Лори Девоти - Amazon Queen

The muscles in Areto's neck were tense and her eyes were hard, but the emotion wasn't directed at me, it was turned inward.

I gave her a moment, realizing I'd misjudged Thea in at least one respect. She hadn't brought the human authorities to our property. Of course, that was a small issue compared to everything else she had done. . or was trying to do.

"So where is Thea?" I was still curious about the Amazon in the barn, but Thea was my focus right now. I had to find her.

"I don't know. She has hardly slept at the safe camp since you left. She told me to take your room."

"She said you could have my room?"

"No, she told me to take it, and she had another warrior sleep in hers."

So even when she did stay at the camp, it wasn't in either of the rooms I might have guessed.

Mel was right; Thea was a follower of Athena, a plotter. But if she wasn't sleeping at the camp, where was she sleeping?

I looked at Mel. "I think we need to find out who these birders are. Find them, and we will probably find Thea."

I gestured for Bern to pull Areto to her feet. I wasn't sure what to do with her. A lot depended on what happened next, if I discovered what she had told me so far was true or not.

I glanced at her. "Do you see Thea come and go? Does she drive herself, or do birders come with her?"

"She leaves at dusk on foot and comes back at dawn."

So wherever she was staying was close. But our woods covered fifty acres, and a number of houses were within jogging distance, cross-country. She could be in any of them, or she could be staying in a tent pitched on our property or an adjoining property. . there was no way to know.

"There's more."

Bern held Areto by the arm. The captured warrior didn't struggle. She lifted her face and met my gaze.

"There's something planned in two days. I don't know what, but we were told to stay at the camp, that we would all be expected to participate."

"Night or day?"

"Day, little before noon."

I nodded, then moved to walk past them.

"Zery?" Areto pulled in a breath. Her chest expanded. "I accept my fate, whatever you decide, but I want you to know. . Bern too. . I'm sorry."

I walked past her then. She was sorry; I was sorry. But regret wasn't going to get us out of whatever Thea had planned. . action was.

While Mel revisited the computer, looking for anything that might tie the date Areto had mentioned to Athena and give us some clue as to what Thea had planned, I sought out Jack and Mateo.

In a strangely normal tableau, they were sitting in the kitchen, drinking beers and eating peanuts. There were two empties in front of each of them and the floor was littered with peanut debris. As I entered, Mateo crushed a shell under the heel of his boot, then shifted his foot to smash another.

I filled them in on what Areto had said.

The bird son didn't look up until I'd finished.

Like me, they were more interested in where Thea might be now than in who might be lying dead in the Amazon's barn.

"I didn't see any sign of a tent," he replied. His face was drawn and his eyes tired. I didn't think it was the beer causing either. It was easy to forget he was Andres's father. That he had as big, in some ways bigger, stake in what happened than I did.

"But you weren't looking for one either," I said. I kept my tone pure business. There was no room for pity, and certainly no time. "And if there is one, I don't think it would be obvious."

Looking at Jack, I asked, "How are wolverines at tracking?"

He scissored his fingers around the beer bottle's neck, then swung it back and forth. "Better than humans."

"Better than Amazons?"

He looked up. His eyes were filled with challenge.

"See if you can pick up her scent," I replied. Then, at Mateo, "And see if you can find a tent, or anything else that she could be staying in overnight."

He brushed a pile of peanut shells onto the floor and started to rise.

I paused, for some reason feeling propelled to say more. "He's alive, Mateo, at least for now. I don't know what she has planned, but I'm sure whatever it is, it involves Andres. . which means we have until. . " I hesitated, calculating. Areto had said two days, but it was morning now-had she meant from yesterday? Realizing she probably had, I finished, "Wednesday, noon. We have until then."

Then I left. A day and a half. That was it. It wasn't much; I prayed it was enough.

By five I was still wide awake, as was Mel.

She was at the computer, a cup of coffee at her elbow. The beer sounded better to me, and since neither would have much effect on my Amazon metabolism, I walked back to the kitchen to get one. Mateo and Jack had left. Kale was missing too. She seemed to like to be alone; considering what she'd been through, I could understand that.

Crunching peanut shells under my shoes, I returned to the office with a longneck.

As I twisted off the lid, Mel leaned back in her chair and watched me.

"So, there's another Amazon involved."

I lifted my head in the affirmative. "From the high council."

She slid her fingers through the coffee cup's handle and tapped them against the ceramic. "Any idea who she is or why she came here?"

I lowered the bottle I'd just pressed to my lips. "Kale mentioned two other council members who were on Padia's side. I figure one of them found out about her worshipping Athena and weren't happy with being duped."

Mel seemed to accept my explanation. "Makes sense. Too bad she didn't find us instead. It would have simplified things a lot."

"Or Kale. Thea. . " I was having a hard time deciding what to call the priestess, Padia or Thea. For now I had settled on Thea. I'd thought of her that way for too long. "Thea must have already done whatever she did to her before the council member Areto saw showed up, otherwise the pair of them might have been able to stop her."

"But she only killed the second arrival. I wonder why?"

I shook my bottle, checking how much I had drunk. "She needed a patsy? She'd already killed the birders too and wanted someone to take the blame?" Maybe if Areto hadn't called the sheriff's office, Thea would have.

"Maybe." Mel didn't seem to buy it. "And you said Thea didn't seem to know Kale."

"She was obviously acting." I shrugged; I was past understanding why Thea did anything. To be honest, I didn't want to understand her; I just wanted to stop her.

Mel picked up her cup and took a sip. "Do you think Andres's still alive?

"According to Areto, there's a big event coming up. So, yeah, I think he is."

Mel pulled her fingers free from the cup. "Well, that's what confuses me. This event. . it's huge." She tilted her head toward the computer monitor. "Panathenaea. Athena's birthday."

On the screen was an image of Athens, people thronging the streets. They were gathered around a statue I now recognized as Athena. "What are they doing?" I asked.

"Giving gifts." Mel's face was grim.

"What kind of gifts?" I asked, but I already knew.

"Sacrifices. During Panathenaea, they made sacrifices."

"And what better sacrifice than the blood of your enemy mixed with the blood of those you betray," I murmured, repeating Bubbe's words.

Mel nodded. "None, but the thing is, Panathenaea didn't just pop up. If Padia wanted to kill Andres for Panathenaea, and it makes sense she would-any sacrifice made then is going to have one hundred times the power of one made any other day-why would she have tried to kill him earlier? That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe she hadn't thought about Panathenaea being so close, but by the time she stole Andres back, she realized she was missing an opportunity."

"An Athena worshipper forget her birthday?" Mel scoffed. "Athena's about planning, remember? What kind of plan is that?"