I ordered Bern to take a nap too.
I was sure Bern could survive without sleep, but while things were calm I wanted her to take the opportunity to get some.
Our future was uncertain, and I needed everyone in my circle strong.
We were officially in war mode. We would sleep by rotation and be on constant alert.
I plodded toward the gym/cafeteria building myself, not sure what I planned to do. I was exhausted yet at the same time fairly sure I wouldn't be able to sleep.
Cleo had already made it clear she and Bubbe would be up for the next few hours, as would Mel. I could take this turn to sleep, or I could sit and stew and hope some solution came to me.
As my feet pulled their way through the long grass that covered the hillside, I knew which one I would do.
I didn't even bother going all the way to the gym. I lay down in the grass and stared at the sky. The day was going to be warm. At maybe five in the morning it was already approaching seventy degrees. I jerked off my T-shirt, lay back down, and enjoyed the feel of the cool grass against my bare shoulders. The jog bra I wore had a high neck to cover my
It was peaceful-the most peaceful place I could remember being in for quite some time.
My eyes were closed and my brain had just started to settle when I heard someone approaching from behind. I shot forward into a somersault, landed on my feet, and turned immediately.
Jack stood a few feet from where I had lain, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his camouflage pants.
'Mateo is going to have to sleep in the gym with you and your camp if you won't let him take Andres home.'
'Andres?'
He pulled his hands from his pockets, then shoved them back in. 'Your brother.'
Right. The baby. . Andres. I wasn't sure I liked knowing his name; it made him more real.
'So what's the plan?' He took a few steps down the hill.
'Did you talk to anyone?' I asked. I wasn't sure how much I wanted to tell Jack, should tell him. My loyalties were a tangled-up ball of yarn right now.
'No.' He stopped and stared down at me. I could see he was waiting, knew what I said or did now was going to set a tone for where we went from here.
I glanced up at the sky. The moon was barely visible now. Maybe it would be one of those strange days where you can see the moon, even when the sun was at its highest. I took it as a sign.
I gestured for Jack to sit, then I told him everything Bubbe had told us. When I was done, I sat down beside him. The silence that settled between us felt right, comfortable. We were both lost in our thoughts, but we were lost in them together. I wanted to stretch out again, to share the peace of lying on that hillside with him, but I knew I couldn't.
This wasn't the time to relax; this was the time to act.
But how?
Mel walking up behind us brought part of my answer.
She dropped a stack of papers onto my lap. 'I don't know that there are answers there, but maybe some clues. I printed out descriptions of thirty of the most popular goddesses.'
The papers felt like it; they weighed a ton. I carefully picked them up and thumbed through them. My eyes quickly blurred.
She smiled. 'I know.' She kneeled and took a place on the grass beside me. I was flanked now, her on one side, Jack on the other.
'But if we do notice something strange. . a power we've never seen before or something. . we have something to reference.'
I stared at the stack of paper. Amazons were not scholars. As an Amazon destined to be a queen, I'd been taught more than most, but by modern human educational standards I'd probably have barely graduated high school. . unless the school gave credits for wrestling or sword fighting.
The thought of reading these papers made my head ache.
'Too bad Harmony isn't here,' Mel murmured. 'She'd love diving into this.'
Her face turned sad. If I'd been a different kind of person I would have reached for her hand, but that wasn't me and Mel knew it. It would have just made us both uncomfortable.
As it was, Jack reached over and grabbed the papers. 'Let me. I studied Greek mythology in college.'
I looked at him, surprised. 'You went to college?'
He grinned, a slow sexy slide of his lips over those impossibly white teeth. 'When I was fifty. The sons don't have the same antimingling beliefs the Amazons do. I figured a little education would be good.'
'What did you major in?' Mel asked.
He rolled the papers into a scroll shape, or tried to. They were too thick and sprung back out flat. He slapped them against his palm. 'I didn't graduate, just took classes, whatever interested me. Mythology did.'
'What else?' I asked, realizing how little I knew about my self-named godfather.
'Usual things: girls, athletics. . explosives.'
'Like the birders used?' I asked, instantly alert.
He lifted a shoulder. 'Somewhat. What they did wasn't fancy. I could have done it.'
I turned, my hand forming a fist as it rose.
He grabbed me around the wrist.
'I said I could have, not that I did. Anyone with an Internet connection can build a bomb these days.'
'How about the supplies? You know where they got those?' I asked. He still held my wrist. I didn't pull away; I just waited, tense.
'I'm a gun dealer, not a terrorist. There is a difference.'
'Then why'd you study explosives?' My voice vibrated.
His, however, was calm. 'That came after. It's why I left college. There was a war going on in Europe. I left to join it.' He dropped his hold on my arm and stood. 'It was a long time ago. Things have changed, but I thought you'd like to know I had some knowledge in that area too, that if needed we could match them explosive to explosive.'
Explosives and guns. I couldn't see using either. In fact, I bristled at the thought.
Mel stood too. She angled her body so she was between us. 'Are we on the same side, or not?' she asked.
Still seated, I stared up at them.
Were we? Did we all want the same thing here? Guns and explosives were two things I knew nothing about, didn't want to have to know anything about.
'I don't know. Maybe we should ask.' I bounced the question back to my best friend. 'What is your goal in all of this?'
Hurt and a bit of anger showed on Mel's face. 'I don't care about the tribe. You know that. But I care that they want to kill children. I care about that a lot.'
I believed her, but then I'd already known Mel's motivation. I looked at Jack.
He tapped a finger against the sheaf of paper he held. I suspected he was weighing whether he should answer my question at all. Finally he did. 'I don't want any children killed either. And I want the tribe to survive. You may not believe me, but I care about the tribe, not'-he added as I opened my mouth to disagree-'in the same way you do. More like an ecologist cares about an endangered species. Amazons are rare and old; they are part of the world, a part I think should continue to exist.' His finger quit moving. 'But that doesn't mean I don't think they shouldn't change; they should. And I'd like to be a part of both things-the save and the change.'
I weighed whether being put in the same class as an endangered animal pissed me off or not. Deciding there
