Omega by Lizzy Ford Page A

today?”
    I shook my head at his look. She was too
bedazzled to respond. No one heard her but me.
    “ Any luck on figuring out
if the Silent Queen or Magistrate are involved?” Lantos
asked.
    “ They’re keeping things
tightly held.” I mentally went over the reports and activities of
the day. “We destroyed the forest and found these everywhere.” I
lifted a gym bag onto the counter and withdrew a red
cord.
    Lantos’ eyes lit up. He picked up one and
held it over his forearm then lowered it. The rope cord turned to
something resembling smoke. His body absorbed it.
    “ Part of your power,” I
observed. “What is it?”
    “ These, Adonis, keep gods
and men and everyone but my father from seeing what they protect.”
He lifted another and dropped it into his forearm. “I gave these to
someone around the time I rescued you, under orders from my
father.”
    “ Who isn’t about to tell
you what he was protecting.”
    Lantos grimaced. A demigod, he was the
disowned son of a Titan, marooned on earth when he disobeyed his
father and cut off from everything and everyone but his own
eclectic mix of powers. “No, but I can guess. The men downstairs in
prison. What are their names?”
    “ Herakles and
Thiebauld.”
    Lantos grinned. He stood and paced, his step
energized. “Adonis, you are incredible! One tiny instinct gave way
to all this! We only need Herakles. Send the others to the House or
wherever you make men disappear. And … go back to the forest
tonight. We need to know what happened to Herakles’ charge.”
    Alessandra, said Mrs. Nettles. She was gazing at me. At
times, I considered the notion my toy was possessed even more so
than usual. Her voice was different when she said the name, and the
gleam of intelligence was in her eyes. The umbrella was forgotten
at her side.
    An image I’d never seen before flashed into
my thoughts, that of a little girl clutching a blue gem. Just as
quickly, it vanished. “His charge? You think that’s what the forest
and cords were hiding?”
    “ I know it is. I gave
these to Herakles and a priest twelve years ago. The last order of
my father’s I obeyed was to hide the new Oracle.”
    “ Oracle,” I repeated.
“Finally. We’ll be able to start Phase Two soon.”
    “ Exactly. But we need to
beat the Queen and Magistrate to her. The gods are too busy to
prepare her trials. I’ve maneuvered them into letting the
Triumvirate determine what challenges she must overcome before her
power manifests fully, as is customary. Each member of the
Triumvirate gets to task her once.”
    I listened. Lantos was a man of shadows and
secrets buried beneath a brilliant smile. That he’d been planning
for an event no one knew was coming didn’t surprise me. “You have a
trial in mind already.”
    “ I do.” He smiled. “And it
has to do with Phase Two.”
    Lantos’ sole motivation in life was to carry
out his father’s revenge in the hopes of being granted asylum with
the rest of the Titans. His single act of disobedience – saving my
life – had seen him cut off. Together we’d risen in power with a
combination of my unusually strong adeptness at political
maneuvering and his magic and ambition. Despite my skill at
obtaining power, I had no desire for it. I would always bend my
will to Lantos.
    “ We will get to her
first.” I considered. “You said Herakles is her
guardian?”
    Lantos nodded.
    “ I’ll let word leak that
he’s here and post a reward in the online boards of the Merc Guild
for capturing her. If she’s got a fraction of the power of a
goddess, she won’t hesitate to unleash it to find her guardian.
Someone will notice.” I placed Mrs. Nettles on the ground and moved
out from behind the counter. It was almost past sunset. I peeled
off my weapons and watch in anticipation of the change. “Tonight
I’ll return to the forest and look for any trace of where she
went.”
    The image of the unknown girl flashed once
more and this time, brought a stab of