by Hadena James
“He’s being kept inside the prison right now. Jack insisted on staying in a cell with him. Why?”
I shrugged. There was no reason to tell her that I was just making sure he hadn’t eaten my baby sister. I didn’t believe Jasmine was on the island. That would have made her vulnerable. This meant she had sent someone else to do her dirty work, someone already on the island.
“Where’s Vera’s husband?” I asked my mother.
“I don’t know. He was pretty broken up about Vera,” she sniffled.
“Did Vishnu learn if he was involved or not?” I asked.
“No, he seemed so crushed and surprised, we didn’t bother with Vishnu.”
“I bet a donut that’s who has her,” I told her. “I need the overlords and some uncles and some siblings. You, Dad, Pendragon, and some loyal demons should search for Amanda on the island.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Brenna? I see that you have something on your mind.”
“Mom, just go get her back. We’ll deal with everything else.”
“Tell me, Brenna,” my mother stood and put her hands on her hips.
“I’m thirty-one and that doesn’t work on me anymore,” I told her. “I might be wrong and then I’d feel stupid if I told you.”
“Told her what?” Rachel asked.
“Can you gather the others? Mom and Dad need to go get Amanda. They can take mates, demons, and Pendragon. I think we’re going to need everyone else.” I thought for a moment, “I may need to speak to Pendragon before they go.”
“Sure,” Rachel was curious, but didn’t press.
My mother huffed. I got out of bed and got dressed. Whatever Jasmine was doing on the mainland, it was going to be bad. My gut was filled with butterflies. They made me feel nauseated. The biggest question was how could I kill Jasmine? I had some ideas. I holstered the sword across my back and left my mom standing in my room.
“Go, find Amanda,” I told my father. “Take Mom, some demons and Sonnellion with you. Also, I’ll need Pendragon for a few minutes, and then you can take him and Vishnu too. I think Vera’s husband has him. I’ll need the rest of my uncles, all the overlords we can spare and if I need more, I’ll send the call to Demonnation.”
“You think this is a diversion?” He asked.
“Yes,” I told him, “and whatever she’s planning is going to be bad. We definitely can’t let Mom show up. She’s...” I couldn’t think of a word that didn’t sound bad so I didn’t finish. This worked in my favor as she chose that moment to enter the living room. My father led her outside.
“Well?” Eli asked once they were gone.
“Amanda goes missing? Come on, Jasmine’s up to something and she isn’t planning it here,” I said.
“Brenna, we should talk,” Levi said.
“Will it help me kill Jasmine?”
“No, but it is important,” Levi urged.
“It can wait,” I told my uncle as Pendragon came in. “I need to know how to open a portal.”
Pendragon handed me a charm. I stared at it. It was a silver swirl.
“I thought that’s what you wanted. With it, you’ll be the only one able to open a portal to or from the island. Anyone can get in and out, so you need to guard it.”
“How does it work?”
“Just think about where you want to go.” Pendragon left.
It sounded simple enough, in theory. Whether it would work that well in real life was another story, after all, I was involved. I stretched.
“So we just stand around and wait?” Anubis asked.
“Do you know what she is planning?” I asked him.
“No,” he answered.
“Then we watch the news,” I shrugged. “Whatever it is, it will be big, bad, monstrous, and unleashed on humanity. Think we can get Jack to come with us?”
“Probably not. He is intent on watching the man from the woods,” Rachel said. “He stands outside the door and stares into the cell. The golems stand outside the prison, all watching the door. The man is immune to Pendragon’s children.”
Daniel flipped on the news. The volume went up. There was breaking news and screaming in the background. We all moved to watch the TV.
“...death tolls could be in the millions. The creatures attacking the seventeen cities seem unstoppable. The witches that control them have not been affected by the use of modern weaponry. Armies from around the world are assembling and converging on the afflicted cities, but the...” Daniel turned the volume down.
Our sister was on the screen. She was controlling something that looked like a tornado with a mouth. It was destroying buildings and houses.
“Where is that?” I asked him.
“Kansas City,” Daniel answered.
“Then we head there,” I told him.
“And the other cities?” Anubis asked.
“I don’t know. I just know I have to deal with Jasmine,” I told him.
“You guys go there, we’ll gather beings and head to the other cities,” Ba’al said.
“How? There isn’t a portal if you don’t go with me?” I said.
“We’ll find a way,” Anubis said. They were out the door.
“Go with them,” I said to my uncles, “they will need you more than us.”
“The rest can go,” Levi said, “I’ll stay with you.”
I decided against arguing with my uncle. I had a plan. It was a good plan.
“Rach, did you get the sleeping thing created for the root of all evil?”
“Yes,” she held up a necklace.
“Great!” I exclaimed. “This is what we do. You guys distract her, I’ll slip this on her, and then we put her in the wall with the root of all evil.”
I headed out before anyone could find flaws with the plan. I was sure there were some, but I didn’t want to know about them.
The charm worked like a touchstone. I held it in my hands and thought about where I wanted to go. The portal created didn’t look like other portals. We had the ability to see into the other side.
Most of the buildings had been reduced to rubble. The Sprint Center was nothing more than twisted metal and broken glass. The Kansas City Convention Center, part of which had been built over Interstate 70, had completely collapsed. Stealth bombers dislodged some rubble and it skittered down onto the interstate as they flew overhead. They flew lower than I had ever seen them before and they were coming from Whiteman Air Force Base, not going towards it.
We stepped through the portal. The invisible force that made portal travel possible grabbed hold of me and jerked me through time and space. Some people were better at portal travel than others were. I was among those that were not good at it. My feet hit the ground at odd angles and I ended up rolling across the pavement.
The city looked like a ghost town. From somewhere, I could hear heavy machinery moving, but there were no other signs of life. No people, no screams, no cries, nothing moved or made noise, it was eerie and depressing. My sister was located in this metropolis, turning it into a wasteland for the residents.
We had all grown up in Kansas City. It was strange to see it ruined. Entire structures were missing. The skyscrapers I had always found fascinating as a child, lay on the ground in heaps of steel, concrete and glass. Looking east, the construction that had dominated the landscape of Raytown, also known as new KC, was missing.
Men in military uniforms began running towards us, guns drawn. I managed to get a protection spell up, moments before they began firing. After several moments of being shot at, someone shouted for a cease-fire.
“Ms. Strachan,” a man that looked vaguely familiar came forward. “Tell me you’re here to help.”
“We are,” I told him. “Where is she?”
“Jasmine Strachan is currently at Arrowhead Stadium. We are a search and rescue team.” As he spoke, I recognized him as having been to the house several times. He was friends with my father.
“And the things that caused this mess?” I pointed.
Very few things had multiple heads. Cerebus and hydras, the deciding factor was that hydras had to have water to survive. I didn’t imagine she had the heads in giant fish bowls. Whatever she had with her was probably created using Cerebus’ DNA. That would give us a leg up.
“Peter, has the city been evacuated?” Eli asked.
“As much as it could be,” Peter Holman answered. “We didn’t get much warning. One minute, the world was moving forward, the next, those things were in our city. It got worse after your sister showed up. The military has been mobilized. The creatures don’t seem to like water, so we’ve been filling barges with people or instructing people to go to large bodies of water and wait for rescue teams.”
“Cerebus,” Rachel said.
“We really need Jack,” I told her.
“We don’t have Jack,” Levi reminded me, “but we have you and that will help.”
“Cerebus eats me on occasion.”
“He won’t right now, possibly ever again,” Levi stepped back through the portal.
“I must admit, I’m tempted to close it,” I looked at Rachel.
“That would be petty,” she responded.
“True,” I frowned. “You might want to leave now. Cerebus is not very friendly.”
“The hellhound?” Peter asked.
“Yes,” I answered.
“I thought his name was Cerberus?”
“The Greeks didn’t get everything right,” Rachel answered for me. “Sometimes, names of real creatures were changed by the language barriers.”
The portal grew dark. We all looked at the men in uniform.
“Please don’t shoot at him. Once he’s here, he’ll kill the creatures attacking the city. We’ll deal with my sister and her coven. However, shooting him irritates him,” Nick said.
“Noted,” Peter took several steps back. The portal grew larger, darker. I wondered if my uncle was luring Cerebus to the portal or if Cerebus could just feel the existence of his manufactured offspring.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Few things are more terrifying than Cerebus. He is roughly five stories tall and fifty to sixty feet long. He looks like a multi-headed Great Dane that has been bred with a bullmastiff and a Caucasian mountain dog. His fur black, true black, has no blue, purple, red or grey tints to it. Large red eyes and massive pointy teeth do not make it look any friendlier. If Cerebus has a playful side, no one has seen it, unless to him, that’s what it means to eat beings.
The men watching the portal were visible shaken by the appearance of the hellhound. Most raised their guns, but were able to not fire upon him. Cerebus sniffed the air and let out a low growl that made the rubble around us vibrate.
Above us, the light disappeared. The sun was no longer visible, covered by the dark cloud of magic that hovered over the hound. As he moved, the darkness moved with him. On the island, it had seemed almost natural for Cerebus to bring darkness. Here, in the world of mortals, it was unnerving.
He didn’t notice us. His gaze penetrated something far beyond what our eyes could see. He pinned his ears back and let out a howl that dropped several of the humans to their knees. A few writhed in pain on the ground. My siblings went to them, trying to help them maintain their eardrums while the hound continued its terrifying howl.
When he finished, the world was deathly silent. The heavy machinery could no longer be heard. It was as if time had stopped. I could hear the moans and groans of the men on the ground, but nothing else.
“He’s going to need a guard,” I said.
“Got it,” Nick said. He looked at Peter, “Think you guys can help Daniel and me? We mostly need for no one to shoot at him.”
“We can help clear a path for him. Where does he intend to go?” Peter asked.
“Wherever those creatures are,” Daniel answered. “He is very particular when beings use his DNA to create other animals.”
“Those things are genetically engineered?” Peter asked.
“Yes,” I said. “And as long as they were hidden by whatever magic has been hiding them, Cerebus was fine. The moment they came out of from behind the magic, he became agitated.”
“How’d you know the disturbance at the house was Cerebus?” Levi asked.
“I heard them say multi-headed creatures. The pieces fell into place. Will you go with Daniel and Nick?” I asked.
“No, they’ll be fine with the hound and army. Samuel and Olivia can accompany them. The rest of us will go find Jasmine.”
“Why are we going with the boys?” Samuel asked.
“Because neither of you have innate powers to hurt your sister. Eli, Rachel, and Brenna do,” Levi told them.
I realized that I wasn’t actually in charge. Levi would be orchestrating this show. He’d take my input to some degree, but he would be making the decisions. Part of me was really ticked about it.
“Rachel, give me the sleeping charm. You three distract her and I’ll slip the charm on her,” Levi said. “She will want to go head on at Brenna, so it will work in our favor if Brenna is there and not trying to sneak about.”
Since my uncle knew my plan without me telling him, I decided I was predictable. The fact that he had instantly found the flaw and corrected it, meant that while I was getting better at this whole leading armies thing, I still had a lot to learn. I wasn’t sure I had enough time to learn it all.
“Are you strong enough?” I asked. Only a day earlier, Levi had been dead.
“I’ve had nearly four days to heal up. I’m fine,” Levi told me. Four days. That didn’t seem to fit my time frame. Had I really slept for three days before my father busted down my door? It was possible, I supposed. If we survived, I would have to ask.
“We are just going to imprison her again?” Eli frowned.
“Nope, I intend to brick the bitch up, with that man they created from the ground, in the wall that we build around my house. If one wakes up, the other will as well, I figure that’s a failsafe way to keep them both trapped in the wall. They will have to battle each other before they can battle their way out. We’ll know if something like that starts to happen and can put them both back to sleep,” I said.
“It is a good plan,” Rachel said slowly.
“I know, locking your sister in a wall for eternity with someone more evil than her, seems inhumane,” I said, “but, I still have this thing about killing her and we can’t have her awake and roaming the prison or some other place.”
“And there is always the chance that if she wakes up, Pegasus will come to our aid,” Levi said.
“Why? Why would Pegasus show up because of my sister?” I asked.
“You didn’t want to talk about it now,” Levi said. “Only after we have Jasmine, you keep telling me.”
I groaned in response. Now my uncle was going to be passive-aggressive and petty. I stretched and looked at Daniel and Nick.
“If something happens, let me know,” I told them.
“Uh, how?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know,” I responded lamely, “call me on my phone.”
“Right,” Daniel said, “because we all remembered to pack cell phones to defeat the evil sister from hell and her minions with the help of Cerebus.”
“Use a pay phone,” I said.
“Do those still exist?” Nick asked.
“Here,” Peter handed me a walkie-talkie, “use this.”
“Thanks,” mentally I slapped myself in the head. They would be with the army. We were more likely to be screwed than they were. Cerebus took a deep breath. “He’s going to howl again, so you should go.”
Cerebus doesn’t like to be off the island. He does it from time to time, usually because he has no choice. It used to be the Minotaurs that took him off the island. Now, it was my siblings and his unnatural offspring. Thankfully, his being semi-dead made him sort of partial to Nick and Daniel. He’d never eaten either of them.
My siblings and the military men left with the hellhound. We watched them go. Making our way to the stadium would not be easy. Arrowhead was on I-70, but if the rest of the road looked like this, it would be treacherous.
We began the arduous task, weaving our way through smashed up cars and concrete strewn shoulders. Thankfully, we did not see any dead bodies. Whatever had happened, the people had abandoned their vehicles and left the machinery to the mercy of destructive forces.
Few things were as depressing as a desolate city. Moving towards the outskirts of the metropolis, nothing actually came to mind. I tried to focus on the task at hand. The destruction had my nerves frayed and my stomach felt full of butterflies again. There was no need to point this out to anyone in the group, so I did my best to keep a brave face and concentrate only on finding my sister and ending the madness.
Moving east, we could see the damage getting worse. The stadium wasn’t yet visible, but the sky over where it should be was dark. Not Cerebus dark, but dark enough to make my siblings slow down. We stopped running. Since breathing was not a requirement for life or movement, we could run without limits, our lungs never giving out. I couldn’t even remember the last time physical activity had increased my heart rate.
From the sky, a tornado seemed to shoot down to the horizon. It stayed motionless. Large things were being pulled into it, their shapes becoming visible on occasion as they swirled around.
“I don’t remember her having that kind of power,” I said.
“Jasmine doesn’t,” Eli said. “Jasmine is sort of like a fluffy, evil bunny.”
“Did you really think she would be alone?” Levi asked.
“Think? No. Hope? Yes,” I admitted.
“A fluffy, evil bunny?” Rachel asked Eli, ignoring Levi and me.
“Well, how would you describe her? Yes, she has powers, but nothing really dangerous. She’s almost as bad at spells as Brenna,” Eli gave me a quick look. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I told him. “I do suck at spells. However, I have discovered I’m a great conjurer and I’m a terrific vessel for feeding magic where I want it to go. That’s why I have you guys. You cast the big bad spells. I just give you the magic for it.”