“And who’s Enki again?”
“God of fertility, water and crafts. He’s also the god of a cult dedicated to magic and mischief. Think of it this way, Enlil is like Jehovah to Enki’s Lucifer.”
“So we’re up against the fucking devil?” Ben slouched in his seat and firmed his hold on Lia’s fingers.
“We’re up against Pierus. He’s just partnered with the devil. Apparently, he thinks he needs to cheat to win. We have him running scared.”
Before Ben could respond, Zeus roared, “What am I looking at here?”
Mars leaped out of his chair and rushed to the podium. His fingers flew over a control panel, a deep frown etched between his brows. The screen behind flickered through a variety of images, before resolving into a report.
“I recognize that.” Ben leaned forward again peering at the display. “It’s the world crop outlook.” The lines on the graph below the introductory paragraph were garish red and speared downward in a precipitous slant.
Zeus nodded his thanks to Mars, who stepped away. Zeus fisted his hand on the podium and then moved to the side, waving toward the screen. “Pierus has somehow found a way to significantly blight the harvest. At the rate of decline, demand will outpace international supply. Unless we find a way to defeat Pierus, we anticipate mass hunger and starvation to set in this winter.”
Ben recognized bleakness in the gaze Zeus directed toward his daughters.
Ian spoke up. “We’ve isolated a compound that might take care of the rusts and brunts affecting the wheat crop. Best case scenario—we’ll able to save about sixty percent of the crop from disease if we deploy the treatment soon enough.”
“The wheat harvest was done about two months ago,” Ben interrupted. “So you’re talking about next year’s crop, right?”
Ian nodded. “We’ve managed to secure and guard storage facilities for this year’s harvested wheat. We hope that will protect the reserves. But the fields will have to be treated to eliminate future threat before farmers can sow again. We’ll have to manufacture and disseminate the pesticide quickly.”
“Do you have distribution sources?” Ben’s curiosity rose. This type of operation would require worldwide cooperation.
“We are working on the logistics now.” This from Enlil. The man regarded Ben as if puzzled by a puny mortal deigning to speak in the presence of gods. He tipped his bald head to the side. “Who are you?”
Lia spoke for him. “This is Ben Jordan. He was Pierus’s personal choice for the challenge with Hunger.” She lifted their joined hands from Ben’s lap to the counter in front of them.
Enlil eyed Lia, dropped his gaze to their hands then darted a look toward Ben. With a negligent wave of his hand he indicated Zeus should continue.
Zeus coughed. Every Muse—every immortal—present tensed, holding their collective breath until Zeus wheezed in a gusty inhale, then blew it back out. “We are certain Pierus has enlisted the aid of Abu and Enki in this stage of the take-over attempt. But in doing so, he has freed us to organize our own help.” He arched a brow toward Enlil. “This is where you come in, brother.”
As Zeus outlined his plan, the chart behind him drew Ben’s regard. Something was wonky. There was something missing from the details that comprised the chart. He darted his eyes over the display at the front of the room, perplexed and annoyed. He leaned toward the still-tense Lia and whispered, “Can I view the base data list for the outlook report?”
“Yeah, hang on.” Lia tapped the monitor slanted into the desk’s surface in front of Ben. A moment later, a string of reports populated the screen.
Keeping one ear on the conversation between Zeus and Enlil, Ben scrolled through the lists. He’d thought seeing them would trigger whatever nagged his consciousness, but it wasn’t jumping out at him. He released an aggravated sigh, and started from the top again, his fingers drumming on the desk.
“What are you looking for?” Lia’s breasts brushed his shoulder as she leaned over him, watching him scroll through the reports. He lifted a bit to press back into her, relishing the pressure and heat of her body.
“Not sure. Something isn’t right, though.” He inclined his head to look around Polly to Ian Sommers. He nudged Polly, who in turn, nudged Ian. “Dude, have you ever read the crop reports?”
Ian flashed a glance to the display on Ben’s monitor, then dipped his chin down.
“Can you…” He signaled for Polly to switch places with Ian. “Lia, will you take notes of what Zeus is saying?”
As Lia reached for a pen and paper, Polly traded seats. Ian bent his head toward Ben. “What’s up?”
“These reports,” —he gestured to the scrolling list— “don’t tell the whole picture.”
“Start over at the top of the list.”
Ben complied and together they scanned the file names of the hundred or so reports making up the world outlook. Once they hit the last report on the list, Ben navigated to the top and started over. He mumbled as he slowly searched for the absent thing gnawing at his brain like rats in the grain. “What is it? What’s missing?” The absent piece glimmered elusively on the edge of his mind.
Ian kept his voice low as he offered prompts. “Satellite images?” Ben shook his head and Ian continued. “Supply and demand? Soil moisture? Yield. Production.”
“Think, Ben. Think.” Ben scrubbed his hand over his jaw. All the pieces seemed to be there. Every bit of data about the surface area of crops, production, vegetation, weather, climate change. Every last iota of detail about crop production, except— “Water!”
Chapter 14
His outburst drew a sharp glance from Mars, who cleared his throat and aimed a pointed glare his direction. Ben lifted his hand and mouthed sorry. He twisted toward Lia. “Didn’t you say this Enki was the god of water?”
“Yeah. Seawater, lake water, river water, and reservoirs.”
He spun toward Ian. “Look again. Any lake or res reports? Even anecdotal.”
“You’re on to something?” Lia’s voice rose.
“Shh!” Her sister Callie hushed her from the next tier below.
Lia squinted at her in response, and Callie rubbed her bicep. Ben didn’t understand the byplay, but this didn’t seem the time for sibling arguments.
He kept his voice low. “I think we’re looking in the wrong place to cure the crop blight. Lia, can you access NOAA and Coast Guard data from that terminal?” He pointed to her screen.
“Give me a minute.”
“Find a recent EPA report as well. Please.” She grinned at his politeness.
A bang filled the air. Zeus had pounded his fist on the stand before him. “What the devil are you four jabbering about up there?”
Lia gestured for Ben to explain, sending an encouraging smile along with a squint of her eyes. Confidence built in his chest. It didn’t take too long to process that she’d poked him with a cocky mental jab. “Sir, the crop outlook isn’t complete.”
“I assure you, son, this is the most current global crop analysis available from the UN.”
“Then they weren’t thorough enough in their information gathering.” He shot a look toward Ian. “Anything?”
Without looking away from the screen, Ian replied. “Nope. I’m not finding anything that pertains to water quality or quantity reports. Polly, can you check your news sources?”
Polly’s stylish French twist glinted in the room’s concentrated lighting as she reached for her tablet.
“I’m waiting.” Zeus’s voice echoed in the amphitheater. His tone held a steely edge of get-on-with-it.
Resting one fist on the counter in front of him, Ben stood, his other hand up and palm out. “Give me a second, please. Lia?”
“There!” She pointed to her screen, which was split between the NOAA and Coast Guard sites. “Still working on the EPA report.”
A quick scan verified his theory. He speared his fingers roughly through his hair. “Sorry, um…can we share Lia’s screen on the large monitor
?”
Upon obtaining Zeus’s terse nod, Mars snapped his fingers. One of the tech geeks on the left side of the room sat up and danced his hands over a control panel. The contents of Lia’s screen flashed onto the monitor bank.
“Weather reports?” Zeus questioned, a scowl fixed on his forehead.
Enlil stood and without taking his eyes from the screen moved to Zeus’s side. Or rather, glided. The deity’s feet never touched the floor.
Ben dragged his eyes away from the freaky motion and focused on the websites on display. He sucked in a massive breath and refused to succumb to the intimidation of speaking to a bunch of people history said were all just myths. “Enki is the god of water. But in the Global Crop Outlook, all reports of water have been excluded. Typically there’d be hurricane reports, water quality and level reports, and, er…doesn’t matter. What’s important is that they are missing. Not including them in the outlook allows them to be overlooked as a source of the problem. Scientists and agronomists will focus on what is included.”
Zeus circled his hand. “If you could get to the point, son.”
Ben pursed his lips, unsure of how he felt about Lia’s dad calling him son. Lia wrapped her hand around the back of his knee and suddenly those thoughts disappeared. Free of the distraction, he centered on his effort to explain. “Weather, specifically rain, comes from lakes, rivers, oceans and reservoirs evaporating, putting moisture in the atmosphere to mingle with temperature. Comes back to earth as rain or snow. Precipitation falls on planted crops, and like manure, encourages them to grow.”
Lia stroked her fingers along the back of his thigh and her voice trilled into his mind. “Ben, they don’t need a science lesson.”
“S-sorry. Got a little too preachy,” Ben stuttered. “Um, where was I? Oh, right. So if Enki is the god of water, let’s say he sneaks something into water sources, kind of like rainmakers used to seed clouds with chemicals to induce rain. When the ground water, like lakes and rivers evaporate, the little extra ingredient Enki added falls back to Earth. Except the precipitation comes with some special prizes, like blight, rusts, brunts, cankers, wilts…well you get the idea.” He spared a glance at Lia. “This is why desert vegetation and crops don’t seem to be affected. Doesn’t rain much in the desert.”
“Yay. No shortage of tequila.” She hit him with a smile that stirred his heart as well as his body. He shifted his feet to ease the constriction in his jeans.
“How long does it take for those diseases to get a foot hold?” Mars demanded. “Give me a calendar on sixteen, please.”
After a few keystrokes by one of the hard-edged geeks, the left uppermost screen switched to a calendar. Mars scrutinized the screen, then faced Ben again.
He felt like a deer in the headlights. They were talking about unnatural damage done by beings intent on conquering the world. It could have happened yesterday. But reports of failing crops went back a few weeks. So even if the cause was supernatural, the process was still, most likely, on a mortal timetable.
Ben studied the months, doing some fast mental calculations. “Four weeks, maybe more. So the seeding would have to have been done in August to be as advanced as the failure is now.” He looked to Ian for confirmation.
The man bobbed his head then stood next to Ben. “I agree. Which means that Pierus would have needed to hatch his plan for Hunger back when he introduced Clio’s challenge.”
Clio snorted. “That explains the excess rain. We thought it was from his partnership with the Taino gods of weather. It was just part of his master plan. What a douche.”
“Daughter.” Zeus’s tone teetered on the brink of ominous.
Ben rushed onward. “We can still combat this. We can save next year’s crops. We just need to control the atmosphere somehow.”
Enlil’s booming laughter bounced off the domed ceiling. “Now I understand where I come in.”
Ben cast a sharp glance at Lia. She smiled gently at him. “He’s also the god of air.”
Before Ben could proceed, a shrill noise rang in the room. The word Alert flashed in florid red across the top of the screen. Enlil’s contingent of soldiers rushed to surround him and Zeus, while most of the other tech geeks scurried to build an immortal wall around the Muses. Three more partisans popped into the room behind Ben, all in a defensive position. Every Muse and their mates burst from their chairs.
“Silence!” Mars’s voice rose above the cacophony of everyone speaking at once. “Report!”
“There’s been a breach in Svalbard Seed Vault, sir,” came the immediate answer.
Lia crushed the panic that had burst in her belly the instant the alarm blared to life. She’d have to focus on the problem at hand, solve it, and move on to the next issue. That’s how to get shit done. At the moment, the most insurmountable obstacle was the potential invasion of the seed bank. If she lost the challenge, if Hunger, Pierus, and his silent partners managed to kill all the crops, those libraries would be vital to feeding the masses in the coming lean years.
“Mars,” she yelled above the startled gasps of her sisters and the pounding footsteps of the assembling protectors. “We need to get to Norway immediately. How many troops can you summon?”
“I have three battalions on standby. I’m activating now.” Mars dipped his chin, a fearsome frown drawing his dark eyebrows into a straight line.
“Muses, prepare for transport overseas,” Lia ordered.
Ben’s cellphone beeped loudly. He scanned the readout quickly. “It’s Emma. She said something weird is going on. She thinks someone is trying to break in.”
“Go to her, Ben. Her apartment was warded at the same time as my house. Nothing immortal should be able to pass.” She bowed her head and sent a jab to the guardian assigned to Ben’s sister to check on Emma. “I’ve notified her partisan, but she’ll need you. Once you get her, shift to my house. Take Simon with you.” She waved the man in question over.
The muscular partisan leaped over the guardrail separating the tiers, landing lightly on the balls of his feet next to Ben. He immediately seized Ben’s shoulder and began the misting process.
“Wait!” Ben laid a hand on her arm before he disappeared completely. “Be careful.” He pressed a hard, fast kiss to her mouth.
“You too.” Lia levitated up, buoyant due to her upcoming shift, but also from the possessive nature of Ben’s lips. As he disappeared from her sight, his voice rang inside her head.
“Love you. Don’t get turned into a magpie.”
Returning his words of love lifted her heart too. In the amphitheater, the air crackled and sizzled around her. This many immortals shifting into the Hollow at the same moment was destined to sit on all of their chests like Sisyphus’s boulder. “Get ready. It’s going to be a wild ride.”
Her breath shortened and her eardrums clogged as her body misted into the Hollow. A rainbow burst of aura colors and light filled her field of vision. Aerie’s yellow, Callie’s red, Zeus’s purple, the cobalt of Mars. Mel’s aura was the opposite of Lia’s, fuchsia with orange markings. Thomas, Ian and Jax had all shifted as well, their forms the reflective silver and pulsing blue of mortals with special gifts. Enlil’s guards appeared as glittering black diamonds. Enlil himself was golden and pulsing purple at his center, denoting his status as a supreme deity. Royal blue was dominant, coming from every other partisan jetting through time and space to reach Norway.
Ian dashed to catch up to Enlil, his silvery head bent toward where Enlil’s mouth would be. They conferred for a minute then Ian reversed his direction and dropped back to Polly’s side. Their auras merged for a moment, then Ian continued in the opposite direction.
She sent a thought directly to Polly. “Where’s he going?”
“To his lab. He’s going to start working on the antidote to Enki’s poison. Enlil is sending some of his staff to assist,” Polly replied.
The note of confidence ringing in Polly’s words didn’t stop anxiety from climbing sharply up Lia’s mist form. Not
knowing what or whom they’d find when they erupted en masse from the transport soured her stomach. And there was the added uncertainty about what Ben might have to deal with when he reached Emma.
“Okay?” Clio asked, her words sounding softly in Lia’s ear.
She responded aloud. “Yeah. I just wish this were over.”
“Has Hunger begun her morph?”
That earned her sister a harsh chuckle. “She is downright fugly. She’s a messy bitch too.”
“If she’s changing, they think they’ve won. They’re in for a rude awakening. We haven’t been defeated yet.” Clio reached out in mist form and stroked along Lia’s back, instilling extra confidence. “Besides, your Ben is pretty smart.”
“Not my Ben.” Although he had said he loved her before he rushed to Emma’s house. She’d whispered the words back into his mind as he faded from view. I love Ben. She tried the words again and felt the corners of her mouth lift.
“Bullshit,” Clio retorted. “All you have to do is look at him to know he’s smitten. You too.”
“Daughters, focus on preparing for the coming battle. We are nearly there.” Zeus whispered his caution directly into her mind.
Chapter 15
Ben chased Simon’s aura through the Hollow, heart racing, head pounding. Simon’s pulsing core, on the other hand, remained a consistent glow of yellow, now bright, now dim. Always steady, instilling calm in Ben’s frantic thoughts.
“Almost there,” Simon hollered. His cobalt mist twisted like he’d glanced over his shoulder to see if Ben was keeping up.
“Go, go, go!” Ben increased his pace. At least he thought he did. It was hard to tell in the murky atmosphere in the void.
“Does Emma know?”
“About the whole immortal thing? I don’t think so.” Although, she certainly knew something was up. A vision popped into his head…of her slapping her hands over her ears, like she heard the squawking of the birds during the first attack at the market.
Hunger: Goddesses of Delphi Page 13