The Phantom Queen (The Guardians of Tara Book 3)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “I really hate that guy,” Cameron complained.

  Sigyn shot him a look that he translated as, “Are you kidding me right now?”

  “Okay,” he relented. “Maybe not as much as you.”

  Sigyn snickered and lifted a slender, delicate shoulder at him. “It’s all right, Cameron. I know very few gods who don’t hate him. He’s earned that animosity by his own actions.”

  “Was he always crazy?” he pressed. “Because I’ll be totally honest: Fighting gods doesn’t worry me. Fighting crazy gods kinda worries me.”

  Sigyn tapped her chin as she thought back thousands of years then shrugged again. “He was always different, but I don’t think he was crazy. I’m not sure what happened to him, actually. He was born a mischief god, but evil wasn’t necessarily in his nature.”

  “Evil…” Selena repeated slowly. “Like what would happen to a god who refused to keep his word?”

  Sigyn blinked at the young healing goddess and Cameron shot her a sly smile. “What?” she demanded.

  “You’re being all brilliant again. And I’ve told you how incredibly hot that is,” Cameron responded.

  “He did break promises,” Sigyn answered, “but I always assumed that was after his mind began to slip. But maybe that’s what started his descent into madness.”

  “Either way,” Cameron told her, “you’ve earned some peace and quiet for a while. You’ll like it here. And there’s a demigoddess named Anita Granger who’s literally one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.”

  Even Thor nodded and added, “I’ll introduce you, Sigyn. I’m pretty sure she’s forgiven me for trying to kill her.”

  “Of course she has, but Ms. Granger is a saint,” Cameron retorted. “So if even I can forgive you for trying to kill me, I know she can.”

  Thor laughed and gestured down the pathway leading to Anita and Ukko’s house. “Oddly enough, she’s married to a living Finnish god. As we’ve mentioned, you won’t feel out of place here.”

  Sigyn smiled at him then quickly hugged Cameron, whispering, “Thank you,” before letting go and stepping closer to Thor’s side again. And for the second time that day, Cameron thought his cheeks might be flushing again.

  If this was what hero work was all about, then he thought he could definitely get used to it.

  Selena grabbed Cameron’s hand and told him, “You’ve been gone for several weeks…several Earth weeks. You’ve missed quite a bit. Let’s go home and Macha and I will fill you in.”

  Cameron flashed his girlfriend a mischievous grin and said, “I’ve missed you quite a bit. You’re really the only thing I want to catch up on, especially now that you’ve gone and shown off your brilliant, sexy side again.”

  Selena rolled her eyes at him, but she also smiled, which gave Cameron hope she wasn’t really planning on sending them both back to Earth to fight crazy gods and giant snakes once she and Macha had caught him up on what they’d been doing. But everyone in the Dagda’s palace wanted to hear about Cameron’s trip to Hel, including the Dagda himself. No living Irish god had ever stepped foot in the Norse realm of the dead, and not only had Cameron gone, but he’d somehow managed to use his powers there, something even Thor couldn’t do.

  “I’ve told you people a thousand times!” Cameron exclaimed. “I don’t know how I do any of the things I do!”

  “Totally believe that,” Nemain interjected.

  Macha snickered and rose from the Dagda’s table. “Everybody who doesn’t live here…go home. I need to speak to Cameron. In case you’ve forgotten, there’s a war brewing on Earth and a possible apocalypse if we don’t find Loki soon. One day, he’ll write his autobiography for you and you can read all about his journey to Hel in that.”

  Cameron lifted an eyebrow and nodded approvingly. “Cool. I’m going to have my own autobiography.”

  “Only if you write it,” Selena reminded him.

  “Maybe I’ll dictate it and our daughter will write it,” he teased. “Gotta put them to work early, you know.”

  “Maybe we should decide on a name for her so we can stop calling her ‘our daughter,’” Selena decided.

  Macha groaned and rubbed her forehead. “Focus. Please.”

  “I am,” Cameron insisted. “I’m completely focused on whether or not her name should be Irish and unpronounceable to the vast majority of the world, including me, or if we can go with a regular, American name.”

  “Cameron,” Nemain sighed.

  “That name’s already taken,” he said. “And no girl is going to appreciate being named after her father.”

  Both Nemain and Macha shot Selena the now-familiar, “How do you put up with him?” look so Selena shot them both the now-familiar, “You already know the answer to that,” look.

  “I’ve been thinking…” Selena said, but Nemain interrupted her before she could finish.

  “Three weeks away from Cameron gave you time to reevaluate your entire relationship?”

  “Three weeks away from Cameron made you realize you’re going to be listening to him for…well, forever?” Macha added.

  “We’re no longer friends,” Cameron told them.

  “How did we ever find the Unbreakable Sword?” Selena sighed. “We’re not even capable of staying on track for sixty seconds.”

  Cameron nodded. “For the record, I didn’t really want to hunt down a big rock anyway.”

  Bridget shook her head at him and reminded him, “I told you I’d find it then. You’re the one who thought I shouldn’t.”

  “Yeah, because I’m not going to let our queen get killed!” Cameron exclaimed. “Especially over a rock.”

  “The Lia Fáil isn’t a rock,” Macha corrected. She crossed her arms defensively and added, “Fine. It’s sort of a rock, but it’s a magical rock and we need it back.”

  “We need to stop Loki first,” Bridget argued.

  “Why Loki and not Huitzilopochtli?” Cameron asked. “The Aztecs are the ones threatening war with both Earth and the Otherworld.”

  “Because of what you missed while you were rescuing Lugh and Sigyn,” Selena said. Her hands instinctively covered the small bump on her body where their child, a future goddess with a mysterious fate, grew. “The prophecies of Ragnarok are starting. There have been multiple earthquakes all over the world. San Francisco, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal…and Loki himself has been on a rampage.”

  “Oh, my God,” Cameron groaned.

  “You mean Loki right?” Macha asked.

  “Obviously,” Cameron replied. “How many people have died?”

  “We don’t even know yet,” Selena answered, her voice quiet and wounded as if each death physically hurt her.

  “And Loki has been going around attempting to destroy every cave he can find,” Bridget said. “Apparently, he thinks if he blocks off entrances to caves, he can’t be rebound in one.”

  “Dumbass,” Cameron snickered. “Doesn’t he realize we can just move whatever’s blocking the entrance?”

  Bridget shrugged. “Some caves are small enough that he can cause the whole thing to collapse. Some, like Carlsbad, are most likely just blocked.”

  “I always wanted to visit Carlsbad,” Selena sighed.

  “What about his cave?” Cameron asked. “The one in Norway?”

  “Destroyed,” Macha answered. “It was the first one he targeted. And he most likely recruited help from someone to go to Norway since Natural Bridge Caverns in Texas was hit at the same time and we suspect Loki didn’t want to go anywhere near Norway…just in case.”

  “I really hate this bastard,” Cameron complained.

  “Join the club,” Thor announced as he appeared in the doorway to the Dagda’s hall.

  Cameron waved a hand irritably in his direction. “Again: Why didn’t you just kill him? Who decides binding someone in a cave is a safe way to keep a dangerous lunatic from hurting people?”

  “Hey,” Thor shot back, “for over two thousand years, it did work.”

  “
It gets worse,” Nemain interjected. “There’s been another outbreak.”

  Cameron sank back into his chair and spit out, “Let me guess where.”

  “You got your brother out of the city,” Macha assured him. “He’s fine.”

  Selena ran her fingers through his hair and tried to reassure him, too. “I spent a week in Austin healing people.”

  “From what?” Cameron asked. “All of these gods are associated with specific diseases, right? Maybe we can figure out who’s causing these epidemics now.”

  “We’re not really sure,” Macha explained. “Chalchi…” She paused when Cameron held up a hand to stop her and quickly corrected herself. “Totem Pole…”

  “Thank you,” Cameron interrupted anyway.

  “Selena,” Thor sighed. “Any chance you have duct tape lying around?”

  “It’s on my shopping list,” Selena promised.

  “So Totem Pole,” Macha continued, ignoring the gods who wouldn’t shut up, “is associated with the plague. But what we’ve seen in Austin is new…I mean, literally new. Doctors and researchers don’t even know what it is.”

  “How is that possible?” Cameron asked.

  Selena lifted a shoulder at him. “Every god of disease we’ve encountered can only manipulate something that already exists. What’s happening in Austin is just a little bit different…like someone is taking infectious diseases and changing them just slightly, making them impossible to treat.”

  “And who has that ability?” Cameron persisted.

  “No one we’ve ever known,” Macha said. “Even the Dagda doesn’t know. He’s never heard of this either.”

  “Great,” Cameron mumbled. “So are we going to Austin to confront the newest member of Huitzilopochtli’s Army of Assholes?”

  “We have to,” Thor insisted. “My Valkyries are tracking Loki. He’s still managing to stay one step ahead of them, but he’ll slip sooner or later. His ego always gets him eventually. But people are dying. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be preventing?”

  “People are dying because of these earthquakes, too,” Nemain countered. “And there’s only one way we’re going to stop those.”

  “Macha, please tell me you have some secret talent that’s going to make this easier for us,” Cameron begged.

  Macha shook her head and offered her hand to him to pull him out of the chair. “Afraid not, Sun God. I am Morrigan, the Phantom Queen, and like the Valkyries, I would bring our fallen warriors home. What good is my role to any of you now?”

  Cameron let her pull him to his feet as he gave her a sad smile and put his arm around her shoulders. “Unfortunately, Phantom Queen, at this rate, we may end up needing you after all.”

  Chapter Five

  Austin’s skyline was filled with black helicopters and the occasional white medical transport. Its downtown streets, normally bustling with both vehicles and pedestrians, were oddly deserted, and all of the tourist shops and restaurants on Sixth Street remained closed.

  Cameron had walked into a ghost town.

  “Somebody knew my brother lived here,” he said quietly.

  “Yeah,” Selena agreed. “Whomever betrayed us in the past is continuing to betray us. But we knew this would happen. That doesn’t make it hurt any less though.”

  Cameron held her hand and watched one of the air transports land atop the University Medical Center. The heavy clacking of treads tore his attention away from the sky toward the mostly empty street in front of them.

  “More tanks? What good are they going to do?” he demanded.

  “There was rioting,” Macha explained. “It got pretty violent.”

  “So now what?” Cameron asked. “We slink around the city hoping to stumble across the god responsible for this carnage?”

  “Actually,” a man’s deep and unfamiliar voice responded, “you don’t have to slink anywhere. I’ll come to you, Sun God.”

  Cameron spun around to face the god who had unleashed disease on yet another American city, although this time, it seemed to be something no one knew how to treat. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at the god with bronze skin and dark hair who looked completely unconcerned about this encounter with the most powerful gods in the world.

  “You look familiar,” Cameron told him. “Seems like I killed you already.”

  “Obviously not,” the god replied. “Only my father and brother.”

  “Great,” Cameron complained. “Another god wanting revenge. Get in line.”

  “You do make enemies easily,” the god agreed.

  Cameron threw his hands up and exclaimed, “Assholes like you need to stop going around kidnapping and killing people!”

  “We’re gods,” he hissed. “We do what is our right.”

  “That’s it,” Cameron decided. “I’m smiting him.”

  The god shrugged, still far too unconcerned about his impending death. “Go ahead. But it won’t end the outbreak here since I’m not personally controlling it.”

  “Then who is?” Selena demanded.

  The god nodded toward Thor and explained, “Just as your giant friend here has his own spirits to help him, so do I. And if you kill me now, they’ll spread this illness everywhere.”

  “Who are you?” Thor asked. “And what do you want in exchange for ending this outbreak?”

  The god finally took a step closer to them and Cameron’s Spear appeared in his hand. He noticed Thor had immediately reached for Mjölnir and the two Mórrígna that had accompanied him to Earth had produced their swords as well. The god stopped and smiled at them.

  “What do I want?” he repeated. “I want my father and brother back. But since not even the great gods of the Tuatha Dé can return the dead to the living, I’ll have to settle for the sun god’s life.”

  “Dude,” Cameron sighed. “Is this your first time in a negotiation? Because you kinda suck at it. Nobody’s going to agree to die just because you’re being a mass murdering asshole.”

  “I’m not negotiating, Sun God…”

  “Cameron,” he corrected. “Stop calling me Sun God. Only people I like are allowed to call me Sun God, and I definitely don’t like you.”

  “Killed his father and brother…” Macha murmured. “I suppose that makes you Nergal?”

  “Nergal?” Cameron repeated. “Question.”

  Nergal sighed heavily and shot him an irritated, expectant look.

  “At what point will I have killed your entire family because I’m really tired of having to fight you bastards. I mean…you’re Sumerian. How many of you can even be left?”

  “That’s not going to help,” Thor muttered.

  Nergal’s nostrils flared and his dark brown eyes narrowed at the cocky young god. “For that,” Nergal threatened, “I hope you’re prepared to sacrifice the lives of thousands of mortals here.”

  Cameron lifted his Spear, but surprisingly, Macha grabbed his arm and stopped him.

  “Wait!” she pleaded. “Nergal, you can’t defeat Cameron. You already knew that. This demand that you want his life to end the outbreak here…you also must have known it’ll never happen. There’s something else you’re hoping to gain from this.”

  Nergal lifted a shoulder, almost like an afterthought, but kept his eyes on Cameron. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

  “Um…I remember your brother kidnapping my girlfriend and almost killing her, and I remember your father attacking me with a bunch of giant snakes. But you? Nope. Pretty sure I’ve never met you. By the way, if you have any giant snakes hiding behind you, I’m totally torching you right now.”

  Nergal shook his head and uttered what were probably a few profanities Cameron couldn’t translate then flipped back to English. “I fought alongside Ninurta when he invaded the Otherworld. I watched you throw your Spear into his heart. And I watched him die.”

  “He kidnapped Selena!” Cameron yelled. “And then he invaded a world he had no business in!”

  Nergal opened his mouth to
argue with him, but Cameron wasn’t finished. “And if I’d known you were just going to go around spreading…what the hell are you spreading?”

  The Sumerian god arched an eyebrow at him in response.

  “Fine,” Cameron hissed. “If I’d known you were going to do this, I would have killed you then, too.”

  “And…we’re going to war with another culture,” Thor sighed.

  Cameron waved a hand at Nergal and claimed, “He started it.”

  Thor just shrugged. “I’m not giving up Falias so we might as well smite all the Sumerians if they’re just going to be assholes like this family.”

  Cameron nodded in complete agreement. He also thought someone needed to get him out of Austin because he was beginning to suffer from an inexcusable lack of smartassiness, and he wasn’t sure he could survive much longer if something didn’t change soon.

  Nergal shifted his smile toward Thor and told him, “And do you think we Sumerians don’t have allies as well? Is it another war you want, Son of Odin?”

  “Don’t,” Thor thundered, “call me that again.” He pointed Mjölnir at him to emphasize he wasn’t nearly as forgiving as Cameron with names he didn’t want to be called.

  But Nergal clearly liked that he’d struck a nerve with the Norse god. “But aren’t you? Unlike the Irish here, it’s not even figurative. You are actually the son of Odin.”

  “And I’ve disowned him,” Thor seethed. “For behaving like gods such as yourself.”

  Nergal laughed and lifted his hands. “You already know another war is coming. We’ll purge this world: cleanse it for the gods who will inherit it. And you will be powerless to stop us because not even the mortals want you on their side.”

  “Powerless?” Nemain scoffed. “The Tuatha Dé have never been powerless. We don’t need mankind’s help, but we will save them whether they want us to or not.”

  Selena stepped forward, and Cameron immediately reached out to stop her from getting too close to the Sumerian god who had already murdered hundreds of innocent people in this city. Selena didn’t try to pull away from him nor did she scold him for stopping her. She stayed by his side, unwilling to cause him any panic for her safety and the safety of their child.