Reborn Series Box Set (Books 1-3.5)

by S. L. Stacy

  “It was not the same thing!” she cries.

  “Maybe not exactly the same, but—”

  “I thought Rebecca and her sisters were behind your disappearance.” Victoria’s admission gives me pause, and I close my mouth, waiting for her to continue. “The night we first realized you were missing, I tried calling your cell and it went off—one of the Alpha Rhos had it. Looking back, the Sigma Iotas were trying to frame them for your disappearance. But even when it was becoming obvious it wasn’t the Alpha Rhos, I was still convinced they were to blame. All I wanted to do was find you, but my haste clouded my judgment. I felt helpless and desperate and thought that I could get one of them to fess up if given enough…motivation.

  “I know it’s bad—really, really bad. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. I can understand if you’re mad at me. Are you mad at me?” she asks hesitantly.

  “I…don’t know,” I admit, trying to process everything she’s just told me. “I think I’m more shocked than anything. And, in a weird way, I’m flattered you were that desperate to find me.”

  “We all were,” she says, looking relieved. “We didn’t know what had happened. It was always on our minds.”

  “I know I should be mad. But I feel sort of…detached from it. I guess because I wasn’t here when it happened. I wish you would have told me about it sooner, though.”

  “I was afraid you’d be mad. It’s just us right now, and I couldn’t take it if you were mad at me.”

  “Victoria, I missed out on so much while I was in Pandora.” I lie down, clutching my stuffed toy unicorn to my chest. “You have no idea what that’s like—to be in the dark about everything. To come back only to find out everything has changed in such a short time. I want to know what I missed—the good and the bad. Promise me you won’t keep anything else from me.

  “I…I promise.” From this position on the bed, I can’t see her expression, but she says it somewhat hesitantly.

  “Swear on Princess Lily Pad.” Sitting up again, I toss the stuffed unicorn in her direction. She jumps in surprise, but catches it easily.

  “I solemnly swear…on this stuffed animal,” she says wryly, holding it over her heart, “that I won’t keep anything else from you. I mean that, Carly,” she adds more seriously, throwing the unicorn back to me before returning to the book. We sit in silence for a few minutes, both deep in thought.

  “Sometimes I wish you guys—wish Siobhan—hadn’t had to go in after me,” I say after a while. “I wish I had tried harder to find a way out.”

  Victoria looks up from the ritual book. “You never would have found one. You can’t get out without the jar.”

  “I know. It’s more the principle of the thing. I started out trying to find an escape route, when I still held out hope. Then I just kind of…gave up. And then it was almost too late.” I shiver, recalling how weak I felt as I lay dying in Dolos’s arms. He kept me distracted in fantasy for as long as he could, but at the very end, even his panacea of illusion couldn’t shield me from the pain of my body shutting down. “I don’t ever want to give up like that again. I want to keep fighting.”

  “And you will. I believe in you.” It’s a cheesy thing to say, but I can tell she really means it.

  “Thanks,” I say with a smile, momentarily elated until I think about the rest of the sisters, cooped up in their birdcages downstairs, and all of the work still ahead of us. “I know you said Hera promised to change the others back once we’ve proven ourselves to her, but are you sure we can trust her?”

  Victoria shakes her head. “I don’t trust her. Which is why I’m doing research. We’re not waiting for her to come around—we’ll find the antidote ourselves. And we won’t have to tie up any Alpha Rhos to do it. Too soon?” she asks when I don’t laugh.

  “And we’re going after Siobhan, too.” Victoria doesn’t say anything right away, so I continue, “We can’t just leave her there. I can’t leave her there. I’m the reason she went in the first place. It’s my fault she’s trapped.”

  My roommate puts her head in her hand. “We’ve been through this. And it’s not your fault—”

  “Then whose fault is it? Why wouldn’t she come back through?” I wonder, feeling close to tears.

  Victoria’s lips move soundlessly, at a loss for words. “I don’t know,” she finally says. “I wish I did. Look, we’re going to go after her—we just can’t afford to be rash about it. Farrah agrees.”

  “Of course she does. She hates Siobhan.”

  “She doesn’t hate Siobhan,” Victoria insists, with just a touch of uncertainty in her tone. “Like I told you before, we waited as long as we could for her, but we could feel the walls weakening the longer we kept the portal open. We can’t let them fall. My—our number one priority is to protect this world.”

  “Well, my number one priority is saving my friend. It’s just like in the movies—you don’t leave your own behind.”

  Victoria looks at me sadly. “We’re not in a movie, Carly.” Yawning, she closes the ritual book, rising from her desk. “I’m beat,” she says, going over to the window to close the curtains. “We can discuss this more in the morning, if you want.”

  I know she’s just trying to avoid the conversation, but I nod anyway. “I’m going to take a shower,” I tell her, getting up from the bed.

  “Okay.” Victoria has the curtain pulled back and is gazing outside. “The moon is pretty tonight. It’s almost full. What the…” She trails off, brow furrowed.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, joining her.

  “It’s the Sigma Iotas. Look.”

  Dressed in head-to-toe black, the fraternity brothers are leaving their house en masse, casting furtive backward glances as they prowl silently across the Greek Quad. Alec is with them, the moonlight catching his shiny dark hair.

  “It looks like they’re heading toward the park. They’re probably just going for a run,” I try to reassure her, wary of the determined look that’s come over her face.

  Victoria arches an eyebrow. “All of them? In the middle of the night? I don’t think so. I’m suddenly not tired anymore.” She goes back over to the desk, grabbing her phone and student ID card.

  “Where are you going?” I ask, although I think I have a pretty good idea.

  She gives me a mischievous smile. “We’re going after them.”

  Chapter 3

  “I think we should just call it a night!” I call to Victoria’s back. Up ahead, I see her stop on the running trail, looking around for signs of the brothers. We followed their quick footsteps and urgent voices all the way through Buckeye Park to a heavily wooded area beyond, but have since lost sight of them. “We lost them. It’s cold. And I’m tired.”

  “I wouldn’t have brought you along if I’d known you were going to be such a whiner,” Victoria says when I catch up with her. “And you should have worn something warmer.”

  “We were in a rush,” I say defensively. In our haste, I grabbed the same denim jacket I’d worn earlier, even though it hadn’t been warm enough then, and the temperature tonight has only continued to go down. “What happened to fall? It feels like December.”

  My roommate sighs impatiently. “Let’s go. We’re wasting time.” Waving me onward, she steps off of the trail, picking her way over the uneven ground. I keep close to her heels as the woods thickens around us. Above, the almost-full moon shines like a pearl against the night sky, suspending the forest in a pale, eerie light.

  “You know,” I say a few minutes later, “we should have special costumes for this kind of thing. Our missions, I mean.”

  “We are not wearing costumes,” she says without looking back at me.

  “Uniforms, then. Something sexy that doesn’t serve any practical function. Kidding,” I add when I see Victoria bristle. “But not about the uniforms. We need some sort of standard clothing.”

  “No, we don’t.” She comes to an abrupt stop, and I almost walk into her. “This is getting us nowhere.” She closes he
r eyes, breathing deeply, concentrating. In seconds, there’s the sound of material ripping, and a pair of enormous, white-feathered wings emerges from her back, blasting through her gray shirt. Standing tall, eyes glittering in the moonlight, Victoria reminds me of a vengeful angel.

  “You should have told me we might fly,” I grumble, tying my jacket around my waist. I wish I could be like Victoria, unconcerned about sacrificing part of my outfit for the sake of the mission, but I can’t help feeling annoyed that one of my favorite shirts was about to be ruined. “You owe me a new pink shirt.”

  “You don’t need any more pink shirts,” she insists. “Wear crap clothes next time.”

  “Crap clothes?”

  “Like the ones you wear when you work out.”

  I just look at her. “You know I don’t work out.”

  She raises her eyebrows in disapproval. “Well, that’s going to change.”

  “You’re going to make me take up running, aren’t you?” I hate running.

  “My guardians aren’t going to be a bunch of lazy, Netflix-binging couch potatoes. Now step on it, Carly. Please. At this rate, the Sigmas will probably be done with whatever they came out here to do by the time we catch up with them.”

  “You’re right. Sorry.” Breathing in and out slowly, I feel my own wings stir restlessly beneath my back before they break out, expanding rapidly. The very first time, the change happened unexpectedly at a sorority dance, the pain so excruciating I threw up. Time and practice has made it easier and, thanks to the extra endorphins produced during the transformation, pain-free.

  We launch ourselves into the sky, gaining enough height to avoid the treetops and get an expanded view of the area. Adrenaline coursing through me, I feel free and exhilarated as we fly over the woods, forgetting the sting of the cold air. It’s not long before we catch up with the Sigma Iotas, who have gathered in a large clearing. We touch down silently in a nearby oak tree, ducking for cover behind its orange leaves.

  “I don’t think we missed much,” I whisper to Victoria. Below us, the Sigma Iotas are standing around, looking bored but on edge.

  “Shhhhh,” Victoria cautions me, bringing a finger to her lips. We sit in silence for what feels like forever, watching the brothers fidget nervously, jumping every time the trees rustle in the wind.

  “Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Alec exclaims, sounding impatient. “He should be here by now.” Although he says it loudly, he’s not exactly shouting, and I’m surprised by how clearly I can still hear him. I tell Victoria so.

  “One of the perks of being a guardian,” she says quietly. “Now, shut up so we can listen.”

  “Sorry.” I mime zipping my lips closed, then turn back to the clearing.

  “These are the coordinates he gave us.” I almost don’t recognize the second speaker until he takes a step closer to Alec, into a patch of moonlight. “He’ll be here any minute now.”

  “Is that Brian?” Victoria gives me a brief nod in reply. “He looks so different!” Brian is Alec’s big brother in the fraternity, as well as their president. A few weeks ago, he was still a tall, wiry guy with thinning dark hair and a full beard. Since then, he’s bulked up considerably—as have all of the brothers, I realize as I look around the clearing—and his scalp and face are clean shaven.

  Alec rakes a nervous hand through his hair. “He’d better be.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize this was cutting into your busy schedule,” Brian says caustically, walking a slow, threatening circle around Alec. “In a rush to get back to that Gamma skank, little brother?” I feel myself stiffen, and Victoria places a reassuring hand on my arm.

  Alec ignores this. “If we go back emptyhanded, Eric’s going to be pissed.”

  Suddenly, there’s a loud, sharp whooshing sound, making everyone—including me and Victoria—give a start of surprise. A portal appears out of thin air, a pool of silver light in the dark.

  “Shit,” Victoria says under her breath. “What the hell are they up to?” I bite my lip, shaking my head. The surface of the portal quivers, and then a man steps through, wearing a long, dark brown cloak, the hood pulled low over his head. Underneath it, I catch a glimpse of copper skin and black beard. He cuts across the clearing, his stride quick and purposeful. Many of the Sigma Iotas fall back, getting out of the way to let him pass.

  “Greetings from Titan,” he calls out, deep voice booming in the quiet forest.

  “Titan?” I whisper, looking at Victoria.

  “Titan is another world,” Victoria explains, forehead pinched as she watches the scene playing out below us. “Olympus’s neighbor.”

  My jaw drops a little. “There are other worlds? With intelligent life on them, I mean.”

  She nods. “Other worlds. Other universes.” I start to feel cold again, but it’s more from the implication of her words than the temperature.

  “Greetings, brother.” Brian approaches the visitor, meeting him halfway. “Thank you for making this journey tonight.”

  The Titan gives a gracious nod. “I must confess, after our last deal with your master fell through, I did not expect to hear from him. It pleases me to do business with him again.”

  “I’ll pass that on to him. I know it pleases him as well.”

  “We have the supplies he requested, and they are ready for transport. But first, I would like to see what you are prepared to offer us in exchange.”

  Brian nods, reaching inside his jacket. “A gift from our master. I think you will find it to be more than satisfactory.” He hands the Titan a heavy-looking, drawstring pouch. Opening it, the visitor considers its contents for a moment. Nodding in approval, he tucks the pouch inside his robe.

  “A very generous gift,” he agrees. “You won’t regret it.” As soon as he says it, a large ramp shoots out of the portal, followed by a rectangular metal crate. Two of the brothers dart forward as it slides down, guiding it the rest of the way onto the ground. Brian immediately goes over and, twisting a key sticking out of the lock, opens it up, inspecting its contents. He takes out a dagger, holding it high in the air for a better look. The blade catches the light from the portal, glinting a sapphire blue.

  “Beautiful.” After admiring it for a few more seconds, Brian tosses the dagger back inside the crate, relocking it. “Eric said you’d have something else for us,” he says to the Titan, straightening up. “Something that will ensure our victory.”

  “Don’t worry. I have not forgotten,” the visitor assures him just as a second crate comes rolling down the ramp. This one is massive—about the size of a small car—and covered with engraved symbols. Something thrashes around inside of it, hitting the walls so hard they’re starting to bulge outward. The brothers hang back, eyes wide, faces pale. Brian runs over to it, grabbing onto one side to slow its descent.

  “Alec!” he shouts. “Help me with this.” After a moment’s hesitation, Alec leaps into action, taking the other side. Once it’s safely on the ground, the ramp retracts. The thing inside throws itself against the ceiling of its enclosure, making Alec jump back. Brian looks less phased as he walks around the shuddering crate, tracing the engravings with his hand.

  Making his way to the portal, the Titan takes the pouch back out, lifting it into the air as though to toast the brothers. “Thanks again for your business.” Reaching into the bag, his hand comes back out clasping a small, metal object. He holds it up to his face, turning it over, examining it. Suddenly, his hand gives a violent spasm, causing him to drop it. The object rolls onto the grass while his body continues to jerk uncontrollably, a white foam bubbling from his mouth.

  “Ares!” the Titan thunders, stumbling toward the portal, trying to hold himself as though that will stop the tremors coursing through him. He starts shouting in another language, and—although I can’t understand him—I doubt he’s wishing Ares well. Just when I’m about to look away, unable to watch his slow, painful death any longer, he falls forward into the portal. It closes immediately beh
ind him, his screams dying with it. The brothers look on in a shocked silence, momentarily forgetting about the giant crate, which has since grown still.

  “I guess that’s what happens when you screw with Eric,” Brian says, trying to sound nonchalant about the incident, but even he looks taken aback. Recovering his composure, he turns back to the crate, placing a hand over one of the strange engravings. His lips start to move again, but his voice has dropped so low I can no longer hear what he’s saying.

  Alec is the only one who realizes something’s up. “What the hell are you doing?”

  His fraternity brother pauses only long enough to say, “Taking a look. I want to make sure we didn’t get jipped.” He resumes the whispered chant, the symbols on the box starting to glow like hot coals.

  “I think we’re good. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “It’ll only take a second. You said it yourself—Eric will be pissed if we mess any part of this up. Besides, whatever’s inside has calmed down. It probably fell asleep or something.”

  “Brian, you can’t open that thing! Not now, not…here…” Alec falters as the top of the enclosure opens with a groan, lifting to reveal a dark, crouched mass of leathery skin and horns. Two glowing, yellow eyes flash open, and the creature rises quickly to its feet, letting out a bone-chilling howl. Brian stands his ground, palm pressed firmly to the crate, even as the creature lurches to the left, then to the right, fighting against the chains keeping it restrained.

  “What is it?” I ask Victoria, my heart beating faster as the monster struggles to break free. Its face and snout remind me of a bull’s, but that’s where the similarities end. With its massive body, wrinkled skin, and three pairs of curved horns, “monster” is the only word to describe it. It moans again, a deep, pure sound filled with both desperation and rage.

  “I don’t know,” she admits. Although her tone is calm, her face has become pale. “I’ve never seen a beast like that before.”