Chapter 16 #2
I dashed back into the alley just as a squadron of six soldiers marched into view, willing myself to focus before I could stop to judge the effectiveness of their defense.
My insides twisted in protest, but I forced myself forward through the narrow side street.
It was all I could do to concentrate on staying hidden while moving parallel to the main road.
Luckily, my sense of direction did not fail me.
The orphanage was just where I remembered it to be.
When it came into view, I gathered my courage and darted out of the cover of the dark alley.
I circled around to the building’s entrance as fast as my feet could carry me, and before anyone or anything had the chance to notice my presence, I barreled through the home’s forest-green front doors.
I heard several gasps as I came crashing through the entryway, but I made sure to secure the doors before turning toward their source.
When I looked, I saw a huddle of people at the back of the long room, sitting frozen in surprise—it seemed all of them were sheltering here together, as far from the windows as they could possibly get.
I recognized almost everyone right away: two adult carers, five teenagers clutching tightly to nine smaller children, and in the corner of the crowd…
Leon, sitting terrified with a toddler on his lap. Thank the gods, he was here.
“Leon!” I screamed, far too loudly and desperately. The boy winced in surprise upon hearing his name, and he stared back at me, horrified, with eyes full of questions. A murmur spread through the group at the sound of my voice, but I shut the rest of them out.
“Leon,” I called again, more tactfully this time. “Please come with me.” I beckoned with my hand and willed it not to shake, focusing only on him, the unknowing demigod.
He winced, but the intensity of my demand startled him to action. He set the child down and stood, meeting me in the center of the room.
“Is there a back way out of here?” I asked him first.
“What? I mean, yes, there is, but…aren’t you a priestess?” he choked out. “By the gods, what is going on?”
My emotions churned, but I steadied my voice. “Leon, I need you to show me the way,” I said calmly, never breaking eye contact. “Yes, I am your oracle, and my sight has revealed the path we must take to survive this. I need you to bring me to the back, please. Now.”
Thank goodness for my station, else he would’ve thought me a crazy woman spouting nonsense in the end times. But he knew that my words carried the authority of the gods. He swallowed, nodded, and started toward the hallway behind the crowd of his peers.
“Leon, where are you going?” cried a child as we passed, but Leon raised a finger to his lips.
“Don’t worry,” he said softly, and we continued on our way.
He led me through the halls, turning one way, then another, until we reached the lobby to what was presumably the back door. It was a small space, rectangular, with one chair and one shaded window. We stopped there, alone, and he motioned nervously for me to explain, his hands shaking.
Fuck. How was I supposed to say this?
“Leon, I need you to listen to me very carefully,” I started, and I didn’t continue until he nodded in response. “You know that I am a seer. I see the wills of the gods, and I see things that others cannot. And I need to tell you right now that you are the hero of my prophecy.”
He turned pale. “W-what?” he stuttered. “No, I’m not—how could I—”
I held up my hand to stop him, and he fell obediently silent again. “This is going to be difficult to hear,” I continued, “but I need you to listen to me, for I swear by the Styx that I know this to be true. Leon, you are a son of Apollo.”
He made a squeaking noise for a drawn-out moment. Then he launched into a tirade of objections, his face still the ghostly shade of shock. “What the fuck? No, I’m not. I can’t be. I’m just—what are you saying? Why would you tell me—? I’m just a musician!”
I supposed I shouldn’t have expected immediate belief.
I grasped him by the shoulders and reached for my most persuasive tone of voice, trying my best to appear strong.
“No,” I told him firmly. “You are a demigod. You are the son of Apollo, god of music. And I know it’s hard, but I need you to stay focused, because right now the city needs you. ”
“No!” He pulled away from me, shaking his head fiercely.
“No! How could you say that? You’re wrong.
This isn’t real. There is no way this is real!
” He stepped backward, hands on his head, and nearly tripped over himself in his scrambling retreat.
I feared in that moment that I’d lost him for good, but then an idea flashed into my mind.
“Leon, it’s your birthday, isn’t it? Today is the day you were found, eighteen years ago?”
And, thank the gods, I was right: the reaction on his face was certainly a yes, and the poor boy froze to the spot in shock.
So once again I stepped forward, gripped his shoulders tightly, and commanded him in the most authoritative tone I could muster.
“I am your oracle. You are a demigod. And right now I need you to follow me.” I looked fiercely into his amber eyes.
Apollo’s eyes? “Nod for me if you understand.”
Agonizing silence hung in the air. But he took a gasping breath and offered me the slightest nod. That was good enough for me. “Let’s go,” I said, and I threw open the back door.
The scene outside was like something from a nightmare.
The road was empty, save for a squadron of guards down the way and a few hustling stragglers who still searched for shelter.
Looking to the left, we saw a harpy swoop down from the sky and snatch up a soldier in her mighty claws, dragging him along the ground with furious beats of her wings.
The rest of his company formed a ring around a second creature, waving steel and torches in her face in an effort to push her back.
Blood dripped from her feathers, but this only seemed to anger her more, and with each attempted attack she spiraled deeper into screeching, clawing rage.
“Come on,” I said, before I could change my mind. I took off at a run, leading the young demigod around the corner and up another road. I was mostly sure I knew which roads to take.
“Where are we going?” Leon demanded as he leapt after me into the chaos.
“The armory,” I bellowed. “It’s this way, isn’t it? We need to get you a bow.”
“What?”
“You need a bow so you can shoot them down!”
“What the fuck?” he yelled at me, his surprise punctuated by the crashing sound of falling crates. “I’ve never even held a bow!”
“You don’t need practice,” I called over the din of our surroundings, pulling the reassurance straight out of my ass.
“The talent is already in your blood.” Of course, I had no clue if demigods worked that way, but I could see no better chance for him than this.
If he’d inherited anything that could save us, it had to be archery.
So I presented it as truth, because I needed him to believe me—and more, I needed him to believe in himself.
I panted with exhaustion as the armory came into view, a rectangular stone structure overlooking a circular plaza ringed with wooden dummies and targets.
As we got closer, my courage was shaken by the unmoving lumps that littered the surrounding grass: bodies cased in unhelpful armor, their lifeless hands clutching to useless weapons.
Two more soldiers sprinted from the nearby garrison as we watched, appearing as streaks of silver that charged across the field to meet a harpy’s blackened talons.
These men were enough of a distraction for us, but perhaps not for long.
We had to go now. I grabbed hold of Leon’s wrist and pulled us toward the building with a burst of nervous energy, sprinting toward the slim hope of salvation.
We made it only halfway before another harpy swooped down from the cloudy sky and landed before us, fluffing her ugly feathers to release a mist of human blood.
She cocked her head to the side and assessed our presence with beady eyes.
“Oh, gods,” moaned Leon. “Oh shit oh shit oh—”
“—There!” I yelled over him, my eyes falling on a body sprawled to the right of the creature. A fallen soldier’s hand was still curled around the grip of his carved wooden longbow, and in the bloody grass at his side, arrows spilled from their leather quiver onto the ground.