-colored roof. There was another house, constructed entirely of big rectangular planks. A waterfall ran over it, powering a watermill at its base. There was a strange underground house with a chimney peeking up from the ground and windows in the dirt. Everything was odd and intricate, like a funhouse of buildings on display.

The streets twisted and turned, seemingly following no discernible pattern. Finally, they stopped on a corner where a massive green tent was pitched. Inside they found Caira Squirrel, a tentmaker muse. She knew who Nora was right away and seemed to have been expecting she'd come by. She gave Nora two tents when she asked for them, but unlike tents in the mundane world, they didn't fold up into small bags. Nora and Maddie had to carry the tall tent poles over their shoulders and shove the rest of the materials into a wheeled cart, which they promised to return to Caira as soon as they were finished.

Afterwards, they trekked back to the tweens and rebels enclave and scouted out spots to set up the tents. Maddie said that Nora should pitch her tent close to Maddie's, and Nora heartily agreed, so they cleared a space next to Maddie's tent of branches and rocks and set to work.

Later, sweaty and giggling, they'd managed to erect Nora's tent and hammock. It was an emerald green color, with textured leaf patterns woven throughout. Nora thought it might be the most beautiful tent she'd ever seen, and she was awed by the notion that it was all hers. Maddie said that they could get blankets from the fabric and clothing enclave. They flung themselves on the ground next to the fire pit, resting for a while before heading out for blankets.

"Nora!" called a voice.

Nora sat up. "Owen?"

Owen appeared, coming through the archway. "I had no idea where you were."

Uh oh. Owen was annoyed. Nora got to her feet. "Maddie helped me get myself a tent and get it set up here. I got one for you too." She gestured to Owen's tent, which was lying on the ground nearby, not yet set up.

Owen eyed her tent. "You already set your tent up?"

"Well, I wanted to have a place to sleep tonight."

"Damn it, Nora." Owen sighed.

Maddie sat up. "Um, hi," she said, looking back and forth between the two of them nervously.

Owen would be polite in front of Maddie, wouldn't he? "This is Maddie," said Nora. "She's been showing me around and filling me in on everything."

"I could have done that," said Owen.

"Well, maybe," said Nora. "But you haven't been here in eleven years."

Maddie got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Maybe I should just run over and get blankets for you, Nora. That way you two can have some time to talk."

"Thank you," said Owen.

"You don't have to do that," said Nora. But Maddie was already scampering off. Nora chewed on her lip and waited for Maddie to disappear between the trees around the tweens and rebels enclave. "What's wrong, Owen? Are you okay? Did something go wrong with the portal?"

"No," he said. "We closed it easily enough. The other people on the team thought I was really helpful. They said there's a place for me in the security enclave if I want."

"That's awesome," said Nora. "So, why are you in such a bad mood?"

"I didn't know where you were," said Owen. "I've been looking all over the place, and then when I finally find you, you've already pitched a tent and everything."

Nora guessed she could see how searching for her could be frustrating. "I'm sorry I didn't let anyone know where I was going to be. I'm sorry you to had to hunt all over. But the tent's a good thing. Isn't it?"

Owen shifted on his feet. "I thought we could both stay in the security enclave. You know, so we wouldn't have to be apart, since this place is new to both of us. I thought we'd stick together."

Oh. He was disappointed about that. "We don't have to split up. Maddie says it's okay if you stay here. Everyone who lives here is our age."

"But most people in the security enclave stay there," said Owen. "So that's where I want to be. We'll just have to take your tent down." He started over to it, reaching down to pull out one of her stakes.

"No," said Nora.

Owen straightened, giving her a funny look. "Don't you want to be close to me?"

"Of course I do," said Nora. "But I want to stay here. I like Maddie. She's really nice. And it took us forever to get this tent up. If you want to go the security enclave, you'll have to go without me."

"You've known Maddie for less than a day," said Owen. "You've known me your whole life."

Nora went to Owen, twining her hands around his arm. "Why don't you stay here?"

He shook her off. "Why are you pulling away from me?"

"It's not about you," Nora said. "I just don't see why I should live in the security enclave, when I'm not working with them." She tried a smile. "Plus, do they have a super nifty tree house?"

Owen caught her chin with his fingers and stared deep into her eyes. She gazed back, swimming in his blue eyes. "I want us to be together. Let's move your tent."

"I want us to be together too. So why don't you stay here?"

Owen looked startled. He furrowed his brow and dropped her chin, turning away from her. He didn't say anything for several moments. Finally, he turned back to her, and there were apologies all over his expression. "I don't want us to fight about this. We haven't had the chance to really talk since we got here. And we did it, Nora. We got back to Helicon. Let's celebrate that. We'll worry about the tent stuff later."

Nora felt relieved. She hated it when Owen got mad. "It is amazing here. I can't believe how wonderful it all is." She looked around at the trees and the tents and the colossal tree house.

Owen put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. "I told you I'd get us back here." And then he kissed her.

* * *

According to Maddie, the council met every evening around the main fire pit in Helicon. There was also a daily big meal and a drum circle. Nora, Owen, and Maddie had come to the fire pit to eat, and Nora had found the food delicious but a little odd in that the dishes didn't seem to go together. There were several big pans of lasagna, for instance, but the sides were green beans, an Asian sort of seaweed salad, and rows and rows of absolutely yummy tamales. Maddie explained that the food muses who prepared the food didn't really plan out the meals. They made whatever they were inspired to create. Things didn't necessarily have to go together. Besides, Maddie said, enforcing too much structure killed creativity anyway. Muses needed to be free to create whatever they wanted to.

The council meeting took place during dessert—an assortment of positively delectable fruit pies—and preceded the drum circle. Maddie, Owen, and Nora were sitting on benches around the fire pit, balancing plates of pie on their lap.

Phoebe Rain stood up and called the council meeting to order. Almost immediately, nearly twenty of the muses got up and left.

"Some people think the council meetings are boring," said Maddie, "so they usually leave. More people are staying tonight because of the portal that was open today. People are curious."

Phoebe was talking. "First up for this evening, we have an appeal from the philosophy enclave. I'll turn the floor over to Themis Branch."

A man, who Nora assumed was Themis Branch, stood up. He was wearing a ratty suit jacket that had been patched in several places with fabric that didn't match it. Also, he seemed to have spilled lasagna all over the front of himself, because there was a red stain on his shirt. Judging from how stained the shirt was already, he did that often. His uncombed hair hung to his shoulders, and he ran his fingers through his beard as he began to speak. "Two days ago, before the Solstice celebration, the engineering enclave demanded that a large number of the philosophy enclave assist them with repairing the bathrooms for the architecture enclave. We don't object to helping out when assistance is needed, but we feel that the amount of philosophers taken from us was detrimental to our creativity for the day, resulting in fewer inspiration threads created and ultimately damaging Helicon as a whole. This is not the first time the engineering enclave has cannibalized the philosophy enclave for help on some project. In fact, we believe engineering asks us to assist far more often than it asks any other enclave. We'd ask that, in the future, the engineering enclave turn to another enclave besides ours first."

Another man stood up. "May I speak?"

"The council recognizes Coeus Dust," said Phoebe.

Coeus was wearing a dirty t-shirt and corduroys. He had broad shoulders, big hands, and thinning hair.

Maddie leaned close to Nora. "Coeus is the head of the engineering enclave. He and Phoebe are together."

"With the Solstice celebration so close," Coeus said, "most of the other enclaves were engaged in preparing for it. They were practicing dances, making food, writing songs, sewing garments. What was philosophy doing?" He put his hands on his hips.

Themis straightened up. "We believe that your implication that the creation of tangible product is somehow superior to other kinds of creation is small-minded and prejudiced, and I believe we've said this before." He looked at Phoebe Rain. "Perhaps if the head of the council were not biased—"

"That's enough," said Phoebe. She gave Coeus a hard gaze. "Engineering will recognize that philosophy is a necessary and integral part of Helicon and that their work is as important to the whole of inspiration we provide as any other enclave."

"We do," said Coeus. But he rolled his eyes, showing that he absolutely did not.

"This council will not be used as a stomping grounds for the individual feuds of certain enclaves," said Phoebe. "Far too often, we've got either engineering or philosophy complaining. You will respect each other." She looked back and forth between Themis and Coeus. "Is there a motion on the floor?"

Themis crossed his arms over his chest. "I move that the engineering enclave does not ask the philosophy enclave for help for three full months."

"I second," spoke up a muse behind Themis.

"The motion has been moved and seconded," said Phoebe. "Is there any discussion?"

"Three months?" said Coeus. "Where's this arbitrary number coming from? And what if we need assistance from philosophy before then?"

A grumbling number of affirmatives sounded near Coeus, most likely coming from the engineering enclave.

"There are a lot of other enclaves from which you could get assistance," said Themis. "The story enclave produces nothing tangible, but you never pick on them."

"Let's not get into the tangible discussion again," said Phoebe, sounding tired. "Any other objections to the three month rule?"

Coeus looked annoyed, but he didn't say anything.

"All right then," said Phoebe, "all in favor of the engineering enclave not asking the philosophy enclave for assistance for three months, signify by saying, 'aye.'"

There was a resounding number of "ayes."

"Those opposed?" said Phoebe.

The "nays" came almost exclusively from the engineering enclave.

"Motion passes," said Phoebe. "Moving to other business—"

"What about the portal?" called out someone.

"Yeah," said someone else, "I move that we rearrange the order of topics and discuss the portal right now."

"That won't be necessary," said Phoebe. "We actually have no other business, considering this is the day after the Solstice and most people spent the day relaxing instead of squabbling." She threw a pointed look at the heads of the engineering and philosophy enclaves. "Alexander Night has a report on what happened."

Alexander stood up. He was sitting on the opposite side of the fire pit with a woman and a teenage boy. The boy was bent over a sheaf of paper, sketching something, but when Alexander stood up, the woman nudged the boy. When the boy paid no attention to her, she yanked the paper out of his hands. He glared at her.

Nora whispered to Maddie, "Is that Alexander's son?"

Maddie nodded. "And his wife. Neither of them are creative, but their son is a full-fledged muse. He stays in the tweens and rebels enclave with us."

Alexander cleared his throat. "Well, as most of you saw today, there was a breach in Helicon. A portal to the mundane world had been left open and the Influence found it. We were able to go through the portal and close it up pretty easily. Luckily, no one was hurt." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

Behind Alexander, a woman stood up. "May I speak?"

Phoebe nodded. "The council recognizes Techne Lift."

"She's the head of the science enclave," Maddie told Nora.

Techne tucked a strand of her white-blonde hair behind one ear. "The portal was created last night when Owen Asher and Nora Sparrow returned to us, yes?"

"That's correct," said Alexander.

"But the two of them are sitting among us as equals," said Techne. She pointed at Nora and Owen.

Nora shrank from the gazes that shifted to her. Was this Techne woman implying that they'd left the portal open on purpose?

Phoebe folded her arms over her chest. "If you're going to make an accusation, come out and do it, Techne."

Techne snapped her head to face Phoebe, her blonde hair flying. "I simply think that it's suspicious that another portal shows up the day after they arrive. This is the third portal in Helicon in a very short time. And I've heard stories from those who worked in the babies and toddlers enclave about Owen Asher as a child. Perhaps he's been behind these portals all along. Now we're giving him shelter and food? We're not even questioning him?"

What was Owen like as a child? Why did people keep bringing that up? Nora didn't understand.

Phoebe looked annoyed. "The last time Owen Asher was in Helicon, he was six years old. And before that the boy was three or four when he was in Helicon. He very likely doesn't even remember what it is you think he did back then. I can't believe you're suggesting we judge someone's character based on the way he acted when he was a toddler."

"Uh," said Alexander, "this portal was different anyway."

"How can you know that?" said Techne.

"The two portals that have let the Influence into Helicon were both much smaller, for one thing. This was a portal created for people to travel through. It was quite large. The others have been tiny tears. This portal was also much easier to close. The portals we encountered before were interwoven with charms that repelled the security enclave's weapons. This wasn't the same thing. It was clearly an accident. Owen didn't know the portal would stay open."

"So he's charmed you, then. That's what you're saying?" said Techne.

"That's enough," said Phoebe. "There is no reason to suspect Owen Asher of wrongdoing."

"Perhaps he's charmed you too," said Techne. "His mother—"

"Is not him," said Phoebe. "We do not judge people on their parentage. And I think it's highly unlikely the woman had much influence on him, since he spent so little of his life with her."

Owen's mother again. Nora looked at Owen, but he was staring straight ahead, his face perfectly composed.

Techne shook her head. "Just like you, Phoebe. You won't let anyone speak whose opinion is different than your own. It's exactly the same as last year, when we brought the idea to the council of using excess muse energy to help starving people in the mundane world, and you shot it down before we could even properly discuss it."

"That issue is closed." Phoebe's voice was ice.

"Hold on," said Alexander, "now Techne, you know I was on board with that idea last year. The police see more suffering in the mundane world than most of you could possibly imagine, and I thought you were right about doing something to ease it. But you're not right about this. Owen hasn't been opening those portals. He wants to be here in Helicon. If he'd been able to figure out a way to get back to Helicon before this, he'd have taken it like a shot."

Techne didn't look pleased, but she held up her hands in surrender. She sat back down.

Another muse stood up. "Wait a second. I wasn't at the council meeting last year where you discussed using excess muse energy to help people in the mundane world. Why is that issue closed?"

Phoebe heaved a huge sigh. "You should have been in the council meeting then. I'm sorry. Perhaps now you'll realize that everything we do here is not boring."

"Now Phoebe, that's not fair," said a different muse. "We all know these council meetings mostly amount to the food enclave or the architecture enclave bitching about how other enclaves aren't pulling their weight."

"Bitching?" said an obviously offended plump woman.

The first muse who'd objected held up a hand. "But that's the point, isn't it? The whole reason we have enclaves growing food or actually using raw materials to make our tents is to cut back on overusing energy, isn't it? Otherwise, we'd simply be magicking up whatever we needed to be creative. But you—" the muse pointed at Phoebe— "are always harping on the fact that we need to be sending out more energy to the mundane world than we consume. So if we have this excess energy, why aren't we helping the mundane world?"

"You could hardly believe it if you saw it," said Alexander. "There's starvation and conflict and abuse in the mundane world. There are so many people who are hurting every day. And we could be doing something about it."

"No," said Phoebe. "That is not the purpose of Helicon."

"But the muses lie around all the time, doing nothing except dancing and playing drums," said Alexander. "You say you're helping people by inspiring them, but people who are starving can't be inspired. They can only be hungry."

"Wrong," said Phoebe. "People who are starving need innovative inspiration to figure out how to feed themselves and solve their own problems. We empower humans. We don't coddle them. We don't interfere. We send inspiration threads. That is all. And this subject is indeed closed."

After the meeting, back in the tweens and rebels enclave, Nora asked Maddie about some of what they'd heard. She was sitting outside her tent with Catling in her lap. The duck-cat was rubbing its head furiously against her legs and then shaking its head out, purring loudly the entire time.

"Helicon is powered by human creativity," said Maddie. "The muses send inspiration to the mundane world, and the mundane world creates. That sends energy back to Helicon. We can use that energy to make things that we need to be creative if we want. My mother used to do it sometimes. If we didn't have any basil in the gardens or we hadn't planted any eggplants or something, she'd use a little muse magic and make some. But every time we use the energy for ourselves, we can't use it in the inspiration threads, so it's less energy we can send back to the mundane world."

"So it's like a cycle?" said Nora. "Like the water cycle or something? Energy flows back and forth between the humans and the muses?"

"Yeah," said Maddie. "And Phoebe says it's important for the muses to give back more energy to the mundane world than we use."

"But could the muses really stop world hunger or something?" Nora asked.

Maddie shrugged. "I don't know. But I think that if the muses used the energy for something like that, instead of to inspire people, they'd get less energy back from the mundane world, because people would be less creative, you know? So, in the end, it would hurt everyone."

Nora supposed that made sense. But she could also see Alexander's point. It didn't seem right that the muses got to spend all their time having fun and being creative when people were in pain. On the other hand, Phoebe was right. People got themselves out of jams all the time with creative problem-solving. If the muses could help people help themselves, then the muses needed to create more, not less.

Owen sauntered through the archway into the enclave. He sat down next to Nora. "I'm going to stay with the security enclave," he said. "I think, after what people said about me at the meeting this evening, it would be best if I do whatever I can to show everyone I'm committed to helping Helicon."

Nora nodded. "I can see why you'd say that."

"You're going to stay here, aren't you?" said Owen.

Nora scratched Catling on the head. "I want to."

"Okay," said Owen. He didn't sound particularly enthused about it.

"I'm sorry, Owen, I just—"

"It's fine," he said. He smiled at her. "As long as you're happy. And you promise that we'll still see each other."

"Of course we'll see each other!" She couldn't imagine life without Owen.

"Good." He got up and began to gather up the pieces of his tent, which hadn't been put up yet.

"Owen?" said Nora. "Why did they say stuff about you when you were a little kid? What did you do?"

Owen looked at her, a blank expression on his face. "I really don't know, Nora. It's like Phoebe says, I don't remember." He hiked the tent pole over his shoulder. "I was probably a brat, though. My parents sort of tossed me around between them, and whenever one of them got bored with me, they'd dump me here in Helicon." He turned back to Nora, and she didn't think she'd ever seen him look quite so vulnerable. "You're the only person who's never abandoned me."

CHAPTER FIVE

Several weeks later, Nora awoke shivering in her blankets on her hammock. Catling was snuggled up in the crook of her arm, but the little cat-duck was hardly big enough to provide much in the way of body heat. Squinting in the morning light, she pulled them around her to go to the opening of her tent. Catling quacked at her from the hammock, annoyed at the loss of warmth. Nora pushed aside the flaps of the opening to see that the ground outside was covered in a blanket of snow and that more was falling from the sky. It was beautiful. Every surface of the tweens and rebels enclave was covered in glittering white. But it was cold. She wrinkled her nose and yanked her blankets tight around her. How were people supposed to camp out in the snow? It was ridiculous.

"Nora!"

She peaked around the edge of her tent to see Maddie coming through the archway. Maddie was dressed in a big coat with a furry hood tied tight around her face. Her arms were full of fabric and fur. She traipsed through the snow to Nora's tent and began handing her things.

"I just got back from the clothing and fabric enclave," she said. "We should have gone to the council meeting last night. They announced it was going to snow."

Nora felt a little guilty. After Phoebe's comments at the first council meeting, she'd fully intended to go from now on. But the assessment of the complaining muses had been pretty much correct. Council meetings rarely amounted to more than enclaves moaning about how no one helped them out with one thing or another, and all the enclaves seemed to be convinced that they were more important than everyone else. She took a pair of boots from Maddie's outstretched hand. They were made of some kind of soft, thick fabric that resembled suede. However, the snow that had fallen on them, though melted, had beaded up and refused to penetrate the fabric. Interesting.

"I think those will fit you," said Maddie. "I was going to wake you up and ask your shoe size, but you looked all snuggly."

"I was cold," said Nora.

"Here's a coat and some snow pants." Maddie handed them over. They seemed to be made out of the same water resistance fabric that the boots were made from. "Oh, and I got these little heaters from the engineering enclave for our tents." She fished several small black rectangles from her pocket and gave them to Nora as well. "They're solar powered, so make sure to leave them outside for at least a few hours every day."

"Every day?" said Nora. "How long is this snow going to last?"

"A week!" said Maddie, grinning widely. "Get dressed. We have tons of things to do. Snow is the best."

Nora ducked back in her tent. She fingered one of the little heaters. There was a notch on one end, so she slid it over. Immediately, the heater grew so hot she had to drop it. Warm air poured out of it, filling up her tent right away. Well. That was something anyway. Using the edge of a blanket, she took the heater and placed it close to Catling, so her pet wouldn't get cold. It was too hot to touch with her bare hands. She pulled on the clothes Maddie had brought her, laced up the boots, and joined Maddie outside in the snow.

The clothes and boots were warm and dry, and Nora began to feel better already. Her fingers were a little nippy though. "If only they gave us gloves too."

"Oh, I forgot," said Maddie, pulling two pairs of gloves out of another pocket. She gave one pair to Nora, who pulled them on.

Nora's fingers began to warm up. She looked around at the shimmering white surfaces that surrounded her. The air was crisp and fresh in her lungs. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"Let's go to the food enclave for hot cocoa and French toast," said Maddie. "I could smell it when I was walking up here."

Nora had to grin. Maddie's enthusiasm was infectious. She followed Maddie out of the tweens and rebels enclave. The food enclave was right next to the tweens and rebels enclave. (Maddie said the original founders had put it there on purpose.) Just outside of the woods surrounding their enclave (oddly, Nora noticed, all the trees were leafless, when they'd been full of green leaves yesterday), the terrain changed to fields of growing crops. Now that the snow had come, though, all the fields had been covered with massive greenhouses. Nora cocked her head to the side. "When did they do that?"

"Probably last night," said Maddie.

"They put up those huge greenhouses in one night?"

"Yeah," said Maddie, as if it were the most normal thing on earth.

She'd been here almost a month, but Helicon never ceased to amaze Nora. "How often does it snow usually?"

"Just once," said Maddie. "One week of every year in January. Very possibly the most awesome week in Helicon." She was giddy.

Nora considered. One week of snow a year? And immediately afterward, back to summer? She could deal with that, she supposed.

She and Maddie ate breakfast in the main kitchen at the food enclave, which had a big dining area. The only meal that all the muses usually ate together was the evening one before the drum circle, and not all the muses ate there either. Some muses cooked in their own campsites for all meals. Others came to the food enclave for most meals, where one could usually find some food muse working on his or her latest masterpiece and more than willing to share the outcome of the experimentation with others. If no one was around, there was a community pantry of food that anyone was allowed to use to make their own food. Thus far, however, Nora hadn't had to cook for herself once. The hot cocoa was delicious and chocolate-y, and Nora drenched her French toast in maple syrup, which was dark and sugary and wonderful.

With a full stomach, she let Maddie drag her off over the bridge (the stream was frozen now) and to a wide open area between the story and science enclaves, where a large number of muses had already gathered. They were huddled in groups of two or three, some packing snow into mounds, others rolling balls of snow along the ground.

"Are they making snowmen?" asked Nora.

"Snowmen, snowwomen, snowmermaids, snowhorses—anything you can think of," said Maddie. "What do you want to make?"

Nora balked at the possibilities. "I don't know."

"Oh, come on, Nora," said Maddie. "You're the visual art person."

Which wasn't exactly true. At least, Nora wasn't sure yet. She'd spent probably half of her time at Helicon so far in the visual art enclave, where there were paints and clay and charcoal and chalk and an unlimited amount of surfaces to work on. She liked to draw. She always had. But there were other places that were fun to hang out. Nora like the story enclave too, where you could spend time spinning yarns around their big fire pit or take your drawings and make them characters in epic stories. The dance enclave was fun as well. They had the shimmering hula hoop type things and also ribbons. Plus, one of the dance muses was teaching her ballet dancing, which was a little hard on her toes, but absolutely entrancing.

"We're making something awesome," said Maddie. "They do this every year. There's a big inspiration thread that all of the snow sculptures contribute to. And at the end of the week, they pick the best sculptures and move them over to the main fire pit for a dance and feast, and you get to spend the whole night dancing in and out of the snow sculptures. They've never picked one that I made, but they'll pick yours, I just know it. So tell me what you want to do, and let's get cracking."

Nora laughed. "Well, no pressure then."

"Oh, come on, you know I didn't mean it like that."

Nora chewed on her lip, gazing around at the other groups of muses. It was still too early to tell what each of them was making, although one of the sculptures was starting to look a lot like a unicorn.

Right next to her and Maddie stood two of the guys from tweens and rebels enclave, including Alexander Night's son, whose name was Dirk. Dirk shot Nora a dirty look.

"Hey," he said. "You're not trying to steal our idea, are you?"

"No," said Nora.

"You better not," he said. "Because if we see that you've made the same thing as us, we're going to know you copied."

"Maybe you should tell us what you're making then," said Maddie, "so we can be sure to make something else."

Dirk's eyes narrowed. "We're making a giant hand flipping the bird."

"You're making a sculpture giving everyone the middle finger?" said Nora.

"Yeah. Cool, huh?"

Nora turned away to hide her snickering. It seemed that teenage boys in Helicon were just as immature as boys in the mundane world. She grabbed Maddie's arm and led her away from Dirk and his friends, so that they wouldn't see she was laughing at their idea. "That's not going to end up being picked to be around the fire pit, is it?"

Maddie shrugged. "You never know. Last year, some of the boys made a giant penis, and they picked that."

Nora giggled. "How giant?"

"It was like eight feet tall." Maddie laughed too.

"Maybe we should make a giant vagina."

"Eew," said Maddie.

"Kidding," said Nora. She kicked at the snow with her boot, trying to think. What could they make? She turned to Maddie. "I've got it."

"What?"

"We'll make Catling," said Nora. "Don't you think that would be adorable? And Mack would love it."

Maddie grinned. "I think it's excellent."

"We'll have to go get her so that she can be a model," said Nora. It was going to be hilarious watching Catling in the snow.

The two hurried back to their tents. Nora's was very warm, since she'd left the heater on for Catling. Once inside, she and Maddie shed their coats so they wouldn't start sweating. Nora expected to find Catling where she usually was, snuggled up in her little bed of blankets on the floor, but she wasn't inside the blankets.

That was odd. Nora checked in her hammock. Considering Catling didn't have a cat body, she wasn't really able to climb, so she hardly expected Catling to have climbed into the hammock herself, and indeed, there was no Catling in the hammock.

Nora was getting worried now. She and Maddie turned over all the blankets in the tent, looking everywhere, crooning Catling's name. She was nowhere to be found.

They left Nora's tent, putting their coats back on.

"Do you think she walked out into the snow by herself?" Nora asked. "She's just a kitten, Mack said so. I don't think she's ever seen snow. Wouldn't it have scared her?"

"Maybe not," said Maddie. "But if she did, she would have left prints, wouldn't she?"

They both began searching the area around Nora's tent for tiny webbed footprints in the snow. They couldn't find anything. They began to call for Catling loudly and to make little kissing noises. It wasn't like Catling ever really came when called or when they made those noises, but they had to try something.

"Hey," yelled a voice in a tent. "I'm trying to sleep here."

A blond head poked out from one of the tents on the other side of the fire pit. It was Sawyer Snow. Nora didn't know him very well. He mostly kept to himself and hung out in the clothing and fabric enclave. He was easy to remember, however, because he was always wearing skirts—glittery, sequined skirts in bold, bright colors. Though Nora hadn't really asked, she sort of assumed Sawyer was gay, given his choice of attire. Sawyer took in his surroundings and his eyes got really wide. "Holy shit. It snowed."

"You didn't go to the council meeting either, did you?" said Maddie.

"It's freezing," said Sawyer. "I'm going to have to go to the clothing and fabric enclave barefoot." He cringed.

Nora felt bad for him. After all, Maddie had brought her warm stuff this morning. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like for her, walking through the snow without boots. "I'll tell you what," she said. "I'll go get you snow clothes if you help us look for my cat-duck."

"Your what?"

"Catling," said Nora. "She's half kitten-half duckling. Mack made her. And she's gone. We were going to make a snow sculpture of her, but now we don't know where she is."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Sawyer. "I hope she's okay. Do you think she wandered off in the snow?"

Maddie and Nora shrugged at each other helplessly.

Sawyer nodded. "Your deal's a good one. I'll help you find your pet."

"Thanks," said Nora. "I guess you should tell me what size boot you wear."

* * *

When Nora returned from the enclave with a bundle of snow clothes for Sawyer, he was standing right in the opening to his tent, wrapped in a blanket. Maddie was at the edge of the circle of tents.

"I found Catling prints," said Maddie.

"You did?" Nora handed all of the stuff over to Sawyer and hurried to where Maddie was standing. Sure enough, there were tiny webbed footprints headed off into the snow. It was so deep now that Nora was nearly sure that Catling would be buried in it. Why would she wander off like this? And the prints were leading in the direction away from the main fire pit, further away from the enclaves of Helicon. Nora peered through the trees into the distance. "What's out there?"

"Nothing," said Maddie. She pointed to her left. "Wine and spirits is that way, and the clothing enclave is that way." She pointed to her right. "The tweens and rebels enclave is right on the edge."

"Nothing?" said Nora. She felt cold suddenly, even though the clothes that Maddie had given her this morning were keeping her quite warm.

Sawyer appeared behind them, shrugging into his new coat. "Sometimes, people go out hunting there for feast days, I think. There's probably animals and stuff. Maybe your pet wanted to return to the wild."

"She's a chimera," said Nora. "She's not wild. Mack made her."

"Besides," said Maddie. "It's all cold and snowy. Why would she want to go out into it?"

"Does Helicon go on forever?" Nora asked. Was it another planet, like earth?

"No," said Sawyer. "There's an edge. I've never been there, but it doesn't go on indefinitely."

Maddie shivered. "I used to think my mother only told me that as a little girl to scare me. She used to say, 'Don't go too far, or you might fall off the edge of Helicon.' But then one day we wandered out far enough to find it. It's real."

"Then Catling could..." Nora gulped.

"I'm sure she can't have gone that far," said Sawyer. "These tracks aren't covered over yet, and it's still snowing. If we follow them, I bet we'll catch up to her right away."

The three took off into the snow, flanking the tiny footprints. The dark shapes of the woods surrounded them, and they wound through the trunks, following the path that Catling had taken.

"I didn't even know you had one of the chimeras," said Sawyer. "Which is weird, because usually everybody knows everything about people around here."

Nora, who was leading them as they walked, shot a glance over her shoulder at Sawyer. "Well, she stays in my tent mostly. And I haven't been here that long. There's no way you could know everything about me."

"You'd be surprised." Sawyer hopped over the tracks in the snow so that he was on the side opposite Nora, just behind Maddie. "You're the buzz of the tweens and rebels enclave. Everyone knows that you and that Owen guy are a couple, for one thing, even though you apparently grew up like brother and sister in the mundane world."

Nora halted, turning on Sawyer. "We did not grow up like brother and sister." That made the whole thing sound disgusting. They were together a lot, and Owen had always looked after her and taken care of her, but she had never thought of him as a brother. It had always been quite clear that they weren't related.

Sawyer made a hands-off gesture. "It's only what people are saying. I didn't say I thought it was true. You'll realize that people around here talk behind each other's backs a lot."

Nora started walking again, focusing on the tracks. "No one around here seems to like Owen."

"They don't really mean it in a nasty way," said Maddie. "Not exactly. Sometimes it feels nasty, but it's just the way people are."

"Do you talk about me behind my back?" Nora asked Maddie pointedly.

"Of course not," said Maddie.

"I think it's nasty," said Sawyer.

"That's only because people think you're transgendered or something," said Maddie.

"Well, it's not like they do sex-change operations in Helicon is it, anyway?" said Sawyer. "So whether I am or I'm not, it barely makes any difference. And besides, how is that not nasty to say stuff like that about someone?"

Maddie shrugged. "I think people do it because they care, in a weird way. You know, they worry about someone, so they ask other people if there's anything to be worried about. Overall, I think it's done from a good place."

"Whatever," said Sawyer. "I don't see why wearing skirts is such a big worrying issue."

Nora chewed on her lip, unsure of how to put what she was thinking of saying. "Are there many, um, gay muses?"

"Sure," said Sawyer. "Tons. Well, maybe not tons. There are more straight people, I guess. But Helicon's really accepting of that stuff."

"And are you...?" Nora didn't finish.

"Am I gay?" asked Sawyer. "Yeah, totally."

"So you don't think you're actually a girl trapped in a boy's body?" asked Maddie.

"See, that's what I'm talking about," said Sawyer. "People talk behind your back. You make an offhand comment once when you're like thirteen years old, and no one lets it go."

"So it's not true?" said Maddie.

"I'm a guy," said Sawyer. "I'm always going to be a guy. There's no point in thinking anything else, is there?"

Sawyer seemed to be getting a little bit touchy. Nora decided it was best to let the thing go. "I promise not to talk about you behind your back, Sawyer," she said. "Or you, Maddie." The wooded area they were walking through was beginning to thin out. The trees had more and more space between them. Ahead, Nora could see nothing but a huge snow-covered field, tall stalks of grass poking through it. It stretched as far as she could see. Was the edge of Helicon at the end? She looked back in the direction of the tween and rebels enclave, but it was obscured by trees at this point and impossible to see. "Why did Catling walk out this far? And shouldn't we be able to see her by now?"

"I don't know," said Maddie.

"How big is she?" said Sawyer. "Maybe the snow's so deep that it covers her up."

"Maybe," said Nora. She looked at the tracks stretching in front of her. It looked like Catling had simply walked on the top layer of snow, because it wasn't as if she'd plowed a little path through it. Still, maybe she'd fallen in somewhere and was stuck. She raised her voice. "Catling! Where are you, little one?"

Maddie and Sawyer began calling for Catling as well, making little clicking noises with their tongues, as the three kept following the tracks.

"Nora?" called a voice.

They all turned in the direction of it. Owen was walking up over the field, from the direction that Catling's tracks were headed. He waved.

"Owen?" said Nora.

"What are you doing out here?" Owen asked as he approached.

"I lost Catling," said Nora. "She wandered out of my tent out here. We've been following her tracks."

"She walked all the way out here by herself?" said Owen.

It was strange, wasn't it? Was something wrong with Catling? Maybe the fact that she was a chimera had made her go completely insane. Maybe you couldn't really mix up two different animals like that without completely ruining them.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Sawyer, eyeing Owen.

"Going on a walk in the snow," said Owen. He stopped right in front of Sawyer. "I don't think we've met."

"Sawyer." Sawyer stuck out his hand. Owen shook it. But they were both glaring at each other. "I already know your name. Everyone does."

"Right," said Owen. "My fame precedes me."

"Sawyer's helping us look for Catling," said Nora, feeling compelled to explain to Owen exactly why Sawyer was there in the first place.

"Right," said Owen. He snapped his gaze away from Sawyer to Nora. He smiled. "You like the snow? Feels like we just got away from it, right?"

Nora had to smile back. It was nice to be with Owen, given their shared experiences. "Well, it's pretty. And the snow clothes they have here are completely awesome. Maddie and I were going to make a snow sculpture."

"I went looking for you earlier," Owen said. "I thought maybe you'd want to walk with me. But I guess you and Maddie had already left your tents."

"You were in my tent?" said Nora. "Was Catling in there then?"

Owen thought about it. "I don't remember."

"When was this?"

"I don't know," said Owen. "Before I started walking. An hour ago? How long ago did you leave your tent?"

"Where is she?" Nora was starting to get worried. "Catling!"

"Let's keep following the tracks," said Sawyer.

Nora nodded. She called for the cat-duck again.

And there was an answering mewling squawk.

"Did you hear that?" said Maddie.

They all started yelling for Catling, taking off into the snow after her tracks. Catling quacked back at them. They fanned out, calling the chimera.

"There she is!" yelled Sawyer.

Nora stopped and turned to look at Sawyer, who was scooping a little black furball up out of the snow. "Catling!"

Catling was twisting in Sawyer's arms hissing and wailing. If she'd actually been a cat, she probably would have been digging her claws into him. It was strange, because Nora had never seen her act that way before. Usually Catling was very sweet tempered. She started across the snow to take the animal from Sawyer. Maybe once she was back with Nora, Catling would calm down.

Behind Sawyer, Nora noticed something else strange. The snow was glowing. There was a definite purple light emanating up through the white crust. She faltered. "Sawyer, behind you." She pointed.

Sawyer half-turned. "Holy shit!" He leapt forward, at the same moment as a gigantic purple fork of lightning ripped up through the snow, crackling and sparking. Sawyer screamed in pain and landed face down in the snow. He didn't move.

CHAPTER SIX

"Sawyer!" yelled Nora, running for him.

But Owen was next to her, tackling her, knocking her down. Snow smacked her in the face—an icy punch. Owen's voice was in her ear. "It's another portal. The Influence is getting through again."

And as Nora lifted her face, she noticed that it did definitely look the same as before. The brilliant beam of energy went straight up, forking into tiny sparks which writhed and reached. As the branches of purple lightning made contact, they shriveled into the same red circular things as before. One skittered across the snow to Nora, like a red hockey puck.

Within a few seconds, the branches had all shriveled, and there was only a mound of purple light coming from the ground. The snow all around had melted, so the light was sunken against the white blanket that surrounded it. Only then did Owen let Nora up.

As she got to her feet, she noticed that Maddie was doing the same. She'd taken cover as well. Owen picked up one of the red circles and pocketed it. "We should pick these up."

But Nora was rushing to Sawyer, who'd been right next to the blast. She knelt next to him, shaking his shoulder. "Sawyer?"

Sawyer groaned. He lifted his face to look at her, and it was the color of ash. "I think it hit me."

Nora looked back at Owen and Maddie, panicking. If the Influence touched a muse, didn't it kill them?

Maddie was next to Sawyer as well, gripping his hand. "You're okay," she said. "If it hit you full on, you'd be dead."

"Must have grazed him," said Owen.

Catling mewled, tunneling out from one of Sawyer's arms to rub against his face.

"Can you move?" Nora asked Sawyer.

"I don't know." Sawyer tried to push himself up and cried out in pain. He flopped back into the snow.

Owen looked from Sawyer to Nora to Maddie. "Maddie," he said, "you run back to the main part of Helicon and get help. We need Alexander for the portal, and we need someone to help Sawyer. Nora, you stay with Sawyer. I'm going into the portal to try to close it."

"Owen, should you do that alone?" Nora asked.

"Okay," said Maddie. She nodded at Nora. "I'll be right back. Hang in there, Sawyer." And she took off at a sprint back across the field towards the woods.

Nora took one of Sawyer's hands. "You're going to be okay." But she wasn't sure that he would.

Owen was standing at the edge of the portal.

"Don't go in there, Owen," said Nora.

"I'll be fine," said Owen.

"You don't know that," said Nora.

"I was before."

"But that was a portal you made. Maybe this one is different."

"Nora, it's fine."

"Please stay with me." She bit her lip.

Owen cast one more glance at the portal, sighing. "Okay, fine." He trudged away and sat down next to her and Sawyer in the snow. "You know, maybe it's not such a good idea for you to be roaming around here all by yourself."

"I wasn't all by myself," said Nora.

"Well, you know, without someone who could take care of you," said Owen.

"I wouldn't have been," said Nora. "It was just that Catling ran off, and I wanted to find her."

"Why didn't you come looking for me?" Owen asked. "I would have helped you find her."

"You wouldn't have been around anyway," said Nora. "You were on a walk."

Owen picked up a handful of snow and began packing it into a ball. "I feel like we're kind of drifting apart is all."

Nora thought this was a silly thing to be talking about when there was a portal that could kill people right next to them and when Sawyer was practically dying on the other side of them. "Don't be silly." She turned back to Sawyer. "How are you holding up?"

"Hurts," Sawyer groaned. His cheek was resting directly against the snow.

Nora looked at Owen. "Do you think it would be bad to move him? Maybe if he were on his back, he'd be more comfortable."

Owen tossed the snowball he'd made onto the ground and stood up. "We can try, I guess." He walked around behind Sawyer and grabbed his legs.

Nora shifted so that she had Sawyer's shoulders. Together, she and Owen rolled Sawyer over. Sawyer shrieked and swore.

"Sorry," said Nora.

Now lying on his back, Sawyer grimaced, digging his hooded head into the snow. "No, it is better. Less cold."

Nora took his hand again and squeezed it. Catling rubbed up against their clasped hands. Owen glanced down at Nora's hand in Sawyer's and stood up. He walked away a few paces, putting his back to the two of them. Nora furrowed her brow. Was Owen...jealous? But that was ridiculous. He must know something about Sawyer. It was impossible to see him once and not realize that he wasn't anything to be jealous of. There was the fact that they hadn't seemed too happy to see each other earlier, of course. And she couldn't very well ask Sawyer about it now, could she?

And in any case, the time to be jealous of someone was not when he was lying on the ground in excruciating pain. Even if Sawyer hadn't been gay, Owen had no right and no reason to think there was anything bad about her holding the hand of an injured man. Of course, she couldn't very well tell Owen any of that now, either.

So she simply stayed where she was, holding Sawyer's hand and petting Catling with her other hand, not saying anything. She stayed that way, and Owen didn't turn back around, until Maddie returned with Alexander Night, Phoebe Rain, and Coeus Dust.

Alexander went immediately to the portal. He shook his head. "I don't believe it. Another one. I'll have to go get a team together to close it."

Phoebe and Coeus crouched down next to Sawyer. Phoebe cupped his chin, turning his face from side to side to get a good look at him.

"We could close it together, Alexander," Owen said. "We probably don't need anyone else. Everyone's enjoying the snow. There's no reason to put others in danger."

Alexander considered.

"I think you're right, Maddie," said Phoebe. "It wasn't a direct hit. He's been hurt, drained of his creativity and power, undoubtedly, but he's intact."

"Well, Owen said it grazed him," said Maddie.

Phoebe nodded. "Absolutely right, Owen."

"Just the two of us then?" said Alexander. "All right. Let's go, Owen."

Owen grinned, like Alexander saying that made up for all the awful things that had just happened.

"Be careful," Nora told him.

Owen shrugged and followed Alexander. They leapt into the portal, disappearing from sight.

Nora turned her attention back to Phoebe. "Can you help him?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, we can. It's going to take a bit of energy, though. I do have access to it, as the head of the council." She wagged a finger in Sawyer's face. "I'm going to give you a huge jolt here, Sawyer, and I need you to promise me you will be extra creative to make up for what you're taking."

Sawyer moaned.

"Phoebe," said Coeus, "the boy's hurt. Is this really the time to be worried about energy balances?"

"The council—"

"Will completely agree that a muse's life is worth saving," said Coeus.

Phoebe let out a breath. "You're right, of course." She pointed at Nora and Maddie. "You two will need to stand back."

Nora picked up Catling and scrambled away from Sawyer. She and Maddie huddled close and watched as Phoebe and Coeus joined hands. They each took one of Sawyer's hands as well so that the three of them were all linked. Phoebe and Coeus closed their eyes and let their heads sink down against their chests, almost as if they were falling asleep. There was a low humming sound that seemed to emanate from their bodies. All three of them vibrated a little, going blurry against the snow.

It lasted only for a few moments, and then Phoebe and Coeus dropped their hands, breaking the circle. They stood up and stepped away from Sawyer.

Sawyer shook himself. Then he pushed himself to his feet.

"How do you feel?" Phoebe asked him.

Sawyer's face erupted into a huge smile. "I feel...totally amazing."

"Good," said Phoebe. "Well, use that."

"Phoebe," said Coeus again, sighing. "He doesn't have to be creative right this second." He gestured toward the main area of Helicon. "Why don't you three go on back and make some snow sculptures, huh? I think everything's okay now."

But by the time they got back to the area where everyone was making the snow sculptures, news of the portal had spread, and it didn't seem like anyone was in any mood to make anything. Instead, people grouped together, chatting anxiously about what this might mean. Maddie and Sawyer explained to Nora that the portal opening was very strange, especially so soon after the one that had been opened to let Nora and Owen in. In their lifetimes, there had only been two other portals that had opened, and Nora understood that one was same one that had coincided with the time she'd used her muse powers in the mundane world and the muses hadn't been so distracted they couldn't come to save her. The other had apparently been opened nearly a year ago, sometime in the spring. The other muses seemed to think that something very bad was beginning to happen. These holes in Helicon didn't seem to be random. They were happening more frequently.

They shot Nora furtive looks as they spoke to each other. Nora knew that they suspected her. After all, hadn't the last portal opened to let her and Owen back into Helicon. The muses didn't trust her. Or at least, they didn't trust Owen.

Finally, Nora couldn't stand it anymore, and she insisted that they go ahead and try to make a snow sculpture. Sawyer, still flush with whatever Phoebe and Coeus had done to him, thought it was a great idea, and he got to work on it enthusiastically. Maddie wasn't entirely feeling up to it, so they assigned her to Catling duty. Maddie made sure that their model didn't run off while they were trying to sculpt her image. Once immersed in the work, Nora began to ignore everything around her. The hardest part of the sculpture was trying to figure out how they were going to make the body of Catling balance on spindly snow legs. They tried several times to get it to work, building the body separately from the legs. But every time they tried to get it on, the whole sculpture crumbled.

Finally, Sawyer had the idea of sculpting her lying down, with her legs tucked under her body. Once they had that in place, everything began to go much easier, and they made a fair amount of progress. They began to laugh and have fun with it, hurling snow at each other in the middle of trying to figure out how to properly texture the snow to look like fur.

They were so engrossed that they didn't realize that their example had caused the other muses to return to their sculptures as well.

* * *

The council meeting was packed that night. Muses sat and stood around the main fire pit, some holding mugs of hot cocoa, others clutching coffee that had been infused with some special seasonal liquor from the wine and spirits enclave. Nora sat on a bench with Maddie and Sawyer. They'd gone back to their tents earlier, and she'd been worried about leaving Catling there, but the little fluffy thing had curled up in a ball almost immediately and gone to sleep. She'd tied her tent closed as tightly and securely as she possibly could. Maddie had assured her there was no way the cat-duck could escape again.

All three of them were drinking hot cocoa. It wasn't forbidden for the younger tweens to drink alcohol, but drunk tweens were highly frowned upon by the older muses, who found their rowdiness and occasional bursts of vomiting from overindulgence annoying, so when tweens drank, they usually did on their own. Nora had yet to have any alcohol in Helicon. Maddie wasn't into it, and it wasn't something Nora particularly longed for. Still, she'd noticed plenty of drunken gatherings in the enclave, with other young muses stumbling up and down the spiral staircase of the tree house and dancing in the woods.

Phoebe called the meeting to order and went straight to the business of the portal, since there didn't seem to be anything else to discuss that night. She turned the floor over to Alexander Night, who told everyone what had happened.

"Four of the tweens found the portal," he said. "One was injured but was healed by Phoebe and Coeus. Owen Asher and I went into the portal and were able to close it. That's really all there is to it."

The muses surrounding the fire pit erupted in simultaneous conversation, all yelling over each other in attempts to be heard.

"Silence!" thundered Phoebe, and everyone quieted. She took a deep breath. "Now, all of you know the proper procedure. You wait for me to recognize you before you speak." She looked around as a number of muses either stood up or threw their hands into the air. Phoebe pointed at the muse closest to her, which happened to be Techne Lift, head of the science enclave.

Techne threw back her long blonde hair. "I think we have to have a conversation about Owen, don't we?"

Owen stood up, looking annoyed. "Can I speak?"

Phoebe nodded. "Go ahead."

"I had the floor," said Techne.

"And you'll have it back in a minute," said Phoebe. "Owen?"

Owen took a step forward, looking out over all of the muses. He clasped his hands together in front of him. "Listen, I know I'm not a muse. And I know that my mother has caused trouble here in Helicon, but you have to realize that I don't really know what that trouble was. I've had very little contact with my mother during my lifetime, and I plan to keep it that way. All I've wanted, ever since she took me away from this place, is to get back here. Helicon is the only home I've ever known. And I would never do anything to hurt the muses or to hurt this world. I don't know how to prove that to you all, but I'd hoped that by joining the security enclave and helping to protect Helicon, in time, you'd come to trust me. Unfortunately, another hole opening in Helicon so soon after the last makes me look guilty. I know it does. But I didn't create this hole. I can't offer any proof of my innocence, but I can ask you this: What would I have to gain by destroying this world? Why would I fight so long and so hard to return only so that I could harm you all? And why, if I had created these portals, would I be taking such an active hand in closing them? If I wanted to let the Influence into Helicon, wouldn't I try to keep the portals open as long as I possibly could?"

Techne folded her arms over her chest. "You could have all kinds of secret motivations that we know nothing about. As for the claim you make that you've spent no time with your mother, we only have your word for that. Why should we believe you?"

Owen scratched the back of his head. His expression was pained. "Because I need you to. My mother gave birth to me and then abandoned me every chance she got. She left me here in Helicon sometimes, but other times she left me places that weren't so pleasant. I hardly remember that, not really. But she wasn't... she wasn't what you'd call a particularly active parent. I barely even remember her. All I know is that from the moment I arrived in Helicon, no matter what had happened to me before, or what kind of places I'd been, this was the warmest, most open, safest place I'd ever been. This is the only place where anyone's ever cared what happened to me. This is only thing I've ever had that even resembles a home. Please..." He looked directly at Techne, and Nora realized there were tears in his eyes.

She wanted to get up, go to Owen, and give him a huge hug. She hadn't seen him cry very often, and never in front of this many people.

Techne held his gaze for a moment. Then she looked away, clearly shaken. "If you didn't create this rip in Helicon, who did?" she asked the fire.

"I don't know," said Owen, "but I'll tell you one thing. Someone inside Helicon did it. The portal that I left open was clearly punched through from the outside. This one was ripped open from inside."

Alexander stood up. "We can't be sure of that."

Owen furrowed his brow. "Absolutely, we can. It's like when someone punches through a glass window. Whichever side the broken glass is on, you can be sure the person punching was on the other side. This is the same principal. It's obvious."

Alexander shook his head. "No, I don't think so, Owen. We have no way of being sure how this portal was created. I will say that this portal more closely resembled the ones we saw before Owen and Nora arrived. It was smaller, and woven full of spells and repelling charms. I'd say there's really no evidence linking Owen to it at all. These portals started before he arrived, and I don't see how he could have had anything to do with them. I really hope we can put this nasty accusation behind us." He shot a pointed look at Techne.

Techne looked much less sure of herself. She sat down.

"I still think this portal was created inside Helicon," said Owen.

"There's simply no way to know that," said Alexander, and his tone made it clear that was the end of it.

Owen shrugged and sat down.

"Thank you, Alexander," said Phoebe. She turned to the gathered throng of muses. "Anyone else like the floor?" No one spoke. It seemed that no one else wanted to accuse Owen. Nora was glad. "Well, then," said Phoebe, "it seems that we're under some kind of attack of unknown origin. We'll need the security enclave to be on high alert. I'd also like to move that the engineering enclave begin working with the security enclave to work on making something that might be able to strengthen Helicon, to prevent these portals."

"I second that," said Coeus.

"Motion's been seconded," said Phoebe. "Any discussion?"

Silence greeted her again.

* * *

Sawyer, Maddie, and Nora sat on one of the lower platforms of the tree house. Above them, some of the older tweens were playing music and laughing. Nora was pretty sure they'd gotten their hands on some of the spiked coffee, judging from their level of raucousness.

"If it's true, what Owen said, that the hole in Helicon was made from the inside, then wouldn't that mean that someone inside Helicon is doing it?" asked Nora.

"Maybe." Maddie shrugged.

"Well, then, are they going to launch a big investigation to find out who it is?" said Nora.

Sawyer and Maddie exchanged a confused look.

"What do you mean, an investigation?" said Sawyer.

Nora thought she'd been pretty clear. "Well, I don't know, like are they going to round up suspects and question them, look for evidence, that kind of stuff?"

"Phoebe said they're going to work on strengthening Helicon to make it harder to rip holes in it," said Maddie.

"But shouldn't we figure out who's doing it?" said Nora.

"If we can prevent them from doing it, that's just as good, isn't it?" said Sawyer.

"Not really," said Nora. "Because if there's someone out there trying to hurt Helicon, then we have to stop them completely. What do they usually do here when something like this happens?"

Sawyer and Maddie were quiet. They both looked like they were concentrating very hard.

"Well, nothing like this usually happens," said Maddie.

"And when the portals opened before, we had a big council meeting, and we discussed it, and..." Sawyer raised his eyebrows. "And then nothing really changed, I guess, because someone's still ripping holes in the fabric of Helicon."

Nora was astonished. "You mean, they haven't tried to catch this person?"

"Who would have time to do that?" said Maddie. "We're busy creating and making inspiration threads all the time. That's the most important thing."

"What do the muse police do? They're here to keep everyone secure, aren't they?" said Nora.

"They, um, go pick up new muses in the mundane world when they feel them," said Maddie. "And they work with the engineering enclave a lot to fix things. And they..." She turned to Sawyer for help.

Sawyer looked troubled. "We need to investigate, don't we? Because if no one else is going to do it, how are we going to figure out who's ripping these portals open and stop them?"

"Us?" said Nora. She hadn't meant for it to be their job, exactly. "Well, I guess, if no one else is going to do it, then we should."

"So how do we investigate?" said Maddie, looking excited.

Nora tried to remember all the detective shows she'd watched on TV. "First we need a suspect. Who could be doing this?"

"It's someone who knows about the muse police weapons," said Maddie. "Because Alexander said the portals were all similar, with the stuff woven into them to repel the police's weapons."

"Well, Alexander said that we couldn't be sure it was coming from inside," said Nora.

"Yeah," said Sawyer. "That was kind of suspicious, wasn't it?"

"You don't think Alexander is making the holes?" said Maddie.

Sawyer shrugged. "Let's think about it. He would know how to make things that repel the police's weapons, wouldn't he? He's the head of the security enclave. He'd be really familiar with their weapons."

"Maybe," said Nora. "But why would he do that?"

"He was pretty pissed off when Phoebe shut down his idea to use muse energy to help starving people," said Maddie. "Maybe it's revenge or something."

Nora thought about it. "He did seem a little bitter towards the muses at that council meeting we went to right after our portal was open. He said muses don't do anything but lie around and have fun. Maybe he's angry about all of it. He's not creative, and neither is his wife, right?"

"Right," said Sawyer.

"How does that work anyway?" Nora asked. "Muses occasionally have babies that aren't creative?"

"Pretty much," said Maddie. "It's rare, but it happens."

"Usually, it's pretty obvious by the time the kid's three or four," said Sawyer. "Muse kids create stuff. Uncreative kids don't." Sawyer tapped his chin with one finger. "I never really thought about it, but maybe someone like Alexander could get kind of bitter about it. I don't think anyone means to be deliberately cruel to people who aren't creative, but they get excluded from things in Helicon naturally. They can't do the things we do. So, he's our suspect, then, right?"

That made Nora think of Owen. He wasn't a muse. Did he feel excluded? She remembered that earlier he'd said something about the two of them drifting apart. She stood up and started for the spiral staircase.

"Where are you going?" Maddie asked. "If it really is Alexander, then we've got to figure out what we're going to do about it."

"I'm going to find Owen," said Nora, heading down the steps. "This got me thinking about how he probably feels excluded too."

"Seriously?" said Sawyer. "Why are you even with that guy anyway?"

Nora stopped on the steps, looking up at Sawyer. "What's your deal with Owen? You seemed pissed at him when we ran into him while we were looking for Catling."

Sawyer shrugged again. "He just...he rubs me the wrong way is all. I don't know. It's like an intuition or something. Besides, I remember him from when he was here before. He was a bratty kid."

"Aren't lots of kids bratty?" said Nora.

"Maybe," said Sawyer. "You know him better than I do. If you think he's okay, then I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He doesn't seem to like me very much either, though, I might point out."

"That's probably my fault," said Nora. "Like I said, I think he's feeling left out. I think he was jealous or something."

"Of me?" Sawyer laughed.

Nora had to giggle too. "I'm going to set him straight. Don't worry."

"Ask him about Alexander," said Maddie. "Maybe he'd know if Alexander secretly hated all the muses."

It was a good idea. "Okay," said Nora. She skipped down the rest of the steps. It was dark outside now, so Nora picked up one of the torches that was sitting next to the fire and lit it. She traipsed under the archway, out of the tweens and rebels enclave, the fire of her torch reflecting against the white blanket of snow as she walked. The security enclave was camped near the main fire pit, so she had to walk across the stream to get there. Since it was snowy and cold, most of the muses were tight inside their tents, using the heaters they'd gotten from the engineering enclave or gathered around the fire pits in their enclaves. In the security enclave, it was the same thing. Nora hadn't spent a lot of time here, since Owen usually sought her out, but she knew which tent was Owen's.

She pulled the opening aside a little. "Owen?"

"Nora?" Owen was sitting inside on his hammock, reading a book that it looked like he might have gotten from the writing and poetry enclave. Looking excited to see her, he leapt up to open his tent the rest of the way and let her inside.

Owen's tent was blazing hot, so she shed her coat and gloves right away. He pulled her into an embrace and kissed her. She hugged him tight, thinking that she really had been spending a lot of time away from him.

Owen planted another kiss on her forehead. "I'm so glad to see you."

"I guess I've been a little preoccupied since we got to Helicon," Nora said. "I'm sorry if I haven't been around enough."

"You have been kind of distant," said Owen. He looked at his shoes. "I was starting to wonder if maybe you weren't interested anymore."

"In you?" said Nora. "Don't be silly. You're Owen."

"Yeah," said Owen. "And I'm not a muse."

Nora's heart went out to him. "Don't worry about that stuff, Owen. Really. It's not important to me. You're important to me. You always have been, and you always will be."

He looked back at her, a wry smile on his face. "Maybe I was being a little insecure. I guess back in the mundane world you needed me a lot more than you do now. I wasn't expecting to...miss that."

"I should have come to find you earlier," she said. "When you said that stuff at the council meeting earlier, about your mother..." She put her hand on his cheek. "You've never talked about her before."

Owen moved away from her. He went back to his hammock and began rearranging the blankets on it. "There's not much to say, really."

"Owen, what does she have to do with all of this? What did she do?"

He gave her a sharp look. "You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?"

"She stole us from Helicon," said Owen. "That's how we ended up in the mundane world."

Nora sat down on the floor of Owen's tent. "I remember..." It was all sort of blurry. She'd been so young. "I remember you and me in the abandoned house in the winter. I remember the people finding us and putting us in foster care."

"Nothing before that?" he asked.

She tried, digging deep into her memory for anything. But she couldn't remember. "No. You know I never remembered Helicon."

Owen fiddled with his blankets some more. "She left me in Helicon the first time when I was three, I guess. I don't really remember that. Anyway, I must have only been here for a year or so before my father showed up."

"Dionysus," said Nora.

"Yeah," said Owen. "They weren't together or anything. My father told me that they had a fling in Helicon during one of the big festivals. She got pregnant and never told him. Anyway, my dad took me after that, but he didn't keep me for very long either. He brought me back to Helicon when I was five years old. I got to stay here for another year before my mother showed up again. She wanted to take me again, but by then, I didn't want anything to do with her. I liked it in Helicon. She took me anyway. She took both of us."

"Why did she take me?" Nora asked.

Owen sighed. He came and sat down next to her. "Maybe that was my fault. She took you because you and I were inseparable, and I took you with me everywhere I went. She couldn't get you away from me, so she took us both. But once we were out of Helicon, I took care of her, and we ran away. I thought it would be easy to get back here. But...it wasn't."

Nora thought this sounded pretty horrible. Owen's mother—what was her name? Nimue?—sounded like a terrible person. But something else was bothering her. Something she couldn't believe she'd never thought of before. "What about my mother, Owen?" She guessed that she'd spent so much of her life assuming that mothers were things that other people had that she'd never given it much thought. Owen never talked about his mother when they were small children. In some ways, she'd kind of assumed, with childlike logic, that whatever made them different from everyone else also meant they didn't have parents. She'd never thought to question it.

"You didn't have one," said Owen.

"What do you mean? She's dead?"

"You were a baby in the babies and toddlers enclave," said Owen. "Sometimes muses feel like taking care of babies would damage their creativity. So they leave them in the enclave. Everyone takes care of the babies. It's not like they're neglected or anything, but muses don't always raise their own children."

"You're saying my mother dumped me in the enclave because she thought I'd get in the way of her creativity?" Nora felt angry suddenly. Something about that offended all her sensibilities about the idea of motherhood. "I guess neither of us had very good mothers."

"It happens all the time," said Owen. "It's not that big of a deal. You've been in Helicon for a while. You know the most important thing for a muse is to be creative. If a baby isn't going to make you more creative, then you aren't serving your purpose as a muse. So you do what's best for everyone and leave the baby in the enclave. It all works out."

Nora thought it sounded like a big deal. "Well, if the babies are being taken care of by the whole community, aren't they just a big drain on everyone's creativity?" She hadn't realized she'd be so bitter about this. She'd never given a second thought to her mother, but suddenly, she felt as if she'd been simultaneously given the possibility of one and had it ripped away from her.

"No," said Owen. "Some people are more creative because of babies. It all depends on where a muse's strengths lie. Don't be mad at your mother. You were happy in Helicon. She did the right thing for both of you. The people who took care of you loved taking care of babies."

Nora didn't know if she accepted that. "So she could be anyone in Helicon, you're saying? She left me, and no one knows who I really belong to?"

"You belong to Helicon," said Owen. "You belong to me." He tried to kiss her again.

Nora pulled away. "I notice you aren't saying the same kind of stuff about your own mother."

"Nora, I'm not angry with my mother for abandoning me," said Owen. "I'm angry with her for leaving me in Helicon and then taking me away. I wanted to stay here. You understand that, right?"

Nora took a deep breath. She guessed that was true as far as it went. She chewed on her lip. "You say it happens in Helicon a lot?"

"Not a lot maybe," said Owen. "But it's common, sure. It doesn't make you weird or anything. The muses set up a way to take care of babies. Truthfully, I guess it doesn't happen very often because muses can stop themselves from aging. So, if a muse finds out she's pregnant, she usually just stops aging until she's ready for it, you know?"

Maddie had actually explained to her how beneficial this whole halting aging could be. Even though most of the tweens were still aging normally, Maddie had explained to her that it was really useful when it came to menstruating. All Nora had to do was halt her aging for one week a month. Then she could go into the showers and catch that week up. It made her period last two minutes. It kind of made the showers resemble a slaughterhouse, though.

"Muses also use it as birth control," said Owen. "If you aren't aging, you aren't fertile, you know."

And Nora guessed that if you could save up a week for your period, if you had nine months saved up, you could move through a pregnancy pretty fast too, making it easy to hide the fact you'd ever had a baby, if you wanted to dump it the babies and toddlers enclave and be rid of it. "Yeah," she said, "Maddie and I talked about that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you doing that?"

"Not really," said Nora. The concept was relatively simple, apparently. If you halted your aging for five days after you had sex, the sperm would die or something, and you could resume your regular cycle. So, technically, she guessed she could do it at any time. But all of this stuff wasn't something she particularly felt comfortable talking with Owen about. "I mean, I guess I could start doing it if I needed to, but I don't, so... Can we talk about something else?"

"I was just thinking..." He reached out to caress her chin. "Maybe you could stay here tonight."

Nora stood up. "Owen, I don't think we should..." When they'd been in the mundane world, Owen had never once tried to get her to have sex with him. She'd thought about it before, sure, but, even though she loved Owen, it seemed like a big step.

Owen grabbed one of her hands and tugged her back down so that she was sitting next to him again. "I didn't mean to freak you out or anything. But I thought it might help."

"Help?"

"Well, because you said you noticed that you were pulling away, and I thought if we, you know, took the next step, it might make us closer."

"I wasn't pulling away," said Nora. "I'm not pulling away. That's why I came to see you."

"Come on, Nora, you admitted it when you came into the tent," said Owen. "You can't take it back now."

"That's not what I said." What had she said? "I think I said I was preoccupied, and that's not really the same thing."

"Well, that's what I meant," said Owen. "If you're preoccupied, it's because we aren't close enough. So maybe you'd be thinking about me more often if we were—"

"Having sex?" Nora felt terrified. She couldn't look at Owen. Were they really talking about this? And why was it scaring her so much more than it was scaring Owen?

Owen kissed her. "Don't you want to?" His voice was a smooth whisper. He kissed her again, drawing her tight against his body. His arms encircled her, and it felt nice. Owen felt nice. She liked his kisses and his closeness.

"Well, someday." She was whispering too. It made it easier to talk about it somehow. "But it seems sort of fast. We don't have to rush into it, do we?"

"Rush into it? Nora, we've been together for years now."

Was it years? When had she and Owen started kissing, anyway? Owen had always been older than her. He'd made it all seem so natural and right, and he was everything to her, so she'd never questioned it, just accepted. "We've always been together, Owen. But it hasn't always been, um, romantic."

"I love you," he said. His hands were roving over her skin, fingers pushing inside her shirt. She gasped at the feel of his touch on her stomach. His lips found hers again, and she felt adrift in all the sensation, bewildered by his presence, his touch, his lips.

"I love you too, Owen," she said. But she pulled away. "And I want to. I mean, at some point, yes, I want to make love to you, but not yet."

Owen leaned back. "Why not?"

Why not? Why was he being like this about it? "It's a little scary is all. I don't want to feel afraid of it before I do it. I want to feel, you know, like excited about it. Ready for it."

"Hey," said Owen, "it scares me too. It's not like I've ever done it either. But you don't scare me, Nora. Do I scare you?"

"No..." She felt so disoriented, like she was being a big baby about the whole thing. Everything Owen did threw her off-balance right now. Maybe Owen had always had that affect on her. She wasn't sure. She knew it had been tough to ever stay mad at Owen, no matter what he did. She loved him. But she wasn't giving in on this, even if it was what Owen wanted. This wasn't the right moment, or the right time. "I'm sorry. I can't explain why. But I don't want to. Let's change the subject."

Owen's face turned stormy for a second. He looked away from her.

"We were talking about what you said at the council tonight," she said, trying to distract him, "about how the holes in Helicon were made from the inside. That means someone in Helicon made them, right?"

He still wasn't looking at her. "Yeah, that's what it means."

"Why do you think Alexander said that you were wrong?"

Owen looked back at her. "I don't think he could see it. Alexander might live in Helicon, but he's really just a regular human, you know. I have abilities he doesn't have."

"You don't think he's hiding something?"

Owen looked confused. "What could he be hiding?"

"Maybe he's making the holes himself, because he's jealous of the muse powers," said Nora.

Owen laughed. "Get serious, Nora. There's no way Alexander could have done that. This place is his home too, no matter whether he's a muse or not."

* * *

Nora packed a little snow in the sculpture of Catling's flank. The sculpture was basically done. She was adding a few finishing touches. When she'd woken up that morning, it had been relatively early—midmorning—and no one else in the tweens and rebels enclave had been awake. She'd gotten some food for Catling and herself, then trundled down to check out the sculpture. Now it was somewhere near noon, and she was pretty sure she was finished with it. Next to it, a half-finished sculpture of a middle finger languished in the snow. Apparently, Dirk and his friends hadn't gotten down to work on their sculpture yet.

"This is adorable!"

Nora looked up to see Theia Spring, the head of the visual art enclave, wading through the snow over to her. Nora looked back at the giant-sized Catling. She was pretty proud of it. "Thanks. It's my pet."

"I've seen the cat-ducks," said Theia. "Mack is going to love this." She winked at Nora. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm almost certain we're going to pick this for the fire pit at the end of the week. You've really got an eye for things like this. For someone who spent her whole life outside of Helicon, I have to say I'm impressed."

"Well, I didn't do it by myself," said Nora. "Sawyer and Maddie helped."

Theia nodded. "I'm sure they did. But I've seen you in the enclave before. I know talent when I see it."

Nora couldn't help but feel good. She'd been hiding her abilities for so long, it was a relief to be able to display them now, and it was gratifying to have them appreciated. No one had appreciated anything she'd created since those kids outside the middle school all those years ago. But she didn't know what to say, so she only said, "Thanks," again.

"Looks like one of your helpers is on his way over," said Theia. She pointed, and, sure enough, Nora could see Sawyer approaching. He was holding two steaming mugs.

Nora waved at him.

"Hey, Nora," said Sawyer. He closed the distance between them and handed her one of the mugs. "I figured you were down here. Brought you some coffee."

Nora sipped at the mug. "I completely skipped coffee this morning. Thanks so much."

Sawyer walked around the Catling sculpture. "No problem. You've really got this almost finished, I see. It looks good."

"It looks amazing," said Theia. "I was just telling Nora how impressive her work is."

Sawyer nodded, grinning. "I'd have to agree. You're going to pick it, aren't you? For the end of the week?"

Theia only smiled. She waved at the two of them and continued on to look at some of the other sculptures.

"Well, I came down here to help, but it looks like you've got everything under control," said Sawyer.

"No," said Nora. "There's still stuff you can do. I mean, we could work on the texture a little more maybe, or—"

"It's okay. You taking charge is just fine with me." He settled on a snow bank and sipped from his coffee mug. "You find anything out about Alexander from Owen last night?"

"No. Owen said it was ridiculous to suspect him."

"It might be," said Sawyer, "but I think we should keep our eye on him just in case. Maybe since you brought it up to Owen, he'll be on the lookout as well."

Alexander seemed like the furthest thing from Owen's mind last night. He'd kept trying to get the conversation back to the two of them getting it on until Nora had finally gotten sick of it and left. But she didn't want to talk to Sawyer about that, so she nodded. "Maybe."

"Maddie would have come too, but she ran into her mother at breakfast, and her mother starting going on about how she never sees Maddie and how much she misses her, so Maddie had to stay there."

Mother. Nora's stomach dropped out at the mention of the word. She set her coffee down in the snow and started to smooth some of the snow on Catling's ear. "Well, it's nice that her mother cares. Maddie's lucky."

"Yeah," said Sawyer. "I mean, she's got a mother, right?"

Nora looked up. "Don't you?"

"Technically, sure," said Sawyer. "But I don't remember her at all. I was born in the mundane world to regular human parents. Apparently, I was like two years old the first time I did something really creative. The muse police swooped in and grabbed me right as the Influence struck."

Nora was horrified. "So, they took you away from your mother?"

Sawyer nodded. "Yep."

"And she doesn't know what happened to you?"

"I guess not," said Sawyer.

Nora picked her coffee back up. "There's got to be a better way to deal with muse babies than to steal them from their families."

"Well, you grew up in the mundane world," said Sawyer. "How hard was it to not be creative?"

Nora chewed on her lip.

"It sucks," said Sawyer, "but I'd rather be alive than dead, you know? And it's never really bothered me, not having a family."

"Really? You don't feel like something's missing?"

"Sometimes, I guess," said Sawyer. "But everyone in Helicon has issues. There's no real...normal, exactly."

"Except for not being transgender that is," said Nora.

"It's not like that," Sawyer muttered. "It's not as simple as that."

Nora realized she shouldn't have pushed. She tried to think of something else to say. "Hey, if you didn't have a family here either, then we must have been in the babies and toddlers enclave together."

Sawyer nodded. "Right. Yeah, we were. I remember you a little bit. I remember Owen too."

"Yeah, you did say you remembered him."

"He's hard to forget." And Sawyer was muttering again.

She couldn't say anything without upsetting him this morning, could she? "Phoebe says he was an odd child."

"He was mean," said Sawyer. "To everyone except you. I was only five when the two of you left, so I don't remember much about it, but I do remember that I was kind of afraid of him."

Nora didn't understand. Owen had never been mean to her. But she guessed she had seen him treat people without a lot of respect. She sighed. She didn't want to think about it.

* * *

Sawyer pulled bundled-up fabric out of a bag. He'd just bounded into the tweens and rebels enclave. The big feast and dance was set for that evening, and the sculpture of Catling was prominently displayed around the main fire pit. Nora had just gotten back from helping to make sure it was set up properly. Sawyer handed the fabric bundle to Nora and then pulled out another one to hand to Maddie. He had a huge grin on his face.

"What is this?" Nora asked, unrolling the fabric.

"They're just a little something I made the past couple of days," said Sawyer. "For you two. For the dance tonight."

It was a dress. It was made from the same fabric that the snow clothes had been made from, but Nora's was a light blue and Maddie's was deep mulberry. The sleeves, collar, and skirt were edged with fur. The bodice was crisscrossed with dark ribbon. "It's beautiful," said Nora.

"I figure you should be able to size it with the ribbon," said Sawyer. "I couldn't measure you guys if I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Sawyer you made this?" said Maddie.

He nodded. "Well, yeah. It's the winter dance. You need new dresses, right?"

"Thank you," said Nora. She'd never gotten a present from someone that the person had actually made himself.

Sawyer shrugged, looking a little self-conscious. "You may or may not have noticed, but I'm not exactly the most popular person around here. The past couple of days, you've been hanging out with me, and...well, I wanted to say thank you."

"None of us are popular," said Nora. "Are you kidding?"

And then there was a lot of hugging. While Nora was squeezing Sawyer, he managed, "Don't get too excited. I mean, you haven't seen my dress yet."

As the sun began to set, pouring purples and reds over the white snow, they all retreated into their tents to get ready for the dance. Nora was pleased that the dress fit perfectly, but she wasn't exactly surprised. After all, here in Helicon, things seemed to work out that way. She sat on her hammock, combing her hair and petting Catling, who was purring away in her lap.

Someone pulled aside the opening of her tent. "Nora?"

"Come in," she said, thinking it was Sawyer come to see how well his dress fit.

But instead it was Owen.

She scrambled off the hammock, knocking Catling askew. "Owen. Hi."

Owen was taking in her dress, which hugged her torso and hips, but flared elegantly around her feet. "You look amazing."

Nora wasn't sure if Owen had ever complimented her appearance before. Their relationship had not been a typical one. He'd never asked her on dates and she'd never pined away while watching him from afar. They'd always been...together. So she found herself blushing to know that Owen liked the way she looked. She smiled shyly, twisting back and forth so her skirt flared out a little. "Thanks."

"I saw your sculpture near the fire pit. It looks great." He walked across the tent to her, brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "You're in your element here, you know. You're a muse. You're stunning. You're not my little Nora anymore."

"Don't be silly. I'm the same as always," she said.

"No. I'm in awe of you." When he kissed her, she let him tug her body tight against his. She breathed in the familiar scent of him, feeling safe and protected.

"Owen," she murmured into his lips.

He kissed her forehead, his breath tickling her skin. "You're happy, aren't you? In Helicon, I mean?"

"Oh, yes," she said. "Thank you for getting us here. I almost didn't believe anymore. I didn't think we'd get here. And now that we are, everything is too perfect to be real."

"That's all I ever wanted for you." He slid his hands over her arms, settling at her fingertips, grasping her hands with his own. "It was my fault you were taken away. I wanted to make it right. To bring you back. We were only kids then, you know. I had no idea that I'd start feeling like this about you. That I'd fall in love."

She smiled at him. "How could you?"

"I'm sorry about the other night. I never wanted to pressure you or anything like that. If I made you feel uncomfortable, that was the last thing I meant. You believe that?"

She did. "Of course I do. And someday, Owen, we will. We'll make love. Because I love you too."

He smiled too. "Okay, then. So, will you come to the winter dance with me?"

She laughed. "Like you had to ask."

And his lips met hers again. They sent shivers all through her body, and she clung to him. Owen. Her Owen. Her everything.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The snow melted all at once, overnight while Nora slept. The next morning, she awoke to birds chirping and trees that had sprouted green leaves. It was summer again. How did the muses do that?

Nora was glad of it. She loved the weather, loved scampering around barefoot again. Everyone, even Maddie, agreed it was about time for the snow to go away. Though Nora and her friends had decided to launch an investigation into who was opening the portals, it was hard to stay focused. There were so many things in Helicon that Nora wanted to try and experience. It was in the back of her mind, but when neither Sawyer nor Maddie brought it up again, Nora didn't either. Nora spent the next few weeks almost exclusively in the visual art enclave, partly on the encouragement of Theia, who had been so complimentary about her snow sculpture.

The visual art enclave was west of the main fire pit. It was a funky, comfortably unorganized sort of place. Unlike the tweens and rebels enclave or the architecture enclave, it had no archway leading inside. Instead, tents were simply clustered somewhat haphazardly together. The first clue that she was getting close to the visual art enclave was usually the smell of mineral spirits and the sight of paintings lying out on the grass to dry. In the center of the enclave, there was a small fire pit, just like in the other enclaves, but this one was surrounded by a metal cage depicting men and women dancing naked amongst flames. Instead of being surrounded by logs for sitting, the visual art enclave had mismatched chairs made of bright colors and varied materials. There were usually muses gathered around the fire pit sketching or sculpting.

But some of the enclave was pretty organized. For instance, there were tents devoted to different disciplines of art. One jam packed full of every color of oil paint Nora could imagine, with rows and rows of paintbrushes ranging from small and detailed to large and coarse. One where muses mixed clay. One with pencils and paper, one with charcoals and watercolors, one in which the muses stretched canvases over wooden frames. There were potter's wheels scattered around in the grass, furnaces for baking ceramics, even hot fires for glass blowing. Nora didn't think she'd get around to trying it all if she had a lifetime, and she did. More accurately, she had several lifetimes, since she could halt her aging whenever she wanted.

Her days began to settle into a comfortable rhythm. She awoke, ate breakfast with Maddie and Sawyer, wandered off to the visual art enclave and played all day, making whatever came to her fancy, and then spent the evening with Owen, walking in the woods and plains that surrounded Helicon. They held hands and kissed under trees and by babbling brooks. Owen was settling in with the muse police quite well, and he also spent time helping out the engineering enclave from time to time. Things were always breaking in Helicon, and the muses leaned on engineering quite a bit. Engineering were the fixers. The muse police the protectors. And Nora thought those two roles suited Owen quite well. He had always protected her. And he was always trying to fix their problem. Owen might not be as creative as a muse, but he was powerful and innovative. She was glad that people were recognizing that he was an asset to Helicon, and that he felt as if he was important.

Before she knew it, it was February, and the visual art enclave suddenly was bursting with people working on Valentines. Making Valentines was apparently a hallowed tradition in Helicon. The muses sent a huge inspiration thread to the mundane world for Valentine's Day, encouraging humans to be creative in the ways they showed their love. To deal with the influx of people into the enclave who weren't regulars, a new tent was set up.

The tent was full of materials from Valentines, from the kind of thing that Nora recognized from elementary school, like construction paper and glue, to more sophisticated materials. Scraps of pink and red fabric. Lace. Cardboard. Paints of various consistencies and ingredients. Nora loved it. Theia noticed she was spending time helping out in the Valentine tent, and somehow roped Nora into overseeing it half of the time. It suited Nora fine, because she was spending most of her time there working on an epic Valentine for Owen, and she didn't have any problem helping other muses hunt down materials they were looking for or giving them advice on what kind of techniques they could use to achieve the effects they wanted. But it did mean that she was spending more time in the visual art enclave than she had been in the past.

For several days in a row, she didn't even bother to go to the main fire pit for the drum circle and dinner meal. There was food in the visual art enclave, so she munched on that. Then she went back to work on her Valentines. She felt consumed by it. When she did make it back to her tent, after the sun had gone down, she felt guilty for abandoning Catling, who would snuggle up to her and mew plaintively. She'd feed the cat, try to stay awake playing with her, but end up falling asleep, exhausted.

This went on for the week leading up to Valentine's Day. On the actual day, she arrived at the visual arts enclave very early, because she had a few things she wanted to finish up on Owen's Valentine. She'd already finished the others she wanted to give out. One for Maddie, one for Sawyer, and also one for Phoebe. She didn't feel like she knew anyone else well enough to know if she was supposed to make Valentines for them. And indeed, if she understood the muses she talked to in the visual arts enclave, Valentine's Day shaped up to a pretty private holiday in Helicon, much the way it did everywhere else. There was no large community gathering. Instead, people paired off, shared food and drink, and generally hunkered down for the night. That was fine with Nora.

By the time midmorning swung around, Nora had finished Owen's Valentine. It was very pretty and detailed, incorporating bits of lace, beads, parchment, squiggles of paint, and glitter. She was pretty proud of it. And she thought Owen would appreciate the fact that she'd made it a map of their lives, beginning separately (in the round parts of the heart), then coming together in the mundane world and traveling to Helicon together.

As she was giving it a final once-over, Theia came into the tent. She surveyed Nora's work on the Valentine. "Gorgeous. As usual."

Nora beamed. "I think Owen will like it. And I think I'm finally finished."

"Oh, great," said Theia. "Then you can help the muses who are making Valentines for people who aren't visually inclined." All the muses wanted to give Valentines, but not all of them made them themselves. There had been a huge group of them in and out of the enclave creating them, but still others would come by later to pick up premade ones. The visual art muses joked that the philosophy enclave was especially picky.

That sounded fun to Nora, so she stowed her own Valentines and started cutting heart shapes from construction paper. She worked until late afternoon with the other muses. That was when Alexander Night came into the tent. He looked a little uncomfortable. Everyone else was busy, but he caught Nora's eye first. "Um, I wanted to get a Valentine," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Nora led him over to the area where they were keeping the Valentines they'd made for people to pick up. Honestly, she hadn't given Alexander Night much thought in the past month or so, but seeing him now reminded her of the previous suspicions she and the others had about him. "These are the ones you can pick from," she said.

Alexander laughed nervously. "I'm really not good at this. I want something special for my wife, though. Something pretty."

Nora thought all the Valentines were pretty, but she tried to scrutinize them looking for the prettiest ones. She fished out one with a scalloped ribbon around the edge. "Maybe something like this?"

Alexander considered. "I don't know. It's awfully, um, fancy, isn't it? Maybe something a little simpler. Sort of simple elegance. We're simple people."

Nora decided to seize this turn of conversation to try to wring some information from Alexander. "I guess maybe that makes it tough, living here in Helicon with a bunch of people who aren't particularly, um, simple?" Geez, she was going to offend him, wasn't she?

But Alexander didn't seem the least bit ruffled. "Not at all. I wouldn't have it any other way." He cocked his head. "You know, I suppose I could be somewhere else, doing something similar to what I do now. But I feel like it's important to protect Helicon. This place is vital to the world, to everything. If people aren't inspired, there's no reason to be alive. Maybe I don't have the ability to inspire others, but I have the ability to protect inspiration. That means a lot to me."

Nora studied his face. He sure seemed sincere. Maybe they were barking up the complete wrong tree with Alexander. If he loved Helicon so much, why would he be tearing holes in it? She looked back at the Valentines. She pulled out a plain red one with tiny lace hearts clustered in one corner. "Simpler?"

"Too simple," said Alexander. He took his hands from his pockets and began to sift through them himself, picking them up, studying them, and then discarding them.

"Helicon is a pretty wonderful place," said Nora. "It makes it hard for me to believe that anyone would want to harm it. Those holes in Helicon seem even more strange."

Alexander grunted, still looking through the Valentines. "I know Owen is convinced that hole we closed was made from inside. He might be right." He looked at Nora. "I don't want to believe that, though, for the exact reason you said. Who could be living here among us who doesn't love this place? Who could hate it so much? I can't even fathom it."

"Me either," said Nora. He was sounding less and less likely to be the guy who actually did it. Was he simply playing her, telling her what he thought she wanted to hear so that she wouldn't suspect him? She couldn't be sure.

"We are working on it, though," said Alexander. "Don't worry about that. The security enclave is going to figure out why it happened, and we're going to stop it from happening again." He held the Valentine in his hand out at arm's length, nodding. "This one." He showed it to her.

It was a heart covered with dark maroon fabric. There was a black ribbon stretching diagonally along the heart. It was simple and elegant. Maybe Alexander wasn't creative, but he had good taste. "Nice choice," said Nora.

"Thanks for your help," he said.

After Alexander, it seemed there was a rush of muses coming in who needed help deciding on Valentines. And the others had been right. The philosophy enclave was notorious for not being able to make decisions. Themis Branch spent at least two hours poring over the Valentines before he finally settled on one.

It was already dark by the time Nora managed to get away. She went by the main fire pit to see if Owen was around. But Owen was nowhere to be found. She didn't linger long at the main fire pit. She was too excited to find him.

She went back to his tent, but he wasn't there either. Wondering if perhaps he was waiting for her at her own tent, she headed back to the tweens and rebels enclave. Catling was there, and Nora stopped to pet her for a little bit, and to give her some scraps she'd picked up earlier, but Owen wasn't around.

If he wasn't at the security enclave, the main fire pit, or here, Nora thought maybe he'd gone for a walk. He liked to do that. She thought it was a little odd for him to have run off by himself on Valentine's Day of all days, but Owen was not always easy to understand.

Since she couldn't find Owen, she went to Maddie's tent to give her the Valentine she'd made for her. Sawyer was in there too, so she was able to give both of them their Valentines. They had Valentines for her too. She remembered seeing them at the visual art enclave earlier in the week, but she hadn't had a chance to look at what they were making.

"What gives?" said Maddie, after she'd given Nora a hug for the Valentine. "I thought you'd be with Owen."

"You usually spend the evenings with him anyway," said Sawyer.

"I can't find him," said Nora.

"Well, did you guys plan where to meet?" asked Maddie.

Nora shook her head. "I've kind of been busy this week. I guess I haven't really seen him in a few days." She'd been consumed with creation. She hadn't given much thought to Owen. And Owen was already feeling left out of her life since she was a muse and he wasn't. Oops. She hoped he was okay. "You know what would improve Helicon? Cell phones."

Sawyer made a face. "Sounds awful, actually. Can you imagine being interrupted in the middle of making something by a stupid phone? I don't think it would encourage creativity."

"I'm sure you'll find him," said Maddie. "But there's no meal at the main fire pit tonight, and my mother has been making little basket dinners for two all day. She said we should stop by and get one, so Sawyer and I were going to go now. You can pick up one for Owen, if you want."

That sounded like as good a plan as any. Nora headed down to the food enclave with the both of them. The big dining hall was littered with baskets, and everything smelled divine. Maddie picked up the first basket she saw. It was covered with a red and black checked blanket and had a huge bow wrapped around the handle. She tried to dart away, but a plump woman with eyes like Maddie's saw her.

"Maddie, wait!" The woman bustled over and wrapped her arms around Maddie.

"Hi, Mom," said Maddie, resignation in her voice.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" said Maddie's mom. She grinned a jolly smile, and Nora loved her immediately. She was like Maddie, only without Maddie's insecurities. Maddie's mom looked to Sawyer and Nora. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

Maddie sighed. "This is Nora. And this is Sawyer."

Maddie's mother shook both their hands in turn. "I'm Doreen."

"Nice to meet you," said Nora.

"We really could have used you around the food enclave this week, Maddie," said Doreen. "We were so busy. And honestly, I don't see how you're going to be a cook if you don't ever come here to cook."

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Mom, I don't really want to cook."

"Oh, of course you do. You're young is all. Salts always cook. What else are you going to do with a last name like Salt, eh?" She chuckled.

Nora smiled too.

"So what did you spent the week doing, then?" asked Doreen.

Maddie shrugged. "I made Valentines. Oh, I have one for you." She got it out and handed it to her mother.

"Thank you, Maddie," said Doreen. "It's beautiful. But this didn't take you all week, did it?"

"I've told you before, Mom," said Maddie. "I was in the dance enclave."

"Still?" said Doreen. "Maddie, you're a wonderful girl, but you simply aren't meant to be a dancer." She pinched her daughter's midsection. "You've got a little too much padding if you know what I mean." She chuckled again.

But this time Nora didn't smile. "Maddie's actually very good."

Maddie shot her a grateful look. "Well, Mom, if that's all, we'll just be off."

"Oh, one more thing," said Doreen. "They were looking for a few volunteers to watch the kiddie playground tonight, since most of the people usually there have dates. You and Sawyer aren't planning on having a romantic evening together, right?"

Sawyer and Maddie exchanged a glance. "Mom," said Maddie. "Sawyer's gay."

"Well, I thought so," said Doreen, "but I wasn't sure. Anyway, it won't be a problem for you two to watch the kids, then? Because I already said you would."

Maddie groaned. "Mom, you should have asked—"

"Oh, don't be silly," said Doreen. "They're expecting you, so scurry over there right away, why don't you?"

Sawyer smiled. "Hey, it could be cool. It's fun trying to squeeze into the castle, even if we are too big."

"That's the spirit," said Doreen. She smiled at Nora. "And of course, you'll be wanting something special for your sweetheart, won't you?"

If I can find him, thought Nora. But she just nodded.

"I have just the thing," said Doreen. She picked up a basket with flowers tucked into the red blanket covering it. "It's pasta. Italian food is so romantic, don't you think?"

Nora was smiling again. "Thank you." She took the basket.

"And of course, if Maddie ever has someone special, I'll be sure to give extra care to a basket like this for her," said Doreen. She winked at her daughter. "You know boys in the food enclave tend to prefer women with a little heft to them, don't you?"

"Goodnight, Mom," said Maddie, through gritted teeth.

As they walked away with their baskets, Maddie seethed. Once they were out of earshot, Maddie exploded. "She can't keep her mouth shut, can she? Nothing I do is good enough for her."

"She shouldn't have said that stuff about your weight," Nora agreed. "But I think she means well. She cares about you. She's your mom."

"She's horrible," said Maddie. "I want to be as far away from her as I can be."

"She's not that bad," said Sawyer.

"Neither of you understand," said Maddie.

Sawyer pointed. "We've got to go that way if we're babysitting the kids tonight."

"I can't believe she did that!" said Maddie. But she turned in the direction that Sawyer was pointing.

Nora stopped. "I'd better go back to my tent. I guess Owen will find me there eventually."

"Right," said Maddie. "You're so lucky to have a boyfriend. I guess if I ever stop being fat, some guy will actually look at me."

"Maddie," said Nora.

"You're not fat," said Sawyer. This was becoming a bit of a chorus between the two of them. Sawyer sighed. "Look, I don't have a boyfriend either. Maybe if I stopped wearing skirts."

"And I really have no idea where my boyfriend is," said Nora.

"He'll find you," said Maddie. "He's completely, like, obsessed with you."

"You got that right," muttered Sawyer.

There it was again. Sawyer was always muttering things about Owen. Nora tightened her grip on her basket and waved to her friends. "I'll see you guys later." She started off for the tweens and rebels enclave. The longer she walked, the heavier the basket of food seemed to get. She shifted it to her hip, wrapping her arms around the bottom of it. Pleasant warmth emanated out of the bottom. Finally, she crossed underneath the archway into the enclave. No one seemed to be there. She could see that a few of the tents were lit up on the inside, probably from tweens who were sharing their dinners together. No one was in the tree house. Nora set down her basket in front of her tent. Should she really wait here? Where could Owen be?

Maybe she should just go inside her tent and curl up with Catling. If Owen showed up sometime soon, great. If not, she'd eat without him.

"Nora." Owen emerged from the shadows of the trees. His jaw twitched.

"There you are," said Nora. "I've been looking all over. I got us a basket of food—"

"Leave it." Owen's fingers tightened around her arm, and he yanked her away from her tent.

"But it'll get cold," said Nora. "It's probably really good. Maddie's mother—"

"Maddie," said Owen. "I guess that's where you've been all week. With Maddie?"

"No, I was making Valentines," said Nora. She should have recognized the signs, she realized. Owen was angry. She didn't like it when Owen got angry. Admittedly, he almost never got angry with her. But when he was mad, he could be unpredictable. She gulped. "I guess I've been a little busy. But I've been working on your Valentine."

Owen tugged at her. "Let's walk."

Nora didn't say anything. She let him lead her away from the enclave, into the woods. They walked through the trees, Owen's fingers digging deep into the fleshy part of her arm. It hurt, but she didn't say anything. Neither of them said anything. They walked. If she hadn't been sure Owen was angry with her, she might have thought the bright moon peering through the shadowy leaves was pretty.

They walked through the woods until they came out on the other side in the same big field where Sawyer had been grazed by the Influence. And they kept walking. At one point Nora tried to ask Owen where they were going, but he only laughed a little and said it was a surprise. Except he didn't sound happy about the surprise. He sounded sardonic and cold.

Eventually, after they'd walked a very long time, Nora could see that they soon wouldn't be able to walk any further. Ahead of them, the ground turned rocky and abruptly dropped off as if they'd come to a cliff. The edge of Helicon. Sawyer had told her about it. Owen marched Nora right up to it, and they both stared down over the edge. There was nothing there. A swirling abyss of clouds and stars. Nora felt dizzy.

Owen eased his hand off Nora's arm. She rubbed it. It still hurt a little. He moved behind her, snaking his arms around her waist. He put his lips against her neck, and his voice was silken. "What do you think would happen if you fell off the edge, Nora?"

At first she wasn't sure she'd heard him right. "What?"

"Oh, don't worry," he breathed. "I've got you. But if I let go. If I pushed you, what do you think would happen?"

Nora felt cold all over. What was this, some kind of sick joke? "Owen?"

He pulled her tight against him, rubbing the outside of her thigh with one hand. "Answer the question, Nora."

"I..."

His hand slid around, his fingers brushing the inside of her thigh, the more sensitive part. Little thrills went through her body. Her heart beat fast. "What would happen if you fell off the edge?"

"I'd die." Her voice was hardly a whisper. Why was Owen saying this?

"You're right," he said. "I think you would." He spun her around so that she faced him.

Now she couldn't see the gaping chasm behind her. "Owen, let go of me." There was fear in her voice.

"I've got you," he said, his blue eyes twinkling. "Don't you trust me?"

What was the right answer here? "Of course, I do."

"Do you?" he said. And then, abruptly, he did let go of her, and she was so startled that she lost her footing for a second, hurtling backward, her arms flailing. Owen grabbed her hands and pulled her away from the edge. She sprawled in a heap a few feet from the edge, her breath coming in gasps. "See, I don't trust you, Nora."

Why was Owen doing this? What was going on? It was Valentine's Day. Nora felt like crying.

"How can I trust you," said Owen, and his voice was getting louder, "when you're never around?"

So this was what this was about. Nora thought she understood now. Hadn't she thought earlier that Owen might have been upset about the fact that she'd been away most of the week? "I'm sorry. I got so into creating things at the visual arts enclave. I guess I should have thought about how that would make you feel, but I was just enjoying myself so much. I made you a really awesome Valentine. I have it back at the tent. Why don't we go back, and I'll give it to you, and maybe the food isn't cold and—"

"Stop talking," said Owen. "Do you know what it's like for me when I don't have you, Nora? It's like falling off the edge of this cliff. It's like dying. You have no idea how much it hurts. Being without you is like being ripped apart."

"I'm sorry," Nora said softly. She hadn't meant to hurt Owen.

"You're sorry now," said Owen, "but for the past few days, I haven't even seen you. And you weren't sorry then. If you don't see me, you don't even think about me."

"That's not true," said Nora. "I spent all week thinking about you. I was making you a Valentine."

"What do I want with a piece of stupid heart-shaped paper if you're ignoring me all the time?"

"I..." Maybe he had a point. "I'm sorry, Owen. I won't do it again. I promise I'll make time for you. For us." Would he calm down if she said that?

But Owen was getting enraged now. His face twitched. "Make time? Make time?" He raked his fingers through his hair. "Don't do me any favors. If I'm such an inconvenience to your perfect, fun life, I don't want to bother you anymore."

"That's not what I meant," said Nora. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just didn't think—"

"You don't think very often, do you?" said Owen, sneering. "You've never been one to really spend time thinking about stuff. You didn't try to figure out how to get us back to Helicon, did you? I did that. And now that we're here, you aren't even grateful. I don't mean anything to you."

"That's not true. You mean everything to me."

"Do I?" said Owen. "Because you have a funny way of showing it."

Nora wasn't sure what to say. He had an answer for everything. No matter what she said, it was wrong. She hugged herself. She hated the idea that she was hurting him so much. Sometimes, he seemed so strong and capable, and she forgot that deep down, he was vulnerable. She should have thought about him more this week. Why hadn't she thought about how Owen would feel if she wasn't spending time with him? She guessed she could understand why he was so upset. He must feel abandoned. And what had he said to her before? That she was the only person who'd never abandoned him? She felt horrible. "I'm so sorry."

Owen was still standing up, and she was huddled at his feet. He glared down at her, his blue eyes smoldering. He twitched, and she flinched.

The flinch seemed to catch him off guard. His expression changed, went from one of rage to one of worry, and it was as if all the tension fell out of him at once. His shoulders slumped. "Fuck," he whispered. "What am I doing?"

Nora held her breath. Was he better now? Was the anger gone?

He knelt down next to her. "You look scared of me." He buried his face in his hands. "I think I'm losing my mind."

Nora tentatively put her hand on Owen's back. She didn't want to set him off again.

He looked up at her. "I'm so sorry. I don't..." He ran his hands through his hair. "I get so angry. I feel like I can't control it. It scares me."

Nora had seen Owen get angry before. She'd seen him freak out on people like Laura. But he'd never done it to her. "You get angry with me?"

"I don't mean it." He looked so pitiful suddenly. "I can't believe I dragged you out here like this, that I said those things to you. You're so important to me, Nora. But I just can't think." He turned away from her again, swallowing hard. "I'm not like everyone else. I have these powers and abilities, and I don't understand them. Sometimes I feel like they take me over, and I don't know how to stop it. I don't want to be like that, though. I don't want to be angry and scary. Do you believe me?"

She did. Of course she did. But she still felt frightened.

"It's better when you're around," said Owen. "You make everything clearer. You were gone all week, and I started to lose it." He grabbed her hand, and the look he gave her was so earnest it made her chest hurt. "But you're here now, and I'm okay again. As long as you stay with me... You will, won't you? You won't leave me alone again?"

She shook her head. "No, Owen. If I help you, if I make it better, then we'll be sure to spend time together. I won't leave you alone again. I promise."

He gripped her hand tighter. "Thank you," he whispered. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

* * *

Sawyer woke her up the next morning to ask if she wanted to come to breakfast with him and Maddie. She got dressed quickly and joined them as they walked. "How was babysitting last night?"

"It was actually really fun, wasn't it, Maddie?" said Sawyer.

Maddie gave him a dark look. "There was nothing fun about it at all. It lasted forever, and we didn't get back to our tents until too late to do anything else."

"I thought it was fun," said Sawyer. "We organized a really big game of hide and seek. Maddie came up with a pretty cool hiding place, and I couldn't find her for almost an hour."

Maddie brightened a little. "It was a nifty hiding place, wasn't it? And you were really good at finding people."

"Yeah," said Sawyer. "If only I was that good at finding out the person who opened those portals in Helicon. Then we'd all feel safer."

"Oh," said Nora. "That reminds me." She recounted to them the conversation she'd had with Alexander earlier. "What do you think? Do you think he was only saying that stuff because he didn't want to seem suspicious?"

"I don't know," said Maddie. "Maybe. Did he seem like he meant it?"

"He really did," said Nora. "I wanted to believe him."

"Maybe we're completely wrong to suspect him," said Sawyer.

"But then we're back at square one," said Nora.

"Well, there hasn't been a portal opened in a while," said Maddie. "Maybe it's over."

Sawyer suddenly grabbed Nora's arm. "Hey, Nora, what happened?"

Nora looked down. The place where Owen had gripped her arm so tightly last night had turned into an ugly, greenish bruise. She yanked her arm away, pulling her sleeve down over it as best she could. "I, um, have no idea. I must have run into something in the woods last night when Owen and I were walking." She could try to explain to them, but somehow, she didn't think they'd understand. He hadn't meant to do it. He really hadn't. But if she said that out loud, it would sound like he was some kind of abusive person or something, and he wasn't.

"It looks like marks made by fingers," said Sawyer.

"Does it?" Nora laughed. "Weird."

"Nora," said Sawyer, his face serious, "did Owen—"

"No!" said Nora. "Owen would never do anything like that." She was going to have to put on a long-sleeved shirt after breakfast. Maybe she'd be hot, but she didn't want to deal with anyone else asking questions about it.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The days were sweet and warm, and they ran into each other. There was no real marker of time by the weather, but the days began to get longer, and the nights shorter. Nora sometimes found herself contemplating what she would have been doing if she'd still been in the mundane world. As March toiled on, she remembered that, in the mundane world, she'd usually have a spring break from school. While her classmates would have been excited about it, Nora wouldn't have greeted the news with any emotion whatsoever. Her life before Helicon had been dreary and hopeless. She'd slogged through it, trying to keep her head up, but never being able to give in to her deepest passions and desires. Never being able to create. And here in Helicon, creating was all she did.

The food enclave asked for volunteers to help with planting new crops for the year, and Doreen volunteered Maddie without asking her. "Typical," she muttered when she found out. But to keep her from being too upset about it, Nora and Sawyer joined in the planting as well. They all ended up under the direction of Silas Sower, whose excitement over planting was infectious. As they plowed fields and sowed seeds, he told them all about each plant they were growing and explained the germination process in incredible detail. Nora thought that if she'd been taught this in school, she probably would have tuned the entire thing out. But there was something about hearing it from the lips of someone who found it so interesting that made it interesting to Nora as well. And working hands-on kept it from being as boring as sitting in a classroom.

So March passed in a flurry of planting and learning. When April rolled around, Nora suddenly found her days free again, and she wasn't sure what to do with them. Sawyer immediately returned to the clothing and fabric enclave. "What can I say? I love clothes?" he said, grinning. Maddie went back to dancing. Both invited her to come along, but Nora wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She followed Sawyer for a few days, wandering around the clothing and fabric enclave. Sawyer spent most of his time in a tent full of sewing machines. When he wasn't making things, he perused fabric that other muses were spinning and weaving in a tent full of looms, old fashioned spinning wheels, and balls of yarn. The enclave even had its own collection of live silkworms, which were treated with reverence. They had names, but Nora couldn't tell them apart.

During those days, Nora decided to make herself a patchwork skirt, like the ones so many of the muses wore. Sawyer wrinkled up his nose when he found out. He didn't approve of patchwork. He thought it looked homespun. Nora said she liked homespun.

She didn't do too badly of a job at it. Even Sawyer admitted her choice of fabrics was inspired. The skirt sported several different shades of blue, with a few patches in paisley blue patterns. It turned out nicely, and Nora enjoyed wearing it. The sewing machines, however, were a headache and a half, because no matter what the muses did to them, it seemed that the tension randomly went "bad," which meant a long process of rethreading. When Nora complained about this to Sawyer, he shrugged. "That's what sewing machines do. We tried to convince engineering to work on fixing the problem, and they claim they're working on it, but more pressing needs seem to occupy them a lot, like breaking toilets."

But finally, Nora left the clothes and fabrics enclave. She liked her skirt, and she'd had fun making it, but making clothes didn't sing to her in the same way it sang to Sawyer.

Over the next few weeks, she flitted about. In the back of her head, she kept thinking about returning to the visual art enclave, but she didn't. Instead, she visited Maddie for a little bit and got some more ballet lessons in the dance enclave. Then she spent a few days in the food enclave, where Doreen taught Nora to make a cherry tart. She spent a full week in the poetry and writing enclave, working with a few other muses to make perfect heroic couplets. They were writing an epic poem about a mouse named Theo. Apparently, it was meant to be satiric, since mice were not particularly epic or heroic. Nora was good at rhyming and rhythm, but not so good at understanding the tone of the poem. After several of her verses were rejected because they weren't funny enough, the poet muses said she should possibly visit the drum tent in the music enclave.

The music enclave sat right next to the main fire pit. It was sprawling and massive, and Nora understood that Phoebe was part of it. Phoebe had a positively beautiful voice. Nora could have gotten lost in and among all the tents there. The music muses made most of their own instruments, and there were a bunch of tents devoted to instrument craft. Then there were tents in which muses practiced playing their instruments, which were divided according to type. Strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion. Within each of these, there were even more divisions, making the place a confusing labyrinth of tents. The music enclave seemed a wee bit more organized than the visual art enclave, but it was also clear that it had grown organically, and that the muses had accommodated this growth the best they could, even if it disturbed some original plan.

Percussion was an enormous part of the music enclave, owing to the fact that the drum circle every evening meant that drummers played regularly and for a lot of people. Nora wandered into an area full of scattered tents and pulsing beats. Muses clustered in groups, some sitting on large drums, tapping their fingers against taut booming heads, others banging away with sticks. In the distance, she could also hear the tinkle of triangles or tambourines. Amazingly, even though none of the groups seemed to be playing together, they all seemed to be following the same beat. It was as if the air around her throbbed with it, as if she'd entered the heartbeat of Helicon, its thumping center.

A boy she recognized from the tweens and rebels enclave loped through the tents, carrying a two-foot hand drum with one hand. He was one of the older tweens, Nora thought. Older than Sawyer, Maddie, and her, but not yet into his twenties. He was probably Owen's age. Maybe a little older. He wore his hair in long sandy-colored dreadlocks, and he had a sprinkling of freckles across his nose. She couldn't remember his name, but when he waved at her, she waved back.

He stopped next to her, setting his drum on the ground. "You're Nora, right?"

Crap. He remembered her name. She nodded. "Um... I've forgotten your name." She cringed.

He offered her his hand. "No problem. I forget people's names all the time. I'm Agler Thorn."

She took his hand. His grip was firm but not crushing. She found herself noticing the strength in his forearms, how tanned and solid they were. She looked away from him, feeling embarrassed.

"What brings you to the music enclave? Word on the street is you're a sculptor."

Nora shrugged self-consciously and glanced back at his face again. Wow, his eyes were really green, weren't they? "I'm trying different things out. The poets seemed to think I had a good sense of rhythm, so I thought I'd try playing drums."

Nora hadn't gone back to the visual arts enclave after the incident with Owen. She was afraid that she'd become so sucked into her work there that she'd neglect him again. It seemed important that she not do that. Owen needed her. For some reason, thinking about him made her feel a strange stab of guilt. But it wasn't as if she'd done anything wrong. It wasn't wrong to notice that a boy was tanned and strong and had very green eyes. Besides, Agler was older than she was. Of course, Owen was older than she was. Nora swallowed and tried to put it all out of her mind.

"Awesome," said Agler. He picked up the drum he'd been carrying and offered it to her. "Try this one."

"No," said Nora. "That's yours."

"It's a loaner from the leftovers tent." Agler pointed. "I'll grab another one. Stay right where you are." He darted off in the direction of the tent he'd pointed to.

Nora clutched the drum, unsure of what to do. Agler was only being nice. Everyone knew she and Owen were together. She had nothing to worry about.

Agler reappeared with an almost identical drum in a few minutes. He led her over to some empty wooden benches where they sat down together. "I'm learning too," said Agler. "I've been playing guitar since I was a kid, but I want to branch out a little bit, you know? I thought I'd start with drums. But I'm kind of horrible at it." He gave her a lopsided grin and demonstrated.

Immediately, Nora could hear that his hands weren't hitting time within the beat that was pulsing all around them. She brought the flats of her hands down on her own drum instinctively, wanting to show him where he was wrong, but, to her horror, her hands didn't obey. She could hear what she wanted them to do, but they came down wrong anyway. She made a face.

"Harder than it looks, right?" said Agler.

"I know what I want to hear," said Nora. "But my hands are playing the wrong thing."

Agler laughed. "Story of my life, Nora. Ever since I started playing music, I've felt like that. My whole family lives in the music enclave, right? And I love music. I hear it in my head even when it's not playing. But...there's some disconnect somewhere. I can't ever play what I hear." He rested his hands on his drum. "At least not yet, anyway. I'm determined to get better. I've been playing guitar for a long time, and I'm pretty good at that, so I figure it'll happen with hard work."

Hard work? That wasn't a phrase Nora heard much of in Helicon. The muses didn't work. They played. "That's interesting. Ever since I've got here, I've gotten the impression that people didn't so much labor over things. Instead, it seems like muses look for something they're naturally good at and don't bother trying to do things that are difficult."

He raised his eyebrows. "Maybe we should both skip the drums and hang out in the philosophy enclave. I think about that too. But I wonder if an accomplishment really means as much if it comes easily, you know? I like to think about things, about why people do what they do and what it all means, but I also like feeling as if I'm making progress towards a goal. I wonder sometimes if the muses are leaving things on the table. Maybe they're focused too much on the easy way out."

Nora considered. "I guess it depends on whether or not you're actually making progress, doesn't it? Because if you work really hard and get nowhere, that's kind of depressing."

Agler laughed again. "You saying I'm getting nowhere with the drums?"

"No!" Nora was horrified. "I was being hypothetical. I thought we were talking in general."

"I'm teasing," said Agler. He nudged her drum. "Why don't you try again? I think it helps to start slow. Feel the base beat first before you try to find the beats in between."

Together, the two began to echo the underlying beat all around them. Nora found that this was much easier, and that as she eased into the beat, it started to swallow her. She sunk into it, felt it reverberate in her bones. Her hands seemed to move on their own as if the beat was directing them and not her own body. Slowly, new directions began to occur to her fingers, and she let them explore them. It was an odd sensation, as if the music was flowing through her instead of her making it deliberately. Her eyes closed, Nora let the drum beat play her. She disappeared into it for a long time.

When she finally stopped playing, it was only because her arms were starting to hurt so much that it was distracting. She opened her eyes to see that Agler wasn't playing. He was staring at her instead.

"I hate you," he said, but he was grinning. "You're a natural."

"It wasn't me," said Nora. "Not really. It was like the beat sort of controlled me. Like I let it out." That sounded completely odd and mystical, but she didn't know how else to explain it.

Agler nodded. "I get that. I've been there. It's a good place to be."

Nora noticed the position of the sun in the sky. It was sinking over the horizon, meaning it was later than she'd realized. She stood up. "I need to go."

Agler stood up too. "Why? I was thinking of getting my guitar. I want to play with you, and I'm hell on the drums apparently."

"Sorry," said Nora. "It's late, and I have to meet my boyfriend."

"Oh yeah. Owen Asher."

Sawyer was right. Sometimes it was really annoying that everyone in Helicon seemed to know everything about her. "Can you point me back in the direction of the leftovers tent? I'll take the drum back."

"No, I've got it." Agler picked it up. "Maybe this is none of my business, but what's the attraction there, anyway?"

Nora didn't understand. "Attraction?"

"Yeah. To Owen."

Nora wasn't sure what to say. "Well, he's always taken care of me, you know. He was all I had in the mundane world."

"So you date him out of, like, gratitude?"

"No," said Nora, feeling a little annoyed. "I date him because I'm in love with him."

Agler raised his eyebrows again. He hoisted Nora's drum over his shoulder, holding it by the bindings that held the head to the base, and picked up his own drum.

"What does it matter to you, anyway?"

"It doesn't," said Agler. "I remember him from when he was a kid here in Helicon, that's all. I guess he's grown up a lot since then, so I'm probably being an ass for judging him on that crap."

Nora was still mad, but she was also interested. "What exactly did Owen do when he was a kid that freaked everyone out so much?"

Agler looked uncomfortable. "He was kind of a bully, I guess. There was this thing...you know, never mind. It was kid stuff. He's your boyfriend. I'm sure you know him better than anyone." He tried a smile. "You, uh, going to come back tomorrow?"

"Maybe," said Nora. Agler made her feel a little on edge for some reason. "Thanks for taking the drum back for me."

"Sure thing," said Agler.

Nora rushed back to her tent, sprinting to try to get there as quickly as she could. With any luck, she'd make it back before Owen got there. If she was late, he would probably freak out. He got worried about her, and he wanted to spend time with her. The more worried he got, the more likely he'd start getting... Well, she didn't like to worry him.

After Valentine's Day, she'd done her best never to forget about Owen again. They spent every evening together. They ate together. They went on walks around Helicon. A lot of times, they just hung out in Owen's tent. As long as she showed up on time, and she wasn't distracted when they were together, Owen was fine. She was helping him. Whatever darkness was inside him because of his powers, she was helping him keep it at bay. He told her as much. Of course, when she screwed up, he started to get worse. And it broke her heart when Owen told her that if she'd only been a little more considerate, he'd never have started teetering into the deep end. She did her best, but she screwed up more than she liked.

She only wished Owen would stop pushing for them to sleep together. He'd gotten almost obsessed with it, and it was her least favorite part of their time together. At some point during every evening, he'd bring it up. When he did, Nora's stomach always sank. She knew it wasn't going to be a good discussion.

Owen couldn't understand why she wanted to wait. And when he'd talk to her about it, his voice would be so soft and rational. She felt like she was going insane. She knew there was no good reason to put it off. They should do it. They were in love. It only made sense. Owen wouldn't hurt her. He wouldn't abandon her. She knew it didn't make any sense to keep saying no.

But she didn't want to have sex for the first time after a rational negotiation. Owen's reasons might be sound, but they weren't particularly sexy. They didn't put her in the mood to get busy. Instead, they made her feel stupid and immature. She wanted it to happen on its own, without Owen orchestrating the whole thing.

She remembered the first time they'd kissed. It had been after one of their failed attempts to get back into Helicon. They'd snuck out of their foster placement, and Nora knew they'd be in trouble when they got back. They were outside, in the darkness, and her throat was sore from some chant they'd been screaming over and over. Foreign words had gotten stuck in her mouth for too long. After hours, they'd given up.

She'd been sitting on the ground, too tired to cry, thinking about how hopeless it all was. It was worse, because, back then, she'd still gotten so hopeful about every one of Owen's schemes. He'd convinced her it would work. The sting of failure was too much. She'd felt like giving up, almost like dying.

Owen had put his arm around her, and she'd laid her head on his shoulder.

His voice had been exhausted. "I'm sorry. I thought it would work."

"You always think it will work." She'd been bitter.

"I am going to get us back there." His grip had tightened on her shoulder, fierce. Determined.

She'd sagged against him, wanting to suck his strength into her body.

He'd turned to face her, moved her so that she was looking straight into his eyes. He'd said, "You have to believe me, Nora. I will do it. Don't stop believing. Please."

But she hadn't been able to see any way out. She'd shaken her head.

And then he'd kissed her.

Out of nowhere. Right when the situation had seemed so bleak that she didn't think she could go on. From that horrid place, she'd felt the sweet pressure of Owen's lips on hers. It had awakened something inside her, some tiny spark of hope. Her stomach had gone fluttery, feeling his arms wrap around her, feeling the warmth of his skin through his clothes burning against hers. The kiss had brought her back.

When they did make love, she wanted it to be like that. She didn't mean that she wanted to feel hopeless again. She never wanted to feel that way again. But she wanted it to simply come out of nowhere and engulf her. She wanted her body to slowly wake up in his arms, under his caresses. She wanted it to feel natural. And Owen kept pushing. He made it impossible.

Even when they were making out in his tent, and his fingers were skimming over her body, making her gasp in pleasure, she felt pressure. She felt like he was doing it to try to make her have sex with him. She wished Owen would stop thinking about it and stop talking about it. If he let it go, it would probably happen.

But he didn't understand, and when she tried to explain this to him, she never got it all out before he interrupted her and twisted her words around so that she sounded like a complete idiot.

The worst thing was that she knew she'd have to do it soon, because he was starting to get angry about her repeated refusals. And angry Owen made her feel shivery and frightened. If she wanted him to stay happy and okay, they were going to have to do it. Nora promised herself she'd let him do it soon. She would. But every night, when Owen started making his advances, she told herself that she didn't want it to be that night. The future was better. The now wasn't right.

Owen was waiting for her when she got back to her tent. Damn it. She knew he was going to be upset with her. She steeled herself for his lecture about how concerned he'd been.

But instead, Owen was apologetic. "Hey," he said. "I wondered if you'd mind if we waited until a little later to hang out today? I was working on some stuff for the engineering enclave, and they asked if I could stay later. I said I'd check with you."

Huh. Owen didn't want to hang out? That wasn't normal. But Nora didn't see a problem with it. She could eat dinner with Maddie and Sawyer for a change, and that sounded nice. "Sure," she said. "Go ahead."

"Are you sure?" said Owen. "Because I know we usually spend the evenings together."

She gave him a hug and kiss. "It's fine. Go have fun."

He looked relieved. "Cool. And you'll be here later? I can come by when I'm done?"

"Yep," said Nora.

And with that, Owen was gone. Nora felt free and happy. She had the evening to herself. She couldn't remember the last time that had happened. She dove into her tent to play with Catling, quite pleased.

A little while later, she heard Maddie's chattering from outside her tent, and she bounded outside to meet her. Maddie and Sawyer were both outside. They were surprised to see her.

"Where's Owen?" asked Maddie.

Nora grinned. "He's busy. Won't be back until later."

"You seem happy about that," noted Sawyer.

Nora suddenly realized that she did feel pretty glad about not being with Owen. That was strange, wasn't it? She shrugged. "Well, I see him all the time. I'm excited about getting to hang out with you guys." It wasn't about Owen, after all. It was about her friends.

The three went to have dinner at the main fire pit. They stayed for the council meeting, which was relatively tame. Techne was trying to get some muse energy allocated to creating some chemicals she and the science enclave wanted in order to conduct some experiments. Alexander got a little annoyed and demanded to know why the science enclave couldn't ever do any science that actually benefitted Helicon. He said that the community could use all kinds of scientific innovation, but that the science enclave never seemed to do anything practical. His objections were voted down, however, and the science enclave got what they wanted.

They stayed for a little of the drum circle. Maddie and Nora danced outside the circle together, linking arms and swinging each other around while their feet pounded in time to rhythm of the drums. They found themselves exhausted pretty quickly, falling into a giggling heap on the ground. Sawyer hauled them to their feet, and they went back to the tweens and rebels enclave.

As they passed under the arch to the enclave, they noticed that their fire pit had been lit, and that some of the older tweens were gathered around the fire. They were drinking something—probably procured from wine and spirits—out of earthen cups and talking animatedly.

The older tweens never seemed to want to have much to do with any of the younger tweens, so the three of them attempted to slink past, heading for the tree house instead.

But someone yelled out from across the fire pit, "Hey, Nora!" She turned to look. It was Agler. He waved at her, a big grin on his face. Then he gestured for her to come over. "Bring your friends."

Nora looked at Maddie, whose eyes were wide, and then at Sawyer, who shrugged. She headed over with Maddie and Sawyer flanking her. There was an empty bench next to him, and they all sat down there, feeling a little out of place.

"You guys were at the council meeting, right?" asked Agler.

They all nodded.

"Well, we were talking about what Alexander said," said Agler. "It reminded me of something I was talking to Nora about today, actually. And then you walked by." He smiled.

Nora didn't see the connection between what Alexander said and what she and Agler had been talking about earlier.

Another tween, leaning forward on a bench, said, "Agler, I don't think the science enclave was taking the easy way out, though. They needed a chemical, and we don't have it in Helicon. They were only asking permission to go ahead and make it using muse magic."

"Yeah," said Agler, "but it's apparently going to take a good bit of energy, or they wouldn't have needed to come to the council about it."

Another tween girl took a drink from her cup. "But that's only because of Phoebe. My father says that before she took over the council, there were no rules about how much energy to use."

"No," said Agler, "but Alexander made a good point. He said that the science enclave could be using their creativity for a dual purpose. They could be doing scientific experiments and also helping out the community in a practical way."

The girl shook her head. "That's completely against everything we do here in Helicon. We're supposed to do what we want, be as creative as possible, and make inspiration threads. And you can't be creative about something you aren't driven to do, no matter how practical it is." She said the word practical with a good bit of disdain in her voice.

"Well, that's what Nora and I were talking about," said Agler, and he turned to her as if he expected her to jump into the conversation.

Nora was sifting through everything she'd said to Agler. She felt everyone's gaze on her. Her throat felt dry. "Look, all I said was that muses don't usually work. They play."

"Exactly," said the tween girl. "We play. It's what we're supposed to do, Agler. Not help the community."

"Yeah," said Agler, "but why not? I mean, has anyone here actually tried to be creative at something they don't feel driven to do?"

Maddie spoke up. "Um, my mother's convinced I'm going to cook in the food enclave, and I've tried to do it for her. But I don't want to do that."

"Are you bad at cooking?" asked Agler.

"I don't know," said Maddie. "I'm okay, I guess. My mom thinks I'm good at it. But even if I am, it's like torture trying to force myself to do something I hate."

"But you can do it," said Agler, gesturing toward Maddie.

"She hates it though," said the first tween. "She says it's torture. I don't think we should be torturing ourselves."

"Well, not torturing ourselves," said Agler. "But I think if it's for the greater good, then maybe we should undergo a little bit of discomfort occasionally."

"But we don't have to," said the first tween. "We have enough energy to create everything we need. We'd never have to cook food if there weren't muses who enjoyed it. We could create food if we needed it."

"But every bit of energy we use is energy we can't send back to the mundane world, right?" said Nora. "And that is why we're here. To inspire humans."

Agler pointed at her. "Exactly."

The girl tween pursed her lips. "That's what Phoebe says. That we need to save up all this energy. But she never explains why, does she? Her word is law."

"Come on," said the first tween, "the council must have voted on it at some point. We were just too young to remember it."

The girl took a gulp of her drink and shrugged. "I need a refill." She got up and wandered over to the edge of the fire pit, where Nora could see a tall barrel with a spout on it. The girl turned it and filled her cup.

Agler pointed at Nora, Maddie, and Sawyer. "Hey, you guys want any? It's like a wheat beer from the wine and spirits enclave. It's pretty good."

"Um..." Nora wasn't sure what to say.

"There are cups over there," said Agler. "Help yourselves."

Maddie didn't move, but Sawyer got up nonchalantly and went to the barrel. Nora chewed on her lip, but then said, "Sawyer, will you bring me some?"

After all, it wasn't as if Nora had never drunk alcohol in her life. It wasn't that big of a deal. And there wasn't any restriction in Helicon claiming she couldn't drink. Near as she could tell, the muses didn't bother with age limits on much of anything.

By the time Sawyer returned with their drinks, Agler was talking again. "Look, all I'm saying is that there are enclaves here that do things for the community, and there are enclaves that don't. The food enclave, the engineering enclave, the architecture enclave, they all make things that we need."

Sawyer handed her a cup, and Nora took a drink. The beer was fizzy and cold, with a tiny hint of sweetness. It really was pretty good.

"Hold on," said the girl tween. "That's not true. Everyone here does something for the community. Just because you can't touch it, or eat it, or use it, doesn't mean it's not important."

"There's a difference, though, Evie, and you know it," said Agler.

Evie took a drink. "I don't think there is. What would Helicon be like if there wasn't music around the fire pit every evening? Don't we need that?"

"More than food?" said Agler.

"I see what you're saying, Agler," said the first tween. "I do. But I think you're confused, because I don't think the primary purpose of the muses is to survive. The primary purpose of the muses is to create. So, it's great if some of the stuff we create helps us survive, but it's not necessary."

Sawyer took a long drink from his beer, as if he was gathering courage from the liquid. "Don't all living beings have the drive to survive deep down, though? I mean, we can't inspire if we don't eat, right?"

"Yeah," said the first tween, "but like I said, if we didn't grow food, we'd be able to make it anyway. We have energy."

"But we get it from the mundane world," said Sawyer.

"And that's what Alexander's saying," said Agler. "If the humans don't survive, we don't survive. So, why is it a big deal for us all to pitch in a little bit to make more energy for everyone?"

"You keep talking about Alexander," said Evie, "but everyone knows that the muse police are just jealous because they can't create, and we can. They're stuck with the shit job. Of course, they're going to tell us that we're lazy, and we should work harder."

Agler drained his cup. "If you ask me, the people with the shit job are the engineering enclave. Literally. Because they figured out how to make our toilets work."

Everyone around the fire laughed.

The first tween sputtered through his beer. "I don't know why you're all on this, anyway, Agler. Don't you keep spending most of your time in the philosophy enclave? And of everybody in Helicon, the philosophy is the least useful."

"What do you think we talk about in the philosophy enclave?" said Agler. "We try to figure out what our purpose is. Why are we here? Why are we muses?"

"So, it seems like you figured it out," said Evie, grinning. "So join the engineering enclave and repair toilets."

Agler shook his head. "I haven't figured it out at all. I'm just throwing ideas around." He toyed with his empty cup. "Besides, philosophy is totally useful."

Evie guffawed. "Oh, now you're changing your tune when someone attacks your enclave."

"It's not my enclave," said Agler. "I haven't decided anything yet. I'm only saying that without meaning, everything is empty, right? So without philosophers, who thinks about what stuff means?"

"You could say that about anything here," said the first tween. "You could say that what the muses do is bring meaning to everything. Beauty and art and emotion and all that. We are meaning."

"That's beautiful," said Agler, getting up and walking over to the barrel to refill his cup.

"So, it's settled then?" said Evie.

The first tween took a drink. "Nothing's settled for a philosopher."

"I'm not a philosopher," said Agler. "Just today, I was playing drums with Nora." He pointed at her with one hand, while bent over the barrel.

"Drums are a good idea," said the first tween. "We should get instruments. Screw all this talk. Let's play music."

"I liked the conversation," said Evie.

Agler sat back down, beer sloshing out of his cup. "What does Nora want to do?"

Nora felt embarrassed. "Me?" She'd wanted to spend an evening with Maddie and Sawyer. She felt uncomfortable hanging out with the older tweens but also excited, because they seemed so grown-up and interesting. "Well, we were going to hang out in the treehouse."

"We're boring them," said the first tween. "See, Agler?"

"I'm not bored," said Nora.

"The beer's good," said Sawyer. "Conversation too."

"You're Sawyer, right?" said the first tween.

Sawyer nodded. "Please don't tell me that you're going to ask why I wear skirts."

The first tween laughed. "Okay, never mind."

Sawyer rolled his eyes.

"No, but I think it's really bold," said the first tween. "I do. Seriously. And I think there's not enough boldness around here sometimes, you know? We need bold muses. So you're awesome."

Sawyer might have been blushing. He told his cup, "Thank you."

"I'm Jack," said the first tween. He grinned across the fire pit at Sawyer.

"Seriously, Nora," said Agler. "What do you want to do?"

"She's got plans." Owen appeared out of the shadows, the angles in his face lit up by the fire.

Nora stood up. "Owen."

He folded his arms over his chest. "Let's go, Nora."

Nora scurried over to him.

Agler stood up. "Hold on. You just snap your fingers, and she runs to you? Maybe she wants to stay."

Owen smirked. "Agler Thorn, right? You're just a taller five-year-old."

Agler's jaw clenched. "Yeah, maybe you're not so different either, Owen." He turned to Nora, his expression softening. "You can hang out with us if you want."

"Nora wants to come with me," said Owen. "Right, Nora?"

Nora nodded, looking at the ground and not at Agler. For some reason, she felt like she was betraying him. Owen's hand closed firmly over her own. She let him lead her away from the tweens and rebels enclave, into the woods surrounding it.

When they were far enough away that Nora could no longer see the fire, Owen dropped her hand. He faced her. She could only see his blue eyes in the darkness. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You were drinking beer with Agler Thorn," said Owen.

"So?" said Nora.

"You may not remember," said Owen, "but when we were kids, Agler tormented us. Both of us. He was not a particularly nice person. Maybe he's grown up, but somehow, I kind of doubt it."

Nora felt confused. Agler had said that Owen was a bully. Obviously, the truth of the matter was that the two didn't get along. Maybe it was only little kid posturing, but it meant it was going to be pretty hard for her to be friends with Agler, and she'd liked talking to him. Nora guessed she wouldn't be going back to the music enclave the next day after all. "He seemed nice."

"He's only being nice to you to get to me," said Owen. "Trust me. He's trying to piss me off. And it's sort of working."

Great. Angry Owen. Just what she needed. But Nora was having a hard time believing that Agler was only talking to her because he wanted to pick a fight with Owen. She knew better than to say that to Owen, though. Once he got an idea in his head, it was better not to try and dislodge it. He'd think what he wanted, and that was all there was to it. She stroked his arm. "It's okay."

"You're not going to talk to him anymore, are you?" asked Owen.

So he was going to make her promise that, was he? Well, she'd already decided it would be a bad idea. "No."

"Good," said Owen. He took her hand again. They walked. "I've got to say, it kind of worries me, though. I mean, we're apart for one evening, and the minute I'm gone, you're drinking beer and hanging out with another guy."

"It wasn't like that," Nora said, sensing a minefield in this turn of discussion. "There were a bunch of us. We were talking." She decided to try to steer the conversation elsewhere. "So, how was your evening?"

"Don't change the subject," said Owen. "It makes it sound like you're hiding something. Are you hiding something, Nora?"

"No," she said.

"Because you know I get worried."

He did get worried. All the time. But he'd never been worried about other guys before. And Nora had to admit that she'd possibly found Agler a little bit attractive. But she hadn't done anything or said anything that was wrong. She was fine. "Don't be worried, Owen." She kissed him on the cheek, trying to reassure him. "I love you."

"I think I'd feel better about it if I was sure you were committed to this. To us."

"I am committed." Why would he think otherwise?

"Then why won't you make love to me?"

No. They were not back to this conversation again. They'd barely been together for a few minutes, and he was already harping on it. "I will, when the time is right."

"And when is that going to be?"

"I don't know. I'll know in the moment," said Nora. "We'll be together, everything will be perfect, and it will just happen."

"What would make everything perfect? How could things be more perfect than they are now?"

"I don't want to talk about this right now," Nora muttered.

"You never want to talk about it, and it never happens," said Owen. He sounded irritated.

Nora heaved a sigh. She'd been so excited to have a fun evening with Maddie and Sawyer. If she'd never gone over to talk to Agler, none of this would have happened. She knew that if she didn't make Owen mad, he'd be fine. But it was hard to figure out what would make him mad. It seemed like more and more things set him off. She was exhausted trying to keep up. She pulled her hand away from his, a thought occurring to her. Maybe it wasn't her. Maybe Owen was the problem. Maybe he got too mad too easily. "Well, it's definitely not going to happen if you keep pushing me like this. When we argue, it doesn't exactly put in me in the mood."

Owen barked out a harsh laugh. "Oh, nice, Nora. So now it's my fault because I'm trying to fix this problem."

"Who said it was a problem?" said Nora. "I'm fine with the way things are. You're the one who's always getting mad about something. You're never satisfied with anything."

"Maybe," said Owen, "that's because I'm sexually frustrated, and you keep holding out on me."

He always made it her fault. She shook her head. "I'm going back to my tent." She started to walk away.

Owen caught her by the shoulder. "You're just going to leave? We haven't spent any time together tonight."

"If we're going to fight the whole time, I don't see the point."

"We wouldn't fight if you'd give in already and do it."

Nora was starting to get mad. "What if I never give in? What then? What if I decide I'm going to stay a virgin forever? Do you want me or do you just want what's between my legs?" She yanked herself away from him and stalked back through the woods.

Owen came after her. He grabbed her by the arms and propelled her up against the trunk of a tree. She winced as her body slammed into it. "Don't walk away from me." Owen's voice was low and gravelly.

"Let me go," said Nora. "You're hurting me."

"I'm hurting you?" said Owen. "What do you think you're doing to me? For all I know, the reason you aren't putting out is because you're spreading your legs for Agler."

That was ugly. "I would never do something like that."

"You don't care about me at all, do you?" said Owen. "You know how hard this is for me. You know how much I struggle to keep myself under control. And you keep pushing me, trying to make me mad. Why can't you stop?"

"Let me go," Nora said.

There was the sound of a throat being cleared somewhere behind Owen. Nora was mortified. There was someone else there? What would they think?

"Uh, I think she wants you to let her go." The voice was young and male, still high-pitched but going through the changes of puberty. Another tween, then, but Nora couldn't see who.

Owen released her, turning to face the voice.

Nora stepped away from the tree. It was Dirk, Alexander's son, the one who'd been working on a snow sculpture of a middle finger. Next to Owen, he seemed frightfully small, but he had a defiant gleam in his eye.

"This isn't any of your business," said Owen.

"Yeah, maybe not," said Dirk. "But you work for my dad, and I know that no one in Helicon really trusts you. I'm sure if I told everyone all about this little incident, it would make you way more popular."

Owen's fists clenched.

Nora thrust herself between them. "Um, Dirk, it's really not that big of a deal. We were kind of joking around, you know? Owen's a little intense, but I think that's sexy. Let's go back to the enclave."

Dirk looked back at the tree Nora had been pinned against. "Yeah, it didn't really sound like you were joking."

Nora swallowed. She couldn't handle it if everyone in Helicon started talking about this. They'd think she was weak, and they wouldn't understand. Owen was complicated. They had their issues, but what relationship didn't? She was sure that even Coeus and Phoebe got in some pretty big arguments from time to time. But if people heard about this and took it out of context, they'd think stupid things that weren't true. "It wasn't how it looked."

Dirk raised his eyebrows.

"Please don't say anything," said Nora. "He didn't mean it."

"Right," said Dirk. He eyed Owen.

"I'm fine," said Nora. "We got in a fight. It happens. Sometimes, you get angry at the people you care about the most. Don't make it into anything bigger than that. Please?"

"I won't say anything," said Dirk. "This time." He looked at Nora. "He shouldn't do things like that to you."

"Listen to me." Owen closed the distance between Dirk and himself in two steps. He snatched Dirk's shirt by the collar and yanked him close. "None of this has anything to do with you."

Nora wedged herself between them. She pried at Owen's hands, trying to make him let go. "Owen, you're making it worse. He said he wouldn't say anything."

Owen shook Nora off like she was an annoying bug. "You won't say anything, will you, Dirk? Because if you do—"

"Owen, you're scaring me," said Nora. Her voice had gotten high-pitched. He was scaring her, and she wasn't sure if Dirk wasn't right. Maybe she shouldn't let him do things like this. Maybe he was out of control no matter what happened.

Owen turned to her sharply. He looked into her eyes. He took several deep breaths. And then he pushed Dirk away from him. "Crap, I lost it again."

Dirk smoothed out his shirt, eyeing Owen warily.

"Are you okay?" Owen asked Dirk. There were apologies written all over his face. "I'm so sorry, man. That was completely my fault. I was way out of line."

"You were out of line to her," said Dirk, pointing at Nora.

"You're right," said Owen. He hung his head. "I can't believe I... I'm really sorry, Nora. Are you okay?"

Nora nodded.

"Look," said Owen to Dirk, "I get... You know my dad is a god, right?"

"So?" said Dirk.

"So I get mad sometimes," Owen said. "Really mad. It's not good. I know. I'm working on it."

Dirk shrugged. "Maybe she buys that, but I don't know if I do. If I ever see you touch her again—"

"He doesn't," said Nora. "He never does that."

"Whatever," said Dirk. He turned his back and began to walk away.

Nora wasn't sure, but she thought she saw Owen roll his eyes at Dirk's back. She chewed on her lip. Owen was special, wasn't he? Owen had it harder than other people, right? He wasn't a bad guy. She couldn't be in love with a bad guy. Could she?

CHAPTER NINE

Since Nora had decided she wouldn't be going back to the music enclave the following day, she talked over breakfast with Sawyer and Maddie about where she might go next. She thought maybe she'd try the food enclave again, but Maddie had other ideas.

"You can be part of the Maypole dance!" Maddie exclaimed. "Yesterday, in the dance enclave, they were talking about it. May Day is in less than two weeks, and we're going to start practicing. But everyone was moaning all about how it's tradition for the Maypole dancers to be virgins and how half our dancers already had children. They wanted younger dancers, and they asked me if I knew anyone. I thought you were busy, though. This will be perfect." Then Maddie suddenly blushed. "I mean, if you aren't a virgin, it's not a big deal—"

"I am," said Nora. Although, she wouldn't be for much longer if Owen got his way.

Maddie got very interested in her breakfast. "That's good. I mean, I guess."

"Maddie, I would tell you if that had happened," said Nora.

"I hope you'd tell me too," said Sawyer. "Maddie and I both have to live vicariously through you, since you're the only one with an actual boyfriend."

"Whatever," said Maddie. "You were up half the night talking to Jack. He said you were bold." She giggled.

"Yeah, I don't even know if he's gay," said Sawyer.

"He sure seemed interested in you," Maddie grinned.

"Maybe he was just being nice," said Sawyer. "Besides, I think he's kind of old."

"I think he's Agler's age," said Nora. "So, what, eighteen, maybe? And you're sixteen, Sawyer. He's not too old."

Sawyer shrugged. "He probably won't ever talk to me again."

"Don't be pessimistic," said Maddie. "You have no idea what will happen."

Sawyer popped some grapes into his mouth. "I think I should be allowed to dance on the Maypole."

"You're a guy," said Maddie.

"I'm practically a girl," said Sawyer. "Plus, I have a really awesome design in mind for Maypole dresses. I'm wearing one anyway."

"I'll ask," said Nora. "When I get to the dance enclave, I'll ask if you can."

"So you're coming with me?" asked Maddie.

Nora nodded. "Maypole dancing sounds fun." She considered. "Hey, Sawyer, maybe if you promised to make the dresses for all the dancers, they'd be more likely to let you be a dancer."

"Yeah." Sawyer nodded. "But how many dancers are there? I mean, how many dresses are we talking about?"

Maddie counted on her fingers. "Probably fifteen or twenty."

"Ouch," said Sawyer. "And we've got two weeks until May Day? I could maybe do it." He took a deep breath. "No. I could definitely do it."

"You should come with us, then," said Nora. "I bet it will be much harder to say no to your face."

Sawyer laughed, eating a few more grapes. "I like the way you think, Nora."

* * *

Natalia Rowan's eyes were huge. "You want him to be a Maypole dancer?"

Nora and Sawyer were standing directly in front of her. Maddie hung behind them. She hadn't thought the direct approach was a great idea, saying that Natalia might feel bullied. Nora and Sawyer hadn't listened.

"Well," said Nora, "he's always wanted to do it. It's like a calling for him. And, here in Helicon, aren't muses supposed to do the things that they're the most drawn to? Isn't it likely that he'll bring an enormous amount of creative energy to the whole community?" She was drawing on the things she'd heard said last night by the older tweens.

Natalia fidgeted. "It's just that he's...not female. And traditionally, Maypole dancers are always female."

Nora shrugged. "Maddie was saying that traditionally, they were also always virgins, and that's something you've compromised on."

"I'm a virgin," said Sawyer, smiling.

"I..." Natalia floundered.

"Plus, I'll make all the Maypole dancer's dresses," said Sawyer. He held out the skirt that he was wearing so that Natalia could see it. It was gold, with intricate stitching decoratively swirling over it. "I made this."

"Well, that's really gorgeous," said Natalia, "and we hadn't gotten anyone in the clothing and fabric enclave to really step up to make anything, but... I'm just not sure it would work."

A tall, lean man with long, wavy hair wandered over. He was wearing a form-fitted shirt with sleeves that belled at his elbows and tight breeches. "You look distraught, Natalia," he said, his voice musical.

"Everything's fine," said Natalia. "You don't need to worry about it."

The man smiled down at Sawyer and Nora. "I don't believe I've met the two of you. You tweens grow like weeds. I'm Himeros Star." He put a splayed hand against his chest. "Head of the dance enclave."

Himeros had a bit of an arrogant way about him. Even the way he stood suggested he seemed to think he was better than everyone.

"It's nice to meet you," said Nora.

Himeros completely ignored her. "What's your name?" he asked Sawyer.

"Sawyer Snow."

"Are you a dancer?" Himeros looked eager.

"Well, I want to dance on the Maypole," said Sawyer.

"Himeros," said Natalia, "we've never had boys on the Maypole before. It's... odd."

Himeros sniffed. "I don't see what's so odd about it."

"It's a fertility holiday," said Natalia. "Men are not fertile." She seemed to be getting frustrated.

Himeros looked wounded. "Certainly, Natalia, you aren't elevating heterosexual relationships above other relationships simply because they produce offspring? That kind of prejudice only serves to bar creativity, and I'm sure you know it."

Natalia's face went red. "Well, it's not about that at all. It's not about being gay or not. It's about tradition."

"Yes," said Himeros, "and traditionally, I suppose all the men in a community were supposed to watch these nubile young women dancing around a Maypole, and be spurred to celebrate fertility, by getting aroused, yes?"

Natalia heaved a sigh. "You make it sound sordid, when it's actually quite a beautiful celebration of our relationship to the earth. It's about spring, when the earth is awakening and fertile—"

"Right," said Himeros, "but we live in a place that's summer year round. What about the homosexual men in the community? Why are they denied a young nubile thing to ogle on the Maypole?"

Sawyer made a face.

Nora turned to Maddie. "Is this really about us being ogled?"

Natalia threw up her hands. "All right, fine. He can dance on the Maypole if he wants. But stop sounding like a dirty old man please." She looked at the three of them. "No one's getting ogled. It's tasteful, not creepy. It's a hallowed expression of the kinship between nature and the muses."

Himeros clasped his hands together, beaming. "Wonderful. I can't wait to see you on May Day," he said to Sawyer. He began to walk away from them.

Sawyer turned away, looking a little green.

Natalia cleared her throat, waiting for Himeros to get far enough away that he couldn't hear them. "He's very old," she said. "He says what he thinks, even if it sounds horrible."

Nora patted Sawyer on the shoulder. "I think you were just sexually harassed."

"No," said Natalia. She bit her lip. "Well... at any rate, he's all talk. He's really a big softy, and he and his boyfriend have been together for nearly a hundred years. They have a wonderful relationship. They're devoted to each other." She cringed. "Although I think they might have started dating when Ren was sort of young." She took both of Sawyer's hands. "You're okay, aren't you?"

Sawyer nodded. "Yeah. It's just a little weird. I don't think anyone's ever been attracted to me before."

Everyone laughed.

Natalia looked Sawyer over. "Well, really, from a distance, in a dress, you'll probably look like a girl, anyway."

"Good," said Sawyer.

* * *

Practicing for the Maypole dance was allocated only for the morning, so afterwards, Sawyer scurried back to the clothing and fabric enclave to get started on making all the dresses, and Maddie went back to ballet. Nora could have hung out in the dance enclave longer, but she wasn't really in the mood, so instead, she went back to her tent. She thought maybe she'd take Catling to visit the other duckling-kittens at Mack's place, especially since she hadn't seen him in a while. She figured she could help him out with the chimeras, maybe.

But Catling wasn't in the tent.

It had been so long since Catling had gotten out that Nora realized she'd gotten a little lax in securing her tent opening. Catling could have probably gotten out easily. It also wasn't snowing, so she wasn't quite as worried. Catling would be okay wandering around. Probably. Someone would find her eventually. Right?

Then she remembered the edge of Helicon, staring down into its seemingly bottomless depths. Catling wouldn't wander so far that she toppled off the edge, would she?

Nora was worried again. She began to walk around the tweens and rebels enclave, calling for the cat-duck. She almost wished there was snow on the ground again. At least that would mean there were tracks. She looked inside all the tents, scoured the surrounding forest, and then went down into the food enclave. Maybe Catling had gotten hungry and followed the smell of food. She asked every muse she met if they'd seen her, and no one had. Nora didn't want to think that Catling had indeed gone to the edge of Helicon and fallen off. She hoped the cat-duck was closer. Someone had to have seen her.

And, in fact, finally, she met a muse who had. One of the food muses nodded. "Oh, yeah. I saw her. Little black and white thing? She was half-hopping, half-running, going due south along the stream."

Along the stream? That was good. She wasn't going toward the edge. Well, from the way Nora understood it, Helicon was actually like a floating island, so there was an edge no matter which way Catling was going, but she wasn't going directly to the edge. There were muses in between Catling and the edge. Maybe someone had stopped her.

Nora thanked the muse, asked her to try to pick up Catling and hold onto her if she saw her again, and headed down the stream, still pausing to ask people along the way if they'd seen her pet. She was down the stream, past the food enclave, in an area where there was nothing but a big field. Across the stream, she could see the tents of the philosophy enclave. Had Catling come down this far? Had she crossed the bridge over the other side of Helicon?

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking noise and the sound of screaming. Nora looked up to see the now familiar sight of a huge beam of purple light ripping up out of the center of the philosophy enclave. The beam immediately divided into strands, bolts of purple power, brushing along Helicon and withering into red circles with everything they touched. Another portal. Nora hit the ground, covering her head and waiting for it to pass.

* * *

Nora scratched Catling under her chin. "Thanks for bringing her back to me," she said to Agler. They were in the tweens and rebels enclave, sitting in the tree house. The danger of the portal had passed, and now everyone was regrouping. She slouched in one of the comfy bean-bag like chairs, while Agler leaned against the back of the platform. Maddie was there too, sitting cross-legged in front of Nora. Sawyer was working on May Day dresses. He said he didn't care how many portals ripped through Helicon, he was determined to finish sewing them all.

"No problem," said Agler. "Like I said, she just wandered right into the philosophy enclave right before the portal went off. I might not have noticed her, but she was meowing like crazy."

"So, that's weird," said Maddie. "Catling's only gone missing two times, and both times were right before a portal happened."

"That is weird," said Nora. She was so glad to have Catling back safe that she hadn't realized it until now.

"Actually," said Agler, "I don't think that's how it works. You remember when Nora and Owen left a portal open, right? It took hours before the Influence came through. If there's a hole in Helicon, it can sit open until the Influence finds it. The Influence causes the damage, not the portal itself."

Nora nodded. That made sense. "We're lucky no one was hurt this time."

"We're extremely lucky," said Agler. "These things are happening way too frequently."

"So," said Maddie, "maybe Catling can sense when a portal's open, and she goes to it."

"Maybe," said Nora. "That could be useful, too, because if we could find the portals before the Influence does, we could seal them up before it gets through."

Agler reached over to pet Catling. "She's a portal alarm."

"Right," said Nora, "but I don't watch her enough. I need something that could track her."

Below them, someone was walking up the spiral stairs of the tree house. Nora could see that it was Dirk.

"Maybe the engineering enclave could rig something up," said Maddie. "Like a collar that will tell you where she is."

"You think they could?" said Nora.

Agler nodded. "Probably."

"Dirk spends a lot of time in the engineering enclave," said Maddie. "Maybe he could help."

Dirk paused at the sound of his name. He ducked his head inside the platform they were sitting on. "Help with what?"

"Help make a tracker for my cat-duck," said Nora. "She can sense portals."

"That's stupid," said Dirk. "No animal can do that."

"Maybe it's because she's a chimera," said Nora. "She was created from Helicon magic. Maybe that's why she knows when something's wrong with it."

"How do you figure she can sense holes in Helicon?" asked Dirk.

"She's gone missing every time that we've had one," said Nora. "And she always gets found right next to the portal."

"Coincidence," said Dirk. He ducked out of the platform.

"Wait," said Maddie. "Couldn't you help us make a tracker for her? Then we'd know for sure."

Dirk didn't stop climbing. "I'm busy."

"He's not a particularly pleasant person, is he?" muttered Maddie.

Agler shrugged. "He's like fourteen years old. It's a tough age. He'll grow out of it."

"We're only fifteen," Nora said, rolling her eyes.

Agler raised his eyebrows. "You're only fifteen?"

Maddie and Nora both nodded.

"I didn't know that," said Agler. "But I guess you were young when you left Helicon... Anyway, you're girls. And girls are always more mature." But he got up and started out of the platform. "I should probably go back and check on the people in the philosophy enclave. Just make sure everyone's okay."

Nora and Maddie watched him go.

"What scared him off?" said Nora.

"He obviously likes you," said Maddie. "But now he knows how young you are, and I think it freaked him out."

"He doesn't like me," said Nora. "Besides, he's eighteen, right? That's only three years."

Maddie shrugged. "What do you care? You're hopelessly devoted to Owen, aren't you?"

Nora hugged Catling tight. "Yeah. Of course."

* * *

At the council meeting that night, Phoebe announced that they'd be having a special meeting of the council to discuss the portals the following day around noon. The food enclave had consented to provide a lunch buffet, and Phoebe recommended that anyone interested in having a say about it show up then. She said that the threat was becoming more pronounced, and that the muses were going to have to work on some way to protect themselves. "This meeting," Phoebe said, "will be focused on searching for solutions, not on blaming various people for allowing the portals to exist. I hope everyone comes with that in—"

At which point Phoebe was interrupted by a blast of green light from the fire pit. Everyone gathered around stood up, startled.

The fire pit no longer contained a fire. Instead, it was full of winding green vines and branches, each of which seemed to be undulating of its own volition. The green was bright, so bright it shed light on the faces surrounding the fire, turning them all a shade of green.

Then, abruptly, the vines all disappeared, and in their place, floating over the fire pit, was a man. He was slender, with curly dark hair and swarthy skin. He had a beautiful face, like a cherub or a small child. When Nora gazed into it, she felt a kind of rapturous joy. His head was wreathed in a twisted crown of green vines. He leapt forward, landing in front of the fire laughing, and his laughter seemed to reach inside her, making her own happiness bubble up.

The fire blazed again.

The man turned his grinning face on the muses, searching each of them until he settled on Phoebe. Then he ran to her and embraced her. "Phoebe, it's been too long."

Phoebe was stiff in the man's arms. She extricated herself, stepping back. "Dionysus. I guess you've come for May Day."

Nora's breath caught in her throat. This was Dionysus? Owen's father? She'd known that Owen claimed to be the son of a god, but somewhere in her brain that hadn't quite computed. Now, here the man was, standing in front of her. He wasn't like an ordinary man at all. He was somehow radiant, even though he wasn't glowing. Being this close to him, Nora could feel his power, sort of oozing out from his body, wrapping her in tendrils of excitement.

No wonder Owen had such magnetism. His father's presence was enough to change her mood.

Phoebe seemed to be thinking of Owen as well. "You'll be happy to know that your son's returned to us, I suppose."

"Which one?" said Dionysus, grinning. His grin was infectious. Nora found herself smiling too, and she could see that many of the other muses were also grinning.

Phoebe didn't seem affected in the least. "Owen Asher, of course. You might remember leaving him here over ten years ago."

Dionysus scratched his curly head. "Owen..."

Owen pushed his way through the crowd of muses to stand in front of his father, his face expressionless. Nora felt a pang. She suddenly realized that as happy and jolly as Dionysus might seem, he didn't know who his own son was.

Dionysus noticed Owen, gave him a head-to-toe sweep with his gaze. He held up a finger. "Nimue."

"Hello, Father," said Owen.

"You've gotten enormous," said Dionysus. He embraced Owen with the same gusto he'd embraced Phoebe. Owen was hesitant, but he hugged his father back. Dionysus turned to Phoebe. "What do you mean returned? Hasn't he been here all along? I thought the muses would look after him for me."

"Nimue came and took me away," said Owen. "Only a year or so after you left."

"That raging bitch," said Dionysus. He considered for a moment. "She could do amazing things with her tongue, though, let me tell you."

Owen cringed.

Dionysus looked out at the muses again. "Everyone's so solemn." He reached into his shirt and pulled out a corked bottle. "I brought wine! Who wants a drink?"

The muses began to crowd forward.

Phoebe raised her voice over the conversation that was beginning to break out. "Remember, tomorrow at noon, there's a special council meeting to discuss the portals!"

* * *

Dionysus had taken up court in the wine and spirits enclave. He lounged on the grass outside of the tents there, a glass of wine in his hand. He was very drunk. Nora and Owen were sitting close to him, both also drinking wine. Nora's head was spinning a little, but she couldn't seem to stop drinking. Unlike the nasty wine they'd drunk to get to Helicon in the first place, this wine was a perfect balance between dry and sweet. It tingled like nectar in her mouth.

Around the wine and spirits enclave, muses were dancing in the grass barefoot. Some had brought drums and instruments they were playing, although not in any formation around the fire. Others were lying or sitting on the grass, in pairs or groups. Everyone seemed euphoric. Nora could feel it too, an effervescent sort of joy that threatened to burst from her at any second.

"I should come back to Helicon more often," Dionysus was saying, gesturing with his wine glass. Liquid sloshed over the rim, getting on his fingers. Dionysus licked them. "Reminds me of the old days. No maenads, though. I do miss the maenads." He punched Owen on the arm. "Let me tell you, boy, there's nothing like being in the middle of a maenad sandwich, all that creamy flesh wriggling against you. You should try it sometime. Well, of course, you can't." Dionysus looked wistful. "There aren't any maenads anymore. It's too bad, really. Maenads were wonderful things. I drove them crazy." He grinned again. "Literally crazy. They'd rip animals to shreds with their bare hands, run around naked in big groups. It was inspired."

Nora kind of thought it sounded gross. She wrinkled up her nose and drank more wine.

Dionysus was still talking. "These days, there's not much for someone like me to get into. Oh, people still get drunk, and they go crazy. But it's not the same, you know. The sacred part of it's gone. Everyone thinks it's sort of pedestrian and distasteful. They don't worship anymore. They don't approach drinking with reverence. Here in Helicon, though, it's almost as if the old times never went away."

"So where have you been?" said Owen. "I spent eleven years looking for you. Were you in the mundane world?"

"Mundane... oh, that's what you call the real world here in Helicon, isn't it?" said Dionysus. "Zeus' thunder, boy, I couldn't tell you where I've been for the last eleven years. What's eleven years, anyway? I could have been any number of places. Probably was. I can't handle staying in one place for too long, you know." He nudged Owen, winking. "Papa was a rolling stone." And then he burst into peals of laughter, clutching his stomach.

"We used a prayer to you," said Owen, "to get from the mundane world to Helicon. I thought maybe... you helped us."

"Prayer?" said Dionysus. "Someone prayed to me? My heart might explode." He kissed Owen on the forehead. "Bless you, dear boy, bless you."

"So you didn't help," said Owen. "It didn't have anything to do with you at all."

Dionysus shrugged. "I guess not." He took a deep breath. "Ah, Owen, do you remember the times we had when you were small? You were such a chick magnet. There might not be maenads anymore, but there will always be young, hot, drunk women. And you, my boy, were so good at pulling them in. I almost wish you were still that small. You were adorable. Of course, you've grown up to be quite handsome. You take after me. Got her eyes, though, more's the pity."

Owen stood up, yanking Nora to her feet. She was surprised. She'd registered the fact that Dionysus was really kind of self-centered, but she was enjoying herself. Was Owen mad again?

"I remember the times we had," said Owen. "I remember spending a lot of time by myself, playing little games while you were busy being drunk. It was a great time let me tell you." Sarcasm dripped from his tone.

"Oh," said Dionysus, "you're angry." He sighed. "Look, it's been eons since I spawned any sort of children. Gods don't seem to impregnate mortals these days. I don't seem to have the juice. When I found out about you, I thought maybe I'd give it a go. Fatherhood and all that. But, really, it was mostly boring. I can't be bored, you must understand. I'm not built that way."

Owen glared down at his father. "You know, when I was a kid, you were so much better than she was, I got some silly idea in my head that you actually cared about me. Thanks for showing up. I might have kept on believing that." Pulling Nora along with him, Owen stalked away.

Dionysus called after them. "It's not that I don't care, Owen. Why do you think I brought you here? I knew they'd take better care of you than I could."

By the time they got back to the tweens and rebels enclave, Owen was shaking. He stopped at her tent and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Nora pulled Owen into her tent with her. "Don't be silly. You shouldn't be alone."

He didn't resist. Instead, he plopped down on the floor of her tent. Catling came out, squawking and rubbing her face against Owen's knees. He pet her absently. "He's really horrible. He doesn't care about anybody except himself."

Now that she wasn't in Dionysus' presence, the crazy euphoric feeling seemed to have worn off. Nora mostly felt drunk. She swayed on her feet as she tumbled down next to Owen. "He's a god. I guess they do tend to be self-centered. I've never actually met one before."

Owen rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm just like him."

"No, you're not."

"I am," said Owen. "I'm worse. I don't think about you. I don't think about what you want. It's like...it's like I can't. Like I don't know how. All I think about is what I want."

"I'm sure that's not true." Nora took Owen's hand.

"No, that's the thing," said Owen. "I tricked you. I made you believe that I actually cared about you, but I don't. Not the way you care about me, anyway. Not... It's like that part of me isn't there. Everything's just pain. All the time. I thought if I could get us back here, it would be better." He shook his head. "But it's worse. I don't belong here. But you do. And you don't need me anymore. And I feel like the only thing I ever lived for was to get us back to Helicon. Now that I have, I don't need to exist anymore."

"Owen, you're just depressed," Nora said. She put her arms around him. "You're good. You care about me. You always take care of me."

"Because I need someone to be nice to me. That's the only reason."

Nora held him close. "Maybe that's the only reason anyone takes care of anyone else. Maybe we're all selfish."

Owen turned his hauntingly blue eyes on her. "No, I'm different. I've known for a long time."

"You're different, but we're all different," said Nora.

"Different in a bad way." He kissed her. "I used to think you could save me. But now I know nothing can."

"Shh. Stop saying things like that."

"I'm being honest, Nora. This is the only time I've ever been honest with you."

"You're in a bad mood," she said. "And you need to rest. Stay here, sleep in my tent. You'll feel better in the morning."

He did stay, but he refused to sleep in her hammock with her, because he claimed he'd only try to get her to have sex with him. Once he was huddled in blankets on the floor, it was quiet. Nora tried to sleep, tried to think, but because she was drunk, she began to have the sensation that the tent began turning over and over, flipping her stomach inside out, until she ran from the tent and vomited up all the wine she'd drank. When she did finally get to sleep, it was dreamless.

* * *

Nora awoke the next morning with a headache that caused something inside her temple to pulse pain and agony throughout her entire body. She wanted to pull her pillows over her head and go back to sleep, but it hurt too bad. Also, she was really thirsty. She staggered out of her tent and made it to the bathhouse in the tweens and rebels enclave, where there was—by some miracle created by the engineering enclave—running water. She gulped it. It made her feel better at first, but she began to feel sick. She ended up throwing up again.

Still dying of thirst afterwards, she forced herself to sip water slowly.

As she was coming out of the bathhouse, she ran into Sawyer, whose hair was sticking up on one side of his head. He glared at her with haggard eyes. "Dionysus is the devil," he proclaimed.

Nora agreed. Or maybe wine was the devil. She wasn't sure. But Dionysus and wine seemed interconnected, so she didn't suppose it matter whether she blamed one or the other. She went back into her tent and burrowed under the blankets on her hammock. Her head was still pounding, but she felt like she might drift back to sleep.

Then Owen woke up. He didn't seem hung over in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to think her hangover was funny, especially when she told him she'd thrown up before going to sleep and in the morning as well. But he kissed her on the forehead, and said, "I'll see you at the special council meeting, right?"

Ugh. Nora had forgotten all about it. She threw her covers aside and got out of the hammock. "What time is it?"

Owen stuck his head out of the tent. "It's got to be within an hour or so. We slept late." He gave her a hug, and then he ambled off.

Nora wrapped herself in a blanket, went out to the benches outside the fire pit, and nursed a glass of water. She was not in a particularly good mood.

Maddie bounced in under the arch. "Hey, you're up," she said. "I thought you were going to sleep all day."

"My head hurts," Nora responded. She'd never really been hung over before. Actually, she'd never been quite as drunk as she had the night before.

"See?" said Maddie. "This is why I don't drink."

"You're very wise," said Nora, hugging herself.

Sawyer came out of his tent at that point. His hair still looked funny. "I just remembered there's a luncheon at the main fire pit at noon for the special council meeting. Is it noon yet?"

"Food is gross," said Nora.

"No," said Sawyer, "food is exactly what we need. Salty food."

"Do we have to get dressed?" asked Nora.

"You should probably do something about your hair," Maddie said to Sawyer.

Sawyer put his hands on his head, feeling around. "What's wrong with my hair?"

Nora couldn't help it. In spite of how miserable she was feeling, she had to giggle.

"I know what we should do," said Sawyer. "We need to go to the big bathhouse. Do we have time?"

Nora remembered being there her first night in Helicon, but she had a very vague idea of where it was. "Do we have to walk there?"

Sawyer hauled her to her feet. "Bath. Now. Come on."

It was a long walk, but Nora found that moving her body actually made her feel better, like getting herself going was putting her back in order. And when they finally got to the baths, and she and Sawyer were immersed in the warm water, swimming around and letting jets from the fountain wash over their heads, she had to admit his idea had been a good one. "Hot water is the most amazing invention ever," she decided.

Sawyer splashed her. "It's not an invention. It's a discovery. Hot water existed before anyone invented it."

"Whatever," said Nora. She held her breath and went under water for a few seconds, savoring the fact that her entire body was caressed by wonderful, warm liquid. When she resurfaced, she said, "I'm never drinking alcohol again."

"Sure you aren't," said Sawyer.

"Well, Maddie doesn't drink," said Nora. "I don't have to either."

"I'm drinking again," said Sawyer. "But next time, I'm drinking less. And I don't want it to be wine. Maybe ever again."

* * *

They were a little late getting to the council meeting, but Nora felt refreshed and clean and positively ravenous. She loaded up a plate. Apparently, the food enclave must have realized that half of Helicon would be sleeping late after the festivities with Dionysus, and they'd opted for brunch instead of regular lunch food. Nora dug into fried potatoes, bacon, and pancakes smothered in a rich, creamy gravy. She was so immersed in eating that she missed the beginning of the council meeting, and it was only as she finished that she began to tune in.

"I can't help but think that it's suspicious that Dionysus showed up right after the portal was created," one of the muses was saying. There was a murmur of agreement from the gathered muses. "He's not one of us. He can't be trusted."

Phoebe looked annoyed, as always. Being head of the council must be a particularly crappy job. "Last night, I was very plain when I said we were holding this meeting to look for solutions, not point fingers."

"A solution would be to force Dionysus to stop ripping holes in Helicon," said the muse, who seemed equally annoyed.

Owen spoke up. "It can't have been Dionysus. These portals were created by someone inside Helicon, and Dionysus didn't show up until afterward."

"Of course you'd defend him," said another muse. "You're his son."

"I'm not defending him," said Owen. "I just know that the rips are coming from inside, that's all. And that means it's not him."

Techne spoke up. "Alexander, last time Owen said this, you said it was impossible to know whether the perpetrator was inside or outside. Is that still your opinion?"

Alexander spread his hands. "Look, as Owen's pointed out to me, we muse police are essentially the equivalent of regular humans. We can't see the same kinds of things people with more power can. So, if Owen says they were made from the inside, I think we have to take his word for it."

"Well, that's convenient," said Techne. "Owen's the only person who can see how they were made in the muse police. And, of course, the rips are repaired now, so it's not as if any of the rest of us could actually examine one."

"Of course the rips are repaired," said Alexander. "They're dangerous. It's the mission of the security enclave to keep this place safe. But the next time one opens up, feel free to wander up and examine it. But if the Influence zaps you, then don't blame me."

Phoebe held up a hand. "I'm sure no one meant to imply the security enclave wasn't doing a good job. We're all very grateful for the work you do for us."

"Wait a second," said another muse. "Maybe we did mean to imply that. Why are these portals still happening anyway? It seems to me that all the security enclave does is react. No one's being proactive."

"And," said Phoebe, "as I was going to say, this squabbling is getting us nowhere. We need to try to brainstorm ways to make ourselves less vulnerable."

"It seems to me," said Techne, "that if we could discover who was creating the portals, we could stop him. And I, for one, am not satisfied that Dionysus has been completely cleared of suspicion. For instance, he seems to have opened up a portal to get into Helicon. We all saw him appear in the fire pit last night. Wasn't that a portal?"

"No," said Phoebe. "Dionysus does not use portals to get into Helicon."

"So how does he get in?" asked another muse.

"That's not important," said Phoebe. "What's important is that he probably didn't create the portal. Perhaps we could start thinking of ways we could strengthen the fabric of Helicon, making it more difficult to penetrate."

Coeus was sitting next to Phoebe with a troubled expression on his face. "Phoebe, maybe we should discuss the Dionysus angle a little more."

She turned on him, clearly angry. "I know it's not him, okay? Please, let's drop it."

"Well," said Coeus, "he's never been one to have the good of Helicon in mind, exactly. He mostly shows up and gets everyone drunk and riled up. Maybe those portals are his idea of a joke."

Phoebe shook her head. "Dionysus is neither courteous nor overly concerned about anything except himself, but he's not malicious. And frankly, I don't think he's smart enough to figure out how to do it. He likes to drink and be merry. He's hardly a criminal mastermind."

"See," said Coeus, "you always rush to his defense whenever he comes up in conversation, and I'm not sure that's warranted. Maybe you aren't seeing his true nature clearly."

Now it seemed that Phoebe and Coeus were having a conversation all by themselves. It made Nora feel oddly uncomfortable, as if she were eavesdropping on a private spat.

"Coeus, I know him better than you do," said Phoebe.

Coeus snorted. "Yes, you do. As if I could ever forget that."

An awkward silence descended over the council. Finally, Owen spoke again. "The portals really are being created from the inside. I can promise you that." He turned to Phoebe. "And if the person doing it is in Helicon, there's a very real chance he's sitting right in this council meeting. So if we publicly discuss how we're going to combat the tears, then we'll be giving him inside information."

"Well," said Phoebe, "you do make a good point. But we've always run Helicon transparently. We decide things as a group, and we discuss everything together. It's important that we do something about this issue, though. Even though we've been lucky, and no one has been badly injured, every time the Influence penetrates Helicon, it weakens us. We have to use extra energy to repair the damage the Influence inflicts on the sky and trees and anything else it comes in contact with. If this continues, we could be in a position in which we cannot send as many inspiration threads as we usually do, and that could prove disastrous."

"I move," said Alexander, "that in this case, we form a committee of trusted muses to work independently on both strengthening Helicon and stopping the portals from happening."

"I second," said Owen.

"He can't second," said someone else. "He's not of age. He doesn't have a vote in council meetings yet."

Coeus sighed. "I second."

"The motion has been moved and seconded," said Phoebe. "Is there any discussion?"

A muse stood up, looking angry. "Who's going to be on this committee, huh? Is it going to be the security enclave, because for all we know, they're behind this thing."

"Us?" demanded Alexander. "Why would we do something like that?"

"You're the one who's always complaining about how the muses don't do enough to help out the mundane world," said the muse. "Maybe you decided to teach us a lesson."

It was exactly what Nora and her friends had theorized. She watched Alexander's face closely for his reaction. She expected him to explode with anger.

But Alexander only looked sad. "This place is my home. I would never put it in danger."

And Nora believed him.

"If the motion passes," said Phoebe, "we'll decide who should be on the committee. Although I do think this is the province of the security enclave, and we certainly would want their assistance. Is there any other discussion?"

There wasn't. Phoebe called for a vote, and the motion carried. Next, the council discussed who should be on the committee. It was decided that Phoebe, Coeus, Alexander, and Techne should head it up, and that they would have the ability to bring in whoever they trusted and also felt was useful. The meeting disbanded shortly afterward.

An air of disgruntled confusion seemed to hang over the muses as they made their way back to their tents and enclaves. No one seemed particularly joyous or carefree. Both Maddie and Sawyer said that they weren't in much of a creative mood, and so the three went to the tree house, slowly climbing the spiral staircase to one of the lower platforms. They collapsed inside.

"I guess our investigation sort of crashed and burned, didn't it?" said Maddie. "I got distracted."

"Me too," said Nora.

"Well, the council's made a committee now," said Sawyer, "so I guess they'll figure out who it is."

Nora raised her eyebrows. "Do you really think they will?"

"We don't have any ideas, do we?" said Maddie.

"Did you think that stuff between Phoebe and Coeus was weird?" Sawyer asked. "I've never seen them fight like that before."

"Well, all couples fight," said Nora, thinking of the defense she'd created in her mind for the recent incident with Owen.

"They weren't really fighting," said Maddie. "They didn't yell or anything."

"Yeah, but there was some kind of tension," said Sawyer. "You could feel it."

"It was awkward," Nora said. "And it had something to do with Dionysus."

"You were talking to him last night," said Sawyer. "What did you think about him?"

"He's kind of a jerk," said Nora. "But...I don't know. I don't hate him or anything. I think Owen does. There is something about him..."

"Yeah, he's got this...feeling in him," said Maddie.

Sawyer shrugged. "Maybe it only affects girls. I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't feel it when you're around him?" Nora asked. "Like all happy and excited?"

"Sort of," said Sawyer. "I mean, I did get really drunk last night. And it wasn't that I didn't notice that I was drunk, exactly. It was more like I really wanted to get drunker and drunker. I felt a little out of control."

"I think that's what alcohol does to you," said Maddie.

"Dionysus is alcohol," said Nora. "He starts off all exciting and happy, and then by the time it's over, he makes you want to throw up."

The other two laughed.

"Well, maybe he does affect women more strongly," said Maddie. "Didn't he used to have this following of crazy women who would run around naked back in ancient Greece?"

"He said something about that last night," said Nora. "He called them maenads. He said they killed animals with their bare hands and ate them raw or something disgusting."

Maddie wrinkled up her nose. "Eew."

"So what if he does?" asked Sawyer.

"Well, maybe that's why there's tension between Phoebe and Coeus. She's more sympathetic to him, because she feels whatever he does stronger," said Maddie.

"Maybe," said Sawyer, but he didn't sound convinced.

Agler was walking into the enclave. He saw them in the tree house and came up to sit inside the platform with them. "That was some council meeting, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, we were talking about it," said Nora.

"We've got to figure out who's opening these portals," said Agler. "It's been going on for years, and no one's made any headway."

"We wanted to launch an investigation after the first one this year," said Sawyer, "but we sort of forgot about it."

"That's what everyone does," said Agler. "We get caught up in whatever we're creating, and we forget we're in danger."

"We don't have any suspects," Nora said.

"What about Dionysus?" said Agler. "He's not one of us, you know."

"Owen says it can't have been him," said Nora.

"Yeah," said Agler, "and I guess you believe him, because he's your boyfriend and all, but I don't know if I do." He turned to Maddie and Sawyer. "What do you guys think? Could it be Dionysus?"

"Well," said Maddie, giving Nora a cautious look, "maybe Owen's right, and they are being made from inside, but maybe Dionysus is coming into Helicon first before he does it, and then leaving before anyone sees him. I mean, he just showed up yesterday, so apparently, he can come whenever he wants."

"Yeah," said Sawyer, "and why was Phoebe insisting that he didn't open a portal to do it? It sure as heck looked like a portal to me, with all those green vines writhing around."

Nora chewed on her lip. "If he was doing what Maddie's saying, and he is opening portals, maybe they're all just accidents, kind of like the one Owen and I made. Maybe he's not trying to hurt us."

Maddie nodded. "Maybe."

"You're both doing it too," said Sawyer.

"What?" said Nora.

"You're trying to defend Dionysus," said Sawyer. "Just like Phoebe did. Maybe it is because you're female. I've never been so happy to have a penis in my life."

Agler wrinkled his forehead. "For real? You don't like being a guy?"

Sawyer sighed. "Look, sometimes, I feel like I'm not really male exactly. But not always. Like sometimes I think about having boobs, and I think it would be really weird. But then other times..." He broke off. "Let's get back to this. It could seriously be Dionysus. And he's somehow convinced all the women in Helicon to think he's awesome."

"Wait," said Agler. "You think about having boobs?"

"It's complicated," said Sawyer. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"I mean, maybe once or twice, I've sort of wondered what it would be like to be a girl," said Agler, "but, I mean, I'm not, so—"

"Dionysus," said Sawyer. "Let's talk about Dionysus."

Everyone was quiet for a minute.

"But why would Dionysus do it?" said Nora. "I mean, what would be his motive?"

"Like that guy at the council said, maybe he does it for fun," said Agler.

"I don't know," said Maddie.

"Well, what other options do we have?" said Sawyer.

"Owen says it's someone inside Helicon," said Nora. "We originally thought it was Alexander."

"Alexander?" said Agler. "No way."

"Yeah, we don't really think that anymore," said Maddie.

"Look," said Agler, "I know you don't want me to say this, Nora, but what if it actually is Owen?"

Nora shook her head. "He loves Helicon. All he's ever wanted is to get back here." But she couldn't help remembering the conversation she'd had with Owen the night before, when he'd said that he thought everything would be okay when they got here, but that now everything seemed worse. Could he be angry at Helicon itself? He did seem to be angry a lot ever since they'd gotten here. Well, Owen had said all kinds of crazy things last night. He'd been really down on himself. Something was wrong. Nora knew that. But she didn't think she should put too much stock in the things Owen had said last night. He'd been really depressed.

"You're not with him all the time," said Agler.

"He wouldn't," said Nora. "Besides, the portals started before we got here."

"And I guess you were with him constantly in the mundane world?" said Agler.

Owen had gone off on his own a lot, hadn't he? She was always getting annoyed with him for abandoning her. "It's not Owen."

"Not Alexander, not Owen, not Dionysus," said Agler. "So, then who is it?"

"Here's a crazy thought," said Sawyer. "What if it's Phoebe?"

"What?" said Maddie. "That is crazy."

"She was acting weird at the council meeting today," said Sawyer. "She's oddly obsessed with making sure we have excess muse energy, and people aren't entirely sure why."

"She does seem to get kind of irritated with the muses a lot," said Agler. "She must hate running the council and listening to all of them. Maybe she's purposefully draining muse energy so that we'll have to conserve it."

Everyone was quiet.

"It can't be Phoebe," said Nora.

"But something weird's going on with her," said Sawyer. "You have to admit that."

CHAPTER TEN

Over the next week or so, the three were consumed with preparations for May Day. In the mornings, they practiced the Maypole dance. Then Sawyer went off to sew dresses and was gone for the rest of the day. Maddie did more work in the dance enclave. Nora spent her afternoons working in the engineering enclave on a tracker for Catling, in case another portal happened and Catling knew about it before they did. Coeus was helping her. The committee that had been formed would be able to use the tracker as well, so Nora felt like she was doing her best to help Helicon out.

She went to visit Mack one day and spent some time with the chimeras. She asked Mack if any of the other animals seemed to sense when the portals were opening. He said he hadn't noticed, but now that she mentioned it, they had all gotten a little excitable before each incident. None of them had struck out on their own like Catling, trying to find the portal, however. Mack said that made sense, though. He told her that Catling was always the most independent of the cat-ducks. She'd gone after Nora, hadn't she? Catling was fearless, according to Mack.

Dionysus stayed in Helicon, in the wine and spirits enclave, and there were some muses who were there every night, drinking with him. If Dionysus knew that the muses suspected him of ripping holes in the fabric of Helicon, he certainly didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed quite oblivious to anything that didn't have to do with himself. The only time he spoke to Nora, he'd forgotten her name and didn't seem the least bit apologetic about it.

She and Owen didn't discuss the topic of his father again. Owen was helping Alexander with the committee, and he seemed preoccupied. He did tell Nora that he'd suggested they begin interrogating all the muses. "You know, act like real police?" he'd said. However, his idea had been shut down as too invasive and rude. "I've asked some of the others in the security enclave what they think, though, and they agree with me. This is serious and dangerous, and we've got to do what we can to find the culprit."

Nora didn't have the heart to tell him that a lot of people still suspected him. She especially didn't want to say that she'd even considered it herself for a few moments. But listening to him talk, she was convinced that there was no way Owen was making the tears in Helicon. She did ask him if he thought Phoebe was behaving strangely, though. She didn't really think that Phoebe could be responsible, but she had noticed that Phoebe seemed annoyed at the council meetings. Maybe the stress of the position was getting to her.

Owen didn't have much to offer on that front. He hadn't seen or talked to Phoebe recently. And, in fact, Nora didn't see much of Phoebe either. While she was working with Coeus on the tracker one afternoon, she decided to get up her courage enough to ask Coeus about it.

Nora was taking apart walkie-talkies that had been brought back from the mundane world. Coeus was going to use them to make the tracker somehow. Nora wasn't clear on the details. She worked on unscrewing some screws from the back of one of them, but her screwdriver kept slipping off the screw head.

"Let me see that," said Coeus, who was doing something with little green circuit boards on the opposite side of the table.

Nora handed it to him. "How long has Phoebe been the head of the council?" she asked, hoping she sounded casual.

"How long?" Coeus scrutinized the walkie-talkie. "You need a Philips head screwdriver."

"A what?" Nora had never really used a screwdriver in her life, although she'd observed people doing it a few times.

Coeus drew in the air. "Got a little cross shape on it. It'll fit in the screw." He handed it back to her. "See?"

Nora did see. She thought.

Coeus gestured with his head. "Tools are back there."

She started in the direction he'd indicated.

"Take the walkie-talkie so you can see how big of one you need," said Coeus.

Nora grabbed it off the table.

"I really don't know how long she's been the head of the council," said Coeus. "Couple hundred years, I guess."

Nora was always forgetting that muses lived for so long. The thought startled her. She knelt down next to an open tool box. Screwdrivers of various sizes and lengths were laid out in compartments. "Does she like doing it?" She began picking up screwdrivers and trying them in the screws on the walkie-talkie.

"Make sure you put those screwdrivers back in the same place you found them," said Coeus. "A disorganized tool box is a useless toolbox."

Nora carefully put the screwdriver in her hand right back where she'd found it and picked up another one.

"I don't know if 'like' is exactly the right word for how Phoebe feels about it," said Coeus. "It's a pretty thankless job, as I'm sure you've noticed. But somebody's got to do it, and Phoebe's one of the oldest muses around these days. People respect her."

Really? Nora stood up, holding a screwdriver that she thought would fit. She went back to the table. "Is it really such a terrible job?"

Coeus shrugged. "Well, you haven't been here too long, Nora, so maybe you haven't noticed, but most muses are not particularly into responsibility. They'd rather focus on their own little creations and not think about anything else."

Nora tried the new screwdriver on the walkie-talkie. Much easier. She was actually able to unscrew it.

"Usually, that works out just fine, actually," said Coeus. "They're responsible for themselves, and they're happy, and we don't have a lot of problems here. When we do have problems, though, Phoebe gets the brunt of it. She's strong, though. She can handle it."

Nora had managed to remove two of the screws. She went to work on the third and final one. "So I guess it's really more of a burden than a privilege, being head of the council."

"Being on the council's the same way," said Coeus. "It's a big headache."

Nora had never really thought about government that way. She remembered being a kid in middle school and really wishing she could run for student body president. Of course, she guessed class government was not the same thing. "So, if Phoebe doesn't want to do it, why doesn't she just stop?"

"Not that easy," said Coeus. "If no one else steps up to take over the council, it's a disaster. Enclaves tend to get a little angry with each other, as you may have noticed. If there isn't anyone around to moderate that, it'll get real bad, real fast. Phoebe wouldn't let that happen. She cares too much."

Nora took out the final screw, and began trying to get the back off the walkie-talkie. It was loose, but still attached somewhere. She turned it over in her hands. "You and Phoebe are different than other muses. You embrace responsibility." She was thinking of the things Agler had said around the fire that night. How he'd argued that people needed to endure a little bit of discomfort not only to grow, but to help out the community. Phoebe and Coeus certainly seemed to subscribe to that way of thinking.

"Look, somebody's got to be responsible," said Coeus. "We can't all be little children, running after the next game."

Aha! There was a little plastic latch. If Nora pushed it in very carefully... Yep. The back of the walkie-talkie came right off. "Do you ever think the other muses should be more responsible? Does Phoebe?"

Coeus sighed. He put down the green circuit board he'd been working on. "Now, that question goes right to the heart of things, Nora."

"Sorry," she said. She didn't want to let on about her suspicions.

"No," said Coeus. "It's fine to ask. And I'll be honest with you. Sometimes, I do. But Phoebe knows better. She's focused. The purpose of Helicon is to inspire. So whatever we do here, we have to have an environment where muses are constantly creating. And responsibility sometimes kills creativity."

"But the engineering enclave is responsible for keeping everything running around here," said Nora.

"That hasn't always been true," said Coeus. "Engineering used to be an enclave a lot like science. Just a bunch of guys making things that worked for different purposes. When I took over engineering, I was inspired to do things that mattered, though. I thought it would be more meaningful to create things that I knew people would actually use."

"Is it?"

Coeus nodded, grinning. "Yes. Knowing what I create makes a difference is definitely more meaningful than creating for my own ego. But it does mean giving up a little bit of freedom. I can't engineer anything I want any time I want. For me, it's worth it. I sometimes wonder if other muses might feel the same way if they gave it a shot, but I'm not going to force anyone to do anything."

Nora now had the walkie-talkie open. And there was a little green circuit board inside which looked very similar to the one that Coeus was holding. She pointed at it. "Is this what you need?"

"That's the ticket," he said.

Nora tried to pull it out, but realized it was attached somewhere. Carefully, she looked for the attachment and tried to think of how to put the next thing she was going to say. "You won't force anyone. But Phoebe insists that we don't use muse energy to make things that we could make the old-fashioned way. Doesn't that force us to be more responsible in some ways?"

Coeus laughed. "Nora, you haven't been here very long, but you really seem to have your finger on the pulse of the central conflict here." He looked thoughtful. "I guess in some ways, Phoebe does try to act in ways that force the muses to do what's best for everyone, even if they don't like it. But it's best for Helicon and especially for the mundane world if we can give them as much energy as possible. She knows that, even if other people don't."

Nora managed to free the circuit board. She felt triumphant. If what Coeus was saying was true, it didn't seem like Phoebe would want to drain magic from the muse world. But what if she felt so strongly about it that she thought she needed to teach everyone a lesson? She supposed they couldn't rule Phoebe out as a possibility. Maybe she was opening holes in Helicon. But Nora had to admit she thought it was unlikely.

A muse poked his head inside the room where they were working. "Hey, Coeus, we were wondering if you could help out with putting up the Maypole."

He set down his circuit board. "Architecture's supposed to be doing that. How hard is it? It's a big pole with ribbons on it."

The muse shrugged. "Don't shoot the messenger."

Coeus sighed. "Nora, if you can get two or three more of those out, that should be enough. Thanks." He strode off after the muse.

* * *

The closer May Day got, the more intense the preparations were. The Maypole was erected in a field near the main fire pit. It was a huge pole with long colorful ribbons attached to the top. They were tied at the end for now. One day, the dancers got to practice with the actual Maypole, and Nora had to admit the intricate dance made much more sense to her at that point. Visual art set up huge fire baskets all over Helicon. They were gorgeous metal sculptures, depicting dancing men and women with wings. Sawyer finished all the dresses the afternoon before May Day, and she and Maddie helped him deliver them to all the dancers. They were positively beautiful, just like everything Sawyer made.

The dresses were not too long so that they would have room to move. The skirts descended to just below their knees. They were a simple design, with fitted bodices and flowing skirts, but they'd all been enhanced with frills and laces. They were comfortable and easy to move in, but they were also quite elegant and beautiful. When Nora put hers on, she felt like a princess.

The night before May Day, the visual art enclave distributed crowns of flowers and ribbons at the council meeting. Nora got one with daisies and yellow ribbons. Maddie's was yellow daffodils. Sawyer got one with lilacs. "Who doesn't like purple?" he said, grinning.

Maddie was buzzing with information about May Day, since Nora had never experienced one. "May Day is one of the days that divides the year into quarters," she told her. "There's May Day, the Summer Solstice, Halloween, and the Winter Solstice. May Day is the opposite of Halloween, but it's an important day because it's a transition from spring to summer."

"It's always summer here," said Nora.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "There will be blossoms and stuff tomorrow. You'll see. Anyway, the veil between the worlds is supposed to be really thin on the quarter days—May Day and Halloween. It's a time of magic. Anything's possible."

"What about what Himeros said?" asked Nora. "It's all about fertility?"

"It's spring, silly," said Maddie. "New birth. New growth."

"Yeah," said Nora, "but why are all the Maypole dancers traditionally virgins?"

Maddie looked uncomfortable. "Well, we don't really do that anymore."

"Do what?"

"Apparently," said Maddie, "thousands of years ago, the idea was that the Maypole dancers were sort of new brides, and on May Day, they began their journey towards being fertile mothers."

Nora felt a little alarmed. "So the Maypole dancers were supposed to stop being virgins after dancing on the Maypole?"

Maddie nodded. "But it's not like that anymore. Well, I'm not saying people don't have sex on May Day, because they do. But no one has to, you know?"

Did Owen know all this? Nora kind of hoped he didn't. She certainly didn't mention it to him when they hung out that evening. He liked her Maypole dress, though, and said he was excited to see her dance the following day.

At Maddie's urging, Nora went to bed early. Maddie said the festivities would get started right away when she woke up, and her excitement was always infectious.

Morning came, and Nora was awoken by Maddie, who dragged her out into the grass next to their tents, fell to her knees, and began rubbing her hands in the grass.

"What are you doing?" said Nora.

"The first thing you do on May Day," said Maddie, "is wash your face in the dew." She rubbed her wet hands over her face.

Nora laughed but did the same thing. "Why are we doing this?"

"Why do you have to always know why?" said Maddie. "There's a charm you can say if you want to meet a boy in the coming year, but you already have a boy, so I don't guess you'll want to say it."

"You think stuff like that works?" said Nora.

"If there's a day that it works, it's today," said Maddie. She murmured something under her breath.

Nora giggled. "You totally said a charm."

Maddie smiled back. "Well, maybe this is the year, right? I don't want to be the oldest muse in Helicon ever to have a first kiss."

Nora hugged her friend. "Your first kiss is going to be amazing."

They ate breakfast, put on their new dresses and flower crowns and met Sawyer to go to the dance enclave. The procession would start there. True to Maddie's word, every tree in Helicon had blossomed overnight. Instead of being decorated with leaves of green, they dripped flowers of all colors, a gleaming rainbow. There was excitement in the air, and Nora felt herself caught up in it. The breeze seemed a little crisper, though still warm.

Once in the dance enclave, they were all given a torch. It took some time for all of the muses to appear, and for a little bit, everything seemed to be a disorganized mess. But once the area around the enclave's fire pit was crowded with muses, Himeros—in a green-velvet, tapered coat and tails—clapped his hands over his head and yelled for quiet. "Everyone gather together, putting your torches together."

The muses crowded in, all placing their torches in the middle of their crushed-together bodies so the torches touched.

Himeros' voice rang out. "Together, on this May Day, we welcome the spirit of spring into our midst. The fire of passion is lit again, and we bring the fire to Helicon."

At once, a flame roared up in the center of the cluster of muses, igniting all the torches. As they all pulled away with lit torches, the muses cheered.

"Let the procession begin!" said Himeros.

The muses lined up, with Natalia and Himeros leading. They were representing the May Queen and the Green Man in the dance. Behind them, Nora, Maddie, Sawyer, and the other Maypole dancers in their white dresses. And behind them, the rest of the dance muses. All of them held their torches high over their heads. Natalia and Himeros linked arms and started off. They paused near every fire basket that the visual art enclave had put up to light it. When the fire burst out, it made the metal sculptures glow.

The procession went to the music enclave first. Natalia and Himeros marched into the enclave's main area, right next to their fire pit. Together, they put their torches to the fire pit, lighting it.

"The fire of spring is lit," yelled Natalia. "Who joins our celebration?"

At once, the muses of the music enclave poked their heads out of their tents, cheering. They brought their musical instruments. Drums were slung over shoulders, guitars strapped to their bodies. Whooping and yelling, they fell in behind the dancers, and they began to play their music.

Now the dancers moved with the beat of the drums, swinging their hips as they walked. The swell of singing propelled the procession forward, and on it went. They visited each and every enclave, lighting the fires and calling the muses forward. Soon the procession was very long, and the fires of Helicon were all lit. Eventually, the procession ended at the Maypole. The muses wound around it.

There was a center ring, right around the Maypole, consisting of the Maypole dancers. The rest of the muses made circles outside the ring, until every muse was standing around the pole. The drums beat fiercely, and the muses all cheered.

Phoebe stepped into the center of the ring. Nora was struck by how regal and beautiful she was. She wore a long violet dress with flowing sleeves. Her white hair was in brilliant contrast to her smooth dark skin. She threw her hands up, her head back, as if she was drinking everything in, and it was glorious. "Happy May Day!" she cried.

The muses went crazy, screaming back at the top of their lungs, beating the drums in a frenzy. Nora felt buoyed up by it, somehow connected to everything and everyone, like electric jolts were sizzling through her. She couldn't stop smiling.

"Let the dance begin," said Phoebe. She moved out of the way.

The Maypole's ribbons had been laid out on the ground all around when they arrived at the pole. Nora knelt and picked up her ribbon as musicians began to play their instruments.

Natalia and Himeros stepped forward. Their part of the dance was about to begin.

Natalia, representing the May Queen, darted away from Himeros, moving elegantly to the music, her body lithe as she sprung over the grass.

Himeros gave chase, but his movements were stylized as well, meant to move with the flow of the music.

Natalia darted in around the ribbons of the flagpole, stopping occasionally to glance over her shoulder at Himeros and giggle.

This, Maddie had explained to Nora, was the chase. The May Queen ran from the Green Man, taunting and teasing him, but eventually she allowed him to catch her, because the union of earth and rain or male and female was necessary for growth and the cycle of life.

Natalia and Himeros were beautiful to watch. Their movements seemed careless, but they were quite deliberate, and they worked together as the perfect team. They danced, but they also told the story well, as they scampered and leapt in and around the Maypole.

Eventually, Natalia paused just outside the circle of Maypole dancers. She ran her hands through her hair, shook her hips, and beckoned to Himeros.

He leapt toward her gracefully, like a gazelle. When he reached her, he lifted her into the air and, balancing her as her body arced beautifully over his head, spun her in a circle.

Then they danced together. The movements were sensual but beautiful. Their bodies pressed tightly together, they moved like one being, as if they had one mind. They gyrated around the circle, finally together. As they made their final orbit, the Maypole dancers began their dance.

Their dance was simple. One group of Maypole dancers moved clockwise around the circle. One moved counterclockwise. Using the ribbons they were holding, they drew one ribbon over the first dancer they encountered, and then ducked under the ribbon of the next dancer they encountered. The dance was up and down, ebb and flow. It circled the pole. They had moves to make with their feet, though, ensuring that they made a precise number of steps. And there were moments they all paused with the music for effect. And while all this was going on, they waved their free arms in synchronized patterns and undulated their hips in time to the drum beat.

Nora half-wished she could see what it looked like. She knew it felt amazing, being part of this human machinery that was weaving a beautiful pattern of ribbons around the pole. Because the way they weaved through each other wove the ribbons, making them braid themselves around the pole.

As the ribbon wound around the pole, it shortened, tightening their circle, and making the dancers get closer to each other. The music sped up in time as their steps got smaller and smaller. When they were so close that they couldn't weave under each other anymore, and the music had reached a frenzied pace, they stopped weaving the ribbon and simply walked in a circle, winding the last of the ribbon to the pole, finishing it.

The music finished with a flourish, and the surrounding muses stomped their feet, clapped their hands, and yelled.

Phoebe came forward amidst the cheering. She had ten or fifteen ribbons of various colors draped over one arm. She raised the other arm in the air for silence. "Will the couples who wish to be handfasted this May Day please come forward?"

There was a shuffling, and then muses began to step up in pairs. Nora felt the dancer next to her touch her arm and realized that the Maypole dancers were all sitting down on the grass now, so she did as well.

Phoebe lined up the couples facing each other. Nora watched. Maddie had told her a little bit about this. Apparently, muses sometimes chose to commit to each other for a year and a day at May Day. It was sort of like marriage, Maddie said.

Phoebe addressed the gathered muses. "These couples have expressed a wish to make a commitment to each other publically, in the eyes of the community. They will be bound to each other for a year and a day, in accordance with the tradition of Helicon." She turned to the couples. "Repeat after me, please. You cannot possess me, for I belong to myself."

The couples looked into each other eyes and repeated Phoebe's words, which Nora thought were a little strange for the beginning of a vow of commitment.

"But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give," said Phoebe.

The couples repeated. Nora considered. Actually, it was very nice, she thought. She wasn't especially familiar with wedding vows, but she liked that this differed because it was an affirmation of choice.

Phoebe walked between the couples, stopping as she passed the first couple but still standing in the middle of the row of them. "Join hands," she told the first couple. They did. Phoebe took a ribbon from her arm and wrapped it around the couple's joined hands. "As I bind your hands, so may your hearts be bound for one year and one day." The couple kissed.

Phoebe walked to the next couple and repeated the process.

As she proceeded down the line, the bound hands prevented her from walking back the way she had come, and so she walked through the couples, binding their hands with ribbons, until all were bound. After she finished, she said in a loud voice, "May your unions bless you creatively and inspire you as we seek to inspire!"

Everyone cheered again. The couples wandered off, their hands still tied together.

Phoebe was smiling. "Though we have had a trying year thus far in Helicon, we have much to celebrate. Enjoy yourselves today and create!" She paused while the muses applauded again. "Also, I think the food's ready."

After that, music started again, and muses rushed into the grass to dance. Others filled plates from the loaded tables near the main fire pit. Still others filled tankards and glasses with wine and ale, which the wine and spirits enclave had brought in large quantities. Nora was heading to get food with Maddie and Sawyer when Owen wound through the crowd and grabbed her arm, his face stormy.

Without saying a word, he dragged her away from the gathering, down below the Maypole, past the musicians playing. Once they were out of sight of the rest of the muses, he dropped her arm. "What was that dance?"

Nora was confused. "Dance?"

"I don't want you dancing like that in front of all of these people," Owen said.

"Like what?" Other muses had gone to dance to the music, but she'd been headed for the food. She really wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"The Maypole dance was very suggestive," said Owen. "You looked like a slut up there, jiggling all over the place."

What? "It's the Maypole dance, Owen," said Nora. "It's supposed to be about fertility and stuff."

"That's disgusting," said Owen.

Nora was starting to get tired of this. Owen always seemed to find something to blow up at her about. She didn't feel like dealing with it. It was a festival for goodness sake. She wanted to get some food, dance a little, talk to her friends, and have fun. She really didn't want to deal with Owen's drama. She sighed heavily.

"It would be one thing if we were actually doing it," said Owen. "But we're not. You always say no to me. And then you're up in front of everyone in Helicon, doing this dance that makes you look like you're saying, 'Come and get it.'"

"That's not how the dance looked!" Nora glowered at him. Owen was overreacting. "And anyway, I see what this is all about. You're pissed off because I'm not sleeping with you. Well, get over it. The way you're acting these days, I don't know if I ever will sleep with you."

"You'd do that, wouldn't you? Just to spite me." He shook his head at her.

"Not to spite you, Owen," said Nora. But she didn't feel like arguing about this anymore. She'd hoped Owen could be part of her good time today. More and more it seemed like Owen was never in a good mood, however. "I'm going to go eat food and dance and have fun, okay? This is supposed to be a party."

"Oh, great," said Owen sarcastically. "So what am I supposed to do, then? How am I supposed to have fun? It's your fault I feel like this, and you aren't even going to apologize?"

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Nora felt like the words ripped out of her. Owen was always accusing her of doing thing to make him angry, and sometimes she could see his point of view, but this seemed completely ridiculous. "You're the one who's getting bent out of shape over nothing." She turned on her heel and started to walk back to the May Day festivities.

Owen put a hand on her shoulder. "Nora—"

"Don't touch me," she said, shaking him off. She kept walking.

He didn't follow her. She went back to fill up a plate with food and joined Maddie and Sawyer, who were already eating.

"What was that about?" asked Sawyer.

"Owen was being an ass," Nora muttered.

"Seems like a pattern with him," Sawyer said.

Nora wondered if he was right. But she didn't feel like dwelling on unpleasantness, so she did her best to distract herself with food and dancing. She even managed to snag a drum for a while, and she joined in the music, pounding out the drum beat along with other muses. The afternoon wore into evening, and the sun began to sink behind the horizon. The fires all over Helicon burned brightly, dotting the growing darkness with flashes of orange. She hadn't seen Owen since their argument, and she began to wonder if she should go to him and try to patch things up. Maybe she'd been too curt with him. She looked around for him among the other muses, but she didn't see him anywhere. She wondered if he'd gone back to his tent.

Then she noticed something strange. She saw a spark of light fly up out of one of the fires and hover there, like a hummingbird. It darted up away from the fire, flying through the air of its own volition. She stood up.

There were more of these sparks, suddenly, swarming out of the fires, flying haphazardly throughout the gathering, like demented fireflies that never switched off.

She felt Maddie at her side, clutching her arm. "The fairies," Maddie whispered. "The fairies are here."

Nora turned to her sharply. "What?"

"It's a cross-quarter day," said Maddie, still speaking softly. "May Day and Halloween both are. At dusk and dawn on a cross-quarter day, the divisions between the worlds are flimsy and thin. It means that things from other worlds can cross into ours. And the fairies have crossed over into Helicon. They're here to share our May Day celebration."

"Fairies are real?" said Nora. Considering she was a muse, and that a few days ago, she'd met a Greek god, this seemed like a stupid question. So. There were fairies. She'd have to keep making these little adjustments.

The whole of Helicon seemed filled with spots of brilliant light. The fairies lit up the sky like stars, but they moved quickly, flying in and around the muses and their surroundings.

Maddie tugged on Nora's hand. "Let's go dance with them."

Nora let Maddie lead her into the swarm of glowing dots. The music of Helicon had grown more ethereal suddenly, and then Nora realized that there were different musicians than the muses. They were small people with pointed ears and wide child-like eyes. Their skin had a greenish tint to it. She watched as their spindly arms plucked oddly shaped string instruments and fingered gleaming flutes. The music swelled around her and Maddie.

They clasped hands and spun in a circle, fairies flying around their faces and limbs. Up close, Nora could see that they were no bigger than insects, but that they did have human-like bodies. Their wings whirred around them, propelling them through the air. They were all manner of colors—from purple to gold to bright orange.

As long as she danced to the fairy music, Nora had no thoughts of Owen. No thoughts of any kind, in fact. She was mesmerized by it, pulled into its haunting rhythms and airy melodies. She and Maddie twirled and pranced through the grass, fairies alighting on their limbs from time to time. It was magical and beautiful. Nora's heart soared.

Then Sawyer was next to them, pulling them both away. "I just saw Phoebe and Dionysus go off alone together. We've got to go see what they're saying."

"What?" said Nora. "Why?"

"To make sure it doesn't have anything to do with the portals, of course," said Sawyer.

"But fairies," said Maddie.

"Come on," said Sawyer, dragging them past the fire pit.

Phoebe and Dionysus were standing in the darkness beyond Phoebe's tent. Sawyer, Maddie, and Nora crouched behind it so that they could observe and listen out of sight. The two appeared to be arguing. Phoebe's arms were folded over her chest and Dionysus' face didn't have its usual carefree expression.

"No one else can tell," said Phoebe, "but as head of the council, I can. And I remember a promise you made to me that you would stop."

"Come on, Phoebe," said Dionysus. "It's only for a little fun now and then."

Phoebe shook her head. "We don't have the energy to spare here, Dionysus. Helicon can't afford to be drained in this way."

Sawyer looked back at the both of them. Nora swallowed. Were they talking about the portals? Did Phoebe know that it actually was Dionysus doing it?

"You used to like to have fun," Dionysus said. He reached for her. "Remember fun, Phoebe?"

She backed away from his hand as if he had the plague. "I don't see what's enjoyable about stealing energy from Helicon. You're hurting people."

"This place is full of energy," said Dionysus. "You have lots to spare."

Phoebe laughed bitterly. "That's not true, and you and I both know it. Or had you forgotten what got us into this mess in the first place?"

Dionysus sighed. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to leave," said Phoebe. "I want you to stop abusing the privileges I foolishly granted you so long ago. You've done nothing but cause harm to this community. I have to protect it."

Dionysus' jaw dropped. "You're kicking me out? So much for muse hospitality, huh?"

"You know I can't kick you out, although I certainly would if I could," said Phoebe. "But I'd rather you weren't here. I think you've outstayed your welcome."

"Can't I at least stay until the end of May Day?" asked Dionysus. "This is the best part. Drunk fornicating in the fields. It's what I live for."

Phoebe looked disgusted. She put a finger in his face. "You leave tomorrow morning. And you stop what you've been doing and never do it again, like you promised."

Dionysus' shoulders slumped. "Okay, okay. But I don't know when you turned into such a killjoy, Phoebe."

Phoebe shot him a murderous glance and swept past him.

Sawyer, Maddie, and Nora pulled back into the shadows so that she wouldn't see them when she passed by. They held their breath as she disappeared into the darkness. When they looked again, Dionysus was gone too.

Sawyer looked pleased with himself. "I told you it was Dionysus. He's creating the portals. It was obvious, wasn't it?"

Nora had to admit it had certainly sounded that way. The portals drained Helicon of energy, and Phoebe had accused Dionysus of doing that. He'd also admitted that he was draining Helicon for fun, like they'd theorized.

"If Phoebe knew it was him," said Maddie, "why didn't she say something before? Why is she talking to him in secret?"

"She defended him at the council meeting." Nora chewed on her lip. "Do you think she's in on it?"

"It didn't sound like it, did it?" asked Maddie.

Nora shared with the two of them her conversation with Coeus about Phoebe. "She apparently doesn't particularly like being the head of the council. It's a thankless job. That's what Coeus said."

"But she was telling Dionysus to stop," said Sawyer. "It seemed like she was protecting Helicon."

"Right," said Maddie, "and it also seemed like she was protecting Dionysus at the council meeting."

"We need to find out more answers," said Sawyer. He started walking back in the direction of the main fire pit. Nora and Maddie followed suit.

"How are we going to do that?" asked Nora as they walked. "Besides, if it was Dionysus, maybe he'll stop making portals now that Phoebe told him not to."

"Maybe," said Sawyer. "But I think this is deeper than that. There's something weird going on with them."

The fire pit came into view, still surrounded by swirling fairies. Nora caught sight of Agler on the other side of the fire. His eyes lit up when he saw her, and he sprinted over to the three of them. "Hey, what are you guys up to?" Agler asked.

They exchanged a glance. Should they tell him what they'd found out?

"Um..." said Sawyer.

"Because the veil between the worlds is thin," said Agler, "so a bunch of us are going to slip into the mundane world for a few hours. You guys want to come?"

"What?" said Nora. "You're going to the mundane world?" She guessed it made sense, sort of, that if the fairies could get here, the muses could get to the mundane world, but it didn't sound safe. "What about the Influence?"

Maddie shook her head at Nora. "The Influence is weak on cross-quarter days. Tweens like to go over to the mundane world on May Day and Halloween. But it's usually older tweens. I've never done it."

Nora did remember Maddie saying something about muses going to the mundane world. And Sawyer had been born to human parents, which was also part of it, right? Muses sometimes visited the mundane world and made half-muse babies? So this was how they did it.

"So," said Agler. "Do you want to come?"

Nora shrugged. "Um, you know, I did sort of just escape that place. I don't know if I'm really excited about going back there." She turned to Maddie and Sawyer. "But you two can go if you want."

"I think I'll stick around Helicon," said Sawyer. "Thanks, though."

And then Maddie shocked Nora by saying, "I'll go."

Nora gaped at her. Maddie didn't even drink. She was volunteering to go with a group of tweens out of Helicon?

Agler looked a little surprised as well. "Okay. Come on, Maddie."

He and Maddie walked away, heading towards the tweens and rebels enclave.

"I can't believe she just did that," said Nora, still reeling.

"Our Maddie's growing up," said Sawyer in a mock-adult voice, putting his arm around Nora. He made fake sniffling noises.

"You sure she'll be safe?"

"They do it every year," said Sawyer. "I went last Halloween. Nothing happened."

"You did? What do you even do once you're there?"

Sawyer looked at the ground. "Well, I went alone. I focused on my mother, and I found her. I kind of watched her for a few hours. I didn't talk to her or anything. I wanted to make sure she was okay, I guess."

Nora squeezed his hand. "Was she?"

Sawyer nodded. "Yeah. She had another kid. A little girl. She was dressed like a princess."

Nora wasn't sure what to say.

They were both quiet for some time, gripping each other's hands and staring into the fire.

Then Sawyer took his hand away to point. "Is that Jack?"

"I think so."

"I can't believe he didn't go into the mundane world with Agler," said Sawyer. "You mind if I go say hi to him?"

Nora grinned. "Of course not."

Sawyer ambled off, and Nora watched from a distance. Within minutes, she saw that Sawyer and Jack were engaged in a smiling conversation. When Jack threw his head back and laughed, she decided maybe she should find something else for herself to do.

Before the fairies, she'd been thinking about going to find Owen and making up after their fight. The problem was that in order to make up, she was probably going to have to apologize, and she wasn't sorry. Owen didn't have any right to be angry with her for being in the Maypole dance. And when she thought about it, he really didn't have any right to be angry with her for not having sex with him either. She wasn't ready. He should respect that.

But maybe he'd realized all of that and wanted to apologize. Maybe if she went and found him, he'd tell her he'd been wrong, and they could actually salvage the rest of May Day. They could have a nice time together.

She set off. First she wandered through the celebrating muses, looking for Owen's face in the throng. He wasn't near the fire. He wasn't near the Maypole. He wasn't with the musicians. Then she began searching the outskirts, where it was darker, but she only found couples in the grass kissing. Then she realized some of them were doing more than kissing, and she ran back in the direction of the fire as quickly as she could, embarrassed. It was a fertility holiday, she supposed. And the muses were not a particularly shy group of people. Still, Nora thought there were some things that should not be done out in the open like that.

She was in such a rush to get away from it that she wasn't as careful at looking where she was running as she could have been.

She tripped over something and went sprawling.

Then she realized she was tangled up in the limbs of another person. She'd tripped over a two people doing it in the grass out here. Nora did her best to untangle herself. She didn't think she'd ever been so embarrassed in her entire life. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I'm so sorry."

She didn't want to look at the people she'd tripped over, so she averted her gaze, pushing herself to her feet to start running again.

But the light from a nearby fire basket reflected against blue eyes, and Nora froze.

It was Owen. She let her gaze travel over him, making sure.

Yes. And he'd been lying on the ground with one of the fairy women—not one of the tiny ones with wings that flew around—but one of the others. The greenish ones with the spindly limbs. The fairy looked up at her with huge eyes. She was beautiful in her own strange way.

"Nora?" said Owen. He was yanking his clothes back on. The fairy didn't bother. Her thin lips twisted into a smile, like she was taunting Nora.

Nora was rooted to the spot. She shook her head. She hadn't seen this. She couldn't have seen this.

"Nora," Owen said again.

Nora didn't say anything. Was there anything to say? Were girls supposed to come up with scathingly witty remarks when they found their boyfriends with other women? She tried to keep her breath steady. Owen had cheated on her. She'd caught Owen cheating.

She tore her gaze from him, turned, and walked back towards the main fire pit on shaky legs.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Nora, wait," Owen was calling after her.

Nora willed her legs to move faster. She had this funny idea that if she could get back to the fire and the dancing and the celebration that everything would be okay. She could only focus on her destination. She felt like something inside her head, something that had governed the way the world worked, had cracked open. She felt broken.

"Nora!" Owen's hands on her shoulders, turning her around.

She gazed into his blue eyes. His dark hair was tousled. She thought of the times she'd touched his face, run her fingers through his hair, kissed his lips. He was supposed to belong to her. Owen didn't have the right to go and share himself with someone else. She felt tears slipping out of her eyes, but she hadn't meant to start crying. She didn't even really feel sad. She was only shocked. Appalled. This couldn't be true.

"What were you doing out there?" said Owen. "I thought you were with your friends."

"They left," said Nora. What did this matter, anyway? "I was looking for you. I thought maybe we could talk about earlier." Did she need to explain herself?

"Earlier." Owen fidgeted. His jaw twitched. "You shouldn't have been walking out in this field anyway. Didn't you know what people were doing out here?"

"No, I didn't," said Nora.

"Sure you did," said Owen, and he was starting to sound angry. "You were probably meeting Agler out here."

"I wasn't." Nora wasn't entirely sure how this conversation had suddenly shifted to her defending herself.

"If you'd never been out here, you'd never have seen that," said Owen.

Nora's head hurt. "But you still would have done it."

"You were probably doing the same thing."

Nora was shaking all over. "No. I was looking for you. I was going to apologize for earlier." Which actually wasn't strictly true, was it? She'd wanted him to apologize. Like that was going to happen.

"Well, you did make it tough for me," said Owen. "I was so angry and so freaked out, and you just ran off. You left me all by myself. I didn't know what to do. Maybe if you hadn't been such a bitch to me, none of this would have happened."

He was calling her names now? Nora took a step backward.

"I mean, what am I supposed to do, anyway?" Owen said. "You keep holding out on me, and you act like you're never going to want to have sex at all. I have needs."

Nora took another step backward.

Owen grabbed her again, pulling her close. His voice was low and rumbling. "But it's okay, Nora. We can make this better. Let me make love to you now, and I won't hold any of this against you. And nothing like this will happen ever again."

"Don't touch me," Nora said. She felt cold all over. Her thoughts were catching up to her, breaking through whatever spell Owen usually cast over her. He was making this her fault. She'd caught him with another woman, and he was somehow twisting it so that it was her fault.

This was what Owen always did. He was angry because she did something wrong. She pushed him, and he couldn't help himself. But Nora didn't think it was true. She hadn't pushed Owen to do this. She wasn't to blame. Owen had done it because he didn't have any regard for Nora whatsoever.

"It was only because I thought you hated me," Owen was saying, his voice silky. "I'm better now. You make me better, Nora."

Nora put her hands against Owen's shoulders and shoved him away from her.

He wasn't expecting it, so he stumbled backwards. His eyes lit up with rage as he got his footing. He came for her.

Nora stepped to the side. "I don't think I make you better. If I make you so angry all the time, maybe I make you worse."

"So stop making me angry," said Owen, reaching for her.

Nora evaded his grasp again. "I don't think I can." She started to walk again.

Owen's fingers dug into her arm, yanking her around to face him. "You're not going anywhere."

She tried to pull away, but he was too strong. Fear trilled through Nora. This had been getting worse for a while, hadn't it? She'd been blind. She'd believed everything that Owen said. But now she was frightened of him, frightened he might really hurt her.

Owen looked anguished. "Why are you so different here in Helicon, Nora? Why don't you want me anymore?"

"I'm not the one who's different," she said. "Please let go of me, Owen."

"You're always trying to get away from me."

Any other time, she might have felt sorry for him, but the fear inside her overrode any capacity she had for sympathy. She struggled. "Let me go."

"I love you," said Owen.

Nora cast a look over her shoulder at the nearby throng of muses dancing around the fire pit. "If you don't let go, I'm going to scream."

Owen's expression went blank and hard. He tugged her against him again. "No one's going to hear you over the music. They won't be able to tell what's happening. I could do anything I wanted to you right now."

The fear blossomed, spreading and brightening. What did that mean? "You're hurting me, Owen. You don't want to hurt me."

"I want to do whatever I have to do to keep from letting you get away from me. Whatever it takes."

"Owen—"

He cut her off by putting his mouth on hers and kissing her roughly. "Maybe if you felt me inside you, you'd see how much you needed me."

He didn't mean— Nora did scream then.

The music was loud, and the muses by the fire didn't hear it. But the muses in the field, the couples, did. Nora saw shadowed heads lifting from the grass, heard mumbles. "Did you hear that?" "What was that?"

Owen let go of her. "Fine. Be like that about it. Go."

Nora didn't hesitate. She took off at a run.

"You'll be back, Nora!" Owen yelled after her. "You'll be begging me to take you back."

Not likely. Nora ran as fast as she could back to the safety of the bonfire. She didn't want to be alone, so she sat down on a bench near the fire and stared into its orange-red depths. She was safe here.

What had just happened? She was trembling all over, and she tried to calm herself. She took deep breaths. None of this made any sense. Owen was the person who protected her. He was the person she trusted. He used to be the only person she trusted, when they'd been alone together in the mundane world. But now, she was frightened of him.

How did he go from her everything to a man who hurt her? How had he become so irrational and angry? He hadn't always been this way. Had he?

No. Maybe the signs had always been there. Certainly, he'd never been jealous of the way Nora spent her time in the mundane world, but she'd always been solitary then. Owen had been her only friend. He'd had nothing to be jealous of. But he had always manipulated everything to his liking, hadn't he? She'd always thought Owen could charm anyone into doing what he wanted. And if he couldn't charm them, he'd use his eyes on them. One look deep into Owen's eyes and people became very compliant.

In fact, Nora remembered wondering if Owen ever used his eye trick on her back in the mundane world. Back then, she'd concluded it didn't matter.

A memory swam back to her. They'd just gotten to Helicon, and she'd set up her tent in the tweens and rebels enclave. Owen had tried to convince her to take it down and come with him to the security enclave. She remembered the way he'd forced her to look into his eyes. When she'd still disagreed with him, he'd seemed alarmed.

Her breath caught in her throat. He had been using his eye trick on her. For some reason, it didn't work on her in Helicon. And after that incident, Owen had started getting angry and controlling all the time. She was starting to feel sick. How many of the decisions that she'd made in the mundane world had been her own? How much had Owen controlled her?

Because it was becoming clear that the only thing that he wanted to do was control her. And she wasn't going to let him. Not anymore.

The May Day celebration didn't wind down, so Nora stayed awake, sitting next to the fire until dawn splintered the sky. In the morning light, she felt safer, so she went back to her tent. She tied her tent closed behind her, worried that Owen would try to get in. Picking up Catling, she curled up in her hammock and slept.

She slept a long time. When she woke up, it was early afternoon, but the tweens and rebels enclave was still and quiet. Everyone else must have stayed up late too. Nora went to the food enclave and had a breakfast of fruits and yogurt. Dionysus was there, eating grapes.

"You," he said. "You're my son's girl, aren't you?"

Nora wasn't sure how to answer. She shook her head. "I don't think so. Not anymore."

Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Young love on the rocks." He popped a grape in his mouth. "Well, that's too bad, because I was hoping you could tell Noah goodbye for me. I'm leaving Helicon today, and I haven't seen him."

"It's Owen," said Nora.

"That's what I said." Dionysus stretched. "Why the falling out? Did he sleep with another woman?"

Nora furrowed her brow. "How did you guess?"

He shrugged. "That's generally why women get angry with me. I can't be tied down, though. Maybe Owen can't either."

Nora didn't want to continue this conversation. She hadn't processed this. She didn't know if she could. She wasn't even sure if she had any idea who Owen was anymore. She couldn't forget how flat and toneless his voice had gotten at the end, how inhuman he'd seemed.

"Nice girl like you should probably date someone besides him anyway," said Dionysus. He smiled and got up, heading out of the food enclave.

"Why?" Nora found herself asking. "What's wrong with him?"

Dionysus paused in the doorway, looking serious for once. "I don't know what his mother did to him when he was a baby, but he's always been a little...off."

"Off?"

"I'm not saying that anyone in Helicon is exactly normal, of course. And being the son of a god probably doesn't do him any favors either. But there's a vicious streak in him. Something underneath..." Dionysus turned away from Nora, thoughtfully gazing into the distance. Then he brightened. "If you do see him, tell him I meant to find him and say my goodbyes, won't you?" Dionysus walked off, whistling.

Nora took a bite of an apple and concentrated on chewing. She didn't want to think about Owen. Thinking about him made her feel soiled somehow. He had manipulated her mind in the mundane world, made her his puppet. And in Helicon, he'd tried to do the exact same thing by constantly making her feel guilty. She'd done whatever she could to keep him from getting angry. She felt betrayed and destroyed. She didn't want to feel it, so she'd distract herself. She'd think about something else. Anything else.

The kitchen in the food enclave was empty, however. She went to the door and peered outside. There were some muses up and about, but not as many as usual. What was she going to do to distract herself?

"Hey Nora," said a male voice.

She whirled, her heart thudding. Was it Owen?

It was Agler. "How'd your night go?"

She swallowed. "It went." But she was trying to distract herself, wasn't she? "You know, something's been bothering me for a while. Where the heck do gods like Dionysus come from, anyway? I mean, aren't the Greek gods supposed to live on Mount Olympus or something? Is that a real place? Could we go there?"

Agler, who looked like he'd just gotten out of bed, rubbed a hand over his face. "Whoa, that's a lot of questions."

"Do other gods show up in Helicon?"

"Uh, I think Loki was here once when I was younger," said Agler. "They chased him off pretty quick."

"Loki? From Norse mythology?" said Nora. "Well, that doesn't even make any sense. I mean, the muses are Greek, and Dionysus is Greek, so at least those go together. Are all the gods in all the mythologies real? What about God? Like, the regular God?"

Sawyer appeared behind Agler. "Is there food?"

"There's fruit," said Nora.

Sawyer made a face. "I was hoping for something more substantial. Like bacon and eggs."

"You want to cook it?" Agler asked.

"Not really," said Sawyer. His shoulders drooped. "Fruit it is." He selected a banana from the fruit basket that was sitting on the table, and began peeling it.

Agler got himself some fruit as well. "Nora's asking tough questions."

Sawyer had just taken a large bite of his banana. He raised his eyebrows. "Like what?" he said, his voice muffled.

"Like about God," said Agler.

"I just want to know if he's real or not," said Nora.

Agler and Sawyer both laughed.

"Why is that funny?" said Nora.

"Isn't that the essential question that people have been asking since the dawn of time?" said Agler.

"Well, you guys would know, though," said Nora. "Wouldn't you? We all know that Dionysus is real. And that fairies are real. Because we've seen them. So does God come to Helicon?"

Agler stuffed some fruit in his pockets. "Come on, Nora. We're going to the philosophy enclave."

"What's philosophy got to do with it?" asked Nora.

Agler and Sawyer both laughed again.

That frustrated Nora. But she was glad to be thinking about something else besides Owen. This distraction thing seemed to be working.

* * *

"There's a great deal of thought about this very question," said Themis Branch, head of the philosophy enclave. He was sitting outside the enclave's fire pit, still wearing his pajamas. He had a steaming mug of coffee in one hand, and there was a percolator full of hot coffee sitting next to the fire, but he hadn't offered them any.

Agler strode into one of the philosophy tents, gesturing to Sawyer and Nora to sit down across from Themis. "Yeah, I remembered hearing a conversation here a few weeks ago, but I couldn't remember everything that was said." He reappeared with some mugs and began pouring coffee into them.

"I don't want to have a conversation," said Nora. "I just want to know which gods are real and which ones aren't."

"Real?" said Themis. "Well, how do we determine if anything is real?"

Agler handed Nora a mug. It was hot. She set it down on the bench next to her. "Well, I guess if you see it, you know it's real."

"You assume it is, at any rate," said Themis. "But haven't you ever seen things that weren't real? Has a trick of the light ever convinced you that a pile of clothes was a dog or have you ever looked out of the corner of your eye and seen something that couldn't possibly be there?"

"I guess so," said Nora. "But what's that got to do with anything? You aren't trying to tell me that Dionysus isn't real even though I've seen him, are you?"

"I'm merely trying to illustrate that seeing something does not always mean that it is real. In those instances in which you have seen something that wasn't there, how did you know it was indeed not real?"

Nora took a drink of her coffee. This was already starting to be a little confusing. Maybe she needed caffeine. "Well, I guess I knew that it wasn't right. That I wouldn't have seen that. I looked again and realized I was wrong. I saw what it really was."

"Aha!" said Themis. "So you have an expectation of what reality should be."

"Yeah," said Nora. She turned to Sawyer, to see if he was as confused as she was. Sawyer was snickering into his coffee, clearly enjoying her discomfort.

"I suppose so," said Nora. "But this isn't really answering my question. If Dionysus is real, and Loki is real, are all the gods real? Every single god ever? Because that would be crazy. They contradict each other."

"Did you have an expectation of what Dionysus should be before you met him?" asked Themis.

Nora thought about it. "Maybe. And he wasn't much like what I thought."

"Yet you still think he's real."

"Because I talked to him!" said Nora. "He exists. Are you trying to tell me he doesn't?"

"I'm not trying to tell you anything," said Themis. "I only enjoy pointing out patterns and thought-processes we have. Let's try a different tack, shall we? You know Dionysus exists because you have interacted with him. If you haven't interacted with someone, does it mean it doesn't exist?"

"No," said Nora. "There's lots of things I've never seen before that exist. Like England, for example. I've never been there, but I'm sure it's real."

"Yes, indeed," said Themis. "But you don't necessarily feel that way about God."

Nora shrugged. "I'm not sure God is real the way I'm sure about England. God doesn't make television shows like Doctor Who, you know? There's no tangible evidence."

"But if God didn't exist," said Themis, "then how would we have any concept of him?"

That was hard. Nora looked at Sawyer for assistance, but he was stifling a grin and avoiding her gaze. She glanced at Agler, but he was listening to Themis with open-mouthed awe, as if everything coming out of the man's mouth was a revelation. Nora gulped at her coffee. "I guess if God didn't exist, then we'd only have heard of him because people made him up."

"Absolutely," said Themis. "So, there's one school of thought that argues that we can't have made something so perfect and intense and otherworldly up in that detail. It claims that if we can conceive of an idea, the idea must exist."

Nora drank more coffee, running that through her head. "So, it's kind of like 'I think, therefore I am'? If I think of God, therefore he exists?"

"Essentially," said Themis. "The theory posits that humans couldn't have created an idea so alien to themselves. That God must have revealed himself to people for them to be able to think of it at all."

"So then God does exist?"

"If you're an ontologist, then certainly," said Themis, smiling. "What do you think of the theory, Nora?"

She shrugged. "Well, it sort of makes sense. I mean, making up something that never existed seems like a pretty difficult thing to do. But all I wanted to know was if God had ever showed up in Helicon, the way Dionysus and the fairies did. Has he?"

Themis chuckled. "Not to my knowledge. But that doesn't mean he doesn't exist, does it?" He turned to Agler. "What do you think of the theory, Agler?"

"I don't know," said Agler. "I think it's a little problematic."

"How so?"

Agler took a drink of coffee. "Well, it seems to me that the concept of god is really just a better, more powerful human. And I think people could think up things that didn't exist if they used the basis of something that did exist. Like, if I told you to think of better tasting coffee than this, you could."

"But is that really all God is?" asked Nora. "A better human? I don't think so."

"Maybe not now," said Agler. "But at first, maybe. I mean, think of the earliest gods. They all acted like humans. They had wives and children and got jealous. But then, over time, people kept thinking up better gods. So by the time we get to the present, the concept of god has been embellished over and over, so that now there's only one, instead of a bunch, and he created the whole universe by speaking, and he controls everything, and he's above jealousy and pettiness."

"Quite an intriguing response," said Themis.

"Maybe the whole argument's wrong anyway," said Agler. "Because here in Helicon, we make things that never existed before all the time. We create. It's what we do."

"Hold on," said Nora. "You just made an argument that negated the existence of Dionysus. You said he was just an embellished human being that someone could have easily made up. But we know Dionysus exists. People didn't make him up."

"How do we know that?" said Agler. "Just because he exists doesn't mean someone didn't make him."

"You're saying that people created gods, not the other way around?" Nora looked at him sharply. "And not just created in their heads, but gave them actual flesh?"

Agler took a deep breath. "Well, I'm not really saying anything. I don't know. The next time you see Dionysus, ask him where he came from."

"Oh, I have," spoke up Themis. "He told me he came from his mother, like the rest of us. In fact most of the Greek gods have at least one parent, and they all descend from Gaia, the earth mother."

Nora covered her face with her hands. "So you're basically saying you don't know. You don't know whether or not there are other gods. You don't know why the gods that come to Helicon exist. And this doesn't bother anyone?"

"Of course it's bothersome," said Themis. "We spend hours in the philosophy enclave talking it through and trying to figure it out. No one has yet, but I'm confident we might someday."

Nora stood up. "But this is Helicon. You're muses. How can you not know? I mean, where did this place come from? Where did the muses come from?"

"Good questions," said Themis. "What do you think?"

Nora groaned. "So everyone is just as clueless as the people in the mundane world?"

"Listen, Nora," said Themis, "the idea of an absolute answer to a question is a very simple idea. Frankly, most things do not have absolute answers. For instance, if we all tried to recount this conversation independently, we'd probably give very different accounts. Our perception filters everything. One man's truth is another man's lie."

Nora's brain felt as if it had been stretching, reaching to grasp all the twists and turns of Themis' logic. It wasn't a familiar feeling to her, but it wasn't exactly unpleasant either. Still, she felt as if she'd worked very, very hard and ended up nowhere. "Maybe," she said. "I might have to think about that more."

"Please do," said Themis.

"I think that was enough for now, though," she said.

Themis laughed. "Do come back and see us, Nora. This has been quite delightful."

On the walk back to the tweens and rebels enclave, Sawyer spoke up. "You know, Nora, while I was listening, I remembered something. A story I heard when I was a kid in the story enclave. This really old muse told it to me. It was about the gods and Helicon, and how the gods used to come and go as they pleased here, but for some reason they stopped. I can't remember why. That muse was probably old enough to remember if the gods really did come here."

"Even if they did," said Agler, "it doesn't tell us where the gods originated, does it?"

"Is that what you wanted to know?" Sawyer asked Nora.

She shrugged. "No. Well... I think I only wanted things to make sense. And now it's become clear that nothing does."

Sawyer laughed.

"But that's why it's awesome," said Agler. "Because everything's complex, not simple and black and white."

"I don't know if that's awesome or not," said Nora. "Maybe it's terrifying."

"We could go to the story enclave later if you wanted," said Sawyer.

Nora didn't know if she really cared about the gods anymore or not. The whole thing was too big for her to really comprehend. Maybe no one could really figure it out because it got too complicated if you tried to think about it for too long. On the other hand, if she wasn't thinking about that issue, she'd have to think about Owen again and what he'd done to her. She nodded. "Sure. Let's see if Maddie wants to go too."

* * *

Maddie remembered the story too. "Oh, I know that guy!" she said. "And that story was really cool. I think Phoebe was in it." She was so excited, she insisted they go to the story enclave right away.

Most of the muses in the story enclave were not up and about yet either, but they were able to find the head of the enclave, Angelia Frost. She knew exactly who they were talking about. "You mean old Ned Willow," she said. She got a sad look in her eyes. "Ned was ancient. He started aging normally about ten years ago, so he was fading fast. Eventually, he left the enclave. He went out into the woods outside Helicon to die."

Nora was horrified by this, but Maddie explained that it was fairly typical for muses. Apparently, at some point, muses had lived for so long that they decided to die.

And apparently Ned was the only muse who remembered the story. So the three went back to the tweens and rebels enclave.

Nora noticed something strange when she walked under the arch. Her tent was open. She quickly checked the Catling tracker that she'd made with Coeus. She wore it around her wrist like a bracelet. Catling was still in the tent. "Why is my tent open?"

"It was closed when we left, wasn't it?" said Maddie.

"Did Catling get loose?" asked Sawyer.

Nora shook her head, approaching the tent. As she got closer, she could actually hear Catling inside the tent, squawking away. She peered inside. Owen was there. She felt her stomach turn over. "I don't want to talk to you," she said, her voice hoarse. She backed away from the tent.

Maddie and Sawyer looked confused. They crowded close to see inside, but Owen was coming out.

"We need to talk," said Owen.

"No," she said. "I've got nothing to say to you."

"Please," he said. "Come on a walk with me."

Nora laughed bitterly. "You think I'm going to be alone with you? I don't think so."

Maddie put a hand on Nora's arm. "What happened?"

Owen glared at Maddie. "It's between Nora and me."

"And the little green fairy you were screwing," Nora said.

"What?" said Sawyer.

Owen held out his hand to Nora. "Please come with me. Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," said Nora. "Nothing at all. You don't get to control me anymore, Owen. You can't use your little mind tricks on me in Helicon, apparently, and I'm not letting you mess with my head anymore."

"Mess with your..." Owen furrowed his brow. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do," said Nora. "I saw you do it tons of times in the mundane world. When people didn't do what you wanted them to do, you'd have them look into your eyes, and suddenly they'd be putty in your hands. It used to work on me too, didn't it?"

Owen's jaw twitched. "Just come with me."

"No," said Nora. "Because if I do, you'll pull whatever crap you always pull that makes me feel like everything I do is wrong, and that I should feel sorry for you or whatever. But you're just trying to control me. You don't care about me. You only want to use me. So go away."

Sawyer smiled. "You tell him, Nora," he said softly.

Owen's nostrils flared. "You sound crazy, you know that? I can't control you."

"Not anymore you can't," said Nora. "Leave."

Sawyer stepped in front of Owen. "I think she asked you to go."

Maddie stepped behind Sawyer, so that the two of them were in between Owen and Nora. "Yeah, I think you should leave."

Owen sucked in breath audibly. "Okay, sure. I'll go. But you need me, Nora. You're going to see how much you need me. You're nothing without me." He stalked off.

They watched him go.

Maddie grabbed Nora's hands. "He cheated on you with a fairy?"

"I've never liked that guy," said Sawyer.

Nora burst into tears.

* * *

Later, Nora sat in her tent with her friends, holding Catling in her lap and petting her. Catling had been very vocal ever since Owen had been in the tent, and the only way she'd be quiet was if Nora stroked her. Nora was exhausted from crying. She'd explained everything to them, and they told her she'd done the right thing. They told her that deep down, they'd always felt like something wasn't right about Owen, but they didn't want to make her angry by saying so.

"He never let you see us," said Maddie. "He was selfish. And it seemed like he was always mad at you."

"You're going to be way better off without him," said Sawyer.

Nora nodded, sniffling. She knew they were right. "He was all I had for so long. I guess I didn't know that things could be any better. I thought the way he treated me was normal."

"He was horrible to you," said Maddie, giving her a hug.

Nora pulled back. "He wasn't always horrible."

"Come on, Nora," said Sawyer, "you've got to stop defending him."

"I don't mean to defend him exactly," said Nora. "I'm only saying that he did take care of me, keep me safe when we were kids. And he brought me to Helicon. I am important to him. You said it once, Maddie. He's obsessed with me."

The three were quiet for a moment.

"That's going to mean he's going to get even worse now that you aren't together, isn't it?" said Sawyer.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The next weeks passed for Nora somehow both quickly and slowly. It was quick because time passed, and she hadn't accomplished anything, but slow because she couldn't bring herself to do anything. Sometimes it seemed that the hours crawled by. Maddie and Sawyer tried to convince Nora to visit the visual art enclave again or the music enclave, since she'd seemed to enjoy both. But Nora didn't feel up to it, so she made excuses. She spent her days lying in her tent, cuddling Catling, or going for aimless walks in the woods and fields that surrounded Helicon. Once and a while, she went to see Mack's chimeras, which she thought would put her in a good mood. Sometimes, they did. Temporarily, anyway. But the sadness always descended again, like a dark cloud.

Nora didn't know how to explain what was wrong, because it felt like everything was wrong. She'd spent her whole life dreaming of Helicon. Now she was here. But getting here had ruined her relationship with Owen.

No. That wasn't it. Her relationship with Owen was a sham. He had never cared about her the way she thought he had. She'd thought he was a good person. She'd relied on him and loved him. When they'd been children, he'd filled the roles of her parent, her brother, and her friend. When they'd grown older, she'd become romantically attached to him. Losing Owen was like losing her entire history. Losing Owen made her feel empty and hollow. She loved him.

But she also was so angry at him that it hurt. He'd betrayed her by sleeping with that fairy. And he'd manipulated her the entire time they'd been together. She'd been his puppet for eleven years, and she'd never even known. She wanted to strangle him. She wanted him to disappear from the face of the earth.

But she still found herself missing him, or thinking of things they used to do together and feeling a deep chasm of loss.

Sawyer said she should try to distract herself. He said the pain would be there later if she needed to keep feeling it. He said she needed to try to create again.

Nora couldn't. She couldn't get through to him how much there was nothing inside her. She didn't feel inspired. She felt like a shell of a girl. It was all she could handle to get up in the morning and get moving. Sometimes, she didn't even do that.

Because of the strange way time was passing, Nora was both surprised to discover it was already time for the Summer Solstice and also confused that it had taken so long. The rest of Helicon was buzzing with preparations for the festival, but Nora ignored them. No matter what Maddie and Sawyer did to try to get her excited about it, she couldn't muster the emotion. In fact, she had no desire to even attend the Solstice celebration.

One morning at breakfast, Doreen came by. She wanted to know if Maddie would be available to watch the babies and toddlers during the Solstice.

Maddie rolled her eyes and was beginning to deliver a cutting remark, when Nora spoke up.

"I'll do it," said Nora. She didn't have any desire to participate in a celebration. Watching kids seemed fun.

"You will?" said Doreen. "Oh, well, that's wonderful. The enclave will be so pleased. Maybe you can go by sometime today to see if they have any special instructions for you."

"Sure," said Nora. "I'll go after breakfast."

"Nora is such a treasure," said Doreen. "Look how willingly she's giving up her Solstice. Maddie, you should take note of that."

Ugh. Doreen was always finding ways to insult Maddie. "No," said Nora. "It's not like that, really. I'm actually just not interested in the Solstice, and—"

Doreen laughed. "Not interested in the Solstice? Don't be silly, Nora. You don't have to be so modest. You're a sweet girl, and I think you're an excellent example for my Maddie. She—"

"I'll help her out," said Maddie, shooting daggers at her mother with her gaze.

"Maddie, you don't have to do that," said Nora.

"Oh, what the heck," said Sawyer. "I'll help too."

"You three are wonderful!" exclaimed Doreen.

Nora tried to convince her friends it wasn't necessary that they give up their Solstice too. Maddie was still fuming over her mother. Sawyer said he actually thought it was fun. The kids were fun to play with, and he thought they'd enjoy themselves playing just as much as they would dancing around the fire pit.

After breakfast, they trooped over to the babies and toddlers enclave as Doreen had suggested. The enclave looked a good bit like other enclaves from the outskirts. There were tents and a fire pit. However, the enclave also jutted up against the kiddie playground, which housed the epic castle/tree house that Maddie had once described to her. It sprawled over an area the size of a football field, connecting at least five trees. There were turrets and rope bridges. There were slides of various lengths and curvature. There were swings dangling from tree branches. It was the most wonderful playground that Nora had ever seen.

Inside the enclave, one or two little kids trotted around the fire pit. A grown woman was sitting and watching them while sewing something by hand. She held it in her lap. When she saw them approach, she said, "Is there something I can do to help the three of you?"

"We're here because Doreen Salt told us you were looking for volunteers to watch children during the Solstice," said Nora.

"And you're volunteering?" said the woman.

Nora nodded.

"That's great." The woman stood up. "Is that Nora Sparrow all grown up?" She cupped Nora's chin with one hand.

"Um, yeah, I'm Nora."

"I used to hold you in my arms and rock you to sleep every night," said the woman. "You wouldn't remember that, I don't suppose, though. I'm Jolie."

"You did?" Nora smiled, feeling an odd rush of emotion. Someone who knew her when she was a baby? Someone who remembered her childhood who wasn't Owen? That seemed amazing.

"I sure did," said Jolie. She gestured at the benches around the fire pit. "Sit down, all three of you." They did. "Of course, I remember Sawyer as well. And I didn't care for Maddie as a baby, but I remember how you helped us out on Valentine's Day, so I couldn't be more delighted."

Nora fidgeted. She wanted to ask questions, but she wasn't sure quite how to put them. "What was I like as a baby?"

Jolie got a dreamy look in her eyes. "Oh, I remember what a sweet little thing you were. You never cried. You'd just spend all your time staring around with those big eyes of yours. And you had the most adorable tuft of orangey-red hair on your head."

Nora fiddled with her hair, embarrassed. She hadn't realized how much she craved this.

"Then, of course, when Owen arrived here, he snatched you up immediately," said Jolie.

Nora's happiness dropped off. Owen. He was part of everything, wasn't he? She stared at the ground.

"So," said Sawyer, sitting up straight, "anything particular we'll need to do with the kids while we're here?"

"Oh, the feeding schedule is posted," said Jolie. "And the bigger ones will watch themselves, although they wouldn't stop talking about the hide and go seek game you and Maddie played with them last time. I'm sure they'd love to do that again."

"Great," said Maddie. She still looked sullen.

"It really was amazing," said Jolie. "I've never seen anything like it. Owen latched onto you, Nora, and the two of you went everywhere together. I know that some of the muses think he's behind those holes in Helicon, but I don't believe it. I always thought he was a sad little boy, not dangerous or anything like that. He didn't have anyone, you know, and of course Phoebe wasn't too keen on him from the beginning."

What? But Phoebe had always defended Owen. "What do you mean?" Nora asked.

"Well," said Jolie, "whatever happened between Phoebe and Dionysus happened a long time ago, but I don't think she was too happy to see Dionysus having a child with someone else. Phoebe's never had any children of her own, you know."

"There was something between Phoebe and Dionysus?" said Sawyer, leaning forward.

"They were quite an item some time ago," said Jolie. "Sent Helicon into a tizzy at the time. Muses and gods mixing. There were all these council meeting about mixed blood and the taint the gods would have on our creativity and all kinds of other worries. But then they had a falling out, and Dionysus disappeared for quite some time. I don't think Phoebe wanted to see him anymore."

That was odd. So Phoebe had dated Dionysus? Nora thought back to the conversation she'd heard at May Day between the two of them. It explained a good bit about the way they interacted, didn't it?

Jolie was still talking. "Of course, I thought it was a bit petty of Phoebe to hold a grudge against Dionysus' son, who was just an innocent child. And she didn't seem very fond of you either, Nora. I was never sure if that was because Owen had taken such a shine to you or not. Well, who knows. Phoebe never seemed fond of children at all, I don't suppose."

Nora tried to digest this. Phoebe had always been so kind to her. Could Phoebe dislike her for some reason? Was it possible that Phoebe didn't like Owen either? Why had she defended Owen at all those council meetings, then?

Her wrist beeped at her.

Nora was confused for a second, then she leapt to her feet. "The Catling tracker! She's on the move. A portal might have opened."

Sawyer and Maddie stood up too.

"We've got to go," said Nora to Jolie. "Thanks for chatting with us."

"Oh, come and see me anytime," said Jolie, smiling.

Maddie crowded close to look at the tracker. "Where's Catling heading?"

* * *

"The philosophy enclave again?" said Sawyer as they approached.

"Well," said Nora, "we don't know if there's a portal. We only know that Catling's loose. Maybe she wandered down here on her own." She called for the cat-duck, as they made their way into the main fire pit area of the philosophy enclave.

They were greeted by Alexander, Owen, and several other members of the security enclave. Owen was holding Catling in his arms.

"Hi there," said Alexander. "Looks like Catling did a good job for us. We found this portal before the influence did. We're going to go through and seal it up before any damage gets done."

"So there is a portal?" asked Maddie.

Alexander pointed.

Sure enough, right next to the fire pit was a small rip in the ground. Through it, they could see a brilliant white light. It looked strange to Nora, because the ground looked paper thin, like a piece of fabric. It was even stranger to know that she could dig a hole right next to it and she'd see dirt, not light. It didn't seem to make sense.

Owen came over to Nora and handed her Catling. "Guess your pet cut off the excitement, huh? Most of Helicon won't even know the portal was here."

Nora took the cat-duck back, stroking her head. She didn't respond to Owen.

"How are you?" asked Owen.

She stared straight ahead.

"Nora," said Owen, "can't we even have a friendly conversation anymore?"

"Leave her alone," Sawyer growled, wedging himself in front of Nora.

Owen rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I guess I can't get past your tranny bulldog, can I?"

Nora's jaw dropped. "Don't you ever say something like that about Sawyer again."

Alexander took Owen by the arm. "Come on, Owen. Let's fix this portal."

Owen glowered at Nora, but let Alexander lead him away. The muse police leapt into the portal and disappeared.

"I can't believe he said that," said Nora, fuming.

"I've heard way worse," said Sawyer. "He's mad at you, not me."

"He's a jerk," said Maddie.

"Did you hear what he said earlier?" said Sawyer. "About how the excitement got cut off?"

Nora shook her head. "I don't even want to think about him anymore. Let's get Catling back to the tent." She started to walk.

Sawyer came after her. "Why would he call it excitement, huh? That's a weird word to use, don't you think?"

Maddie brought up the rear. "You think Owen's opening the portals now?"

"Well, he's kind of a jerk, isn't he?" said Sawyer.

"You thought it was Dionysus before," said Maddie. "And what about what Jolie just told us, about Phoebe and Dionysus dating. Doesn't what they were saying to each other at May Day make much more sense?"

"Dionysus isn't here anymore," said Sawyer.

"Dionysus wasn't here when any of the portals were opened," said Maddie, "but that doesn't mean he didn't do it. From what we heard Phoebe tell Dionysus, it sounded obvious it was him. And if they actually did date each other, then it explains why she protected him."

"I don't know," said Sawyer. "She's with Coeus now. Why would she still want to protect Dionysus? When we heard them talking, they sounded really pissed at each other. Maybe it is Owen. Maybe it's been him the whole time."

"Nora, you always said it couldn't be Owen," said Maddie. "Have you changed your mind about him now?"

Nora shrugged. "I don't see why it matters so much one way or another. No one got hurt. The portal is being closed right now. The Influence didn't get through. I mean, honestly, if the people in charge of Helicon can't figure out who's creating these portals, then I don't see why we think we'll be able to." She walked faster. She only wanted back in her tent, away from everything.

* * *

It was after midnight on the night of the Summer Solstice celebration, and Nora was sitting in a rocking chair in the babies and toddlers enclave. A tiny muse baby was asleep on her lap, his small mouth open and his little eyes squeezed shut. Over an hour ago, she'd shooed Sawyer and Maddie off, sending them to the revels, claiming she had everything under control. All of the children were asleep by then, exhausted by Sawyer's rousing game of hide and seek. It was quiet, and Nora didn't need their help anymore. They'd protested but not very much and had eventually agreed. When they were gone, Nora had drunk in the silence, feeling peaceful, until this little guy had started crying, and she'd gone to get him and rock him back to sleep.

Now she felt relaxed and calm, the warmth and weight of the child in her lap grounding her and connecting her to the world. She hadn't felt this serene in quite a long time, certainly not since sometime before breaking up with Owen.

She softly caressed the baby's forehead. His skin was so soft under her fingertips. She smiled, feeling at peace.

"Nora?" It was a male voice, and she couldn't quite place it until Agler walked into view.

"Hi," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I asked Maddie where you were, and she said you were here," said Agler. "I wondered if you wanted any company."

Nora really didn't. She was enjoying the tranquility of being alone with sleeping children, but she didn't see how she could tell Agler to go away without sounding rude, so she shrugged. "Sure."

Agler pulled over another rocking chair and sat down. "You haven't been back to the music enclave."

"I haven't been much of anywhere."

Agler nodded, rocking on his chair. It was quiet for a few minutes. "Yeah, I've been hanging out in the philosophy enclave more and more these days. You should come by some time. Themis thought you asked some really good questions when we had the conversation about gods last month."

Nora touched the baby's forehead again. "I just, um, I haven't much felt like doing anything lately." She sounded pathetic, she supposed. She was engulfed in a little bubble of her pain, and she didn't seem to feel like leaving. At least not yet.

"Yeah," said Agler again. "I heard about you and Owen."

It was quiet again. Nora didn't feel the need to acknowledge what he'd said. Knowing what she did about Helicon, she was sure the news was far and wide at this point.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Agler asked.

Nora shook her head. "Not really."

More awkward silence. Nora began to wonder if Agler might just leave if she didn't say anything. But that was rude too, wasn't it? She chewed on her lip, wondering what she could talk about. She remembered that she'd found Agler attractive once and felt guilty about it. He hadn't changed. He was still tanned and strong and freckled. But Nora didn't feel anything from looking at him anymore. She didn't feel like she had the energy.

"It's your first breakup, huh?" said Agler.

Nora narrowed her eyes. "Like you're a breakup expert or something? How many could you have possibly gone through?"

Agler looked embarrassed. "One," he said.

"I guess we're kind of even, then, aren't we?" said Nora, smiling. She felt good again for a second, as if teasing him lifted some of the sadness in her.

"I guess so," said Agler. He smiled back. "But I do know that it's no fun."

"It doesn't feel like a breakup," Nora said. "It feels worse than that. I feel like I lost my family and my support system. I feel like everything I ever loved was a lie. I feel broken."

Agler nodded. He took a deep breath and looked at his shoes. "You and Owen were close. You grew up together."

"It doesn't make sense," Nora said. "Why do everything he did? Why take care of me and make sure I got back to Helicon if he only ever wanted to use me?"

"Maybe I need you to fill me in a little bit," said Agler. "What do you mean, 'use you?'"

Nora explained about Owen's eye trick. She explained about the way he'd been manipulating her when he got back to Helicon. She didn't say anything about Owen's pressuring her to have sex with him though. She didn't feel like she could say that out loud to Agler. "Now, whenever I look back on anything we did together, all I see is the way he was coercing me to act the way he wanted me to act. It makes me sick."

Agler studied his hands. "Owen's been like that ever since I've known him."

"So everyone keeps telling me," said Nora. "I guess I should have listened. You know, he told me that you were a bully. That you made his and my life miserable when we were kids. But he said whatever he could say to keep me under his thumb."

"He said that about me?" Agler looked annoyed.

Nora nodded. "I don't believe it, of course."

Agler got out of his rocking chair. "That was how he spun it back then. I guess there wouldn't be any reason for him to tell the truth now."

"Back then?"

"When I was a kid, sometimes my mom would leave me in the kiddie playground while she went to play music or something," said Agler. "And before you and Owen got taken away, you guys would be there too. You were always with Owen. He'd lead you around everywhere, holding onto your hand really tight. And if anyone tried to talk to you, he'd answer for you. It was like you were Owen's shadow. But one day, you were by yourself. You were all alone, sitting on the swings. And you were crying. So I went over to ask you what was wrong, but when I tried to talk to you, you started crying harder."

"Why was I crying?" Nora said. She had no memory of this whatsoever.

"I don't know," said Agler. "You wouldn't tell me. You would only say Owen's name. So I went looking for him. I asked some of the other kids if they knew where he was, and they said he'd gone off in the woods. I went into the woods after him. I found him. He was doing something really..."

"What?" said Nora.

"He had this squirrel," said Agler, making a face. "I don't know if it was dead when he found it or if he killed it, or what, but he was like...dissecting it or something. He'd pulled its guts out, and he was squatted over it, really looking intently at it."

"Oh," said Nora, feeling a fresh wave of horror crash over her. "How old was he then?"

"Maybe five?" said Agler. "Anyway, he saw me. And we kind of got into a fight. I said I was going to tell everyone what he was doing, and that he'd get in big trouble. I was a kid, and the dead thing freaked me out, so I was kind of posturing or something. Trying to save face since I was so disgusted by what he was doing. He just grinned at me. He picked up the squirrel and ran straight back to the playground. Once he got there, he showed it to one of the muses watching us, and he said that I'd found it in the woods, and that I'd been scaring you with it. Since you were over there crying still, they believed him, and I got in all kinds of trouble. The next time I saw him he said I needed to stay away from him and stay away from you, or he'd make me sorry."

Nora felt sick. "He was torturing a squirrel?"

"And he blamed me for it," said Agler.

Nora's mouth was dry. "Do you know anything about psychology, Agler?"

He shrugged. "Um, not really. Isn't that some kind of mundane world thing?"

"I took a psychology class," said Nora. "I was okay in classes where I just had to memorize things for tests. As long as I wasn't creative, you know? So I liked that class. But I remember the lesson on sociopaths, and one of the things they do is kill animals when they're children."

"What's a sociopath?"

Nora swallowed, trying to keep her tongue from sticking to the roof of her mouth. "They're people who don't have empathy. They don't care about other people's feelings. Sometimes they end up killing lots of people. And they usually start with animals." She clutched the baby close. "And the way he treated me, like I was just something to use to keep him happy, it fits. He even told me once that he didn't care about me the way I cared about him, but I didn't listen."

The baby in her arms woke up and began to squall loudly. She must have squeezed him too tight. Immediately, Nora put him over her shoulder and began rocking and rubbing his back, making soothing noises.

As the baby quieted, Agler said, "Wait a second, Nora. Are you saying you think Owen might be dangerous?"

She turned horrified eyes on him. "I don't know. If he really doesn't care about anything but himself, maybe." She chewed on her lip. "Did you know another portal opened?"

"When?" said Agler.

"Yesterday," said Nora. "But they got to it and closed it before the Influence found it. Owen said that the excitement was cut off."

"You think Owen's making those portals?"

"You think it, don't you?" Nora asked. "You've said it to me before. Sawyer thinks it."

"It doesn't matter if I do or not," said Agler. "I can't prove anything."

"How could we prove it?"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Maddie dangled her legs over the side of the tree house. "We haven't seen anything, because it's not Owen."

Nora leaned against the tree trunk. "Maybe it's not."

Agler sighed. "We've only been watching him for a little over a month. The portals have been happening every month or two. So, he could be planning to make another one at any time."

"Maybe," said Maddie, "but I'm exhausted. Are you guys not exhausted? Between taking shifts watching Owen, who never does anything, and trying to keep up with the stuff I'm doing in the dance enclave, and finding time to sleep, I have no time whatsoever. And I've been saying all along that Owen wasn't even here when the first portals were created."

"Right," said Agler, "but you still think it was Dionysus, and he wasn't here for any of the portals."

"Which fits," said Maddie. "Because it's consistent."

"But," Nora, "If Dionysus is responsible, then what Owen said about the portals being made from the inside is probably true."

"Yeah," said Maddie, "he came into Helicon with his little viney fanfare or whatever, ripped a portal and left. It totally makes sense, and we're wasting our time watching Owen."

Nora chewed on her lip. "I just worry. What if Owen is doing it, and we could be stopping him?"

"We're watching him all the time," said Agler. "If he makes a portal, we'll know it. If a portal opens and he had nothing to do with it, we'll know that too. We've just got to stay focused."

"If you don't want to do it anymore, maybe the rest of us could take over your shifts," said Nora to Maddie.

"I'm not going to do that to you guys," said Maddie. "It would be much harder with only three of you, anyway." She pushed herself to her feet. "Speaking of shifts, I think I have to go relieve Sawyer now."

"Okay," said Nora, "I'll be there to take over for you after midnight."

"Wait," said Maddie, looking down into the tweens and rebels enclave. "That's Sawyer."

Sure enough, Sawyer was streaking across the enclave, his skirt gathered in one hand so he could run faster. They all heard him clamber up the steps of the tree house. When he emerged onto the platform they were sitting on, he was out of breath.

"What are you doing here?" asked Agler. "You're supposed to be watching Owen."

"He's going into the woods," said Sawyer, "with four other tweens that are in the muse police. I think we all have to see this."

"You think he's going to open a portal?" Nora said, getting to her feet.

"I don't know," said Sawyer, "but whatever it is, it's a secret, and he's hiding it, so we have to go now."

The four of them scrambled out of the tree house and followed Sawyer into the woods. As they got deeper into the trees, Sawyer motioned for them to be quiet, so they walked more slowly and carefully.

In the distance, they heard voices, and as they approached, the voices got clearer.

"What are we doing out here, Owen?" said one. Between the trees, the owner of the voice became clear. It was a boy with a red handkerchief tied around his forehead.

The four spies crouched behind tree trunks, watching and listening.

Owen was standing with his back to Nora and her friends. Four other tweens sat on the ground in front of him. One had the red handkerchief, one had curly black hair, one had blond hair, and the final boy wore a tie-dyed t-shirt.

"I thought it would be better to talk here," said Owen, "away from the rest of Helicon."

"Talk about what?" said Curly Black Hair.

"Talk about the way things are here," said Owen, "and why they should change."

That didn't sound good. Nora clutched the tree trunk she crouched behind for balance. Was he going to involve all of these guys in opening a portal?

"I've heard the things you guys say," said Owen. "That's why I invited you here."

"What things?" said the blond.

"He means the other night," said Red Handkerchief, "when we were talking about how the muses are lazy."

"Exactly," said Owen.

"So what?" said Tie-Dye. "All the police say stuff like that. Even Alexander gets pissed from time to time. He bitches about how no one pulls their weight. He used to lecture his kid Dirk about it before Dirk went to the tweens and rebels enclave. Probably the only reason Dirk's in the engineering enclave, which is the least selfish bunch of the lot."

"Alexander isn't open to my ideas," said Owen. "I've tried to talk to him about it. But I get the impression that you guys might be."

"We were just blowing off steam," said Black Curly Hair. "Sometimes it feels like we don't matter around here. Everyone's so busy singing and dancing that they don't even notice who's keeping them safe."

"That's my point," said Owen. "The muses are vulnerable, but they act as if they aren't. If it weren't for us, they'd never be able to close up those portals that keep opening. And even though they created a committee to find the person who's opening them, they aren't any closer to knowing who the perpetrator is months later."

Was Owen going to reveal that he was the one doing it? Had he been laughing behind everyone's backs for all this time?

"Well, they've got that tracker, though," said the blond. "We stopped that portal from doing any damage."

"A stopgap measure," said Owen. "When a community is in danger, the leaders of the community need to be able to save the community. And our leaders in Helicon can't do that, because they're focused on the wrong things. They're so caught up in playing games and having parties that they can't see that there are problems. I think that the muse police should be in charge, not the council. The council is weak and stupid."

"Alexander would never go for that," said Tie-Dye.

"That's why I'm not talking to Alexander," said Owen. "I'm talking to you. The five of us. We should be the leaders of Helicon."

What? Nora let go of the tree trunk to cover her open mouth. She lost her balance and stepped backwards, breaking a branch with a loud crack.

Owen turned around. "Someone followed us. Which one of you said something?"

The four muse police tweens all shook their heads, muttering negative noises.

Owen started back into the woods.

This wasn't good. Nora looked around at her friends, mouthing, "Sorry." What should they do? Should they try to stay hidden? Back off? Get up and run? Maybe if she took the fall, she could distract Owen so that the others could get away. "I'm going to talk to him," she whispered. "You guys go back to the enclave."

Sawyer and Maddie began to back up.

"Be careful," said Sawyer, as the two eased into the woods in the direction of the tweens and rebels enclave.

"Nora, no," Agler whispered.

But Nora had already stood up. "Hi Owen. I followed you out here because I thought you were meeting that fairy again, and I wanted to give her a piece of my mind." Would Owen buy that? It didn't make any sense. She hadn't spoken to Owen in months. He couldn't think she was still jealous, could he?

"Nora?" Owen's expression softened. "No, I wasn't doing anything like that."

He'd bought it! "Yeah, I heard what you were saying," she said. "You can't seriously think you could be the leader of Helicon."

He folded his arms over his chest. "We may not be together anymore, but that doesn't mean I want you to get hurt. And as long as those portals are still being opened, this whole place is in danger. I want to keep you and all of the muses safe. I think I'd do a better job than the council."

"Please, Owen. You're opening those portals yourself," said Nora.

Owen's jaw dropped. "You can't think that. I would never do that. I love Helicon. This place is my home. Of all people, I thought you would understand that."

"There are a lot of things I thought I understood about you, Owen, but they didn't turn out to be true," said Nora. "And it makes sense in a twisted way, doesn't it? You put Helicon in danger precisely so you can 'save' it. But no one here will ever let you lead this place. You're an outsider. No one trusts you."

Owen looked agonized. "You used to trust me. You were the only one."

"And you betrayed me." Maybe this was a bad idea. Nora was beginning to feel very emotional. She fought tears.

"I know," said Owen. "I was weak and stupid, and I hurt you." He looked away. "I wish there was some way you could forgive me. I don't know who I am without you, Nora. Maybe I only started all this taking over Helicon business because I needed something. And without you, I have nothing." He reached for her.

And Agler darted out from between the trees, pushing Owen away. "Don't touch her."

What was Agler still doing here? Hadn't Nora told him to go back to the tweens and rebels enclave?

Owen went sprawling on his backside. His expression turned venomous as he got to his feet, brushing dead leaves off himself. "What's he doing here, Nora?"

"I..." Nora didn't know what to say.

"I told you to stay away from her a long time ago, didn't I, Agler?" said Owen. "But you didn't listen, because you've got the brain capacity of a flea."

Agler clenched his jaw. "All you've ever wanted to do was hurt Nora."

"Hurt her?" Owen laughed. "I love her. I love her in a way someone like you could never understand."

"Well, she doesn't love you. And she doesn't want you to touch her."

"She's confused," said Owen. "But she won't be forever." He glowered at Nora under dark eyebrows. "I'm the only one for you, Nora, and you'll realize that eventually."

Nora didn't feel like listening to that. And they couldn't very well spy on Owen if he knew they were there, could they? "Let's get out of here, Agler."

"Why were you really here?" Owen said. "What were you doing in the woods? You letting him touch you? Is that what's going on?"

Oh. Great. "Agler and I are friends," said Nora. "And that's all. And we're leaving." She tried to catch Agler's eye and send him a pointed look.

But Agler was glaring at Owen. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Just friends?" Owen spoke slowly as if he were talking to a small child. "Does Agler actually understand not to take what's not mine now? No way. He wouldn't be smart enough to keep his hands to himself, would he? Because he's an idiot, and a coward, and—"

Agler punched him.

Nora cringed. "Stop it."

Owen laughed. Blood was pouring out of his nose, over his lips. He spat it at Agler. "Did I get under your skin, idiot boy? Did it feel good, letting it all out like that?" He grinned. His teeth were stained red. "Hit me again."

Agler was cradling his fist. His face was red.

Nora grabbed him by the arm. "Come on. Let's go."

"Can't you do it?" said Owen. "Too scared? Or are you trying to remember how to do it again? You've always been a little slow, haven't you? Your family all took to their instruments like ducks to water, but you have to practice, don't you? Because you're just not very bright, Agler."

Agler drove his fist into Owen's face again. "Shut up."

Nora grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling on him, but her fingertips slipped off. "Don't. He wants you to."

Agler slammed his other fist into Owen's stomach.

Owen doubled over, laughing and bleeding. "You're such a man, aren't you? Pounding on a guy who isn't even hitting back?"

"Agler!" Nora yelled.

He was breathing hard.

Owen straightened. "Agler Thorn. What a prince."

Agler pressed his lips together in a thin line.

"Don't listen to him," said Nora. "Let's go." She took his arm again, tugging on him.

Agler stared at Owen for one more second. Owen was grinning. He wiped blood off his face with the back of his hand. Then Agler turned away and let Nora lead him off.

They didn't speak. They only sound was the crunch of their feet against the leaves.

When they were in sight of the tweens and rebels enclave, Agler muttered, "I never hit anyone before."

Nora nodded. "Yeah, I'm guessing there's not a lot of fighting in Helicon usually."

"Not physical fighting," said Agler. "People argue all the time, but they don't hit each other. I don't know why I did it. I was so angry with him."

"He wanted you to do it," said Nora.

"Why would he want that?" said Agler.

She wasn't sure.

* * *

It was noon, and the main fire pit was empty except for Phoebe. She was standing inside the circle with her arms crossed over her chest. She did not look happy. Nora had received a summons to come here, and on her way, she'd run into Agler, who'd gotten one as well. They didn't know what it was about, and they'd been trading theories as they walked.

But it all became clear when Owen skulked out from behind one of the tents and took a seat next to Phoebe. His face was swollen, marred by a purplish bruise that extended to both his eyes. He looked terrible. Nora's heart sank. So this was what Owen was up to.

Phoebe gestured to the bench next to Owen. "Sit down, both of you."

Hanging her head, Nora sat down. Agler followed suit. They both stared at the ground.

Phoebe began to pace in front of them. Her voice was quiet and controlled, but Nora could tell she was angry. "We don't usually have problems like this in Helicon," she said. "I can count on one hand the times that there's been any kind of violence while I've been head of the council. This is simply not a place where people hit each other."

Agler closed his eyes. Nora could see him swallow.

Phoebe spread her hands. "Agler, Owen tells me that you began hitting him repeatedly, and that he didn't retaliate. Is this true?"

Agler bobbed his head.

"Answer me," said Phoebe.

"It's true," said Agler in a small voice.

This wasn't fair. Owen had engineered this entire thing. Nora looked up. "It's not Agler's fault. Owen egged him on. He was calling him names and—"

"Name calling?" Phoebe repeated. "That's why you hit him?"

Agler nodded again, looking miserable.

"It wasn't like that," said Nora. "Owen provoked him."

"Oh," said Phoebe, "I think I understand the situation perfectly. You came to Helicon dating Owen. Now, you're with Agler, and—"

"I'm not," said Nora. "I'm not with anyone."

Phoebe paused for a moment. Her brow furrowed. "Aren't you?"

Nora shook her head.

Phoebe shook herself, rolling her eyes. "Heaven spare me from tween love. The point is you've got boys fighting over you."

Nora made a face. It wasn't like that. Not exactly.

Phoebe put a finger in her face. "I'll deal with you in a moment, Nora. Alone."

Nora shrank into the bench. Phoebe was blaming her?

Phoebe sighed. "Owen doesn't want to tell me the nitty gritty details either. I wouldn't know a thing about this if his face wasn't completely mangled, and I haven't sent him to the healers yet because I wanted Agler to see what it was he'd done." She pointed at Owen. "Look."

Agler raised his head to stare at him.

"You already stole my girlfriend," said Owen. "You don't have to hit me too."

"She's not my girlfriend," muttered Agler.

"Like hell she's not," said Owen.

Phoebe held up a hand to stop Owen from talking. She looked thoughtfully from Owen to Agler. "It really isn't important. The important thing is that we don't solve conflicts with violence. You know this, Agler Thorn."

His shame was all over him.

"Don't do it again," Phoebe said. "Whatever he says to you. I don't care what it is. If you can't control yourself, walk away. Do you understand?"

Agler nodded.

"I don't hear you," said Phoebe.

"I understand," he said.

"Good," said Phoebe. "Owen, off to the healers with you. Nora, I want to talk to you in my tent. Agler, think about what you've done."

Owen stood up. "That's it?"

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Think about what you've done?" Owen echoed in a disbelieving voice.

Phoebe folded her arms over her chest again. "I realize that you grew up in the mundane world where violence was commonplace, Owen. I know there it's quite typical to punish violence with violence. But you won't find that in Helicon. Now get yourself to the healing enclave. It makes my face hurt just looking at you."

Owen's jaw twitched. He took a breath as if he was about to say something, then seemed to think better of it. Turning on his heel, he stalked off.

Agler stood up, but he wouldn't look at Nora or Phoebe. "I'm sorry."

Phoebe patted him on the shoulder. "I meant what I said. Don't listen to what he says." She beckoned to Nora. "Come along, then."

Once they were inside Phoebe's tent, Phoebe pulled the opening shut after them. "Now," she said, "I want you to tell me exactly what happened."

Nora chewed on her lip. She couldn't tell Phoebe all of it, could she? "Agler and I were in the woods, and we saw Owen. Well, he saw us, and—"

"And what were you and Agler doing in the woods, seeing as you aren't romantically entangled?"

Nora fidgeted. "Walking?"

Phoebe fixed her with a no-nonsense glare. "You can't have this both ways, Nora. Now either Owen stumbled on the two of you in some kind of adolescent tryst, which is what he claims, or something else is going on. I've given Owen the benefit of the doubt since he arrived back here in Helicon, but I must say I find it a bit odd that if there's violence, he's involved, and then his story doesn't match yours. So what happened?"

"What did Owen say Agler and I were doing?" Nora didn't like the idea of untrue rumors being spread about her.

"Never mind that," said Phoebe. "What were you actually doing?"

Nora felt deflated. Would it hurt to tell Phoebe? "We were spying on Owen."

"Spying?"

"We think that he might be ripping open the portals in Helicon. We were trying to catch him in the act," said Nora.

Phoebe looked surprised. She sat down in a chair. "What makes you think Owen might be responsible? Do you have any evidence?"

"Well, not exactly," said Nora. She was beginning to feel a little silly about the whole thing. "I'm not sure Owen is exactly normal."

Phoebe laughed. "No one in Helicon is normal."

"I mean in a bad way," said Nora. "When we were in the mundane world, he could do this thing with his eyes. He'd just get someone to look at him, and it was like he could control them after that. Make them do whatever he wanted. He did it to me."

Phoebe drew in a breath, looking thoughtful. "Go on."

"When we got to Helicon, it stopped working," said Nora. "So, he started to do other things to try to get me to do what he wanted. He made me feel bad about myself all the time. He accused me of things." Her voice sank to a whisper. "He kept trying to make me sleep with him."

"That doesn't sound pleasant." Phoebe had a reassuring look in her eyes.

Nora plowed on. "And then Agler told me that when Owen was a kid here, he tortured animals and killed them or at least he did disgusting things with dead animals, and I thought that maybe Owen was a sociopath, because he doesn't seem to care about anyone but himself, and I thought maybe he'd turn into a serial killer or something. That he'd be capable of making the portals. So, we started watching him."

"A serial killer?" Phoebe shook her head. "You spent so much time in the mundane world. Let's be a little rational here, shall we? To your knowledge, Owen's never killed anyone, has he?"

"No," said Nora.

"Or even threatened to kill someone?"

"No," said Nora. She was beginning to feel like she'd gotten a little hysterical.

"Owen is and always has been a strange boy," said Phoebe. "And perhaps he's not particularly mature enough to handle a relationship with you, and he's taking it out in rather unhealthy ways. I don't think we should leap to the conclusion that he's some kind of maniac killer. He's clearly jealous of you and Agler."

"There's nothing going on between us," said Nora. "We're friends."

"Nothing at all?"

"No," said Nora. "I can't even think about being with someone. Not yet. After Owen, it all seems... I want to be alone. I want to be free."

Phoebe got up out of her chair, sighing. "Well, it's unfortunate, really. I wanted to be wrong about him. I really hoped he'd grown out of it." She gazed over Nora's head. "He had issues when he was a child, it's true. I noticed them. Others did as well. And he always had the ability to be quite charming. Like his father. When the two of you left us all those years ago, the community was divided about him. Some of them thought he was an innocent, wronged child. Others thought he was a devil's spawn. I was one of the latter." She turned to Nora. "When you got back here, I thought perhaps I'd been hasty. Perhaps I'd judged him too harshly."

"Was it because you had a relationship with Dionysus?" Nora couldn't help but asking.

"Who told you that?" said Phoebe, looking perturbed.

"Jolie in the babies and toddlers enclave."

"Jolie needs to keep her mouth shut," said Phoebe. "Yes, several hundred years ago, when I was young and stupid, I had an incredibly idiotic dalliance with Dionysus. But that wasn't why I was suspicious of Owen. Really. It wasn't."

Nora felt bad for bringing it up. "I'm sorry."

Phoebe waved it away. "The boy's always sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I'd look into his eyes, and it was like...like there was nothing behind them." She crossed the tent, clasping her hands together. Then she turned sharply to Nora. "Well, I can't exactly throw him out because another boy hit him, can I?"

Nora was astonished. "I don't want you to throw him out."

"Don't you?"

Nora realized she hadn't really thought this far ahead. "Well, this is the only home he's ever known. And if we can get him to stop opening the portals, then he won't be hurting anyone—"

"He's not opening the portals," Phoebe said with a kind of certainty that didn't leave room for arguments.

"It is Dionysus then," said Nora.

"What would give you an idea like that?" said Phoebe, looking confused.

Nora looked at the ground. She didn't want to admit that she'd been spying on Phoebe as well. "Maybe, during May Day, I happened to overhear that he was doing something that drained energy from Helicon."

Phoebe shook her head. "You are quite the little spy, aren't you? Well, that's got nothing to do with the portals, Nora. Trust me."

"What does it have to do with?"

"None of your business," said Phoebe. She tapped her chin with her forefinger. "You see, as head of the council, I'm connected to Helicon in a way that others aren't. I don't feel it when the portals open, not exactly, but I feel it when energy it being taken away from Helicon. If the portals were being punched into Helicon from the outside, the energy would seep out. But they aren't, they're being made from the inside, because they're sucking energy away. So Owen has been right all along. Someone inside Helicon is making the portals. And it can't be Owen, because he wasn't here when the first ones were made. It can't be Dionysus either, because he hasn't been here when any of them were made."

Nora tried to digest this. "It's really not Owen?"

"It's not," said Phoebe.

"And it isn't Dionysus. You're sure?"

"Let's drop the subject of Dionysus, please," said Phoebe, looking pained.

Nora nodded, but she wasn't entirely satisfied. Why didn't Phoebe want to talk about Dionysus?

Phoebe sat back down in her chair. "Has Owen ever spoken to you about his mother?"

Nora shook her head. "He never talks about her. He used to talk about his father, but after meeting Dionysus again, I think he was a little disillusioned."

"You don't get the impression he's in contact with her then? In any way?"

"No," said Nora. "Why? What's his mother got to do with anything?"

"Nimue hates the muses," said Phoebe. "She hates everything, in fact. She's really a horrible person. Well, she's not exactly a person, I don't suppose. Not after she managed to steal immortality from Merlin along with all his powers."

"Merlin? You mean Merlin's real? What's next? Are the Smurfs going to show up in Helicon? Or maybe leprechauns?"

Phoebe shuddered. "Oh, don't joke about the leprechauns. The last time they found their way into Helicon, it was a disaster."

Seriously?

"We're getting off topic here," said Phoebe. "You and Agler followed Owen into the woods because you thought he was opening a portal. He obviously wasn't. So what was he doing?"

Nora had nearly forgotten about that part, the most damning part of all. "He wants to take over Helicon. He thinks that the council doesn't do a good enough job, and that he and certain members of the muse police would do better."

Phoebe burst out in laughter. "Well, that's ridiculous. Owen could never do anything like that." She considered. "Unless he was working with Nimue, which you're sure he isn't doing, right?"

"I'm not sure about anything with Owen anymore," said Nora.

Phoebe nodded. She twisted her hands in her lap. "Well, I'll just watch him," she said to herself. "I'll watch him. If he does anything..." She looked up at Nora. "If he ever hurts you or anyone and you see it, come to me immediately."

Nora nodded.

"And stop trying to figure out who's ripping the holes in Helicon," said Phoebe. "Coeus and I are taking care of that. We have a committee. It's not your concern. You're a muse. You need to be creating. I haven't seen you out and about lately. I seem to remember you used to spend time in the visual arts enclave. Didn't you make that adorable snow sculpture this winter?"

Nora shrugged. "I haven't felt up to it since I broke up with Owen."

"You're a muse, Nora," said Phoebe. "Your one mission in life is to create. If we aren't creating, we aren't contributing to inspiration threads. And that is our reason for existing. You realize this, yes?"

Nora suddenly felt guilty for not doing anything. "I guess it just hurt too much to try to do anything. I mean, all the muses are always so happy, and I wasn't. I didn't feel like being around that."

"Happiness is not a prerequisite for creation," said Phoebe. "Some of the best pieces of art have been born out of extreme pain. Pain can be a powerful form of inspiration. It hurts? Good. Use it."

Nora guessed that could be true. She couldn't count the number of songs she'd heard about breakups. Maybe she did need to be creating again.

"In fact," said Phoebe, "the science and math gala is in a week. I want to see you helping out. I know they were looking for visual arts people to work on decorations. You leave me, scurry over there, and volunteer, okay?"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

But it wasn't so easy to start creating again. Nora hadn't really made anything since May Day, and now it was midsummer. She dutifully did as Phoebe asked and tried to make decorations for the science and math gala. But she had trouble coming up with ideas. She went to the math enclave, asking them what they wanted, and they told her to do what she liked, to let the inspiration take her. But try as Nora might, she couldn't find the inspiration.

She met Sawyer and Maddie that evening at the main fire pit for dinner, and she wasn't in a particularly good mood. "Something's wrong with me," she told them as she dipped some curry onto the bed of rice on her plate.

"Oh," said Sawyer, "you mean the way you're always chewing on your lip? I think it actually makes you look sort of cute, so I wouldn't worry about it too much."

Nora chewed on her lip. "Do I really do that a lot?"

Maddie put several slices of mushroom goat cheese pizza on her plate. "You should try this pizza. My mom made it, and it's excellent."

"Curry and pizza?" Nora shook her head. "I'm serious, though. Something's wrong. When I went to see Phoebe today, she told me I should volunteer to help with making decorations for the science and math gala—"

"Oh yeah." Maddie sat down on a bench next to the fire. "Why did you have to go see Phoebe anyway?"

"Oh, it was weird," said Nora, sitting down next to her. "You know how Agler punched Owen, right?"

Sawyer sat down. "Agler punched Owen? You left this out. Why?"

"Because Owen was being an ass," said Nora. "Anyway, Owen had two black eyes and apparently he went crying to Phoebe about it."

"Black eyes?" said Maddie. "You're kidding me. Agler wouldn't do that."

"It was Owen's fault," said Nora. "Even Phoebe agrees. She said that Owen's a bad seed or something, but she's sure he's not making the portals, and she told me I should focus on creating instead of spying on people."

"Paint me a picture here," said Sawyer. "What did Owen look like when Agler punched him? Did he cry?" He snickered.

"Sawyer!" said Maddie. "It's disturbing to think Agler's giving people black eyes."

"Owen laughed," said Nora. "Because he wanted Agler to do it. It was seriously screwed up. Owen was bleeding all over the place, laughing, and telling Agler to hit him again. But that's not the point. The point is that I did what Phoebe said, and I started trying to make decorations for the gala."

"Did you say that Phoebe doesn't think Owen's making the portals?" Maddie took a bite of her pizza.

"She knows he's not," said Nora. "She said that she can tell the portals are being made from the inside, because she's head of the council, and Owen couldn't have done it, because he wasn't inside Helicon when all of them were made."

"Maybe he was able to get in and wasn't telling you," said Sawyer. "When you were in the mundane world?"

"No," said Nora. "I don't think so. Phoebe set me straight anyway. She said that we're muses, and we're supposed to be creating all the time, not doing detective work. And she's right. We need to create."

"But it was your idea to launch an investigation in the first place," said Sawyer.

"Actually, it was yours," said Nora. "And we haven't figured one single thing out the whole time we've been 'investigating.' So, we're just going to drop the whole thing. We're going to let the council handle it. We're not going to worry about the portals."

"But what about Dionysus?" said Maddie.

Nora stirred her curry with a fork. "Well, she did get really touchy about that. But she admitted they had an affair a hundred years ago."

"So maybe she's covering for him," said Maddie.

"This isn't important," said Nora. "What's important is I can't create anymore."

"What do you mean?" said Sawyer.

"I've been trying to make decorations all afternoon," said Nora. "I can't get an idea. I tried to ask the science and math people what they wanted, and they said to let the inspiration take me. Do whatever I wanted. But I don't know what I want. I have no ideas at all."

"Probably because you're still worried about the portals and stuff," said Maddie. "It might be easy for Phoebe to tell you to switch it off, but that doesn't mean it's actually easy."

"No, you don't understand," said Nora. "Something is really wrong. Eventually, I decided I'd just cut out a bunch of numbers from poster board and paint them."

"See, you did get an idea," said Sawyer. "Maybe you're worrying too much."

Nora shook her head. "I can't draw anymore."

"Nora, don't be ridiculous," said Maddie.

"They look like a two-year-old did them," said Nora. "My fingers won't do straight lines. I can't make the scissors work without making mistakes. They're bad."

"You're being hard on yourself," said Sawyer.

"I'm not," said Nora. "Theia Spring came by and looked at it, and she told me that I should go back to my tent and get some rest. And then she took them away and threw them on the scrap pile."

Maddie patted Nora's hand. "You still aren't over Owen," she said.

"That's just it," said Nora. "Phoebe told me that wasn't a good excuse. She said to use my pain to spur my creativity."

"Well," said Sawyer, "maybe you shouldn't be making decorations then. Maybe you should be writing sappy poetry or singing angry songs while accompanying yourself on the guitar."

Maddie nodded. "He's got a point." She popped the last bite of pizza into her mouth.

* * *

But it didn't work. Nora went to the poetry and writing enclave the next day, ready to pour out her soul about the way Owen had hurt her. Nothing came. She sat staring at a blank piece of paper for hours. Finally, just to get something out, she tried doodling on the paper. Her doodles came out mismatched and shaky, just like the numbers. She couldn't get words to save her life.

Maybe it was drawing or writing, she thought. So she went to the music enclave. She got herself a drum like she had before. And she sat, waiting to feel the drum beat. But something horrific had happened. She couldn't quite hear it anymore. Oh, she could tell that drums were beating, and she even had a vague idea that they sounded pretty good. But she couldn't hear the pattern anymore. She couldn't tell where the drum beats were supposed to go. And when she tried to play the drum, she couldn't tell if she sounded good or bad. She banged away at it for a while until someone came over and irritably told her that if she was going to be so far off beat, could she please play a little softer?

Nora was horrified. She went back to her tent, sobbing. Catling wasn't in a good mood either. She was over in the corner of Nora's tent, mewling plaintively. Actually, Nora realized, Catling had been doing that for a while now. Nora didn't know what was so offensive about that particular corner of the tent. She pulled the cat-duck close and cried. What was wrong with her?

Things didn't improve over the following weeks. Nora tried everything she could think of. She went to the dance enclave, the clothing and fabric enclave, the food enclave, the science enclave... She couldn't do anything. She either was frozen by a lack of inspiration or started to do something and did a positively horrible job at it. Maddie and Sawyer told her that maybe she was trying too hard, and they told her to relax for a week or two. Nora thought she'd been "relaxing" since May Day, but they pointed out that she'd really been upset over Owen that entire time.

Nora tried to relax. She didn't feel any better by the end of the week. And nothing had changed. Feeling upset and depressed, she went to the wine and spirits enclave. She wasn't any help there either, but she did manage to get pretty drunk, and while she was drunk, it didn't matter so much anymore.

She stumbled back to the tweens and rebels enclave. Agler was sitting alone by the fire pit, strumming his guitar. She hadn't seen Agler in almost a month, she realized. She strode over to him. "Are you avoiding me?"

Agler stopped playing guitar. "Nora."

"Because I haven't seen you in a long time."

Agler set his guitar down. "Are you drunk?"

She shrugged. "Maybe a little bit."

"I don't want to have this conversation while you're drunk," said Agler. He got up, taking his guitar with him, and headed for his tent.

Nora got in front of him, blocking his path. "There's a conversation to have? Then you are avoiding me."

Agler looked uncomfortable. "Look, just go find some water or something and sober up, okay? We'll talk another time."

"No. Because we haven't talked in a really long time, so the next time I happen to see you, it might be another month from now."

"Do you want to see me?" asked Agler.

"Sure. Of course I do. You're my friend," said Nora.

"Friend." Agler shrugged. He walked around Nora.

"What?" Nora demanded.

He stopped. Turned. "Look, Nora, I'm a lot older than you."

"A lot older? I don't think so," said Nora. "In the mundane world, you would have been a senior when I was a freshman in high school. So we're totally in the same age group."

"I don't know what any of that means," said Agler. "But the thing is, being around you, it's made me different than I used to be. I'm punching people now, and spying on people, and hanging out with fifteen-year-olds, and—"

"It was not your fault that you punched Owen. He made you do it."

"He didn't make me. I'm the one who has control over my own fists," said Agler. "I think it would be better if I stayed away from you. That's all I'm saying."

Nora took a step back, stunned. "But, I thought you... It seemed like you liked me."

"I do like you," said Agler. "We're friends, right?" He turned away and continued back to his tent.

"Friends who stay away from each other?" Nora called after him.

Agler didn't answer.

Nora folded her arms over her chest. Then she felt sick to her stomach. She ran for the toilets, but she didn't make it and threw up all over the ground. She stared down at the contents of her stomach, reminding herself she'd promised not to drink ever again. It really wasn't worth it.

Nora went into the toilets and washed her face. She felt less drunk now, but she didn't feel any better. Everything sucked. She kicked at a few rocks on the ground as she made her way back to her tent. At least Catling still liked her.

She looked up to see Owen and Maddie walking into the tweens and rebels enclave. Her jaw dropped. What was Maddie doing with Owen?

Owen saw her, and his eyes widened. "Um, I'll see you later," he said to Maddie and hurried away.

Nora stalked over to Maddie. "Why were you talking to him?"

"You smell like the wine and spirits enclave," said Maddie. "I thought you weren't going to drink anymore."

Nora waved it away. "What was he saying to you?"

"Are you drunk?"

"Not anymore," said Nora, feeling annoyed. "I just threw up."

"Great," said Maddie. "It's good to see you're handling this so maturely, Nora."

"Everything's screwed up. I can't do anything anymore."

"You're pushing yourself," said Maddie. "You're trying too hard. Didn't Sawyer and I tell you to relax?"

"Yeah, I tried that," said Nora, "but I'm getting the feeling you're ignoring the big picture here, which is, 'What the hell were you doing with Owen?'"

Maddie sighed. "He's worried about you."

Nora laughed. "What? He's worried about me? You can't fall for that crap, Maddie. He doesn't even care about me."

"I don't know," said Maddie. "He seemed pretty sincere."

"That's what he does. He makes people think he's like that, when he's actually a big creep."

"Look, he knows he shouldn't have slept with that fairy. But is it possible that you're trying to turn Owen into some bad guy because you're angry about that?"

Nora was astonished. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing," said Maddie. "He asked me about you is all. He wanted to know how you were doing. And the way he talks about you... I know he's not perfect, but maybe you're being too hard on him."

"I don't believe this. How could you be on Owen's side?"

"I'm not on a side," said Maddie. "But you have to admit that when the two of you were together, you were happier. Ever since you broke up with him, you've been depressed and angry. And is it really true that when Agler punched Owen, Owen didn't even fight back?"

"Maddie, this is Owen we're talking about. You can't listen to him."

"Would it be so bad if you talked to him?" said Maddie. "Maybe if you hear him out—"

"Stop it," said Nora. "He's done something to you, I just know it."

"He hasn't," said Maddie, looking sad.

Nora sighed. "Stay away from him, Maddie. Please? For your own good."

"Just talk to him," said Maddie.

Nora went into her tent, leaving Maddie outside. She couldn't listen to this anymore. Catling was in the corner. When she saw Nora, she began making her quacking mewling sounds. Nora scooped her up. Catling was on her side, even if Agler and Maddie weren't.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Abruptly, in the last week of October, the leaves changed. Nora woke up one morning and instead of being greeted by the usual lush green sunny landscape of Helicon, the trees were alight with fiery color. The air nipped at her nose as she made her way to the food enclave for breakfast. She'd been eating alone these days.

Maddie wouldn't let go of her thoughts about Owen. Every chance that Maddie got, she seemed to chime in on how Nora's problems were all rooted in her breaking up with Owen. It was a dramatic change, and Nora didn't trust it. She suspected Owen had done something to Maddie to convince her to act this way, but when she brought that up to Sawyer, who at least agreed with her that dating Owen was a bad idea, Sawyer said she was being a little bit paranoid. "Owen's not a nice guy. You and I both know that. But he's not capable of controlling Maddie," Sawyer said.

Nora wasn't sure what Owen was capable of doing. But she did know that whenever she was with her friends, she didn't feel comfortable anymore. They seemed happier than she did somehow. Even if she managed to get Maddie off the subject of Owen (Sawyer usually backed her up), she had nothing to share with them. They'd talk about the projects they were working on in their various enclaves. Nora didn't have any projects. All she had was a host of failures. She didn't even bother trying now. Instead, she dragged herself from one enclave to another, simply watching muses. She couldn't lie around in her tent forever, after all. It was dreadfully boring.

She was up early. She liked to get up early so that she didn't have to run into Sawyer or Maddie. There was no one in the food enclave except Dirk Night, who was assembling some kind of breakfast sandwich in the kitchen.

"The leaves are different," she said by way of greeting.

"Halloween's in two days," said Dirk.

Halloween. "Muses celebrate Halloween, huh?"

"Big time," said Dirk. "How have you not noticed? Everyone's been working on their costumes for weeks now."

Crap. A costume? She was going to have to come up with a costume? Nora had no idea what she wanted to dress up as. And furthermore, she didn't think she'd do a very good job of putting a costume together. "What's your costume?" she asked Dirk.

"I'm not dressing up."

"You can do that?"

He snorted. "They won't like it, but screw them. I don't have to play their stupid games all the time." Dirk leaned forward. "This place has the maturity of a small, stupid child, or hadn't you noticed? Everyone's like, 'Oh, let's play dress up and have a party!' No one accomplishes anything except stupid parties around here."

There were a lot of parties, Nora guessed. She remembered that she used to think that was neat. Now she didn't know what she thought. She felt like she couldn't have any fun. And Maddie was right that it had all started after the break up with Owen. But she didn't know what was wrong with her. She felt like she'd lost whatever spark inside her that was her identity. She felt faded and tired. She picked up a banana and unpeeled it. "Dirk, have you ever heard of someone losing their muse powers?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Like a muse turning into a regular human. Like your parents."

Dirk made a dismissive noise. "No."

Nora took a bite of her banana. She thought it was happening to her. Soon, they'd ship her off back to the mundane world. She didn't belong here. She didn't belong anywhere.

"Why do you ask?" Dirk said.

Dirk wasn't her friend. He was sullen all the time, and immature in that teen-boy-rebellious way. But for some reason, all of that made Nora feel a little closer to him right now. She was sullen too. "I can't create things anymore."

Dirk made a face. "You kidding?"

Nora shook her head. "It's gone. It's all gone."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be able to draw, but I can't do it anymore," said Nora. "Every time I try, it turns out crap."

Dirk set his sandwich aside and pulled a notepad out of his pocket, along with a pencil nub. "Show me."

Nora gulped. She gripped the pencil and held it over the paper. "I don't have any ideas to draw anything," she said helplessly.

"Draw a star," said Dirk.

Nora lowered the pencil to the paper. She tried to draw a line. Her line shook and shivered all over the paper. She threw down the notepad. "I can't."

Dirk peered down at the squiggly line on the paper. "You used to be good at drawing?"

Nora nodded. Expressing this out loud made her feel like she might cry. She didn't trust her voice.

"Maybe you need to try something else besides drawing," said Dirk.

"I have." Now Nora felt angry. "I've tried everything. It's gone. It's all gone."

"Huh," said Dirk. He picked up his sandwich.

Nora wished she'd never confided in him. He was a total jerk.

Dirk bit into his sandwich and chewed.

Nora took her banana and walked away from him.

"Hey wait!" said Dirk.

She paused and turned.

"You know maybe you shouldn't dress up for Halloween either. We could do something together."

Nora raised her eyebrows. Was Dirk asking her on a date?

"You broke up with that Owen guy, didn't you?"

He was. Nora felt sickly embarrassed. "Listen, Dirk, it's nice of you to ask and all, but I doubt I'd be much fun."

"Good for you for dumping him, by the way," said Dirk. "That guy is a huge ass wipe."

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly over him, so you should know that."

Dirk walked over her, taking another bite of his sandwich. "You're different than the other muses, you know. I think it's because you didn't grow up in Helicon. I like you."

"That's flattering," said Nora, feeling her face grow red. She really wasn't interested in Dirk in the slightest bit. "But I don't think it would be right for me to say I'd go out with you on Halloween, because I don't really feel the same way."

Dirk laughed. He was chewing, and she could see the food in his mouth. Eew. "I didn't ask you to go out with me, Nora."

She blushed even more fiercely. "Yes, you did."

"I said we could do something," said Dirk. "You don't want to, fine." He shrugged. "But if you're not dressed up, I'm going to assume you're game."

* * *

That evening, Nora was lying in her hammock, trying to keep Catling from wandering over to her favorite meowing corner, when Sawyer came into her tent.

She sat up in her hammock. "What are you doing in here?"

"Nice to see you too," said Sawyer. "You've been Nora-No-Show for over a month now. Is it me? Have I developed grossly offensive body odor?"

"It's nothing. I'd rather be alone is all."

"It's Maddie, then," said Sawyer. "It's because she keeps telling you that you should try to patch things up with Owen."

"Well, that is a really stupid idea," said Nora.

"Agreed," said Sawyer. "But I think she's only saying it because she's worried about you. And she's not wrong. You have been weird ever since you stopped seeing him."

"Did you come in here to tell me to give Owen another chance?" Nora folded her arms over her chest.

"Perish the thought," said Sawyer. "I never liked him. You know I never liked him. I still don't like him. But if you don't like him either, Nora, why are you still sulking all the time? It's been six months. I know you've known the guy your whole life, but what gives with the constant angst here?"

"I don't know," said Nora, feeling like she might cry again. "Something is wrong with me. I'm broken."

Sawyer sighed. "Still with the not creating, huh?"

Nora nodded.

"Maybe it's like a mental block or something," Sawyer said. "Maybe you're focusing so hard on it that you're jinxing yourself."

Nora's nostrils flared. "If you tell me I need to relax and it will all go away one more time, I'm going to sneak into your tent and sew all your skirts into pants."

Sawyer held up his hands in surrender. "No need to get extreme."

Nora sighed. "So did you come in here to give me another pep talk?"

"I came in to ask you what you're going to be for Halloween."

"I'm not going," said Nora. "I'm going to stay in my tent. I don't feel like a party."

"Not going?" Sawyer held up a finger. "Not acceptable, Nora. The Halloween party is my favorite party in Helicon. My absolute favorite. There's alcoholic cider and a haunted house and everyone will be wearing the most amazing costumes you've ever seen. It's hands-down the best night of the year. So, you're going, and that's the end of it."

"You said you skipped out last year to go to the mundane world," said Nora.

"I don't think I said that exactly," said Sawyer. "I definitely did not skip out. I worked very hard on my Cleopatra costume last year. I made sure everyone saw me in it before I went to the mundane world."

"I don't have a costume."

"That's why I'm here to help."

"Sawyer, I don't want to go."

"Too bad," he said. "Now, either tell me what you want to dress up as in five seconds, or I will decide for you. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

Nora glared at him.

Sawyer shrugged. "Okay, wood nymph it is. Now, get off your behind, because we've got to go hunting in the woods for leaves for your crown."

And that was how Nora found herself traipsing through the woods outside the tweens and rebels enclave with Sawyer. He was pretty picky about the leaves he wanted to use. He kept holding out branches, scrutinizing the leaves, and saying, "Not quite right. Let's go in deeper."

After about a half hour of this, they were quite a ways beyond the enclave. Sawyer sampled another branch. "What do you think about this?"

Nora shrugged. "I don't know."

"Come on. I know I dragged you out here, and you're not exactly ecstatic about going to the Halloween party, but you don't have to be like that about it."

"You don't understand," said Nora. "I'm not saying that to be annoying. I really don't know. I've lost all my senses for this kind of stuff. I can't create. I can't tell what looks good. It's like all my muse powers have completely drained away."

Sawyer sighed as if she was being melodramatic. "Well, I think these leaves are good." He pulled the branch away and began twisting it to remove it.

But now the area behind the branch was visible. Nora stepped forward, squinting. "Is that a tent?"

"Where?"

She pointed.

"Huh," said Sawyer. "That's weird. Who would have a tent all the way out here?"

"Maybe it's abandoned," said Nora.

"No, that cook fire is still smoking," said Sawyer.

At that moment, a wizened old man, bent double, toddled out from behind the tent. He was wearing tattered patchwork. He had long white hair and a long white beard. He looked up at them. "What do you two want leaves for?"

Sawyer looked uncomfortable. "Um, is it a problem? Because if we're bothering you, we can go somewhere else."

"I'm not bothered," said the old man. "Don't see a lot of people these days though. Which is good. I came out here for peace and quiet." He pointed at Nora. "You said something about losing powers, didn't you? That makes me think of the gods." He stopped and looked up at the sky. Then he looked back at them. "Well, did you bring any marmalade?"

Sawyer glanced sidelong at Nora. "He's crazy," he whispered.

"I heard that," said the old man. "I'm not crazy. I'm old. You muse kids never see old people, and you act like idiots when you do. Someone should teach you manners. They surely should."

"We're sorry," said Nora. "I guess we'll be going then."

"That's a no to the marmalade, I suppose," said the old man. "Of all the things I miss, I miss marmalade the most."

Sawyer stepped forward. "Wait, I recognize you. You're a muse. You used to live in the story enclave, didn't you?"

"Indeed," said the old man. "They call me Ned Willow. I came out here years ago. Couldn't handle all the noise. No one ever goes to sleep at a decent hour in Helicon. Drums all through the night. Dancing. It's ludicrous."

Nora smiled, and she could see that Sawyer was smiling as well. "I suppose it's much quieter out here."

"We were actually looking for you a while ago," said Sawyer. "You told a story once about the gods, and I heard it when I was a kid. I tried to find you so that you could tell it to Nora."

"A story about the gods," said Ned. "Oh, that was what I was talking about before. This one said something about losing powers. That made me think of the gods losing powers. And it's not a story, boy." He drew back for a moment. "You are a boy, aren't you?"

"Mostly," said Sawyer.

"Just like to wear skirts, then?" asked Ned. "Like a healthy breeze around your balls?"

Nora snickered into her hand.

"That's part of it," Sawyer said, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Well, anyway, it's not a story. At least, it's not just a story. It's true. It all happened. I remember it like it was yesterday. Would you like to hear it?"

"Um," said Nora, who did want to hear the story, but wasn't sure if Sawyer was keen on gathering leaves.

"I guess you might be busy with whatever it is you're doing," said Ned. "Still, it's a bit of a pity. I don't miss the noise, but I would like some company now and then, I would."

"We definitely want to hear the story," said Sawyer.

"Excellent," said Ned. "Into the tent, then."

Ned's tent was set up like some kind of Persian palace. It was covered in rugs and pillows. In the center there was a raised dais, complete with an ornate chair carved of wood. Ned settled into this chair and motioned for Sawyer and Nora to settle onto the pillows in front of him. "I haven't told a story in quite some time," said Ned. "At least not to actual people, that is. This will be fun." He rubbed his hands together, took a deep breath, and began.

"Many hundreds of years ago, Helicon was a mountain top in Greece, and the gods often rode the Pegasus from Mt. Olympus to frolic and rejoice with the muses. Helicon was a place of respite for them, away from the cares and responsibilities of ruling the earth, nature, and mankind. It was a place in which they could be carefree and happy.

"The muses welcomed the gods, especially Dionysus who brought wine and joy when he arrived. One young muse in particular was quite taken with Dionysus, and her name was Phoebe Rain."

Nora must have made some kind of noise of recognition, because Ned said, "Oh, yes, Phoebe was quite young once. She was not always the wise head of the council she is today. Phoebe is still the head of the council, isn't she?"

Sawyer and Nora nodded.

"Well, the young Phoebe was a beauty, with flawless dark skin and raven hair. She had the voice of a nightingale, and when Dionysus came to Helicon, he would lie at her feet, listening to her sing for hours on end. Of course, Dionysus is never one to be content with mere singing from a woman, and so he began to pursue her, because he wanted her as his lover.

"Phoebe was quite a young woman, and she was not yet wise in the ways of men, or in the ways of gods, and she thought that Dionysus' affection for her was something special. She did not realize that Dionysus was a man who'd had many lovers, and thought little of them once he tired of them. Phoebe thought that she and Dionysus shared a love that was profound and timeless, and she was devoted to him.

"It so happened that the mundane world was seized in the throes of change at this time. The empire of Rome, upon which the gods had lavished their support and attention, was besieged by invaders and barbarians, who sought to tear down the beacon of civilization, to destroy it. The gods did their best to funnel their powers into the Roman empire, to bolster it in their time of need. But it seemed that the powers of the gods were waning, and there was much confusion and dismay amongst their number.

"The mountain tops of Olympus and Helicon broke away from the mundane world at that time. They were no longer physical features in the world. This distanced the gods and the muses from the humans even further. It seemed that everything was crashing down.

"The gods came to Helicon and they spoke to the council of muses, begging to be loaned the muses' energy. For, as you know, the muses create energy as inspiration threads, which they send to the mundane world. The gods argued that the muses would do better to send this energy directly to them so that they could help the humans themselves. Zeus himself said that in a time of great war and upheaval, the humans did not need inspiration for creativity as much as they needed to save their own lives.

"The muse council was hesitant. They deliberated for a long time, and there was an argument of great magnitude in Helicon, with some muses siding with the gods, and other muses claiming their responsibility was to the humans, not the gods. It was Phoebe, the young muse in love with Dionysus, who managed to convince them all that the gods were right. She gave a speech to the gathered muses, painting a picture of a world without gods, a war torn world of barbarians struggling over land, raping and killing one another. A dark world. She said that they would have no humans to inspire if they did not help the gods.

"And so the council voted to do so. And for quite some time, they funneled all of their energy into the gods, trying to make them as powerful as they possibly could. The gods labored in vain to help Rome. They did all that they could. But even with the power of the muses, they were not powerful enough to help them, because the barbarians were fueled by a great power the gods had once wielded themselves: the Influence.

"The Influence had abandoned the gods, choosing to put its resources behind things that had more power. And as the gods squandered the powers of the muses in attempts to bind Rome together, the Influence grew stronger.

"The gods grew weaker. Dionysus appeared in Helicon to visit his lover Phoebe and told her it was more and more difficult for the gods to cross the boundaries to the world of the muses. They were fading away. Phoebe, terrified she would lose Dionysus forever, worked a strong bit of magic, binding Dionysus to Helicon through her own muse powers. In this way, he could come and go as he pleased. And through Phoebe, he had access to Helicon's power. Phoebe hoped he could funnel this power to the other gods, and that they would win.

"But it didn't work. Dionysus survived, but we have not seen the other gods in Helicon in quite some time. And the mundane world was not helped by the gods' interference. Instead, the Influence ruled the mundane world for hundreds of years. Its power created strong armies that scuffled over lands, strong institutions that ruled over the people, and strong societal rules that discouraged creativity. For hundreds of years, the world was a dark place, barely penetrated by creativity.

"For the muses had been weakened as well. They had funneled so much power into the gods, all the energy they had. And even after the gods were no longer with them, they could only send small bits of inspiration into the mundane world. For the humans, this period was known as the Dark Ages.

"But when the muses finally regained their power and began to send inspiration threads back into the world, the humans began to wake up. The light of inspiration filled the world, and it was reborn as a place where individuals could make their own way. There was an explosion of art, music, painting, and writing. The Renaissance.

"Phoebe knew what a dangerous change she had wrought on the world, and she knew the dangers of using muse power for anything other than what it was intended. She vowed that if she became the head of the muse council, she would make it her life's work to make sure that the muses never used their energy for anything other than inspiration. And so, until this day, the muses have created and inspired, and the mundane world has become a very bright place indeed." Ned smiled. "The end."

* * *

"It all makes sense now," Nora said as they walked back from Ned's tent. "That's why Phoebe insists that we conserve muse energy, and that we don't use the excess for anything like helping starving people. She knows that the muse energy can't work that way, and that it would do more harm than good."

"Yeah," said Sawyer, "and when we heard Phoebe and Dionysus arguing, they weren't talking about portals after all. They must have been talking about the fact that Dionysus still has the power to draw energy from Helicon. Because Phoebe gave him that power."

"Why didn't Phoebe just tell me that when I was talking to her?" Nora asked. "She could have explained all of this to me. In fact, she should tell all of Helicon. If everyone knew this, we wouldn't have half of the conflict we have right now."

"That's true," said Sawyer.

"So why do you think she doesn't?"

"She's probably ashamed of what she did. She probably doesn't want anyone to know how badly she screwed up before. She's a really old muse, and most of the muses who would remember that time period aren't around anymore. Maybe she thinks that if they knew, they'd want her off the council, and she wouldn't be able to make sure that she kept things working smoothly."

"Maybe," said Nora. "But people should still know."

Sawyer nodded.

"Of course, it makes things even more confusing," said Nora. "Because if Dionysus didn't create the portals, and Owen didn't create the portals, then who did?"

"I thought we were going to focus on creating instead of detective work," said Sawyer.

"I can't focus on creating," said Nora.

"Well, there hasn't been a portal since summer," said Sawyer. "Maybe whoever was doing it gave up."

"Maybe," said Nora.

* * *

Helicon was all cobwebs and jack-o-lanterns on Halloween night. It seemed that everywhere Nora turned, she saw posed skeletons and fake blood. She knew there was a haunted house in the architecture enclave, and that the main fire pit had been decorated for a huge party. She could hear the music from here. Apparently, on Halloween night, the music enclave went in favor of electric instruments, so guitars wailed in the night air. Muses walked by in clumps in elaborate costumes and face paint. It was like a carnival fun house. The air was crisp, and the scent of caramel caught her nose.

Nora was doing her best to avoid Sawyer. She had no desire to go to the Halloween party. She wanted to fade out, to disappear. What was the point of celebrating when she had nothing to celebrate?

She ended up in the woods, staring through nearly-bare tree branches that crisscrossed the night sky, making the full moon resemble a skull and cross bones. She'd hide here until she was sure there was no one left in the tweens and rebels enclave. Then she'd go back and curl up on her hammock with Catling. She'd try to go to sleep. Nora had been sleeping a lot these days. It was the one thing she still seemed to be able to do well.

"Nora," said a voice.

Dammit. She wasn't alone. She turned to face the voice, ready with the excuses she would pour onto Sawyer until he gave up, but it wasn't Sawyer. It was Owen. He was dressed as a vampire, complete with a black cloak and a painted-on widow's peak. His blue eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

"Go away," she said.

Owen's shoulders sagged. "I only wanted to see how you were doing. I heard from Maddie that you weren't doing too well."

"I don't want to talk to you," said Nora.

"I'm not doing well either, to be honest," said Owen. "I miss you so much."

She didn't need this right now. She especially didn't need Owen to look so sad and pitiful. She forced herself to remember him dangling her over the edge of Helicon, asking her what would happen if he dropped her. She forced herself to remember him yanking her close to him at May Day, screaming at her not to walk away from him. She squeezed her eyes shut. The nice stuff's all an act, she reminded herself.

"Seriously, Nora," said Owen. He studied his hands. "I've been doing things. Things I'm not proud of. It's so much easier to do them when you're not around. Sometimes I wonder if you kept me sane or if you kept me tethered somehow." He turned away. "I don't know what's happening to me."

She didn't care. She really didn't. "Poor Owen," she said, keeping her voice sarcastic. "He's bad, and he doesn't know what to do. Here's a hint. Why don't you stop doing bad things?"

He turned to her sharply. "Not that easy. What if I told you to just start creating? Push through it? You think that would work?"

She folded her arms over her chest. "What do you know?"

"Only what Maddie tells me. That you feel like you've lost all your creativity. That you're sad and depressed. That you spend all your time hiding from everyone, alone."

"What are you doing to Maddie, anyway?"

Owen heaved a huge sigh. "Why are you suspicious of me? You never used to be suspicious of me."

Nora shook her head. She'd walk away from him. She'd go back to the tweens and rebels enclave. Maybe if she was around other people, he'd leave her alone. Of course, that might mean she'd have to put on a costume and fake happiness for a few hours, but if she could get away from him, it would be worth it.

He followed her. "I shouldn't have done what I did with that fairy. I know that. It was wrong. I got...confused. I let myself get angry with you. With you. I never used to feel that way about you. Nora, it was all my fault."

Well, that was a strange expression to come out of Owen's mouth. But she kept walking. It was a trick. She couldn't let him get to her.

"But maybe the fact that we're both worse off without each other is a sign. Maybe we belong together. Are you happy without me?"

Why did he have to do this? Why did he have to make sense? How was it that he was always able to get inside her head and know just what to say? She faced him. "It doesn't have anything to do with you."

"Are you sure? Because I feel empty ever since you left. I'm not saying I'm perfect. I know you deserve better than me. But maybe we could try it again. You could move into the muse police enclave if you don't have any muse powers. Maybe if we're together, they'll come back. But even if they don't, you'd have a place to belong, and... please give me another chance."

Nora squeezed her eyes shut.

Owen grabbed her hand. "Do you remember when we were kids and we were lost in the woods in the winter? You were cold, and I wanted to make you warm. I couldn't handle the fact you were suffering. And I found that abandoned house. We made a fire. We huddled up in blankets, and I told you—"

"You'd never let anything hurt me," said Nora, hating him for bringing up their childhood, hating him for making her remember what he'd been to her.

"I made that promise," he said, "and then I broke it. Because I hurt you. Me. You mean everything to me, Nora. When I think about what I did, what I've done..." He clenched his hands in fists. "Sometimes I get so scared. I don't know who I'm becoming. I remember when I used to get scared like that before, you'd tell me it wasn't true. You'd remind me that I was good. But you don't think that anymore, do you?"

Was he really hurt? Was he really upset? Or was this all posturing to try to get her to do what he wanted? She didn't know. She couldn't trust him anymore. "No," she said. "I don't."

Owen took a step backwards. He looked so hurt, as if her words had punched him in the gut. He gazed at the ground. "Yeah, I'm not sure if I think it anymore either." He scuffed his toe against the ground. "Have a happy Halloween, Nora. I do still love you." He turned and walked away.

She watched him fade into the darkness, wondering if she'd done the right thing. Had he ever walked away from her before without getting what he wanted?

* * *

Owen walked, waiting for Nora to come after him. When she didn't, he swore under his breath. He never knew what to say to her anymore. He used to feel like he knew her so well. She'd changed since they got to Helicon. At first it had seemed good, but then he'd felt her pulling away from him. It terrified him, the thought of being without her. It scared him so much that he'd clung as tightly as he could to her. And somehow, he'd driven her away because of that.

Well. There was the fairy, of course. But Nora should never have seen that. That wasn't about her, anyway. That was about something completely different. He hadn't felt anything for the fairy. He'd only been curious. What would it be like to touch her? To kiss her? Besides that damned fairy, he'd never kissed another woman besides Nora.

And now she hated him. If she'd felt something for him, she'd have come after him just then, when he'd bared his soul to her, made himself vulnerable to her. She'd ignored his pain, just like everyone else did. Well... if that was the way it was going to be, then Owen could handle that. He'd get her back, of course. But no more begging. He'd humiliated himself, and it hadn't gotten him anywhere.

He needed to step things up. Make it impossible for Nora not to come back to him.

He set his jaw as he emerged from the woods into the tweens and rebels enclave, his black cloak furling out behind him. Ahead, he spied Maddie. She was dressed up as a squirrel. Owen smirked. It fit her. She was like a squirrel, pudgy and jumpy and cute. And weak. He'd known right away that Maddie was the weak link. But he'd thought that getting Maddie to be on his side would convince Nora to come back to him. He'd underestimated Nora.

Owen strode over to Maddie, smiling. "Nice costume."

Maddie grinned nervously. "Oh, you like it? I can't pull off those sexy costumes. I'm too fat."

Well, at least she knew her limits. "You're adorable," said Owen. He lifted her chin with one hand, so that she stared into his eyes. Softly, he whispered an incantation under his breath, letting the words wash over Maddie.

Maddie's eyes went glassy. She stared at him blankly.

Owen's smile faded. "You said she'd listen to me if I admitted I was wrong. You said if I didn't make it her fault, she'd change her mind."

Maddie didn't answer. In this state, she wasn't about to defend herself. Ah, well. There was no reason to take his anger out on her. It wasn't her fault, anyway. It was Nora's fault. Really, everything was Nora's fault. If she'd only cooperate, Owen wouldn't have to do these things.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"You didn't dress up, I see," said Dirk, who was standing at the edge of the woods on the other side of the tweens and rebels enclave.

Nora looked down at her clothes. She'd walked aimlessly after Owen left, ending up here, the place where they'd found the portal in the winter. She hadn't meant to end up here, and she'd completely forgotten about Dirk's wanting to "do something" together on Halloween. But she didn't have any other plans, so why not?

"I've been thinking about your problem," said Dirk. "How you can't create and all. I have a theory."

"A theory?"

"Well, the portals drain energy from Helicon, right?" said Dirk. "And you and Owen came through a portal to get here."

"Yeah. So?"

"Well, it didn't affect Owen, because he's not a muse," said Dirk. "But maybe it affected you. Maybe coming through the portal started a chain effect that started draining away your muse energy. Maybe if we cross into the mundane world and come back, when you return to Helicon the right way, you'll be full of muse energy again."

"Why would leaving and coming back do that?"

Dirk shrugged. "It's just a theory I have. Whenever I leave Helicon, every time I come back, I feel sort of energized. Like I've come home or something. It's actually pretty annoying."

Nora chewed on her lip. She liked the idea that this was happening because of something out of her control, not because of her breakup with Owen. "The veil between the worlds is thin on Halloween, right? So it's easy for us to get to the mundane world?"

"Yeah," said Dirk. "I was going to go through anyway. Maybe knock over some mail boxes and smash some pumpkins. You wanna come?"

Why not? she thought.

Dirk held out his hand. Nora took it.

"How do we do this?" she asked.

"You need a focal point in Helicon to come back to," said Dirk. "We'll use the outside of the woods here." He gestured. "You sort of meditate to a state of nothingness, attempt to become pure energy, and you flit through the cracks and reassemble in the mundane world."

Nora took a deep breath. "Okay, let's try this."

* * *

Dirk kicked a jack-o-lantern over on its side and stomped on it. Fragments of pumpkin went everywhere.

"Do you have to do that?" asked Nora. "Someone spent a lot of time making that."

"Spoil sport," Dirk muttered.

Nora walked past him, rolling her eyes. They were on a sidewalk, walking down a nondescript suburban street. All the houses sat in perfect rows, nearly identical to each other except for their different Halloween decorations. "So where are we?"

"Someplace in Virginia, I think," said Dirk. "It seems to be the default place muses end up when they leave Helicon. I don't know why. If you aren't thinking of anyplace in particular, you usually end up on this street."

"Weird," said Nora. She looked around again. "This place is awful. Everything's so ordered and structured. Look how straight the street is. I like Helicon better. Everything's chaotic there, but it all has meaning. This street has no soul."

Dirk caught up to her. "I kind of like it better. If I weren't a muse, I'd come live in the mundane world."

"Really? Why?"

A group of children dressed like Jedi knights, complete with glowing plastic lightsabers, walked past them, chattering about candy.

"In Helicon, everything's so trivial," said Dirk. "There's no danger. There's no survival. It's just constant fun and games. I don't think real life is really like that. I don't think fun can mean anything if you don't have something to balance it."

"There's no fun in the mundane world," said Nora. "It's miserable all the time. You can't do what you're meant to do. You have to follow all their rules."

"Lots of humans don't follow the rules," said Dirk, with a dismissive shrug. "I just think I'd fit better. If the Influence wouldn't come and zap me, I'd never leave here."

Fit in. Nora turned to Dirk, looking at him sympathetically. He didn't feel like he fit in, and she knew exactly what that was like. "You know, before I came to Helicon, I never felt like I fit in to the mundane world. I knew I was different, and I hated it. But you're a muse. Why don't you feel like you belong in Helicon?"

Dirk didn't answer for a minute. "I guess it's mostly because my parents aren't creative, you know? Even if I'm like the other muses, I'm not like my parents. And because my parents are different, I'm not like the rest of the muses. So, no matter what I do, I'm different. If I hadn't been a muse, my parents could have come back to the mundane world, and we could have been like everybody else. But that isn't what happened."

Nora felt guilty. "I bet you wish that what was happening to me was happening to you, huh?"

Dirk raised his eyebrows. "I actually hadn't thought of it. But yeah, that would be great." He looked at her. "Why do you think it's happening, anyway? Because if it really is about portals, then maybe if I went through one too, I could duplicate it. Of course, I don't know if I really want to lose my creativity completely. I do like making things."

Mentioning the portals made Nora remember why they were here in the first place. "So, I know you dig it here and all, but I'm not a huge fan, so can I go back to Helicon now to see if it worked?"

"If you want."

"How do I do it? The same as before?"

"Just focus on the place where we left," said Dirk.

Nora pictured the woods outside the tweens and rebels enclave in her head. Suddenly, she heard strains of music coming from a nearby house. She turned her head in the direction of it. "Do you hear that? I recognize that song. Someone was playing it in the tweens and rebels enclave the other day."

"Maybe," said Dirk. "So?"

"So," said Nora, "why would we be hearing that song in the mundane world? It's a Helicon original song."

"Maybe it went out on an inspiration thread," said Dirk. "Or maybe there are other muses here. It is Halloween, and the tweens like to come to the mundane world on Halloween. Plus, this is the default spot, so if they came through, they'd most likely end up here."

The music was getting louder as they walked. It seemed to be coming from a house on the corner of the street. The yard of the house was full of dressed-up young people, talking and smoking cigarettes. As Dirk and Nora passed it, the door of the house swung open. Light spilled out, and Nora caught a glimpse of Jack and Agler inside, both playing guitars. They were surrounded by a gaggle of human girls. Agler looked up and saw Nora. He stopped playing, put the guitar down, and ran out of the house to meet her on the sidewalk.

"Nora, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, we're speaking now," said Nora. "I'm here with Dirk."

Agler glanced at Dirk. "Like with with?"

"What do you care?" said Nora. "You made it pretty clear that you were not interested in being around me the last time we talked."

Dirk shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm going to leave you two alone to work this out."

"Wait," said Nora. "I'm not abandoning you. We came here together."

"You were getting ready to go back to Helicon anyway," said Dirk. He shrugged at them. "Have fun, you two. Just remember that you can't halt your aging in the mundane world, so don't have too much fun without a condom." He slouched off, and Nora was too horrified by the last thing he'd said to stop him.

Agler glared after him. "Would you grow up, Dirk?" He turned to her. "Are you seriously like on a date with Dirk Night? Am I interrupting something?"

Nora was blushing. "No. I mean, I don't think so. I don't, you know, think of Dirk in that way."

Dirk was flipping Agler the bird without turning around.

Agler rolled his eyes. "So why are you here with him?"

"He had an idea to fix me," said Nora.

"Fix you?"

Oh, right. Agler didn't know that she couldn't create. He hadn't spoken to her since that time he'd told her it was better if they didn't see each other. "My muse powers are completely gone. I have no inspiration. I have no ability. I can't even draw a straight line. And I don't know what's—"

"Oh my God," said a girl coming out of the house, cutting Nora off. "You are such a good guitar player."

A chorus of agreement echoed around them. Nora realized they were surrounded by girls, all in costumes that revealed a lot of skin. They were gazing at Agler adoringly.

"I've never heard anything so amazing," said another of the girls.

Nora remembered the time she'd shown the picture she drew to the girls in middle school. The Influence was apparently weak on Halloween, so Agler wasn't in danger, but she guessed that muses still had the effect of stunning mortals when they created in the mundane world.

Agler eyed the throng of adulators. He gave Nora an embarrassed grin. "Um, let's go for a walk away from here."

"You're leaving?" said one of the girls, sounding heartbroken.

"Uh, sorry," said Agler, looking around at the girls. He pointed inside at Jack, who was still playing guitar. "He's still here, though."

The girls all turned to Jack, sighing.

Agler took advantage of the moment to take Nora by the arm and lead her away from the party. They ducked into an alley, out of sight of the house they'd come from.

"Jack's gay, isn't he?" said Nora.

Agler smirked. "Yeah, he's never going to forgive me for that."

Nora put her hands on her hips. "So this is why you come to the mundane world? So you can be a rock star?"

Agler studied his shoes. "Well, I mean it's not a terrible experience, you know? Being adored?"

"Well, don't let me get in the way of your groupies," said Nora, starting back for the street.

"Hey, wait," said Agler. "I want to talk to you."

Nora stopped. "Why? I thought you wanted to stay away from me."

Agler made a face. "Yeah, about that. It's the weirdest thing, actually. I don't know why I thought that. I started feeling like that right after I went to apologize to Owen for punching him. But then, when I saw you a few minutes ago, I couldn't imagine why I would feel that way. Of course I want to be around you."

Nora's eyes narrowed. "You talked to Owen, and then you felt differently about me?"

Agler nodded. "Yeah."

Nora swallowed. "He did something to you. Just like he's doing something to Maddie. I know he is."

"Okay, that's completely creepy," said Agler. "He can do that? How?"

"I didn't think he could," said Nora. "Not in Helicon. At least he couldn't do it to me, so I thought he couldn't do it to anyone else. Apparently, he's figured out a way."

"We have to go to Phoebe, then," said Agler. "He can't be running around Helicon controlling people's minds."

This was definitely serious. Owen could be doing all kinds of messed up things. "Okay. We should go back now, then."

"Hold on," said Agler. He grabbed Nora's hand. "Let's not rush off yet." Agler's hand was warm and strong. He gripped her fingers, and Nora was struck suddenly by the intimacy of it. She realized how close they were standing to each other. There were only inches between their bodies. She looked up at Agler's face. He was gazing down at her. "Look, whatever's going with your muse abilities, we'll figure that out. I promise that. And whatever Owen's doing, we'll stop him. But just wait a minute." His other hand came up beside her face, and he brushed a strand of her hair away from her cheek. Nora's breath caught at his touch. "There's something I want to do."

His lips came down on hers slowly and sweetly, and Nora's limbs suddenly felt like jello. She grabbed onto him, hooking her hands behind his neck, more because she felt like she needed to hold onto something than because she was trying to hug him. But Agler seemed to take it differently, and his hand smoothly detached from her hand and curved around her waist. He tugged her closer, so that she was pressed up against his body, and he nudged his tongue into her mouth, sending shivery shocks all through her. Nora clung to him, holding on for dear life.

It seemed like he kissed her for a long time.

When he stopped, she pulled away from him, still feeling a little shaky. Her heart was banging against her rib cage.

She'd kissed Owen before, tons of times, but there was something different about this kiss. She felt more terrified, more exhilarated. She felt more alive.

Agler laughed nervously, looking away from her. "I just did that, didn't I?"

"Um, yeah, you did." Nora grinned.

"And it was okay? You're not slapping me, so that's something."

"It was wonderful." For some reason, Nora wasn't looking at him either.

"Yeah?" Agler's arm came around her shoulders. He pulled her tight against him. "All right, then. Let's go fix you and get Owen in trouble."

She looked up at him. "Well, I mean, we don't have to do it right this very second, I guess. Really."

Agler nodded. "Good point." And he was kissing her again.

* * *

Nora and Agler emerged back into Helicon sometime later. Agler had this sort of stubble thing going on, which looked really sexy, but had kind of given Nora's face rug burn. She rubbed her chin gently, wondering if it was red. She felt giddy, returning home after making out with Agler. She liked the way he smelled. It was a sort of woodsy, earthy smell, so different from Owen, who always smelled like soap. She liked the way he touched her, because he had big hands, but his fingertips were always so hesitant, like he thought she was fragile or precious, and it made her feel so special and adored to be in his arms. And she liked holding hands with him, which they were doing right at that moment, their fingers entwined as the woods outside the tweens and rebels enclave shimmered and solidified in front of them.

As soon as they were completely back, and they could feel the ground under their feet, they took off into the woods, heading back for their enclave.

"Should we go to Phoebe tonight?" Agler asked. "Or do you think she's probably out of it from celebrating?"

"I don't know," said Nora. "I think first I want to see if Dirk's theory was right. I want to try to do something creative."

"I thought you were doing some pretty creative things with your lips back there."

Nora elbowed him.

"What? Was that crass? Should I not say things like that?"

"Well, maybe not so loud," said Nora.

"Right, because all of the trees will hear me," said Agler. He stopped walking, and because Nora's hand was attached to his, she had to stop walking too. He threw his head back and yelled, "I kissed Nora Sparrow!"

"Agler!" Nora snatched her hand away from him. But she was grinning.

"I'm going to do it again," said Agler, cupping her face with his hands and pressing his lips against hers.

She giggled into his mouth, running her fingers over his dreadlocks. And then the giggling stopped, and she was engulfed by him. His lips, his tongue, his hands. She felt breezy and happy.

So it was all the more jarring when Agler was ripped away from her. She heard him cry out in surprise, and her eyes snapped open just in time to see Owen slamming Agler's body up against a tree trunk.

"Owen, stop," said Nora.

Owen turned burning eyes on her for a second. "Shut up," he growled. Then his attention went back to Agler. He was staring into Agler's eyes and muttering something under his breath. Nora couldn't make out the words.

Abruptly, Owen let Agler go.

Agler staggered away from the tree. His gaze swept over Owen and Nora, but his expression was blank. He shook himself and then started walking away.

"Agler?" said Nora.

"Good night, Nora," said Agler in a wooden voice. He kept walking.

Nora turned on Owen. "What did you do to him?"

Owen slapped her. "How dare you let him kiss you, you little slut?"

She stumbled away from him, her hand on her cheek. It stung. He'd hit her? Owen had never... Tears in her eyes, she gaped at him. "What happened to you?"

Owen glowered, smiling. "Nothing happened, Nora. I've always been this way. You're the one who's different. You're the one who's spreading yourself all over Helicon."

"I'm...?" Nora advanced on him. "You screwed a fucking fairy while we were dating. I kissed a boy six months after we broke up."

"Careful, Nora, you might make me even angrier than I already am," said Owen. He grasped her by the shoulders, and leaned close, whispering to her. "You're mine, do you understand that? Mine. And if anything or anyone is in the way of me and you, I will make sure they get out of the way, however I have to do it. I don't care who gets hurt."

Nora recoiled from him, disgusted and terrified. "What did you do to Agler?"

"He was in the way," said Owen. He released her.

She wasn't ready for it, and she lost her balance, sprawling on her backside.

"Come back to me, Nora," said Owen. "And everything will be okay again."

She shook her head.

Owen shrugged. "You'll change your mind. You'll have to."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Nora was terrified. If Owen could control the minds of Agler and Maddie, maybe he could control everyone's mind. Maybe even Phoebe's or Coeus'. And the threat he'd made to her could extend further. He said that if anyone got in the way, he'd do whatever he could to get them out of the way, even if he hurt them. She couldn't involve anyone else—not anyone. No, it was better if she got away from everyone. That way, no one could get hurt. Maybe, if she disappeared for a while, Owen would calm down or give up or... she didn't know. But she didn't want to endanger the muses either.

At first, she considered going back to the mundane world. She could hide there, and as long as she didn't create anything, she'd be safe from the Influence. But she knew that Owen had been able to control her in the mundane world, and she didn't want to run the risk of his finding her there and doing it again. So instead, under the cover of darkness, she took her tent down. She was going to move it away from the tweens and rebels enclave, where no one could find her. She dismantled her hammock and picked up all the rugs and blankets she had on the ground, folding them into a big pile. As she did so, she yanked them away from the corner where Catling was always meowing and quacking, and she noticed a pile of little red circles underneath.

Nora gasped. Those were the circles that appeared when the Influence came through the portals. She remembered picking one up right after they'd arrived in Helicon, and how weak it had made her. Why were they here? Was this what Catling had been making so much noise about?

Catling waddled over to her and squawked at the red circles.

It must be. How had they gotten here?

Using one of her blankets, Nora gathered up the circles. She wasn't sure what to do with them, but she knew she wanted them away from her. They couldn't be a good thing.

But she needed to move the tent. She wanted to be away from Owen. So she packed everything up, and, with Catling following her, set off into the woods. When she'd traveled a good distance, she simply dumped the gathered-up red cylinders and went on.

She found another spot, deep in the woods, far from everyone, where it would be hard to find her. She put her tent back up, reassembled her hammock. She was exhausted and fell into her hammock, held Catling close, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Days and weeks passed. Nora didn't leave her tent except in the dead of night, when she carefully would sneak to the food enclave to get things to eat. If she saw anyone, she hid herself until they were gone. She'd been worried that the muses might be looking for her, but it didn't seem to be the case. At any rate, they hadn't found her.

Her creativity was returning. Dirk must have been right. She'd felt exhilarated and inspired when she'd come back with Agler, and now she was able to draw again. But it hardly mattered, because she felt so much despair. She was frightened of Owen and everything seemed hopeless.

But as time wore on, she began to formulate a plan. If he was the problem, then she needed to stop him. She went over it in her head again and again, and one night, she sneaked into the tweens and rebels enclave in the darkness. She went to Sawyer's tent, because she was convinced that Maddie was still under Owen's thrall.

She could hardly make out the shapes in Sawyer's tent, but she thought she knew where his hammock was. She tiptoed forward. "Sawyer," she whispered.

"Nora?" came the response. "Nora, are you here?"

"I'm here, Sawyer."

"Nora!" He threw his covers off, leaped out of his hammock, and flung his arms around her. "I've been so worried."

"I'm okay," she said, "but I have to stay away, because Owen—"

"I know," said Sawyer.

"You know?"

Sawyer pulled her down on his hammock, so they sat together. "Look, when you disappeared a month ago, I was worried. But I was the only person who was worried. I went to Maddie and Agler, and they both acted like it wasn't a big deal. That totally freaked me out, so I went to talk to Owen."

"Why'd you do that?"

"I figured he was behind it somehow," said Sawyer. "Anyway, he seemed pretty annoyed that you were missing, but he said he'd find you eventually, and I shouldn't worry about it. Then he started mumbling stuff underneath his breath—"

"He did that to Agler. It turned him into a zombie or something."

"Yeah," said Sawyer. "I've seen it. Anyway, it didn't work on me, something that really pisses him off. I tried to go to someone about it after that—Alexander. But Owen had already gotten to him, and he brushed it off. So I went to the head of the clothing and fabric enclave. At first she seemed really concerned, and she said we'd do something about it, but Owen showed up. And as soon as he talked to her...presto! She no longer cared."

Nora covered her mouth with her hand. "He's awful."

"So at that point I stopped telling people," said Sawyer, "because I figured that everyone I told would just end up brainwashed by Owen. I wanted to go to Phoebe, but what if he started controlling Phoebe's mind? What would happen then?"

Nora took Sawyer's hand. "I'm so sorry about this."

"It's not your fault."

"We have to get rid of him," said Nora. "I came here to ask for your help."

"You know I'll help. Since his mind tricks don't work on us," said Sawyer, "so there's got to be something we can do."

"I wonder why he can't control us," said Nora.

"Does it matter? We need to stop him."

"I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact we both lived in the mundane world for years," said Nora. "Because when Agler got to the mundane world, it seemed to break Owen's hold over him."

"Could be," said Sawyer. "But who really cares?"

"Well, if there were other muses who'd lived in the mundane world for a long time," said Nora, "maybe we could get them to help us. Can you think of any?"

Sawyer was quiet for a long time, an expression of intense concentration on his face. "Actually, I can't. It's not something that muses tend to talk about much. If there had been other muse babies with us in the babies and toddlers enclave that came from the mundane world, maybe I could think of them, but I don't think there were."

Nora chewed on her lip. "It's up to us, then. And I've got an idea. We need some rope. Can you get some from the fabric enclave?"

Sawyer grinned. "I like the way you think, Nora."

* * *

"The coast is clear," Sawyer hissed. He and Nora were in the security enclave, hiding out of sight and scoping out Owen's tent. Sawyer began to creep forward, a long rope coiled around one arm. Nora followed.

Owen's tent flap wasn't tied closed. Sawyer pushed it out of the way, and the two eased themselves inside the tent.

It was dark inside, and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust, but then Nora could see the sleeping form of Owen on his hammock. His chest rose and fell evenly with his breath. Nora tiptoed to him, gently pulling back his blankets and nudging his hands together.

Sawyer didn't waste a second. He whipped the rope out and tied Owen's hands together.

Owen stirred in his sleep, mumbling something.

They both jumped.

But he hadn't woken. Quickly, Sawyer used the rest of the rope to bind Owen's feet. They both tested the knots, making sure that they were secure.

It had worked. Nora couldn't believe it had been that easy. She and Sawyer sat down, waiting for Owen to wake up. They'd decided that once he did, they'd tell him that they'd keep him tied up forever unless he took himself to the mundane world and stayed there.

They didn't have to wait long. Within fifteen minutes or so, Owen tried to roll over in his hammock and found himself unable to move easily. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked at his bound hands and feet.

Sawyer and Nora leapt to their feet, standing over him.

"Good morning, Owen," said Sawyer. "Maybe you shouldn't leave your tent flap untied. Anyone can get inside and do whatever they want to you."

Owen struggled against his bonds. He looked at Nora. "You tied me up?"

"It's for your own good," said Nora. "And for the good of everyone else in Helicon. We had to stop you, Owen. You're out of control."

Owen struggled a little again. Then he relaxed into his hammock. He started to laugh. "Stop me? What makes you think you've stopped me?"

"You're tied up, aren't you?" said Sawyer. "How are you going to look into people's eyes and brainwash them if you can't leave this tent?"

Owen laughed harder. "You two are really something. It worried me when I couldn't seem to get through to Sawyer in the same way that I got through to the others, but now I realize that I shouldn't have worried at all."

"You can say whatever you want," said Nora. "We've got you, whether you admit it or not."

"Now, Nora running off like that," said Owen. "That, I wasn't expecting. That was a pretty good idea. I didn't think you had any creativity left."

"It came back," said Nora. "All I need was a jolt coming back to Helicon."

Owen snorted. "It can't have come back."

Nora furrowed her brow. The red cylinders in her tent. "You did it, didn't you? You stole my creativity. You put the red circles in my tent."

"Finally figured that out, huh?" Owen said. "It's for your own good. Creating stuff was only distracting you from our relationship."

"I can't believe you'd do that to me," said Nora. "I thought you loved me."

"It's not important anymore anyway," said Owen. "Now you're in my tent, and I've got an even better idea to get you back." He smiled. "Really, you're making this too easy for me." He looked towards the opening of his tent. "Oh, and we've got company."

Maddie pushed her way in. She was out of breath and a little sweaty.

"Good," said Owen. He grinned at Nora. "I made her run the whole way here."

"You made her?" said Nora.

Owen jerked his head at Sawyer. "He's the one who used the word brainwash, wasn't he?" He chuckled. "The thing is, what I'm doing now, it's really better than brainwashing. I'm deep inside Maddie's mind, you see. I can make her do anything I want her to do. Isn't that right, Maddie?"

"Oh, yes," said Maddie. Her voice sounded hollow and strange, and she stared through Nora and Sawyer rather than at them.

"So, you see," said Owen, "it really doesn't matter if I'm tied up or not." He grinned widely. "What should Maddie do to entertain us? Let's see... Did you bring what I told you to bring, Maddie?"

"Yes," said Maddie. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a carving knife from the kitchens.

Nora dove for it, trying to wrest it from her hand, but Maddie pushed her off, sending Nora stumbling backwards. Before Nora could lunge again, or Sawyer could help her, Maddie had the knife to her own throat.

"It's always terribly sad when a muse commits suicide," said Owen. "Poor Maddie. She wanted to be a thin, pretty dancer, but she was fat and stupid."

"Stop it," said Nora.

"You asshole," growled Sawyer.

"Maybe if her friend Nora hadn't run off like that, she wouldn't have done it. All she wanted was for Nora to come home."

Nora turned to him. "Why are you doing this?"

"You don't like it?" asked Owen. "Well, then, make it stop. Come back to me, Nora. Be my girlfriend again, and your little friend will live."

"Fine," said Nora. "Just have her put down the knife."

"No," said Sawyer, "don't let him push you around like that, Nora."

"I'll do it, Owen. I'll come back to you. Don't hurt Maddie," said Nora.

Owen crowed triumphantly. "I knew you'd come around. Now, you understand that you can't do this half-way. I don't want a mopey girlfriend who refuses to be affectionate and sulks all the time. You'll make me believe you're happy to be with me, right?"

Nora gulped. "Right. Of course. Have her put down the knife."

"And if at any point, you're not living up to my expectations, you know I can make your little friend eviscerate herself."

"I know, Owen, please, stop it!"

"Untie me, and I will."

"Nora," said Sawyer.

But she was already fumbling with the ropes. And as soon as Owen was free, Maddie put the knife down on the ground.

She looked at it with a confused expression on her face. "What am I doing here?"

"You came to see Nora," said Owen, sitting up on the hammock. "She's back. Aren't you glad?"

"Nora!" said Maddie, running to embrace her.

Sawyer caught Nora's eyes from behind her. He looked terrified. She held his gaze, unsure of what to say or do.

* * *

Nora sat on a bench around the main fire pit. The council meeting was over for the evening, and the drum circle had begun. They'd been discussing the arrangements for the Winter Solstice, which was the next day. Nora could hardly believe she'd been in Helicon for a year. Owen was chatting amiably with one of the members of the security enclave. Every now and then, he'd glance at her, so she didn't dare move. As long as she stayed docile and agreeable, everything was fine. If she didn't...

A week ago, she'd been with Owen after one of the council meetings when Dirk had happened by. He saw the two of them together and had come over, scorn in his eyes. "You're back with this dick?"

Nora hadn't said anything but had willed Dirk to go away and not make a big deal about it.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" Dirk had continued. "He's a jackass."

"Let it be," Nora had whispered. "Everything's fine."

Owen had glared at Dirk. "I don't like the tone of voice you're using, kid."

Dirk shrugged. "Well, it's your business, I guess. But I found something in the woods, Nora, and I wanted to tell you about it."

Owen had looked at Nora. "Make your little friend go away, please."

"Let it go, Dirk," Nora had said.

"No," he had said. "I know why you can't create."

He'd found the red cylinders, then. Nora shook her head at Dirk. There was no reason to discuss this. Owen had lots of them, and now that she stayed in his tent, they were with them again, and her creativity had drained away. Owen said he didn't want anything to distract her from him.

"Nora," Owen had said. "Make him go away."

"Please," Nora had said. "I don't want to talk to you, Dirk."

"Don't let him do that to you," Dirk had said.

Owen had squeezed her arm. Across the fire pit, she'd seen Agler suddenly double over in pain, shrieking.

"Shut up, Dirk!" Nora had nearly screamed. "Shut up and don't ever talk to me again!"

Dirk had stepped away, looking hurt. Across the fire pit, Agler had straightened.

Owen hurt people if Nora didn't cooperate. That was the way it was. So she cooperated. And generally, everything was fine. Since Owen was keeping her from being able to create anything, she was working with the security enclave. They were together most of the time. Usually, he was easy to get along with, as long as she did what he asked and stayed cheerful. Sometimes he even let her hang out with Maddie, as long as he was around to watch the two of them. Seeing Sawyer, of course, was out of the question.

When Sawyer sat down behind her on the bench, she stiffened.

"He can't see me," Sawyer said. "Stare straight ahead and don't move your mouth too much when you talk. Are you okay?"

They hadn't spoken in weeks, not since the night she'd agreed to go back with Owen. "I'm fine."

"Is he making you do disgusting, perverted things?"

"No. He doesn't really seem interested, actually." Nora was relieved about that. Given the way their relationship had ended, she'd been sure that one of the first things Owen was going to demand was that she sleep with him. But Owen had said that it wasn't necessary anymore. He said before he'd been trying to get her to do it because he thought that would make them closer, but now, he had other things to keep Nora with him. They didn't "need to fuck," as he put it. She shivered. She was grateful, but in some ways, it made Owen even more disturbing. She realized that he really only did want to control her. Controlling her was more important than normal human drives.

"You would tell me, wouldn't you?" Sawyer asked.

"I'm really fine," said Nora.

"I'm going to Phoebe anyway."

She almost turned to look at him, but caught herself. "No!"

"I have to, Nora. He can't force you to do this. It's horrible. Someone's got to stop him. Phoebe's the most powerful muse here. She'll be able to do it."

"He'll kill Maddie," said Nora. "He'd do it in a heartbeat. You know he would. He'd do it out of spite. Even if Phoebe could stop him, he'd find some way to kill Maddie first. I couldn't handle that. I don't want to be free of Owen if it means Maddie's dead."

Sawyer was quiet behind her. "If I could promise you Maddie would be safe?"

"How can you promise me that? Owen's inside her head," said Nora.

But before Sawyer could answer, Nora saw that Owen had turned away from his conversation and was walking back over to her.

"Owen's coming," she whispered frantically, and she felt Sawyer slip off the bench behind her.

Owen sat down next to Nora. "Were you talking to someone, sweetie?"

She shook her head. "No. I was singing under my breath."

Owen laughed. "Yeah, it's probably better if you don't sing out loud anymore. Without muse abilities, you really can't carry a tune."

Nora tried to smile. She knew Owen expected her to.

"I love you, anyway, you tone-deaf songbird," he said and kissed her.

Nora shut her eyes and let him.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Solstice feast was huge and delicious, but Nora couldn't bring herself to eat much, even if Owen kept nudging her and saying she needed to look happier. She did her best, but it was hard to pretend to be happy when she was actually constantly afraid that she'd do something or someone else would do something that would set Owen off. Earlier that night, she'd made an offhand comment about the dress she was wearing and how Sawyer had made it for her. Owen had flown into a rage. He refused to let her wear the dress. In fact, he'd made her change, and then he'd taken the dress and ripped it to shreds. Remembering him screaming at her like that did not put her in a good mood, and it did not make her want to look happy. But she was doing her best.

A hand on her shoulder. Nora started, looking up.

Phoebe Rain smiled down on her. "Nora, could I talk to you alone for a minute?"

Nora shot a terrified glance at Owen. He wouldn't want her to do that, would he? But he wouldn't want her to make Phoebe suspicious either. "Um, after I finish dinner, maybe?"

Phoebe looked at Nora's mostly untouched plate. "Well, that might take a while. Come on. I'll only need you for a minute."

"Well, can't you talk to me about it here, then?" asked Nora.

Phoebe shot a glance at Owen, who was glaring at her. "Well, if you want me to do that, I suppose. I just have to admit that I'm surprised to find out that you and Owen patched things up. The last time I talked to you, I got the impression that you didn't want anything to do with him."

"Well, he's Owen," said Nora nervously. "We grew up together. He made me mad, but after a while, I realized I couldn't stand being without him."

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "I see. So, I shouldn't be worried, then. Owen's not—" She turned to face him again— "hurting you?"

Owen stood up. "Where would you get an idea like that?"

"No need to get defensive, Owen," said Phoebe.

Owen gripped Phoebe's shoulder. His gaze bored into her eyes, and he began to mutter strange words. Phoebe's body went stiff. She looked down at the ground, and then back at Nora, confusion all over her face. "What was I saying?"

"You were saying goodbye," said Owen.

"Oh," said Phoebe. "Okay, then. I'll talk to the two of you later." She smiled and wandered off.

Nora's mouth was dry. She was shaking all over. Owen had Phoebe now. Phoebe Rain, the head of the council. There was no stopping him. No stopping him at all.

Owen sat down and took a big bite of food. "You're looking less than cheerful, Nora dear. Do eat your food."

Nora got a forkful and shoveled it into her mouth like a robot. She was glad Maddie was okay, of course, but any tiny bit of hope she'd ever had was gone.

There was a beeping noise at her wrist.

Owen picked up her arm roughly. "What's that?"

"It's the Catling tracker," said Nora. "Catling goes on the move whenever a portal's been opened."

Owen stood up. "Another portal, huh? Well, don't worry, Nora, soon I'm going to find whoever's been doing that, and stop them once and for all. Let's see where this one is, though, and close it before anyone gets hurt."

Nora stood up too.

Alexander hurried over to them. "The tracker went off."

"I saw Nora's," said Owen. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it. You stay here and enjoy the Solstice feast."

Alexander nodded, getting the glassy-eyed look that people seemed to get when Owen had them under his thrall. "Thanks, Owen." He turned and walked away.

"Do you want me to come along?" Nora asked, hoping for a few moments away from him.

"Of course I do, my love," said Owen. "I can't bear to be parted from you, and you know it. Don't be frightened though. If the Influence comes through, I'll protect you." He took her by the arm, and followed the signal on her wrist. "Of course, I suppose you'll be alone while I close up the portal, but that won't take me very long. And I trust you, Nora. You wouldn't do anything to make me angry while I was away. You know what would happen if you did."

She did know.

* * *

The fire was lit in the tweens and rebels enclave, and Dirk was sitting next to it. His body was covered in the little red circles made by the portals. She remembered helping to gather them up with Maddie the first day she'd been here in Helicon. When she'd touched them, it had made her weak. Why was Dirk purposefully putting them against his skin?

She heard Catling's squawking meow from next to Dirk.

Had Catling simply come out to see Dirk? Was there no portal after all?

But then she saw it. Directly under where Dirk was sitting—a rip in the ground, white light seeping through it. Dirk was sitting on top of the portal. Was he insane?

"Dirk!" she yelled.

Owen tossed her an annoyed glance.

She shouldn't have spoken.

"Nora," said Dirk. "Your tracker. I was hoping that everyone would be so involved in the Solstice celebration they wouldn't notice this time. No such luck, I guess."

Owen marched over to him. "You realize you're sitting on a portal?"

"No, really?" Dirk rolled his eyes. "Why do you think I made it?"

"You?" said Nora. "You're opening the portals?" She was stunned. But it fit, didn't it? Dirk knew enough about the security enclave to weave the kind spells that would repel their weapons. His father had obviously taught him that. And he had been so hostile about the Catlin tracker. But... "Why?"

Dirk shrugged. "At first it was like a prank. Like smashing jack-o-lanterns. I did it because I hate Helicon, and because everyone here is lazy, like my dad always used to say. When your tracker thing happened, I decided to give up. It wasn't worth it if people didn't freak out about it. But at Halloween, when you said that I must wish I was like you, it gave me an idea. I thought that if I could get my muse powers to go away enough, maybe when the Influence touched me, it wouldn't kill me, just burn off all my creativity. And then I could live in the mundane world, like I want to."

"It won't work," said Owen.

"How do you know?" said Dirk.

"Because it was my idea," said Owen. "I've been using them to drain Nora's powers. And even without muse powers, I'd never let her touch the Influence."

Dirk's jaw dropped. "I can't believe you're with a guy who would do something like that to you." He shook his head at Nora.

Nora looked at the ground. "It's easier this way. It's safer for everyone."

"Oh, so he's forcing you somehow," said Dirk, sounding disgusted. "You know, that Agler guy is kind of a self-absorbed prick too, but this guy. You have awful taste in boys, Nora."

"Shut up," said Owen. "Move out of the way so that I can close the portal."

"Hmm," said Dirk. "Let me think about that... Um, no. I'm not going to do that."

"Maybe you should," said Nora. "If the Influence comes through, it could kill you."

"I don't think it will," said Dirk.

Owen grabbed Dirk by the collar and yanked him to his feet. "It took quite a long time for Nora's powers to be really gone. Even now, though, I wouldn't chance letting the Influence touch her. You're a muse, you idiot. It will kill you, even if you've had these little red things sucking you dry for a long time."

Dirk sneered at Owen. "You're pathetic, you know that? You can't get a girl to like you without forcing her to do it, can you?"

Owen snorted. "I suppose you're an expert on relationships."

"Not really," said Dirk. "But I know not to slam my girlfriend into a tree when I'm mad at her. I know not to suck away her creativity because I'm jealous she won't spend time with me. People said you were a bully when you were a kid. Well, you're all grown up, Owen, but you haven't changed."

"Nora's fine," said Owen. "Aren't you, Nora?"

"I'm fine," said Nora.

Dirk looked her in the eyes. "Dump him."

"I can't," said Nora.

"Don't talk to her," said Owen. "You opened portals in Helicon, sucking the energy out of my home. And you've insulted me on numerous occasions. Not to mention the fact you took Nora into the mundane world and let Agler Thorn put his hands all over her and who knows what else. You deserve to be punished."

"You sound excited about it," said Dirk. "You're really a sicko, aren't you?" He laughed. "You're just a twisted, pathetic, sick little boy. You don't scare me. I think you're hilari—"

There was a blinding flash of purple light, streaming up through the portal.

The Influence! Nora cried out.

Usually, the lightning bolt would reach for the sky, but Dirk was in the way. Instead, the bolt sizzled all over his body, making the hair on his head stand straight up. He lit up with purple light, and he screamed.

"Owen, get him off of there!" yelled Nora.

But Owen was holding Dirk down, keeping him from moving. Owen's face was lit up from the light coursing through Dirk. His jaw was set and firm, his eyes narrow. He looked like he was concentrating.

"Owen!"

He looked at her for a second, and she saw his expression change. Suddenly, he looked afraid. He yanked Dirk out of the portal. The two tumbled back in the grass.

The light of the Influence hissed out, dumping more red cylinders all over the ground.

Nora crawled to Dirk's body. Little sparks of purple were still dancing over his skin. His eyes were wide open and unmoving. He stared up at the stars, jolts of the Influence sparking out all over his body.

"Don't touch him, Nora," said Owen, pushing her away.

"Owen, is he...?"

He swallowed. He let go of her and moved over to Dirk, putting his fingers on Dirk's neck to feel for a pulse. He kept his fingers there for a long time. Then he turned to Nora, horrified. "He's dead."

She hugged herself. The last bits of the Influence flickered on Dirk's body. The glow died out. He didn't move, and little wisps of smoke emanated from his skin. Nora put her fist in her mouth to keep from making noise.

Owen stood up, thrusting his hands into his hair. "I killed him," he said in a very tiny voice.

A dark blur rushed through the arch of the tweens and rebels enclave. It lurched into Owen, knocking him to the ground. Owen and the figure struggled. Nora could see flashes of blond hair as the two rolled over and over on the ground. It was Sawyer.

The figures stopped rolling. Sawyer was on top of Owen. He had his hands around Owen's throat. His face was twisted, his teeth gritted tight against each other.

Owen kneed Sawyer in the groin.

Sawyer let go, whimpering. He rolled over into a ball, bringing his knees up to protect himself.

Owen stumbled to his feet. He kicked Sawyer once, in the face.

Nora shouted. "Owen!"

He stepped back.

Sawyer wasn't moving.

Owen dragged his hands over his face. He walked in a wobbly circle, moaning to himself.

Nora crawled over to Sawyer's body.

Owen snatched her by the arm and wrenched her to her feet. "Don't," he rasped. "Leave him."

"Owen, what did you—"

"Shut up!" he said. He jerked on her arm, pulling her along with him, and they were running into the woods. Branches slapped her in the face, tearing at her skin. She yelled at him to let go of her, but he didn't. He dragged her along with him through the woods, over the plain on the other side, all the way to the edge of Helicon.

Then he let go of her, and she tumbled to the ground, breathing hard and sobbing.

Owen ran to the edge. He stared down into it, and he roared, clutching hunks of his own hair.

It was quiet.

Nora fought to steady her breathing. Maybe if she was very quiet, she could get up and... And do what? And go where? Owen controlled everything, and he'd killed people, and lost his mind, and she was more frightened of him now than she'd ever been.

He turned around. His face was wild. "When did it stop?"

"What?" she said, pulling her knees against her chest as if that was some kind of protection.

"When did you stop loving me?"

"I..." This was a trap. She couldn't answer this question. If she admitted she didn't love him, he'd be furious. If she said she still loved him, he'd accuse her of lying.

He turned back around. "It doesn't matter. You can't save me."

It was quiet again. Should she run? What was he going to do to her now?

Owen picked his way over to her in the grass. He threw himself down next to her. There were tears glistening in his eyes. "I didn't mean to kill him."

Nora didn't respond.

Owen yanked some grass out by the root. He laughed bitterly. "Okay, that's not true. I did mean to kill him. But I didn't mean to mean to kill him." He scattered the grass over the ground. "But I don't think that matters, does it?" He lay down, gazed up at the sky. He swallowed, and she could see his Adam's apple bob. "I remember the first time I saw you, Nora. My father had just brought me back to Helicon and dumped me in the babies and toddlers enclave. You were three years old. You had these impossibly small fingers." Owen held up his own fingers as if this somehow demonstrated what he was saying. "I held them against my fingers, and I remember thinking, 'These are too small to work.' But they did. You were perfect and miniature and so pretty." He looked at her. "I thought, 'If something this small and pretty and good can care about me, then I'm worth caring about.' And you did care about me. I made you care about me."

"Owen," Nora whispered. Why did he have to do this right now? Why did he have to make her feel sorry for him?

"I got it all wrong," he said. "I could never figure it out the way other people did. They feel something... You feel something I don't feel." He sat up, resting his elbows on his knees. "I think it's fear. No. Maybe it's pain. No... Guilt?" He laughed maniacally and the tears in his eyes started to stream down his face. "What's wrong with me, Nora?"

"I don't..." That was another trap. This was all just a trap. Owen wanted to make her feel sorry for him. He always pulled the stupid sympathy card. Well, it wasn't going to work, not this time. She wasn't going to let him manipulate her. He'd killed Dirk. He might have killed Sawyer. He'd threatened to kill Maddie. Whatever was inside Owen, it was dark and scary, and she hated it. She hated him. Her fingers scrabbled against a rock that was lodged in the ground. She pushed at the dirt, trying to free it. "You never had a family, maybe."

"Neither did you," Owen said darkly.

"But people loved me," said Nora. "When I was a baby, people like Jolie, they loved me. And maybe no one loved you. No one except me. But I was too late." She was able to grasp the rock with her hand. She wiggled it, trying to pull it out of the earth.

"Do you still love me, Nora?" He looked at her with his crystal blue eyes, so pitiful, tears glinting in the moonlight.

She pulled the rock free and heaved it over her head. "Not a chance, asshole," she said, and slammed it into his head as hard as she could.

Owen looked stunned for a second, and then he melted to the ground, motionless.

She pushed herself to her feet. She should run now.

"Nora!"

Sawyer was running over the field towards her. His skirt was torn down the center, and she could see his legs pumping. Funny. She'd never considered whether or not Sawyer shaved his legs. He didn't. She fixated on that, for some reason, the look of his masculine legs against his pretty skirt. It was oddly appealing.

He skidded to a stop next to her.

She gestured with the rock. "I hit him."

"You're okay?"

She nodded.

Sawyer hugged her fiercely, pulling her tight against him. "You're okay, thank the gods, you're okay."

She hugged him back, the rock dropping out of her hand.

Sawyer pulled back, grabbing her behind the neck so that he could look into her eyes. "I thought he was going to kill you."

"I thought you were dead," she said.

And then...

It was strange, and brief, and somehow pleasant, but Sawyer's mouth was on her mouth for just a second. A quick—

And then he was several feet away from her, a look of horror on his face.

He'd kissed her.

She cocked her head to one side, feeling confused.

"You should go for help," Sawyer told the ground. "I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't wake up."

"No," said Nora. She went to Owen's body. Knelt. Heaved under his shoulders. "Get his feet."

"Nora?"

"We'll throw him off the edge." Her voice cracked in a sob. "It's the only way, Sawyer. When he wakes up... He got to Phoebe."

Sawyer shook his head. "Nora, no. We can't—"

And he was cut off by a shout. "Over here!"

Nora stood up. Coeus was striding across the field. Phoebe and Alexander were with him, trailing behind. Nora's shoulders sagged.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Nora was inside Phoebe's tent, wrapped in blankets and drinking hot cider. Sawyer stood next to her. Owen was across the room, bound, gagged, and blindfolded.

Phoebe paced in front of Coeus. "He killed Dirk?"

"You can't trust him," said Nora. "He got in your head. He made you do something earlier, Phoebe. You have to believe me. He's dangerous."

Phoebe stopped and looked at Nora. "Yes, I know that, Nora." She shook her head. "He's strong." She turned to Coeus. "We can't let him stay here."

"You know that?" said Nora.

Coeus put his arm around Phoebe. "You tried. You did the best you could."

"Maybe if I'd kept a better eye on him," said Phoebe. "In the summer, Nora told me things about him. I didn't listen. I laughed it off." She shook Coeus off and went to Nora, putting a finger in her face. "I told you to tell me if he hurt you."

Nora shrank back. "He threatened Maddie. He was going to make her kill herself—"

Coeus pulled Phoebe away. "It's not Nora's fault. It's not your fault."

"Coeus, I was horrible to that boy when he was a child. I could have taken him from Nimue when he was a baby. I could have raised him, but—"

"Then it's my fault," said Coeus. "It's my fault for not wanting your lover's child."

Phoebe sighed. "It's no one's fault." She gazed down at Owen.

"You can't let him wake up!" Nora exclaimed. "You don't know what he's capable of."

Phoebe knelt in front of Nora. "I'm sorry. I haven't explained, have I?"

Nora shook her head.

"When Owen spoke to me earlier, when he looked into my eyes, he whispered a prayer to Dionysus. But you see, Dionysus has no power of his own anymore. The only power he has is the power of Helicon. And that's my fault. When I was young—"

"You gave Dionysus power so that he could help the gods try to save the Roman empire, but it backfired and sent the world into the Dark Ages," said Sawyer.

Phoebe looked at him. "Yes."

"We ran into Ned Willow in the woods one day," said Nora.

Phoebe sighed. "That Ned Willow needs to learn to keep his mouth shut."

"A prayer to Dionysus?" said Nora. "Because we used a prayer to Dionysus to get to Helicon last year."

Phoebe took a deep breath. "Well, that makes sense, then. I wonder how long Owen's had access to our power. He probably doesn't even know that's what he's drawing on." She stood up. "You saw me arguing with Dionysus at May Day, because I thought he was pulling energy from Helicon, and he does pull energy, at least a bit, anyway, to survive. But after he left, promising to stop, it didn't stop. I hunted him down afterwards. It took months. He's not always easy to locate. Anyway, that's when I realized it wasn't him. And when it got worse recently, I was at my wit's end, trying to figure out where it came from. And then Owen used it on me. Right in front of my face." She smiled wryly. "It didn't last very long, of course. By the time I'd walked away, it was already fading. You can't use energy from Helicon against the head of the council.

"I went to Coeus right away, to tell him what I knew. We were talking, trying to decide what to do about Owen, and then Coeus noticed that the tracker for the portals had gone off. By the time we got there, Dirk was already dead. We went looking for the rest of you right after that." Phoebe took a deep breath. "Owen's killed a man. He's used the sacred power of the muses to threaten and terrify. He'll have to be exiled. We'll call a council meeting to make it official, of course, but I know there won't be any disagreement."

"Exile?" said Nora. "But he's powerful, even in the mundane world—"

"I'm working on a binding spell," said Phoebe. "He won't be able to draw on the power of Helicon again."

"He'll want to come back," said Nora. "When he was talking to Dirk, he called this place home. He still thinks of it that way."

"Nora, if you're suggesting we kill him, we don't do things like that in Helicon."

"But he deserves it," said Nora. And I'm scared of him. Scared he'll come back. Scared he'll come for me. He always wants me.

"Exile," said Phoebe. "He won't be able to get back. He won't hurt you, Nora. Trust me."

Nora pulled her blankets closer.

Later, Phoebe and Coeus took Owen's still unconscious body away, leaving Nora and Sawyer in Phoebe's tent.

"Would you really have thrown him off the edge?" Sawyer asked.

Nora took a sip of her cider, which was getting cold. "In the mundane world, people kill each other every day, you know? And in some places, if you kill someone, the government kills you for doing that."

"Well, that sounds barbaric," said Sawyer. "The government's no better than the killer then."

Nora chewed on her lip. "I loved him, you know. He...got inside my head. He used my love against me. He's horrible. Everything about him is horrible."

"Yeah," said Sawyer. "But if you did that, Nora, you'd be horrible too."

She burrowed under the blankets. "Well, I didn't do it, did I? But I hope I never see him again."

"I'm with you there," said Sawyer. He pulled a chair over next to Nora's. He studied his fingernails. "Listen, um, about back there? You know, when I saw you were okay?"

Oh. Right. Sawyer had kissed her. She looked up at him, and at that moment, he looked up too. They stared into each other's eyes for a minute. Nora hadn't realized that Sawyer's eyes were a sort of sea-foam color, or that he had long pale lashes.

Sawyer looked away.

"You're gay, aren't you?" said Nora. "I mean, or you're a woman trapped in a man's body or whatever."

"It's not exactly like that," said Sawyer. He sat back. "I guess it's more like I don't feel like a girl or a guy. Or like I feel like both. Or..." He glanced up at her again. "But, yeah, I've always been attracted to men."

"That's what I thought," said Nora. "You were happy to see me. That's all." She shrugged.

He nodded, smiling. "Yeah. That's all."

"It's okay," she said. "Friends can occasionally kiss on the lips, and it not be weird, especially when they've both just narrowly escaped death."

"So it's not weird?" he said.

"Not at all."

"Good." He sounded relieved.

* * *

Outside Phoebe's tent, the celebration of the Solstice had grown solemn as the muses were all gathered around Dirk's lifeless body. Alexander stood behind his wife, who had thrown herself onto Dirk's chest. She was sobbing. Alexander looked blank, stunned. Nora's heart went out to both of them.

Maddie and Agler pushed through the crowd to be next to Sawyer and Nora. They both had drawn faces. Nora embraced Maddie.

Maddie cried into Nora's dress. "I didn't mean to do any of that. I swear I didn't. It was so awful. It was like I was watching myself do things, and I couldn't stop it."

"It was Owen," said Nora. "Don't worry about it. You're all right now?"

Agler nodded. "Owen's influence switched off about a half hour ago. I found Maddie, and we've been looking for you guys ever since."

Nora released Maddie. The four stared at Dirk's body, half lit up in the fire from the fire pit. Everything seemed horrible right now. Nora swallowed. Tears threatened.

She felt Agler's arm on her shoulders, and she gratefully sagged into him, letting him draw her close. She looked up at him to see him gazing down into her eyes. "You're okay now," he said. "Everything's okay."

* * *

It was dark, and Owen couldn't move his hands or feet. He awoke, thrashing against the ropes that bound him fast. He opened his eyes, but he was blindfolded. Strong hands held his shoulders, pushing him down against the ground.

A voice. Female. Cold. "Owen Asher, you have violated the sanctity of Helicon." Phoebe Rain. Owen's lip curled in disgust. He reached out for her mind, intending to force her to untie him, but he ran into a barrier. She was safe from him.

Her cold voice continued. "You have used the power of Helicon to hurt and manipulate. You have threatened violence and performed violence. You have taken the life of another person. For all these reasons, we do hereby exile you from Helicon, the world of the muses, and strip you of any access or power connected to our realm. May the Fates guide you now, you lost soul."

And suddenly, Owen felt as if every part of his body was being compressed. His lungs squeezed together, and he struggled to breathe. Everything hurt. He shrieked in agony.

A thud. His body hitting something hard, like concrete. Car horns. Conversation. Owen opened his eyes to find he was no longer tied or blindfolded. Instead, he lay on a sidewalk in the mundane world. He sat up. He sighed.

This was a setback.

Not ready to leave Helicon yet?  
Goodbye Blue Sky, Book Two of the Helicon Muses  
Keep reading for a sneak peak.

Join my email list

To find out information on new releases and all the Val St. Crowe news first!

Join here.

3. Check out other Val St. Crowe books here.

Thanks so much for reading!!!
Goodbye, Blue Sky

Chapter One

Nora Sparrow was lying on the floor of her tent, dangling a piece of string in front of her pet cat-duckling, Catling. Catling was half-duckling, half kitten. Her head and neck were a cat, but her bottom quarters were a duck, even though she was covered all over in soft black and white fur, not feathers. Catling had the instincts of a cat, and she wanted to bat at the string, but her webbed feet couldn't manage it, so she was attacking it with her mouth, seizing the string with her teeth. Nora giggled, watching the cat-duck hop around on her duck feet as Nora pulled the string further and further out of her pet's reach.

Someone pulled aside the opening of her tent. "Nora?"

Nora rolled over and scrambled to her feet. "Hey Agler," she said, facing him.

"Can I come in?" Agler asked.

Nora debated. She was in the middle of a very confusing relationship with Agler. A month ago, her ex-boyfriend Owen had been exiled from Helicon, the land of the muses, where she and Agler lived. Owen had left a dead body in his wake, and he'd manipulated the minds of several of the muses. Afterwards, Nora had been pretty upset. Agler had been comforting. So, maybe she'd sort of heavily made out with him a couple times. But Nora didn't think she was ready to actually date anyone, not even Agler, who was nice and intelligent and had freckles. She took in his tall form, his long sandy dreadlocks, and his easy-going smile. Did she want him to come in? She decided to leave her tent instead. It might be less awkward if they weren't in an enclosed space together.

Agler stepped out of the way to let her out.

"What's up?" Nora asked.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. "You weren't at the council meeting tonight."

Every night in Helicon, the muses met for a meeting of the muse council. Mostly, it was boring talk in which certain enclaves complained about other enclaves, and more often than not, Nora skipped it. Agler seemed to find it fascinating, however, and he attended council meetings pretty regularly. She shrugged. "I wasn't feeling up for it."

"They announced that it's going to snow tomorrow," he said.

The muses had control of the weather in Helicon. Most of the time, it was summer there, but once a year in January, there was a week full of snow. Nora grinned. "Cool."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the clothing and fabric enclave to pick up snow stuff," he said.

Last year, Nora hadn't been prepared, and her best friend Maddie had hiked through the snow to bring her boots and warm clothes. Maddie loved the snow. "Sure," said Nora. "Maddie's going to be so excited. I'll get her to come with us and Sawyer too." Sawyer was her other best friend. He was gay and fond of wearing women's clothing.

Agler looked at his shoes. "I was kind of wondering if it could be just the two of us. We haven't hung out alone in a while."

Right. Not since a few weeks ago when Nora had found herself smashing her face up against his. The whole thing was awkward. She liked Agler a lot. And he was a really good kisser. But she was wary of making any kind of commitments in regards to boys. She didn't want to be tied down. She didn't want anyone telling her where to go and what to do. She was free now, without a boyfriend, and she liked it. But she guessed that kissing Agler occasionally was sort of leading him on, and it probably wasn't very nice. She chewed on her lip, unsure of what to say.

"We could pick clothes up for them while we're there." He grinned. "I'm not asking you to let your friends freeze."

Maybe it would be better to simply clear the air and let him know how she truly felt. "Look, Agler, I really like you, but I'm not sure I really want to jump into anything serious right now."

He raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware that walking to the clothing and fabric enclave was something serious."

She felt embarrassed. "You said you wanted to be alone with me, so I thought..."

He shrugged. "If you don't want to go—"

"No, it's fine," said Nora. "That would be great. I'll need snow clothes. Let's go."

They set out from the tweens and rebels enclave, where they both lived, past the greenhouses of the food enclave, towards the clothing and fabric enclave. They walked in silence for a long time.

Finally, Agler said, "Have you been playing the drums much anymore?"

Nora had been avoiding the music enclave specifically so she wouldn't have to see Agler. "I've been working on sculpting."

"Yeah, I haven't been doing music much either," said Agler. "I've been in the philosophy enclave almost every day since the Winter Solstice."

So she could go to the music enclave, then, if he wouldn't be there... "Philosophy makes my brain hurt," said Nora, smiling.

"Whatever," said Agler. "You're a born philosopher, Nora. You're always thinking things through, getting to the heart of what's going on around you. And Themis keeps asking about you."

Themis Branch was the head of the philosophy enclave. He'd confused Nora once with a discussion on the existence of God. "I think sculpture's more my speed," said Nora.

They were quiet again, still walking. Nora supposed she should think of something to say. After all, that would be the polite thing to do. She wracked her brain for topics to discuss with no success until they reached the clothing and fabric enclave.

Thankfully, she was saved from any further conversing by talking to the muse there, who was sitting by a table covered in piles of snow clothes. The muses had this amazing suede-like fabric that was very warm and somehow managed to repel water completely. Nora and Agler told the clothing muse what sizes they needed, and then turned back to the tweens and rebels enclave, laden with fur-edged coats, boots, gloves, and pants for both themselves and Maddie and Sawyer.

Carrying the clothing was a little difficult, since they could hardly see over the piles in their arms, and it was also a little hot, having the warm things in their face. They walked faster on the way back, and Nora thought maybe there wouldn't be any more conversation at all.

But Agler stopped her, just before they got back to the enclave. "So, um, when you say you're not interested in something serious, what does that mean exactly?"

She peered around her bundle of snow clothes to look at him. "Uh, you know, I don't think I'm ready for another boyfriend quite yet. Not after what Owen did."

Owen had controlled Agler's mind for months last year, keeping Agler from pursuing Nora. Owen had been jealous and horrible.

Agler's head bobbed. "Yeah, I guess I can see that. Owen's a jerk."

Nora felt relieved. It was nice that he understood.

"If you, um, start feeling ready anytime, though, let me know?" He grinned at her.

Nora smiled back. Agler really was a nice guy.

* * *

Maddie's nose was red inside her furry hood. She was practically jumping up and down outside Nora's tent the next morning. Actually, she probably would have been, but it was hard to jump in two feet of sparkling white snow.

Nora had a solar-powered heater from the engineering enclave, which she left on for Catling as she joined her friend. "Geez, Maddie, it's early."

"It's snow!" said Maddie. "You have to be up early, or you miss the pristine perfect layer of it, before everyone tramps through everything and screws it up."

Nora had to laugh. "Did you wake up Sawyer yet?"

"I tried," said Maddie. "He started cursing at me. I figured I'd let you give it a shot."

Nora looked across the fire pit in the tweens and rebels enclave at Sawyer's tent. "I don't know. He was up late talking to Jack last night, wasn't he?"

Maddie shrugged. "I went to bed early when I heard about the snow."

"Maybe we should let him sleep?"

"He'll miss everything," said Maddie.

Nora started over to Sawyer's tent. "What's going on with those two, anyway? They've been 'talking' for months now."

"I know," said Maddie. "And it's obvious that Sawyer likes him."

Nora poked her head inside the opening of Sawyer's tent. "Hey, Sawyer, you awake?"

"Go away," said a voice from inside the huddle of blankets in Sawyer's hammock.

"Maddie won't let me," said Nora. "She says that you're going to miss everything."

Sawyer's blonde head popped out of his covers. His hair was messy, and his blue-green eyes were bloodshot. "Cold," he said.

"That's why I brought you snow clothes," Nora replied.

Sawyer rubbed his face. "You guys aren't going to leave me alone until I get up, are you?"

"Nope," said Maddie from behind Nora.

"Fine," Sawyer grumbled. "Let me get dressed."

Nora retreated to outside the tent. When she turned around, a snowball hit her square in the face. She screamed at the burst of icy coldness against her skin, and brushed it away with her gloves.

Maddie was giggling.

"In the face?" said Nora. "No fair."

Maddie held up another snowball and launched it at Nora.

Nora ducked, scooping up snow herself. "You were out here building ammo while I was talking to Sawyer, weren't you?"

A snowball slammed into Nora's leg. More giggling from Maddie.

Nora hurled the snowball she'd just made at Maddie, but it missed her completely.

Maddie laughed harder, throwing another snowy missile at Nora. This one exploded against Nora's shoulder.

Nora glared at Maddie. "I'm going to get you. When you're least expecting it, I'm going to have a snowball ready, and—"

Maddie threw another snowball, hitting Nora's stomach.

"Ceasefire," said Sawyer as he came out of his tent, dressed in his snow clothes. His eyes still looked bloodshot.

Maddie raised her arm to throw another snowball.

"I mean it," said Sawyer, pointing at her.

Pouting, Maddie dropped it.

"It's early," said Sawyer.

"That's what I said," said Nora.

"You guys are no fun," said Maddie. "It's snowing!" She twirled amongst the flakes that were falling from the sky, her brown eyes glowing.

"I need coffee if there's going to be this much excitement," said Sawyer.

"Yeah," said Nora. "Let's go to breakfast."

"Breakfast?" said Maddie. "We've got to get started on an epic snow sculpture."

"Breakfast," said Sawyer.

Later, their coats dripping as they hung on a rack next to the door in the main kitchen, the three watched as Sawyer made coffee.

He dumped a heap of dark grounds into a French press. "We're up so early that no one's bothered to make breakfast yet."

"I said I'd make French toast," said Nora.

"And yet you're sitting here staring at me," said Sawyer.

Nora got up and wandered through the kitchen to one of the large stainless steel refrigerators. She opened it and pulled out a carton of eggs.

"I still say we don't need breakfast," said Maddie.

Nora returned, setting the eggs on the counter. "We need fuel," she said. "Hand me the bread by you, Maddie?"

Maddie got up to grab a loaf of raison bread. It had probably been baked yesterday. Nora loved it. It was always moist in the middle and brown and crusty at the edges. The food in Helicon was to die for.

"Besides," Nora continued, "I think Sawyer's hung over."

"I am not," said Sawyer. He gazed longingly at the kettle of water which he was warming over the stove as if he could force it to boil faster with his stare.

Nora set an iron skillet on one of the ten burners on the stove and ignited it, musing over the contradictions in Helicon. Most muses lived in tents, gathered around fire pits. There was a primitive undercurrent to the atmosphere here. But in other ways, Helicon embraced more civilized things, like the state-of-the art kitchens in the food enclave and some of the elaborate buildings in the architecture enclave. The muses were not ones to make a great deal of effort unless a technological advance improved their ability to be creative and comfortable.

"You were drinking with Jack last night, weren't you?" Nora asked Sawyer.

"I had a couple oatmeal stouts from the wine and spirits enclave," Sawyer said. "I didn't get drunk or anything."

"Nora and I are wondering what's going on with you and Jack," Maddie teased.

Sawyer looked embarrassed. "Nothing, really."

Nora cracked eggs into a bowl and began beating them. "Nothing? And how much sleep did you get last night exactly?"

"We were only talking," said Sawyer. "He's fun to talk to."

"But you like him, don't you?" said Maddie.

"Do you need me to slice the bread, Nora?" asked Sawyer.

"Sure," said Nora. "But don't change the subject. You have a big crush on Jack and don't deny it."

Sawyer picked up a serrated knife and went at the loaf of bread with gusto. "Sure, and you and Agler brought us our snow stuff last night, but you don't have a crush on him."

"I don't," said Nora. "I'm not doing relationships right now. They complicate everything."

Maddie sighed. "You guys are both going to be paired up soon, and I'll be the only one left."

"I'm not getting paired up," Nora insisted. Using a fork, she speared a piece of bread that Sawyer had cut and drenched it in the eggs she'd been beating.

"You will eventually," said Maddie. "But not me. I'll be fat and unloved forever."

Sawyer gestured with the knife, pointing it in Maddie's face. "I thought we had forbidden you to use the 'F' word about yourself."

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Eff you," she said.

"You are beautiful and smart and fun," said Nora. "The right guy is out there."

Maddie didn't say anything.

Nora transferred the first piece of French toast to the hot skillet, where it sizzled. "So, Sawyer, while you and Jack are talking, there's no flirting happening?"

Sawyer's shoulders slumped. "I'm flirting," he said. "But I think Jack is weirded out by the fact that I wear skirts all the time."

"Did he say something?" asked Nora.

"Not exactly," said Sawyer. "But he likes guys, you know, and I'm..."

"I think that's enough slices," Nora said, putting a hand on his arm. Sawyer had hacked the bread to pieces.

He put the knife down. "It's not that I want to be a girl or anything. It's really not. Well, I mean, there are things about being a girl that I like. Like wearing skirts. But there are things about being a guy I like too. And I don't think I can change that. Not even for Jack."

"Who says he wants you to change?" asked Nora.

Sawyer shrugged. "Who would want me the way I am?"

"We would," said Maddie.

"Absolutely," said Nora. "We don't ever want you to be different."

* * *

After breakfast, the three headed across the bridge over the stream in Helicon, which was now frozen, to an open field where the muses made snow sculptures each year. The sculptures were works of art, intricate and beautiful, and the best were transported to the main fire pit at the end of the week for decorations at a winter ball. Last year, Nora, Sawyer, and Maddie had made a big sculpture of Catling, which had been selected for the dance. On the way over, Maddie chattered about how they needed to do something bigger and better this year, really blow the Catling sculpture out of the water.

Nora hadn't given any thought to what they might sculpt, and she didn't think Maddie putting pressure on her was helping her creative juices get flowing. Hopefully, the strong coffee that Sawyer had made would, once the caffeine kicked in.

"Maybe a horse or something," Nora said as they walked.

"That's an animal," said Maddie. "It's too close to Catling."

"A shell," said Nora. "An enormous conch shell."

"It's winter," said Maddie. "Shells are a summer thing. I don't think so."

"Well, what do you think we should make?" Nora said.

"You're the visual art person," said Maddie. "You're even sculpting every day."

"Yeah," said Nora. "From life. It's really boring. I sculpt whatever I happen to see in the enclave right then and there." She turned to Sawyer. "What do you think we should make?"

Sawyer stopped short and pointed at the meadow. Because they were up so early, no one else had started work on one yet, and the snow should have been fresh and untouched.

But it wasn't.

There, in the center of the meadow, written in enormous block letters carved into the snow, was a message. It said, "You're mine." And underneath: "Soon."

Not ready to leave Helicon yet?  
Keep reading. Buy it here. 
