by Meg Xuemei X
I stalked out of the store, thinking of crossing the campus street and getting myself seven spoons of frozen yogurt while waiting for my mates. My pulse buzzed with thrill at seeing them soon. It was always like that. Whenever we separated for a brief period, we were overjoyed at coming together.
My mind drifted back to the yogurt. What flavor should I go for? Tart? Blood orange sorbet? Or butter pecan?
Why not have all flavors instead of wasting energy on debating?
I grinned, and a shaggy-haired dude jumped out of nowhere, grabbed my DVD, and broke into a run.
“Hey, fuckface!” I shouted.
He shot across the street.
I could use my air magic to pin him down and drag him back to me, but I liked to chase, so I decided to play with him a little. I ran after him, to show him that no one could outrace me and anyone who robbed Cass Saélihn would regret the hell out of it.
Rainer and Celeb rushed toward me from around the corner.
“What’s happening, Cass?” Celeb barked.
I ran after the mugger, who had just leapt to the roof with incredible litheness. Who was this dude who could jump so high? He wasn’t an ordinary shoplifter. But I didn’t care.
“He stole my birthday gift,” I shouted back. “His ass is mine!”
I rushed toward the two-story building that seemed to be the Student Center, pushed my air current, launched into the air, and landed on the rooftop after the thief.
“Cass! You can’t just chase a stranger like that,” Celeb called, racing after me with Rainer.
“Cass, stop!” Rainer yelled. “We’ll get you another gift. I’ll personally pay for it! I promise.”
Nope. Nope. I wouldn’t take an insult. No one took what was mine and got away with it. I had to teach that robber a damn hard lesson.
He jumped over one roof after another. I sped after him, gaining on him. He dropped off the roof and ran through a junkyard. I followed suit, dashing through the barriers, leaping onto abandoned trucks, and hurling myself from the top of an old bus to another bus.
This was fun, but I was surprised that my opponent was so fast.
Actually, he was at top speed. If I used my best, I could get him, but I was curious as to where he would go. So I allowed him to flee ahead of me.
Thrill buzzed on my skin.
The predator in me wanted to play before pouncing.
Soon, both of us dropped Rainer and Celeb out of sight. We were that fast.
The thief-in-black picked up speed and moved like a flash of shadow. Fuck, he was going to vanish.
I tossed my air magic out. “You’re messing with the wrong girl, honey cheek.”
He must have sensed my power. At the same time, he shifted into a burst of light.
A huge snow-white eagle soared into the air, my DVD in his claw.
For a moment, I just stared up at the bird, dumbfounded.
Then rage surged in me.
“Punk, you’re not getting away!”
I pushed my air magic and shot to the sky after him. I didn’t panic as I flew by the top of the tree lines.
He turned his head to look at me. Two more yards, and I would grab his wings and drag him to the ground.
Who was going to hurt, huh? I had my air current to sustain me, but he was going to hurt like a bitch.
“Game over, cupcake!” I shouted.
A shimmer flared before me.
There was a ley line hidden in the sky!
I yelped as I smashed into it then through it, and I was in another realm.
The eagle still soared above me.
“I’m not done with you!” I shouted. “You hear me?”
My air current powered up, sending me on the eagle’s ass. I swung an arm to grab him and got his wing.
“Gotcha! Now where are you going, snow white?” I taunted, not even thinking about how far the ground was below me. I could be stupid and brave at the same time.
“Find the ancient scroll written in the god language,” the eagle spoke in a distorted voice. “The scripture shows the way to kill the gods.”
Blood rushed in my ears.
“What? Where do I find the scroll?”
“Down the rabbit hole.”
“What the fuck does it mean? What rabbit hole? And who are you, a shifter or something?”
“I’m more than that, and I’m the messenger. You’ve got a foul mouth, divine one.”
“Okay, let’s get down to the ground and talk this out,” I yelled in the wind. “I’ll even forgive you for stealing my movie. I—”
“Get off me now, girl,” he yelled back. “I’m uncomfortable with the way you are gripping my wing. There’s no respect in that.”
We struggled in the high sky. He dove abruptly and then surged up, trying to shake me off, but I wouldn’t let go of his wing.
“The fuck I will,” I said. “You’re coming with me!”
We flipped a few times, wind whooshing by us, and I hung onto his mighty wing.
With a burst of strength, I jumped onto his massive back to ride him, only to slip through a plume of smoke.
“Turn the fuck back to eagle. I need a ride!”
The smoke vanished, as did the eagle.
This completely sucked.
I conjured my air power to stop my free fall, but it did not assist me this time. I summoned the wind again, but it didn’t come.
An empty ache pulsed in my chest. I called for my fire, but there wasn’t even a spark.
Panic choked in my parched throat.
My power was gone.
Teleport! Teleport! I willed it, praying I would pick up my mate’s power as the ground rushed toward me.
I didn’t teleport.
The charged air was unnaturally thick. A force nullified my magic.
I stared down in horror. Then there was no ground, but a cascade of silver velour plummeted to a deep pool beneath me. Its edge blended in silver and white lines.
Shit! Hadn’t Amber warned me to stay away from the water with sound?
Its cacophonous thunder mocked me.
I was going to drown. That was it!
“Help! Help!” I screamed.
I begged my power to return for just a fraction of a second. I pled for the land to help me again. It could send ivy vines to hold me in the air and set me down gently on the dry ground.
But Earth wasn’t responding when I needed it the most.
And this time no mates were coming to rescue me. They were too far away. They didn’t even know where I was.
Why had I even chased that shaggy-haired elemental shifter who turned to an eagle then to a trace of smoke? I’d totally brought this on myself.
I plunged into the Mediterranean-blue water, the deafening sound of the waterfall beating in my ear, before I finished a thought.
In my palm was a shining white feather from the eagle.
23
I inhaled sharply as the catacomb-cold water hit my hyper-senses and needled my skin.
The whirlpool sucked me under to show me how powerless I was. There must be a vortex at the bottom.
I threw my hands up frantically as I hoped someone might grab them—a miracle that would never come. My legs kicked as I struggled to fight the pull and get my head above the water.
I went straight down.
Icy water poured into my lungs and hurt like a bitch.
I wasn’t prepared for this, but the vortex didn’t give a shit.
It dragged me all the way down.
I must have hit the bottom because fronds of green plants tangled with me, trapping me. They wanted my corpse as their fertilizer.
I snarled silently and kicked, trying to untangle myself from the clutch of the cannibal plants.
A humming sound vibrated in the water, like a swarm of hundreds of bees. I swirled in the water, struggling in vain, my eyes wild. I definitely didn’t want to be stung by water bees.
There were water bees, right?
A tingle ran up
my fingertips, then a surge of tiny electric shocks crawled over my skin.
What the fuck?
A force lifted me out of the depths of the pool. My face broke the surface of the chilly water, and I vomited a lungful of liquid and gasped for air.
A shimmering net of light, the color of blood, enveloped me and beamed me up into midair, water still dripping from my hair and clothes.
I tore at the web of light, but it reformed, binding me like thousands of ropes and trapping me like a tightening fishing net.
A horrifying thought hit me—I was in a cage again, and this time it was made of an unbreakable fabric of crimson light. Fairy dust sparkled around me, more like a nightmare than anything else.
My genetic memory flashed before my eyelids.
Only one species could make this kind of cage—the Olympian gods.
They’d found me.
I cursed them, hot rage and cold fear soaking my every cell.
“Release me,” I shouted, “or my mates will eat your fucking hearts for breakfast!”
“We need to work on your delightful manner.” A familiar, rich, musical voice sounded, and Noah stepped out of the shade of a honeysuckle bush, regarding me with sadistic satisfaction. “But we don’t need to do it now.”
“Noah, you’ll regret this, big time,” I hissed. “And did you send the messenger to lure me into your snare?”
“What messenger?” He frowned. “I have no interest in others.”
So he and the elemental shifter weren’t working together. I’d just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time while hunting the robber in disguise.
“I track only you, which isn’t that difficult since you have a godly imprint as Hades’ daughter. But it isn’t easy to get you out of the Academy. Every inch of that school is rigged with spells, and I couldn’t deploy my Mermaid’s Net there. I’ve been waiting for you to seek fun outside the Academy.”
I glared at the pompous mage, who dressed in a red designer shirt and white slacks that hadn’t the slightest wrinkle.
He stalked closer to me, his green eyes never leaving me.
Power rolled off him, and he no longer disguised it.
Noah indeed had the power of the burning stars, just as I’d once felt. I hadn’t been wrong when I’d seen the illusion of a giant male driving a chariot of fire like a glorious sun god. Only it was too late for me to realize that it hadn’t been an illusion after all.
“Apollo,” I whispered. “The god of sun, music, plague, and prophecy. Son of Zeus and Leto.”
He was Alaric’s half brother. Alaric had sensed something off with Noah, but he didn’t detect the sun god. The gods had upgraded. They had advanced spells to mask their godly essence.
At my words, Noah’s mask fell off, and he transformed to his true self. He now wore an Olympian armor and carried a legendary lyre. He was every bit a glorious god, radiating beauty, perfection, power, and cruelty.
“Hello, little Cass, the newest member of the Olympian family,” he said with what he thought was an irresistible smile. “It’s nearly impossible to get you alone. Your four mates are pathetically clinging.” He shook his head in disapproval. “But I have you now, all for myself.”
I remembered him watching Pyrder and me by the lilac pond, dark lust and rage in his eyes before he’d hidden again and disappeared like a fleeting shadow. I should have paid attention to the telltale sign.
“You’re more than a goddess, little Cass. There’s something more in you, and I’ll help you figure it out. You’re better off with me. Your mates can never truly understand what you really are, but you can be everything I want.”
In his godly self, he was even more of an arrogant prick than as the phony ringleader of the mages. And how I hated anyone calling me little!
I summoned my power and once again failed big-time.
“Your power won’t work while my Mermaid’s Net is activated,” he said. “If you had a better grasp of your true power and came to full strength, you’d probably break it. But I can’t risk you growing that powerful, so I have to act before then. I have to abandon all my plans for the mortals and immortals and take you home instead.”
Since I couldn’t break the cage of light, despite my constant efforts, I had to stall him till my mates got here. I used every ounce of my will to push my fear and panic to the edge, so my mind remained clear.
“How long have you been infiltrating the Academy?”
“A long while, and then after Ares’ son told his father and me about you, I brought my base here just to wait for you. By the way, little Cass, you traumatized the boy. And you kept telling him that he was dangerous to society. He’s now going through extensive therapy.”
My mates had thought the Academy was the safest place for me when they had brought me here. They kept their protective walls around me. Now they would really kick themselves in the balls. But who would have thought a major god was among us, like a rattlesnake ready to strike?
“That’s why the Olympian gods haven’t attacked,” I said, like one predator looking into the mind of another. “You have the biggest Earth army at your disposal, but you want to play a cat-and-mouse game with the mortals and supernaturals first. You want to hunt them on their own hunting ground.”
“Do you think those riffraff stand a chance against the gods; even with their smart, brave, and powerful Cass as their champion?” Apollo said, cocking his head.
“Then why don’t you release this champion and see if we can even the odds? Why don’t we play a new game that’s more interesting and fair?”
Once I sank my feet onto the Earth soil, I might regain my strength and power, and then I would take him down.
Apollo laughed, his voice beautiful and velvet, yet I shivered in chill and dread.
“I can’t unleash you no matter how hard you try to provoke me, little Cass. You’re the wild card. I even had a glimpse of my own prophecy when it comes to you.”
“What prophecy?” I asked hoarsely.
“You’re the weapon that the earthlings will use to bury deep into our hearts, but we can also hone the weapon and turn it against them. It all depends on who wields the sharp tool. Once your four mates are out of the picture, you’ll be completely mine.”
Never!
“Are you the seer who whispered to little Phobos about me?” I demanded.
That little punk had betrayed me on every level. He’d even told other gods that I traumatized him. And now every god knew that I could drink energy from at least a minor. How was I going to get one for the future when every god avoided me like the plague?
“That seer is a witch,” he said. “She vanished when Phobos went missing.”
“Then tell me, Apollo, what’s your end game?”
He flashed me a rapacious smile. “You want to know the end game, little Cass? I can tell you that you’re a crucial part of it, now that you’ve finally surfaced. The world will be a much more interesting place with you in it.”
“Really?” I said, still trying to conjure up my power as I kept Apollo occupied. “I have a leading role? Tell me more, Apollo.”
“I know you’re stalling, my conniving little Cass. I actually like that about you. I’m also waiting for your mates to show up. I want them to see me take you. I want them to feel how powerless they are when they can’t save you. I especially want to see the helpless look on my half brother’s enraged face. Until today, my father still secretly favored his firstborn bastard over us. I truly don’t get it.”
“So this isn’t about me, which is awesome. Then why don’t you let me out of this Mermaid’s—”
“Dulcis!” I heard roars from Lorcan.
“Lorcan? You can’t be here!”
He shouldn’t have been here. I looked at the brilliant sun over the sky. It was high noon. The sun would hurt him.
My other mates joined the furious shouts. “Cass!”
“It’s a trap!” I shouted back. “Don’t come in without a plan! The creep
Noah is Apollo!”
But my mates didn’t care, and they tore through the ley line.
Unlike unfortunate me, they landed at the edge of the pool instead of the icy water.
Alaric tossed bolts of lightning at Apollo, but the sun god raised his lyre and diffused them.
“I’ve practiced for an eon to fend off your lightning, little bastard,” said Apollo. “I was disappointed in you when you didn’t even recognize your own brother in the Academy.”
Reysalor and Lorcan charged Apollo with their flaming swords, and Pyrder peeled from them and snuck toward me. Alaric kept throwing his lightning at the sun god to distract him.
In a flash of light, Pyrder teleported.
Before the fae prince reached me, Apollo dashed behind me and grabbed the net of light. I fought to no avail. I couldn’t move an inch. The fiercer I struggled, the tighter the net cut.
“Fuck off!” I screamed at the sun god.
Apollo zoomed out with me into the high sky.
I roared my mates’ names.
“Cassandra Saélihn is mine,” Apollo shouted. “And she’ll be the mother of my children.”
I tried to throw a punch at his insufferable face, and again failed.
My mates leapt up to reach me in uncontainable rage, but they couldn’t reach the sky.
The last I saw was fury, pain, and desperation distorting the faces I loved so much before I vanished with Apollo.
“We’ll come for you, Cass baby!”
Their roar of inferno promised that and vengeance, and they’d free me again.
Epilogue
Lorcan
The fucking sun god took my dulcis, my mate, my everything.
She was taken right from under our noses.
Rage, fear, and desolation pounded in my brothers and me like a never-ending storm, threatening to tear apart our every fiber. I sent them a quick glance. Their eyes were bloodshot, their veins about to burst, and half-madness twisting their enraged faces to beastly shapes.
Through our brotherhood bond and the deep, pulsing new bond our mate shared with us all, I felt the burning abyss in their essence, as it was in mine.
We couldn’t afford to lose her.