Betrayer (Hidden Book 7)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

“I snatched him and then ran back to them and we rematerialized,” Quinn said, grinning.

  “You did?” I asked in surprise. I had not yet trained them in how to travel that way, though I fully intended to.

  “I wasn’t sure it would work. But I watched you enough and I figured I generally got the gist. At first I didn’t think we were goin’ anywhere but then I felt like I was gonna puke my guts out, so I knew something was happening.” He paused, and we laughed, well knowing Quinn’s usual reaction to rematerializing. “But we didn’t get far that first time. For some reason, we only made it a little way down the street, and she saw us and followed us.”

  “She stabbed him,” Annie said, clearly shaken despite the general levity surrounding us.

  I took Quinn’s arm and turned him around while he grumbled that it was nothing. I inspected him and saw that the back of his shirt was soaked with blood.

  “We need to get you looked at,” I chided him. “Are you feeling all right?”

  “It hurts like a bitch. And I haven’t been this tired since Tokyo,” he said, and I knew what he meant. Tokyo, where I had lost my wings and where my New Guardians had been gravely injured by my sisters earning their first taste of the danger their new lives entailed.

  He took a breath. “All I kept thinking was that if I didn’t get us out of there, we were fucked. It wasn’t just me or even the kid. I knew the witch who had him would hurt them, too,” he said, glancing toward the other New Guardians. “So I focused hard again and told everyone to hold on to me, and Annie’s stabbing out at the chick the whole time,” he said, grinning at Annie, who blushed and shook her head. “And then we ended up here and I may have pissed myself a little, boss.” With that, he held my daggers out to me, and I took them, even more grateful now that I sent them with my team. I took them and tucked them into my boots. “I may have screamed like a little girl, too,” Quinn added.

  I laughed, even as I stared at him in awe. “Well done,” I said softly, smiling at him and then at each member of my team, who beamed at me in return. I took Quinn’s hand in mine, gave it a squeeze. “Thank the gods it was the right baby.”

  “That would have been awkward,” Claire agreed with a laugh.

  Brennan shook Quinn’s hand, then the rest of the team’s, and then Hephaestus came over and hugged me, then each member of my team in turn, telling them with varying levels of enthusiastic profanity how amazing they were. Asclepius showed up and quickly saw to Quinn’s wounds, even as Hephaestus and Meaghan chatted gratefully with the New Guardians, and then there was another round of hugs. By the time Hephaestus had hugged them all, he was practically shouting in happiness and relief. He glanced at Brennan and sobered.

  “This is a good sign for your boy, Matthews,” Hephaestus said, clamping a hand on Brennan’s shoulder. “We’ll find him, man.”

  Brennan nodded. “Go home and hug your kid, Heph,” he said, and Heph grinned and patted his shoulder one more time. Meaghan hugged me, still weeping with relief, then we watched the family disappear. Asclepius was finishing up checking over Quinn and the others. I could hear his low voice talking to Quinn.

  “You need to rest, understand? Sleep. You hear me?” Asclepius asked, and Quinn gave a noncommittal response. Sleep was not his favorite thing, and I could understand why, especially after what had happened with Mary. He was still living with the haunting memories of not just his sister’s death, but his nephews’, as well as his own. And now, Mary’s final death. Sleep was not a happy state when all it brought was nightmares of all you had lost. Asclepius checked him over once more, and Quinn withstood it patiently, though I could tell he disliked the fuss being made over him.

  I turned to the rest of my team to say something, and practically jumped out of my skin at the sight of the silvery, nearly transparent goddess of the winds, Lethe. I had not even noticed the winds kicking up, absorbed as I had been in the excitement over Hephaestus’s son. However, now that I was aware of her presence, I was also aware of the wind moaning, howling outside the rickety farmhouse, of the house itself creaking under the onslaught of the winds she brought with her.

  She stood there, silently, her clear eyes on me.

  “Lethe. Can I help you?” I asked respectfully. The goddess of the winds was flighty, easily distracted, and sensitive. One wrong word, one wrong look, could result in her taking off. And if she had left her beloved cliffs to seek me out, there had to be a good reason.

  “Certainly not. It is my help I am giving to you this time, Guardian.”

  “Oh? Do you know something, Lethe?” I asked. Brennan stood beside me, and I took his hand.

  A tepid smile crossed her white lips. “I know many things, Guardian. I know the wind, and I know the clouds, and I know that yesterday in France, a certain baker burned a batch of chocolate cakes. The wind carries it all, and I know all.” She breathed in deeply. “Love and lust and death and which variety of blossom blooms in southern India. The wind shares it all with me.”

  Brennan and I exchanged another quick look.

  “And what else does the wind tell you, Lethe?” I asked, hoping to keep her lucid and talking before she went off on one of her dazed tangents.

  Her gaze focused. “I know that a certain Fury has the child of the one that stands beside you, and they wait on the beaches below my cliffs for another. It is as if they cared not that I was there!” she said, full of indignation. “As if I did not exist!”

  I did not answer. Many of the higher gods paid little to no mind to the lesser gods, and perhaps even less so to the nature gods, which was what Lethe was.

  “May we go to your cliffs now?” I asked.

  A wide smile lit her face. “Of course.” I glanced back at my team. “Asclepius, will you take them back to Detroit, please? They need to rest.” Asclepius nodded, and I watched as he and my New Guardians disappeared.

  Brennan joined hands with me and Lethe, and in the next instant we were standing in a rocky cave beneath the outcropping where Lethe usually sat to create and listen to the winds. She gave a nod toward something on the beach, and Brennan and I looked in the direction of her gaze.

  A Fury. And not at all the one I expected to see.

  Brennan and I exchanged a glance, then I nodded and took his hand and we rematerialized down onto the beach.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When we appeared on the beach, mere feet from the Fury, I could feel her. Raw power, familiar and ancient.

  “You are supposed to be in the old Nether,” I said calmly. Before me stood the third Fury, the one we no longer spoke of. Alecto, the Fury who had betrayed her sisters, who had set the entire path of Mollis’s life in motion by helping Hermes, who had been both Alecto’s lover and one of Hades’ many enemies, hunt her down. She stood before me still wearing the black uniform she’d worn for her entire existence, a uniform she no longer had any right to wear.

  “It’s amazing the help you can get when an usurper sits on the throne,” she said. She held Sean’s arm in her hand, tugging at him as he tried to get to his father.

  “She inherited the throne from her father, and you were after her long before that,” I said. I heard Brennan roar behind me, and Alecto snarled. She began to run, and I followed. I could see her focusing, preparing to rematerialize, but, after several moments, nothing happened.

  “She’s too tired,” Sean shouted to me, and she reached down and slapped him just as Brennan got past me. Both of us lunged at her, and just before Brennan’s jaws snapped, barely missing clamping onto her leg, she rose into the air, pulling Sean with her.

  Brennan landed, roared up at his son, who was flying higher into the sky with Alecto, her enormous wings flapping.

  “Papa!” Sean shouted.

  I watched in frustration as she flapped, then turned. Even at this distance, I could see the sneer on her face.

  “What’s wrong? Can’t follow?” she taunted. “Wingless freak. You truly are worthless,” she said with a laugh.

  I snarled i
n frustration and heard bones popping, and then in an instant, Brennan was streaking into the sky, having traded his panther form for his hawk form, an enormous black bird with a sharp beak and deadly talons. Alecto was still much larger, and a Fury to boot, but I knew that we did not have many options, and of the two of us, he was the only one who could fly.

  Alecto had apparently exhausted herself fleeing, and didn’t have enough strength now to rematerialize. We had to keep it that way. We could not let her escape with Sean.

  I watched as Brennan dove at her, ripping his talons across her face and I knew that my job was to be ready to catch Sean should she drop him in the fight. She was over the water, her wings taking her ever higher into the bright sky.

  As I watched, Brennan tore at her again, and she struck out with a screech, hitting him. He somersaulted through the air, then came back around for another attack. She struck out at him again, missed, but then I saw Brennan freeze, and he gave a bone chilling screech as he plummeted, seeming to not be in control.

  She was in his mind, then, I realized. I ran forward and caught the enormous hawk just before he hit the ground. He was shaking his head, fighting for control of his mind. I saw it in his eyes when he came back to himself. I was fairly sure I could see a glow of icy blue light form their depths, and I felt my heart soar. This was his immortal Aether side coming out, pushed as he was into the most desperate of emotions. He gave a few quick flaps, and was soaring toward her again, screeching. Sean was screaming, crying as she jostled him in the air. When she struck out this time, I heard a crack, and then Brennan was flailing, falling, his right wing hanging at an unnatural angle. I raced to where he was falling, caught him again, and as soon as he was on the ground, he began shifting back to his human form.

  “Phone,” he said, his voice harsh with pain. I dug my phone out of my pocket and handed it to him.

  Calling for back up. Why did I never think of things like that?

  It wouldn’t be enough time, I realized, as she gave a few strong flaps, trying to get away from us during her reprieve.

  I stared, gripped my dagger’s handle, calculated the distance and paid attention to how she was moving.

  “E…” Brennan said. I ignored him, and let the dagger fly. It struck, just under her wing on the side opposite where she held Sean and she screamed.

  It gave me a chance to act.

  I looked at where she was, focused, then rematerialized.

  I had a fraction of a second when I appeared in mid-air. I stabbed her through the back of the neck with my other dagger, and when she let go of Sean in her pain and rage, I grabbed him. We were falling, fast, the rocky shore coming closer before my eyes. I closed my eyes, focused hard, and was rewarded in the next instant by the feel of the ground under my feet as I reappeared in the place I’d stood just moments before.

  Alecto had just splashed into the river. I handed Sean to his father, then ran forward and dove into the raging river, determined not to lose her after all she had put us through.

  “Eunomia!” I could hear Brennan bellowing. I turned just as she stabbed one of my daggers into my stomach.

  “You think that’s the first time I have been stabbed?” I asked as I grabbed hold of her long black hair, pulling hard. We wrestled, and she did her best to push my head under and disorient me enough to allow her escape. She was bigger than me, a more powerful build.

  It was not the first time I had fought someone bigger than myself.

  I let go of her for a fraction of a second to pull the dagger out of my stomach and slice it across her throat as she lunged for me.

  The water around churned red with our blood. My body ached.

  I pulled my arm back and plunged the dagger once more into her shoulder. Her motions slowed.

  This would not kill her, of course. Only Mollis could do that. But it would slow her down. It would hurt like the Nether.

  I only wished I could hurt her more.

  I could feel my own strength giving out. Too many jumps, too many wounds from a Netherblade. I grabbed the back of her uniform and made for the shoreline. After a few feet, I felt a strong arm around my waist, and Brennan and I stumbled out of the river together, Alecto still gripped tightly in my hand, my daggers still leeching the strength from her as she bled.

  Once we were on the shore, I shoved Brennan away and vomited. Water, blood. I still held onto Alecto, refusing to let her go.

  I heard the “pop” sound that signified the appearance of an immortal.

  “No!” I heard Tisiphone’s enraged shout. And then Alecto was being yanked from my grip, and I looked up blearily to see Tisiphone punch her sister, hard, in such a way that Alecto’s neck snapped on impact.

  It did not stop the enraged Fury.

  “You betrayed my daughter not once, but over,” a punch, “and over,” another punch, “and over again!”

  With the final punch, Alecto’s face was almost indistinguishable.

  “Where is my grandson?” she asked, but Alecto was limp in her hands. Tisiphone shoved her down in disgust. She put her hands on Alecto’s forehead.

  “Call Molly again,” she told Brennan.

  I heard Brennan speaking into his phone again, and closed my eyes, unable to keep them open anymore. A few moments later, I felt a tiny, warm hand on my forehead. I opened my eyes. Even that bit of motion hurt. And when I looked around, it was to see Sean sitting on the shore near my head, his hand on my forehead as if checking for a fever.

  “Hello,” I said to him, not knowing what else to say.

  “Hi,” he said, watching me with the same serious appraisal I often seemed to get from his father. The boy had Brennan’s eyes, for sure. “You saved me,” he said.

  “You helped save yourself. I was impressed by how you did not panic. And it was helpful knowing she was too tired to disappear.”

  He straightened his back, puffed out his chest a bit. “You got hurt,” he said a moment later.

  “I will heal, little panther,” I assured him. “I am just glad we got you back safe.”

  He removed his hand from my forehead, then put his hand in mine. To my left, I could hear Mollis and Nain talking to Tisiphone, having arrived after Brennan’s call. Brennan was beside me now, his hands moving over my body, checking me for injuries.

  “I am fine,” I told him.

  “Obviously,” he said, gently tracing his fingers across the cut on my throat. “Christ, Eunomia. You are completely insane.”

  “I would not have hurt him,” I said, thinking he meant the dangerous way in which I had distracted Alecto.

  He stared. “I know that. I mean that whole ‘oh, I’m just gonna reappear in mid-air even though I can’t fly and then kick someone’s ass when I get back down’ thing,” he told me. “You’re…” he swallowed. “Thank you. How many times are you going to save my life?” he asked softly, and I knew what he meant. If anything had happened to his son, it would have ended him.

  “As many times as I need to, Cub,” I murmured, looking up at him. “You are worth saving.”

  He bent down, and gathered me gently into his arms, and he cradled me in one arm as I healed, and Sean remained beside me, holding my hand. I looked past Sean to see Mollis standing over Alecto, and Alecto screaming as Mollis forced her way into her mind. The demon paced, clearly hoping Alecto would reveal some hint about where baby Hades was.

  “This was a good night. Your New Guardians found Michael, and now we have Sean. Hopefully this nightmare will end soon. Really, we should just send your team out after Hades, huh?” Brennan asked with a smile. I gave a weak nod, still full of pride for my team. I was too full of emotion at the moment, and it was wearing on me. It was almost scary, how much I was feeling. I closed my eyes, afraid I would begin weeping, and if that happened, I most certainly did not want an audience for it.

  “You should have Asclepius look at your arm,” I said.

  “I will. I think they’re just about finished here.”

  “There he
is!” I heard Artemis shout after another “pop” sounded.

  “Gram!” Sean shouted, and then he was up and running. I heard Artemis squeal in delight at the sight of her grandson.

  “Who’s more beat up, you or her?” I heard Asclepius ask Brennan.

  “Her,” he said, while I answered “him” at the same time.

  Asclepius chuckled, then I felt his warm, almost uncomfortably so, hand on my neck.

  “This has stopped bleeding. Where else…”

  Brennan lifted my hands from where I had them folded over my stomach, revealing the gore there.

  “It is fine,” I said.

  I felt Asclepius pulling up my shirt, revealing my stomach.

  “This is still bleeding,” he muttered. “Would you stop getting yourself stabbed and cut, just for a week or two?” he asked me, and I glanced up to see him smiling.

  “I will try,” I said wryly.

  “This is going to burn a little,” he warned me, and I shook his head.

  “Heal him first,” I said.

  “He has a broken arm. It’s hardly the end of the world, and he will be good as new within seconds. You, however, are in agony and the sooner we get it closed up, the sooner you’ll begin getting your strength back,” he said sternly.

  “Stubborn immortal,” I muttered.

  “Reckless, insane, Guardian,” he shot back. “Have you no sense of fear at all?”

  I raised my eyebrow. “I think given my record, it is they who should fear me.”

  Asclepius chuckled, and I glanced at Brennan to see him grinning and shaking his head.

  “Tell me again how I’m the cocky one in this relationship,” he said, his gaze meeting mine.

  “I only speak the truth, Cub,” I told him, and it ended on a gasp as the searing heat from Asclepius’s healing power tore through me when he settled his hands over my stomach wound. After what felt like an eternity, the sensation passed.

  I gasped again, felt my stomach turn with nausea. I glared up at Asclepius. “Whoever coined the phrase ‘the cure is worse than the disease’ clearly met with your healing at some point.”