Highlander Enchanted(91)
“To break the bridge and send the gods back where they belong. To return humanity to the Old Ways, to freedom,” Father Renoir said quietly. “You only need to outlive the current Oracle. We hoped to hide you until that day when she passed, after which, you could live a normal life once the gods were gone. It is the deal we struck with Lelantos, the reason he wanted you hidden, and the promise we made to Artemis, whose heart has been weighed down with the treatment of each Oracle. When she discovered you were only a child, she offered us her help. We must in turn deliver on our promise.”
I wanted to laugh, but something about the severity of their features stopped me. Everyone knew Artemis had a soft spot for little girls in trouble and about the brittle nature of the relationship between the Olympic gods and Titans after the war that saw the Titans exiled to another dimension. The Titans swore vengeance. The idea I was in any way involved in the doings of gods, when I’d barely been allowed to participate in sports on campus, was absolutely crazy. “You guys can’t be serious!”
“We are, Alessandra. And now that they know where you are, they’ll be hunting you.”
“They … who?”
“Everyone.” Father Ellis said with a shrug. “The Supreme Magistrate will hire, coerce or order all of those beneath him to locate you, and the Supreme Priest will enlist SISA to do the same. You are worth more material wealth than anything that exists today. The gods will reward whoever finds you with … I can’t imagine. A priest knows nothing of wealth except the reward is beyond the most ambitious dream of anyone alive.”
“You’re starting to scare me,” I said. “If this is a joke, it needs to end now.” I searched the face of each. “If this is not a joke, then …” It was the craziest thing I’d ever heard. I had spent my life being treated like a burden by the priests and an ugly little stepsister by the nymphs only to find out this? That I was the reason we were all in the forest? That everyone on the planet was searching for me?
That the Supreme Magistrate, the most powerful man in the world, and the person the priests despised most, knew who I was?
“We will have to go to the alternate plan,” Father Renoir said. “We need to reach the existing Oracle.”
Father Cristopolos responded, but my thoughts were in splinters after the bombshell they dropped on me. I struggled to digest all the new information I’d learned today and do what Herakles trained me: focus on what had to be done next.
“Anyone have a cell phone?” I asked. “I need to talk to Herakles.”
They fell silent and exchanged another look. “That won’t be possible,” Father Cristopolos replied.
“Because …” I prodded.
“Because your disobedience not only cost us the school, but tipped off someone who knew to look for him,” Father Renoir replied. “He was captured.”
“No. He’s too strong.” Even as I said the words, I had the urge to run, to find him and demand he refute the story the priests were telling me.
“You’re right, honey. He’s probably distracting them to give us time to evacuate you,” Father Ellis said.
“Then we have to go get him!”
“Think about this, Alessandra. Assume everything we’re telling you is the truth, if you can’t believe it outright. People will give anything, do anything, to find you. The best thing you can do to help Herakles is to not be where he thinks you are. He loses his value to his captors at that point.”
“And they’ll free him?” I asked.
“Possibly.”
It wasn’t a ringing reassurance. If action movies were remotely based on reality, Herakles was probably in danger of being killed if he wasn’t useful to his captors. I was starting to worry this all was real. “All this just because I stepped outside the boundaries.” It seemed too crazy to be true.
“It was inevitable,” Father Ellis replied. “It was foolish of us to think we could cage you forever. What’s important is we find a safe place for you now.”
“And rescue Herakles,” I pressed.
“Herakles is the strongest man in the world. Chances are he will buy us time and won’t need our help to be rescued,” Father Cristopolos said.
For once, he made sense. I didn’t see Herakles staying anywhere involuntarily. “Can I ask where he went at least?”
“Washington DC,” Father Ellis answered.
I was born and lived just out side of DC until I turned six. If everyone in the world was looking for me, I doubted I could walk into the nation’s capitol and find Herakles unnoticed. Not that I was buying this nonsense …
Except that I kind of was. I was scared enough to believe what they said without understanding exactly what it meant to be someone of importance. To be hunted.
To be an Oracle, the most cherished and highly regarded human in existence. It made little sense after my humble upbringing here.
“Where do I go?” I asked quietly, unable to dispel the urge to find Herakles, no matter what the priests said.
“We have a backup plan. We’re waiting for someone who will take you elsewhere.”
“Who?”
Fathers Cristopolos and Ellis looked at one another briefly in silent communication I didn’t particularly care for. “You needn’t worry,” Father Ellis said. “I’ll be going with you. In the meantime, I need you to keep this on no matter what.” He stepped forward and took my arm, wrapping a piece of red cord around my wrist.