Grigori Returned (The Atlas Series Book 2)

by Becca C. Smith

  Then she remembered when she first encountered Asmodeus and the Malak, Grautlin, had shot her. Asmodeus had healed her. He was a Demon, not a Titan, but maybe Kala had similar powers. She had to at least try. “Let me try and heal you.” She motioned Derek to come to her.

  Derek’s face was skeptical. “You can do that?”

  “Honestly? I have no idea, but before your guts come out of your mouth, I suggest you let me try.”

  He nodded and moved next to her. Derek always appreciated Kala’s bluntness and, by the greenish pallor of his dark skin, he would be willing to try anything.

  She mimicked what Asmodeus had done to her, placing her hands on his body, one on Derek’s chest and one on his stomach. Then Kala concentrated as hard as she could. She imagined healing Derek from the inside out. Since there wasn’t an actual wound to focus on, she had to center her thoughts on his entire body.

  “Anything?” she asked hopefully.

  “I still feel like shit,” Derek said weakly.

  Kala felt like an idiot, standing there with her hands on Derek. She always used to make fun of faith healers she’d seen on TV. It made her wonder if they were really Demons using their powers to squeeze money out of people. She guessed, if they were curing people of their ailments, it wasn’t a bad trade-off. But if those people knew they were being healed by Demons it might screw up their whole faith thing.

  Kala was about to write-off her attempt to fix Derek as impossible when she began to feel warmth under his skin.

  He responded in turn. “I definitely feel that.”

  A surge of motivation flowed through her and Kala concentrated harder. The heat grew in intensity and her hands began to burn. A part of her questioned if she should continue since she had no idea what she was doing, but the other part of her wanted to fix her friend.

  “Kala.” Derek’s voice was small and choked. Something was wrong.

  She tried to pull her hands away…

  But they were stuck.

  The burning grew more and more intense.

  “Kala!” Derek screamed.

  She yanked and yanked, but it was as if her hands were glued to his chest.

  In a bright burst of white light, Kala was thrown backwards, finally separating her from Derek. Quickly rising to her feet, she raced over to him.

  He stood in the same spot where she’d left him… and he was smiling.

  “Are you okay?” Kala was terrified that she had caused him permanent damage.

  Derek slowly nodded, then flexed his hands open and shut as if he had just injected himself with adrenaline. “I feel… amazing.”

  Relieved, Kala examined him more thoroughly, but there was nothing really to examine. “You really feel fine?”

  “Better than fine. I feel like I could run up Mt. Everest barefoot. Whatever you did, it worked. A lot.”

  The last time Kala had seen Derek like this was when he drank ten espresso shots on a dare from Lali. “Well, I guess it worked.” Kala was happy, though part of her knew she had done more than heal Derek. Burning hands and bright flashes of white light were never good, especially when she had been making it up as she went. She glanced at the clock in the room.

  0d 01h 02m 43s: 3:58 AM.

  An hour and two minutes. Her heart sank. “Let’s get Roberta and get out of here.”

  Derek was so full of energy he saluted and leapt into the ninth wall. Kala followed and they were in the final room before Roberta’s. The phase hadn’t effected Derek at all this time. Even as a Titan, Kala experienced some disorientation from phasing, granted a lot less than she had as a human, but still. He appeared as if running through walls revitalized him. She couldn’t worry about what she might have done or not done to Derek, they needed to figure out what their next move was going to be.

  Derek’s eyes were wide with drive. “We won’t have much time before Ron and Jim try to signal the alarm. Do you have any crazy powers that could help us?” He seemed juiced to see more of what Kala could do.

  She wished she could appease him, but Cronus may have put her other powers on lock-down as well. “We should rush them. You seem pretty amped up. If you run through the phase like you just did, I think we should be able to catch them completely off guard. I’ll try and use the whole telekinesis thing, but I’m kind of hit or miss with my new skill sets.”

  This was good enough for Derek. “On my mark. One, two… three.” He ran like a bull through the wall. His body even made a popping noise, he moved so fast.

  Kala ran after him. The phase jolted her insides and she almost barfed when she entered the room.

  Derek already had Ron in a headlock.

  Jim reached for the alarm. Kala sucked up her feelings of discomfort and jumped at Jim’s feet, tackling him to the floor before his hand could reach the alarm. She was about to punch him out with her Titan strength when a lamp smashed over his head.

  Roberta stood over the two of them, a satisfied grin on her face.

  Derek made quick work of Ron and the two guards were now unconscious lumps on the floor.

  Roberta held out her hand to help Kala to her feet. “I’m glad you could make it.”

  Derek pulled out two small disks the size of pennies from inside his suit. Activating them made a beam of light shoot out of each disk. With Ron and Jim side by side, Derek scanned their bodies with the devices, then tossed one to Kala. “Keep it on you and press the red circle.”

  He pressed down on the disk he was holding. With a flicker of light, Derek’s body transformed into Jim’s. Kala did the same and she was now Ron. When she looked down at her own hands, she saw the exact same hands that were lying on the ground in front of her.

  Derek and Kala tied up Ron and Jim’s unconscious forms and left them on the couch.

  “We move quickly.” Derek opened the door and the trio was off.

  The plan was to go to Fortski’s lab. Derek knew a secret way out from there and he would lead Roberta to safety. Kala would stay behind to complete her mission.

  Simple.

  She just hoped it actually would be.

  By the time they reached the last hallway leading to the lab, they had passed fifteen of Clifton’s men. They were questioned every time, but everyone bought the story that they were moving Roberta to a safer location.

  Kala thought they had almost made it when they turned the last corner and came face-to-face with General Clifton.

  His eyes widened in shock at seeing his most trusted men moving Roberta from her prison. “I gave you strict orders!” he screamed. “Take her back to her room!” His eyes met Roberta’s and he stumbled a bit in his speech. “I promise I’ll send word as soon as I find out Geoffrey’s status.”

  Kala made a quick surveillance of the hallway to make sure no one was there. With one Titan-packed punch, Clifton’s body hit the ground hard. “He should be out for a while.”

  Even as Jim, Derek’s smile was his own. “Nice. I only wish I could have done it.”

  “Me, too,” Roberta echoed.

  Derek was amused by that, but they were running out of time. He led them down the hallway and into Fortski’s lab.

  It appeared empty, just like the last time Kala had been through there.

  Derek deactivated his disguise, Kala following suit.

  “You take Roberta back to Turner. I have to stay here,” Kala instructed him.

  Before Derek could respond, Cronus teleported in behind him.

  “You shouldn’t be here. Now for your punishment,” he scolded Kala.

  Cronus snapped Derek’s neck.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  For a moment everything froze.

  In slow motion, Kala watched her best friend in the entire world fall to the floor, lifeless.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Kala saw Roberta’s eyes turn black. Then she began to speak, and the words that came out her mouth were ancient and powerful.

  Cronus reached over and touched Roberta’s arm; she collapsed onto the ground. �
�She’s not dead, but she will be soon enough. She and her husband would have been key players in the future I’ll never let happen.”

  Kala stared at Derek lying on the floor, his head twisted in the wrong direction.

  She was in shock.

  She couldn’t move or speak.

  And Cronus kept acting as if they were having a casual conversation.

  As if he needed to teach her a lesson.

  As if he could justify killing Derek.

  Fury pumped through her like fire. She stared at Cronus and deep within the well of her being, she cried, “YOU KILLED HIM!”

  Cronus withered in fear. “Now, don’t blow this out of proportion. Your friend is fine…”

  Rage and wrath consumed Kala’s soul. “I WILL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE!”

  Cronus took a step back. “He’s alive! Remember the white light? Instead of healing his wounds, you healed him forever. He can’t die!”

  Kala heard him, but his words weren’t enough to calm her ferocity. Seeing Derek dead in front of her was too much for Kala to comprehend. She needed to end Cronus once and for all.

  Cronus appeared to sense this as well, but instead of moving away from her, he shifted toward her. “I can’t let you complete your mission no matter what you do to me. I’m taking you to the 5th.”

  He touched her arm and Kala felt the familiar sensation of teleporting. It only enraged her more. There was no way she was going to the 5th Level of Hell. And there was no way she was going to let Cronus dictate whether or not she would complete her job.

  When their surroundings came into focus, they weren’t in the 5th.

  They were above ground, almost a mile from the main entrance of the Compound. It was where Derek had taken them when they had escaped the structure days before.

  It was enough of a shock that Kala was jolted out of the intense anger that threatened to overwhelm her. She peered up at Cronus, whose face betrayed his own surprise as well.

  Kala could tell they were both thinking the same thing: that she was responsible. How else could the leader of the Titans fail to teleport the two of them to his desired destination? In her fury, her powers always grew stronger, so it made sense. But, now that she had calmed down a bit, there was nothing stopping Cronus from taking her to the 5th.

  He seemed to have the same thought because he reached over to touch her arm again.

  Nothing.

  Cronus grabbed her tighter.

  Nothing.

  Kala removed his hand forcefully. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

  Cronus tried to reach for her again, outrage and shock visible in every expression line on his face. “How are you doing that? You’re not stronger than me! No one is!” His temper was palpable.

  “I AM.” A large booming voice reverberated in the air.

  Before their eyes, Zeus materialized.

  “Hello, Father.” Zeus smiled. He wore a suit like his dad, but his tie was loose around the neck. Being a few inches taller and wider than Cronus, Zeus was a lot more daunting.

  The father-son duo radiated power, staring at each other. Kala suddenly wanted to duck out of their line of fire.

  The big uh-oh moment for Cronus happened next.

  In a line behind Zeus were Penny, Talan, Rotoph, Owen, Antel and the other four Grigori whose names Kala didn’t remember. But the one who sealed the deal, and made even Kala take a step back was Hephaestus.

  Somehow, Zeus had managed to find and rescue his son. Kala knew with certainty what they planned on doing next.

  Open the Grigori portal.

  Kala knew who the winning side of this battle was going to be.

  Cronus didn’t flinch. “You’ll be dead before that portal opens,” he sneered.

  The Titans: Hyperion, Themis, and Iapetus teleported in behind Cronus.

  “Now, Hephaestus!” Zeus roared.

  In response, the Grigori, Penny, and Hephaestus formed a circle and Hephaestus began the chant that would open the gateway.

  Cronus and his Titans stormed past Kala, charging Zeus and the ring of power behind him.

  With an audible CRACK, the Titans slapped against an invisible wall protecting Zeus.

  The Olympian laughed at his father. “I’ve been renewed with the power of Gaia! Your days are done, Father! Even as we speak, I have my Olympians taking over your precious 5th and destroying every molecule of that decrepit place! You tortured and imprisoned me for thousands of years, now I intend to do the same to you!” His eyes glowed purple with power and rage.

  The Gaia part of that conversation left Kala feeling a little responsible. She was the one that had fallen for Zeus’s little battery-suck tactic. But the expression on Cronus’s face said it all.

  He was torn. Torn over whether to stay and fight, or to go to the 5th and save his home.

  As an observer, Kala made a few realizations about Cronus over the last few days. He loved power and he loved being feared. He was always trying to assert his authority by punishing the beings that wronged him. Throwing pieces of Talan’s body at Kala’s feet, snapping Derek’s neck: they were all moves designed to exert his dominance. But as soon as he saw that Kala would kick his butt, he’d backtracked and tried to make nice. He liked being safe. He wanted to be the bully from the next room, unless he was assured of a win, then he’d confront his victims directly.

  She could tell Cronus wouldn’t stoop to sucking up to his son, so Kala wondered what his next move would be.

  When he spoke, his voice dripped with force and intimidation. “I am the god of time itself. Your puny barriers can’t stop me, Son.” Cronus threw his hand out at the barrier.

  BOOM!

  Iapetus was the first to react, throwing himself at Zeus and tackling him to the ground.

  Hephaestus’s chant grew louder and louder.

  The portal began to open.

  Kala felt out of place. She watched as this crazy supernatural battle unfolded in front of her, with no idea what to do. She wasn’t a part of the circle so she couldn’t just join in the middle. And something held her back from using her Grigori blade against the Titans. It was almost as if Kala was witnessing a family squabble and she wanted to stay out of it. Granted, the family was made up of super-powered gods and angels, but the maturity level was about the same as any normal human family. Meaning nil to none.

  The ground shook violently beneath her feet.

  Zeus held back all four Titans as they clawed and scratched to reach past him and pull even just one person from the circle.

  Kala was impressed and she knew she should give him some help, but her feet remained locked in place. Why couldn’t she move? Zeus was alone and helping the ones she loved. It was something deep inside her. Remembering the future Cronus had shown her. A dark, bleak future full of murder and secrets. He claimed the Grigori were responsible.

  And this was the moment.

  The moment where she could either stop it or help its coming.

  She wanted to do neither.

  The ground shook again.

  Kala watched in fascination as the portal opened to eight times as large as the previous gateway. Good or bad, Grigori flooded out of the gates and swarmed at Cronus and the other Titans.

  Cronus knew the battle was lost.

  He briefly made eye contact with Kala, his voice speaking into her head, Don’t let this future come to pass.

  Then he was gone.

  The other Titans disappeared with him.

  There was still chaos as hundreds of Grigori poured through the portal. Zeus joined the circle and the gateway grew to the size of a house.

  Kala had seen enough.

  The ground shook once more.

  That was when she knew it wasn’t the opening that caused the shaking.

  It was the end of the world.

  Kala hadn’t been paying attention to the time.

  If she didn’t complete her mission, this new future wouldn’t exist.

  A part of her was tempted to let it burn.
>
  But, if she did that, Jack would have died for nothing.

  Kala knew then that she’d never refuse an Atlas mission, no matter how horrible. She couldn’t do that to his memory. He’d died to save the world. Kala had murdered him. She needed to hold onto the shred of justification that she had.

  Cronus was gone.

  She could teleport again.

  Kala left the mayhem in front of her and arrived in Fortski’s lab.

  Derek sat on a stool next to Roberta while Fortski took a sampling of blood from his arm.

  Kala nearly cried in relief. She raced over to him and practically shoved Fortski out of the way, hugging Derek fiercely.

  “I’m okay. I don’t know how, but I’m okay,” Derek assured her.

  Roberta added, “His neck cracked back into place right in front of us. John is taking a sample of his blood to analyze.”

  Cronus had been right.

  “Congrats, Derek. You’re officially death-proof.” Kala didn’t want to let him go.

  When the earth shook again, she knew she was running out of time. Glancing at the clock, she shuddered.

  0d 0h 01m 04s.

  One minute left.

  “Derek, take Roberta out of here.” He saw the determination in Kala’s eyes and nodded.

  When they were gone, Kala turned to Fortski. She didn’t have to ask which computers held the answers to a cancer cure. She recognized them from her vision.

  “I’m going to destroy all your research on cancer,” she told him.

  Fortski appeared more surprised that she knew what he was working on rather than the threat. “How did you… I haven’t even told Geoffrey… What do you mean?”

  The ground shook.

  “You feel that? If I don’t do it, the world ends.” Kala only had thirty seconds left.

  Fortski stepped toward her threateningly. Kala pulled out her gun and held it level, but she wasn’t aiming at Fortski, she was aiming at the computers.

  She shot the three computers containing the cure, destroying the hard drives, and pretty much turning them into a pile of mechanical mush.

  Fortski grabbed a pile of papers off the desk and held them in front of him as if they were the Holy Grail.