Reluctant Gods (The Awakening Book 2)

by Keri Armstrong

  Fear ran ice cold throughout my body as he spoke of being an attendant to the king who’d built this fortress. And that’s what I learned it was – a fortress to fend off enemy attacks and global catastrophes. When he mentioned loving a woman named Izzara, I couldn’t breathe. First, Nathan had known we had the gong, and now Ammon spoke of Izzara?

  Izzara whose murdered husband’s name was Ammon, and she whose children were saved by a servant who was also named Ammon.

  It was a common name, right?

  He seemed unaware of my internal conflict as he prattled on, happily pointing out this and that, becoming more excited as he went. So excited, it increased my fear. He looked manic.

  How did he also know these stories, and had he somehow become convinced they were real? Had he lost touch with reality at some point? His mercurial moods and apparent sense of grandeur all pointed toward instability.

  Yet as I tried to catch my breath, I couldn’t deny that, bat shit crazy as it seemed, something in the pit of my stomach—and that part was growing by the second—considered whether he might telling the truth. What if all this, however unlikely, might be real?

  It was a stunning thought.

  He jerked me out of my thoughts by pulling me into another room. “Look! This you will like.”

  The room was covered in large screens that were showing only news channels from all over the world. Only they weren’t screens, exactly. Or better put, they didn’t look like any TV screens or monitors I’ve ever seen. They were more fluid but completely solid at the same time, and the images were so realistic it was like we were actually there, beside broadcasters, on the streets, or whatever they were showing.

  “Where do you live?” he asked.

  “Um…Chicago.” It was easier than explaining Evanston. Most people had heard of Chicago.

  He turned to the nearest screen. “Show me Chicago.”

  All screens changed instantly. Showing us everything related to Chicago. Satellite views, images of famous landmarks such as Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, the Bean, and of course, Sears Tower.

  Yeah, yeah. I know. “Willis Tower.” But seriously, who calls it that? Other than the owners or people forced to do so? And heaven help us, US Cellular-now-Guaranteed Rate field?

  Honest to God, greedy corporations. Stop messing with our monuments. Next thing you know, the White House is going to be called AT&T House, or Trump Tower.

  Oh, wait…

  I jerked my attention back to the screens, which now were showing other news programs, reports on gang violence, and weather forecasts. One even displayed an episode of the Chicago version of Shameless, and I had to laugh.

  Ammon touched one of the screens and closed his eyes. The thing rippled slightly around him before settling. It looked as if he was trying to absorb all the information, however ludicrous that might seem. After a few seconds, he stepped away and opened his eyes. They looked completely silver for a moment before shifting back.

  I blinked to clear my vision. It must have been just a trick of the light. Maybe because his eyes were so dark and shiny, they just caught a reflection from one of the screens.

  Then he opened his mouth.

  “Chicago, the Windy City, is the third largest state in the United States, incorporated in 1837. There are currently nearly 3 million people or a little more precisely, 2,695,598 residents as of 2016. The city is visited by approximately 40 million people every year. It spreads on 237 square miles of land, has 552 parks, more than 200 theaters and nearly as many art galleries...”

  And on and on he went.

  I gaped. “How do you know all this?”

  He bent down in front of me, exposing his neck to my eye level.

  An enticing fragrance wafted as he brushed his hair from the back of his neck. Can’t lie. He smelled really good. There were fragrances from his clothes and his hair but underneath all that was something uniquely his and it was incredible. The skin at his nape was tan, smooth and really vibrant for someone who claimed to be tens of thousands of years old. I was so distracted that I almost completely overlooked his actions.

  Almost.

  He tapped a patch of skin at the nape of his neck and it just popped open, revealing a small box that looked like the inside of a computer.

  Screaming, I jumped back and kept going until I hit wall, then looked wildly for the door.

  He shouted at me in that strange language, waving his hands as he came toward me.

  I kept retreating.

  He stopped suddenly, frowning. He gave me that creepy intense gaze like he’d done earlier then his face cleared. He moved slowly forward but still kept his distance, speaking in soft tones. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

  Yeah, right.

  “This is just technology that is more advanced than what you are accustomed to,” he said.

  As he spoke, I noticed his English was improving. Whatever he did with the screen, must have helped in that department too.

  “That’s all it is,” he repeated softly. “Completely harmless, but helpful technology.”

  I knew he was telling the truth. One glance around this place proved as much. But I was still shaking. It’s not every day that you meet a man with that kind of tech in his head.

  And the fact that someone would willingly do that to himself was disturbing to me on so many levels. Was that how he knew about Izzara? And what effect would all those wires in your brain have over time. It couldn’t be good. Might explain his mood swings and bizarre behavior.

  It was all very disconcerting, but still, also quite fascinating.

  Being naturally curious, I had to ask. “What else can you do with it? Can you cure Sara?”

  The muscles around his jaw tightened for a brief second and I wondered why.

  “I already told you. She will be taken care of.”

  But what does that mean? “Taken care of, how?”

  He answered my question with one of his own. “You are very concerned about your cousin’s injuries, but why aren’t you more concerned about your own?”

  “She’s my best friend and the only family I have.” I wondered how to reach him, make him understand just how important she is to me. “Without her, I have nothing.”

  An expression of pain and sympathy softened his face. “I know how it feels to be alone in the world.”

  And I could see it in his eyes. That bleak loneliness. And also his words collated with some things I noticed while touring. We encountered several other men like the first two that brought Nathan, Sara, and me to the room where she now lay. They expected me to bow to them, and they always bowed to Ammon, but Ammon bowed to no one.

  I had also noticed a distinct lack of females. It seemed like Sara and I might be the only ones, unless the others were hidden.

  I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, good or bad, but it did seem as if he was all alone here, surrounded by servants.

  That must have made him extremely lonely, probably even worse than me. At least I had Sara. He had gadgets and strange toys.

  Still, one sappy confession didn’t mean I could lower my guard. Sara was still in danger and I had to play nice for as long as it took for him to cure her.

  He lifted his hand to his ear suddenly and briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he smiled at me.

  And what a smile that was. His whole face shone, completely transformed, and my own lips started to tug upward in response.

  He pointed to one of the screens. “Look.”

  I gasped and ran toward it. An image of the room where Sara was kept displayed. She wasn’t moving and I couldn’t see her face, but beside her was a man I didn’t recognize. He held a syringe and was preparing to inject her with something.

  “What’s he giving her?” I yelled, temporary forgetting who was beside me. My fear for Sara trumped anything else.

  Ammon looked puzzled by my outburst. “I promised to help and as you can see, I am.”

  “I want to go back to her room, now.�
� I needed to be sure everything was all right and that I was there when she woke up. I wouldn’t be able to breath normally until that happened.

  “No.”

  “What do you mean, no? I want to go, now.” I twirled around looking for the damned door. This one wasn’t nearly as visible as some of the others.

  “Calm yourself. You would interrupt a very delicate healing treatment if you went now.”

  Okay, that made sense. Kind of. But I was still angry.

  “Besides, there are still things I want to show you,” he said.

  I’d already lost my appetite for novelties. “I’d rather stay here and watch.”

  His lips tightened but he gave a short nod.

  We stood together and observed. A shiver went through me when I suddenly realized he may have been watching us all along.

  “Umm, do you always monitor these rooms?” I asked, in what I hoped was a casual tone.

  “Not always,” he said. “My attendants are responsible for keeping watch. I brought you hear for your entertainment.”

  Sure. That made me feel so much better.

  Not.

  I turned my attention back to the monitor. From the camera angle, I couldn’t quite see Sara’s face but what I could see, was that someone had gotten hold of our gong and was ringing it repeatedly over her body.

  I gasped, as did Ammon.

  He grabbed my shoulders. “Do you know where that gong came from?”

  I tried to pull from his grasp but couldn’t break loose.

  “Speak!”

  “We just found it, I don’t know...”

  “Stop. I know you are lying. Your heart rate and perspiration have increased by several percent.”

  Creepy robot boy.

  “Maybe I’m just scared of you,” I countered, trying to buy time. Besides, it was true.

  He cocked his head, the truth of that statement apparently registering. Then his eyes narrowed.

  “If you do not tell me the whole truth right this minute, I will order them to stop the healing.”

  Even without a computer enhanced brain, I could see he meant it.

  I broke down and sang like a canary. “It’s a family heirloom, okay? I got it for my twenty-first birthday.” I decided to take full responsibility for the gong. If it was an issue that we had it, better he blame me than stop them from healing Sara.

  I figured it was close enough to the truth to pass.

  It must have been. His reaction wasn’t anything I’d expected though.

  Wild excitement filled his eyes, his face lighting up like Christmas had come early, and he’d won the lotto, the Kentucky Derby, and several World Cups at the same time.

  He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room, down several long hallways, twisting and turning, never slowing down. I stumbled a couple of times but he just grabbed me up, laughing. His grip was iron-clad and his stride purposeful. And because I didn’t want to lose my good hand, I just jogged alongside him, vowing if I got out of this alive, I was so joining a gym. Who knew that being slim didn’t necessarily equate with being in shape?

  On and on we went, through dim corridors, down flights of stairs, further and further toward some destination he was determined to reach in record time.

  We’d gone so far that I started to wonder if we were still in the U.S. or if we were now in Mexico. Or beneath it, more precisely. We’d jogged for what felt like miles, leaving behind the sumptuous palace interiors for more and move cave rock. At one point we were suddenly pitched into complete darkness and he let go of my hand. I nearly had a full on panic attack until light flared. The jewels in his belt, necklace and arm bands glowed, illuminating about a five foot circle around us. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

  “Neat trick,” I said with what little breath I had left from fear and our marathon run.

  He grinned then grabbed my hand and we were off again.

  He ignored my breathless protests to go back and I wondered if I would ever see my cousin alive again. I believed he possessed the means to save her. But whether I’d ever make it back to see her, though, felt more questionable by the second. Apart from feeling my heart and lungs were going to burst and my legs crumble at any second, my imagination, which always worked overtime, started playing out scenarios in which I was being led to my doom, Sara would be imprisoned in a harem underground, and no one would ever know what happened to us, or Caleb and Nathan.

  My stomach lurched when I thought about them. What happened to Caleb? Did he find his way out of the cave or did he get hurt because of us? And Nathan, what was his story and his part in all of this? The lack of breath and hitch in my side by this time made it impossible to ask.

  Ammon probably wouldn’t deign to answer, anyway.

  He finally let go of my hand when he halted suddenly before a dark opening, maybe three feet in diameter, in the red rock wall. I thought I could hear and smell water, so I stepped closer but stepped back when I could see there was no floor beyond the opening. It just dropped off into darkness.

  Ammon grabbed me from behind and I screamed. The sound was cut short by his hand slapping over my mouth.

  He twisted so that I behind his back again. His heart beat was so rapid I could feel it against my back. “Stay behind me and keep quiet,” he whispered harshly.

  I just nodded, my pulse beating wildly in my throat.

  He let go and went to the opening, bracing his hands against either side. He closed his eyes and began to hum, softly at first then growing in intensity. As the pitch rose, he moved his head back, opened his mouth wide, and let forth a sound similar to that which had set the crystals chiming just before that damned door opened in the cave and our adventure began.

  I wrestled for a moment with the urge to rush forward and knock him through the hole down into whatever bottomless pit awaited. But I didn’t think I’d ever find my way back, even if I could get rid of him, which was highly unlikely. He was much stronger than I was, and who knew what other tricks he had with that computer enhanced brain.

  If it was even a brain. I had a flashback to his eyes changing, when I thought it was a trick of the light. Was he even human?

  The rumble of rock moving against rock brought me back to the present and I started moving backward. Ammon turned then, his eerie song ended.

  He gestured for me to come forward. “It’s safe now. Come see.”

  I reluctantly shuffled forward, curiosity getting the better of me in spite of what it does to cats. Even before I got to the entrance, I could the difference. Light was shining from inside now. I moved closer and saw a stone staircase leading down to crystal cave. In the middle of it was a pool with water so still, it looked like a mirror.

  My hands shook as a sense of déjà vu washed over me. Something lurked just below my conscious mind and intuition told me it was bad. I backed away from the entrance but Ammon wasn’t having it.

  He put his arm around me, stopping my progress. “Welcome to the Well of Truth,” he announced, still way too excited for my liking. “When you gaze into it, you will see your own future and past. Your truth.”

  I didn’t like where this was going. My past? I already knew it. My future…I really wanted to just run away but, he was still holding my hand, and scary as the future seemed right now, it might be best to see it.

  “Come, let us look at into it together.” He guided us toward the steps and I didn’t resist, even as every step closer toward the water felt like two steps I should be running away.

  I moved more slowly, trying to delay it as much as possible. Despite the seeming absurdity of the notion, I believed him. Whatever strange technology this place had, it worked like nothing I’d ever known. Would this water show details of my life? Did it reveal specifics or just general direction of someone’s destiny? Was it based on algorithms, like computer ads displaying what you might like to see.

  That last thought was a little comforting, since those ads sometimes got it wrong. In fact, I liked to screw with
them and do random searches throughout the day just to see what ad would pop in my email next. It’s frightening how much information is being gathered about us.

  In the midst of those swirling thoughts another popped up that had my insides squirming.

  Would Ammon discover how attractive I’d found him? It was crazy that I had time to consider it under the circumstances, but it was the truth. My truth. He was the most beautiful man—if he even was a man—that I had ever seen. And that even included Gabriel Lara. I didn’t want him to learn that. I didn’t want anybody to learn about that. It was too embarrassing.

  I stopped, digging in my heels. “Please, don’t make me.”

  What if there was something even worse for me to see? I knew I wasn’t quite the model friend to Sara lately. I had to admit, there were times I was jealous of her and the future she could have, but that didn’t mean I didn’t love her.

  Ammon expression went from puzzled by my declaration to shock when footsteps sounded behind us. We whirled around to see one of the ubiquitous white-skirted men running down the stairs, his sandals clacking against the stone.

  He bowed low before Ammon then rose to breathlessly share his news. “The girl is healed, my lord, and resting. But you should go to see her yourself, immediately.”

  Beyond the immediate elation that hearing Sara was healed, I also noticed two other things. One, that man had spoken English, and two, he’d called Ammon…Lord?

  From the look of fear that crossed the other man’s face when Ammon frowned, I could see the title was true. I had guessed earlier that he was somehow regarded as their superior, but now it was certain. The poor guy was shaking in his sandals. Sweat rolled down the side of his face and I didn’t know if was from fear or from the fact that he must have run harder than we had to get here. I briefly wondered how it was even possible that we hadn’t noticed him, but that was less important than what he’d said.

  Risking Ammon’s wrath, I grabbed at his arm. “Can we please go see her now? Please? I don’t want her to wake alone.” I emphasized the last word.