The God's Wolfling (Children of Myth Book 2)

by Cedar Sanderson

  Linn leaned as close to the window as she could get. Peering into the water didn’t help much. The water wasn’t the clear window into the depths she was accustomed to from Hawaii. Here, it was opaque, with the glimpses of something below the surface elusive. Still, she was sure she had seen something.

  It took her too long to remember and try her sight on it. Closing her eyes, Linn leaned back on the taut fabric of her seat, and focused downward, on the sea. There were little flickers... she still wasn’t sure. Had she ever looked at a lot of water before? No, and she had never looked for the friendly naiads who considered themselves Heff’s family, and visited Hawaii often.

  She knew that not all the denizens of the ocean considered themselves friendly to humans. Linn wasn’t sure if the goblins had allies, and she wasn’t sure, now that it occurred to her, where the sea dwellers had come from. Adel’s memories had been of humans, and the tiny green technicians.

  However, beast forms and shape-shifters, they were all possible with the power of the molecular manipulation that Adel’s people had left in the hands of their exiles. Which was where the sea dwellers must have been born. And, if they had hidden in the ocean to get away from humans, maybe some of them had allied with the Olympians, or the goblins.

  Linn opened her eyes. Grandpa Heff would be at the island, he would know what to do. There was nothing she could do, until she was on the ground again, anyway. Linn felt twitchy. James was frowning at her. Not like he was mad, but worried. Linn smiled with an effort and made the OK symbol with her hand. He relaxed a little and looked out the window. Linda just had her eyes closed really tight. Linn didn’t think she liked flying in the big chopper.

  Linn felt the descent start. Now, the ocean was alarmingly near the belly of the chopper. She stopped looking out the window, staring at the ceiling for the time. Helicopters, she discovered, landed harder than airplanes. At least it let her know when it was time to get out. She fumbled at her latches, and James was unstrapping the package. Linda reached over, back to her usual self, and helped Linn out. Linn hopped out of the chopper and kept her head down, as the blades were still spinning. Between the debris in the air, and the cold, her eyes were streaming with tears by the time she felt like she had gone far enough. She wiped her eyes on her coat sleeve.

  When she could see, she gaped in surprise at the scene in front of her. The doorway to Nyx gaped open, white light spilling out onto the rough black scree of the island. Clouds of disturbed seabirds swirled overhead, screaming with anger at the people who were invading their peace. And people everywhere. Linn recognized a few, including Blackie and Merrick who were trotting toward her, or rather, the helicopter. Five men converged on the chopper and James, and with a rope sling, they picked up the package and moved it toward the tunnel.

  Linda came up and clutched Linn’s arm. “Oh, the footing is horrible here!”

  Linn jolted out of her amazed reverie and started helping Linda toward the tunnel mouth. “Lean on me; it’s better inside.”

  “Linn, Heff said he’d see you by the arch,” Blackie called as they passed her. Linn nodded, trying to make sure Linda didn’t fall.

  There was a trickle of people coming out of the door and stepping into a shimmering patch of grayness that was an anchored High Path portal, Linn realized. She didn’t know that could even be done for any length of time. Loki was standing by the doorway, speaking to the emerging people, who were mostly dressed as he was, and gesturing them onward to the portal. He met Linn’s eyes, nodded, and then smiled.

  The sweetness of the smile surprised her.

  “Are you well?” He asked her as they reached the doorway.

  “I am.” She wasn’t sure what to make of him.

  “I am getting my family to safety.” He glanced into the tunnel. The next arrivals were just in sight. “Thank you, Daughter of Fire, for this.”

  “What?” Linn was startled. He sounded sincere, but then again, he had before.

  “I was lonely, and they had lost hope. We had all turned on one another, time and again. Then you came along. What I have seen, through your eyes and visiting those who remained awake and in the world, has given me hope.” He shrugged. “Might be that nothing will change. But it could, and there could be a place for children, again.”

  Linn wasn’t sure how to interpret this. “I hope you all happiness.” She nodded again, and tugged Linda into the tunnel.

  “Dare I ask?” Linda had been silent up until now.

  “You know who Loki is?” Linn asked.

  Linda nodded. “In the Norse pantheon, he’s the one who subverts everything.”

  “That was Loki.” Linn didn’t look back, but Linda did, with a comical look of surprise.

  “He called you Daughter of Fire?” Linda asked after a while.

  “My mother, grandfather, and grandmother are all connected to volcanoes. I’m pretty sure that’s where it comes from, I haven’t yet asked the people who call me that.”

  There were two worlds, Linn mused, and the customs were very different on both of them. The High Plane, where the immortals dwelled, and the Earth she had been born and raised on. Now, she seemed to have one foot on each place. It wasn’t always a comfortable feeling.

  They kept walking, pausing from time to time for Linda to rest. “I have a degenerated hip joint,” she told Linn on one of these breaks. “It’s better some days, and this is a good day, or I couldn’t walk at all.”

  Linn frowned, and looked at the curve of the walls. She knew they weren’t halfway to Nyx, and she really needed to talk to Heff. “May I help?”

  “Oh, I don’t know how you could. I can’t take medications right now, they make me all fuzzy-brained.”

  Linn held both her hands over Linda’s hip area, closed her eyes, and focused. She probably shouldn’t be doing this, and was going to get in trouble, but she needed more speed, and she liked Linda. The power sparked from her to Linda’s body, and then back again after a few moments. Linn hadn’t tried to transfer power, just gave it instructions and had it work for a bit...

  Linda gasped and let go of Linn’s arm. “What did you do?”

  She took a step away. Linn dropped her hands.

  “Did it hurt?”

  Linda took another step. Linn asked “Did I scare you?”

  “Oh, no, quite the opposite. It doesn’t hurt a bit!”

  Linda started down the tunnel, walking carefully at first, and then with a much longer and more confident stride. “Oh, my- thank you! How long will this last?”

  “I think it ought to be permanent.” Linn was pleased at their speed, and the broad grin on Linda’s face. Getting in trouble didn’t matter as much if she could get that look.

  “I’m not going to ask, dear.” Linda assured her. “I’m just going to appreciate this.”

  “Okay.”

  They shared a conspiratorial smile and kept going.

  Linda did stop when they walked into the room, and gaped a little. Linn couldn’t blame her. It had changed since she last saw it, too. The mist was gone, and the full size of Nyx was revealed. The people walking toward the tunnel and departure from the island had dwindled as they walked, and now there were just a few left in the vast room. Linn thought she could make out a knot of people at the far tip of the leaf, by the arch, which glowed and shimmered still.

  “What was this place?” Linda asked as they walked down the central aisle.

  “It’s called Nyx,” Linn wasn’t sure how much more she should say.

  “Night? The cave the Titans came from.” Linda didn’t press Linn for more information, which she was grateful for.

  Heff came to greet them. “Linda, thank you for coming, I know this can’t have been easy.”

  Linda gave him her best impish grin. “Linn was such a big help. I’m going to go help James before he drops something.”

  Linn gave her grandfather a quick hug. “Grandpa, what do naiads look like under water? With the sight, I mean?”

  He looked
a little startled at her unexpected questions. “Um, not as bright as above, in air, the water diffuses the signature they emit a lot, the deeper they are, the harder to see. What did you see?”

  Chapter 21

  “I’m not sure-” Linn was interrupted by a crash and clatter from the group at the arch.

  Heff called over his shoulder, already moving. “Hang on a minute.”

  Linn followed him. She put a hand in her pocket and fingered the little object she had picked up in Monster’s Valley. It was smooth, and warm now with her body heat. She still wasn’t certain why she had grabbed it, or what she was going to do with it, but an idea was forming.

  James stopped mid-word when he saw her coming, with a faintly guilty look. Linn guessed he had been swearing. The stripped-down missile, revealed by the partial deconstruction of the crate, was gleaming silvery like the last time Linn had seen it. She wasn’t sure what was wrong.

  “It’s not supposed to do that.” James pointed at the access hatch he’d opened. Linn peered into it, curious. Inside was a now-familiar keypad, and an LCD panel, lit up and displaying a menu. It looked perfectly normal to Linn, who admittedly hadn’t seen many other nuclear weapons to compare this one to.

  “Do what?” Heff asked, his tone conveying that he was as mystified as his granddaughter.

  “It turned itself on. I didn’t turn it on, Linda hasn’t touched it yet,” she shook her head in agreement. “I don’t know why it turned on, and that makes me really, really nervous.” James finished, his face serious.

  Linn spoke up. “There is a lot of power emanating from that,” she indicated the arch. “And the team which set up the original wiring were connected to the people who built this place. I think they may need to be consulted.”

  Grandpa Heff frowned. “Linn, they won’t come here. Their history with this place is bad, they tell me, when they can be persuaded to talk about it at all.”

  She nodded. “I know, but they may not have a choice. Also...” Linn looked around the hall of Nyx, almost empty now. “It might be good for them. Only I don’t know if we have time.”

  “What do you mean?” She had his full attention now, and a glower. It was a bit scary.

  Linn took a deep breath. “I was starting to tell you what I saw on the way here. A lot of water dwellers, on their way here. I know how they feel about cold water, Grandpa, from our naiads. I also know not all the water folk like humans, or the gods. I’m worried.”

  Heff nodded, his anger not directed at her. “James, Linda, please see if you can reprogram the device. We will evacuate you as soon as it is done.”

  He looked down at Linn, and put a hand on her shoulder. “You know what you’re doing?”

  She shook her head. He laughed. “I’m going to chivvy the last stragglers out of here. Keep a watch.”

  “What about Blackie and Merrick?” Linn asked. They had been hovering with urgency for the last few minutes. She knew they wanted to be doing something, anything.

  Heff turned and beckoned them. “Run through and do last checks to make sure we haven’t missed anything or anyone. Eight feet are faster than four.”

  The boys exchanged a glance and ran behind the arch, using it as a screen for their shift. Linn looked at Linda and James, already fast at work, then headed for her abandoned computer case. She had left it sitting next to the arch, ready to plug in, and it was still there. She knelt and booted up the laptop, wondering what the battery life was like on this thing. There was no way of telling, that she had seen.

  Before anything else happened, she needed to do this. There might never be another chance, if the people on the other side reacted the way she thought they would. The Monster hadn’t asked, but she had felt Adel’s heartbreak and longing. She knew that she would want home, if she were exiled. This might not work. But it might, and it was worth the try.

  Before plugging in, she walked over to James. Linda was bent over her own computer, lost in her work. She was muttering to herself.

  “James?”

  He startled and looked down at her. “How are we getting out of here?”

  Linn hadn’t thought about it, but when she did, now, it was obvious. “Grandpa can open a portal in a building. I can’t, I don’t have the control to keep it where it needs to be. He’ll get you out.”

  “What are we facing here? Angry mermaids?” He was smiling, but she saw the underlying concern.

  Linn wasn’t sure herself, but she had ideas. “They can do legs, you know. But I’m afraid they are just providing transport for goblins. The water folk rarely involve themselves directly, but they might have seen the return of Mac’Lir as a threat to their kingdom, with the power he has over the sea.”

  “I thought that was Poseidon?” James looked very confused.

  “Only the Mediterranean and Red Sea.” Linn felt frustrated. She didn’t know what he knew, and didn’t have time to tell him all of it. She’d had an intensive course for two years, but it still wasn’t enough to have all the answers. She wasn’t even sure her grandfather had all the answers. “The Atlantic belongs to Manannan Mac’Lir.”

  James still looked like she had hit him over the head with something heavy. “I knew my employers were powerful, but...”

  “The fate of a world hangs on this mission.” Linn looked up at him. “Just not necessarily our world.”

  He nodded, still looking stunned. “Well, that’s good enough.”

  “What I came over to tell you, though, was that I’m going to activate that.” Linn pointed at the arch.

  “It’s not already live?”

  “On, but not on.” Linn realized that wasn’t clear. “I’m going to open the portal to another universe.”

  James gaped at her, and then waved a hand. “Oh, go right ahead. I mean, nothing else can surprise me at this point. Another world, sure, no problem. As long as it isn’t Cthulhu...?”

  He stopped with his eyebrows raised. Linn laughed and shook her head. “No, no… but there might be dragons.”

  “Really?!” James stopped. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. Go do what you need to do.”

  Linn nodded and walked away. She liked the funny man, and watching his reactions had been a hoot. He was standing over Linda now, in what she could see was a guarding action.

  Crouching by the laptop, Linn plugged the cable in. The keyboard lit up. She stared at it. That had never happened before. Maybe closing her eyes and letting the nanobots do the work would solve it, like it had before. She tried it… and was rewarded only by an angry buzz and warble that was definitely an error message.

  She looked at the computer. It was the same as before, scrolling lines of code, endlessly cycling. Unlike the other time, this one didn’t stop after a minute. Maybe she had to wait until it was finished. It was hard to wait while she knew the enemy was coming.

  It was a race against time, and she sat and listened to the quiet. The room seemed even bigger with the mist gone, all the people gone, and only the faint clicks of Linda’s computer to listen to. Linn sat on the cool floor, cross legged, and wondered if they would be able to activate the device. If not, then what? Just because she couldn’t turn on, or off, the arch, didn’t mean the goblins wouldn’t.

  She thought they would. Their ancestors had made it after all. Built to the dragon’s specifications. For a second, she was angry at the coblyns for not coming here. It would have been so much easier with them doing this, rather than her and two humans who shouldn’t even be here. What were they going to do after this mission? They wouldn’t be allowed to return to a normal life, if they had one before.

  She was put out with Quetzalcoatl, too. Mr. Q, really? Why hadn’t he put immortals on this assignment? Linn closed her eyes and focused. Being mad at everything and everyone wasn’t going to help. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she was sure that anger for things that happened long before she was born wasn’t moving forward.

  The laptop beeped, and her eyes flew open again. Was that hers, or L
inda’s? She looked down. Hers had stopped scrolling, and the blinking cursor flashed at the bottom of the screen. But Linda was standing up, now, and speaking.

  “Dammit! It won’t take the reprogram. I don’t know what else...”

  Linn closed her eyes, held her fingers over her keyboard, and let the power of Nyx flow through her.

  Click.

  Click.

  Click.

  Chapter 22

  Linn opened her eyes again. Nothing seemed to have happened. She looked at the symbols on the screen, but it wasn’t blinking anymore. Linn looked across the mouth of the arch, at James and Linda.

  Linda was staring into the arch. James stood behind her, his hand clenching like he was reaching for a weapon on his hip that wasn’t there. Linn got up and moved around to see what they were looking at.

  The arch had turned into an opening into blackness. There was nothing there. Something occurred to Linn. “This is the back.”

  They looked at her, startled by the sound of her voice. Linn walked around the arch, and they followed. On the other side, Linn had a little déjà vu. She had never seen this landscape, but she had seen it through Adel’s eyes. She stared into the other world, swaying on her feet. The memories she’d shared made her want to step through, to call out to her lover, to…

  Linn shook her head hard, and looked at her hand. She was clenching the little bone hard enough to hurt. Without thinking about it, she’d pulled it out of her pocket and was clutching it.

  She was reminded that Linda and James existed when Linda walked up to the arch and put her hand into the other world.

  “It tingles.” The older woman had a dreamy tone, and an odd look on her face when she turned back to them.

  James and Linn saw what was happening behind her. James started to leap toward his friend and partner, Linn stepped sideways to stop him, yelling.

  “No! That’s not an enemy...”

  Linda spun around and saw the blue dragon. Linn didn’t understand what she did next until much later in life. She was too young, had not spent a long life in pain and wanting to be someone, anyone, other than who she was. And she had never wanted to be a dragon. Linda went through the portal to Adel’s world, where the ever-living had been changed from dragon to human facsimiles, and the little technicians had fled with enduring memories of slavery.