Gods Of The Stone Oracle

by Krista Walsh

  “You won’t be facing them alone,” he said. “I’ll be with you.”

  “And what if that is not enough?” she asked, hoping he realized how much it meant to her that he intended to stay.

  “The others will be there.”

  She glared deeper into the fire. “You say this as though it increases our chances.”

  He brushed his clear fingers over hers. “Won’t you even consider the possibility that they can help you?”

  “Have I not agreed to assist them where I can? I believe that is taking enough of a chance on people who have yet to prove themselves. And what allies they are — Gabriel, who would be so foolish as to misplace his trust to make deals with the devil. Vera, who would put love of her family over the safety of the world. Daphne, who runs from the great power she possesses.”

  “You’d hit me for saying it if you could, but isn’t there a little bit of you in all of that?”

  Allegra opened her mouth to retort, but Matthew cut her off, his gray eyes intense and full of warmth. “Think about it before you argue. Running from your demon, regrets for trusting people who didn’t deserve it…you might as well be describing yourself.”

  It felt like a punch to the stomach to realize he was right. And although he had the tact to not say it aloud, the second example hung between them as though he had. Vera had been given the opportunity to save the people she loved and had taken it. If Allegra had been given the same opportunity, would she not have done so as well?

  Tears stung her eyes, but she gulped her drink rather than let them fall.

  “Having a team like that might not guarantee your success, but I believe it increases your odds.”

  “And if we still fail?” she asked.

  “There are worse things than death, Allegra.”

  Her throat closed at his gentle remonstrance, and she tightened her fingers around her glass.

  “Death is not what I fear,” she said. “From the time I was old enough to understand the concept, I understood it awaited me. If I had not been as quick and as scheming as I am, I would not have survived past childhood. Sometimes, it was only luck that kept me from being taken. No, Matthew, I am not afraid to die.”

  “Then what is it?” he asked.

  She pressed her lips together and stared into her drink, watching the colors shift with the flame, the amber and gold reflecting back at her. Her nerves jangled in her wrists and deep in her belly, and she flexed and pointed her toes to work out some of the tension squeezing her insides.

  “I am afraid to lose myself. If I step into the prison, I will be surrounded by the worst elements of our world. Monsters. Shadows. Real-life nightmares. To match them in a fight, I might need to lose control over my demon, and the deeper I go, the more difficult it will be to return. I worry that if I go too far, I will be trapped. Left to become a feral version of myself, stuck on the wrong side of madness. What would you matter to me then? What would any of this life matter? Death would be preferable.”

  Her thoughts drifted back to the burning kitchen in the Garden Hotel. She’d already come close to slipping over the edge once, and the fear of it happening again lurked close behind the weight of her nightmares. She hated the thought of being lost in the ugliness.

  “You could choose not to go,” Matthew said. He stretched his legs out alongside hers. “You’ve shared what you know. They can take that information and use it however they want. The responsibility is not on you to risk your life.”

  Allegra mulled over his words as she finished her drink and refilled it, setting the empty bottle on the coffee table beside her. At times like these, she wished the alcohol would hit her more strongly than it did. Sobriety was as much a burden to her as the weight of this decision.

  “I wish you were right,” she said at last, “but I do not think you actually mean that. Just as I do not believe I have an option. As much as I fear losing my mind, I worry that if I do not play my part and follow along the path that seems to have been set out for me over the last ten months, my connection to this miserable city might never be broken. What if, in order to be free from New Haven, I need to join this fight? Even aside from that, if I do not help and they lose, my career and lifestyle might as well be gone up in smoke.” A shiver ran through her at the unintentional metaphor, and she hugged her silk robe closer around her shoulders. Her insides slithered with another wave of anxiety as she realized she’d only pinned down half the issue. “No, it is more than that. I have never been much for fate or destiny. Aunt Louisa always told me that we form our own future, and the quality of it is determined by the decisions we make. That is the philosophy I’ve lived by. At least, I used to.”

  “What’s changed?” Matthew asked.

  Allegra rolled her gaze to the ceiling, then allowed it to fall through Matthew and out the window overlooking the city.

  “I find I have a hard time denying that some greater force has been at play ever since Jermaine included me in his game. We were seven random people. By chance, we all had connections to the same man. By chance, we all had reason to kill him. I could perhaps blame that on coincidence. But since we escaped that room, how can I explain the ways our lives have overlapped? If I could bring Jermaine back from the dead, I assure you I would tear him apart slowly for what he’s done to me, demanding answers with every bone I snapped.”

  Matthew’s lips curled upward in a slow smile, his dark gray eyes sparkling. “I might be able to arrange something.”

  Allegra wanted to laugh, the idea of exacting her revenge sweeter than the scotch, but even if her lover were able to bring Jermaine to her room right now, it wouldn’t resolve her greater issues.

  Matthew’s posture relaxed and he guided his fingers over hers, leaving trails of gooseflesh where her skin shivered under his tingling touch. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away. She wished she had the strength to tell him to disappear, that his consolation was only making it harder for her to find courage, but the thought of sitting here alone was far worse than his reassurance and support.

  “We just need to see this through,” Matthew said, as though reading her thoughts. “And we will. The end is so close now, and then you’ll be free. We can go anywhere. Symphonies in Vienna, shopping sprees in Milan. You can get your career back on track and move on with your life.”

  His words spun threads of bliss through Allegra’s mind, and she closed her eyes to travel along their patterns, relaxing into the peace and quiet of her apartment. The muscles between her shoulder blades relaxed, and the effects of the scotch finally began to work through her blood.

  “Tomorrow,” he said, and his voice was closer now, as though he’d crawled into her mind and was speaking directly into her thoughts. “Tomorrow we can start moving forward.”

  Allegra opened her eyes and focused her gaze on his form. Fear had not released its hold on her heart, and her reluctance to take another step was still enough to prevent her from going to sleep and seeing what her visions had to tell her tonight. But accompanying her fear was a sense of inevitability. If she had no choice, it meant she didn’t need to care about what happened next. Whatever would be, would be.

  “Tomorrow, we will move forward,” she agreed. “I will offer as much as I am able to, but my priority is seeking my freedom. They all have their own goals, and I wish them luck, but we are walking into the lion’s den. The others claim they know what they are doing and will have a plan in place. Fine. Let them. I do not care so much what befalls them, so long as I come out ahead.”

  14

  Once everyone had been sent back to their respective homes, Gabe collapsed on the couch while Vera lit a fire in the grate. After the noise of so many people in the house at once, the silence was decadent, and he wished he could hold on to it. Unfortunately, he knew that a few minutes was all the reprieve he was likely to get. In the downtime they had, it would be smart to start putting a strategy together. They’d need to act fast and have something in place before he gat
hered everyone again to solidify the plan.

  Tartarus Prison.

  He felt as though he’d stepped into one of his own nightmares.

  At his feet, Vidar and Baxter, Vera’s German shepherd and golden retriever, lay flopped on the floor. They’d stayed outside while the guests were here to prevent them from being overstimulated by all the company, and now they appeared contentedly at peace with their small family unit. Oblivious to the stresses that were making their owner so quiet and tense.

  Gabe watched Vera head toward the kitchen. She poured a tall glass of whiskey for him, then turned on the kettle for her own indulgence.

  They didn’t say anything as she paced the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil.

  Once it clicked off and Vera had poured the water over her Earl Grey, she returned to the living room, settled down on the couch beside him, and handed him his drink.

  He sipped it slowly, appreciating the layers of flavor and sharpness as the alcohol passed over his tongue and down his throat. He wished he had something on hand he could drink by the gallon. Maybe that would be enough alcohol in his system to give him the buzz he needed.

  “How are we going to see this through?” Vera asked.

  The sound of her gentle voice made Gabe jump, and Baxter raised his head to stare at her, his eyes wide as they rolled between her and Gabe. After a moment, the retriever lowered his head back to the rug with a sigh.

  “As best we can, I suppose,” Gabe said. Vera shot him a look, and he raised his glass to her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound flip. I just…I have no idea.”

  “They have the book, and now they have Percy’s software. The others understood the seriousness of the theft, but I don’t know if they really appreciate the danger it puts us in.”

  “I know. With both the book and the program, Lozak’s bosses can track us down, take samples of our DNA, and make it that much easier to create their army.”

  “It can’t be only that,” Vera said. “They couldn’t have known about the program when they started forming their plan. They only stole the software after they lost the orb.”

  Gabe frowned. “You think the two are connected like that? If so, then why are they hanging on to Molly, now that they have an alternative?”

  “To use her against Zach? It would be the crowning glory of their victory to have their original creation on their side again, I imagine. Especially alongside their new warriors.” Vera’s throat bobbed as she swallowed, and by the fear in her eyes, Gabe guessed where her thoughts had gone.

  “You won’t have to face Lozak on your own again,” he said.

  “Maybe not, but I will have to face him. And this time I don’t intend to let him walk away. The damage he’s done to our lives deserves some form of reckoning.”

  Her gray stare turned inward, and Gabe felt his own thoughts drifting away. Not wanting to wander too far, wasting the time he had left alone with her, he pulled himself back to the present.

  “Let’s say you’re right,” he said, and he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “How could the program replace the orb? One blocks otherworldly energy, the other picks it out. They have opposing purposes.”

  “Are they so opposing?” Vera drew one leg up on the couch so she could turn toward him, her tea tight between her palms. “Think about why they would want something that blocked their own energy. It would make them vulnerable for as long as they had possession of it, right? Why would an evil mastermind choose to make himself vulnerable?”

  “All right…” Gabe said, happy to let her talk out her idea, though he couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was getting at.

  “The only reason I can think of is if whatever they’re planning targets otherworldly energy. Something that affects every one of our kind in a blanketed attack. They would need to do something that kept themselves safe. Something that prevented them from being affected.”

  An uncomfortable understanding settled over Gabe, and he took a larger swig of his drink before setting it down on the end table. “If they lost possession of the orb, they wouldn’t be shielded. But with Percy’s software, instead of casting a widespread net over all otherworldly energy, they could specify who was being targeted. They could omit themselves, but select their targets just by scanning the area they want to hit. Effective, but a slower process, which is why they would still want the orb if they could get it.”

  Gabe’s thoughts ran down the path of their reasoning. Images filled his mind of otherworldly beings being forced to bend a knee to the demons behind this nightmare. For what purpose? To kill them? To force them into slavery? The possibilities were endless, and none of them were filled with rainbows. The revelation fell over him like a punch to the gut, and he rubbed the back of his neck until it stung.

  “We need to destroy that software. If Percy can’t reverse hack his way into their system, then we need to manually tear it apart. Anything we can do to stop them from using it. At this point, I don’t even care what we’re stopping.” He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “How did we end up here?”

  “Our lives certainly got interesting the day we met Jermaine,” Vera said.

  “The bastard.”

  The word wasn’t strong enough to describe how Gabe felt about the warlock. He wished the man wasn’t dead so he could kill him again.

  Gabe’s phone rang, jarring them both out of their thoughts, and when he drew it out of his pocket, he caught Percy’s name on the display.

  “For the record, I still hate your idea,” Percy said when he answered, “but I’m ready to go whenever you’re ready to get me.”

  Gabe glanced at his watch. It was shortly after one o’clock in the morning. At the sight of the hour, his eyelids suddenly felt weighed down, but he couldn’t give in to his exhaustion. Not yet. Not now that he’d realized how important Percy’s role might be in preventing the end of the world.

  “Tell me where I’m going, and I’ll head over now,” he said.

  Vera caught his eye through the mirrored lenses of his sunglasses, and he drank in her encouragement, using it to fuel him for the next step.

  Percy gave him the address, and Gabe brought his own memories of Boston to mind. It had been a long time since he’d been there, but he was confident he remembered enough to get to the right neighborhood. From there, it would be a matter of using some good old-fashioned PI skills.

  He hung up with Percy and leaned in to give Vera a kiss. “You might want to get some rest while I’m gone. I have a feeling we won’t be seeing much of our bed for the next little while.”

  She kissed him back, then pushed him away. He was glad she had; otherwise, he doubted he would have found the motivation to leave the sweetness of her skin.

  As he stood up, he raised his hand in the air. In a smooth motion, Vidar rolled to his feet, his tail outstretched and his ears alert.

  “Not this time, buddy,” Gabe said, scratching the German shepherd behind the ears. “You stay here and watch after Vera.”

  She pulled the dog closer and wrapped her arm around his neck, keeping him in place as Gabe drew a rift through the air. A cold draft floated through the portal into the room from the nighttime streets of the city beyond, and Gabe stepped through.

  ***

  It felt strange to be back in Boston. A shock buzzed through Gabe as he realized it had been almost seventeen years since the last time he’d been here. As far as his mother would have known, it was even longer than that.

  Memories flooded his mind as he walked the streets in the direction of Percy’s building. When he’d been a kid, no more than ten years old, he’d come with his dad and brother on a shopping trip. Rick, lacking the Gorgon curse, had gone to school in the city until his death at fourteen, and every fall the men had gone out to buy his back-to-school supplies. Gabe had gone with them the first year, enjoying the excuse to get away from the house and experience the rest of the world.

  After that one time, though, he’d begun to resent the fa
ct that his brother was allowed to live in this world, while he was only allowed to observe. His parents were worried he might cause an accident if he spent too much time on the busy streets. A trip on a curb, a bump from an unsuspecting passerby — anything that might dislodge his mirrored sunglasses and expose his Gorgon gaze to the public.

  Deep down, Gabe had understood, but at that age, it had been impossible not to be overwhelmed by a sense of anger and injustice as well. So he’d stopped tagging along.

  After Rick’s death, and after his dad had walked out on him and his mom, Gabe had started making his own visits to the city. Late at night, long past the time when the stores were closed, he’d rift to the places he remembered well and pretend he was an urban explorer. Then he’d rift into liquor stores and purge their beer aisles, or pop into a clothing store and grab a new T-shirt. Never anything his mother would notice, but enough to make him feel as though he were actually taking advantage of the things other kids his age would enjoy.

  Sometimes, he’d break into his brother’s high school. With the lights out and the classroom doors closed, it seemed like a peaceful place full of knowledge and social connections. He’d scope out the artwork on the walls, break into lockers and rifle through whatever the students had been stupid enough to leave behind. It was how he’d acquired his first CD player.

  Eventually, the thrill had worn off. He was never a bad kid, just a lonely one, and he’d hated keeping his activities secret from the only person remaining in his life, so he’d stopped. He still had some of the T-shirts he’d stolen, though, tucked away in his dresser at home. They didn’t make clothes to last like that these days.

  Using the GPS on his phone, he guided his steps through the side streets until he found his way to his destination.

  At the end of the driveway, he stopped and stared at the place Percy always referred to as his fortress.

  He hadn’t been exaggerating, but it was nothing like Gabe had imagined.