Omega Series: Omega Part 39

He motioned to the area above my head.

Wow. So the chip and the magic of Dolos had plugged him straight into my brain. Unease trickled through me. Did that mean he could read my mind? Control my thoughts? Just how deep in my head was he?

"Yeah," I said. "Those are what the Oracle uses to create, destroy and whatever else she's supposed to do."

"How do I create?"

"I haven't figured that out yet. Seems kind of random or accidental."

"Then how do I destroy?"

I s.h.i.+fted weight between my feet, not wanting to answer. A streak of pain shot through me, originating in my brain and smas.h.i.+ng through my body. I staggered.

"So it works," he said in satisfaction. "I had a control mechanism built into the chip. If you disobey, displease or otherwise refuse to do my bidding, I can punish you until you cooperate."

More pain. I dropped to my knees, gasping. White dots filled my gaze and my ears rang.

"Tell me how to destroy," he ordered quietly.

"Okay!" I gasped. "You just take ... the rainbows and crush them. Or ... push them into your body if you want them to disappear."

The pain stopped immediately. I struggled to regain myself. When I stood, he was frowning, trying to grip the ribbons above a table.

"Perhaps you alone retain this ability," he said and turned to me. "Try it."

Not yet ready for another round of pain, I obeyed and held out my hand. I took the ribbons above the table he wanted to destroy and crushed them.

It crumpled.

"Interesting. Although I can see what you do, and sense what you do, you alone control your magic," he observed.

Thank the G.o.ds for that tiny blessing.

"What else can you do?" he faced me again.

"That's it," I said. "Until my trials are over."

"This was not your third?"

I shook my head.

"The queen." Understanding crossed his features, followed by tension. "I'm afraid she's made her escape. She had the opportunity to task you. I saw to it at her tea party. She didn't give you your trial?"

"No," I lied and then waited to see if he could sense my deception with the same ease Adonis did.

"There is a reason Lantos is here and she is not," he growled. "Come. Let's send Her Majesty and her divine patroness a message." He motioned to someone from the corner.

I almost sighed in relief. So he couldn't read my mind or feel it when I lied. This gave me some wiggle room. My only real challenge: keeping my powers from emerging completely by refusing to carry out the Silent Queen's trial. It should be easy, a.s.suming Cecelia could hang on as long as I needed to figure out how to undo what the Magistrate had done to me.

Niko emerged from the shadows, and I almost screamed. I felt like c.r.a.p and he was not the person I wanted around.

Cleon went to the elevator. Niko gripped my arm and we trailed at my slow pace. My step was unsure; the world was moving a little too fast for me to keep up with. It wasn't until we reached the outside world that my sense began to clear. It was close to midnight and chilly. I s.h.i.+vered in my gown.

"Amazing," Cleon breathed.

I lifted my eyes and saw the world once more exploding with life and activity only we could see. The ribbons soothed me. Their movement was gentle and swaying to the point of mesmerizing. A car was waiting, but Cleon appeared lost as he gazed around.

It wasn't the ribbons that had my attention, though. It was the smoldering, bombed out remains of the Silent Queen's villa. The largest on the compound, its disappearance was impossible to miss and ran for half a block. Smoke trickled into the sky. If not for the rea.s.surance she had escaped, I'd be panicking.

"Sir," Niko prodded.

Cleon blinked and strode to the car, a small smile on his face.

Dread and throbbing pain replaced the giddy euphoria of the caverns, and I slid into the backseat beside him. I ached too much from the abuse of the arena, Mama's people and impromptu brain surgery to want to speak or move, and I was at a loss of what to think about Adonis still or his boss, who was turning out to have more sides than a dice.

My villa was still standing, which meant Leandra and Mrs. Nettles were hopefully safe. I needed Leandra, to know how wide and capable her spy network really was. Could she get word to Theodocia? Could they get me away from Cleon and expel him from my mind?

If anything, I had the desire to sleep for about a week. Closing my eyes, I rested my head back against the seat then hissed as the tender base of my skull erupted into pain. Agitated, I s.h.i.+fted onto my side the best I could. My head pounded too hard for me to find a comfortable position.

"I have spent my lifetime studying the Oracle and her powers," Cleon said.

Even when I knew he was the super villain of my life, I was compelled to listen, unable to prevent the tension from sliding out of me. His presence was always so calming, his voice soothing.

"I am truly, truly pleased to know I do not have to hurt you as my predecessors did Cecelia in order to access your power."

He was so good at pretending to be sincere, I almost believed him. Straightening in my seat, I studied him in the dimness of what streetlights managed to penetrate the car.

"You want to open the portal again?" I asked.

"Not exactly. I want to do more than return the world to the way it's been for centuries."

"What more is there?"

"There are no limits to what I can do now that I can control you." He glanced at me, a trace of a smile on his face. It was cold, calculating, the first time I'd seen malice in his otherwise expressionless features.

"So ... world domination?" I asked.

"Something like that. With your power at my disposal, I can crush the G.o.ds beneath my heel and anyone else who opposes me. They will do my will or suffer."

It sounded a little like what the Queen had wanted, except her goal was to make the world a better place after she exacted her revenge. I had a sense the Magistrate's ambition was more self-serving.

I said nothing. Whether it was from knowing the man beside me was a monster behind a kind face and warm personality or the drugs, I was nauseated.

The streets were clear, the military lining every intersection in riot gear and flanked by armored vehicles. I had never seen Niko's men inside the city before this, but they were everywhere.

"I declared martial law behind the wall," Cleon said. "I heard rumors of the Silent Queen's plans. Her underground army."

I wanted to ask about SISA stepping aside so easily but didn't. Adonis was gone, and the Supreme Priest was playing a dangerous game to get what he wanted. I hoped ... prayed ... one of them knew what they were doing giving in to a man like Cleon and turning on the Queen. I stared out the window, heart quickening. I wasn't about to reveal anything of the Silent Queen's plans.

"I think I need a long nap," I said in the tense quiet. "I'm not feeling so well."

"You've had a trying few days," he agreed. "I promise you time to rest, after a simple demonstration of your power."

"Demonstration. You want me to destroy something."

"I do. No one has to know your powers are limited. This will convince them otherwise."

I tensed, unable to imagine what his target was. He admitted to wanting to rule the world. It wasn't like he'd hold back, now that he had the shot to do it.

We were silent the rest of the trip. He was taking us toward the wall, but to an area unreachable by Mama's people. We entered a secure military base and traveled through soldier-packed streets to the foot of the wall. Rather than carve out stairs inside the wall, as Theodocia's people had done, the military had created an elevator running to the top of the wall protected by no less than a dozen heavily armed soldiers.

We got out of the car. The guards gave away once they spotted Cleon and saluted Niko. Niko strode through them and the barriers between us and the wall. I trailed him, limping, eyeing the heavily armed men uneasily. There was pretty much no chance of me escaping the demonstration, unless I let Cleon kill me through the control mechanism he'd implanted in my brain.

I didn't see him letting me die when he wanted to control me.

Cleon and a man with stars on his collar spoke quietly and followed. They grew quiet as we all climbed into the elevator. The ride was too fast for me my stomach turned, and I steadied myself against the cool metal wall.

The voices were louder, though still hard to understand. One voice, a male one, seemed to be the only one whose words I could make out.

You must stop him. Let us help you.

I didn't know how to respond or even if I should. The G.o.ds were supposed to be my enemies. The priests at my orphanage believed so. The Silent Queen swore as much, and even Leandra still believed the G.o.ds to be against everything the Old Ways stood for.

The more I learned and experienced of the outside world, the less I truly understood it. A man like Cleon had to be stopped. But so did Lantos, who was willing to sacrifice me and everyone else to exact the revenge of the t.i.tans. And the Holy Wars, the condition the world outside this wall lived in ...

Who exactly was an ally to me? Because I wasn't seeing how any of these people were remotely near my side of the fence.

This time, when my head ached, it wasn't from the surgery. It was because I was once more feeling like a victim of my circ.u.mstances rather than the powerful Oracle I was supposed to be.

We reached the top of the wall and stepped off the elevator. Soldiers lined the city and open sides as far as I could see in both directions. DC and the surrounding areas glowed to my right while the darkness, all I ever saw of the rest of the world, was to my left.

Niko led us to a point on the wall and waved away the soldiers standing guard. I joined him, admiring the lights of the city beneath Nyx's sky and how the ribbons seemed to dance among them. What we were doing here? Why did I have the feeling I never should've left my forest?

"Shut up and do what you're told, kid," Niko said quietly, for my ears only, before he stepped back for Cleon to replace his presence at my side.

"Beautiful, is it not?" Cleon asked, a smile on his features as he viewed the city and surrounding areas. "The most powerful city in the world, perhaps the most powerful the world has ever known, right at your feet."

The lump forming in my throat was too large for me to swallow.

"Reports indicate the Silent Queen has focused her underground army there." He pointed towards an area that included the central temple of Artemis.

I studied it. I had no idea if he were right or not. I had seen a small part of the underground city but didn't know DC enough to understand where it was in correlation to the above ground world. The area he indicated, though, was also residential. I counted at least four apartment buildings, a neighborhood of townhouses, police station and a park among several quiet streets lined with businesses surrounding the temple.

"That's where we'll start. Destroy it all."

My eyes flew up to him. "You can't be serious!"

Cleon met my gaze. I saw no emotion or compa.s.sion in his features and recoiled. How I was ever convinced he was kind or worthy or anything good was beyond me. None of these people could be trusted.

"Won't ... won't that anger Artemis?" I managed.

"Artemis favored the Queen and her High Priestess. Which is why this will be a demonstration to both sides." He motioned towards it, supreme satisfaction on his face. "Destroy everything for a five block radius from the central temple."

I couldn't believe I'd heard the words. This had to be a nightmare, another alternate reality like the one Mnemosyne created. For an agonizing moment, I stood shocked, too surprised and horrified to move.

"No," I said finally. "I'm not a monster like you. I won't let you turn me into one!"

Agony pierced my brain, and I staggered, dropping to my knees as the pain spread rapidly, crippling me. I could barely breathe and wasn't able to move or see, not with the paralyzing pain stabbing me in the brain.

"I gave you an order, Oracle," Cleon said softly.

"There ... are ... people!" I gasped out.

"If we are to be taken seriously, this needs to be done."

I barely registered the words.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it started. I shook from head to toe. "I don't care. I won't do it!"

"If you refuse me, I'll put you on the wall next to Cecelia."

Survive, Adonis had told me. But if faced with knowing it meant hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people died, would he tell me to do whatever it took? Because I didn't think I could live with hurting someone innocent. He killed without restraint, but I wasn't him. I wasn't like any of these people!

"What's your answer?" Cleon demanded.

"Never," I whispered. I was better off diving off the wall to my death than doing what he said.

"Let me try," Niko's said.

Nothing the a.s.shole could say was going to change my mind. With what strength I could muster, I managed to peel myself off the ground and sit. Even this movement left me dizzy.

Niko crouched beside me, close enough for his body heat to warm me and for our discussion to be private. Not that I was going to listen to a word the a.s.shole said. He t.i.tled my chin up to meet his dark gaze. My original captor, my first betrayer, the man who showed me how different the real world was, appeared grim.

"My son's name is Tommy. He has a brilliant, strong, idealistic mother who will stop at nothing to serve the greater good. She's a true visionary, one who would sacrifice anything and anyone, including you, me and her own son to see her goals realized," he began. "I'm a pragmatist. I don't care about the world she wants to create for our son tomorrow. I care about him surviving the one we live in today. It's why I serve the Magistrate. There's no second guessing who's had the upper hand here for quite some time. I'm always going to be on the winning team, because I'm not willing to sacrifice my son. I do whatever it takes to win, and he stays alive."

Startled by his honesty, I found myself listening mere minutes after swearing I wouldn't.

"She and I are alike in that way," he continued. "I will do anything, kill anyone, for my greater purpose, for my Tommy. What you need to figure out real quick: what's your greater calling, and what will you sacrifice to ensure you're able to see the day when it becomes reality? When what and who you love are no longer in danger?"

I knew the answer the moment he asked the question. It was instinctual, a whisper, perhaps from the depths of me that were tied to Adonis. Niko's d.a.m.ning pep talk left me quaking.

"But ... those people are innocent," I whispered, tears p.r.i.c.king my eyes. "How do you live with knowing what you've done?"

"It's easy. I take one look at my son and realize there is no cost I'm not willing to pay to ensure he lives." He touched the exposed double omega birthmark visible on my arm. "I have a feeling this mark means you're not just another Oracle, and Cleon seems to think you're the strongest Oracle since the first who opened the portal between worlds. You aren't destined for the same fate as Cecilia. You're destined for the end of days, whatever form that takes, whoever's days those are."

Survive. My purpose, to restore the Old Ways, to end the tyranny of G.o.ds and men alike, made sense for the first time since leaving the forest. Without me, the world was stuck with Cleon. Without me, the people would continue to suffer through the Holy Wars. Without me, the future of everyone I loved was so very, very dark.

"I also know that today I'm on the winning team. But tomorrow, this might change. Nothing you do tonight will stop Theodocia or the Queen from whatever their plans are. By now they're safely out of the city or so deeply hidden, no one can touch them," he added. "No one you kill tonight will have a better life living under Cleon's rule than dying quietly in their sleep. If anything, you're doing them the same favor I did your priests."