The Phantom Queen (The Guardians of Tara Book 3)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “I know your myths,” she told him. “People believed you sent demons to invade their bodies and that’s how they became ill. You’re sending these spirits to spread something we’ve never confronted before. But I can heal them. And in the end, when my boyfriend faces you in battle, I’ll be glad to watch you die.”

  Holy shit, Selena, Cameron told her silently. This pissed off, I want revenge side of you is totally hot.

  I healed twenty-four infants in a NICU, Cameron. I want this bastard dead.

  Cameron pulled her just a little bit closer to him and promised her, Have I ever let you down? I won’t now.

  “I suppose,” Nergal said, his voice silvery and unnerving, “that you should get back to your work then, Selena. Because Austin is about to become Ground Zero.”

  Macha slammed the hotel door and glared at Cameron, who immediately protested. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” she retorted. “But Nergal isn’t only a god of disease. He’s a god of war. It’s been a week since he claimed Austin would become Ground Zero and so far, nothing has changed. The outbreak hasn’t gotten worse, a horde of asshole gods hasn’t invaded…”

  “I’m going to stop you right there,” Cameron interrupted. “You keep saying shit like this and the whole city will be wiped off the planet.”

  Thor nodded and added, “You really should know better than to jinx us like that.”

  Macha threw her hands up in exasperation and asked, “How can we prepare for something if we have no idea what it is?”

  “Well,” Selena responded, “it will either be a sudden spread of this outbreak or an invasion.”

  Macha squinted at her and said, “Cameron’s been a bad influence on you.”

  “Stop accusing me of that!” Cameron exclaimed.

  Macha opened her mouth, most likely to tell him it was never going to happen, but the sudden presence of another goddess in their hotel room interrupted her. Instead, the goddess who had disrupted their argument said it for her. “Never going to happen,” London insisted.

  “Oh,” Cameron said. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve gotta be honest. I kinda forgot you were supposed to even be here.”

  “I hate you,” she said.

  “Where have you been?” Nemain asked.

  “With Jasper,” she sighed. “We’re still trying to get the government to back down on its declaration that all gods are mortals’ enemies.”

  “No luck?” Macha sighed back.

  London shook her head. “Jasper’s still in D.C., but I wouldn’t count on their cooperation anytime soon. People are rioting all over the country, and we’ve got this new outbreak that doctors can’t treat, plus all these natural disasters.”

  “You missed out on Nergal threatening to turn Austin into Ground Zero,” Cameron told her. “

  “Is there anyone you haven’t managed to piss off?” London asked.

  “Not my fault!” Cameron exclaimed.

  “He hasn’t pissed me off,” Selena added helpfully.

  “He’s only mildly pissed me off,” Nemain added just as helpfully.

  “I’d better not answer this,” Thor said.

  “I forgot how annoying this group is,” London muttered.

  “Now that’s probably my fault,” Cameron said.

  London arched an eyebrow at him but something unsettling made all of the gods drop their bantering and rise from their seats.

  “What is that?” London murmured.

  “It’s almost like the Valkyries,” Nemain said.

  “That’s not my Valkyries,” Thor countered.

  “Nergal,” Macha breathed. “He’s returned with his spirits.”

  Cameron put his arm around Selena and shook his head slowly. “He’s not alone. Those aren’t just spirits he’s returned with.”

  “Oh God,” London groaned.

  “Yeah,” Cameron agreed. “Quite a few of them, actually.”

  “Who?” London asked. “I can’t tell.”

  “Veles,” Selena announced.

  “Another god that should have been killed when someone had the chance,” Cameron interrupted. “I mean, Ukko was just questioning him when all his gods got thrown in that glass prison.”

  “And…I don’t know who the other god is,” Selena finished, ignoring yet another disruption from her boyfriend. “He’s not from a pantheon we’ve encountered before.”

  Cameron bit his lip as he concentrated on the gods invading the city. Selena was right, of course. Whoever had accompanied Nergal and Veles to Austin had a completely distinct signature, similar to the Sumerian gods they’d met but not quite the same.

  “He must be related to the Mesopotamian gods,” Cameron decided. “What cultures are related to them?”

  Athena and Ares appeared in the room with the worried gods and Cameron shot her a “Where the hell did you come from?” look so Athena shot him a “Where the hell do you think we came from?” look in return.

  And being Cameron, he had to answer her unspoken question. “Not sure where you’ve been, to be honest. I thought Murias was home to the Tuatha Dé’s oldest allies as well as the Irish, but then you brought us to Gorias and called it New Olympus. It’s really not nice to confuse people like this.”

  Athena blinked at him then glanced at Macha. “Is he serious?”

  “Probably.”

  “Some of the Greek gods moved to Gorias and constructed homes there long before the Tuatha Dé allowed the demigods and gods who wanted to escape the New Pantheon to move in. Most of us have stayed in Murias. I called it the New Olympus because Poseidon’s palace is there, and he’s the head of our pantheon. Now do you think you can concentrate on the battle that’s about to erupt in Austin?”

  “Probably not,” Ares added helpfully.

  “Hey,” Cameron snapped. “I can, actually. Watch this. Athena, who the hell is the god we can’t identify?”

  “He’s Hittite,” Athena announced.

  “Hittite?” London repeated. “That’s a thing?”

  “It was a place,” Athena corrected. “The Hittite Kingdom existed where Turkey is today, and the gods who were worshipped there are related to the Mesopotamian gods just as we Greeks are related to the Tuatha Dé.”

  “What do you know about this Hittite god?” Cameron asked.

  “I think,” Ares answered, “that it’s Tarhunt. He’s a weather god.”

  Thor scowled at the closed door and challenged, “I’ll take the weather god. His family must be mostly gone by now. He’s weak.”

  “Don’t even think about saying, ‘This should be easy,’” Cameron warned.

  Thor glanced at him then returned his scowl to the door. “Fine. This should be…not as difficult as…”

  “Dude!” Cameron interrupted. “No! Replacing words with different words that mean the same thing still results in us getting our asses kicked!”

  “Have we ever gotten our asses kicked?” Nemain asked. “I don’t seem to remember this.”

  Cameron waved her off but Selena answered, “I got killed by lightning. That should totally count as an ass-kicking.”

  “Conceded,” Nemain agreed.

  “So…should we go out there or…” Cameron started but a knock on their door made all of the gods scowl at it again, especially Thor.

  “Tyr,” he growled.

  “Let me explain, old friend,” Tyr pleaded.

  Thor glared at the door for a few seconds before yanking it open and pulling the Norse god of war inside. “You’d better explain quickly. And your explanation had better be a damn good one.”

  Tyr sighed and gestured toward the window. “Why is Austin being invaded?”

  “What does that have to do with you stabbing me in the back?” Thor yelled.

  Tyr held up his good hand and insisted, “I never stabbed you in the back, Thor. When a handful of our family turned on you, they did so without my knowledge. They certainly don’t have my approval. I was out there doing ex
actly what you gave me permission to do—looking for Loki. That’s it.”

  “Something gave Gunnr the impression you meant to usurp my position,” Thor countered. “And the Valkyries don’t lie.”

  “No,” Tyr agreed. “They don’t. Apparently, there were a few gods who wished to see me restored as the leader of our pantheon but they began planning their coup before consulting me. You’d already kicked them out of our new Asgard by the time they found me and asked me to lead them against you. I refused. I came looking for you, but Sif told me you’d gone to Hel. What were you doing in Hel?”

  Thor shrugged as if living gods traveled to Hel all the time. “We had to rescue Sigyn and Lugh.”

  “I feel like I’m always having to remind you gods that there are bigger problems out there,” London interrupted. “And there are much bigger problems out there right now. Austin is being invaded!”

  “Dibs on whatever god can’t turn into a snake,” Cameron hurriedly said.

  Thor grunted at him then added, “Dibs on any other god that can’t turn into a snake.”

  “Oh my God, I’ll take…” London started but stopped herself before Cameron could ask her. “You, Cameron. And you, too, Thor. I’ll take all the snake gods if you just shut up and stop this invasion!”

  “Deal,” Cameron immediately agreed.

  Tyr spun around and threw the door open then promptly closed it again. He looked over his shoulder at Cameron and Thor and asked, “So…on a scale of battling Quetzalcoatl to having to face Jörmungandr, where exactly would a Slavic god riding a winged serpent fall?”

  Cameron shot Selena a pleading look and begged, “Can I go home now?”

  Selena shrugged. “They’ll just follow you to the Otherworld. Might as well confront them here.”

  “There is a god riding a snake out there!” he whined.

  “Um…” Tyr stammered.

  “Don’t even think about telling me there’s another snake,” Cameron warned.

  “There’s another snake,” Tyr announced.

  “Can I go home?” Thor asked.

  “I’ll totally smite you,” Cameron threatened.

  London stepped around them and pulled the door open again. “We Greeks can handle Veles and his admittedly creepy taxi.”

  “That’s very brave of you, Little Goddess,” Thor interrupted.

  “Just for that,” London snapped, “you and Cameron take care of that Hittite god no one’s ever heard of. He must be the one who brought another snake with him. Everyone else, go after Nergal.”

  “I like this plan,” Macha decided.

  “Hey,” Cameron protested, “Little Goddess doesn’t get to order us around.”

  But all of the gods except Thor and Selena were already leaving the hotel room. Thor clapped Cameron on the back and tried to smile at him. “Well, we survived Hel. How bad can one snake be?”

  “Thor,” Cameron groaned.

  Thor grimaced and quickly tried to correct himself. “Pretend I didn’t say that.”

  “Too late,” Selena replied helpfully.

  “Good thing my girlfriend can most likely bring me back from the dead,” Cameron sighed. He looked Thor over quickly and added, “Jury’s still out on you.”

  Thor shrugged and said, “Killing Jörmungandr will be on you then.”

  “She can bring you back,” Cameron quickly promised.

  Thor looked out at the Austin skyline and asked, “So who is this god again?”

  “I think they said his name is Tarhunt,” Selena answered.

  Thor squinted toward the horizon where only a handful of the approaching gods were visible and bit his lip as if deep in thought.

  Cameron glanced toward the horizon, too, and teased, “Careful, Jötunn. Your brain isn’t used to so much exercise. You might sprain something.”

  Thor flipped him off before pointing to the god and giant serpent they were supposed to fight. “The only story I can remember with Tarhunt is something about him slaying a dragon called Illuyanka.”

  “Again,” Cameron complained, “didn’t anyone kill these giant snakes like they were supposed to?”

  “With Enlil’s serpents, the legends turned out to be lessons on how to kill them,” Selena reminded him.

  “But I don’t remember any more of this story,” Thor said.

  “I’m on it,” Cameron announced. He pulled out his phone and tapped at the screen.

  “What are you doing?” Thor asked irritably.

  Cameron glanced up at him and wiggled his phone in the air. “Wikipedia. Obviously.”

  Thor jerked a thumb in Cameron’s direction and asked Selena, “Is he serious?”

  “Afraid so,” Selena responded.

  “Got it,” Cameron said. “We just need to get the huge-ass snake drunk, bind it with an equally huge-ass amount of rope, and then we can kill it.”

  Thor blinked at him then pulled Mjölnir from his belt. “I’ll go after Tarhunt on my own.”

  Cameron was about to tell him that was an incredibly stupid idea—even for him—but the Norse god of thunder had already disappeared.

  “We should follow him before he gets killed,” Selena said.

  An explosion in the north, the same direction the invading gods had come from, made them both jump and scan the horizon again. A black plume of smoke and ash spiraled into the darkening Texas sky.

  “Oh my God,” Selena whispered.

  Cameron was too horrified to ask her which god. He grabbed her hand and brought them to Thor’s side. “What happened?”

  Thor shook his large head, his long red beard making a rhythmic scratching sound against his chest. “I don’t know. Our friends have masked themselves so our enemies can’t find them, but that means I can’t tell if they’re all right.”

  “I can,” Cameron told him.

  Thor finally tore his gaze away from the cloud of black smoke and asked, “How?”

  “I’ve told you…stop asking me how I do things. I’ll never know. And our friends are all alive. But we need to find out what caused that explosion.”

  Thor had just nodded when a second explosion, close to where the first had detonated, shook the ground beneath their feet.

  Selena clutched Cameron’s arm to steady herself then shouted, “Cameron, hurry!”

  He brought them closer to the site of the second explosion, and his stomach rolled when he realized what neighborhood had just been destroyed. “This is my brother’s house,” he whispered.

  “Selena,” Thor said quietly, “can you…”

  But Thor trailed off, and Cameron assumed it was because he could see how angry she was, how angry they both were. He could feel the anger and desire for revenge pouring from the goddess he loved, the goddess who shared a piece of his soul. He’d never felt such strong emotions from her and when he finally looked away from what was left of his brother’s house to face her and take her hand, to offer some solace, he saw what must have stopped Thor from finishing his request.

  Selena, the gentle spirit and healer of the Tuatha Dé, was on fire.

  Chapter Six

  Cameron wrapped his fingers around Selena’s hand and took a deep breath. “Selena…”

  But Selena shook her head and pulled her hand out of his. She wouldn’t be placated or calmed down…not this time. She began walking toward the burning houses while flames still dripped from her own body.

  “Put out the fires, Cameron,” she instructed.

  Cameron immediately obeyed and the fires engulfing the homes in his brother’s neighborhood disappeared, leaving only hot embers and wisps of smoke in its wake.

  “You’re healed,” she murmured, more to herself than the gods who followed behind her helplessly. “You are all healed. Rise from the ashes, and let us bring you somewhere safe.”

  “Selena,” Cameron tried again but the sound of debris moving, a shuffling among the wreckage, startled him. Slowly, bodies covered in gray and black ash began to push the remnants of their homes away as they f
reed themselves from the destruction.

  Cameron and Thor stared stupidly at the approaching mortals, their expressions betraying their bewilderment and fear, but these humans obeyed Selena as well.

  “How…” Thor stuttered but once again, he faltered.

  “Where should we bring them?” Selena asked Cameron.

  When he glanced at his girlfriend again, he noticed she was no longer on fire but that intense anger and need for vengeance hadn’t waned.

  “You’re gods,” said one of the men who had been brought back from the dead.

  “We are,” Cameron responded. “Despite what’s happening now and what the government is telling you, not all of us are evil. Some of us are trying to help you.”

  An explosion in another part of the city reminded him they still hadn’t found the gods responsible for trying to murder an entire city.

  The man’s eyes had followed the skyline to where the third inferno raged, but he swallowed and asked Cameron, “You can get us out of Austin?”

  “Yes. Immediately,” Cameron assured him.

  “Fort Hood isn’t far,” the man replied. “And they’ll have the room and personnel to deal with an influx of refugees.”

  Cameron didn’t bother asking anyone if they preferred a different destination. This city was under siege, and until the Guardians of Tara defeated Nergal’s army, people would continue to die. He transported several hundred people Selena had saved to Killeen then returned before Nergal had a chance to level another neighborhood. Selena and Thor had already gone to the site of the third explosion and once again, she asked Cameron to extinguish the fire then somehow, miraculously, brought hundreds of mortals back to this world.

  “Selena, how are you…” he started to ask, but Selena shrugged.

  “I’ve never been able to feel a human’s spirit once they’ve died before. For some reason, now I can. And maybe there are some things we’re better off not questioning. I don’t need the answers. I just need to keep pulling them back.”

  “We can’t have Cameron constantly transporting people to safety,” Thor said. “He needs to be able to find the gods who are doing this, which means we need more help.”