Лори Девоти - Amazon Queen

Mel broke it. "What about Tess? Was she at the camp and we missed her? We missed Mother."

I answered, "Thea claimed she hadn't seen Tess or the baby." Thea's other comments, her suggestion that perhaps Tess had taken on the job I'd refused, nagged at me.

"Thea lies." Lao stood on the porch holding a tray of sandwiches.

I acknowledged her comment with a nod. I didn't trust Thea either. I couldn't even be certain Tess wasn't hidden in the barn. Despite the mess we had made, there were still plenty of bales left stacked.

"She could have been in the house," Kale suggested.

"Or hidden somewhere else on the property," Mel added.

Both possibilities I'd already considered. I stared at the pile of knives Mel and I had repaired. I had two missions now: save Tess and Andres and stop Padia.

Unless what Thea suggested was true. Unless Tess was on the other side. . unless she hadn't been taken, but had taken Andres all by herself.

An owl called from the distance. I searched the trees for him. Funny how I'd lived in these woods for over a decade and I'd never seen as many owls as I had in the last few weeks.

The thought pinged inside my brain like a metal ball in an old-fashioned pinball machine.

I looked at Jack. "Where's Mateo?"

"I haven't seen him since he flew out of the barn."

Literally. He'd seen the owl. . shifted and taken off after the creature.

"Jack, do you speak wolverine?"

The group stared at me, their expression a tad too quiet, but the son answered. "If you mean do I understand what a wolverine wants when he makes a noise that sounds like a growl or a grunt, yes."

"And you can talk back?"

He tilted his head. "Communicate. Wolverines are not exactly the linguists of the animal kingdom."

"What about other animals? Do you understand them?"

"A few, if they are close to a wolverine. . a badger, for example."

"So, Mateo, would he understand other birds? Say, an owl?"

Jack considered the question, then nodded. "Likely. Condors and owls are both raptors."

"So, when it looked like he was following the owl, he may have really been following it, may have understood something it said."

"Yes. . " Dawning crossed through Jack's eyes. "Wait here." He crossed the six feet to the house in two steps. Before anyone had a chance to question our exchange, he was back.

"Athena. The goddess they are worshipping is Athena."

I didn't know much about Athena, about any goddess except Artemis. Bubbe and Jack, however, knew a lot, as did Mel, and with the help of the Internet she was able to find out even more.

"You've never heard of her?" she asked. I could tell by her tone that she found my knowledge lacking.

"I worship Artemis," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. Priestesses might spend time keeping tabs on the other goddesses; warriors had other things to worry about. Or used to. Now it appeared other goddesses, Athena at least, might be something we had to worry about too. Shamed by the realization, I dropped my arms.

"Here." Mel pointed at the computer. "She's the daughter of Zeus."

"Artemis's sister, then," I noted, happy to be able to at least show that much knowledge.

"Except Artemis had a mother, Leto. Athena didn't."

"She didn't have a mother?"

"Not one that gave birth to her. Zeus swallowed her mother, Metis, and later Athena came out of his forehead fully grown."

I frowned. Childbirth was very important to Artemis, and while not something I wanted for myself, it was a key part of what women were, what made us strong. To spring fully grown from a man's head. . it stole that power from us. Who would worship a goddess like that? Why?

Disgusted and confused, I refocused on the most important question, at least as far as defeating Padia: "What powers does Athena have?"

Mel grimaced. "It doesn't work like that. We don't have Artemis's powers, our powers are just enhanced by hers."

"So what powers would Athena enhance?"

Mel pushed back her chair. "She's a warrior."

I frowned. "Like our warriors?"

"Yes and no. Artemis is a huntress."

Bubbe walked up and stared at the computer. With a humph she turned to me. "It is the heart against the head. Athena, she works with logic. She wins her battles with her head, thinking, plotting. Artemis uses her heart and instincts to bring down her prey."

I let that soak in but couldn't see how it would help me. "What else?"

"Athena loves invention."

"Invention? New things, like the Internet?"

With a glance at the computer and a sigh, Bubbe nodded. "My granddaughter has a bit too much Athena in her for my tasting."

Owls and the technology. We'd seen signs of both at the safe camp. And I associated both with the camp's new high priestess. .

"What else?"

Mel read a list of things linked to Athena off the Web site. None of them stood out as something I'd noticed since Thea's arrival. "Is there a picture?" I asked. I don't know what I expected. I hadn't seen any goddess pictures or figures while at camp, but when Mel scrolled down and the image of the armored Athena appeared, I froze.

"What's that on her breastplate?"

"Medusa. Athena helped Perseus kill her."

My heart beat faster. "Can you get a close-up of her face?"

"Athena's?"

"No, Medusa's."

A few more clicks and a picture of the snake-haired gorgon filled the screen. Everything settled into place.

Kale was on watch. I sent Bern to get her.

When the warrior walked into the room, she froze, seemed mesmerized by the screen.

I waited, hoping my hunch would pay off.

Finally she looked at me. "How did you know?"

"What? How did I know what?" I didn't want to lead her.

She glimpsed from the screen to me and back. "I don't know. . I think. . " She shook her head.

Despite her confusion, I stayed focused. I hadn't ever liked Thea, certainly didn't after she declared herself queen, but that was a long shot from the suspicions that had been building inside me. But now I had hard evidence. All I needed was for Kale to confirm it. I whispered for Mel to change the screen, to go back to the owl we'd looked at before.

With both windows open, I looked at Kale again. "How about now?"

She stared at me. "Padia. Those are her tattoos. How did you know?"

As the question left her lips, my fingers loosened and my mind relaxed.

That happens when you know your enemy, when you can finally put a face on the person you intend to kill.

Once the block in Kale's brain was broken and we knew Padia and Thea were one and the same, it made our next move obvious. We had to capture the high priestess and force her to tell us where Tess and Andres were. And we had to do it fast before she carried out her mission to kill Andres.

"But what about what Tess said. . that Padia had come to camp?" Mel asked.

I poked my tongue against the inside of my cheek. I'd been worrying over the question myself. It was one of the things that had made me doubt Thea's guilt before. "She didn't seem to be sure it was Padia, just another priestess. Maybe Padia has someone else working for her."

"Or maybe Tess lied." Mel's words landed hard, but I couldn't believe them, if for no other reason than Thea had said the same thing.

"Padia is powerful, always has been. Who knows what she is capable of now? She's obviously trying to shift suspicion on the hearth-keeper." Kale shook her head. "There's no telling what she did to confuse the girl."

"So, if Thea is Padia, why does she want Andres?" Mel asked.

"Because-" I cut off my own reply. I'd assumed Thea's reasons to kill my brother were to keep him from growing up to be a threat to the Amazons, but that was before I'd learned she worshipped Athena.

"Because she's afraid of the sons? What they will become?" I offered, but the reasoning didn't ring true, not with everything else. How could Thea/Padia's purpose be to preserve the Amazons, when by choosing Athena over Artemis she was breaking us in two?