by Amie Gibbons
“Did something happen between those two while I was down?” I whispered to Apollo.
“Do not know. Do not want to know,” he whispered back. Then louder, “Father, we really do have to attend to things… besides the charming Ms. Carmichael.”
“Of course,” Zeus said, still staring at Tyler over his cup as he took a sip of tea.
“You seem awfully calm for someone leading the fight for humanity here,” I said.
Zeus turned to me, all humor fleeing from his face. “And what should I be doing?” he sneered, looking me up and down. “Panicking?”
“Fighting.”
“Just because you do not see it, does not mean it is not true. I have forgiven your insolence so far. Seeing as how you are no longer one of us, I would suggest you do not question me again.”
“We are going to get her powers back, Father,” Apollo said.
“And on that note,” I said. “I have an idea.”
“Never comforting words coming from you,” Zeus said. “Is this like your ‘tell the world magic is going to kill them all and watch the animals panic’ plan?”
I stomped towards him. “Humans aren’t animals, you pom-”
“Cassandra!” Apollo stepped in my path, grabbing my arms and blocking Zeus from my view. “We don’t have time for this. What’s the idea?”
I took a deep breath. “Okay, can you guys take magic from one of those bubbles and put it in someone?”
Apollo started to shake his head.
“I don’t mean for me,” I said. “I mean so we can shove it into the defectors. Not point it at them like they were saying they’d do to you, I mean actually put it in them.
“We shove the magic into them, just channel the destructive stuff into them as destruction instead of trying to make it good. And I’m assuming if that power can cause earthquakes by being shoved into the earth, it can overload a god. Am I right?”
Apollo’s mouth worked and he looked from me to his dad to me again. He opened his mouth, lifting a finger, closed it and tried again. “Father?”
“No,” Zeus said. “It’s far too great a risk. They would gain power exponentially. They could kill us all with that power before we could pump enough into them to overload them.”
“Dirty,” Tyler interrupted.
Zeus shot her a smile before turning back to me. “That power is destructive, but all we would be doing is giving them more power to be destructive with.”
“So they could channel it out of themselves, but I’m assuming that’s not ideal. Otherwise they would already be doing that instead of sucking on the bubbles of the people they caught,” I said.
“Okay.” Tyler waved a hand. “You can not tell me not to comment on that one, because that is pure filth.”
Was she trying to be distracting? I shot her a look and she winked.
That would be a yes. Apparently I wasn’t the only one with a plan up my sleeve.
“It’s possible, right?” I asked.
Zeus frowned, staring into his cup.
“It’s insane,” he finally said.
“But could it work? If you guys shoved the magic you’re channeling into them fast enough, could you overload them, before they catch on and try to stop you or attack?”
“Theoretically, yes.”
“And how much damage are they managing right this very moment?”
“It’s possible, Father,” Apollo said. “And no one would expect this.”
“Because it’s insane.”
“But possible,” I said.
“I think it will work,” Millie said.
I jerked. I’d half-forgotten she was there.
“Magic’s all energy, but it has different flavors to it. The bad flavor will be bad for everyone. Even if they could get some of it out, each one wouldn’t be able to get out everything that ten other gods are pouring into them at once. You can take them.”
“Pour the dirty energy into the defectors without channeling it to cleanse it?” Zeus said, summarizing it far more clearly than I had. “It’s insane.”
“Yes, you said that already. Are the magic and physics principles sound, though?”
“Yes,” Millie said.
Zeus turned his head slowly towards her, giving her a look that made me want to run.
She crossed her arms, shrugging. “Don’t give me that look, I never apologize for the truth.”
Tyler chuckled. “Ain’t that the truth.”
“Technically the principles are sound,” Zeus said. “However, we would need time to set this up. Time we do not have.”
“How much damage is the magic doing now, and how much is it going to do once this thing really gets going?” I stepped forward, touching his arm. “Come on, Zeus, these guys have to be taken care of. I’m not wrong here.”
He sighed. “It doesn’t solve the problem of what to do with the rest of the extra magic. All it would do is take care of the defectors.”
“And I get that, but you at least could take them out of the equation. And this would take care of some of the negative power. And then you guys can keep doing what you were doing, just without the extra problem of the defectors making it worse.”
“Actually,” Apollo said, “I think we can expand your idea, use it on a greater scale to take care of, if not all of the negative energy, at least a good chunk of it.”
“Really? That’s fantastic,” I said.
At the same time Millie said, “Really? How?”
Apollo looked at his dad and Zeus nodded once. Neither said anything, at least, not out loud.
“Well, what is it?” I finally asked.
Apollo shook his head, not looking at me. “I would rather discuss it more fully with my father first.”
“Why?”
“Because it is… bad. You might even say evil.” He finally met my eyes. “And if it works, I do not believe I will ever be able to forgive myself. I don’t want you to feel the same way.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
No matter how much I cajoled, poked and generally bugged him, Apollo refused to tell me what he was planning.
Not fair, I told him my plan. Then again, I needed him to implement my plan, but still. He was sure I’d try to stop him if I knew.
Which was exactly why I needed to know.
The gods talked amongst themselves, made about a hundred calls, and worked stuff for the upcoming plan out. Millie and I took up station in front of laptops on the couch after a little man with gold eyes and hair uploaded the program to track magic onto them.
“Shit!” Apollo yelled from somewhere in the kitchen area.
I jumped in my seat, knocking the laptop off my knees.
“What?” I asked, picking the laptop up as Apollo ran into the living room, Zeus close behind him.
Apollo grabbed the laptop from my hands and flattened his hand on it, closing his eyes like he was getting info through osmosis.
“Apollo?” I asked.
“Shit,” he whispered, opening his eyes. “They’re onto us.”
“Onto us?” Millie asked.
“And on their way.”
“Shit pretty much covers it,” I said. “How much power have you guys poured into them so far?”
“Enough to make them dangerous, not nearly enough to kill them,” Zeus said.
“Where are they coming from?” Tyler asked.
“The south. They are breaking through from the Aztec’s territory,” Apollo said.
Zeus switched to that ancient language, speaking to Apollo at impossible speeds.
“Boys!” Tyler said, waving her hands. “How powerful are we talking here? You powerful or more?”
“More,” father and son said as one.
“How much?”
Apollo shrugged. “The ones leading the charge are a little more than us, the lesser gods like Ravena are still less. It’s hard to measure power.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“No,” Zeus said. “You’re chained and yo
u’re staying that way. I’m not letting anything happen to you.”
Whoa. Well if that didn’t confirm they had something going on.
“You’ll be safe here,” Zeus finished.
“Like we were supposed to be safe in Olympus in general. No offense, big guy, but this one isn’t up to you.”
She slipped out of the cuff so fast I didn't see how she did it.
So she could’ve gotten out at any time.
She whipped off her dress with one motion and was suddenly naked. No underwear required when you were Tyler. Her boobs and hips probably measured exactly thirty-six each and curved into a flat stomach. She was a nearly glowing white. I couldn’t tell if it was due to the lighting or magic.
“Tyler?” Millie said. “Don’t.”
“They already know the important part,” Tyler said. “They would’ve figured this out eventually.”
Tyler said something to the chained guy and he slipped his chains too.
She closed her eyes. Her skin flowed off or under… or something, leaving a lion by the time my brain caught up to my eyes on what was going on.
It wasn’t gross or crunching or painful looking. It was art.
She’s the lion! The one who’d been getting people out of the fire. It had winked at me. I should’ve known then it was Tyler.
My God, she even said she was in heat! Dead giveaway she was some kind of animal.
It even explained her sociopathic tendencies. People were friends and family, or other. And other was expendable.
The young man followed suit, melting into a giant black panther.
The panther that came through the portal!
“Oh my God,” I said, crossing myself.
“I believe that covers it,” Apollo said. “Shifters. Such things outside of the Native American spirits are the things of stories.”
“Not anymore.”
Tyler the lion winked at Zeus and ran into the little nook of a foyer and out of sight, the panther right behind. The door clicked closed not a second later. And just like that, she was gone.
She may as well have said, “Meep meep.”
The guys stared after her.
“What just happened?” Apollo finally asked.
“How did she open the door without thumbs?” Millie said.
Zeus harrumphed and disappeared. Apollo shook his head and walked around me.
“Hey.” I grabbed Apollo’s sleeve. “What are you guys going to do?”
“Fight. And you can not come.” He cupped my face and kissed my forehead. “You can’t fight. Don’t even think about it, no arguments.”
“I’m not stupid.” I stared up at Apollo. “Be careful?”
“I don’t think that’s an option,” Apollo repeated the words I’d said before my fight with Ravena’s surrogate back to me.
“Haha.”
He kissed me quick and left the house.
“Okay.” I turned to Millie. “Do you know where the bubble holding my powers is?”
“Yes, why?”
“I’m going to need to get my powers back if I’m going to fight in this thing.”
Millie shook her head and grabbed her laptop bag, looping it on. “Let’s go.”
# # #
“This is it?” I asked, looking around.
Millie led us here with an honest to God GPS, no really, a GPS in a magical gods’ dimension. Even after the magic tracking computer program, it blew my mind.
“It’s a storage room.”
The plain stone building she led us to was maybe half a mile away from Zeus’ little… whatever that place was, because I sure as hell didn’t buy that the king of the gods lived in a tiny house with a hospital room.
Something chalky dusted the cement floor and metal shelves lined the two side walls. The shelves had a random knickknack like a stuffed animal or a stack of cards here and there, but mostly stood barren.
“Yeah,” Millie said like I was slow, “where you store stuff.”
I smiled, rubbing her arm. “You have such a way with words.”
She grinned back and we walked deeper into the warehouse. The shelves ran vertical and went on for at least a football field.
“This place looks like an Amazon warehouse the day after Christmas,” I said. “Where’s my magic?”
Millie shrugged. “You tell me.”
I squinted at her. “Do you know something else I don’t know?”
“No.” She held up her hands. “It’s your magic. You should still feel some connection to it. So you should be able to just go to it.”
I ran my hand along the shelf. The metal glowed ghostly grey in the dim light. Truly like looking into another world. I ran into the first item on the shoulder high shelf and picked it up.
A gold ball. It was heavy, solid metal, and felt cool in my hand, like I could hold it forever and it would never pick up any heat from me.
I put it back where I found it, running my hand down the metal as I walked deeper into the belly of the building. The shelf was smooth, cool as the ball had been, but more… normal, I guess. Like it was a metal shelf you could buy at any Walmart or IKEA across the country. Except...
I looked at the palm of my hand and turned, holding it up. “No dust.”
“Hm.” Millie frowned, still standing near the warehouse door. “Magic?”
“I guess so.”
“Maybe they could teach us how to do that. A cleaning spell would make my OCD so happy.”
I shook my head, turning my attention back to the shelves. I walked down the first one in a few minutes, picking up the pace about halfway through, and headed back up the second. Nothing jumped out, nothing spoke to me.
I walked a little faster, keeping one hand on the shelf at all times in the hopes that touch somehow would bring whatever had my powers in it to me.
“This is going to take forever, Millie,” I said. “Don’t you have any idea what it looks like at least?”
No answer.
“Millie?” I called louder, squinting to see the front.
It was a good quarter of a mile away but even squinting I couldn’t see her out by the front door. If she got lost in her head working out some patent problem and started pacing like she always did when she was thinking, I was going to… well, do something to make her realize how much she worried me.
I picked up the pace, breaking into a jog, then a run, watching the shelves in front of me shrink. The door was clear if I looked sideways through the practically empty lanes of metal and Millie was nowhere in sight.
I slowed down and hit the brakes near the door. No Mille.
“She’s just looking around or wandered off,” I said, fumbling for my phone before remembering it got lost somewhere. “It’s fine, she’s just being Millie.”
I scanned the shelves, eyes not quite able to follow them to their end, but the wall was pretty clear, and the missing Millie was as well.
“Probably just got an idea and had to write it down or had to talk to someone or something, and didn’t think to tell me. It’s not the first time she’s done this. It’s the Vanished at the Auction Incident all over again.”
Though, at the auction she’d been smashed and had been talking to her ex when I finally found her. Booze and that boy, two things that led to a fuzzy headed Millie. She hadn’t been able to navigate her way to an afterhours Poker game two blocks away in that state.
Today? She was clear headed, sober, and nowhere near her ex. She wouldn’t just wander off.
I sucked in air, rubbing down a twinge in my side. Where could she have gone? What could have happened to her? I slowed my breathing, making the breaths long and quiet, then held it, and listened.
Nothing stirred in the giant room. There was literally no noise. No faint kiss of voices from outside brushing my ears, no light rumble of a ventilation system, no shuffling of a human or hint of another person’s breathing.
Millie wasn’t in here.
I went for the door.
Brin
g, a phone trilled.
“Ah!” I jumped, turning in midair to scan the room.
Bring, brinnnnnnng, bring, bring, brinnnnnnng, it kept singing.
I followed the noise three shelves over and maybe twenty feet down. It kept ringing the whole time.
“Holy shit,” I said, grabbing it. It was my red cover encased smartphone. Millie’s picture flashed on the screen as the thing kept ringing. It should have gone to voicemail by now.
“What the hell is going on here?” I clicked it on. “Hello?”
Nothing.
“Hello?”
The air moved out of the corner of my eye and I turned just in time to see Ravena walk through the shimmer maybe five feet away like someone walking through a doorway.
My lungs and brain seized, denying what the eyes were telling them, going on strike until the eyes stopped lying.
Ravena lifted his hand and the smartphone flew out of mine before I could even tell my hand to get a tighter grip on the slipping thing.
It hit Ravena’s hand and he smiled at me.
I stood there in the middle of empty Amazonland with my mouth open and a clenched hand by my ear and watched the demon turn around without a word and walk back through his shimmer.
My legs weren’t as struck stupid as the rest of me because they kicked into gear and I ran after the bastard, following him through that shimmer.
I stumbled into sunlight. A maybe six feet thin brook that looked barely deep enough to wade through babbled its merry way next to my feet, with practically nothing to hold it back besides an inch of soil and grass rising above it to make a bank. Rocks stuck out of it here and there, twinkling like Christmas lights.
And Ravena stood on the barely there bank with his back turned mere feet away from me, holding my phone up next to his ear then shaking it and slamming it to his palm like a remote that wasn’t working.
I ran and tackled him from behind, throwing myself at his knees like Millie used to do to the other team when she thought she could get away with it in flag football.
I didn’t have the move down like her and I ate dirt when I hit the ground, but I popped back up and rabbited over Ravena’s sprawled arms.
I caught a glimpse of his shocked eyes before I scooped my phone up, said, “Meep meep,” and ran for it, praying I had at least some smidgen of my powers left to pour into speed.