The Pantheon (19 page)

“
I’m pretty sure the arson in this town is connected to us,” Valerie said. “The Epimetheus guy, he called me ‘Hes’ and I don’t think he meant my last name. I think he was threatening us.”

Minnie held her wrap around her arms. “Yeah,” she nodded, “I tend to agree. Epimetheus was the brother of Prometheus. They gave man fire and we punished them for it.”

“
Wait, what?” Diana had a hard time focusing on anything when she was within earshot of an animal. “There’s a couple of bats curled under the flag and they’re having this conversation about--”

Nick rolled his eyes, “You think any of us care about bats? Shut up, Hill.”

Astin glared at Nick and Zach gave a warning, “Nick.”

Diana closed her mouth. Minnie repeated what she’d previously said about Epimetheus, word for word.

“
So this guy is kicking around somewhere among us, looking for revenge?” Lewis ran a hand through his hair. “And we can be sure he was here tonight. Well, duh, the Titans were here. Maybe one of them is literally a Titan?”

“
That’s kind of obvious, Lew,” Astin said.

“
Well, yeah, sometimes the answers are. You know, the razor thing.”

“
Occam’s Razor,” Minnie supplied.

“
Bless you.” Lewis chuckled. “So like, we’re looking at Jameson, Alvarez, Brown, and Noya.”

“
But all the attacks have been here. Isn’t it more likely, as we’re all conceived in Olympia Heights, that Epimetheus was too?” June suggested.

“
I agree with June,” Devon hated when she did that. “Unless we can prove one of those Miami guys was born here in Olympia Heights, we’re looking for a townie.”

There was silence. They were kids; they didn’t know what to do next. There was a psycho killer after them, but they couldn’t tell the police without being carted off or dissected.

“
This is bull,” Astin finally said. “There’s like, fourteen of us and one of him.”

“
Yeah!” Zach said. “If we stick together he can’t hurt us.”

Penny and Peter found the group. “Hey,” Penny said, “Mom wanted me to check that you’re all okay.”

“
We are,” Zach answered for the group. “You guys?”

Peter nodded. “We overheard the investigation. Cops pulled over those Miami kids a few miles up the road. None of them had liquor or anything to start a fire, though, so they let them go. None of them were saying it, but it was implied that a few of them think it’s related to Valerie and the Miami kid and Evan’s house.” Evan was the only other Pantheon member not at the dance tonight.

“
Cops say anyone who isn’t hurt should go home,” Penny added. “They don’t want crowds.”

The group exchanged fearful glances. Zach had to say something. They all knew he was their leader. It was programmed, almost like a memory. When things got tough, they looked to Zach to rule them. “Alright, everyone call my cell when you’re home safe, okay?”

“
Yes, Daddy.” Nick was just as scared as everyone else, but he didn’t like the idea of relying on Zach to be his fearless protector. He knew that Zach was the leader, but he couldn’t figure out why. What made him so much better than Nick?

“
The man who runs may fight again.”

-Menander

xv.

They lived on the island in absolute peace.

The god had never seen the hardship of war.

He lived there, drinking and singing ‘til day break

and sleeping past noon.

The King of Thrace mounted his attack at dawn

as the islanders had settled down to sleep.

So many were slaughtered while still in their beds.

Screams broke the silence.

The nymphs fled to the trees, hiding with nature.

An arrow struck Dionysus in the leg.

The still-young god had never felt pain before

and never known fear.

He ran with blood pouring down his wounded thigh

and when he reached the cliff the Thracian soldiers

expected their prey to stop and surrender.

Dionysus leaped.

For a moment his push-off equalled the tug

of gravity and he felt like he could fly.

The floating illusion was momentary,

then he plummeted.

He missed the sharp rocks and crashed into the sea.

The white caps of his splash obscured him from sight.

Archers shot at the water but they all missed

the god they hunted.

A sea-nymph drifted out from her cave and wrapped

the god-son in her cold viridescent arms.

Her breasts pressed against his body as they sank

deeper in the sea.

Her lips formed a seal over his as she breathed.

In the sky above them a storm was brewing.

The boy was a governor of revelry,

but also a Prince.

The war between his father-- king of the gods--

and the arrogant mortal Thracian ruler

would not last long enough to be called a fight.

It was a slaughter.

“
The young are permanently in a state resembling intoxication.”

-Aristotle

XV.

The investigation into the fire at Olympia Heights Senior High came up with a dead-end. It was officially linked to the serial arsonist, Epimetheus, but there were no new clues as to his identity.

The security cameras in the school were old analogue recorders that used tapes. Nobody had remembered to change out the deck before the weekend, so they were absolutely no help at all.

Members of The Pantheon had done some of their own investigating. Following up on the theory that one of the Titans present at the dance was Epimetheus, Minnie Rutherford had done research to see if either of the boys had been born in Olympia Heights. William Brown, as it turned out, was born in Atlanta Georgia and moved to Miami when he was five. It had taken Minnie the longest to track him down as his name was so common. Diego Noya was born in the Keys and had moved to Miami in ninth grade. Mark Alvarez had moved to Miami recently from California, with his older brother. Minnie found that piece of information through the article about Miami West hiring the football coach. Walker Jameson, the last likely suspect, had lived in Miami his whole life. He was born at the hospital two months after his parents moved there from Texas. The birth announcement was well publicized as Walker’s family had a lot of money. There was no way any of those guys were born in Olympia Heights. When Minnie reported these findings at the Sunday meeting, one week after the dance, it seemed to settle that theory.

Olympia Heights Senior High was closed an additional week at Christmas break because of the fire at the semi-formal. This excited the short-sighted teens who didn’t yet care that the school year would now run into the first days of June.

Mr. and Mrs. Wexler had planned this trip to a convention in Hawaii for six months. They hadn’t planned for Teddy and his friends to be home all week with plenty of time to set up and clean up after the party that Teddy now had planned. They’d hoped he’d be in school and be too preoccupied with homework to cause any trouble while they were away. To celebrate and to keep his mind off the impending doom of a Titan trying to kill them, Teddy had decided to throw a house party.

Teddy had invested in gallons upon gallons of cheap juice drinks and turned most of them into cheap juice drink liquors. With the sugar content, the mixture was sure to taste sweet and sneak up on the drinkers.

Astin Hill’s band, this week called Turkey Lurkey, was being paid fifty dollars to play. The whole school knew which students to invite and which ones would squeal. They were calling it the party of the year before it had even begun.

The band showed up first. The earliest guests to arrive were the typically eager freshmen. A few people who had been invited had the wisdom to stay away. Valerie and Minnie would be going to see a Johnny Depp movie. They had the sense to know that even if the police didn’t show up, inexperienced, hormonal teenagers all liquored up would populate a long list of regrets by morning.

The police probably should have noticed the flood of cars leaving the main part of town at eight-thirty. Compared to the closely packed suburbia that everyone else lived in, Teddy’s house was isolated. The mansion, was on a sparsely populated road that was still within the Olympia Heights borders, but had a phone number from the next town over. Senator Wexler had bought the land to build his house there because of the close proximity to the golf course in Kendall. The front of the house was a wall of windows. There were seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, and two half-baths. The pool outside was enclosed in a glass roof and the gardens were extensive. They had plenty of trees around their house, which guaranteed that the police wouldn’t hear the thumping bass or see underage partygoers hauling kegs in through the front door.

The party hit its stride by ten. It was the best it would get. Students who were drinking were giddy; none were sick yet. The music was great, the right guests had arrived, and there was no major drama to speak of. It could only go downhill from there.

Turkey Lurkey finished a set and took a break. Teddy brought them drinks while they guarded their instruments. Astin wasn’t going to let some drunk try to figure out how to play “Smoke on the Water” on his guitar.

Ritchie Waverly was the band’s lead singer. He was a pretty-boy junior with dyed black hair and eyeliner. He dressed and acted like he was already a rock star. Ritchie played no instruments but he did have a falsetto voice that could make thirteen-year-olds melt. Tonight he had skinny jeans and a scarf on. He sipped his drink and talked to a few freshmen girls. He planned to take advantage of one of them tonight.

Astin plucked a simple melody on his acoustic guitar. He listened as Ritchie flirted with the girls. Astin was smart and charismatic-- he was a god, after all-- but as soon as a cute girl was present, he had foot-in-mouth syndrome. The stupidest things flew out of his mouth and sent girls running. Watching Ritchie just reminded Astin of this miserable fact and so, whenever Ritchie spoke, Astin played a little louder.

“
We started last year, y’know? I just decided to start a band.” Ritchie wasn’t that eloquent but he didn’t say anything wrong and he was very pretty. “I came up with the name.”

“
That’s so funny,” the brunette girl, Mandy, said.

“
I started the band, auditioned everyone,” he bragged. Astin knew that was all a lie. Astin had started the band. “Yeah,” Ritchie went on, “I mean, they’re not up to my level of talent, but they work hard.”

Astin snapped. He hated Ritchie and his arrogance. He put up with him because he was the best option around this town, but he didn’t need him. Astin was the most talented musician in the county and he was insanely proud of it. He stood up calmly, swung his guitar back, and brought it crashing down on Ritchie’s head.

Everyone in the room went silent. Ritchie had a few splinters on his face but he was conscious. He was lucky. Diana ran up to the performance area and grabbed Astin to stop him from continuing to wail on the singer.

“
It’s my band, I put it together, I’m far more talented than you are, you egotistical bastard!” His face was red as he screamed. Diana held his hands down. She knew he was itching to give Ritchie a sunburn.

“
Astin, just kick him out of your band and let it go. He’s nothing without you guys, he’s not worth it.” How she wished Valerie was here to soothe him! Everyone stared at Astin in shock. He had to be certifiably insane! Nobody could believe that he’d gone from so calm to barking mad in an instant.

“
Dude, you broke your guitar over my head!” Ritchie held his hand to his head, trying to stop the minimal bleeding.

“
We’re not Turkey Lurkey, that’s the stupidest name ever, and you’re not the singer anymore.” Astin only stayed back because Diana was between them. He wanted to turn Ritchie inside out.

“
Let’s go home. I’ll drive.” Diana dragged Astin out of the party and left his band mates to clean up the mess. The party had begun its downhill slide.

Penny and Peter, in another room, didn’t see or hear Astin’s outburst. Peter had melted into a spot on the sofa. He and Penny had been a few inches apart when they’d sat down. Since then a drunk girl had fallen asleep on the couch. Now, to avoid her drool, Penny was right against Peter.

“
Can we move?” she finally asked. Neither of them seemed to know what to do at a party like this. They weren’t on a date. They hadn’t really progressed past being just friends. Peter had told Penny a lot about his turbulent home life, though, and she was his best friend.

She was his only friend.

He got up and pointed to the back door. “Air?” he asked. She nodded.

They walked around the elaborate garden. Once they were out of sight of the house, Penny began refreshing some of the neglected flowers. Peter stood apart, watching her, admiring her as she revived an oleander bush. The green shrub burst into a vibrant pink with a single touch. She wasn’t like the other girls. She was innocent, genuine, and delicate. He thought he could reach out and snap her in half.