The Goddess Quest

by Clara Hartley

  “A trade,” I said. “You wanted to give me the powers of the selkie. Well, now you don’t have to. Just spare Liam.”

  Madaami’s anger wouldn’t leave her eyes and she balled her hands into fists. She took a step toward me and raised her arm, seemingly wanting to slap me in the face, but she held herself back. “I wanted to invite you into the selkies,” Madaami said. “To give you the feeling of belonging to a family.”

  I glanced at the rest of the girls, with their jagged teeth, their supernatural flowing locks, and their monstrous eyes. I looked nothing like them. As much as I wanted to feel welcome, I wouldn’t fit in here. I had a different family now—Hansel, Theo, Devon. Maybe even Liam.

  “Please,” I said. I hardly ever pleaded. But for Liam, I would. “Let him go.”

  Why?

  Why did I care so much for him?

  Madaami took a step back, cooling down. She narrowed her eyes at Liam, then darted them to me. Her expressions and emotions seemed so adult despite her childish appearance, and seeing them on her innocent face left me disturbed. Her eyes flickered into a striking, cat-like yellow.

  “Leave,” Madaami said, waving her hand in front of her. “If you will not let me have him, then I never want to see you in the Amethyst Lake ever again.”

  We did not hesitate in leaving. That was really all I’d wanted to do since coming here, and despite the nice room they’d given us, we had little time left before Devon died. Hansel took my hand in his. We spun around before hightailing it out of the lake’s compound. I tried using my wings, but I didn’t have good control over them yet, so they only dragged me down.

  Out of annoyance, I willed them to retract. A second later, my back felt much lighter than before. I glanced over my shoulder, then realized my wings were gone. I had the ability to make them appear and reappear out of sheer will.

  I grinned. Maybe one day I’d learn how to fly.

  We trekked through the forest, and as we did, the sounds of the lake faded away.

  When we had a moment to breathe, Liam muttered to himself, “I don’t know why she’s judging me based on something my father has done.”

  I lifted a brow at him. “You’re the one saying this? You’ve been the guy judging me for my parentage.”

  Recognition showed on Liam’s face, then, avoiding the topic, he placed his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky. “Where are we, anyway?”

  Chapter 8

  Nothing but forest surrounded us.

  Liam shrugged. “What? Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like I wanted my father to be someone who committed war crimes. Lots of things happened during the Vassal War.”

  “For a place called Haven,” I said, “there seems to be a lot of dying going on around here.”

  “It’s the goddesses. They like to keep things violent because they’re always bored.”

  “So, what now?” I asked, looking up. The morning had passed by way too quickly, and the sun glowed brightly in the middle of the sky. “I thought we might be able to use the selkies’ help to save Devon. They could have helped us with the centaurs.”

  Theo shook his head. “I highly doubt so. They’re isolationists, and don’t like to interfere with the affairs of other creatures.”

  I pursed my lips. “We still need to save Devon. Do you guys know the way to the centaurs?”

  Hansel and Theo surveyed our surroundings, then shared glances. It was obvious they weren’t sure where we were. We turned to Liam for direction, but he was equally clueless.

  “We’ll scout around,” Theo said. He stalked away, and Hansel followed shortly after. I wanted to follow them, but Hansel turned to look over his shoulder. “Cara, you wait here, and Liam, keep her safe.” I didn’t think I needed a bodyguard, but Hansel insisted. “I know she has the bracelet, but we still don’t want her tripping on something and knocking her head.”

  “Geez,” I said. “Thanks for your vote of confidence.”

  Hansel and Theo disappeared into the shrubs, leaving me alone with Liam. Every time he and I shared alone time, it ended in a squabble. I expected another snide remark to leave his lips. Instead, he said, “Thank you.”

  I frowned and turned to him. “Excuse me?”

  “Thank you,” Liam said again. “For saving my life earlier.”

  It wasn’t like Liam to express gratitude, be nice, or show this level of basic human decency. “Um, what else was I supposed to do? Let the selkies eat you alive?”

  “You could have.”

  “You saved my life from Benjie, so I guess we’re even.” I flicked a leaf that had stuck to my pants.

  Liam closed the distance between us. The hot look he gave me caused my stomach to twist. Slowly, he lifted his hand and gripped my wrist. He drew it to his chest and placed it there. Our eyes locked. I felt the beating of his heart, heard the soft tempo of his breathing. The spark in his pupils told me that he wanted me, and after watching what Hansel and Theo had done to me, his need must have been running on high.

  “You’re not usually this…” I licked my lips as he brushed his hand down the side of my neck. Why was it suddenly so hot? I didn’t want to have any feelings for him, but the way he touched me made me long for more. I hissed when he leaned toward my nose and placed a soft kiss there. My toes curled as my imagination kicked up a notch. I wondered how it’d be like to have him inside me, filling me like Hansel and Theo did. Why had my thoughts gone to such risqué territory? “Why are you being this way?”

  Liam swallowed. As I studied the tension on his face, I saw that he was resisting me. My heart clenched, as all I could think about was wanting more.

  “It gets tiring, holding myself back,” he said.

  “And are you going to stop doing that?”

  Liam clutched my hip, his firm grip, warm, masculine. He dragged me against him.

  His reply came in his actions as he latched his lips on to mine. He tasted like the forest itself—dewy leaves with a hint of tree bark. The taste was rough, spicy. I felt one with him. Just the locking of our lips clouded my mind with need and desire and lust. He rested his hand on my ass and drew me toward him, surrounding me with his touch, his scent, and the soft, pulsing sensations of his longing. Liam had been holding back a well of desire, and it came pouring out all at once. His body, pressed against mine, was wonderfully intoxicating, and my need for him swelled, bubbling in me hotly.

  “Crap,” he said, pulling back. “I just… I’ve been wanting to do this.” I saw in his expression that he wasn’t completely sure of his actions. I wasn’t either, but my lust took control, and it was too easy to give in to my basest desires. He pulled the strap of my bra down the side of my arm. I shuddered.

  My vision blurred. “I thought you hated me.”

  “Because you make me feel things I don’t want to.”

  He grabbed my leg and brought it up so it hooked around his hip. He began shaking it, rocking himself against me. I reached down and looked for the zipper of his pants. I fiddled with it. My fingers shook and I couldn’t seem to get his clothes off fast enough. Liam grunted and pulled his shirt off.

  He backed me against a tree. Another sensation pulsed through me then, interrupting the lust that enraptured me. I placed my hand on Liam’s chest and gasped. What was that?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “There’s something here.” A foreign power, perhaps? The sensation pulled me straight out of my lust.

  He cocked his head. He obviously didn’t want to stop our making out. He continued planting kisses down my jaw, my neck, my collarbone.

  He hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer against him.

  My mind pounded. Not from lust, but a strange sensation that made me curious. The calling at the back of my mind rang sharply and was impossible to ignore.

  I winced, then pushed Liam away. “I can’t.” Rejection was apparent on his face, so I shook my head and continued, “It’s just that there’s something here I can’t ignore. I nee
d to find it.” I gave him a long, lingering kiss to ensure he knew I still wanted him. Liam let me go, but his eyes were aflame. The tension that zipped between us was palpable.

  Still, I couldn’t ignore that call.

  I concentrated on what made me so disturbed. I looked at the base of the tree we were leaning on. Nothing but roots. I then crept around it, following the tug in my mind. I bent down and dug through the dirt, smelling the dusty scent of the earth there.

  Liam stood next to me. “What are you doing?”

  I focused on my task, ignoring him and continuing to dig. Was this some kind of goddess PMS? My hormones seemed to be raging. The need to find out what was underneath the dirt gnawed at me more than chocolate cravings before that time of the month. The soil got underneath my fingertips, until the tips of my nails scratched something rough. I pushed the soil away and narrowed my eyes.

  There, hidden beneath the dirt, was a stone with a word I couldn’t read carved into it. The symbol looked ancient. Some parts of it had been weathered down. Liam, from behind, said, “That was their sign during the Vassal War.”

  “Whose?” I asked.

  “Your parents’.”

  I raked my fingers across the rune and gritted my teeth. The throbbing, the pull the rune gave me, wouldn’t stop. I picked it up, and once I did, the rune began to shine. Bright light burst from it, so blinding that I had to shut my eyes. A gust of wind whipped through the forest. The leaves rustled, swept up by the wind. I took a step back, backing into Liam and using him for support, because the gust had been so strong that it almost knocked me off my feet. Liam gripped my shoulders, keeping me steady. The rune heated, rising in temperature until it seared my palm, so hot that I couldn’t withstand the pain and dropped it into a pile of leaves.

  “Hello,” a man said. The voice was cool, liquid, ethereal. I turned around.

  Behind me was a man with red hair tied in a braid. He looked like he’d been ripped straight out of a painting. His robes shone with a metallic sheen. Rocks floated around his head, their jagged tips pointing upward and reminiscent of a crown. He was pale, his skin like fresh snow, and his eyes were so bright and green that his pupils seemed almost white. I couldn’t decide whether this man was beautiful or freaky.

  Liam drew his dagger and raised it, immediately putting himself on the defensive. He used his body to shield me from the stranger. “Who are you?”

  I couldn’t stop staring at the rocks that circled the man’s head. They gave him an air of mystery that only increased my level of intrigue, but there was something else about his presence. A feeling of dread weighed me down, his ghostliness making the air around him heavy.

  “You can call me Deimos,” the man said. He swept an arm out in front of him and bowed. “There’s no need to be defensive. I come in peace. Please lower your blade.”

  Liam shifted, continuing to point his dagger at Deimos. He probably sensed the same dread I felt Deimos project.

  Deimos pierced me with his gaze. “I’ve been waiting for you, Caramel. Please, do not be alarmed.”

  I glanced at the mess of leaves that sprawled around us. His arrival had wrought chaos across the clearing. Broken twigs, fallen branches. I wanted to get out of his proximity as soon as possible.

  “Why?” I asked. “Why have you been waiting?”

  “I wanted to meet my sister.”

  I blinked and my jaw fell open. I was a sister to this… thing? Deimos didn’t seem like a person at all. He reminded me more of a force, an entity of nature to be wary of and avoid. “No way,” I said. “We look nothing alike.”

  “I suppose ‘sister’ might be a stretch. We were created differently, and it’s not a simple matter of coming out of our mother’s womb.”

  “What do you want with me?” I asked.

  Deimos blinked. I waited for divine words to spill from his lips. His otherworldly appearance made him look like he had the answers to the universe. “I don’t know.”

  “What?” I asked. “You can’t look like you just descended from heaven itself then say that you don’t have the answers.”

  “And why not?” Deimos paced back and forth. Liam and I watched him warily, waiting for his next move. “Give me a moment. I need time for my memories to come back. You see, I’ve been sleeping for so long that my thoughts need some time to awaken.”

  I glanced at Liam. “Well, that’s underwhelming.”

  “Give me time,” Deimos said.

  “We don’t have much time,” I replied.

  “Just a little will do.” He sat next to the large tree I had leaned on earlier. He settled himself amongst the fallen branches and leaves he’d created on his arrival. The godlike entity crossed one leg over another, then drew a hand down his red braid. “The memories will return shortly.”

  Deimos began singing. His voice had a low vibrato that sent dark thoughts through me. The heaviness of his words pulled down the atmosphere. I would have left if not for his promise of more explanations and the intrigue from his striking appearance.

  Hansel and Theo had returned, and the forest had grown cold despite the sun. A fireplace crackled before us, courtesy of Theo. Theo and Hansel knew where to find the centaurs now, having spotted them during their expedition. I sat on a log, resting my elbows on my knees as I watched Deimos with cautious anticipation. It seemed like every word from his lips might be bad news. Even the song he sang carried ominous undertones:

  The dark night awaits the living

  The dead refuse to rest

  Underworld finds Hades, who unleashes

  Destruction to begin the test

  Of her coming and birth

  The spring before the heat of summer

  The child from Earth

  Reflection of her mother

  A being of too much worth

  He had a beautiful voice, but I wasn’t here to listen to his singing. He better remember his purpose for wanting to meet me soon, because the sun overhead told me it was midday, and we needed to save Devon.

  “There was no mention of Ares and Aphrodite having a son in the history books,” Theo said. “How can you be sure that he’s your brother?”

  “We can’t,” Liam said, tearing through the leg of a rabbit. Earlier, Hansel had returned with a couple of them. He’d caught them with his dagger. I tried not to watch as they skinned the animals and prepared them for cooking. Being a city girl made me queasy about things like that. “We shouldn’t trust him.”

  Deimos stopped singing. His striking green eyes fell upon Liam’s. “But I have all the answers Cara needs.”

  “Do you?” Liam asked. “From what I’ve seen, you don’t have a very good memory.”

  “It is coming back. I can explain now.”

  Deimos’s eerie presence clearly failed to bother Liam. “Explain, then.”

  “Cara. Is that what you prefer to be called?” Deimos looked at me. I avoided his gaze, because it was too difficult to hold. The sun overhead should be making the forest warm, but Deimos’s presence felt like ice, and the temperature of my surroundings dropped even further. I reached for Theo’s hand. He squeezed, giving me more of his warmth. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and drew me to his side, probably sensing how nervous Deimos made me.

  “As I’d explained earlier, like you, I am Aphrodite’s child, but there are differences between how we were conceived,” Deimos began. I leaned closer, listening more intently. “I fought alongside our parents during the Vassal War as one of the generals, but Ares preferred me to keep to the shadows. They didn’t want the goddesses to know that there was another male who rivaled their powers. Their will to destroy him and my family would strengthen, and they would fight harder.”

  “So,” Hansel said, “you’re a god too?”

  “I was conceived from two powerful beings. That is a given.”

  “By that logic,” I said, “then I should be just as powerful. I should be a god.” Saying that sounded somewhat conceited, but it also made me feel a lit
tle badass. Agness was cautious of me. But mostly, she treated me like a half-blood, and my powers that had manifested were nothing like the aura Deimos exuded.

  He shook his head. “I am their true son. You are not their true blood.”

  I pursed my lips. “Uh. What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Do you remember anything from before you were five?” Deimos asked.

  I searched my memories, but my earliest one happened in the orphanage. I’d just been brought in, and the social worker there had given me a cup of hot chocolate. I’d been wearing a simple, oversized shirt then, and I remembered feeling lost, confused, and scared. “No,” I replied. “Guess my memory’s just as bad as yours.”

  “That is because you didn’t exist then,” Deimos said.

  I frowned.

  “Our parents are stuck in a different realm that they created. They were losing the Vassal War, and so they needed somewhere to escape to. The combined efforts of the goddesses were too strong, and even though our parents’ powers complemented and enhanced each other, they were going to lose and be destroyed. They’re trapped in the Otherside now. That realm is utterly unbearable to live in, and they need a way to get out.” Deimos pointed at me. “That way is you.”

  “Me?” I touched my chest. “How?”

  “You were created fourteen years ago, through the sacrifice of the chiasma’s power. Aphrodite needed a bridge to link Haven to their realm. She was too large an entity to leave the place on her own, and so she mixed her essence with Ares and herself, taking some of the chiasma’s essence and sending it out to Haven.”

  “I showed up on Earth, however.”

  Deimos nodded. “The brew of power needed an innocent, fresh soul to latch on to. There were none in Haven then, and so, searching the realms, it found its way to Earth.”

  “Essentially, I’m just a bridge due to some magic Aphrodite carried out?”

  “Yes.”

  I looked at my hands. My birth sounded complicated, yet I’d always known myself to be an ordinary girl with simple, human aspirations. “What do you want me to do?”