Лори Девоти - Amazon Queen

"What else?" I asked, realizing how little I knew about my self-named godfather.

"Usual things: girls, athletics. . explosives."

"Like the birders used?" I asked, instantly alert.

He lifted a shoulder. "Somewhat. What they did wasn't fancy. I could have done it."

I turned, my hand forming a fist as it rose.

He grabbed me around the wrist.

"I said I could have, not that I did. Anyone with an Internet connection can build a bomb these days."

"How about the supplies? You know where they got those?" I asked. He still held my wrist. I didn't pull away; I just waited, tense.

"I'm a gun dealer, not a terrorist. There is a difference."

"Then why'd you study explosives?" My voice vibrated.

His, however, was calm. "That came after. It's why I left college. There was a war going on in Europe. I left to join it." He dropped his hold on my arm and stood. "It was a long time ago. Things have changed, but I thought you'd like to know I had some knowledge in that area too, that if needed we could match them explosive to explosive."

Explosives and guns. I couldn't see using either. In fact, I bristled at the thought.

Mel stood too. She angled her body so she was between us. "Are we on the same side, or not?" she asked.

Still seated, I stared up at them.

Were we? Did we all want the same thing here? Guns and explosives were two things I knew nothing about, didn't want to have to know anything about.

"I don't know. Maybe we should ask." I bounced the question back to my best friend. "What is your goal in all of this?"

Hurt and a bit of anger showed on Mel's face. "I don't care about the tribe. You know that. But I care that they want to kill children. I care about that a lot."

I believed her, but then I'd already known Mel's motivation. I looked at Jack.

He tapped a finger against the sheaf of paper he held. I suspected he was weighing whether he should answer my question at all. Finally he did. "I don't want any children killed either. And I want the tribe to survive. You may not believe me, but I care about the tribe, not"-he added as I opened my mouth to disagree-"in the same way you do. More like an ecologist cares about an endangered species. Amazons are rare and old; they are part of the world, a part I think should continue to exist." His finger quit moving. "But that doesn't mean I don't think they shouldn't change; they should. And I'd like to be a part of both things-the save and the change."

I weighed whether being put in the same class as an endangered animal pissed me off or not. Deciding there were plenty of other things to piss me off, I let it lie.

"Close enough." I stated and stood. Neither of them had missions that would get in the way of what I wanted. . the tribe together, strong and not operating out of a place of ignorant fear.

Jack flipped through the papers again. The sheets made a rippling noise and I caught snippets of pictures of various goddesses as he did-one regal, crowned, and holding a scepter; one fanciful, with a rainbow arching from one palm to the other; and even one I might have mistaken for a human's angel, with wings. There were others, but as I watched the pages flip past, they blurred into one.

Then I saw Artemis and something clicked into place.

My contact on the high council. I hadn't spoken with her since before Thea arrived and we got the order to steal Andres.

I looked at Mel. "If I have a name, can Bubbe find her?"

Mel jutted out her jaw, thinking. "It's easier with her telios and givnomai. Do you know them?"

"Not her givnomai, but her telios. Is that enough?"

There were twelve members of the council, a representative of each clan. There were also currently four warriors on the council; I knew each of them by name and which clan they were from.

Looking uncertain, she replied, "We can talk to Bubbe. I never know what the old reprobate can do for sure."

With that uncertain offer, I headed up the hill toward the school. I guessed my contact's disappearance meant she was on the losing side, my side now. She could help identify the rest of the council. And with that knowledge we'd be able to learn who was behind the split.

I stared down at my foot, hidden in the long grass. The same grass that earlier had been cool and reassuring now seemed to grasp at my legs, to let go with an unwilling whisper as I pulled my shoe free. Tamping the disturbing feeling down, I swallowed and kept walking.

We would figure this out. We would stop whoever was trying to split the Amazons in two.

If I could find my contact, that is.

And if she was alive.

We left Jack at the sidewalk that connected the school to the gym. He raised his hand holding the papers. "I'll read up."

With the basement stairwell closed, we went in the front and then down the main steps. Bubbe's space, where she ran her business, was off the main room, near the outside door that was now inoperable.

The priestess was inside and she was alone. She was sitting on the floor, her legs crossed and her red skirt pulled up almost to her waist. Her legs were bare and pale with firm muscles that didn't match the age of her face. It made me wonder if she did something to make herself look older to others.

Humans tended to underestimate the elderly. Bubbe wasn't beyond taking advantage of that.

As Mel often pointed out, Bubbe wasn't above taking advantage of much.

The old priestess spread a pile of dirt over the floor in a circle in front of her and without looking up, asked, "What did your Internet tell you?"

Mel growled, and I guessed this was yet another sticking point between them. But then she answered, "Too much. Jack is looking it over."

Bubbe snorted, then picked up the stone image of a panther and placed it on the edge of the dirt. There was a pile of similar stones, each carved into the shape of one of the Amazon telioses sitting beside her. One by one, she placed each into the shape of a crescent moon. When she was done, she looked up. "You have a job for me? One you cannot do yourself?"

Annoyance flickered over Mel's face, making it obvious her grandmother was prodding her in a way I couldn't see.

"Zery has a name. She wondered if you could locate someone based on that."

"She wondered? And you could not tell her?"

Mel's jaw hardened. Afraid the two of them would let their personal issues get them off track, I stepped in.

"She's a past queen and on the high council. Until a few weeks ago she was my contact."

Bubbe's gaze stayed on her granddaughter for a few breaths, then with a sigh she turned it on to me. "You are not to reveal the name of your contact. You know that."

I had the unexplainable urge to squirm, not all that differently than I had when I was six and was caught playing with Mel in her grandmother's workroom. But I was too old to allow her to intimidate me now, or at least to let her see she intimidated me.

I lowered my chin, stayed strong. "The council is broken. The rules don't hold."

"If you respect the tribe, the rules must hold."

"Like the rule to kill Andres?" I asked. "You can't pick and choose."

She rubbed the pads of her middle finger and thumb together. Again I had the feeling she could reach out with some power I couldn't see and swat me to my knees.

I braced my legs and stared her down.

She smiled. "Come. Whisper in my ear."

Beside me, Mel murmured with strained patience in her voice, "You passed the test. Artemis knows what it was, but you passed."

Pretending not to have heard, I knelt beside Bubbe and did as she had asked.

"The telios ?" she said.

I opened my mouth, but she shook her head. "Touch. Move into the center."

Feeling completely out of my element, I plucked a boar from the line and carefully placed him in the middle. I started to pull back then, to stand and give the priestess room, but she grabbed my hand and held it tightly in her own.