Theta by Lizzy Ford Page B

thinking.
    What if I had to supplement what I’d been
taught to believe about the world my whole life with something less
tangible?
    You aren’t ready yet to
handle what comes. You MUST use your power in order to grow
it. The voice originated from Mrs. Nettles.
I had heard it once before, so I knew it didn’t belong to my
animated stuffed animal but to the goddess temporarily possessing
her. Do not view what’s before you as parts
in a puzzle, but as a whole.
    I glanced towards the teddy bear sitting on
the chaise, watching me. I didn’t want to say her name aloud, in
case Cleon caught on.
    “ I don’t understand,” I
replied, heart quickening at the thought of speaking directly to
this goddess, one of the two deities I was raised to respect and
worship.
    You would handle a piece of pie differently
than you would a whole pie, wouldn’t you?
    In my very limited interactions with gods
and those touched by them, I’d discovered the divine to have a very
unusual speech pattern. They didn’t seem to understand how to say
something directly and spoke in circles. Even Adonis shared this
trait most of the times, leaving me floundering in the space
between what was spoken and what he intended.
    When you destroyed the
temple and the buildings, you didn’t manipulate them one by one,
did you? She tried again.
    “ No,” I said aloud. I had
grabbed the ribbons of everything for a five-block radius then
crushed them.
    See the whole, not the parts.
    “ But … I don’t want to use
my power. What if I hurt someone?”
    Your power can do only what you will it to.
If you use it for good, then it will hurt no one.
    “ That’s kind of the
opposite of what Cecelia says,” I hedged. “I’ve hurt enough
people.”
    Do you trust me? Artemis asked.
    My pulse raced.
    I have protected you your entire life. I
stood beside your mother when she gave birth to you, and I will be
with you when you defeat your enemies.
    My face felt hot. Even the priests who
raised me – and Herakles – had always assured me Artemis was the
one goddess we all could trust, because she wanted what was best
for humanity.
    “ Yes,” I said. “I trust
you. I’ll do as you ask.” Even if it scared me. “How do I see the
whole? I’m standing in the middle of the pie.”
    Shift outside of it.
    I was about to ask how in
Hades it was possible to shift outside of reality when the door opened. Leandra
carried a tray loaded with food, and I glanced at Mrs. Nettles then
back. The stuffed animal was shuffling towards one of the pillows
on the chaise. She was obsessed with bright and soft things, and I
sensed the goddess who spoke through her was gone.
    “ Most of your faves are
here,” Leandra said and set the food on the table.
    I ignored her, distracted by the idea of how
I was supposed to see the whole when I was in the middle of it. I
closed my eyes and formed a picture of the room in my head, to
include seeing Leandra and me. The scent of mac-n-cheese distracted
me temporarily, and I breathed it in deeply, imagining a tub of it
appearing in the middle of my room.
    “ I could eat a vat of that
right about now,” I murmured. Torn between my empty stomach and
understanding the lesson Artemis was trying to teach me, I chose
food.
    “ Really?” Leandra asked,
hands on her hips. “You have the powers of a goddess, and you use
it for that ?”
    Opening my eyes, I spotted the meter-tall
tub of steaming mac-n-cheese in the middle of my room, where I’d
seen it in my mind.
    I started to laugh then stopped, uncertain
what this meant. It was another unintentional creation. I had to
get better about purposely using my abilities.
    “ You don’t need that much
pasta,” Leandra lectured me. “You won’t fit into your clothes if
you eat it. Can you send it away?”
    I’m not sure where it came
from, I admitted silently. I tried to form
the picture of my room in my head without closing my eyes and found
it impossible while Leandra was moving around. So I closed