1304 The Harbinger (The 13th Floor)

by Christine Rains

  Ares caught her ankle and smiled at her, waiting to see if she would continue her attack or stand down. When she yanked herself away from him, he released her leg. “Let him go and live out the rest of his days happy. He’ll never know this isn’t real.”

  “It’s not real happiness. He’s not really here.” Meira’s eyes darted back and forth between Ares and the bedroom.

  “It’s real enough for him.” Ares smirked as the woman’s laughter floated out of the bedroom. “I set up this part of the labyrinth with a little help from my sister. What do you think? It’s the only one that has rendered you useless.”

  “I’m not useless. I will drag him kicking and screaming from here if I have to.” Meira bared her teeth and marched to the bedroom. Ares was suddenly there blocking her way. “I will move you if you don’t get out of my way.”

  “Okay, I confess Aphrodite did do most of the work. We brought out his inner most desires. A family, a lovely home, and a gorgeous and submissive wife. He really thought that could be you. Is that what you want? To be a doting little housewife and soccer mom?” Ares raised a single brow. No mocking smirk accompanying it.

  Meira hesitated. From Ares, she had expected something vicious. The minotaur wasn’t his style, but something that was determined to cut the hero down was. In no way was this subtle, at least not to her, but it was sly and consuming. Aphrodite could see into everyone’s heart. Was this truly what Sam wanted?

  Even when Meira realized she couldn’t have a life with Sam and then he stated he couldn’t be with someone who couldn’t give him a simple life, this was the final kicker. This was what Sam wanted from her all along. It wasn’t going to work out, even if he lived.

  Was she helping him for what could’ve been? Except now she knew what could’ve been could have never been.

  She stumbled back and hit a wall. Coldness seeped through her limbs. Meira didn’t want to know this. She’d rather have lived with her heartbroken misery than with the knowledge that it would’ve never worked in the first place.

  “You’re not a part of this.” Ares waved a hand, motioning to the apartment. “Not a part of that world. You’re something greater than it. And I can help you realize that greatness.”

  Numb and empty, Meira knew she should kick the bastard and walk away. Sam didn’t want her to help him. He didn’t want to escape this. And Ares would only use her. He’d make her fight. Grand battles. Not that it mattered any more. Maybe she should go with him.

  “Meira!” Sam rushed into the hall, pushing Ares to the side. The God of War vanished as if he hadn’t been there to begin with. Sam cupped her cheek. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

  She blinked slowly. Maybe she was caught up in an illusion now. Closing her eyes and ramming her head back against the wall, a lance of pain went through her.

  When she opened her eyes, Sam was still there, looking more concerned than before. “Is that really you?”

  “Yes, of course. What happened?”

  “You came back.” Meira pushed the pounding from her newly acquired headache into the fading numbness. “Why did you come back?”

  “Why would you ask that? This isn’t real. We need to get through the labyrinth.” Sam pointed out the window. No longer a cityscape, but the gray rock walls of the maze.

  Meira pushed away from the wall and cocked her head as she regarded him. “Sam, you were lost to the illusion. I saw your face. This is what you want, isn’t it? You could’ve stayed here forever and been happy.”

  Sam sighed and glanced back at the bedroom. “This is one of my dreams, but I know it for what it is. It’s not real. I just wanted to …” His lips thinned, and he shook his head. “I’ll never be happy with something that isn’t real. Reality is imperfection, and while I have dreams of perfection, I embrace the real world as it is.” Then he flashed her a little grin. “Besides, even if I imagined you as a mother, you’d never be like that. You’d have a nanny.”

  She laughed and impulsively kissed him. Sam knew her. He truly knew her.

  As she pulled away, there was a moment of awkwardness. It felt right to kiss him, but she belonged to Zeus, and he was going to make her life horrendous after this challenge. Sam would never be hers no matter how every molecule in her body screamed that he belonged to her.

  “We should go.” This time, her feet clicked as she walked toward the door.

  “Yeah,” Sam agreed softly and opened the front door for her. She stepped back into the labyrinth with the exit in sight.

  CHAPTER 11

  The end stretch was designed to take them out with a bang. Meira accidentally discovered this as she had Sam throw a rock down the corridor to check for traps. The stone hit the ground and was blown into miniscule bits.

  “Land mines.” Dangerous, but it wasn’t something that was a difficult problem to solve. Meira couldn’t fly Sam over the walls, but she could lift him off the ground and get them to the exit. “Prepare yourself for a short flight. Keep your knees bent and legs up.”

  “All right.” Sam nodded and rolled his shoulders.

  As Meira spread her wings, the upper half of the corridor over their heads filled with murky water. Not a single drop fell on the bottom ten feet of the corridor, but it was as if the ocean had stretched to that exact spot. It was surreal and more than a bit disorientating.

  “You can’t fly through water.” Sam gaped at the river flowing gently above them.

  Meira wasn’t going to let the gods beat her with a bit of water. Harpies weren’t swimmers by any means, but ten feet was just enough room. She could hold her breath if her head dipped into the water. “We can still do this. You need to curl up. Hug your legs tight to your chest and don’t slip. I can fly with my knees bent. It won’t be pretty, but we only need to go two hundred feet or so.”

  “You’ll drown. No, you can’t do it.” Sam picked up another rock and chucked it into the water. It plopped with a splash and didn’t fall out. Splotches of water soaked into the sandy ground as the only evidence that both the river and the booby-trapped path were of the same realm.

  “I can hold my breath.” Meira assured him. The thought of having her head underwater as she was flying was more than a little unnerving, but she could do this. Sam trusted her to get him through the labyrinth. She would do it.

  “Do you think, maybe, if you helped me up into the river, I could swim? The rock didn’t fall out.” Sam tossed up another bigger stone and it plopped into the water too.

  “Maybe, but I don’t want to chance you suddenly falling to the ground onto a mine. I wouldn’t be able to grab you fast enough.” The image that produced in her mind was not a pleasant one. “I can do this. Don’t worry. I’ve never dropped anything before, and I’ve flown with much heavier things than you.”

  “Okay. I trust you.” Sam crouched down and wrapped his arms around his legs.

  He didn’t need to say the words, but they meant more to her than anything else at the moment. After everything that had happened, Sam still trusted her. Those three little words strengthened her. She spread her wings and puffed out her chest. She would make certain he won back his soul.

  Meira started closer to where they had exited the illusion of his apartment. There was no river there, and she could build some momentum. The faster they got to the exit, the better.

  She flew up and dipped down under the water where it started. Her feet opened wide and locked around Sam’s shoulders as she zipped over him. The added weight didn’t slow her or even make her breathe harder.

  Lifting him, she took in a deep breath as her head hit the water. It was cold. Shockingly so. Her instinct was to gasp, but she couldn’t stop to catch another lungful of air.

  The water was salty and stung her eyes. Even close to the surface, Meira could barely see through the murk and the blurriness of her vision. She was flying blind.

  Just keep going until she hit the end. She could breathe when they reached the exit.

  Something tugged on her hair
.

  No, not tugged. It caught on something and yanked when she kept going.

  Her wings pumped harder. For all she knew, Zeus could’ve set a leviathan in this water.

  Sam needed her. Her lungs burned more than her eyes. Almost there. They had to be almost there.

  Meira’s head slammed into something hard. There was no stopping the gasp for air as she flailed, dropped her load, and fell back. Then she was thrown back even farther. There was no boom, but the world went silent and black.

  She was vaguely aware of falling to the ground. No. Not to the ground, but into the river. The impact was just as jarring. With her wings spread out, she floated and coughed up stale sea water.

  Willing herself to stay as still as possible as she ejected the water from her body, she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes. Her feet flexed, open and empty. Sam. No.

  “Sam!” Meira gurgled and moved to sit, but as she sank a little, she realized it was a terrible idea to move around so much. With her body spread, she floated and wasn’t in danger of touching anything not just under the surface. She shook her head trying to clear her ears and eyes.

  “Meira!” Sam’s voice seemed far away, but it was his voice. He was still alive. “Stay still. Breathe.”

  Coughing a bit more, Meira took in several big lungfuls of air. The taste of salt lingered in her mouth. Her feathers were soaked and would be no good for flying until they were cleaned and dried, but her light bones assured she stayed afloat.

  “Can you hear me?” Sam called. His voice was clearer now even though it sounded as though he were in a tin can.

  “Yes.” Meira was hoarse and suddenly very thirsty. Her blurry vision was slowly clearing. She turned her head in each direction until she found the fuzzy shape of Sam crouched on the ground. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. I fell, but the sand is soft. I didn’t hit any mines,” Sam informed her. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  The water lapped gently at her. Nothing tried to grab at her from underneath. Her leather stuck to her like a second skin. What happened? Something hit her. Or rather, she hit something. It hurt her head to knock against it, but then it blasted her backward.

  Shit. Land mines below. Sea mines above. The fact she was almost out of the water when it went off saved her from being decapitated.

  “There are mines in the water too.”

  From below, Sam muttered something. Did he curse? Meira couldn’t remember any time hearing him swear. The thought amused her even in this dire circumstance.

  “How deep are the mines? Can you tell?”

  “I don’t know.” Meira wasn’t about to feel around to tell. “Not deep. Pretty close to the surface, but I couldn’t see them.”

  “Do you think you could swim and not touch any of them?” Sam questioned.

  “I don’t know.” She frowned. “But I’m not leaving you. I need to get down, and we’ll try this again.”

  “No, there’s a different way if you can do it.” Sam stood and motioned to the ground. “When the water splashed, it revealed where the land mines are. I can walk if you can keep splashing water along the path, but only if you’re certain you’re not going to hit any mines.”

  Blinking her eyes a few more times, Meira’s vision returned to almost full clarity. The explosion had spread water about thirty feet along the path. There was plenty of room for Sam to walk safely around the mines. He could do it if she could supply him with water to clear the way. She wasn’t wild about swimming, especially in this river, but it was a good plan. The best plan at the moment.

  “I’m floating. I can’t do any fancy swim strokes, but I think I can get along and not dip any deeper below the surface.” Meira kicked her feet with a wee motion that propelled her slowly forward. She could do this. She had to do this.

  “Take it slow and easy. No need to rush.” Wounds on Sam’s shoulders bled in lazy streams. She’d torn his flesh again with her talons. At least the down bandage on his chest held even if it didn’t look pretty.

  A little speed was necessary. He needed to be healed before he fell over.

  When Meira was over the next dry spot on the path, she pressed her wings less than an inch below the water. Then she flapped them forward, spraying water on the sand. It worked perfectly except her body dipped a little lower into the river than she expected.

  The second time, she didn’t use as much force with her wings. A little less water, but it still did the trick. Meira was shivering. She couldn’t feel her feet and the ends of her wings.

  “Come on. You can do this.” Sam tiptoed around the mines below.

  Ten feet and then another. Kick, flap, and splash. Repeat.

  Meira wasn’t sure how long it took, but she was starting to feel sleepy. The coldness was gone, and that couldn’t be a good thing.

  “One last time and then we’re there.” Sam’s voice was warm and clear. It was the only thing that propelled her forward.

  Flap and splash. Not a big one, but it was enough. Meira twisted her head to watch Sam walk by the last few mines and stand in the exit. He grinned and motioned to her with both hands.

  “Float a little farther down and drop to the ground. I’ll catch you.”

  Floating she could do. Meira could hear the din of the crowd in the distance. Sam had made it. Oh how Zeus and Hera must be fuming. Smiling, she kicked her numb legs and swooshed along with her wings open.

  They were numb too. Soaked feathers caught on something, and the roar filling her ears was no longer from the coliseum.

  It was from an exploding sea mine.

  CHAPTER 12

  Meira fluttered in and out of consciousness. Water rippled above her. Was she drowning? She couldn’t breathe.

  Sam’s handsome face hovered over her own. His lips were moving. She could only hear the thump of her heart.

  She struggled, needing to get air into her lungs. Brown and white feathers covered the ground and stuck to stone walls. Her wings. No. Her mouth opened to scream. She didn’t hear anything. Didn’t you need air to make a sound?

  There was no pain. Why couldn’t she feel anything if her wings were blown apart?

  Sam held her tight through her flailing. His head moved closer to hers, still talking. A rush of cool air filled her lungs. She gasped for another and another.

  Her ears popped and sounded like water still sloshed in them. Yet Sam’s voice broke through.

  “You’ll be okay. Stop fighting it and breathe.” Sam held her chin when she turned her head to one side and forced her to keep her gaze locked on him. “Just keep looking at me. Concentrate on my voice. I have you. I won’t let you die.”

  Meira wanted to laugh. It was his life in jeopardy, not hers. She was his weapon. The one supposed to keep him safe.

  “You can’t die. Do you hear me? I need you, Meira. I need you more than I ever thought.”

  A drop of water splattered on her cheek. Not from the river, but a tear. Sam’s jaw trembled as he attempted to hold back the rest of his tears.

  She coughed and a wave of pain surged through her. Meira teetered on the edge of consciousness again. Nausea threatened to make the situation even worse. Her body was a weird mix of numbness and brutal pain.

  Sam was crying because she was dying.

  Meira shushed him, the sound an odd buzz in her ears. Her mouth moved as she attempted to speak. Salt and bitter blood coated her tongue.

  “Rest. Don’t hurt yourself. I have you now.” Sam’s tears were hot on her forehead. “I have you.”

  “I love you.” There. She’d gotten out the words. Meira didn’t expect to hear them back. She’d lied to him and brought him here to this horrible fate. If she hadn’t met him, he wouldn’t have been at the restaurant when the imps attacked the people in the street. He wouldn’t have died.

  No. She didn’t need to hear the words, but she needed to say them. She’d been the happiest she’d ever been with Sam. Olympians cheered him on as a great hero today, but he was the her
o of her heart.

  The light got brighter and brighter. Here it was. So death was like being consumed by light. No tunnel or guy in black robes. Just the light. A horrible burning light.

  Meira screamed and arched her back. She kicked and leapt to her feet, needing to get away from that light. It was everywhere. It was everything.

  Then it was gone.

  She was standing on the sand by the exit of the labyrinth. Apollo smiled and bowed to her. He was beautiful and blond, an angelic surfer dude. Her wings fluttered as she bowed to him in return.

  Her wings! They were whole. She laughed as she realized the God of Light had healed her. She stretched and flexed her wings, spinning in the sand to show Sam.

  Oh. Damn. She’d told him that she loved him.

  Apollo had healed Sam too. Why? Zeus likely wanted his hero to start fresh for the final challenge. There were no scratches, cuts, or puncture wounds marring Sam’s glorious body. He stood unmoving, arms at his sides.

  Sam smiled, but it was reserved. Not the full joyous one that Meira had seen so often. The awkwardness made her wish she had died.

  With a blink of an eye, she and Sam were in the stadium in front of the gods once more. The crowd cheered, and Meira swiftly fell to one knee. Apollo wouldn’t have acted on his own. If Zeus wanted her dead, he would’ve let her die in Sam’s arms.

  “Marvelous show, hero.” The Thunder God stood and clapped. “You’ve greatly impressed us with your strength and wits. You’ve proven you’re truly of the blood of Great King Jason.”

  Hoots and stomping. Olympians loved their heroes and had loved them for a long time. Men like Jason and Heracles were still worshiped as much as the gods. So few came along these days and when tested, even fewer survived. Sam made it through the first two parts of the challenge. Bards were likely already singing songs and writing epic tales about him.

  The crowd was in a frenzy, but the gods had varying reactions. Hera scowled at everyone, especially those gods who were applauding. Ares appeared bored, but the glint in his eyes said more than his fake yawn. And Aphrodite smiled at Meira. Soft and knowing.