CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Io had to repeat her question. Lia, are you all right?
I ve had worse, I said as I sat up, spitting blood out of my mouth.
Daphne joined us, peering down at me.
This is Daphne, Io offered unnecessarily, and it was easy to hear the admiration in her tone.
We ve met, I said and hoped that I was disguising my bitterness.
But apparently I wasn t doing a very good job of it. Daphne said, Just so you know, I didn t agree with what Theano wanted to do. You made it here and have earned the right to serve the goddess alongside the rest of us, no matter where you come from.
That did mollify me slightly and I felt some of my anger toward her slipping away.
Then Daphne turned toward Io and said, Shouldn t you be in the temple by now?
Io s eyes went wide and she again glanced up at the sun. Yes! I lost track of the time.
Daphne gave her a kind smile. You often do. Hurry along!
Come on, Io said and again offered me her hand to help me up, but I didn t need it. I d only been punched a few times. I was fine and got up on my own.
We walked through the garden and Io shut the gate behind us. As we went along the path toward the temple, she said, You know what Artemisia said about the maidens being cut up? That was a lie.
I was glad to have it confirmed because my mind had created such gory, horrific images.
She only said it to hurt you, she added.
Who is Artemisia? I asked, feeling like there was more to the story that I wasn t aware of.
Io turned her gaze away, as if to confirm my suspicions. She has been here for a few years. They say that she killed six girls during her race to join the temple.
Is that typical? I asked, horrified.
No. I know of no other priestess who eliminated fellow racers, even though the law allows for it.
Why slaughter people if you didn t have to? A pit started forming in my stomach. Artemisia was definitely dangerous and I was going to do my best to steer clear of her.
I did not intend to end up as one of her victims.
We entered the main room of the temple, the one I had dropped into five nights ago. I glanced up at the ceiling, but the hole had already been repaired.
As if it had never happened.
And I was sure that there were people in this temple who wished for exactly that-that I d never joined them.
Io led me over to a back staircase. It was located in exactly the same spot as the one in the Locrian temple and my heartbeat sped up.
The goddess statue should be downstairs. This could be it. I would see if she had the eye and then it would just be a matter of planning how to grab it and escape without alerting anyone.
But we didn t go down. Wait here, Io said, and she opened a door to a room I hadn t noticed before. I reached out to touch the wall closest to me. There was no question that it had been built from Pyronean marble. It was a pure, translucent white with a fine grain and sparkling veins of silver.
Io returned with three girls behind her. Two of them were obviously related. They were nearly as tall as me and had dark brown skin with dark brown, braided hair that reached down to their waists. One had ribbons intertwined with some of her braids.
The third girl had medium brown skin and black hair that looked so much like Quynh s I felt my heart twist in pain.
All three were in the same pale green tunic that Io wore and looked to be close in age to me. Eighteen, nineteen maybe.
This way. Maia is waiting for us, Io said, and I was surprised that she wasn t going to make an introduction. I wondered if I should, but all four of them went down the stairs. I sucked in a deep breath and followed.
Who is Maia? I asked from the back and Io stopped, letting the other three pass her while she waited for me to catch up.
She s been here for ten years. Maia is our instructor and mentor and is so kind. Much kinder than Theano. Her eyebrows shot up her forehead, as if she d only just realized what she d admitted. I shouldn t have said that.
One of the girls with braids shook her head. You should always speak the truth. And that is the truth.
I wanted to ask what was happening but got the impression that I was about to find out.
We entered the lower room, and again, I recognized the woman waiting for us by the goddess. She had been the third person with Theano the night I d come to the temple. The one who had gone from the room to find people to get my tunic and bring in a razor.
I reached up to feel my stubble again and tried to tamp down the anger welling up inside me.
Stupid girl! Look around you! Stop focusing on your petty grievances and search for the eye!
The room was lit by torches that hung from sconces. The walls were constructed from the same Pyronean marble, and in the center of it was the statue of the goddess, although unlike the one in Locris, it was intact and at least ten feet high.
The statue stood in a pool of dark, iridescent oil, and the colors of the rainbow on the surface seemed to shift and bend under the torchlight.
Then I noticed that the goddess was veiled with a cloth, like the high priestess. Her body was turned toward the east.
I couldn t see her face.
So I took a step forward. If I stood on my tiptoes, I could reach the veil and lift it up to check.
But Io s hand went onto my upper arm, holding me back. You re not allowed to approach the goddess yet, she said. That won t happen until much later.
How much later? I didn t have time to wait.
Maia had a bag in her hands and smiled at us. Welcome, everyone. And a special welcome to you . . . She let her voice trail off as she glanced at Io.
This is Lia, Io said.
Lia. I m glad to meet you.
It seemed inappropriate to acknowledge, as I had with Daphne, that we had already met.
Then she said, I m Maia. Would you all follow me?
She took us to a spot that faced the goddess but was still a good distance from her. I wondered what the goddess might do if I got closer to her statue.
Because that was going to happen. I just had to hope she wouldn t call a lightning bolt down on me or something equally terrible.
Maia gave everyone instructions on where to sit. The other four girls formed a square, each sitting at a corner, and Maia told me to sit in the middle.
As it is the fifth day since Lia s arrival, this is the time when you will take your vows. Your sisters are going to bear witness, to be able to testify that you have become a true part of those who serve the goddess.
Four witnesses seemed unnecessary, but I held my tongue.
There was a small wooden table in the corner and Maia retrieved it, putting her bag on top of it. She undid the knot and opened the bag, taking out items and placing them on the table. She pulled out some logs of wood and I noticed for the first time that there was a firepit in the floor next to where she stood. She stacked the logs and then covered them in some kind of liquid so that when she took a stone and flint to them, a fire immediately roared to life, lighting up every dark corner.
There was also a small brazier on the table that she lit with a stick she took from the fire, and the room filled with the scent of irises.
Once that was finished, she faced me.
Lia, here in the presence of the goddess, you must take vows. Vows that you will always keep or face her divine wrath and punishment.
My country was already suffering from her last divine wrath and punishment, and I had no desire to risk further destruction.
I was concerned, though, about taking vows. They were very serious things, and one did not enter into them lightly. Perhaps if I hadn t lost those five days, I could have spent them searching for the eye, maybe even found it and been on my way back home before reaching this point.
Where I would take vows and make promises.
I let out a deep breath, knowing there was no choice. I would have to agree to whatever they asked of me so that I could stay. I d given up so much to be here and I had no intention of returning home empty-handed.
Maia continued, The first vow that you must take is a promise to serve the goddess all of your days, to do her bidding and obey her laws and commandments. Do you swear to do this?
Everyone was looking at me and I wasn t sure how I was supposed to respond. Io leaned forward and whispered, Say, Yes, I swear it.
Yes, I swear it, I repeated, and Maia looked satisfied.
You must also vow to protect this temple and all of your sisters. Do you swear to do this?
That seemed simple enough. Yes, I swear it.
I wondered if Artemisia had taken the same vows as me, but then remembered that I hadn t yet been an acolyte when she d attacked me, so she was probably technically clear from breaking that oath.
And the last vow is a vow of celibacy. You must swear to never have sexual intercourse. You will never give your devotion to another-not a spouse, nor a child. You must devote your entire heart and body to the goddess. Do you swear to do this?
This was the one that made me falter and my heart drop down to my toes, to reconsider what I was doing. If I promised this, it meant I would never be a mother. Would never marry, never have a love of my own or a companion by my side.
I would always be alone.
Which was not the future I had pictured for myself. I had always imagined that I would get married and have children. I didn t realize how much I d hoped for that until someone said I wasn t allowed to have it.
But if it meant that I would save all of Locris . . . it was an acceptable sacrifice.
One for many.
Yes, I swear it, I said, but the words felt difficult to get out.
Come forward and bind your words with your body, Maia said, and my first instinct was to run, not knowing what she meant by it, but I had already proven to myself that I could withstand a great deal of pain. I got to my feet and stood in a spot close to her and the fire.
Maia held up a dagger and it glinted in the firelight. When the earth began, the goddess cut her palm with her golden sword and from the drops of her blood came all the plants, all the trees, the rocky, desolate ground turning fertile. So too we cut our palms to make our vows. We bond our words by blood, by life.
Then she set down the dagger and took a large fresh leaf and a small glass container and lifted them up. She poured the contents of the container onto the leaf. It was thick and came out slowly. We use the sap of a tree, the goddess s lifeblood, sweet and sustaining, to symbolize how she blesses these vows, and seals her words with her own blood.
When she had put enough sap on the leaf, she put the container back and kept the leaf up, careful not to spill. The leaf is the symbol of the goddess because the leaf symbolizes all that is good about her-fertility, hope, growth, rebirth, life, abundance, peace, revival.
Maia put the leaf back onto the table and took the dagger again, reaching for my hand. I gave it to her and she held my palm up and quickly sliced along the surface, causing blood to gush up.
Let your blood drip onto the leaf, mixing with the blood of the goddess.
I did as she instructed, turning my hand so that the drops would fall onto the sap on top of the leaf.
Maia picked up something else and it took me a moment to realize that it was one of the braids that they d shaved from my head. She used the dagger to cut off a piece and gave it to me.
Place your hair onto the blood and throw the leaf into the fire. That will seal your words, your blood, your vows, to the goddess as an offering. You must promise in your mind to never break these vows.
There was only a moment of hesitation as I considered what I was promising. There was nothing in any of my vows that would prevent me from traveling back to Locris. I would serve the goddess by restoring the land she d abandoned, reinstating the worship of her there. I didn t have to live in this temple to follow her.
I threw everything onto the fire and watched as the edges of the leaf caught fire and began to burn, and the room filled with the smell of a strange mixture of sweetness and burning hair. Smoke rose from the leaf.
I promise to keep these vows, I thought.
The goddess accepts your offering and now you are bound to her, as she is bound to you.
An unmistakable soft whisper somehow thundered inside me.
Euthalia.
I glanced around, wondering if anyone else had heard it, but nobody reacted.
And I should have felt nervous about a goddess calling my name, but I was filled with a strange kind of peace and comfort. I let that wash over me, let it lessen the overwhelming emotional pain I d felt since I d woken up today.
I also felt love. A kind of love I d never experienced before. As if I were precious and important. Cared for. I put my hand over my chest and closed my eyes.
The goddess knew me. She offered me her protection and love. Those words were not spoken, but I felt them all the same.
I knew that I could never break the vows I d just made.
We stood there quietly for several minutes, until I finally asked, Is that it?
Maia smiled broadly at me. No. There is more.