Pandora (Book 3) (The Omega Group)

by Andrea Domanski

  Asteria, another Amazon in the Omega Group, asked, “Why does that name sound so familiar?”

  Julian stumbled into the room holding his laptop in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other. “Sorry, but you guys should really see this.” He connected his laptop to the console on the table, and the flat screen monitor on the wall lit up. “I’ve been researching the symbols that appeared on Mirissa’s key after it went super-nova, and they’re old. I mean really old. Somewhere around five thousand years.” He looked around the room as though waiting for applause but, when he received nothing but raised eyebrows in response, he continued. “At least some of them are letters from the Greek alphabet. Not the linear alphabet, of course, but the classic one.”

  Mirissa tried to appear interested but had some difficulty finding the excitement in the history lesson which had clearly enthralled Julian. Obviously this information corroborated the Greek connection, but it still wasn’t earth shattering. “I know my IQ is probably half what yours is, but I’m not seeing what the big hullabaloo is all about.”

  Julian’s jaw dropped. “Haven’t you been watching the news? They made a discovery near some ancient city in Greece—Pella, I think—that has these same symbols all over it. It’s got everyone talking. Geez, have you been living under a rock or something?”

  “Or something,” Mirissa answered in a less friendly tone. “We’ve been kinda busy lately, in case you’ve forgotten.” Mirissa immediately regretted her acerbic tone. Julian resembled a child trying to show off his amazing artwork only to have his parents scold him for interrupting. “I’m sorry, Julian. I get cranky when I’m tired. Please continue.”

  “Okay, well, some archeologists found these symbols by accident while on another dig. It’s unclear exactly what happened, but it sounds like they found them in an area that had already been excavated. How the original team missed them is beyond me, but these new guys have been following them for over a month.” His excitement returned as he spoke. “They’ve been super secretive, but you can’t keep this kind of thing under wraps for long, so bits and pieces have been popping up all over the Internet. Conspiracy theorists are running with the notion that the government is hiding the discovery of an ancient race of aliens.” Julian chuckled.

  “There must be something more to this, Julian. You are way too worked up for this to be about old symbols,” Myrine said.

  “There is. The three archeologists are Jonathon Stapleton, Luke Campbell, and Rick Aresson.” Julian’s eyes sparkled as he looked from one Omega Group member to the next. “Seriously? You don’t see it?”

  “Holy crap,” Steve said. Mirissa’s father looked like he’d seen a ghost. His reaction spread through almost everyone else as the realization dawned on them.

  “What is it?” Will Hancock, the newest member of the group, was the only person in the room that still looked confused.

  Myrine explained, “A few months ago, we went up against a demi-god named Daedric. It’s a long story, but he was behind the attacks on the oil facilities. He was secretly behind SeraTech, the company that now supplies most of the world’s oil. SeraTech’s owner, Sera Maison, wasn’t a real person. Her name was an anagram for I am Ares’ son. Daedric is Ares’s son.”

  Julian continued. “I think Rick Aresson is really Daedric. If I’m right, and I usually am, then he’s behind this weirdness. If that’s the case, this is a whole lot more than some atmospheric disturbance.”

  Myrine stood up and addressed the room. “We need a team on the ground in Greece. I know we just got back from Arizona, and some of us are running on fumes but, if Daedric has resurfaced, we need to be there to shut him down. Orano, Beck, Mirissa, and Steve. You guys are with me. We leave in two hours.”

  A comically loud cough from the seat next to Mirissa caused Myrine to smile. “Yes, Greco, you can come, too. Julian, get me everything you can on Pella and Rick Aresson. The rest of you, be ready to move on a moment’s notice, and get in touch with your brethren. This thing is affecting the whole world, and we’re going to need every preternatural we know on alert. Is everyone clear?”

  Hancock looked around the room at all of the team members nodding in agreement. “Um, when you said Ares is this guy’s dad, you didn’t really mean the Greek god, did you?”

  Myrick slapped the ex-soldier on the back and said in his thick Scottish accent, “Don’t worry, lad. You’re new here. I’ll get you up to speed on all of the real crazy stuff. For now, suffice it to say, the super-soldier program we got you from was tame compared to most of the things we’ve seen.”

  Hancock’s eyes were still wide as he looked at Han. “And you thought the whole Captain America thing was unbelievable?”

  Chapter 3

  Mirissa, once again curled up in the luxurious leather seat of the Omega Group’s private jet, readied herself to visit Tritonia. The flight to Greece would be a long one, and her mother wanted to use the time to get as much information as possible.

  Tritonia, the island home of all Amazons, had been located off of Africa’s northwest coast. When its volcano erupted almost two thousand years ago, the island had been destroyed. Since then, it, along with the Amazon queen at the time, existed solely in another dimension. All Amazons, with the help of their rings, visited Tritonia by sending their consciousness there.

  “This’ll be the first time I’ve been to Tritonia with my mother,” Mirissa whispered to Greco. Although she’d been there several times, she’d been either alone or with Greco, the only male Amazon ever born. “It might get a little confusing talking to two Myrines.”

  Myrine, the Amazon queen at the time of the island’s destruction, became the namesake for all the queens since. When Mirissa’s mother was chosen to lead their tribe, she changed her name to honor the tradition.

  Greco looked at his watch and then at the open cockpit door. “I’m surprised your mom could convince the pilot to make this trip. He seemed pretty freaked out by those clouds.”

  “She can be very persuasive. Just ask my dad,” Mirissa joked. Although all commercial air traffic had been grounded by the FAA when the so-called atmospheric disturbances made their appearance, private flights continued. The strange red clouds looked ominous but didn’t yet pose any real threat to their safety. Other than the occasional bit of turbulence, the flight felt to Mirissa like any other, as long as she didn’t look out the window.

  “Are you guys ready?” Myrine asked as she took a seat across the aisle.

  Mirissa buckled her seatbelt and lay back, closing her eyes. When she opened them, she stood in a clearing surrounded by lush trees that filtered the bright sunlight. The jeans and T-shirt she’d worn earlier were replaced by what she now referred to as her Xena Warrior Princess costume. It looked like the ancient leather version of a halter-top and skort. The green top wrapped around her neck and crossed over her breasts until it wrapped once more around her waist. The skort, a combination of shorts and skirt, hung only a few inches past her hips and was a rich brown color.

  Greco, who stood beside her, wore nothing but the male version of her leather skort. His broad shoulders and taut eight-pack abs were drool-worthy, and Mirissa instinctively licked her lips. I will never get tired of seeing that. She dropped her gaze to the ground like a schoolgirl when her mother cleared her throat from a few feet away.

  “We need to find Myrine,” her mother said as she led the way to the statue of Artemis that towered over the clearing. The stone likeness of the goddess wore a tunic that came down to her knees along with a quiver of arrows strapped to her back. She sported a hunting knife at her waist and, in her hands, she held a bow with an arrow at the ready. Her long, braided hair hung over her shoulder to her belt line.

  As they approached, Mirissa was overcome with the same sensation of being watched as she always felt on the island. On her first trip, she’d thought it was Myrine she felt watching her. She soon learned it was Artemis, the Greek goddess who originally endowed the Amazons with their unique powers and sti
ll, to this day, shepherded them.

  “It is good to see you all again,” Myrine, the Amazon queen who’d lived there for the last two thousand years, said as she stepped out from behind the statue, “even under these circumstances.”

  “So, you know about what’s happening in our dimension?” Mirissa’s mother asked.

  “Yes. I’ve been waiting for you.” Myrine took Mirissa’s hand and held her gaze. “I’m afraid you are once again being called upon, young warrior.”

  “Yeah,” Mirissa said. “I kind of figured that out when my key turned molten. Any chance you know what I’m supposed to do with it?”

  Myrine grinned at the question. “I think you know things are never that easy, my dear. I do, however, have a message from Artemis. She instructed me to tell you that, although she cannot get involved in this, she will do her best to make sure you have what you need to succeed.”

  “That’s it?” Greco asked curtly.

  Myrine placed her hand on Greco’s cheek. “Patience has never come easily to you, young one.” She turned to Mirissa. “Nor you. Rest assured, I will pass along any information I get. Until then, you must rely on each other.”

  Mirissa smiled despite her disappointment at the lack of tangible information. Something about Myrine’s manner always seemed to have a calming effect on her. If anyone else had given her those kind of non-answers, they would have found themselves at the business end of her blade. “Thank you.”

  Greco asked, “Do you want to do some training while we’re here?”

  Mirissa looked at the other Amazons in the clearing. Most were sparring, but several had stopped to stare at Greco. Being the only man to ever visit the island made him a curiosity. Looking the way he did made him an objective for aspiring young women. “Not today, Romeo. They’ve been checking out your skort since we got here.”

  Mirissa’s mother stifled a laugh. “We should be getting back, anyway.”

  ********

  Myrine stood next to the statue after her visitors returned to their dimension. For the first time she could remember, her loyalty to Artemis conflicted with her loyalty to her Amazons.

  “I know that was difficult for you, Myrine, but it was the only way. Had you told her the truth this soon, she wouldn’t be able to do what is necessary.”

  A single tear trickled down Myrine’s cheek, leaving a shimmering path in its wake. “I understand what must be done, Artemis. I just wish I could have said goodbye.”

  Chapter 4

  As Mirissa’s eyes scanned the spectacular ruins at Pella, Greece, she sighed. She’d never considered herself a history buff. In fact, it had always been her least favorite subject to study in school. But standing in the midst of what remained of the twenty-five-hundred-year-old capital of Macedonia, she found herself wishing she could be a tourist instead of an Omega Group agent.

  The mosaics dotted throughout the ruins consisted of everything from simple geometric designs to elaborate depictions of deer hunts and Dionysus made with colored stones, glass, and lead. Although the mansions that once used these mosaics as floors had disappeared long ago, Mirissa had no trouble imagining their grandeur.

  “Where do we start?” Greco asked.

  Mirissa’s mother looked equally as entranced with the site but quickly refocused. “The team Daedric worked with was excavating at the palace.” She pointed to a hilltop outside the city where a large group of people were congregating. “The strange clouds aren’t frightening the tourists away, so we’ll need to be careful.”

  Mirissa once again glanced at the sky. The red clouds rolled in all directions, pierced by the black smoke tendrils. The only cloud that didn’t appear to be moving at all was stationed directly above the palace ruins. “That’s a little ominous, don’t you think?”

  “According to Julian, that was the first cloud to form, and it hasn’t moved since,” Greco said.

  The closer they got to the palace, the more apparent it became that the group of tourists milling about weren’t admiring the ruins. Police tape stretched across the entrance to a tunnel that ran beneath the foundations of what had once been an outer building.

  Mirissa and the rest of the team blended in with the other onlookers. “What’s going on?” she asked a middle-aged man wearing a T-shirt with an American flag emblazoned on the front.

  “They found the body of an archeologist down there. Looks like murder,” the man said, eyes fixed on the scene.

  “Really? What happened?” Mirissa tried to sound like an average teenager in search of some excitement.

  “I don’t really know. People have been saying there were four of them down there, secretly excavating some new tomb or something. They think the guy got killed for the treasure, but I don’t believe it.” He turned to face Mirissa and had to raise his eyes to meet hers. “You sure are a tall one.”

  “Yeah, it’s a curse.” Mirissa paused. “Why don’t you believe them?”

  “Because, if there was something worth killing for down there, we would have heard about it. Don’t you think?”

  Although Mirissa knew all too well that there were many things the general public wasn’t aware of, she nodded her agreement. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Her mother leaned in. “Let’s go.”

  As they walked down the hill, Mirissa shared what the man told her. “If Daedric really took part in that excavation, I think it’s safe to say he got what he wanted.”

  “But what did he want?” her mother asked. “We need to get past the police line and see where they were working. There might be a clue.”

  “I can probably help with that,” Mirissa said. “If we come back after dark, I’ll teleport in.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do.” Her mother turned away from the ruins and headed toward their car.

  Mirissa didn’t follow. She needed to see one of the ruins first. At least, she felt compelled in that direction. Not so much a conscious thought as an instinct.

  She made her way through the grid lines of the ancient city toward the Agora in the center. Incredible mosaics surrounded her, but only one attracted her attention. When she reached the remains of what the pamphlets called The House of the Abduction of Helen, she stepped over the rope used to keep tourists back and onto the floor of one of the antechambers.

  “Mirissa? Are you okay?” Greco called to her.

  She turned to answer but stopped short. Greco and the rest of the team still stood there against the backdrop of the ruins, but another image had superimposed itself on top of them. Trees with lush foliage now encircled them from afar, stretching to the sky. Below their feet lay a thick blanket of grass, the scent of which barely registered. What the hell?

  Bit by bit the details of the scene filled in around her—deer running into the woods, passing through the ruins like ghosts; a group of birds taking flight, squawking angrily at whatever disturbed them. A thunderous noise emanated from her right, getting louder by the second. Are those horses?

  “Mirissa?”

  The voice belonged to her mother, but Mirissa couldn’t bring herself to speak, as she struggled to make sense of what she was seeing. The action played out before her like a video sloppily recorded over another, without quite erasing it.

  Angry cries pierced the air as hundreds of female warriors on horseback burst through the tree line, long hair flowing from under their helmets. Beautiful armor protected their shapely bodies, and their bows were held at the ready. Mirissa gasped at the awe-inspiring sight of an army of women stampeding toward her.

  When the first arrow launched, Mirissa followed its path over her head. Another army, this time male, charged from the opposite direction. Their armor glistened in the sunlight as they raised their swords for battle.

  Mirissa’s head swiveled from left to right as the two groups closed in on her. Their steeds galloped at full speed and would meet in a bloody confrontation within seconds. Mirissa instinctively covered her head as the smell of sweat and horses assailed her. She s
creamed as strong arms grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back.

  Silence.

  Mirissa opened her eyes to see her father staring at her, worry etched into his brow. The battlefield, the warriors, the trees, and grass had vanished. Only the remnants of the ancient city of Pella surrounded her.

  “Tell me what you saw, Mirissa,” her father said.

  Mirissa glanced from one person to another as she fought to find the words to describe it. “Amazons—hundreds of them—were about to go into battle against …” She didn’t know who their opponent was.

  “Greeks,” Beck said from a few feet away. She stared at the floor where Mirissa stood moments before. “Take a look at this, Myrine.”

  Mirissa hesitated to get too close but followed the group.

  “This mosaic depicts the Battle of the Amazons,” her mother said, pointing to the floor. “It was one of the largest and most brutal battles in our history.”

  “That was our biggest loss, wasn’t it?” Greco asked.

  Myrine smiled. “Depends who you ask. Amazons were never big on documenting their battles because they didn’t fight for glory. They fought against tyranny. The Greeks, on the other hand, documented everything. They wrote their stories with endings that suited their needs. And since their accounts are the only ones left, people either believe they defeated us, or that we didn’t exist at all.”

  “Some things never change,” Mirissa said. “The history books of the future won’t have any mention of the Omega Group’s escapades.”

  “What I want to know,” Steve said, “is why Mirissa was able to see any of that. Is it a new ability manifesting itself, or does it have something to do with whatever’s going on with Daedric?”

  Silence followed her father’s question, and Mirissa gave his hand a squeeze. “I guess that’s yet another question we don’t have the answer to.”