The Symbolon (9 page)

“It’s all right, beautiful,” he said into her ear
. “You’ll have to trust me on this. These men have never injured an immortal on this trip.” The boat continued straight toward the cliffs.

“Great
,” Valeria muttered softly, thinking that she should find some humor in his statement about immortals being injured. Alex snickered.

T
hen her eyes focused on the rock wall in front of them and the large surges…and the fact that they were about to slam into
that
wall, as she counted down to the impact. She pictured that she would be thrown from him and drown. And Alex and Camille, the two people she loved more than life, would be…

“Alex!”
she screamed. He was immediately over her, pinning her to the seat, with his hand on her forehead.

At once
, the engine cut and they were in total darkness as Alex’s fingers stroked the side of her face. She heard the rushing of the sea and the sound of her own pounding heart.

“It’s all right, love. We’re okay.
Just a few more minutes.” The sound quality had changed dramatically. They were in a cave. She could feel the wet coolness inches from her face and could hear her own erratic breath echoing nervously between the crashing of waves. Finally, she sensed more clearance and Alex rolled off to her side, as she clenched his hands with an iron grip.

“Sorry! I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No. I think I’m all right,” she said, her voice sounding strange to her.

After another
ten minutes, the boat came to a stop and she heard the driver moving. Then she heard a sound like a match being struck and suddenly there was light. She actually felt quite calm under the circumstances! Then she noticed that her knuckles were white on top of Alex’s. She giggled apprehensively and then relaxed her grip; seeing the nail marks on his hands, she winced in a non-verbal apology.

The driver was standing on the ledge with
a torch. He mounted it on the wall and returned to his seat in the boat.

“It’s all right.” Alex winked, and helped her sit up. “This is where we get off.” They were in a dark narrow cave with the
tide rolling them roughly about. He stepped off the boat and onto a ledge, grasping a wrought iron rail.

Camille stood. “You did better than I did the first time!
They had to about tie me down! I think they heard my bloodcurdling scream for a mile!”

Alex laughed, raising his eyebrows. “I remember!”

Valeria gathered the hem of her dress in one hand, while Alex lifted her onto the ledge. Caves weren’t really her thing either. Then she needed to give up his arms so that he could help Camille off the boat. They stood there in the light of the torch as the water roughly rushed by them. The boat moved slowly back out of the cave and then disappeared silently.

“We need to give it just a few more minutes,” he soothed, stroking her hair. She was still shaking and he held her tight
ly.

“So
, you said it was called a troglodyte?”

Alex’s smile widened. “That’s Greek for ‘one who creeps into holes.’ The Latin’s changed the meaning to ‘cave dweller
.’”

“We’re going to walk, so hang on
to the railing.” He grabbed the torch and then led them deeper into the cave. Then he stopped. Valeria looked and saw nothing but the stone ledge that continued in the direction that they had been moving. He held the torch out over the still raging water and waved it in a sideways eight several times.

Within minutes
, there was a hint of light coming from the other side of the cave. Valeria realized that there was another tunnel running almost perpendicular to their path that she wouldn’t have seen without the approaching light. She tried to determine how it was so hidden and then noticed that there was a large boulder that had refused to succumb to the constant pounding of the sea.

“That boulder, and the infrastructure that surrounds it, is what Virgil referred to when he spoke of the
adamantine gates of Tartarus.” She nodded as if she understood, but she had no idea who Virgil was.

Alex
continued, “Adamantine implies an impenetrable substance—like a diamond. Frankly, I don’t know what it’s made of—in fact, someday, my guess is that you will probably be able to tell me.” Seeing the doubt in her eyes, he winked and smiled.

Within seconds, she heard a creaking noise that increased and then stopped as a metal bridge emerged from the stone on the other side of the rushing water and then loudly slammed down next to them. They crossed the bridge and she noticed that the ledge on the other side was wider and the water in this hidden cave seemed much calmer. She peeked down the new cave and could perceive more light
, and almost hear sound, when the water wasn’t rushing into the cave.

A gondola rounded a turn and pulled up next to them, which was the source of the light she had seen. The gondolier was extremely pale and bald; his faded eyes and lips were rimmed with bright red. Valeria realized that he must be what Alex had called a drib! He was dressed in a tux and kept his eyes averted. Alex helped the women aboard and then the gondola moved back from where it came.

Minutes later, the water seemed even calmer. They rounded a corner and she saw that at the end of the tunnel, the cave ballooned into a tremendous cavern. As she glanced at Alex in amazement, and saw his beaming smile, she realized he must have dreamed of this moment.

As the gondola smoothly moved into the chamber, the room seemed to explode in light and sounds and smells. She was reminded of the upscale restaurants that David had taken her to in Manhattan—vibrant and bustling. The waterway split and they went to the right around what almost appeared to be an island within the cavern. Valeria beamed excitedly at her
first view of the birthplace of Apollo!

Candlelit crystal chandeliers
, hanging well above the festivities, dramatically draped off the fifty-foot ceilings. She noticed the waterway encircled all but the far wall, where nine rather grand chairs sat, richly decorated in gold and red. The back of the cavern wall was covered in fine silks and appeared to be where the food was coming from.

The gondolier continued toward a small landing, set less than five feet from where the guests were, with a foot bridge that crossed from the landing to Delos. The gondola stopped and Alex offered his hand to the women.

From the tiny landing where they stood, she could see over three hundred elegant guests. Appetizers and champagne were being served on trays by dribs. Alex watched Valeria to make certain that she was all right with the new surroundings. She nodded to him, as if it was no big deal—but he read her emotions better than that. A small orchestra of dribs struck up a tune. It seemed that everyone was watching her.

Still reeling from the boat ride into the cave, she clung to Alex’s arm. This was the step that would lead her to her destiny…the one where she spent an eternity with the man of her dreams! Again, she felt a rush of emotion.

“Who are all these people?”

Camille laughed
. “They are all the immortals that we know of up to this point; at least the ones who we can find.”

Brushing Valeria’s cheek with her own, Camille whispered, “I’ll see you on the other side!” Then Camille quickly crossed the bridge, joining the rest of the family.

Alex was beaming. “There is an ancient tradition that recognizes our birth. We, the immortals, walk between the world of mortals and those who live forever. In order to do that, we cross a portion of the River Styx.” He took her hand and led her across the ornate foot bridge. Half way across, he stopped.

“Take a look at the river.” His face lit up, as she glanced into the water and then her eyes did a double take. “It isn’t your imagination, beautiful, and it isn’t dye, the color of the River Styx is oracle blue.” Valeria smiled in amazement.

Stepping onto the main island, the room broke into applause, as a waiter brought them two glasses of champagne. The air felt cool and comfortable against her skin and, despite the fact that it was a cave, it smelled of fine food.

“Welcome to the Council of Delos, beautiful!” Alex still seemed a bit nervous
, but suddenly, Valeria was feeling very much at home. She could see Tavish in his kilt arguing with someone—or perhaps it was a friendly discussion, it was always difficult to tell with him.

Tavish turned to her with a wild-eyed smile
and raised his glass. “Here’s tae us, wha’s like us? Damned few an’ they’re a’ deid!” He laughed loudly and clinked glasses, sloshing out half of the champagne. His face lit with his famous combination of a sneer and a smile. Valeria got the humor to it, she understood Tavish occasionally now. It was a Scottish cheer that had more meaning here with immortals. The joke of course was that there
were
very few oracles left and those who they knew were mostly dead…or “a’ deid.”

Alex said, “We only get together about once every five hundred years or so. So enjoy!” Within minutes
, Camille and Ava arrived as Alex continued, “If you ladies would keep my bride-to-be company, I need to speak to a few people before the council meeting begins.” He kissed her cheek and left.

Camille led Valeria to a table with extraordinary food. Helping herself to a few
hors d'oeuvres,
Valeria met several of the immortals. Alex was speaking to a group of people near the ornate chairs. She noticed that he seemed tense about something and was looking as if he was searching for someone. But when he saw her watching him, his face released the tension and he winked at her.

She also noticed that the others didn’t seem to have quite the same color eyes as her family.

“Camille, I don’t understand why there are so many oracles here! I thought there were only one hundred, and that the family consisted of most of the remaining oracles.”

Sipping her champagne, Camille’s eyes lit
. “Oh!” she said in surprise. “Val, they aren’t all oracles. They’re immortals, well, most of them anyway. There are a few oracles outside of our family.” She took a deep breath. “I think sometimes we forget that you don’t recall everything.” Camille grabbed another shrimp off her plate and took a bite, hesitating for a moment before saying, “Sorry, I’m starving!”

“They’re immortal, but not oracles? How does that work?” Valeria queried, trying to keep her ignorance from being overheard by the others.

“Well, the immortals are related to the gods. They have very different rules than we do.” Camille and Valeria greeted another group of immortals with a smile and nod. Then Ava joined them.

“Val’s asking about the immortals
,” Camille explained to Ava.

“Yeah, well, they have a bit of an attitude if you ask me!” Ava muttered. “Like they’re the royalty and we’re merely titled.” She lifted a delicate finger sandwich from her very full plate and then artlessly crammed the whole thing in
to her mouth. “Hmmm!” She rolled her eyes. “Delicious! Val, you gotta try these!” Valeria laughed.

“So that must be why their eyes are a different color than ours?” Camille and Ava nodded.

“Some of us think that the immortal’s prejudice against us was the cause of the purges,” Ava added.

A few more immortals approached and
, although Valeria didn’t sense any prejudice, she did notice that they all reacted strangely to her. She asked and Camille explained that, as Cassandra, she was one of the founders of the council and so some of the immortals were probably a bit uncertain as to how to behave toward her. And others were probably a bit in awe. Valeria couldn’t understand anyone being in awe of who she used to be.

Suddenly
, she felt a hand low on her back that slid around her hip. It was so unlike Alex but she smiled and leaned into him, as the hand continued around her waist to just below her breasts. She found that odd. When he nibbled on her ear, she suddenly realized—with horror—that this wasn’t Alex!

Valeria spun to see Paolo offering her a lascivious grin. Her jaw dropped and she shoved his hands away from her. Just then
, her eyes caught Alex’s stunned expression, as his face turned deep crimson as he raced toward her.

Paolo smiled at her seductively
. “You look delicious, bella.”

Hearing Valeria’s gasp, or perhaps a non-verbal communication from Alex, Camille and Ava both turned toward Paolo. Camille’s eyes narrowed in dislike.

Paolo continued, “Camille, I can see in your eyes, you have needs that are not being met.” He smirked and raised an eyebrow. “My previous offers stand.”

“No thank you!” she huffed.

Arriving on the scene, Alex pulled Valeria into his arms. She noticed that his hand was slightly lower on her hip than it might have normally been and she could feel that he was very nearly trembling with anger. “Paolo, Valeria and I are engaged now. I hope you will respect that.”

“You are called Valeria now?” Paolo winked at her. “I believe I prefer—”

“That’s enough, Paolo!” Alex interrupted.

Paolo and Alex stared each other down, for what felt like a very long moment, as she clung to Alex protectively. Finally
, Paolo broke the stare as his eyes wandered salaciously down her body, making her very uncomfortable. She was also stunned to discover that her typically very patient fiancé was near his breaking point. She pushed aside her shock and kissed Alex on the cheek. When he looked down at her, she smiled and patted his chest. “It’s all right. I’m all right,” she said, attempting to soothe him.