"They look so happy," I said to him.
"They do."
I glanced up at him. "We should try to get them to retire. Move them to Florida or something," I said quietly.
He nodded. "We'll see. You know they won't take us up on that."
"We should still try."
He squeezed my waist, then took my hand and led me to the dance floor, where other couples were starting to sway to the music as well. I danced with him, loving the feel of being in his arms, his strong shoulder under my hand, his fingers twining with those of my other hand. I loved the way he leaned down and nuzzled the side of my neck.
"If you don't stop that I'm going to drag you into our room one last time," I whispered.
"We should have another go on the roof before we move out, too," he murmured, and I blushed. Our roof had seen more than a little action in the past couple of weeks. We'd broken the glider, and Nain had promised me he'd get it fixed.
I kissed his throat as the song ended, and then we both started trying to be good hosts, mingling with our guests. Of course, any gathering of supernaturals is an opportunity for politics, and this was no different. Shifters and witches who were maybe not as high up in our hierarchy as Nain, Brennan, Rayna, Jamie, and I seemed, already, to always be trying to work their way up, as if leadership of Detroit's supernatural community was something to aspire to. I spent the next two hours listening to people complain. I promised meetings. I answered questions. When I finally freed myself from an especially irritating conversation with an older warlock, I looked for a quiet corner to hide in.
Ugh. Socializing. This so wasn't my thing.
I looked toward the living room, which was quieter than the dance floor and where the tables were set up. There were folding chairs there, too, arranged in small groups for conversation, as well as our sofa and the TV. Brennan sat in the corner, Sean on his lap. I glanced toward the dance floor, where Nain was dancing with Ada. I caught his eyes and glanced toward Brennan, and he nodded.
I walked over to Brennan and Sean and sat down in the chair next to his. I kicked the torturous heels off and tucked my feet under the chair, barely suppressing a sigh.
"It was a nice wedding, huh? I've never been to one before," I said. Sean dozed against Brennan's chest.
"It was nice. They looked happy," he said. I sensed for him. Nervousness. Sadness. Guilt.
"No date?" I asked him, and he shook his head.
"I'm taking a break. I think that's for the best," he said, and I didn't know how to respond to that.
We sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. "I'm surprised you're talking to me," he said finally. The past few weeks, since the revelation that he'd been working for the government, gathering information on me, had been pretty tense. He claimed it went both ways, that he was collecting just enough information on us to be able to keep his position there and feed us information about what the government knew. It made sense, but it was really, really hard for me to get over the sense of betrayal. For the first couple of weeks, I hadn't said a sentence to Brennan that didn't include the words "fuck," "you," or "asshole." Usually in that order. Then I stopped talking, and he knew me well enough to back off and leave it alone. I missed him, stupid though it was.
"Did you think I would give you the silent treatment forever?" I asked him.
"I wouldn't have blamed you if you did."
I sighed. "I have a hard time being mad at you. I mean, maybe someone saner than I am would look at everything that's happened and wonder why I haven't killed you yet."
"I've wondered that myself," he said, and I was happy to see a little bit of a smile on his lips.
"I can't hate you, Bren. Not for the witch, not for Sean. Not even for telling Ross and his guys about me." Agent Ross, who headed a special division of the Department of Homeland Security that was specifically tasked with watching supernaturals and responding to the chaos that had erupted because of Strife. Brennan's boss. "Like you said: I save the world my way, and you save it yours."
He was quiet for a minute. "So you get that none of what we had was a lie, right?"
I nodded. "I know."
He took a deep breath, and I felt relief roll off of him. "Good."
"Why did that relieve you so much?" I asked him.
"Because if you actually believed that I didn't really love you, that would only make you doubt yourself more, and that's the last thing you should do. And I am… was," he corrected himself with a grimace, "crazy in love with you and it matters that you know that."
"I do."
"Why the change of heart?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "Look how crazy everything has been. How many we've lost. Life is too short and too insane to stay mad at the people you care about. And no matter what else happened, you were there for me when no one else was. I mean, I'm not ready to start hanging out or anything like that, but I'm sick of losing people. And I'm sure the hell not going to lose someone who's still alive and well."
He just stared at me. "Who are you and what have you done with Molly?"
I laughed, and after a couple of seconds, he joined in.
I glanced around, saw that Nain was on his phone. He hung up and started walking toward me and Brennan. He leaned down.
"We have to take off," he said.
"What's going on?" I asked, standing up. Brennan stood up too, shifting his hold on Sean. Eunomia joined us, and we exchanged a glance.
"That was one of the Delray shifters. Apparently the whole fucking neighborhood just disappeared."
"What do you mean, disappeared?" I asked him.
"I mean it's gone. Nothing there, like the Earth just swallowed it up. That's what he says, anyway."
"Hopefully he's been hitting the bottle again," Brennan said, and Nain let out a grunt of agreement.
"That's what I'm hoping. With all the other weird shit going on, I doubt it, though," Nain said.
Brennan gestured to Artemis, and she walked over and took Sean. "I'm coming too. Can you watch him, Artemis?" he asked, and the immortal nodded and took Sean from him.
Within a few minutes, the four of us were heading out of the loft, still dressed in our wedding clothes, heading for a neighborhood that no longer existed.
In the truck on the way over, I brought up an enchantment so the Normals would see me the way they usually did: all black clothing, no wings. I had a feeling they'd probably had enough surprises for one night; if I could give them the small comfort of looking the way they expected me to, I would do it.
The first thing we saw when we arrived in the Delray neighborhood was all of the people milling around in the streets. We also saw that, despite the reports we'd received, not the entire neighborhood was gone. Most of the homes and businesses were still there.
But not all of them.
Delray was known for being one of the most polluted areas of the city, thanks to multiple factories and incinerators.
Someone or something had eliminated the polluters.
Where the factories and plants had stood, there was now what looked like ancient forests. Nain stared at it as he climbed out of the truck, took my hand and led me out the driver's side door.
It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. And I have seen some crazy shit in my lifetime. As the people milling around recognized me, they started coming up to me, telling me in panicked tones what they'd seen.
"It was crazy," an older woman with snow-white hair was saying. "I was sitting in my living room, and I heard this rumbling sound. And I thought, really, we're having an earthquake? Stuff started falling out of the kitchen cabinets, and then the power went out." The others who were standing nearby were nodding.
"And then the shaking stopped, and I figured I'd step outside and see what was going on," a man picked up. "Everything was dark, so I made my way over in this direction because my mom lives over there." He pointed at a senior citizens' home. "Then I looked across the street and saw that."
At his words, all of us turned to
look at the forest. The entire western side of the neighborhood was now woods. Whatever had caused the forest to grow had effectively snapped the energy and water lines where they were. Power lines dangled, and water gushed from the street.
I blew out a breath and turned to Nain. "Call Heph. We're going to need him for this."
He nodded and turned away, raising the phone to his ear.
"Was anyone hurt?" I asked as a Detroit police officer walked up.
"It doesn't look like it, Angel," the officer said. He looked to be in his fifties, and gave me a respectful nod. "The factories were all quiet because it's a Sunday. They would have had a shift in there around four, but it was empty. Lucky."
I nodded, thinking it had a lot less to do with luck than it had to do with someone paying very close attention to things.
"What the hell did this?" the officer asked me. I was very aware of the people watching me, of their worry, fear, and a sense of wonder pressing on me.
I looked around at them. This was what I'd signed up for. Being out in the open, being a light in the dark. "We're going to find out," I said. "Right now, I'm just relieved no one was hurt. I have some people coming in to try to get the power and water and all of that fixed."
"It's going to take weeks," an older man said. "Look at this mess. We're going to have to move out, and it was clearly some super-powered freak like you who did this!"
I looked at him. Sensed Nain and Brennan's anger behind me. The group of Normals exploded in emotion just then, and I had to focus on dampening it, separating myself from what they were feeling. They were a mix of fear, but more than a few of them were enraged at the man for the insult he'd thrown at me.
I kind of loved those Normals just then.
"Clearly, whoever did this was a supernatural."
"Which means it's a good thing we have the Angel here to kick its ass, whatever it is," Brennan said, stepping effortlessly into his governmental role. He flashed his badge. I was amazed that this man, who'd shared my bed, who'd worshipped my body, had been keeping his own brand of secrets from me the entire time. And I wondered how I'd missed it, how I'd been so blind to something so obvious.
It was in everything he was. The way he carried himself, the authority in his tone. That cockiness that had annoyed me almost as much as it had attracted me.
He was made for this.
He glanced my way, caught me looking at him. He gave a small smile, a wink, as if he knew what I'd been thinking. "I'll conduct interviews and try to find out what they saw."
"We'll check the woods," I said, and he nodded. "When Heph shows up, just point him toward the broken things. He'll be in heaven."
Brennan laughed and turned back toward the Normals, who were all waiting to give him information about what they'd seen. I turned to Nain and gestured toward the newly formed, yet ancient-looking woods, and he nodded.
"This is insane," he muttered as we walked toward the woods.
As we did, I looked around. I could feel other power signatures around us, approaching us.
Demons, Nain thought at me, and I nodded.
Lots of them, I answered, sensing. They were everywhere. I could feel why. Whatever this was, whatever these woods were, they almost drew me to them.
You feel this, right? I asked Nain. Are you feeling like you need to get there?
Yeah. This is fucked up.
I nodded.
The closer we got, the stronger I felt it. And the closer we got, the more obvious it became that this wasn't a typical Earth forest. As I examined the trees in front of us, I kept expecting to see shades of green and brown, typical forest colors. Instead, it stayed black.
And I noticed more.
Plants I'd only ever seen in one other place. Through the branches, flashes of an amethyst sky.
I stopped a few feet away from the edge of the forest, reached out and put my hand on Nain's arm, pulled him back.
"It's the Nether," I said quietly.
Chapter Two
He turned his head, looked at it again. I felt, through our bond, the second he realized it.
"Because of Nether?" he asked.
I stared at it. "I don't know. It doesn't make any sense."
That was the moment my family decided to make an appearance. Hades, Tisiphone, and Megaera appeared out of nowhere, and they stood beside us and stared. Eunomia also joined us, and she took my hand as she studied the scene before us.
"How the fuck did that happen?" Hades growled.
"Nether?" I asked.
"Why would she do that? She hated being imprisoned there," Tisiphone said. "And unless I'm completely wrong about what she can do, she can't do that," she added, gesturing toward the Nether woods thing. "She can't just create something that wasn't there."
Hades groaned. "Not that I don't miss home sweet home, because I do. But this makes no sense."
There was a loud crack beside us, and a tiny, yet insanely powerful, woman stood there. Her skin was the color of rich, dark earth, her hair falling in silky shades of green down to her feet. Her sky blue eyes were glowing, and she was, at that moment, staring daggers at my father.
"It's because your kind corrupts everything you touch," she said, her voice reminding me of the lilting of a babbling stream, the calls of birds, even through her rage. "Every single thing. I was attempting to make something beautiful here, and look at what happened!"
"Gaia," my mom breathed. And then my mom did something she never does.
She got on her knees and bowed her head. My aunt Meg followed suit, as did Eunomia.
My father just crossed his arms. "This is my fault, huh? What possessed you to try to make woods here in the first place?"
"The Earth cried for me here. I was healing it. And then this," she said, pointing angrily at the Netherwoods, "happened. And it's all your fault. Too many of you in a place you shouldn't be. Leave it to the Olympians to ruin everything they come into contact with. It's your fault humankind destroyed this land in the first place," she finished, her voice approaching a shout.
"My fault? My fault? Seriously, woman?"
"Don't you 'woman' me, you overgrown imp," Gaia screeched. "You forget yourself, Mr. Lord of the Dead. You are not the most important…"
"You assholes lost, Gaia. Get over it," Hades said in a bored voice, and I winced. Nain pulled me behind him, sensing that the ridiculously powerful being standing before us was about to lose it.
"Yes. And humanity is so much better for your kind winning, Hades," Gaia said with what looked like an eye roll. It was hard to tell. "Where is your blustering buffoon of a brother, anyway?"
"His son killed him. So I'm guessing, trapped in the Aether acting as king to an empty realm, maybe?"
A look of surprise flitted across Gaia's features. "Really? Which son?"
"Hephaestus," Hades answered. In the meantime, my mother and aunt had stood up, and the level of anger seemed to have dissipated a bit.
"Hephaestus?" Gaia said thoughtfully. "Well, it's not as if the boy didn't earn the right to do that."
"Something we agree on," Hades said, nodding.
"He's mated to one of mine, I understand?" she asked, and Hades nodded again. "Good. Good. Maybe together they can work to balance your taint here."
And then it began again.
After a few minutes of traded insults (damn, immortals can get nasty when they're pissed…) I watched as several other beings started appearing, this time, it seemed, drawn by Gaia's presence. As they neared us, I started to make out shapes. Men and women, and one I knew quite well, since he'd just officiated the wedding of two of our friends and team members.
"Father Balester?" I asked as the priest neared us.
He smiled, and his eyes were alight with tears. "Angel," he said in greeting. Then he stared toward Gaia, reverence in his gaze. "She has returned. I can barely believe it," he finished in a whisper.
"Um…." I replied. Admittedly not my most eloquent moment.
"What do you know abou
t Gaia?" Nain asked as we watched more beings approach the Titan and sink to their knees as my family started making their way toward the woods along with the rest of the Nether-creatures.
Father Balester sighed, a contented look on his face. "We are her servants, her followers. The Earth Guardians have always belonged to Mother Gaia."
"So you've been following her for thousands of years, then?" I asked, trying to gauge the priest's actual age.
He smiled kindly. "No, Angel. But my father and grandfather and many generations before me were. Same on my mother's side. It is a rare and proud lineage, to be one of Gaia's own." His face clouded, took on a hard look after a moment. "You know what she is, and I know, my immortal friend, what you and your family are. Your kind imprisoned her. Do not think for even a moment that we will allow that to happen again. Not when we've finally gotten her back."
"Not very priest-like with the threats there, padre," I murmured.
"I am unlike any priest you've ever known. We both know that. My devotion to Mother Gaia comes first, as it always has. I like you, but do not assume that will continue should you cross her."
Nain and I exchanged a glance.
I really don't want to have to take a priest out, he thought at me.
Getting religious in your old age, demon? I responded.
We both know there's only one goddess I worship. Let's get this finished up so we can go home and I'll show you.
I shook my head a little. "Care to explain, Father?" I said aloud to the priest, who was still standing, head bowed.
"Others will come. The Earth Guardians will heed her call. We will do her good work, as we always have."
"Where was she before?" I asked him.
He stared at me in disbelief. "Do you really know so little of your own history, Angel?"
"So enlighten me," I said, teeth clenched. I was getting a little tired of everyone pointing out how clueless I was about mythology. I was working on it. The problem was that most of my knowledge seemed to come when things were about to fall apart. As soon as I got a vacation, I figured I'd read up on it.
Nether: Hidden Book Five Page 2