Hades smiled grimly. “You fear her?”
Tina shook her head very slightly. “No. I respect her.”
Hades stood up and walked over to the image, peering at it as if Claire Hinterland actually was in front of him. “I can hide here with her friends for a while, I think. Perhaps not forever, but they aren’t going to find us quite yet. Regardless of how much power this government of yours has, I have more.” He leaned closer. His head was about to actually touch the image, which would cause it to disappear. He remained there for a second before pulling away and turning toward Tina. “You and your dead comrade invited them to Miami, yes?”
Tina nodded, gripping her hands together tightly.
Hades took a step closer to her, though Tina desperately wanted him to back further away. “Would you invite her here, witch?”
Tina’s eyes widened because she hadn’t expected that question. Perhaps any other, but not that one. “No,” she whispered without meaning to.
Hades smiled again, and the flames in his eyes glowed brighter. “I didn’t think you would. You do fear her, but I wonder, my witch. Do you fear me more?”
Tina wanted to vomit. There was no answer to the question, nothing that would suffice.
Hades tilted his head down in a slight nod. “It’s okay. You can answer.”
Fuck it, she thought. “I fear you each for different reasons.”
“Good, good,” Hades responded. “We are getting somewhere. Why do you fear me?”
An easy answer. Tina didn’t hesitate. “I’ve never seen power like yours.”
Hades shrugged good-naturedly. “Fair enough. Why do you fear her?”
Tina’s eyes flashed to the image of Claire behind the god. “Because she has done things that she shouldn’t be able to. I fear her potential. I fear her…fearlessness.”
Hades clapped his hands together, sending a sharp echo across the room. “Very well put. You told the truth, and I appreciate that.” He turned his back on her and looked once again at the image. “It’s time for you to be fearless, my acolyte. It’s time for you to see how great my power is and how far it can reach. The Veil is no boundary to my dominion over the dead, the underworld, or Mount Olympus. I am the keeper of souls. I want you to go get her, witch, this young woman and whoever else she would like to bring with her. The whole university she attends, if that’s what pleases her. Have them come to me. Use no trickery and no spells, only tell them you are not to be harmed since you serve me. If they harm you, one of her friends will be harmed in kind, make this known to them.”
Hades waved his hand through Claire’s face and causing the image to flutter away until nothing remained. He turned around and faced Tina. “Go now and become as fearless as this young lady. When you return with her, you will have grown in my eyes and be lifted in esteem and stature in the coming world. Do you understand?”
Tina tried to swallow, but her mouth felt like it was coated with sand. She only nodded in response.
Hades smiled. “See you when you return, my acolyte.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Frank sighed, throwing his feet up on Claire’s desk. “I must say, methinks I might have been an idiot.”
Al was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt that said, ‘I Promise, Only The Tip,’ with a bloody Friday the 13th-style knife under it. “What finally brought you to that conclusion? The rest of us have known it for a while.”
Claire smirked. She was lying on her bed, on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
Frank looked wistfully out the window and rubbed his thick fingers through his black hair. “I need not listen to the likes of someone who can’t see himself in a mirror. However, I’ve let these damned FBI jokers sucker me yet again. Two days I’ve been stuck in this hell-hole drinking beer not fit for swine. I could be on the beach, with lovely ladies surrounding me.”
Al chuckled, sounding like fall leaves scraping across concrete. He sat down on Marissa’s bed, being careful not to mess up the blankets. “Frank, you may be an idiot, but not because you passed up the chance with lovely ladies. I don’t think you brought one home with you the entire time we were at the beach.”
Frank reached for the can of beer in front of him but didn’t bring it up to his lips. “That’s because ye get too drunk and can’t stand up. If ye could drink like meself, you would have seen any number of beautiful women entering and exiting me bedroom. Instead, I’m here with ye two and getting no action at all.”
Claire understood Frank’s frustration, even if he was venting it in his usual fashion—which was different than hers.
They’d been waiting for two days, the damned magical hat not used once. The three of them had sat in classes the past two days, listening to Dean Pritcham and Dr. Byron run through everything they possibly could about mythological lore. They hadn’t seen Remington or Lance, nor heard a word about what they were doing. All they kept getting from the upper echelon was a simple and infuriating instruction: “Be patient.”
Claire’s patience was running out. Her friends were…Well, she didn’t actually want to think about what might be happening to them, because that would only make her more frustrated at her inability to do anything about it. Suffice it to say, they weren’t here. “Al, do you think they’ll be able to locate him again? Hades?”
Al shrugged. “That’s tough to say. If we were on my side of the Veil, the answer would be yes. But that wouldn’t matter, because Hades ruled the underworld like… Well, like a god. Over here, I’m sure his power is less, but that doesn’t matter too much given how powerful he actually is—”
Frank interrupted. “Zeus save me. Can you give the wee lass a simple yes or no answer?”
Al grabbed a pillow and threw it at Frank. It hit him in the arm, causing him to drop his feet from the desk to keep from spilling his beer. He jerked his head to the right and glared at Al. “Ye almost committed an unforgivable sin.”
“And what would that be?” Al asked.
Frank looked at his beer with wide-eyed disbelief. “Alcohol abuse!”
Claire chuckled. “Can you two freakin’ stop? Al, I need an answer. Do you think they’ll be able to find him?”
The ghost appeared to lean back on his hands. “If he wants to be found, yes. If not, well, I hate to say it, but I doubt anyone is going to do anything to Hades that he doesn’t want to be done.”
Frank put his feet back on Claire’s desk and took a sip of his beer. “Don’t listen to this one. I shouldn’t have ever pulled him out of the hole at the beach. He’s got no faith in our powers, lass.”
Claire sat up and put her feet on the floor. She shook her head. “I need some answers. I’ve given them enough time, and if they’re unable to come up with the answers, I’m going to find them myself.” She stood and walked to the door, placing her hand on the doorknob. She was about to turn it when a hard knock came from the other side.
Frank took his feet from the desk and swiveled the chair to the door. “I hope one of you ordered pizza. I’m starving.”
Claire looked over her shoulder. “You’re incorrigible.” She turned back to the door and pulled it open.
Remington and Lance were in their wheelchairs in front of her. “We’ve got news,” Remington announced.
Claire crossed her arms over her chest. “About damned time. It had better be good.”
Remington pointed into the room. “Ghost and green goblin, get up. Let’s go. No time to waste.” He turned and started walking down the hall with Lance following.
Claire turned and looked at the two Mythers. “What do you think it is?”
Frank stood and turned his beer up. His Adam’s apple notched up and down a few times as he gulped the last few mouthfuls. He crushed the empty can and tossed it into the wastebasket. “Hopefully, they’ve got us some ass to kick. I’m out of beer.”
The witch sat on a chair with nothing in front or beside her. The room, which was the same one the vampire had been interrogated in during Claire’s first sem
ester, was completely bare except for the single chair that was occupied by the witch.
Tina is her name, Claire recalled.
Tina had her hands folded on her lap. She had an appearance of complete calm.
Claire stood five feet in front of her, with Al to her left, and Frank to her right. The FBI agents were in their wheelchairs against the left wall, and Dean Pritcham stood in the back corner.
“She showed up about twenty minutes ago,” Remington informed the group. He nodded to the witch. “Go on. Tell them what you told us.”
The witch didn’t look up as she spoke, but rather stared at her hands. “He sent me to get you, Claire. Hades. I’m to bring you to him, and you can bring anyone and everything you want. His only instructions were I am not to be harmed, and if I am...” She looked up and met Claire’s eyes. “Marissa or Jack will be harmed in kind.”
Claire raised an eyebrow, holding the witch's gaze. She’s different. She’s been cowed, but by who? Hades? Claire stared a moment longer and then looked at Remington. “I’ll deal with her in a second. You two have been here the whole time?”
Lance groaned.
“Can you worry about us later, Claire?” Remington pleaded. “I know you’re angry, but if you haven’t noticed, we might have something valuable in front of you.”
Frank’s hand touched her shoulder. “He’s right, lass. Control ye anger. Those two aren’t the ones who deserve it.”
Claire nodded. “Sorry, you’re right. She told you two the same thing, I take it?”
“The exact same words.” Remington nodded toward Pritcham. “Her too. It’s pretty much all she will say, and while we have some tactics to get other information out of her, we don’t really have time to use them.”
Claire looked at the witch again. “Where is he?”
Tina was staring at her hands. She shook her head. “No. I won’t tell you where he is. I’ll bring you there. Those are my instructions.”
Claire didn’t like the sound of that, and she imagined the FBI agents didn’t either. “What if we say no?”
The witch shrugged. “I’ll return and tell him you said that. What he does from there is anyone’s guess.”
Claire turned so that she faced the FBI agents. “What do you two think?”
Remington scratched his chin roughly with his palm. “It’s definitely a trap, although who can say what kind?” He glanced at the witch. “She’s working for him. We’ve got no doubt about that.”
Frank walked closer to the chair and circled around to the back, not taking his eyes from Tina. “How did the lass get here?”
“She was driven here,” Remington informed them. “Pretty sure the same guy who tuned us up in Nebraska drove her. He’s in another room right now, but says he’s got nothing to say that she’s not already saying.”
Remington gestured toward the door. “Let’s go outside and discuss this. We just wanted you to hear it from her.”
Claire nodded, agreeing. The group turned and left the room. There were armed guards standing on the other side of the door. To Claire, this level of the university felt much more paramilitary than anywhere else.
Dean Pritcham led the way down the hall. They banked to a room on the right, a small, bare conference room with a table in the middle.
Once they were all inside, Frank looked at the door distrustfully. “Ye think that witch is using spells to hear us?”
Claire pulled a chair out and sat down at the table. “I don’t really think it matters, to be honest. It’s not like we’re discussing anything top secret. We either go, or we don’t. That’s our choice.”
Frank shrugged and moved to the back of a chair across from Claire, though he didn’t pull it out. “Maybe you’re right. You two.” He pointed at the FBI agents. “What do you two have that might help us?”
Remington was leaning against the back of his wheelchair and was relatively calm, considering everything that was happening. “We’re prepared to send whoever is necessary. This has gone up to the highest levels of the government. You’ll have elite military forces with you, and firepower that is reserved for the military alone.”
Pritcham tapped her finger on the table. “Didn’t you use that last time? You had the Seals or Rangers with you then, right? It didn’t make any difference.”
Remington glanced at Lance. “Tell me if you think differently, but it’s either that or the three of them go in alone. If I have to choose, I’d rather they have the military backing them than not. What about you, Claire?”
Claire looked at Al’s shirt and pants, which were standing in the corner. She then turned her eyes to Frank, who was staring back at her. “What do you think?”
Frank smirked. “About the beer they’ve been giving me, or this situation?”
Claire stared at him with no amusement on her face.
Frank’s smile widened. “Methinks I believe what ye are thinking. If any more of ye military go in there, they will all end up dead as the others. Methinks enough people have died at the hands of this god. Methinks, lass, that maybe it’s just ye, me, and the good-for-nothing ghost who go to fight this god.”
Claire nodded. She didn’t want more people dying, and she thought that was all that would happen if they used the military. She understood what Hades was capable of—at least what the myths said about him. The military? The FBI? They were trained to fight humans, not Mythers like this.
Claire looked at the table. “If I say we go alone, what is everyone else in here going to say? Dean Pritcham?”
The dean was quiet for a moment. When she did speak, her voice was soft. “I’m out of my depth here, and I won’t pretend otherwise. I came to run a university, not a paramilitary operations training center. Even so, this is where I find myself.” She shrugged and sighed. “Claire, in less than a year, you’ve grown into a leader. I didn’t think that was possible. Even now, you have much older adults looking to you for guidance. Looking to you to…I don’t know, win this thing for us? At this point, I say what you want is what we should do. That’s my thought on the matter.”
Claire nodded. “Remington? Lance?”
Remington turned to Lance. “Again, let me know if I’m off base, but I’ll try to speak for both of us.” He looked back to Claire for a few moments without speaking. “I think it’s both brave and foolish to want to send the three of you alone, especially after what we saw, but I think Remington and I are scary good at judging talent.” He grew silent again, just continuing to stare at Claire while she looked at the table. “I say if you think you can handle it, then we let you handle, under one condition.”
Claire looked up. “What’s that?”
“We obviously can’t come with you—not with injuries like this, but you’ll need to wear a wire. We’re going to have offense options ready if things go badly, and we’ll be with you on your comm the whole way.”
Claire turned to Lance, an eyebrow raised.
He nodded his agreement.
Remington sat up some, groaning as he did. “If you three are going, those conditions have to be met. Don’t argue with us about it. That’s our final offer.”
Claire smirked slightly. “I seem to have gotten a reputation, huh?”
“You’re as stubborn as ten mules,” Lance responded, “but that’s one of the reasons we chose you.”
Claire pushed the chair back and stood up. “You’ve got a deal. Us three will go take down a god. Let’s tell that witch it’s time to get moving.”
Frank raised a finger. “Question. Are we all getting comms, or just the lass?”
Lance glanced at Al. “I think we should be able to mic up Al as well, so yeah, all three.”
Frank shook his head. “I knew it. The whole time. You just couldn’t wait to start whispering in me ear.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Claire was the first in the door to drive the FBI SUV. Frank climbed in on her right, and Al got behind them on the first row of seats. The witch and the man who’d shown up wit
h her were locked up in the very back of the SUV.
Frank lifted his head up from the headrest. “I wonder how the FBI is tracking us? Ye think it’s with the car, or have they actually put chips in us by now?”
Claire honestly hadn’t considered the car being tracked. They’d been driving for a few hours already, and her mind remained focused on what would happen when they arrived. “There aren’t any chips in us, Frank. It’s the car and our mics.”
“Damn feds,” Frank complained. “I can see why ’Lil Wayne hates them now.”
Claire raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. “Oh, you do? You relate to ’Lil Wayne now?”
Frank nodded with a serious face. “The Alphabet Boys make it hard out here for a pimp.”
Claire burst out in laughter, unable to help herself.
Al spoke from the back. “If he’s a pimp, then I’m the Pope.”
Frank shook his head, a small smirk appearing on his face. “Ye are just one of me hos, Al.”
Frank’s poor taste in humor drew another laugh from Claire, and her eyes filled up with tears. Whether from stress or simply happiness, she didn’t know and didn’t care. She was just glad to be laughing. “Thanks, Frank.”
The leprechaun didn’t say anything, obviously knowing what she meant.
Claire glanced in the rearview at Al’s shirt. “You too.”
Al shrugged. “I’ve seen Frank fight, and while it’s not impressive, he is a funny guy. So, given that he won’t be very much use when we meet Hades, I think it’s important that he gives us some comedic relief now.”
Frank looked slyly at Claire. “Me ho seems to be forgetting what happens when he gets outta line. Maybe I’ll have to show him.”
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