“Let’s get dressed. I think I can hide this in my clothes.”
39
L ear waved the near twelve inch long shimmering golden wand in her hand. Her skin and hair were all aglow with whatever it was doing to her. O’Brien had also picked up one, half again as long as Lear’s; its crystalline metal tucked into the waist of her tights.
Now miles away after leaving the falls hours ago, she could just barely feel the four of them still sleeping back at the pools as whatever the crystal was doing to amplify her innate ability had worked its magic.
“Those guys are not gonna be happy when they wake up,” Tyler smirked, repositioning one of the assassin’s backpacks onto his shoulder. One of their small automatic weapons slung across the other. The rest of the guys were similarly armed and provisioned with most of the assassins’ gear.
“You should have let me shoot them,” O’Brien chided. “They would have wasted no time in killing any of us.”
“We’re not like them, Bryn,” Wynn countered. “That’s not who we are.”
“And you have no idea who they are, Dade,” she bantered. “I’ve seen what these animals are capable of.”
Both Brayden and Parker met eyes. Both had seen what Christie had done. Killing someone in cold blood like it was nothing.
“Maybe we should have taken them out?” Brayden waffled.
“Do you really want to be like them?” Wynn asked.
Brayden said nothing. No. He didn’t want to be like them.
“Dade’s right,” Romero defended. “There is a time to kill. Our lives weren’t in danger. They weren’t shooting at us.”
“They will be when they wake up,” O’Brien warned.
Tyler didn’t like the tone of their conversation. “Well, the good news is they’ll need to head back out for more supplies. We’ll have at least a week to keep ahead of them. Our not-so-frozen burritos were almost gone. Their MRE rations are like a godsend compared to what we did have.”
“Dude, have you ever actually eaten an MRE?” Wynn asked.
“Well. No.”
“We’ll finish off the burritos first, before they go bad,” Wynn suggested. “But trust me, compared to MRE’s, you’ll wish you had stale burritos after they’re gone.”
* * * * *
Brad watched on the relayed monitor signal as four more of his team wandered into the small camp. The others had failed to check in. Missing backpacks, smashed communications gear and four still unconscious team members all handcuffed together were giving his eyebrow a lift.
“Oooh,” the smartly dressed tall woman next to him moved her hand across his back once. “A challenge.”
“Apparently.” Brad beamed a new half smile.
40
T ime for the two of you to come clean.” Wynn looked at O’Brien and then Lear. Both had sat down next to each other around the crystal flame campfire with the rest of them, but Wynn was opening up with both barrels, figuratively speaking.
“I’ve been with Dark clan long enough to know an elite hit squad when I seen one. These people are like ninjas. They make special forces look like they’re in preschool.”
“They can’t be too elite, we took them out.” Romero defended.
“They took them out,” Wynn corrected, looking at the two of them. “You don’t send this kind of team in to just play ‘patty cake’ with a group of mere Humans. Now who are you two, really?”
Lear looked at O’Brien. Both women were clearly conversing empathically.
Wynn met eyes again with the two of them again. Then both nodded.
“You’re right,” both spoke at the same time, with the exact same inflections and tone, as if their minds were one. “We’re not just newbloods.”
“Huh?” Parker looked at Lear.
“I’m sorry, Winter,” Lear apologized. “It was never supposed to go this far. I mean, with all of you. I never meant to involve you or anyone else in this.”
“What was never supposed to go this far?” Wynn asked.
“Bryn isn’t a newblood, she’s already awakened, a goddess.”
“You are?” Wynn’s eyes opened wider. “How were you working for the Seven?”
“It’s complicated, Dade. A few years ago my family was taken by the Seven. We were new halfbloods, all of us. Because we were new we weren’t as careful as we could have been. We discovered too late that the Seven hunt down and just kill anyone with Ra blood.”
“What is ‘raw’ blood?” Brayden asked.
“Ra is the formal name for the gods, Bray,” Tyler added. “Spelled like the Egyptian sun god.”
“Okay.” It seemed to make some sense to him that the real gods would be reflected in the Human religions. Dominion was a religion with its own gods and goddesses.
“Instead, I begged them to let me work for them if they spared my family. I’d become their slave if they just let my family go. After a few days, Rigel agreed to let me work for the Seven.”
“Who’s Rigel?”
“You don’t want to know,” Wynn groused.
“He’s Director of Global Operations for all things Seven. The messenger of the evil gods. Lucifer himself,” O’Brien continued.
“Apt description,” Wynn agreed.
“The Seven trained me, used me to attract newbloods. Over the past two years I’ve found eight of them.”
“Nine,” Lear corrected.
“I’m getting to you,” she nodded. “Eight months ago I discovered Brooke. Her natural tattoo was amazing. She was amazing. I needed to know more. I researched what the Seven knew within the Books of the Gods. That’s when I found the Stigmata, the ‘beast signs’ as the prophecies put it.”
“Beasts? Your tattoo is a snake,” Brayden offered.
“No, Bray, it’s not just a snake, but a feathered serpent referenced in the books themselves. The Egyptians, even the Aztecs, knew of and even worshiped the image of the flying serpent. It had become known as the protector of the gods. They even went so far as to incorporate the serpent into the symbol of their most powerful deity, the Eye of Ra. It was a warning to all who might attempt to assault Ra, because he was protected by a powerful force.”
Wynn nodded. He’d not heard the prophecies told in exactly this way before, but she seemed to know more than he did. He wasn’t going to disagree with her.
“Bryn, you said beast signs? There’s more than one?” Romero asked.
“In all, the books describe twelve beasts that will rise as the omen of the last great battle.”
“Wow. Biblical kind of stuff,” Brayden offered. “I’d like to read these books.”
“This is beyond Biblical, Bray. It’s actually going to happen. It’s been happening for millennia now.”
“Brooke, what happened to your family?” Parker asked.
“I don’t have any family anymore, Winter. They all disappeared—a long time ago.” She lied. Only Bryn knew about her brother. She didn’t really want to lie to her new friends, but one of them needed to make it to the Meridian. As far as she knew, they were the last of the Tellairan.
“How did you meet, Bryn?” Tyler asked.
“Christie, of all people,” O’Brien frowned. “The Seven haunt college campuses with demigods, looking for newbloods. Christie wasn’t a newblood, but she’d hooked up with a demigod working for the Seven and accidentally got herself upgraded. She awakened empathic so her sire put her to work sniffing out newbloods. They’d assigned her to an international modeling competition. The show was all over the major networks and social media.”
“I remember that show,” Parker added. “I was following it every week. Grant and Celine were like the perfect couple on the show.”
“The show had a lot of perfect couples. That’s what it was designed to do. Attract newbloods. Beautiful people—a good sign that someone might not be completely Human.”
“Yea,” Brayden nodded, “Look at all of us. We all could have been on that show.”
“We could have,” O�
��Brien agreed.
“Wait,” Parker met eyes with Brayden and then O’Brien, “Christie said she was dating a supermodel.”
O’Brien nodded. “Ian Diamond.”
“No way!” Parker looked almost shocked. “Ian and Beau were one of the hotter couples on that show!”
“And both of them were newbloods.”
“Both?”
She nodded.
“That figures.” Parker nodded.
“And both of them would have wound up in the hands of the Seven; only the Dominion showed up and put a goddess bodyguard on both Ian and Beau. Christie was furious. She had to keep her distance from Ian or she’d be discovered.”
“But Puerto Rico still happened.” Parker frowned.
“The Seven sent in a hit squad masquerading as religious fundamentalists. Big mistake. A small army of paramilitary aren’t going to have a prayer against a real live goddess.”
“Like you took out those four earlier today,” Brayden offered.
“Brooke was right. Normally I have to touch people to sense them. To share feelings. But these crystals, the metals in them, I can sense people at range. It’s like they amplify my natural ability somehow.”
“Bryn,” Wynn began, “You said you and your family were new halfbloods—but now you’re a goddess? That’s impossible. Halfbloods don’t upgrade. It doesn’t work.”
“I was always told the same thing, Dade. Once you’re awakened you’ve gone as far as your genetics will take you. But I’m living proof that it’s not true. You can be re-awakened.”
“Really.” Wynn looked genuinely astonished.
“Who re-awakened you?” Tyler asked.
She took hold of Lear’s hand. “Brooke did.”
“But—Brooke’s not even a goddess yet,” Wynn looked mystified. “And she’s awakening awakened?”
Both women nodded.
“So all of us have been sleeping with a goddess—” Wynn began, not looking happy. “You know how dangerous that is?”
“What’s dangerous about it?” Brayden raised his brow. He’d probably had the most time spent with O’Brien than any of them.
“He doesn’t mean it like that, Bray,” O’Brien calmed, “he just means that I could have awakened any one of you.”
“Why didn’t you?” Brayden asked.
She giggled. “It’s not my choice. It just takes a while with the guys sometimes.”
“It’s like a disease, Brayden,” Tyler began, his tone the typical pedantic geek. “Her vaginal fluids have to enter your body through—.”
“I’m not a disease, Chase!” O’Brien protested.
“It’s alright, Chase, no, I get it,” Brayden smirked. “But thanks for the anatomy lesson.”
“Just trying to help,” he frowned, poking a long crystal at the sandy ground they were camped on.
“So, men awakening women must happen pretty easily?” Brayden continued.
“It does, Bray.” O’Brien assured. “For obvious reasons.”
“I guess we’ll need to try a litter harder next time then,” Brayden smiled at her.
“There’s not going to be a ‘next time’,” Wynn announced, looking at O’Brien and Lear, “not with you two.”
“Ah, guess again, buddy,” Brayden corrected. “I’m sleeping with the goddess tonight.” He smiled at her but she was shaking her head at him.
“No, Brayden, Dade has a point. I get it. We’re being pursued now. If my DNA comes in contact with yours, you’ll fall asleep. It could be a week or more before you awaken.”
“But I’ll be a god then, right?”
“You will be a god alright—an untrained and undisciplined one. You’ll have all the ability and little to no training to use what you have. Untrained, gods are just as vulnerable as newbloods. Especially against trained Humans with automatic weapons.”
“We have guns too now,” Tyler added.
“And how many times have you actually shot a weapon?” O’Brien asked.
“Well. None.” He frowned.
“These people are marksmen, Chase. They can put a bullet in you at two hundred yards in their sleep. And you will never know where it came from.”
He nodded.
“Well we have to do something,” Romero countered. “If these people are half as good as what you’re telling us we may not even have a week before they catch up with us again.”
“Good point, Cierra,” Wynn agreed. “We’ll need all hands on deck.”
“To do what, Dade—?” Parker entered the discussion. “Shoot bullets at Ninjas? The next time these people show up, they’re going to get the drop on us just like they did today. Only they won’t be as careless. We won’t even see what hits us. Am I right?” he looked at the faces of O’Brien and Lear.
Both were shaking their heads in agreement.
“If you have a better idea, Parker, I’m all ears,” Wynn stated.
“We’re newbloods. They hate us, which means they’re afraid of us. They’re afraid of us for a reason. I say find out what you enemy doesn’t want you doing and then do that.”
“I would loved to be awakened,” Tyler offered.
“So would I,” Wynn agreed. “But I also don’t want to get captured or even killed while in an awakening coma.”
“Captured?” Brayden asked. “I thought the Seven just killed people like us if we’re awakened.”
“They used to, Bray, but now they seem to want even awakened newbloods alive. I’m not sure why.”
“Great. Changes in management at the top, no doubt,” Brayden quipped. “First kill us until we’re practically extinct, oh, wait, we actually need these people alive,” he mocked.
“You joke, Bray,” O’Brien concurred, “but that seems to be exactly what’s happened. I don’t know where the change in direction came from. In fact, that’s why we were in the ice palace. It was actually built for awakened, not mundanes. The gods are susceptible to extreme cold. If you want to keep a god or goddess imprisoned, put them on ice, literally. We become almost mortal at subzero temperatures.”
“Yea, but try not to build your jail on a fault line next time.” Brayden joked.
“We should be grateful they did do that,” Lear spoke up. “This place we’re in now reminds me of home where I grew up. We had caves like these. I’ve never seen the some of the crystals we have here, but a lot of them I have.”
“So that’s why you told me to touch the different colored shards together?” Wynn asked.
Lear nodded. “I knew what they would do. I didn’t mean for it to burn your gloves off. The shards here are a little different here than where I grew up. They seem to be a lot more potent than what I’m used to. But none of the crystals I played with growing up ever made my tattoo light up, that’s for sure.”
41
S o where did you find Brooke?” Tyler asked, looking at Bryn while all of them ate around their crystal campfire.
“You don’t really want to know.” O’Brien went back to munching on her burrito.
“Well I do,” Parker pressed. “It sounds like you were trying to rescue her.”
“I was trying to rescue her—from hell.”
“What kind of hell?” Parker continued.
“The Underworld,” Tyler nodded.
“Huh?” Parker looked at Brayden.
“Underworld? There’s a real hell?” Brayden lifted his brow.
“Yes. The Underworld is real guys. And its not a nice place, especially if you’re Human,” O’Brien munched.
“Oh! Get serious!” Wynn looked surprised. They always joked in synagogue that hell was in the center of the Earth where all of the bad people ended up, but he never dreamed it was real.
“The Greeks wrote a lot about the Underworld in their mythologies for a reason. Other cultures as well,” O’Brien continued. “It’s a real place; not just myth. The truth is, we’re probably not far from it down here.”
“Please, don’t remind me,” Lear frowned.
; “So, this hell or underworld, it’s full of fire, brimstone and demons?” Brayden smirked.
“In some places. Mostly it’s filled with water. Subterranean rivers that flow through the Earth’s tectonic plates.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying all of this with a straight face.” Brayden lost his smirk.
“The Seven have been hunting the halfbloods for millennia, Bray, for tens of thousands of years. To stay alive, some of the clans dove underground, literally. They built their cities in caverns, not unlike the one we’re in now. The Human stories and myths grew out of these people’s attempts to hide from the Seven and their armies.”
“But it sounds like the Seven know about this underworld.” Wynn had never even heard of the place until now.
“They do. They leave it alone; probably because it would be difficult to attack. The Underworld is home to millions of halfbloods. No one knows how many there really are.”
“It’s doesn’t sound like they’re very nice people.” Parker looked at Lear.
She shook her head. “They’re not.”
“It’s a longer story than I care to tell right now, but I found Lear in the Underworld and brought her out. Because I reported directly to Rigel, I had some power within the echelons of the Seven. I was able to hide her tattoo from the others. I knew Christie and I knew she’d stowed the three of you at Logan. I thought it would be a good way to hide Lear as well. Six newbloods on ice at Logan? That was just too easy to setup myself as one of you to keep an eye on things until I could find a way to get her out.”
“But they know who you are. You attacked them,” Wynn leveled. “That’s not going to go over well. What about your family?”
“I have to worry about Brooke now. She’s more important.”
“More important than your own family?” Romero didn’t like the sound of those words. “We’re all kind of family here and now, Bryn.”
“We are. But the Sentinels wrote about people like Brooke eons before any of us were born. She’s in the Books of the Gods. I’ll die before I let anything happen to her.”
Prism (Awakened Chronicles Book 3) Page 17