Changing Fate (Book 2: We're The Same But Different)

20

AT LEAST I DIDN'T have to clean toilets.
I spent the afternoon in the griffin roost, playing music for Heloise to keep her
calm while she laid her egg. She enjoyed Adele and Joni Mitchell, which strained
my human vocal cords considerably, but she had no use for my impersonation of
Elvis Presley. Griffin musical tastes are a mystery.
Once, I spotted Emma and Leo down in the great hall, walking with Emmie,
the three of them deep in conversation. The Emma saw she ran to me and hug me. "Emma, you're okay."
"Yeah Leo, caught me up to speed,"
"I need to ask you something,"
"Yeah"
I explain what Britomartis said about her having to stay here and Vanellope."
"If you're gonna save Vanellope then I going!"
"But Emma, don't have all your strength back."
"So, I fought an army lead by psychopath, with deep cut down my back. I think a can handle whatever happens."
"No."
"No? What do you mean, no"
"Emma, said no. You are staying here!"
"Give me, one good reason why!"
"Because Britomartis you had too!"
"Give me a real reason!"
"BECAUSE I CAN'T LOSE YOU!"
'I did I just say that!' I thought. I broke my eye contact with Emma to see she was stocked.
"Emma, I...."
"Just forget,"
She storm off. In away she minded me of my step-mother Hera. It makes since I suppose they are half sisters. I don't which one is more sane. Several times I saw Agamethus float
through the hall, wringing his hands. I tried not to think about his Magic 8 Ball
message: WE CANNOT REMAIN, which was neither cheerful nor helpful when one
was trying to provide egg-laying mood music.
About an hour into my second set, Jo resumed the manufacture of her tracking
device in the workshop, which necessitated me finding tunes that went well with
the sound of a welding torch. Fortunately, Heloise enjoyed Patti Smith.
The only person I didn't see during the afternoon was Meg. I assumed she was
on the roof, making the garden grow at five times its normal rate. Occasionally I
glanced up, wondering when the roof might collapse and bury me in rutabagas.
By dinnertime, my fingers were blistered from playing my combat ukulele. My
throat felt like Death Valley. However, Heloise was clucking contentedly on top of
her newly laid egg.
I felt surprisingly better. Music and healing, after all, were not so different. I
wondered if Jo had sent me to the roost for my own good as well as Heloise's.
Those Waystation women were tricky.
That night I slept like the dead—the actual dead, not the restless, headless,
glowing orange variety. By first light, armed with Emmie's directions to the Canal
Walk, Meg, Leo, and I were ready to navigate the streets of Indianapolis.

Before we left, Josephine pulled me aside. "Wish I was going with you,
Sunny. I'll do my best with Lady Emma. While you're gone, I'll feel better if you wear
this."
She handed me an iron shackle.
I studied her face, but she did not seem to be joking. "This is a griffin
manacle," I said.
"No! I would never make a griffin wear a manacle."
"Yet you're giving me one. Don't prisoners wear these for house arrest?"
"That's not what it's for. This is the tracking device I've been working on."
She pressed a small indentation on the rim of the shackle. With a click,
metallic wings extended from either side, buzzing at hummingbird frequency. The
shackle almost leaped out of my hands.
"Oh, no," I protested. "Don't ask me to wear flying apparel. Hermes tricked
me into wearing his shoes once. I took a nap in a hammock in Athens and woke up
in Argentina. Never again."
Jo switched off the wings. "You don't have to fly. The idea was to make two
ankle bracelets, but I didn't have time. I was going to send them off to"—she
paused, clearly trying to control her emotions—"to find Georgina and bring her
home. Since I can't do that, if you get in trouble, if you find her..." Jo pointed to a
second indentation on the manacle. "This activates the homing beacon. It'll tell me
where you are, and you'd better believe we'll send reinforcements and Emma."
I didn't know how Josephine would accomplish that. They didn't have much
of a cavalry but I guess Emma IS the cavalry. I also did not want to wear a tracking device on general principle. It went against the very nature of being Apollo. I should always be the most obvious, most brilliant source of light in the world. If you had to search for me, something
was wrong. Then again, Josephine was giving me that look my mother, Leto, always pulled
when she was afraid I'd forgotten to write her a new song for Mother's Day. (It's
kind of a tradition. And yes, I am a wonderful son, thanks.)
"Very well." I fastened the shackle around my ankle. It fit snugly, but at least
that way I could hide it under the hem of my jeans.
"Thank you." Jo pressed her forehead against mine. "Don't die." Then she
turned and marched purposefully back to her workshop, no doubt anxious to create
more restraining devices for me.
"Yeah, don't die, stuipd," Emma stated. She lightly and quickly kissed me. Then followed Jo out of the room.
'Wow, that girl's unbelievable.' I thought, 'I have think about that kiss later....what's wrong with me!'