揝o Medea was here,?I said. 揝he lived here??
揝he did. And she remains here still,?said Persephone. 揌er grave is at the very center of the island.?
A hush fell over us and we all turned our gaze to the trees. The gravity of the situation wrapped itself around us like the embrace of wayward vines梠ur foremother抯 remains rested in this place. This was hallowed ground.
揥e should get our bags from the ship,?said Circe. 揗aybe make a fire??
I glanced out at the water. 揑s it safe for us to be going back and forth? The sirens are still out there.?
揟hey will stay where they are until morning,?the goddess said. 揑抎 make sure to retrieve your things well before then.?She turned her back to us and began to walk away.
揥ait,?I said. 揧ou抮e leaving? How will we get past them when we leave??
She turned and glanced over her shoulder. 揑f you make it back here, I抣l be sure to meet you.?She gave the lyre a little shake and continued on her path until she melded with the shadows at the farthest end of the beach and disappeared.
揟hey really don抰 care about us at all,?I said. 揟hey can just walk away whenever they want and pretend it抯 because of some ancient rules. Maybe they just don抰 give a shit.?
揝he saved us from the sirens,?Circe offered.
揟hey could do more,?I said. 揟hey抮e gods. They can抰 help us get where we need to go??
揑 don抰 know if they can or if they think what they抳e done already is enough, but all we can really depend on in this moment is one another.?Circe gave me a tight smile. 揑 think that抯 enough.?
Circe and our Persephone made two trips back to the ship to bring ashore our things and the two cages. As Circe set them in the sand the Heart抯 pulse ticked up.
Marie made a fire and we spread out blankets in the dry sand above the tide line. The trees behind me groaned and creaked as they leaned toward us. Snakelike offshoots of vines the color of blood slithered out. I reached out to them and they encircled my wrist. A tingling sensation revealed them to be poisonous梔eadly. It was somewhere between the toxicity of belladonna and oleander, judging by the amount of cold on my skin. As I recalled the toxic effect of the oleander, images of my mom抯 terrified face blazed bright in my head. I shut my eyes, disentangled myself from the vines, and tried to push the thoughts away, but they replayed on a nightmarish loop. A hand rested gently on my shoulder, and I turned to find Marie kneeling at my side.
揑 know you抮e not okay, so I won抰 ask you that,?she said. 揃ut is there anything I can do for you right now? You hungry??
揂 little,?I said. 揂nd I抦 still cold.?
Circe and Persephone joined us on the blanket as Marie stoked the flames and the warmth engulfed me. Circe opened a cooler we抎 brought along and handed me a water and a sandwich she must have picked up the day before at one of our stops along the coast.
揑t抯 lamb on rye,?she said. She tossed me a bag of chips.
Marie took one bite, rewrapped it, and tossed it back in the cooler.
揘ot up to your high standards??Persephone teased.
揟aste it,?she said. 揟astes like ass.?
I laughed. 揅an抰 be that bad.?I took a bite and was immediately proven wrong. 揑 think it got wet.?The bread was soggy, and the meat had a pinkish tinge that made my stomach turn over.
揌ere,?Circe said. She handed me a small vial that contained the shriveled remnants of some kind of leaf. 揝ee what you can do with that.?
I uncorked it and dumped the pieces into my hand. I concentrated as hard as I could, and from my palm sprouted a tangle of pale roots and then the pencil-thin trunk of a small tree. I set it in the sand, knowing it wasn抰 the right soil for it to flourish, but it would have to work for now. It pushed up to the night sky, and I sank my fingertips into the sand beneath the short wiry tree with green fruit that darkened the longer I kept my hand near its root. Persea americana. Avocado.
We ate until we were stuffed and sleepy. The terrible events of the journey to the island began to fade. Persephone took first watch, and I curled up next to Marie as I waited for sleep to find me.
CHAPTER 18
We don抰 have a dog.
That was my first thought when I heard the noise, before my eyes fluttered open, before I remembered that we weren抰 at home, and that of course we didn抰 have a dog because Mom was deathly allergic. Mom wasn抰 there at all because ?
I opened my eyes.
A furry, snorting snout, wet and wriggling, was just inches from my face. The musty smell of dirt invaded my nose, and I yelped as I scrambled to my feet. Persephone caught me by the arm and slipped her hand over my mouth.
揃e quiet,?she whispered. 揇o not make any sudden moves.?
The boar rooting around our camp was the size of a small car. Its stubby legs sat atop jagged hooves, and a pair of razor-sharp tusks curled out of its upper lip. Its beady black eyes focused on the ground in front of it where it was turning up the dirt.