Goddesses of War (The Guardians of Tara Book 4)

by S. M. Schmitz

  Because if their only hope for destroying Koschei’s soul lay in the hands of a Titan, their worlds may be damned after all.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Cameron kicked the bronze box, causing it to skid across the concrete floor of the parking garage. He’d tried burning it three times already, and the damn box hadn’t even tarnished. London picked it up and scowled at it then threw it against the ground, but as he’d suspected, the box didn’t even dent either.

  “Maybe we should consider summoning Perses now,” Selena suggested.

  “No way,” Cameron insisted. “Last time he was summoned, Mnemosyne happened, and now, all of our friends are trekking through a river of oblivion in Hades.”

  “So we don’t make any deals to free more Titans,” London offered. “I mean, none of us even know how to free a Titan or if there are any still imprisoned, so it shouldn’t be that hard not to promise to release them.”

  “Why are we even discussing this?” Cameron exclaimed. “The last thing we need is to add more gods to the list that already wants us dead!”

  London held up the box and said, “This is why we’re discussing it. We can’t open it, and we can’t destroy it, but we can’t kill Koschei or any of the gods working with him as long as their souls are safely tucked away in enchanted vessels.”

  Selena nodded and announced, “I’m summoning him.”

  “Don’t,” Cameron started, but a god appeared beside her before he could convince her not to drag a Titan into their midst.

  Perses looked around the parking garage and sighed. “You must be the new gods of the Tuatha Dé I’ve heard so much about. What did you do to time?”

  “Uh… stopped it,” Cameron answered. “I think.”

  “Why?”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, the world is kinda ending. We’d rather it not.”

  “So your plan is to just stop time forever to prevent the apocalypse? Do I really need to point out how flawed this plan is?”

  “Our plan is to buy ourselves enough time to end Ragnarok, but we can’t even touch the gods responsible for the end of the world until we’ve gotten Koschei’s soul out of this box,” Cameron explained.

  Perses glanced at the box then back at Cameron. “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish I were.”

  “Why am I here?” Perses asked.

  “Because I summoned you to destroy this vessel,” Selena responded. “Its enchantment can’t be broken. And given some of the Titans live on Earth now, I figured you’d have a vested interest in helping us end Ragnarok.”

  Perses crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her. “What makes you think you’re the only game in town? What difference does it make to me if the people who live here die? Nobody believes in us anymore, and their stories paint us as villains. The planet’s not going anywhere.”

  “I can’t imagine why Greek myths paint you guys as the villains,” Cameron said.

  “Not helping,” Selena told him.

  “We don’t have the ability or the inclination to free any Titans that might still be imprisoned,” London added. “If you require a bribe just for helping us do the right thing, make it a reasonable request.”

  “Are you seriously telling me what I can and cannot demand after you summoned me here wanting my help?”

  “Um… apparently,” London said.

  Perses rolled his eyes and let his arms fall by his sides. “I’m going home.”

  “Plan B,” Cameron decided. “We can’t bribe you, so we’ll threaten.”

  Perses laughed and shook his head. “Threaten me? You can’t even destroy one little box.”

  “Hey,” Cameron shot back, “that’s because it’s a magical box. And we have a glass castle in Murias. Destroy the vessel, or I will throw you in your own prison.”

  “You can’t,” Perses replied. “I’m a god of destruction, dumbass. I’ve never been imprisoned because no prison can hold me.”

  Perhaps the Titan hadn’t meant it as a personal challenge, but what Cameron heard was, “Go ahead and try, but I don’t think you can do it.” So he went ahead and tried.

  The cold, damp air of the Louisiana winter was replaced by the warm, dry air of Murias as he dragged Perses to the glass castle. Selena and London trailed behind him, the young Greek goddess still carrying the bronze box. Perses protested and tried to free himself from Cameron’s grip, but Cameron touched the side of the glass castle, causing it to shimmer and ripple as if the glass had transformed into the surface of a lake.

  “Last chance,” Cameron warned.

  “It won’t hold me,” Perses insisted.

  Cameron shrugged then pushed the Titan inside. The wall immediately hardened again, and Perses squinted at the sun god, yelling obscenities and what may have been honest-to-God curses at him before backing away from the wall, his face contorting in fierce concentration.

  London turned the box over in her hands and shook her head. “I’m starting to think he can’t destroy this thing either.”

  “Yeah,” Cameron agreed. “But this has given me another idea. What if we just throw all those gods in the glass castle? If they can’t get out, they can’t kill Loki when we rebind him, right?”

  “That’s a huge risk,” Selena said. “After all, Odin escaped.”

  “Because Ailill let him out.”

  “And we’d be risking our world and Earth on not having any more traitors among us.”

  “And it’s probably not a good idea to have that many certifiably insane gods locked inside the same prison,” London added. “Which just happens to be located in your world, no less.”

  Perses beat on the wall, but nobody outside the glass castle could hear any sounds from within. Cameron only noticed the movement of his arms, so he glanced up at him and shouted, “Knock it off, asshole! We’re trying to think.”

  “It worries me that such a small distraction prevents you from thinking,” London supplied helpfully.

  “I really wish our friends would get their memories back,” Cameron sighed.

  “Don’t count on it,” Selena told him. “I mean, their entire plan consists of reversing the flow of Lethe and hoping it restores memories rather than erasing them.”

  “Why do you have Perses trapped inside the glass castle?” the Dagda asked as he appeared behind them.

  Once again, Cameron jumped then pointed an accusatory finger at the father figure of the Irish. “Bell. Starting with you.”

  “Perses,” the Dagda repeated.

  “He was being mean.”

  The Dagda blinked at him, so Cameron blinked back.

  “Cameron,” the Dagda groaned. “We can’t just imprison gods in our world whenever we feel like it. Do you have any idea the trouble it would cause?”

  “Considering the apocalypse has been triggered and we have no way of stopping Huitzilopochtli’s army from invading the Otherworld, I don’t really care,” Cameron answered.

  The Dagda stroked his long, ruddy beard and sighed. “Conceded.”

  London held up the bronze box to show it to the Dagda and explained, “We can’t open it or destroy it. We were hoping Perses would help us, but he’d apparently rather stay trapped within a glass castle forever. I have to admit: I don’t have any other ideas, and I’m panicking more than a little right about now.”

  “Don’t blame you,” the Dagda said. “But why aren’t you in Hades with the others?”

  “Because it’s more important that Cameron and Selena have help than one goddess get a few months of memories back,” she replied. “They’re working on their own now to save both Earth and the Otherworld. Even if they only need me as a messenger, I need to be here.”

  “I like this new London,” Cameron announced.

  “I’m not a new London,” she responded. “I just don’t remember us not liking each other.”

  “We liked each other,” Cameron told her. “We just teased. A lot.”

  The Dagda took the box out of her hands and turned it o
ver, studying it silently for a few moments before approaching the glass castle and holding it up for Perses to see. “Destroy it. Odin spent five hundred years in there, and it drove him crazy. Do you want to take that risk?”

  “Odin was always a little crazy,” Perses said.

  Cameron gaped at the Titan because it was the first time he’d heard any sounds from within the prison, and now, he’d heard his voice as clearly as if he were standing right in front of him. “How—?” Cameron started, but the Dagda cut him off by again demanding Perses destroy the enchanted box.

  Perses crossed his arms defiantly and told him, “You have nothing to offer me, and the only thing I care about your young friends have already insisted they wouldn’t give.”

  The Dagda grunted at him then glanced at Cameron. “The imprisoned Titans?”

  “Yeah, freeing more of them seems like a terrible idea considering Mnemosyne has buddied up with Huitzilopochtli and his minions.”

  “And she tried to kill you by forcing you to forget your promise to Ailill,” Selena added.

  “It’s my family,” Perses snapped.

  The Dagda stroked his beard thoughtfully again then nodded. “Poseidon should weigh in on this.”

  “Why is Perses in the glass castle?” Poseidon asked as he appeared among them.

  Cameron threw his hands up and said, “Bells. You’re all getting bells. Now.”

  Poseidon waved him off then repeated his question, so the Dagda explained why Perses had been imprisoned and what he wanted in exchange for destroying Koschei’s vessel. The Greek god of the sea put his hands on his hips and glared at the Titan who glared back at him.

  “The rest of your ancestors who are in Tartarus,” Perses demanded. “Free them, and I’ll destroy this vessel.”

  Poseidon narrowed his eyes at the enchanted box in the Dagda’s hands and tapped his foot as he thought about Perses’s condition. “I fought alongside my brother when our father became a tyrant. Surely, you can’t still fault us for deposing Cronus.”

  “I fault you for the millennia of torment of your aunts and uncles and cousins,” Perses said. “Have you set foot in Tartarus? Do you know what that dark abyss is like?”

  “I’ll bet it’s dark,” Cameron whispered to Selena. “And deep.”

  “Cameron,” Poseidon sighed. “Not now.”

  “Okay,” Cameron said. “I kinda don’t blame him for being pissed off. Or Mnemosyne for that matter. I mean, Lugh was only trapped for five hundred years, and I totally hate Hel for doing that to him. In fact, if she doesn’t go back to her own realm, I’ll probably kill her. The problem is what the Titans will do if they’re freed. Perses, you can’t guarantee they won’t wage war against us, and there are enough gods fighting us right now.”

  “Perhaps I can’t,” Perses agreed. “But my father can.”

  Cameron shuffled through his mental catalog of Greek mythology as he tried to remember who Perses was descended from, but Selena saved him from hurting himself with such deep thought. Crius, she supplied silently. But almost nothing is known about him other than fathering three more Titans, including Perses.

  How do you remember all this?

  Selena shrugged, which earned her a strange look from London, who most likely didn’t know she and Cameron could converse telepathically.

  “Your father heads your pantheon now?” Poseidon asked.

  “The few of us who managed to escape Zeus’s wrath,” Perses said.

  “We destroyed Othrys,” Poseidon told him. “Where do you propose all of the surviving Titans go?”

  “What vanity that you think you have the right to know,” Perses hissed. “You and your brothers rebelled against us, and threw us into Tartarus to spend eternity in torment. Only I escaped and have roamed the Earth for thousands of years, alone and vengeful.”

  “And Mnemosyne,” Cameron added helpfully. “Apparently, she was imprisoned in Hades for some reason, which seems kinda pervy to me, but you know… poking sleeping bears and all that.”

  Poseidon shook his head at Cameron then tossed Koschei’s box onto the ground. He turned to walk away, but London blocked his path even though her focus remained on the Greek god inside the glass castle. “The original Olympians have been cowards then.”

  “London!” Poseidon said sharply, but she ignored him.

  “There is a new generation of gods who never knew a world where mortals worshipped us, where we were expected to intervene in their lives and fates. We’ve never competed with one another for land and believers and realms. We don’t understand the rivalries of our ancestors, yet we often blindly follow our leaders. But Cameron and Selena have changed all that. They’ve managed to change the hearts of the Tuatha Dé’s oldest enemies. They’ve offered them permanent refuge in their own world. If they can do it, so can we.”

  “London,” Poseidon warned again, but she continued to ignore him.

  “What are your conditions, Child?” Perses asked London.

  “Have Mnemosyne restore our memories, and secure an assurance from all of the Titans that they won’t ally against us. Keep to yourselves. It’s a far better fate than eternity in Tartarus or an eternity alone.”

  “London, I will not agree to any of this,” Poseidon hissed.

  London finally looked up at him, her pale blue eyes determined and maybe even a little angry too. “Then kick me out of your pantheon. Disown me. If you’ll allow gods to suffer who are willing to promise they’ll no longer threaten our family, I don’t want to follow you anyway.”

  “Holy shit,” Cameron murmured.

  Selena just nodded.

  “Bring me to Tartarus,” Perses suggested. “Hear for yourself that they’ll agree to your terms. But Poseidon must agree the Olympians will leave us alone, or it’s a useless gesture.”

  Poseidon groaned and rubbed his forehead, but the Dagda patted his shoulder and offered, “Perhaps it’s time, old friend. We had our chance. We’ve had so many chances over the years, and we’ve made so many mistakes. Let the young gods try it their way. And if they’re wrong, the world is already ending. It’s not like we’d have long to regret our decision.”

  Poseidon let out a half-laugh, half-sigh and relented. “Bring him to Tartarus then,” he told London. “But only after he gets Mnemosyne to agree to restore everyone’s memories. Cameron, you’ll have to go with her. You’re the only one of us powerful enough to save London if Perses and Mnemosyne betray her.”

  “And I thought going to Hel was bad,” Cameron mumbled.

  London smiled and lifted a shoulder. “If you have any better ideas—”

  “I don’t,” Cameron said. “And for the record, you convinced me this is the right thing to do. Maybe if we all live through this, you can take Jasper’s place as head of the New Pantheon.”

  “God no,” London said, so Cameron had to ask.

  “Which god?”

  “Which god what?”

  “Just… go,” the Dagda said. “Trust me: some questions are better unanswered.”

  The Dagda placed his hand on the glass castle and the barrier became permeable again. He reached inside and pulled Perses out of the prison and warned about the price of betraying his young sun god.

  “If I’m capable of killing your new sun god, what makes you think you can do anything to hurt me?” Perses shot back.

  “Just so we know what we’re about to walk into, is Tartarus like Hel? Or the other Hell?” Cameron asked, not at all concerned about whether or not Perses would be able to kill him. Killing London, on the other hand, would definitely be possible for the Titan, which meant he’d have to keep Perses away from her. But mostly, he just wanted to be back already from the notorious abyss the Titans had been thrown into.

  “Tartarus,” Perses answered, his voice pinched and strained, “is nothingness. It’s far worse than the Hell mortals fear, because when you’re surrounded by nothing—no light or time or things or even a sky and the stars—your existence becomes meaningless. Not ev
en death can save you because your soul is still trapped in that void forever.”

  “I think I’d rather go back to Hel,” Cameron said.

  London picked up the box that contained Koschei’s soul and handed it to Perses. “As soon as we uphold our end of the bargain, you destroy this.”

  Poseidon reached out and grabbed London’s arm, placing his open palm over her wrist and she flinched but didn’t pull away. When the leader of the Olympians removed his hand, Cameron noticed what must have caused London to grimace—a small trident, like a blue and gold tattoo, marked her skin now.

  “So the guards of Tartarus know you have my permission to be there and act on my behalf,” Poseidon explained. “I’m trusting you to act wisely, Daughter.”

  London rubbed her fingers over the small brand and nodded. “Then I won’t disappoint you.”

  Selena squeezed Cameron’s fingers and kissed his cheek before telling him, “Hurry home to me.”

  “Always,” he promised. He shot a mischievous grin at London and Perses and said, “If we come across Huitzilopochtli on our way to Tartarus, let’s grab him and throw him into the abyss. Seems way easier than fighting another war.”

  “You won’t find him, Sun God,” Perses responded. “Rumor has it that he knows this battle is quickly approaching and he’s off preparing himself to fight you.”

  “Preparing himself?” Selena repeated. “Oh my God, he’s killing people to harvest their hearts.”

  Perses shrugged. “Humans, demigods, gods… they all lend him more power. He’s not exactly picky about whose hearts he’s taking right now. If you want to find him before he does become more powerful than even your sun god here, we should leave for Tartarus now, because it won’t be long before Huitzilopochtli comes looking for you.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The road to Hel had been long and boring, but the road to Tartarus was downright terrifying. As soon as Perses secured Mnemosyne’s promise to restore everyone’s memories once they returned with the Titans, he’d brought Cameron and London to the edge of the abyss where his family had been imprisoned for thousands of years.