“ Bet he couldn’t sing,” I snap back.
“ Who have you all chosen?” Orion’s voice calls out over our argument.
“ Sappho,” Victria says.
Harley snorts. “You would pick her. ”
“ What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I can’t decide between Hephaestus and Prometheus,” Kayleigh says, drawing attention to her. Victria shoots her a small smile.
“ Why Prometheus?” Orion asks.
Harley taps the name into his floppy. “You don’t want him. He gets his liver eaten out by a giant bird! ”
“ But I like the way he brought knowledge to people,” Kayleigh says.
“ But you’re more of an inventor. ” Orion lifts the floppy out of her hands and swipes the screen, bringing up an image of a huge, ugly man with a forge behind him. “Hephaestus is probably more appropriate. And less dangerous. ”
Even here, we have to remind ourselves that Eldest is more of a god than any of these long-dead Greeks, and he can do much worse that have our livers ripped out.
“I ’m selecting Pygmalion,” Luthor says.
I jump a little; I’d forgotten how close he was to me. He’s so quiet.
“ Piggy, piggy! ” Barite taunts. “That sounds about right! ”
“ Pygmalion was a sculptor,” Orion says. “Good choice, Luthor. What about you, Harley?”
“I can’t find any painters, ” he grumbles.
“ Why don’t you do a fresco—it’s like painting, but with plaster—and you can use the Muses as your subject?” Orion suggests.
He bends down to show Harley the Muses, but I’m distracted by Victria. She mouths something to me, indicating Bartie and Luthor with her head.
“ What?” I mouth back.
Her eyes widen at me, and she jerks her head to Luthor. Then she glances significantly at Kayleigh, who’s leaned in close to Harley, and jerks her head back.
“ She wants us to give them some privacy,” Luthor whispers in my ear.
“I—oh! ” I say, blushing.
Victria rolls her eyes.
Scooping up the floppy and one of the books, I follow Victria and Bartie further into the Recorder Hall, passing closed doors leading to rooms full of books and Sol-Earth artifacts. Luthor trails behind me, chuckling at how Harley and Kayleigh remain ignorant of our plot.
Victria pauses at the door to the entry way. “I’ll distract Orion in a minute, give them some real alone time. ” When I don’t move, she adds, “You go on,” and waves her hands at me. I head further down the dark hallway. Luthor hesitates, then follows me, but Bartie winks and drops back to stay with Victria. I’m disappointed—I would actually like to talk to him about maybe working together on our project. He could compose music and I could write lyrics and maybe we could . . .
But he’d rather stay with Victria.
Fine.
Whatever.
I don’t care.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Luthor says softly, so I follow him. I’ve never explored the Recorder Hall this much before; I know that the second and third stories hold relics from Sol-Earth, but not much else.