* * *
The council meeting was packed that night. Muses sat and stood around the main fire pit, some holding mugs of hot cocoa, others clutching coffee that had been infused with some special seasonal liquor from the wine and spirits enclave. Nora sat on a bench with Maddie and Sawyer. They’d gone back to their tents earlier, and she’d been worried about leaving Catling there, but the little fluffy thing had curled up in a ball almost immediately and gone to sleep. She’d tied her tent closed as tightly and securely as she possibly could. Maddie had assured her there was no way the cat-duck could escape again.
All three of them were drinking hot cocoa. It wasn’t forbidden for the younger tweens to drink alcohol, but drunk tweens were highly frowned upon by the older muses, who found their rowdiness and occasional bursts of vomiting from overindulgence annoying, so when tweens drank, they usually did on their own. Nora had yet to have any alcohol in Helicon. Maddie wasn’t into it, and it wasn’t something Nora particularly longed for. Still, she’d noticed plenty of drunken gatherings in the enclave, with other young muses stumbling up and down the spiral staircase of the tree house and dancing in the woods.
Phoebe called the meeting to order and went straight to the business of the portal, since there didn’t seem to be anything else to discuss that night. She turned the floor over to Alexander Night, who told everyone what had happened.
“Four of the tweens found the portal,” he said. “One was injured but was healed by Phoebe and Coeus. Owen Asher and I went into the portal and were able to close it. That’s really all there is to it.”
The muses surrounding the fire pit erupted in simultaneous conversation, all yelling over each other in attempts to be heard.
“Silence!” thundered Phoebe, and everyone quieted. She took a deep breath. “Now, all of you know the proper procedure. You wait for me to recognize you before you speak.” She looked around as a number of muses either stood up or threw their hands into the air. Phoebe pointed at the muse closest to her, which happened to be Techne Lift, head of the science enclave.
Techne threw back her long blonde hair. “I think we have to have a conversation about Owen, don’t we?”
Owen stood up, looking annoyed. “Can I speak?”
Phoebe nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I had the floor,” said Techne.
“And you’ll have it back in a minute,” said Phoebe. “Owen?”
Owen took a step forward, looking out over all of the muses. He clasped his hands together in front of him. “Listen, I know I’m not a muse. And I know that my mother has caused trouble here in Helicon, but you have to realize that I don’t really know what that trouble was. I’ve had very little contact with my mother during my lifetime, and I plan to keep it that way. All I’ve wanted, ever since she took me away from this place, is to get back here. Helicon is the only home I’ve ever known. And I would never do anything to hurt the muses or to hurt this world. I don’t know how to prove that to you all, but I’d hoped that by joining the security enclave and helping to protect Helicon, in time, you’d come to trust me. Unfortunately, another hole opening in Helicon so soon after the last makes me look guilty. I know it does. But I didn’t create this hole. I can’t offer any proof of my innocence, but I can ask you this: What would I have to gain by destroying this world? Why would I fight so long and so hard to return only so that I could harm you all? And why, if I had created these portals, would I be taking such an active hand in closing them? If I wanted to let the Influence into Helicon, wouldn’t I try to keep the portals open as long as I possibly could?”
Techne folded her arms over her chest. “You could have all kinds of secret motivations that we know nothing about. As for the claim you make that you’ve spent no time with your mother, we only have your word for that. Why should we believe you?”
Owen scratched the back of his head. His expression was pained. “Because I need you to. My mother gave birth to me and then abandoned me every chance she got. She left me here in Helicon sometimes, but other times she left me places that weren’t so pleasant. I hardly remember that, not really. But she wasn’t... she wasn’t what you’d call a particularly active parent. I barely even remember her. All I know is that from the moment I arrived in Helicon, no matter what had happened to me before, or what kind of places I’d been, this was the warmest, most open, safest place I’d ever been. This is the only place where anyone’s ever cared what happened to me. This is only thing I’ve ever had that even resembles a home. Please...” He looked directly at Techne, and Nora realized there were tears in his eyes.
She wanted to get up, go to Owen, and give him a huge hug. She hadn’t seen him cry very often, and never in front of this many people.
Techne held his gaze for a moment. Then she looked away, clearly shaken. “If you didn’t create this rip in Helicon, who did?” she asked the fire.
“I don’t know,” said Owen, “but I’ll tell you one thing. Someone inside Helicon did it. The portal that I left open was clearly punched through from the outside. This one was ripped open from inside.”
Alexander stood up. “We can’t be sure of that.”
Owen furrowed his brow. “Absolutely, we can. It’s like when someone punches through a glass window. Whichever side the broken glass is on, you can be sure the person punching was on the other side. This is the same principal. It’s obvious.”
Alexander shook his head. “No, I don’t think so, Owen. We have no way of being sure how this portal was created. I will say that this portal more closely resembled the ones we saw before Owen and Nora arrived. It was smaller, and woven full of spells and repelling charms. I’d say there’s really no evidence linking Owen to it at all. These portals started before he arrived, and I don’t see how he could have had anything to do with them. I really hope we can put this nasty accusation behind us.” He shot a pointed look at Techne.
Techne looked much less sure of herself. She sat down.
“I still think this portal was created inside Helicon,” said Owen.
“There’s simply no way to know that,” said Alexander, and his tone made it clear that was the end of it.
Owen shrugged and sat down.
“Thank you, Alexander,” said Phoebe. She turned to the gathered throng of muses. “Anyone else like the floor?” No one spoke. It seemed that no one else wanted to accuse Owen. Nora was glad. “Well, then,” said Phoebe, “it seems that we’re under some kind of attack of unknown origin. We’ll need the security enclave to be on high alert. I’d also like to move that the engineering enclave begin working with the security enclave to work on making something that might be able to strengthen Helicon, to prevent these portals.”
“I second that,” said Coeus.
“Motion’s been seconded,” said Phoebe. “Any discussion?”
Silence greeted her again.