key part of what women were, what made us strong. To spring fully grown from a man's head. . it stole that power from us. Who would worship a goddess like that? Why?
Disgusted and confused, I refocused on the most important question, at least as far as defeating Padia: 'What powers does Athena have?'
Mel grimaced. 'It doesn't work like that. We don't have Artemis's powers, our powers are just enhanced by hers.'
'So what powers would Athena enhance?'
Mel pushed back her chair. 'She's a warrior.'
I frowned. 'Like our warriors?'
'Yes and no. Artemis is a huntress.'
Bubbe walked up and stared at the computer. With a
I let that soak in but couldn't see how it would help me. 'What else?'
'Athena loves invention.'
'Invention? New things, like the Internet?'
With a glance at the computer and a sigh, Bubbe nodded. 'My granddaughter has a bit too much Athena in her for my tasting.'
Owls and the technology. We'd seen signs of both at the safe camp. And I associated both with the camp's new high priestess. .
'What else?'
Mel read a list of things linked to Athena off the Web site. None of them stood out as something I'd noticed since Thea's arrival. 'Is there a picture?' I asked. I don't know what I expected. I hadn't seen any goddess pictures or figures while at camp, but when Mel scrolled down and the image of the armored Athena appeared, I froze.
'What's that on her breastplate?'
'Medusa. Athena helped Perseus kill her.'
My heart beat faster. 'Can you get a close-up of her face?'
'Athena's?'
'No, Medusa's.'
A few more clicks and a picture of the snake-haired gorgon filled the screen. Everything settled into place.
Kale was on watch. I sent Bern to get her.
When the warrior walked into the room, she froze, seemed mesmerized by the screen.
I waited, hoping my hunch would pay off.
Finally she looked at me. 'How did you know?'
'What? How did I know what?' I didn't want to lead her.
She glimpsed from the screen to me and back. 'I don't know. . I think. . ' She shook her head.
Despite her confusion, I stayed focused. I hadn't ever liked Thea, certainly didn't after she declared herself queen, but that was a long shot from the suspicions that had been building inside me. But now I had hard evidence. All I needed was for Kale to confirm it. I whispered for Mel to change the screen, to go back to the owl we'd looked at before.
With both windows open, I looked at Kale again. 'How about now?'
She stared at me. 'Padia. Those are her tattoos. How did you know?'
As the question left her lips, my fingers loosened and my mind relaxed.
That happens when you know your enemy, when you can finally put a face on the person you intend to kill.
Once the block in Kale's brain was broken and we knew Padia and Thea were one and the same, it made our next move obvious. We had to capture the high priestess and force her to tell us where Tess and Andres were. And we had to do it fast before she carried out her mission to kill Andres.
'But what about what Tess said. . that Padia had come to camp?' Mel asked.
I poked my tongue against the inside of my cheek. I'd been worrying over the question myself. It was one of the things that had made me doubt Thea's guilt before. 'She didn't seem to be sure it was Padia, just another priestess. Maybe Padia has someone else working for her.'
'Or maybe Tess lied.' Mel's words landed hard, but I couldn't believe them, if for no other reason than Thea had said the same thing.
'Padia is powerful, always has been. Who knows what she is capable of now? She's obviously trying to shift suspicion on the hearth-keeper.' Kale shook her head. 'There's no telling what she did to confuse the girl.'
'So, if Thea is Padia, why does she want Andres?' Mel asked.
'Because-' I cut off my own reply. I'd assumed Thea's reasons to kill my brother were to keep him from growing up to be a threat to the Amazons, but that was before I'd learned she worshipped Athena.
'Because she's afraid of the sons? What they will become?' I offered, but the reasoning didn't ring true, not with everything else. How could Thea/Padia's purpose be to preserve the Amazons, when by choosing Athena over Artemis she was breaking us in two?
'I don't think she cares about the Amazons,' I added, still thinking.
'What does she care about?' Mel turned in her chair and looked at Kale.
The warrior's lips formed a thin line. 'Herself. Power.'
'She was already on the high council. What more power could she want?' I asked.
'Her own tribe?' Kale offered, her eyes flashing.
'She declared herself queen,' I added. A safe camp wasn't a tribe, but it was a start. And now I realized I had no proof aside from Thea's word that my position had been taken from me. She had made the announcement after speaking to her 'contact' alone. Which brought another question to mind. I had spoken to her contact. That contact had identified herself as Padia. If Thea was Padia, who had I talked with?
Still surfing the Internet, Mel lifted her fingers from the computer mouse. She spoke, interrupting my train of thought. 'If she's a true follower of Athena, guided by logic, she has to have a plan. She had to realize she would be found out at some point. What then? Are the Amazons at the safe camp going to continue to call her queen?'
I gripped the back of her chair with one hand. 'Maybe. We know she did something to Cleo, and Kale. She tried to do something to me and Bubbe. She has to be doing the same something to the Amazons at the camp.'
'She didn't make any of you do anything you didn't believe in.'
'I killed those humans.' Kale shook her head. 'With a gun. Even if the women attacked me first. . ' She frowned. 'I wouldn't have done that. Padia is dangerous. She has to be destroyed.'
'Maybe you killed them. Maybe Thea did and left you there to take the blame. Maybe they did kill each other. We don't know. When we found you, you were confused and, yes, I think you were acting under some influence Thea put over you, but it didn't last. It wore off.' Mel stared at Bubbe, who had become uncharacteristically quiet. When her grandmother made no move to offer any additional comments, Mel sighed.
'The point is, if Thea is using some kind of mind control over the safe camp, we haven't seen any evidence that it will last. And I think if she could do it, she would have already. You wouldn't have been able to remember what you just have, and Mother wouldn't have been hidden inside a stack of hay bales. You are both warriors, valuable if Padia planned on taking on other Amazons. Why would she throw you away?'
Bubbe snorted. 'Because the head does not control the heart.'
'So, what does Padia want from killing Andres?' I asked.
'I'm not sure, but if Padia is getting her power from Athena and she really wanted to show her loyalty, there is something she might do.' Mel twisted the computer's monitor so it faced us. A line drawing of an altar appeared, an animal of some sort lying across its top, its throat slit. 'Sacrifice.'
'And what better to give your goddess than the blood of your enemy mixed with the blood of those you desert for her?' Bubbe closed her eyes and began to murmur.
The image of the knife Thea had handled in the woods flashed through my mind. I described the object.
Kale tensed. Bubbe captured her wolf totem pendant between both palms. 'That is not Amazon. The deaths of the sons were never for ceremony. Never to pay a price. Like our
