by M. R. Polish
Atty smiled. “Well, yeah. I mean, that’s where Marin is, right? That’s where Tarine is. So where else did you expect to go to fight? Here on Earth? Yeah, that’ll go over well. These humans will kill themselves off with their own wars. They don’t need a supernatural war with us to do that for them.”
“I thought that maybe we’d be in Shamike,” Karis started.
“Shamike?” Atty interrupted. “You want to put all of your people at risk just so you can reclaim the throne? Can you sit there all of your days knowing you stepped up on the backs of all the people slain because you were too afraid to fight for what was right somewhere else? Have you forgotten why they called me the Goddess of War? I can plan a battle like no other being. But, it also means I can see all sides, and the effects. I know where the best place to embed a sword blade to make you hurt or to make you bleed out. I know how the enemy thinks. Isn’t this why you sought me out first?”
Karis swallowed hard. Having such a woman reprimand her, made her think, and the reality of what situation they were in came into full focus. “You’re right.” She looked at Brady first, and then scanned the room. “We need to find Zeus, create a trained army, and then charge the gates.”
There was no way she could take the throne if she sacrificed her people. Atty was smart and Karis was glad she was on their team. Even though this war had been going on for years, longer than anyone thought, it was only beginning, but Karis was going to stop it.
“Okay, good.” Atty smiled. “Now that we have a plan, I have a question that’s been bugging me since you arrived.”
They all looked at her expectantly. Karis tipped her head, thinking of what Atty could want to know. “And that is?”
“Where’s your necklace?” She pointed to Karis. “It’s not around your neck.”
Karis’s heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t sure how Atty knew about the piece of jewelry. “Tharious took it.”
Atty squinted. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. There was an incident while we were in Shamike and he fled with it before we could stop him.” Karis held her breath.
“This changes everything. Why didn’t you tell me? I that thought maybe you just had it hiding or something. This is bad. This is very bad.” Atty stood up and began pacing. “Deep breath, it’s okay. It’s okay.”
Azul frowned and leaned closer to Magnus. “Is she okay?” he whispered.
“No, I’m not okay! I can’t believe you lost the necklace.” She stopped pacing and bent over with her hands on her knees. Closing her eyes, she let out long, slow exhales. “So now Tharious or Marin, or whoever is behind this has all of your powers!” She was near yelling. “This war just got a lot more complex.”
Karis rushed to Atty. “What do you mean they have my powers?”
Atty stood tall, her eyes never wavering as she stared at Karis. “Your necklace was important in so many ways.”
“I know. I was able to communicate with Tarine with it,” Karis said.
Atty shook her head. “No, there’s more to it than just a communication link between you and Tarine. It carried your father’s powers inside it, as well as yours. Whoever has the necklace can mimic yours or King Parius’s power.” She gritted her teeth. “Every time someone uses that power, it will strip it from you. But, it can only be used until all of your magic is gone, then the necklace is no good. It will just be a charm to hang around your neck after that.”
Karis scrunched her face. “I don’t understand. How is it possible that my father’s powers are still inside?”
“Are you sure his magic is inside of it?” Atty asked.
Karis threw her arms in the air. “How would I know? This is the first I’ve heard of any of this.”
Atty shrugged. “I’m not one hundred percent sure. I’d assume since you are the King’s blood daughter, you’d feel him. A heat, or thrumming vibration. Something that would mesh with your powers but different enough to know they aren’t yours.”
Karis gasped. “That’s how it always felt while I wore it since he gave it to me.”
What could that possible mean? Karis’s mind swarmed with potential scenarios.
“Um, wait,” Brady said and came to stand with her. “Karis, I think you should sit down.”
She gave him a cautious side-glance. “Why?” A couple with a little girl entered the lobby diverting her attention. The woman smiled at Karis, leading her daughter to a table across the room. The man eyed the group before proceeding to help his family get breakfast. Karis watched as he whispered something to girl, making her giggle. Karis warmed at the sight, making her own hundred-year-old grief grip her heart.
“Karis,” Atty started, breaking Karis’s stare at the family. “I don’t think your father is dead. If you can feel his power then he’d have to be alive.”
The Earth, the hotel, and all of the worlds came crashing down around her. Her stomach twisted and lurched up. She ran from the room looking for any place but where she was to relieve the pain in her chest. No. It couldn’t be true. Was it? Could her father be alive after all these years? She was at the funeral, she saw him dead, and then she was banished for his premature death.
Tears blurred her vision. Her breathing came in short gasps. If her father was alive then where could he be? She sat down on an iron bench just outside the hotel lobby. The dry heat penetrated her skin and radiated through the layers of clothing. She’d give anything to feel the moist heat of her island and get away from the desert.
“Karis,” Alexis whispered as she sat next to her. “I’m sorry. This has to be hard to take in. If your father truly is alive then you need to find him. But I think the only way you can do that is by staying on course and finding Zeus. If Marin is behind this then finding him might be how to find Kind Parius.” She wrapped an arm around Karis and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. “You are family. We are here for you always. That’s what family does. Even if that means we fight until we die.”
Karis sucked in a sharp breath and wiped her face. “You’re right. I’ve cried too much. I won’t let Marin get to me anymore, and I will find my father.” Even as she spoke, she could feel her strength double and internally her emotions took on a stone face. But even Karis knew that stone could crumble.
Chapter Three
“Well, that settles it. The ocean it is.” Atty swung her brown leather backpack over her shoulder. “Can I get a sticker that says ‘ocean or bust’ for my car? Oh, or maybe I should get one that says, Got Crabs? Pacific Ocean Has You Covered. You think they have those?”
Brady laughed. “I wouldn’t doubt it.” He flung the duffel bag he and Karis shared into the back of the Honda that had at least fifty stickers both big and small plastered all over the bumper. It was going to be cramped until they got to the car rental place. Brady was the only other one who had a license so there would only be two vehicles, but that was enough for their group. Atty and Azul could fight and argue in Atty’s little compact, and Magnus and Alexis could choose which car they wanted to be chauffeured in.
“Alright, I think that’s all of it. Road trip!” Atty hollered over her shoulder.
They all piled into the car with Alexis and Karis practically sitting on Magnus and Brady’s laps in the backseat. “Rule one of the Chariot, I am the only one who gets to touch the radio.”
And with that, she pushed the power button and loud rhythmic music blared from the speakers. The bass vibrated the seats and rattled the windows. Karis couldn’t see herself in the side mirrors with all the tremors. Alexis plugged her ears and tried yelling over the sounds. “Can you at least turn it down? There are some of us who aren’t used to this.”
Azul smiled, enjoying the intense noise. He nodded his head and bopped along with the beat, thrumming his hand on his thigh.
Atty turned the volume down. “Sorry, I forget you all weren’t used to things like Metallica.”
Karis yawned, trying to open her ears back up but it was no use. She twisted the best she
could to see Brady. “I really hope you don’t listen to that.”
He laughed. “No, the stuff I listen to is much easier on the ears. Mine has a twang to it though.”
“Good, then we’re riding with you,” Alexis said without even waiting to ask Magnus. Atty and Azul laughed in the front seat over something none of them in the back could hear over the still too loud music.
“At least they found something they have in common. A taste for raucous sounds,” Karis said. They all laughed, but Atty and Azul were oblivious.
None too soon, they were in the rental truck that Brady was able to lease. He was excited to drive again and get back to something that seemed normal to him. The full-extended cab had four doors and was big enough for all four of them to ride comfortably. They would leave Atty and Azul to endure the small Honda and the riotous Metallica songs.
Brady was worried he wouldn’t be able to rent the vehicle because his wallet and license was still back on the island, but he found a matching card inside the small bag his father left for them. It was just another testament to him that he was from Aridam and not Earth. How many licenses and passports were banded together baffled him, each with different dates and ages. Some for the future, some that would work now. His parents surely thought of everything before passing.
For a brief momentary second he wished his parents were still alive to help them. Karis’s father might still be alive and while he hoped that was true for her, he wanted the same thing. He let it go, shaking it off. Now was not the time to dive into another bout of grief or depression from their loss.
Magnus and Brady tossed their bags from Atty’s car into the back of the truck and pulled the bed cover over them. Brady opened the front passenger door for Karis and helped her inside. His hand lingered a little longer than necessary on her. It still amazed him how much just her touch warmed his soul, making him want to forget everything but her.
He jumped in and started up the engine. Already they could hear the thump thump thump from Atty’s radio, even though her windows were rolled up. Alexis hung her head. “I am so grateful we don’t have to listen to that for thousands of miles.”
Karis laughed. “Me too.”
After gassing up, and making sure everyone was ready to endure the road until a rest area, they left town.
“So, I guess I’m still a little lost on why we’re heading to the ocean. I mean I know Poseidon is Zeus’s brother and all that, but what if he’s not there?” Brady shifted the truck into fifth as they hit top speed on the highway outside of town, loving the feel of the engine rumbled under his fingers. There was something about driving a truck the way it was meant, that made him feel like a man.
“Well, Poseidon is actually Zeus’s half brother. His father is from Perditus and they share the same mother, who was from Shamike. He will be the easiest to find because of that,” Magnus said as he ripped open a bag of chips they’d bought from the gas station before leaving.
“Okay, so I might be a little slow, or maybe it was all the brainwashing Atty just did with her music, but I’m lost. Why is he the easiest?” Brady looked up in the rearview mirror at Magnus, who was licking his fingers clean of the cheesy orange.
“Because his father is from Perditus.” Karis raised her brow at Brady.
And, like light bulbs flickering on, Brady’s mouth opened to form an ‘O’. “So he’s going to be in the water. I get it now. But how do we know he’ll be in the Pacific? There is more than one body of water on Earth.”
“Well,” Alexis cleared her throat. “Atty knows which ocean because Poseidon’s son, Triton, was her foster father when Zeus wasn’t around for whatever reason. He helped train her alongside his own daughter, Pallas, and because when she left Aridam while she was still quite young, she basically finished growing up with them. Pallas was like a sister to her. They were close.”
“What? Now I know you’ve got to be joking. This is crazy.” Brady shook his head. “Really?”
Magnus nodded. “Yes. She told us all about it the other night while you were out fighting. But, don’t say anything to her because it is hard for her.”
Karis twisted in her seat to see them better. “Why?”
“You know how she was telling us about the link they all have and how it hurts when someone dies?” Alexis asked.
Karis nodded, intently listening.
“Well, one day there was a fight between Pallas and Atty. You can imagine the fight between two goddesses and their powers. Zeus stepped in and protected his daughter, saving Atty, but Pallas was mortally injured.” Alexis looked away, staring out the window. “Atty was so consumed with grief and regret that she created a statue in Pallas’s likeness. But it’s not enough. It still haunts her.” She sucked in a ragged breath and brought her attention back into the cab. “But, that’s how she knows which ocean. She knows the family. Heck, she’s part of the family.”
Everyone was quiet in the truck. Brady looked back in his rearview mirror at Atty’s car following him closely. Her bobbing head to ridiculously loud music and her smile made his heart drop to his stomach. He couldn’t imagine all she’d been through.
Brady rolled his head and puffed his chest out, letting his spine readjust. Small cracks and pops flittered up his back and neck. Holding the wheel with one hand at a time, he twisted in his seat, letting his lower back do the same thing. He forgot how road trips killed his body. They weren’t even half way and he was already feeling it. He chuckled over how it was probably his body reacting to his old age. One hundred and sixteen was young to an immortal, but just finding out he was really that old made his mind squirm.
A few miles back, Atty sped up and went around, taking the lead in their traveling caravan. He mused over how she must have hated being the B driver. He didn’t care either way and set the cruise control to keep up with her faster pace.
“Brakes!” Karis yelled, scaring him out of his stretch.
Clutch in and throwing the shifter in neutral, he slammed the brakes all the way to the floor. The screech of rubber on asphalt filled the air. He mumbled and cursed under his breath. “What the hell, Atty?” Both vehicles came to a stop and he pushed in the emergency brake and left the truck running while he jumped out.
He threw his hands in the air. “What the hell was that? Are you trying to kill us? Did that music finally kill all of your brain cells?” He was pissed. Beyond pissed. It wasn’t so much Atty’s fault, but that he wasn’t paying enough attention, that if Karis hadn’t seen Atty’s brake lights he could’ve hurt someone.
“Get back in your truck and don’t stop. Get to the hotel we talked about but don’t stop anywhere else. Got it?” Azul said as he rounded the small car. “Now!”
Brady didn’t like being talked to, or yelled at like that, but he could hear the seriousness in Azul’s voice to know he could argue later, right now he needed to just listen. Jumping back in the truck, he released the brake, rammed the gear stick into first, and took off.
Alexis was still wide eyed. “Wait. What about them? Why aren’t they driving too? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know that it wasn’t the time to argue.” Brady looked in the mirrors and finally saw Atty and Azul getting back in her car. “They’re coming.”
Within seconds, Atty’s car came up close behind Brady’s truck but never swerved to try to go around. Brady’s heart picked up as he watched Atty’s worried face and her repetitive look into her own rearview mirror. No longer did he hear the thump of her music. Something was definitely going on.
Chapter Four
Brady parked the truck at the hotel and jumped out. He threw his arms in the air. “What the hell is going on?”
Atty shook her head as she got out and slammed her car door. “Not here. Let’s get our rooms and talk inside.”
Jaw clenched, Brady grabbed the duffel bag and flung it over his shoulder. “Whatever,” he mumbled as he went around to Karis’s door and helped her out. “She’s still n
ot talking. She wants to wait until we get into our rooms.”
Magnus nodded and got out, grabbing his and Alexis’s bags as well. Azul stood firm near the truck and Atty flanked the other side. If the timing were better, Brady would have laughed. You’d think they were protecting royalty or something. Then a small hand slid into his. He smiled. They were protecting royalty. He wasn’t sure he’d get used to that. It was so different, so strange to think the woman he loved was the Queen of an entire world. He’d protect her, but for other reasons. For reasons that his heart chose.
After getting to their room, Brady flipped the lock on the door for extra protection then dropped the bag from his shoulder to the floor in front of the bed. “Doing okay?” he asked Karis.
She folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, just curious to know what’s going on.”
“Me too.” He closed the distance between them in two strides. “Don’t worry.” He rubbed her upper arms. “In case you forgot, I’m pretty mean when I want to be. Whatever is happening, I’m bigger and badder.”
She laughed. “You really have to stop letting your head get so big.”
A knock on the door told them their time alone was over. Brady unlocked and opened the door, letting everyone inside. “So? What’s the big deal? You nearly had me run into you, then you trailed me so close I thought you were gonna crawl up inside my tailpipe.”
Azul went to the window and peered outside briefly before shutting the curtains, making sure none of the remaining light of the evening could reach them. “We’re being followed.”
Alexis cocked her head. “Followed? By who? No one even knows we’re here. Coron is dead and Karis doesn’t have her necklace to let Tarine know.”
Atty’s left brow rose. “Apparently someone knows we’re here and while they are being subtle about showing themselves, I know they are there.”
“Who do you think it could be?” Karis asked.