Selena’s heart and stomach seemed to coordinate their fluttering and she moved her hand away as soon as the pain was gone.
Badb stopped in front of one of the camps and turned off the ignition. She switched the headlights off and told them to follow her inside as she opened her door and climbed out of the car. She didn’t wait to hear a response from either of the demigods in the backseat.
“Any chance we can get her to change back into a crow?” Cameron asked.
“No way,” Selena whispered. “She might just leave us out here. And I have no clue where we are.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Selena. Quetzalcoatl will find us.”
He grinned at her then opened his door and ascended the wooden steps to the camp. “They’re both a pain in the ass,” Selena mumbled to herself.
She pushed the door open and swatted at the mosquitoes that immediately descended upon her. A rustling in the dark bushes sent her running up the stairs and she barreled through the front door, narrowly missing Cameron who had been waiting for her.
“Did you hear something hissing at you?” Cameron laughed.
Selena pushed him and narrowed her eyes at him. “That is not funny. Besides, it could be him.”
“Nah,” Badb said from the kitchen, her head hidden inside the refrigerator. She pulled another bottle out and set it on the counter behind her. “He’ll be keeping a low profile tonight, preparing for this battle with us tomorrow.”
Selena approached the counter and looked at the bottles she was lining up. “And we’re preparing with Worcestershire sauce and horseradish?”
“Of course,” Badb replied. “I’m feeding my troops.” She stood up and closed the refrigerator door, making shooing motions with her hands again. “Now out. I don’t give away my culinary secrets.”
“The Irish war goddess has culinary secrets,” Cameron said. “Because this whole ordeal hasn’t been weird enough.”
“That’s how we should settle things with Ukko. A cook-off. The Finns aren’t exactly known for their cuisine.”
Cameron gave her that sexy smirk and told her, “The Finns aren’t exactly known for anything. How many people do you think could even find Finland on a map?”
“Don’t underestimate Ukko,” Badb called from the kitchen. She beat a spoon against the side of a glass bowl as she stirred a marinade together. “We’ll deal with him once Quetzalcoatl is out of the way, but Ukko is far more dangerous. You know what you’re getting with Quetzalcoatl. He doesn’t pretend to be your ally or enemy: he is what he is. But Ukko…” Badb paused and poured her marinade over the chicken breasts and thighs then turned the water on in the sink to clean the bowl.
Cameron and Selena glanced at each other as they waited to see if Badb was going to finish her thought or if that was all she had to say. Cameron finally got tired of waiting. “But Ukko what?”
Badb lifted a black-robed shoulder at him and turned the water off. “He was the original god to betray us all by aligning himself with the New Pantheon. He wanted some of his old power back, and the only way to do that was to attract believers, people who would be willing to worship him and revere him. The New Pantheon would have remained toothless, just a bunch of demigods, had it not been for Ukko. But now… we are all hunted, and the more power the New Pantheon gets, the more powerful he becomes.”
“This… is exactly what I needed to hear on the night before going into a battle with a giant snake who wants me enslaved,” Selena said.
“Go,” Badb said, nodding toward the living room. “Watch television. Relax. Enjoy yourselves. It may be a while before you can have a normal evening again.”
“This is normal?” Cameron asked.
Badb smiled at the dishes in the sink and shrugged again. “You’re together and you’re both well then. Go enjoy that.”
“That sounds ominous,” Cameron mumbled.
Selena pulled on his arm and dragged him to the living room where they spent several minutes just hunting for the remote before Cameron reminded her she was telekinetic; they didn’t need the remote. Selena giggled at her own oversight then sat by him on the sofa, though not as close as Badb had her sit to him back in his apartment, and they watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld while Badb grilled chicken and made a huge pot of mashed potatoes and kept pulling bottles of Guinness from her magical refrigerator.
The goddess brought Cameron a Diet Coke, remembering Selena’s admission that he didn’t drink, and they stuffed themselves then watched a silly romantic comedy, which Selena fell asleep on. At some point in the night, she felt Cameron’s strong arms lift her from the sofa and carry her to a dark bedroom, where, for the second time since meeting him, he gently laid her on a bed and covered her with a blanket and slipped out quietly.
Selena smiled to herself as she drifted back to sleep, thinking this night, even with the knowledge of what they would be facing the next day, even with the warning of what Ukko had done to his fellow gods and what future she and Cameron would have to confront in order to defeat him, this night, had been one of the best nights of her life. She’d been given a taste of what having a real family was like, and it was everything she wanted, even though the man she loved wanted nothing to do with the fate she had chosen.
Chapter Fifteen
The basin seemed just as menacing in the morning light as it had the previous night. Each noise, whether the rustling of leaves or slapping of waves against the bank, each bird chirping or animal scurrying along the basin floor, made Selena jump and search anxiously for a giant feathered serpent and his cohorts who expected the sacrifice of children.
How could Badb think Ukko was worse than that?
With so many threats on her life, she’d never had the chance to research Ukko’s history, but she couldn’t imagine that he expected his priests to wear human skin or murder children. And she knew he didn’t eat people.
Cameron’s fingers wrapped around her hand and Selena smiled up at him, grateful for his comfort and reassurance. Badb kept her guise as an old woman but her quick footsteps threatened to leave the demigods behind.
“Where are the other gods who are supposed to be helping us?” Selena asked. “Because they can get their asses down here anytime now.”
Badb snickered and tugged at the sleeve on her robe. “Don’t worry. They’ll be here when we need them.”
“I kinda need them now or the anxiety may kill me before Quetzalcoatl even has a chance,” Selena responded.
Cameron squeezed her hand and shook his head. “Not if I can help it. If it comes down to it, Badb, get her out of here. Take her to the Otherworld if you have to. I’ll stay behind to give you a chance to escape.”
“Cameron…” Selena breathed, intending to argue with him that she didn’t want him to sacrifice himself for her but Badb interrupted her.
She slowed down just long enough to look over her shoulder and nodded at Cameron. “I’ll do what I can.”
“When did my opinion stop counting?” Selena asked.
“It’s always counted, but we know you, Selena,” Cameron said. “You would throw yourself in front of a train for a stranger.”
“And you wouldn’t?” Selena stopped walking and stared into Cameron’s beautiful chocolate brown eyes. He watched Badb’s retreating back for a few moments so he wouldn’t have to face Selena and her accusation that he was more of a hero than he was giving himself credit for.
He finally sighed and gave up when Selena refused to budge. “No, I wouldn’t. Selena, I spent twenty-seven years hiding from the world partly because I didn’t want to be a hero. I just wanted to have a normal life. And even when I met a group of demigods I thought I could trust, I still didn’t tell them the full truth about me.”
“We all want to be normal, Cameron. That doesn’t mean you aren’t…”
“Later, Children,” Badb interjected. She turned around and walked briskly back toward them, the long black robe that covered her small withered body lengthening and
dragging the ground behind her. Selena blinked and the goddess was gone.
“Badb?” she called.
“Oh, she did not just leave us by the Atchafalaya River right before a group of Aztec gods invade us.”
Selena turned around and watched the river, expecting to see the long ripples that presaged the arrival of the feathered serpent but the river was calm, tranquil. Only the occasional mullet jumping out of the water broke the smooth brown surface.
“Are they invading us or are we invading them?” Selena whispered.
Cameron shot her an are-we-seriously-having-this-conversation? look but Selena shrugged and waited for his answer. Cameron pointed to the river and insisted, “He doesn’t belong here!”
“Technically, he probably has more right to this land than we do. The people that worshipped him were at least indigenous to this continent,” Selena pointed out.
“You’re unbelievable,” Cameron complained.
“Thank you,” Selena said.
“That’s the first thing I’ve said that wasn’t meant to be a compliment,” Cameron retorted.
“I know,” Selena replied, her smile broadening as she prepared to tease him, but Cameron’s eyes darted above her head to the river as the slapping of something large and heavy hit the top of the water. Selena spun around and saw the ripples spread from the center of the river as the dark shape beneath the brown water glided just below the surface.
Cameron pulled her behind him as they watched the large serpent break through the brown ripples and its vermillion eyes settled on Selena, a sickening grin emerging on its reptilian face. What sounded like the fluttering of hundreds of wings in the trees to their left broke their attention away from the river as a tall, brightly colored bird landed on the bank, its golden eyes fixed on the demigods who stood without their gods along the Atchafalaya River as the Aztecs descended upon them.
The river suddenly split in half, the water rushing away from the riverbed as Quetzalcoatl slithered onto the land. The muddy bottom of the river lay exposed as the water pushed farther to the sides, forming taller and taller walls of brown liquid that flowed in a reverse waterfall. From the center of the wall on their right, a form began to appear, as if the river formed the lifeblood of the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.
“We are so going to die,” Cameron murmured.
Selena nodded and backed farther away from the river but nowhere was safe. Tonatiuh approached them from the east, like the sun rising, and his brilliant orange and red feathers were the sunrise. Quetzalcoatl slithered closer to them from the bank of the river and to his side, Chalchiuhtlicue sprang forth from the water, long flowing waves of muddy water forming the dress that draped over her tall, lean frame.
A low rumbling noise behind them startled them both and they turned to see Xipe Totec and a fifth god, an unexpected addition to the Aztec army that had assembled at Quetzalcoatl’s request. “Any idea who this is?” Selena whispered.
“Nope,” Cameron whispered back. “Any chance you learned Nahuatl in the past couple of weeks?”
“It was on my to-do list,” Selena said.
Cameron’s fingers wrapped around her hand again and he turned away from the newest gods to face Quetzalcoatl. “All right, let’s just… discuss this like mature deities and nobody has to die.”
All five Aztec gods laughed at him. “Should have suggested it in Nahuatl,” Selena said.
“It was on my to-do list,” Cameron responded.
Quetzalcoatl’s giant serpentine body contracted and the handsome man with copper skin and long black hair stood in its place, his dark eyes roving between Cameron and Selena. “I was promised a war. This isn’t a war. This isn’t even a fight.”
“Yeah,” Cameron agreed, “I’d be pretty pissed if I were you.”
“Something is seriously wrong with you,” Selena hissed.
Cameron lifted a shoulder at her. “You’ve gotta admit. If you spent a week preparing for some epic showdown between powerful gods and you show up and all you’re faced with is us… that’s pretty damn lame.”
Quetzalcoatl sighed and rolled his eyes and held out his hand. “Give me the girl.”
“No way,” Cameron said. He pulled Selena close to him and she felt every muscle in his arms and torso tense as he prepared to defend her to his last breath.
Quetzalcoatl glanced at Chalchiuhtlicue, a small smile turning the corners of his lips and she smiled back at him. “We know who you are,” he said. “And we haven’t told your enemies. Give me the girl and it will stay that way.”
“Now this is the dumbest negotiation I’ve ever heard,” Cameron snapped. “If you know who she is, then the Tuatha Dé will lose her anyway. Why the hell would I be willing to compromise?”
“Because they get to keep you,” Quetzalcoatl replied. “They don’t have to lose all of their new gods.”
“We’re not losing any,” Badb’s voice told him.
“It’s about damn time,” Cameron said.
Selena looked around for the source of Badb’s voice but she didn’t see the goddess anywhere. A faint breeze rustled the leaves on the ground beside their feet and Cameron and Selena stared at the ground as a white mist rose from the Earth. As the mist cleared, Badb’s younger form stood by their side along with a tall man whose broad shoulders and red beard Selena recognized as belonging to the Dagda. On their other side, a separate mist formed and separated, leaving a dark haired goddess with a fierce, penetrating stare and a man with curly golden brown hair, his eyes fiery and filled with a hatred that made Selena cower against Cameron’s side.
He wrapped his arms around her again and whispered, “Athena and Ares.”
Neither god looked at him to confirm he was right but Athena’s lips curled into the slightest of smiles at the mention of their names, at Cameron’s ability to so quickly and accurately guess their identity.
Gods liked to be flattered and the Greeks were obviously flattered.
“Guess you’ll get your war now,” Cameron told Quetzalcoatl.
“Cameron,” Badb scolded, but it was a half-hearted reprisal. The Dagda just laughed.
Quetzalcoatl’s eyes narrowed and his chest expanded as he seethed with anger. But Cameron apparently wasn’t finished.
“What exactly are the rules of war between gods?” he asked. “Nobody gave me a weapon. Athena, you have a sword or something I can borrow?”
Athena looked him over quickly then arched an eyebrow at him. “Can you use a sword?”
“Well, it’s better than being unarmed,” Cameron argued. “Although a bow and arrow would be better. I wouldn’t have to get close to anyone to kill them.”
“Cameron, you’re not an archer either,” Selena pointed out.
“Not true. I can use a bow. I may not be very good at it, but I can use it. Does the snake guy have an Achilles’ heel or something? Any chance you can just guide my arrow like in The Iliad?”
“That was Apollo,” Selena said.
“Yeah, I know, but Apollo’s not here. And let’s face it: my arrow isn’t killing anyone without some divine intervention.”
“God, these two are annoying,” Quetzalcoatl mumbled.
Cameron shook his head. “No, just me, really. It’s not her fault her destiny got all caught up with mine. Besides, which god are you talking to? Yourself? That’s kinda weird. And dude, that’s coming from me.”
“Cameron… shut up now,” Selena hissed.
The Aztec gods closed in on them and Athena glanced at Badb and grinned at her. “Lugh didn’t talk nearly this much.”
“No,” Badb smiled, “but Cú Chulainn did.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Cameron intervened. “I still don’t have a weapon.”
“Maybe your mouth is your weapon,” Selena whispered.
“No,” Badb and Athena answered at the same time. The Dagda still thought it was all terribly funny.
Quetzalcoatl jumped toward them and Selena thought she screamed but sounds became distorted, like she
was trapped inside the river itself. She opened her eyes and watched as Cameron helped Athena and Ares push Quetzalcoatl and Chalchiuhtlicue back toward the bank. Tonatiuh, Xipe Totec, and the nameless god lunged toward Badb and the Dagda, who prevented them from entering the circle where they stood.
Selena blinked and stared at the ground. She only now noticed they were standing inside an actual circle, the white mist the gods had emerged from forming a large ring around them.
“The battle lines,” she whispered.
She had no idea if Cameron even heard her. He was awfully busy trying to prevent an Aztec god from entering the circle that was meant to protect her.
Selena lifted her eyes just in time to see the huge wall of water from the river rushing toward them, a destructive tidal wave that uprooted the trees in its path. She noticed the wind picking up behind her, an attempt by the Dagda to push the water back toward the riverbed, and a wall of fire erupted in front of their circle. Quetzalcoatl disappeared as the tidal wave continued on its deadly course, extinguishing the flames Cameron had started.
The winds blew harder but inside the circle, she felt only the faintest breeze as she watched trees being uprooted in both directions now, mesmerized by the devastating forces the gods could wield. Her telekinesis would be useless but she had nothing else to offer them. She tried to push the water Chalchiuhtlicue was commanding back where it belonged, but all of their efforts only slowed it down. It came crashing toward them anyway, destroying everything in its path.
Cameron turned on his heels and pulled her into his arms, covering her with his body as the four gods formed a circle around them. Selena wondered if drowning were painful, if it were a slow death or if the impact of the onslaught of water would kill her instantly. She wrapped her arms around Cameron and held on tightly.
Selena held her breath and waited. She felt Cameron’s arms loosening and she strengthened her grip, but he spoke quietly in her ear. “It’s ok, Selena. They protected us. It passed over us.”
Shadows of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 1) Page 17