Paldimori Gods Rising Box Set

by T. L. Callahan

  “Get out of there,” Jaxon demanded.

  The water churned again, coming back for me. I used my power and the water propelled me toward where the opening should be. The jellyfish stayed with me until I saw light up ahead. I thanked them and left them behind as I swam for the opening ahead. I surfaced with a gasp and heard two more gasps behind me as others came through. Quickly, I swam to the edge of the pool and hauled myself out.

  “Move it, Dia,” Molly called out from several feet away, where she held Saam’s reins.

  “Help Mikhail,” I gasped out. “Attacked. Pulled him into the dark.”

  Molly shouted out orders to the other guides, then turned to me. She silently handed me a set of clothes, then taped a bandage to my head. “I’m sorry, Dia. The Games have to keep going. We’re bringing in divers to search. There’s nothing more you can do for Mikhail right now. Go. Finish this.”

  “You can’t be serious. You want us to keep risking our lives?”

  “I want you to finish what you started.” She glanced down at my ring. “For your people.”

  She surprised me with a hug, then stuffed me into a red T-shirt and harem pants. I struggled and tried to protest, but she was way more skilled than me. I was on Saam’s back speeding toward the valley before I knew what happened.

  “She’s right, my Tigerlily.” Jaxon’s voice calmed me. “The Games are important, and they have to be played out, once started. Please finish this quickly and come back to me.”

  I wanted to turn this horse around and yell at Molly. But I didn’t. I leaned over Saam’s neck and let him run. We raced across the valley I had looked down on from my window so many times. The wind whipped by, chilling my wet skin. Luckily, the sun was shining brightly, and soon enough my clothes were drying. Or they were until we crossed a creek.

  Saam’s sides were heaving as we gained on Kade. We thundered up a slope and then down the other side. Saam made a leap at the last part of the hill that put us neck and neck. I had to give Kade credit: he rode like a madman. I was mostly hanging on for the ride.

  The trail we were supposed to follow appeared about a mile in the distance. Molly had told me the path up the mountain was narrow. If I could get there first, no one would be able to pass until we reached the top. I snapped the reins, urging Saam on. He surged ahead, and we were in the lead!

  We were feet away from the rocky path when lightning struck a tree next to me. I screamed as sparks flew and flames erupted. Saam reared, bugling in fear. I managed to cling to his back out of sheer terror. I was practically wrapped around the horse’s neck as he spun and started racing back the way we came. My shaky hand brushed against his skin searching for a connection. I pleaded with him to calm. I sent him pictures of us playing in the horse meadow. He huffed out a breath, his stride evening out.

  Nikki and Maya came into view only a few yards ahead. Chris was bringing up the rear. I got us turned around in the right direction and we galloped back to the trail.

  Kade sat astride his horse at the base of the trail and called out, “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” I breathed a sigh of relief that mentally talking to Saam had worked. “What are you waiting on?”

  “You. I wanted to make sure you’re alright.” Kade took off his white cowboy hat and ran a hand over his short ginger hair. “That was mighty strange. There ain’t a cloud in the sky.”

  The sound of riders approaching had us looking at each other anxiously “Go ahead. I’ll catcha at the top.”

  “No, Kade. You made it here before me. You should go first.”

  “Ma’am, pardon my saying so, but you offer a much better view. Besides, I think you deserve to win one after the hell you’ve been through this week.” His solemn eyes met mine, both of us thinking about what had happened to Mikhail. “You’ve got spirit, and you don’t give up. I admire that.” He put his hat back on and tipped it toward me. “Now, if you don’t get goin’, neither of us will be winnin’ this thing. The others are almost here.”

  “Hey, Kade …” My smile was wobbly, but I tried to keep the worry from consuming me. “… I’m going to make you eat my dust for calling me ma’am again.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he grinned back.

  We started up the trail. It was much slower going. The path twisted back and forth up the side of the mountain. In some areas, it was barely a couple of feet across, and I gripped the reins nervously until we got past those parts. Maya had caught up and was right behind Kade. Nikki and Chris had struggled but were closing the distance.

  The sky was a beautiful deep blue with big fluffy clouds passing over and offering the occasional break from the heat. Now that we were slowed down to a walk, I was sweating under the midday sun. What seemed like hours later, we heard the sound of water. The trail leveled out and followed a creek until we came to a waterfall. There didn’t appear to be any other exits except for the way we came in.

  Tall rock walls formed a hidden grotto. The water here was a bright blue surrounded by a carpet of bluebells on either side. Kade and I got down to walk around one side. The other three contestants went to the other side. There was supposed to be another gateway here that we could pass through. We had worked our way along our side of the area when Kade and I both seemed to arrive at the same conclusion—the door had to be behind the falls.

  I raced to the falls, but Kade beat me there. The rock was slippery from the water, and I clung tightly to the cliff as we walked the narrow shelf edging around the wall to get to the falls. The ledge widened once we passed behind the curtain of water and found another archway full of the swirling mists. Kade wasted no time stepping through. I hesitated a moment, some instinct niggling at me. Suddenly, Meara appeared beside me, an eerie wail pouring from her mouth.

  I pivoted and struck out with my palm. My eyes met the shocked blue of Nikki’s before she snarled and swiped at me with a knife. I drove my arms forward to isolate her knife arm. Then pulled her toward me and locked her in an armbar. She struggled against me, and a blast of water nearly knocked me off my feet. My knee connected with her face, and she cried out dropping to the ground.

  Chris came around the falls. His eyes wide behind his glasses when he saw Nikki laying on the ground with a bloody nose. He kept me in his sights as he walked over and crouched down beside her. A spiral of water detached itself from the waterfall and loomed menacingly over his shoulder.

  I froze in place, not wanting to see another person get hurt. Chris helped Nikki to her feet. She swiped at the blood seeping from her nose and smeared it across her cheek. Chris kept her close as they edged toward the door to Thanatos. “P-Please, stay where you are. We don’t want any trouble,” he pleaded.

  The spiral of water made stabbing motions at his back and my fists clenched. Just as they stepped through, a flash of pain slashed across my upper arm. I turned to block the spiral of water that was now wielding the knife, knowing I was already too late. Then, as the knife plunged toward my chest, Meara appeared again and pushed me through the archway.

  25

  I gripped my bicep as I stumbled forward into Thanatos once more. Meara had saved my life again. Having my own personal haunting was turning out to be a blessing. Sticky wetness coated my fingers when I pulled my hand away, and I watched as gray droplets fell to the ground.

  I had previously thought maybe my attacker was Mikhail. After all, he had deliberately bumped into me during the swim races. To be fair, I had gotten in his way twice before he came after me. I could even possibly see how Maya might have been trying to take out the competition to make sure her calculations panned out. But looking back now, it made sense that it was Nikki. She was powerful. She had to be. Her powers were clearly linked to water, maybe lightning as well. She had given me poisoned water. The only thing I struggled with was why? My mind kept coming back to how she had reacted to my marriage with Jaxon. Was this all because she’d wanted him?

  I moved cautiously through the gray mists expecting Nikki to attack again at
any moment. Occasionally shapes would appear. If I ignored them, they disappeared again just as quickly, but if I stopped to investigate they became more solid. Now I understood why Jaxon had warned me about not getting distracted by what I saw. Once I saw the hut my mother had lived in. My college dorm. Dan’s house. The school where I had worked. On and on it went with places from my past appearing through the mists.

  “Daughter.” The whispered word stopped me in my tracks.

  A darker shadow moved through the mists. The closer it got, the more solid it became until the suit-wearing-man from Chaméni Elpída stood before me. He was only a few inches taller than me, yet his presence seemed to fill the entire space. He smiled and held out his hand like we were long-lost friends.

  “Who are you?” I asked, keeping my distance.

  His lips pursed, and he let his hand drop. “That is a fair question given this is our first official meeting. My name is Paden Aidos. I am your father.”

  “So, you’re the man who abandoned my mother and used my sister. Then attacked their village. Maybe you made a donation that led to my birth, but you’re not my father.”

  “I was not given a chance to be anything more. My only child—the only one I knew of—was taken from me when she was just a girl. I have searched for her all these years. Then I see you, who looks so very much like my Meara. Surely you can imagine my surprise. And my regret that I did not know of your existence.”

  “And the villagers? Do you ‘regret’ what you did to them?”

  He waved his hand, and the mists parted. Green grass appeared in a circle around him. Color climbed up from his feet to reveal his charcoal gray suit with a navy-blue vest and tie. His wavy white hair was combed back from his face and brushed the collar of his suit coat. He had a well-trimmed white beard and piercing blue eyes very much like my own. The mists pushed back further, and I was in full color too.

  “Now is that not better?” He gave me an expectant smile clearly looking for a reaction, but I refused to give him anything. His smile fell, and pain tightened his features for a moment. “You asked about the village. It is not what you think. If you but come with me, I can explain everything.”

  “No, don’t trust him!” Meara appeared by my side.

  Paden stared in shock at the ghost of his eldest daughter. After what I had learned of this man I had expected a cold tyrant ready to destroy everyone in pursuit of power. The man before me was a complete surprise. His emotions were raw and sincere. Utter despair leeched the color from his face and formed grim brackets beside his mouth. His fine-boned hand pressed against his heart as if he was holding it together. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he took a tentative step toward my sister.

  “My Meara. So, it is true you died that day. I would not believe.” He pulled a locket from his breast pocket, and Meara gripped my hand. “I never stopped looking for you. My daughter, I am so very sorry.”

  Meara sobbed, “Liar! You killed them. You killed me.”

  He flinched like someone had slapped him. “I would never harm you. I only wanted what was best for you.”

  “You lie!” Meara held out her hand, and the mists swallowed him up.

  “What did you do?”

  “You can’t trust him, Dia. You can’t trust any of the—”

  Then I was falling.

  “Oomph!” I landed face down on the ground. Grass brushed my cheek, its fresh scent tickling my nose. Squinting against the bright sunlight, I saw two shapes rush past me. I was back in Sotirìa!

  I scrambled to my feet, taking off after Kade and Maya. We raced over the gently rolling ridge top toward the castle in the distance. A central doorway that looked exactly like Erebus’s gate appeared to be the only entrance. The oval base of the castle spanned the entire width of the ridge. The building split into dozens of cylindrical towers a couple of stories up from the foundation. They spiraled around each other forming a giant upside-down tornado that branched off into dozens of different funnels. Monoliths, like jagged teeth, randomly dotted the grounds in front of the castle.

  The sun started to make its descent behind the castle, shadows of the towers inching across the ground toward us like needle-tipped fingers. I weaved through the monoliths, gaining on the other two contestants. I passed through one of the castle’s shadows: it had that same viscous sensation as Thanatos. I was missing something here.

  I stopped. My breath sawed in and out as I watched the sun sink behind the castle peaks. Erebus had said we would have three tests of shadow. I had completed two. Each of them had been actual doorways into Thanatos. The castle door was the obvious answer, but I didn’t feel that beckoning sensation like I had with the others. I cast my senses out as Meara had taught me. Spirit and shadow were facets of the same power. If I could just tune my power to the right frequency ...

  I closed my eyes and imagined holding the bluish-white cord of my spirit power. Slowly, I weaved in tendrils of gray from the castle’s shadow. The cord absorbed the shadows, and they floated in the light like mercury.

  “That’s it! You’re doing it, Dia.” Meara clapped enthusiastically in my head. “You’ll be able to open a portal to Thanatos whenever you want.”

  I grabbed one last shadow and fed it to the cord. Suddenly, I was outside my body looking at a very different view. The structure I had seen as the castle before was now an endless loop of shadows. The monoliths lay flat on the ground forming a simple block castle with two square turrets. At its center was a single monolith with a bluish-gray glow around it.

  Stone Shadow Castle. The real castle was hidden in the shadows, and I’d found it!

  I memorized the monolith doorway and opened my eyes. In the distance, I saw Maya trip Kade as they came to the door of the fake castle. Hopefully, Kade wouldn’t fall for the trap, but I couldn’t worry about that. He could take care of himself. I had a competition to win.

  I jogged to the monolith doorway and lay my hand upon the cool stone. A bluish-gray light flared under my hand. The light started to spread out in jagged cracks along the stone. My senses tingled a warning. I pivoted, the kick catching me in the hip instead of my ribs. I dropped and rolled across the ground then quickly got to my feet.

  Nikki glowered at me, filled with hatred. Dried blood crusted her swollen nose and was smeared across her cheek. “I think you broke my nose, you bitch.”

  “You were too perfect, anyway. Now you have character.”

  “I had to take a backseat with Lia, but you’re all mine.” She gave me her thousand-watt smile. “There’s no one here to protect you now. Not that anyone cares if you die. Your best friend abandoned you again. You think Eros is going to be a faithful husband? That man is built for sex. He’s probably fucking someone right now.”

  “Are you gonna talk me to death?”

  “You think you’re so smart. You have no idea what’s coming.” She kicked at me again, but I dodged it. “The Paldimori are weak and stupid. They’ve lost so much of their history, they don’t even know they’re doomed.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll see soon enough.” Water shot from her hands and surrounded my head.

  I tried to break the bubble, but it was no use. I ducked Nikki’s fist, but a second caught me in the stomach. Precious air rushed out of my lungs. If I breathed in, I was dead.

  Meara appeared behind Nikki and kicked the back of her knee. Nikki shrieked and went down. The bubble broke, and I gasped for air.

  Nikki looked around for the source of her injury, but my sister had disappeared. I took advantage of her confusion and kicked out, contacting her shoulder. She grunted and rolled away before I could follow up with a punch. A stream of water hit me in the face. I tried to duck away, but it followed me. A punch landed in my kidney. Pain spread along my back, but I spun away to avoid another hit.

  I opened my senses to Meara letting her be my eyes. Using my earth power, I pulled vines up from the ground and wrapped them around Nikki’s legs. She beat at the vines trying to pull
free. Meara plowed into her, taking her to the ground. The water stream broke apart into droplets that hammered at me from all sides. I reached out with my earth power again and pulled leaves from trees to build a shield.

  “Finish the competition, I’ve got this!” Meara shouted.

  I wrapped an extra layer of vines around Nikki, then sprinted for the monolith door. I pressed my hand against it, and the light snaked out. The whole monolith was covered with veins of light; then, suddenly, it exploded, and I was tumbling down.

  26

  I fell through layers of shadow worlds. The first I recognized as Thanatos, the swirling mists I had visited several times now. The next was a mountainous landscape where midnight black shadows spewed from geysers to coat the land like tar. Another was a muddy gray-brown lake where people moaned in agony as the thick water bubbled up around them like some horrible soup.

  Finally, I hit the ground with a solid thud that rattled my whole body. I sat up with a wince and took in my surroundings. I had landed on a narrow island surrounded by a reddish-gray river of lava. I scrambled away from the edge as a bubble burst sending lava splattering along the shore.

  I backed into something solid and turned to find a single tree growing in the center of the island. The branches held only a few sickly-looking leaves. The trunk of the tree had a feminine shape, like a woman with her arms raised. Sections of damaged bark ran like battle scars across her body. What drew my attention, though, was the symbol of a lotus flower upon her stomach.

  I felt pulled to the tree and, suddenly, it all made sense. Destiny had always been leading me here to this place, to this moment in time. I was standing at the edge of that cliff again, knowing that one step could alter the course of my life. Of everyone’s lives. I could feel her now. That presence I had known all my life was weak and fading. Already her influence had diminished, and our world was in trouble. If I walked away, she would eventually cease to exist.