The Banished Gods Box Set: Books 1-3

by L. A. McGinnis

  She jerked her chin at Odin and gestured to the graph. “We move the stones, and we reset the timetable. We leave them be, then you’re at his mercy. We lose any advantage. And then it won’t matter how this thing uses the circle, or what the stones do. My prediction is…”

  She clenched her fists tightly beneath the table, praying she was right about this. “My prediction is, if we leave them as they stand and the Orobus maintains control of the schedule, the circle will open on or about June thirtieth.”

  Mir broke in, “Our hypothesis is he needs the extra time to complete a task. Either finish building his armies on Svartlheim, or moving them to the other side of their respective portals. We’re not sure, but he needs the additional time for something. My recommendation is, we don’t give him the advantage. Even if all the doors open on the solstice, if his plan is not in place, then perhaps nothing will happen.”

  The staggeringly beautiful blonde man in the back actually raised his hand, and out of habit, Sydney called on him. “Yes?”

  “So… Why come to Earth? If his plan is just to swallow all the worlds up, then why start here?” He flashed a dazzling smile her way, along with a roguish wink. Behind him, Mir stiffened. “I’m Freyr, by the way, didn’t get a chance to introduce myself before…”

  “Can it, asshole,” Mir broke in, his jaw set. “Maybe the real question is, if he means to re-absorb all life, why even bother building armies in the first place? Fen said he saw them, the ones on Svartlheim, Dark Elves stretching out as far as the eye could see. Seems like a waste of time if you’re just planning on sucking each realm dry, one at a time.”

  Why start here? Sydney frowned, her gaze swinging around the table. “So what’s on this world that isn’t on any of the other ones?”

  They all looked at each other. Odin laughed so loudly she jumped.

  “Us.” He chuckled. “The bastard is seriously out to get us.”

  Chapter 12

  After hours of arguing, insane predictions that involved rebuilding Asgard, Frost Giants, and something called the armpit of the universe, Sydney finally stood up, put her fingers in her mouth, and cut through the din with an ear shattering whistle. “Look, we should at least agree on moving the dolmens back. Or leaving them where they are. Either let him set the timetable or we do.”

  Mir shot her a look of surprised respect, which she completely evaded. Despite the fire it lit between her thighs. Damn it. Angling her gaze back to the papers, she continued, “It’s going to take us a week to get everything right since I don’t have my equipment, and that’s with none of those spider thingies getting in the way.”

  Loki started to chuckle, and she shrugged her shoulders. “So? I don’t know what the hell they are.”

  “Grim.” Loki managed to choke the word out. “We call them Grim.”

  “Whatever, this’ll go quicker without them in the way. However you look at it, we need to decide on this matter first, and then move on to the next problem.”

  For once, Tyr nodded in agreement. “Vote. Now. Do we let this fucking asshole set the schedule?”

  Lots of muttering at that.

  “Or we control the schedule.”

  Lots of ascension.

  “Looks like we got ourselves a plan. Sydney will decide how and when, Mir will make it happen. Fen and I will do a preliminary scout to make sure the bitch hasn’t sent her little minions out to fuck everything up. Once we’re sure it’s safe…” He held up a hand to Sydney as she began to splutter. “Then, and only then, will you be allowed in the building.”

  He offered her an apologetic smile. “I’m in charge of the actual operation, you’re in charge of the specifics. You and Mir’ll be working hand in hand on this, hope that’s not going to be a problem. We all work together or not at all.”

  “So it’s my way or the highway?” she ground out. Why this arrangement pissed her off so much, she had no idea. He was being heavy-handed, she supposed. Maybe a bit controlling, added the little voice in her head. Yeah, you think so?

  “Don’t get your dander up, love,” Tyr softened his voice. “My job is to keep everyone alive. Being that you’re human, you run an extra risk of injury.”

  She began to fume silently.

  “So I’m just trying to keep you safe and sound.”

  With every word, Sydney went deeper into slow-burn mode. She’d waded waist-high out into bogs. Lifted seventy-ton stones out of the mud. Dug up dead things, buried for centuries. Crawled through tunnels and mine shafts and pyramids.

  What was it with these guys? Did they not think she could take care of herself? They’d killed all the…Grim already. So the museum should be safe enough. For now.

  Her mood didn’t improve in the two additional hours it took to hammer out the final details, Tyr arguing security until he was blue in the face, and Mir constantly annoying her by pointing out logistical issues. Everyone else chiming in whenever necessary. Or not. Odin perched in the background, giving everyone the big, hairy eyeball.

  Sydney was developing the habit of keeping him in her peripheral. And he knew it. Shooting her a mocking glance, he saluted her before leaving. A few minutes later, she paused in front of the elevator then strode toward the stairs, deciding to risk the darkness and instantly regretting it.

  She’d reached the third step when Odin’s voice came slithering out of the darkness, wrapping itself around her. “So, interesting developments today. So many connections between us, aren’t there, Sydney?”

  “Don’t know what you mean.” She spun on the step, searching the nothingness for the source of that voice. There was just something about being a woman, in the darkness, with a strange man at your back. Fear as old as time seemed to creep through her, freezing her muscle by muscle until she couldn’t so much as move.

  “Of course you do. You and Mir. You and the Orobus. You and this mysterious circle of stones. Everywhere I look, you’re involved. Care to explain why?”

  Syd’s mind swirled around possible reasons. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  Her stomach dropped. What if Odin had discovered the truth? What if he’d found out about the prophecy that led her to the stones in the first place? The prophecy that ruined her life? “I don’t know.” Her breath was racing in and out now, the words sobbed out of her. Why oh why hadn’t she taken the damn elevator? “I only wanted to help.”

  She couldn’t see him, but he was close. So, so close, she felt him pressing in on her, but all she saw was this oppressive darkness all around her. “Oh, you’re helping. Tell me more about this theory of yours. The one about Chaos.”

  Relief at not being found out caused the words to sob out of her, “Chaos is the energy from which everything was born. Kind of like the Big Bang, if you want to put it in human terms.”

  “I do not.” His voice was a bored drawl.

  “Chaos birthed the worlds and the gods and everything. If you wanted to destroy everything, it makes a certain kind of sense if you go back to the beginning. Revert all of that converted energy back into its original form.” Every word seemed to echo through her chattering teeth then reverberate up the stairway.

  “And then what?”

  “And then nothing. Chaos is like the ultimate black hole. It swallows everything up and devours it. You’d end up with…nothing.”

  Odin’s hollow voice echoed out of the dark. “Or everything?”

  Sydney felt the frantic rise and fall of her chest as her heart beat beneath it, the pulse on her neck racing so fast she thought she might pass out. Everything? What did Odin mean? How could you end up with everything?

  “Explain.” Somehow, the challenge in his query calmed her. Science often did that. Logic took the emotion out of things, made the unknown simple, even palatable. Even in the dark caged in with a monster, it seemed. “Because as far as I believe, the Orobus is set to consume the worlds, one by one, leaving nothing behind. Isn’t that what you think?”

  “I’m more interested
in what you think.”

  Her mind spun the problem one way. And then the other. Until now, Chaos had been sentience without form. Energy without purpose. Endless, bottomless power at its disposal with no way to wield it. Formless. Helpless. Adrift. The answer struck her with chilling clarity.

  “A body. And a weapon. And a battlefield.”

  Sydney balanced on the step, her mind wrapping itself around this new, unforeseen development. “Right now, the Orobus is a warrior without a sword.” She explained slowly. “It has armies and no battlefield on which to wage its war. It requires a physical form so it can fight this final battle. An actual, physical plane on which to launch its final assault.”

  “So it truly wants this world?”

  In the dark, even though Odin could not see, she nodded. “You mentioned it’s been building armies on the other worlds. What effect did that have on those other planets?”

  “Destroyed them, stripped them bare.”

  “It took energy and made life with it.” Lost in thought, she extrapolated, “It would want a showpiece, a place to admire its final, greatest conquest. Where it could actually see it.” She thought of the professors she’d known, their enormous, unsatisfied egos. “Where others could admire it.” She spun around, faced Odin, or at least, where she assumed Odin was standing.

  “If this thing truly wants revenge… He’ll want you to watch. For you to see him destroy our world,” she said softly. “He’ll want time. To stretch his revenge out for as long as he can, maybe toy with all of you.”

  “That, Sydney Allen, is exactly what I needed to hear. It’s almost…as if you understand what this creature wants.” His voice lost the harsh edge as he added, “There’s something I want you to remember, something that might help should things look impossible, and you are alone. If you see all the pieces in their places, and the chessboard is set. All you have to do is make the right move.” There was a pause and then he urged, “Now go and take the elevator. Didn’t your mother ever warn you about things that hide in the dark?”

  Stumbling out into the blessed brightness of the hall, Syd did take the elevator, shaking for most of the slow, upward climb.

  Odin didn’t know. He hadn’t found out her secret. Not yet, anyway.

  Set off by her panic, her magic flickered softly against its shackles, fighting the hold upon it as if it hoped to break free. For a moment, Sydney almost considered allowing herself a taste of that long-denied power. But despite the temptation, despite her fears, she knew unleashing that part of herself would only bring destruction.

  And there was already plenty of that going around.

  Chapter 13

  Syd managed to avoid Mir for two full days after that meeting.

  Until Tyr ordered her to the infirmary to work through final logistics. He’d said other things, but she’d stopped listening to his instructions about halfway through. Blood was pounding in her ears, and she worried she might actually stroke out.

  Yet here she was, standing outside Mir’s door like an idiot, trying to work up the courage to just go in there and get this shit out of the way. “Logistics.” She sneered, mostly to herself. “I don’t understand why Mir can’t work those out on his own. Since he’s a genius and all.”

  She was still muttering underneath her breath when she finally pushed open the door only to find the stainless steel room empty. Where in the hell was he? Room after room she went through, faster and faster, needing to get this out of the way, growing angrier and angrier by the minute. Finally, she shoved through the final door. And found Mir, tipped back in a chair, eyes closed, face exhausted, arms crossed over his chest.

  Without pause, she slammed into the room. “Tyr sent me to find you. You had a question about the calculations? You have a problem with my work? Next time, I suggest you come directly to me.”

  Her anger penetrated the haze of sleep, even before her words did. Thoughts of hell and fury and scorned women flitted through his mind in the split second it took Mir to open his eyes and meet the venomous green of Sydney’s.

  “Yeah, that’s right. Tyr sent me to find you, he told me one of the calculations is off by an incremental amount. But he didn’t know which one. So here I am. Tell me which it is, so I can fix it and get the hell away from you.” If she could have spit that last word across the room at him, she would have. There was that much pent up fury in her voice.

  She despised him. That was perfectly clear. And he didn’t blame her, not one bit.

  He couldn’t help the exhaustion in his voice. “All I did was ask Tyr to find you. I wanted a moment to talk. In private. That was this morning, Sydney. I waited all day, and you never showed, so I came in here…”

  “You know what? I don’t need your lame excuses.”

  Her voice shook as she went on, her hands curled into fists at her side. “Maybe if you were smarter, you might find the answers you’re looking for if you knew where to look. Maybe, you could be clever and figure out the puzzle all on your own.” Her eyes swirled, a wild tempest of hate and unbridled fury. “What do you even want from me?” She hissed.

  So many damn things, he didn’t know where to begin. “I need to explain,” he began roughly. “I didn’t do a good job of it, the other day. I’m not good with words, never have been. You deserved more, and I didn’t…couldn’t give you that.”

  She tapped her foot. Lifted an eyebrow.

  He wished the floor beneath him would open up and swallow him. He’d never considered himself a fool. Until now. “What I’m trying to say is… I don’t want to forget what happened between us. Far from it. What I do want…” He took a step toward her, his hands fisting in frustration when she stepped deliberately away. Gods, he missed her. He missed her touch.

  “I don’t care what you want, Mir. You are not going to suck me in. As a matter of fact, you’re not going to fool me, ever again.” Sydney’s voice sounded cruel, malicious even. But when she moved another pace away, he noted her steps wobbled slightly, each one more tentative.

  “Syd? Are you all right?” Reaching out to her, he lunged for her as she swayed, catching her before she fell, her face slack, eyes rolling back in her head. “Gods, Syd, what’s wrong? C’mon, tell me what’s going on?” Mir ran his hand over her white face, finding it damp with sweat, her hair plastered to her forehead in tight, dark ringlets.

  Fluttering, her eyes opened, shimmered with sadness for a second before dimming. “I’m sorry, Mir. The Orobus, Chaos, whatever you want to call this thing, it’s been looking for a way into this world for a very long time. Now that it’s here, expect him to have eyes and ears everywhere.”

  “What?” Mir cupped her face then reared back as her eyes went black, her whites disappearing completely.

  The words were strained, as if it took everything in her to get them out. “Everywhere. He’s got a plan, a terrible, terrible plan, and I can’t warn you… Except that…the circle… When it opens, he’s going to…” Then her head twisted back, pulled by an unseen force, her body shuddering violently in his arms.

  “Did you honestly think I’d let a human give me away?” Sydney’s voice became layered in darkness as if a thousand voices canted every word, thunder echoing behind every syllable. The sheer force of it caused Mir to fall back, and then as Syd disappeared from his arms, he reached out for her and lunged straight through the place she once had been.

  Mir did something he rarely did. He stared at the empty spot where Sydney vanished. With no idea of what to do next. Wondering, for one thing, how he hadn’t sensed the Orobus inside her. Wondering how in the Fates he’d let her escape him. “I’m going to fucking get her back, you bastard. If you think you’re going to use her as a puppet to do your dirty work, you can think again.”

  Because he had no doubt that’s what she was. A puppet. There wasn’t an evil bone in her body, not a hair on her head that wasn’t good and kind and…

  “What the hell am I doing, standing here trying to convince myself?” Mir stormed out and
cornered Tyr and Fen, quickly explaining what had happened. Their grim faces didn’t give him much encouragement. “She disappeared, right out of my arms…”

  “I thought Odin warded this place?”

  “A month ago, magic’s probably worn thin by now,” Tyr pointed out, dark brow pulled tight.

  “She, Sydney tried to warn me before he took her over. She was trying to tell me something about the circle before she lost control, to help us. Like she has been all along.” It was all Mir could do to keep his voice level and his hands from shaking. Odin would demand her head after this. Would most likely send Tyr to do the deed, and the God of War would have no qualms eliminating a threat. Which left Mir the only thing standing between her and death. “Listen. That girl’s in there. Somewhere. She came to us. She’s innocent, and she’s given us everything she could to help us stop him. We owe her.” Thor and Freyr pounded down the hallway, drawn in by the shouting.

  Tyr’s smile grew wide. “You mean you owe her.”

  “Fuck you, Tyr. We owe her.” His control was unraveling, right when he needed to keep it together. “Without her, we’d be blind, wouldn’t even know about the entry point in the museum. Hel would have it blanketed with Grim by now, and the Orobus would have an open door in and out of this world. Think about that. His armies pouring into Chicago just a few blocks away. We’d never have known what hit us.” Fen’s encouraging nod was all Mir needed to keep going.

  “Any of you assholes want to make a run at her?” He met each pair of eyes steadily and hard, finally resting on Tyr, who had a good six inches and fifty pounds on him. “You fucking go through me. No bullshit. Call this whatever the fuck you want, but consider me the fucking shield that protects her. I’m getting her, and I’m bringing her back.”

  “The fuck you are.” Odin’s voice had that lazy cadence it always did when he was so fucking sure he was in charge, and everyone else was just going to fall in fucking line.