Warmth flooded my palms and I spread my fingers out. From under the door, tendrils of thorned vines slithered toward us like a mass of writhing snakes. The violet plants broke free from their planters and intertwined with one another, creating thick ropes. I envisioned them taking hold of the man, and they coiled around his ankles, pulling themselves up his legs. He blinked repeatedly, then in one quick motion drew the golden blade across Persephone抯 forearm. A cut opened in her skin and she winced. The vines gripped the man抯 arm and wrenched it back.
Persephone broke from his grasp and clutched her wound. Blood trickled out, but as she clenched her jaw, stifling a groan, the wound sealed itself up.
The man stepped back and holstered his sword as Circe and Marie scrambled to their feet. He didn抰 move, but the look on his face was thoughtful.
揥hat was that??Marie asked, her eyes still darkened, her hands curled into claws. She was ready to tear this dude抯 throat out.
He took two sweeping steps and grabbed the carved staff resting in the corner. Marie moved toward him and he tapped the staff hard on the floor. Marie wobbled on her feet, then collapsed in a heap.
I rushed to her side and turned her over. She was breathing steadily but was completely unconscious.
揥hat did you do??I screamed. 揑f you hurt her I抣l棓
揝he抣l have a peaceful rest,?he said quickly. 揕eave her be and explain yourselves.?
The vines doubled and tripled their number as my heart galloped in my chest. They began to wrap around the man抯 waist.
揥here does this power come from??he asked, staring at Persephone and then at Marie抯 limp body. 揥ho gave it to you??
揥e are the descendants of Medea,?Circe said.
The man looked to me. 揟he plants??He seemed confused, and then his face relaxed. 揑 see. But immortality? What power is that??
揟he Absyrtus Heart,?Circe said quietly. 揟hey were transformed by it.?
揟he Heart??The man抯 face fell. 揑t still exists??
Marie stirred and her eyes fluttered open. The man shook the vines free from his arms and legs and retook his seat. The offshoots retreated to my side and curled protectively around me.
揧ou know about the Heart??Persephone asked. 揌ow??
The man didn抰 answer immediately. He leaned back in the chair and stretched out his legs in front of him. His cloak came up and revealed that the flash of gold I抎 seen earlier had been an ornament on a pair of elaborately constructed sandals. They shone in the dancing light of the woodstove. Each sandal had a pair of intricate gold wings protruding from either side. An image pushed its way to the front of my mind梩he wide-brimmed hat, the carved staff in the corner, the winged sandals桰 inhaled sharply. It was the figure from the pottery shard.
揌ermes.?
The man ran his fingers through his beard. 揑n the flesh,?he said, staring off to the side. 揧ou have my name, now I would have yours.?
Persephone stepped back, her face blank. Circe cupped her hands over her mouth and Marie pulled herself up to a sitting position in a daze. No one spoke but I was entranced. The strange sense of unease I抎 had when we first saw him was familiar梚t was the same feeling I had when Hecate revealed herself to me and when we visited Dr. Kent. It was the same creeping dread, like the tendrils of a poisonous vine, snaking its way around me, telling me that I was in the presence of something way beyond my understanding.
揑抦 Briseis,?I offered since no one else seemed able to speak. 揟hat抯 Circe, Persephone, and Marie.?
He glanced at them. 揝uch familiar names, but unfamiliar faces.?
I tried my hardest to gather myself. 揟he boy who came here, he was my friend梠r at least he pretended to be.?I swallowed my rage as the vines clung to my legs. 揌e is a descendant of Jason, and that means he抯 related to you.?
揂 thousandth great-grandson??He laughed. 揑t would be ridiculous for him to assume that should mean something to me.?
揌is mother thought it would.?I moved closer. Marie reached for me but I shrugged away from her. 揝he said she抎 found hints of your existence. She wanted to use the Heart to be one of you.?
Hermes laughed and leaned his head back to look up at the light twirling in the top of the lighthouse. 揑mmortality makes you godlike. No one will disagree with that. But my father was Zeus himself.?He scoffed as he said the word. 揗y mother was the daughter of Atlas, of Pleione. Her blood was the blood of the makers of the universe.?
揂s is ours,?said Persephone.
Hermes抯 brow arched up. 揗edea was talented, a student of the original Circe, but she was not a goddess.?
揌er mother was Hecate,?I said.
He leveled his eyes and seemed to take in everything about me in one sweeping glance. 揑mpossible.?Hermes tented his fingers under his chin, his posture suddenly rigid.