CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN

The Origins of Tragedy, Part 1

It started with a whisper. A disembodied murmuring that all within the outer temple could hear the moment Sam and Serena walked through its bronze doors. This whisper became two, and then three, until a chorus of ghostly voices were murmuring all around them.

The girl… the girl… the goddess claims her, they murmured, their voices becoming more insistent with each second.

These whispers didn’t sound friendly, and hearing them caused Sam’s shoulders to shake with fear. He tried to repress his shuddering though because Serena was so frightened by the disembodied voices that she buried her head in her brother’s chest and Sam didn’t want his sister to think he was scared too.

“W-what’s going on?” she asked.

Sam could feel Serena shivering next to him, and this caused him to get over his fear. He wrapped her in a protective hug he hoped would make her feel better.

“It’ll be okay,” Sam promised. “Mom and dad are here.”

Adele moved to stand in front of her children. And, like a lioness protecting her cubs, the aura she radiated promised violence to any who threatened her family. It was a stance many of her most ardent fans would argue was her default mode.

“What’s going on, your excellency?” Steven asked.

Sam’s father moved to block the path of the priestess who approached the doors where the Shepard family were huddled.

No, this was no mere representative of the goddess. Her golden robes and peacock-feathered crown were proof of her status as this temple’s high priestess. This meant she was the goddess’ chief representative in America because the Manhattan temples were where Olympian authority was strongest.

“It has been a while, Peacemaker,” the high priestess said in a genial tone that belied the stern look she gave him.

Long, wavy red hair peppered with flecks of gray framed a stately face with a hooked nose above bright red lips. Apart from her green eyes—which seemed to glow with the depth of knowledge and experience—there was barely any hint of age on her face.

“Yes, it has, Mother Malta,” Steven replied in an equally genial tone, which helped to draw her attention away from his wife and back to him.

The white-robed acolytes to the left and right of Mother Malta gave Steven a dark look. They didn’t like how easily he’d called the high priestess by her old hero moniker like they were old friends, which they were. When she was an active hero, Mother Malta had been a former partner of Iron Blood, Steven’s friend, and mentor. And, with the warm smile she gave Steven, it didn’t seem like she minded him being informal with her.

She offered her hand for Steven to kiss, which he did in a gesture of respect that somewhat appeased Mother Malta’s followers. Not by much though. Because Adele, who was standing behind him, looked like she was ready for a rumble, and that didn’t endear the Shepards to the acolytes.

“It warms my heart to see you,” Mother Malta expressed.

“For me as well, excellency,” Steven replied.

“And how is your mother?” Mother Malta inquired.

“Busy,” Steven admitted. “But she sends her love.”

“Love?” Mother Malta raised an eyebrow at him. “With all the years of bickering and debating on the front lines—me with my scepter and Marie with her pen—I imagine love would be the last word she’d use in the same sentence as my name. She’s slandered it enough in the papers.”

Mother Malta chuckled as if remembering a fond memory.

“She doesn’t just debate with anyone. You have to at least be a friend for that to happen,” Steven answered.

“I suppose,” Mother Malta replied.

The girl… the girl… the disembodied voices whispered. The goddess claims her.

No, the whispers hadn’t stopped. They’d only gotten louder to the point where Mother Malta swatted at the empty air in irritation.

“Be silent,” she snapped.

As the voices vanished at her insistence, the air seemed to still. Even the nearby spectators moved back to what they had been doing before the arrival of the Shepards almost like someone had clicked the reset button within the outer temple.

“I apologize for the rudeness, Peacemaker.” Mother Malta stepped past Steven. “This temple has too many eager ghosts in its old bones.”

Steven made no move to stop her. Even Adele stepped aside so that Mother Malta could see the children. Although Sam noticed how reluctant his mother seemed when she moved out of the way.

“Ghosts?” Sam asked.

“Yes, blessed of Apollo… The spirits of those mothers who served our goddess in life and continue to serve her even in death,” Mother Malta explained.

She patted Sam on the head as a doting grandmother might have. Sam wasn’t sure if this was the case though as Marie had never been that warm to him or his sister. Mother Malta’s friendly manner didn’t diminish Sam’s unease one bit though.

What kind of goddess forces people to keep working for her after they’ve dropped dead? he wondered.

Sam wasn’t sure how Mother Malta did it, but a simple tap on his shoulder and he was suddenly four feet away from Serena. He wasn’t hurt or anything, but it did feel like he’d been moved without actually moving.

“How did you—”

His inquiry on possibly being teleported for the first time in his life would get no answer as Mother Malta’s attention was already focused on his sister.

“And what about you, little one?” Mother Malta asked as she cupped Serena’s cheek. “Are you here to offer your service to the goddess as well?”

Serena nodded uncertainly. “Mom said you asked for me?”

“I did,” Mother Malta replied in that sweet, grandmotherly tone of hers.

“Why?” Serena asked, seemingly less frightened now that the whispers had stopped.

“Because you are special,” Mother Malta replied.

“I already know that,” Serena giggled.

“You do?” Mother Malta raised an eyebrow.

Serena nodded. “The goddess said so.”

“I know.” Mother Malta patted Serena on the head. “She told me the very same thing.”

“Really?” Serena asked.

“The goddess came to me in a dream and told me just how special you are,” Mother Malta explained.

“She came into my dream too”—Serena pointed at Mother Malta’s crown—“and her dress was more colorful than your hat.”

“Oh?” Mother Malta seemed pleased. “And what did the goddess tell you?”

Serena’s face turned contemplative as she thought about her dream. “She said I had a big destiny and that I had big shoes to fill, but that I could do it if I wanted to.”

“If you wanted to?” Mother Malta repeated. “Is that what she said?”

Serena seemed hesitant at first. A second later and she shook her head.

“Um, she said it was something only I could do,” Serena answered.

Sam could see from the way they gazed warily at each other that his parents didn’t like where the conversation was going.

“Your Excellency,” Adele’s face was filled with worry when she stepped toward her daughter, “you asked us to bring Serena here, but I thought it was just her time to be blessed. I don’t understand—”

Mother Malta warded Adele off with a gesture of her hand. “The gods work in mysterious ways.”

She glanced at Sam’s mother, and there was no warmth in her face like there had been with the other three Shepards.

“It is not for us to question, but to obey,” she stated.

It looked to Sam like his mother might have protested more at first, but then Adele stepped back—a feat Sam had never witnessed before—and let Mother Malta finish her examination of Serena while her husband wrapped a reassuring arm over Adele’s shoulder.

When she was done looking the girl over, Mother Malta offered Serena her hand.

Serena glanced uneasily at her mom because even the little girl had felt the tension among the adults. Adele smiled at her daughter, one Sam noticed hadn’t reached the corners of her mouth.

“Go with her, Rena. We’ll be waiting right here for you,” Adele promised.

“Yeah, honey. We’ll be here when you’re done,” Steven added.

“You need not worry.” Mother Malta spared a glance at Sam. “the goddess provides all her chosen with worthy gifts.”

That comment stung Sam so much that he lowered his head to avoid her pitying gaze. When he looked up again, Mother Malta was already taking his sister away.

Serena kept looking back over her shoulder as she was led across the spacious hall toward the other end of the outer temple where the ‘Gates of Argus’ stood guard over the inner sanctum. It was a towering bronze gate shaped in the form of a giant whose body was covered in eyes just like in the legends.

Sam waved to her, and Serena waved back just as the gates opened for her and the high priestess. He didn’t know it then, but that would be the last time he’d see her.