by K. F. Breene
“The cadavers have been moved,” she announced, wiping her cheek and smearing dirt across it. It added to the other smears already present. “We can use your spirits to fill them, but we need to wait for Kieran’s go-ahead. Won’t be long until we confront Flora now.”
I eyed my phone. “What’s the status?”
Bria glanced off to the right. “I have to pee, and there is only one outhouse for a handful of large, stinky men. I might just use the bushes.”
“No,” I said with a scowl. “I mean the overall situation.”
“Yeah, I know, I just wanted you to feel my pain.” She braced her hands on her hips and rolled back on her heels. “It’s official. That bitch Demigod Flora tried to sell us out. She knew about Kieran buying that house. Given there are no records linking him to it—Amber double-checked his work, but you know he’s good at hiding his electronic trails—someone is definitely passing along our sensitive info. We don’t have time to figure that out, though. She’s got the sheriff and his cronies looking for us and Dylan—sounds like she had no idea we were pulling out of this Popsicle stand. Dylan’s picture is up all over town, wanted for magic, and we’re being portrayed as the fugitives helping him hide. At least he knows we aren’t at fault here.”
“We are at fault,” I said. “Because of us, his cover has been completely blown.”
“Well, yes, but we’re not trying to screw him, is what I meant. We didn’t go all Zeus in this joint. We went in quietly. Flora is trying to make it sound like she’s doing the town a great big favor. She’s got the local news telling people to look in their sheds, check their land, guard their kids from the evil magic man—the whole shebang. She’s a real piece of work.”
“She’s setting it up so that she can drag him out of here?”
“Yep. He broke the law—he forged documents and moved into a strictly non-magical zone. The Demigod that captures him can punish him however she deems fit. Obviously we’re not going to let Flora capture him, though. Shithead. We’ll extract Dylan, hopefully knock Flora down a peg, and help Dylan disappear again. Presto change-o. In the meantime, we already took a couple of their guys.”
“How’d you manage that?” Daisy asked.
“Get this—those fuckers snuck into the house to ambush Alexis. They were huge guys—big chests, big arms—as big as Jerry. Apparently size matters in their thick heads. Those idiots thought they could take down a Soul Stealer—no biggie, I guess—and her two teen wards. Easy-peasy.” Bria laughed. “What absolute tools. I wish Kieran had let you go with me. I swear, Zeus’s people are the Ken doll crew of the magical world. Attractive, but big, dumb idiots. I did them a favor.”
“How’s that?” Daisy asked.
“I had Jerry take out the foundation underneath the whole front of the house and collapse the thing. Smoosh-ville. It’ll be an insurance nightmare, but that’s not my problem. I had to get those cadavers, after all. Can’t fault me for protecting myself, and Jerry was just doing what he was told. We’re in the clear.”
Daisy’s mouth dropped open. Amber might’ve been the sexy viper of our group, but no one could beat Bria’s flare.
“Why does every house Kieran buys have bodies buried and waiting in the yard?” I asked, a little numb. I knew a grisly battle was coming. Flora played to win, that was clear, and while I knew killing a Demigod was typically off-limits, everyone else would be fair game. I’d have a target on my back, Bria, the guys…the kids.
Fire smoldered in my belly, but I doused it. I needed to stay numb until the last possible moment or adrenaline would rage through me until I was worn out. I had put my neck on the line for this one, and I would not lose. Not the battle, and not one person. I’d obliterate Flora’s forces and send them marching back at her before I let that happen.
“Necromancers magically store bodies everywhere we think we might run into trouble,” Bria said. “With you, that is literally everywhere. I had Jerry help me unearth everyone while the Ken dolls were being squished. That guy is fiercely handy. No digging necessary—he just works the rocks within the dirt until they churn up the cadavers. Not sure why he threw up those few times, what with the state of his cave, but he’ll get used to it.”
“You have a screw loose,” Daisy said with a grin.
Thane and Boman broke through a thicket of bushes on the side of what passed for the front yard. A moment later, Mordecai trotted out behind them in wolf form, his tongue lolling as though he’d gone for a good run. They’d recruited him to help them scout out various areas. Thank God Mordecai hadn’t seen any action.
Yet.
A flare of fear fueled the fire bubbling just below the surface of my consciousness. The battle would come soon enough.
Behind them, Jack put out his hands to move the tree branches to the side, didn’t notice his hands going through them, then jerked back like he was about to get thwapped in the face. He’d probably been shadowing Mordecai and would have training tips for Kieran when there wasn’t a battle on the horizon. Maybe one day.
“Flora is setting up to comb the mountains,” Thane said to Bria. “She’s got the sheriff and some townspeople helping. Thank heavens the village is tiny. Where’s Jerry?”
“Here.” Jerry emerged from the side of the cabin, his bronze-toned skin three shades lighter than usual.
A smile spread across Thane’s face. “What’s the matter, Jerry? I thought you liked playing with your food?”
Jerry’s mouth formed a grim line.
Thane’s smile dripped away, any humor short-lived, given the situation. “Can you feel the Lightning Bolt?” He grimaced. “Now she’s got me doing it.” He nodded at Bria, who had heard, secondhand, Daisy’s question about the legend of the big schlong and decided it wasn’t prudent to use the term Lightning Rod until Dylan could prove its relevancy.
None of the guys had found her comment particularly funny, but I’d never seen Red actually guffaw until that moment.
“He’s been in the same place since about two o’clock,” Jerry said. “It’s at the very farthest edge of my power. If he moves any farther east, I’ll lose him.”
“Until you get off your ass and walk a little, Jerry,” Bria said.
The guys cracked a grin. Jerry didn’t seem like he’d heard.
“What time is it now?” I asked.
“Seven,” Boman said, checking his watch. “Full moon tonight. We’ll be able to see until Kieran and Flora battle for the sky.”
“That’s a battle Flora will win,” I murmured, looking up at the deep purple sky hole-punched with two stars. “I need to think about which spirits to summon and get Jack organizing everyone. Maybe Mia will pop back in. I’ve still heard no word about her or the others.” I shook my head and then pushed the thought away. Now wasn’t the time to worry about spirits leaving without saying goodbye.
“Summoning spirits? Did someone ring?” Harding popped up next to me.
I jumped and then released my breath in a slow hiss, turning away a little. Guilt swam through me like minnows over how this situation had turned out. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t blame Harding a little for it.
“No,” I replied, then told the others, “Harding just popped up out of nowhere, probably to watch the show.”
“Clever girl.” He grinned at me. “I do so love the way you get yourself out of tight fixes. Your tactics are so strange and ingenious. The world needed someone like you to come along. So what’s the situation? Armed and ready, I trust?”
“Did you do this somehow?” I asked, facing him now. “Did you tell someone else?”
“Who could I tell?” He palmed his chest. “My cat has run off and your Demigod has hidden the pocket watch. My other artifacts are under lock and key with Demigod Zander. To get that stuff, someone would have to steal it, and he’s a real tight sonuvabitch. Zeus breeds ’em difficult, to say the least. I couldn’t tell anyone if I tried.”
I passed the information on. Truthfully, I’d already figured that was the case
—I had just wanted a justifiable reason to be angry with him.
“Fine,” I said, thinking through the situation. “Jerry, can you feel Dylan’s surroundings?”
“Feeling through rock and stone, as I do, doesn’t translate to seeing,” Jerry replied. “He is in a half cave, so I have a good idea of his surroundings, but any picture I drew would be made up of a lot of blank space.”
“Is there anything you can do to make him more comfortable? Some way of showing him we’re still around, and we want to help?”
Harding grinned, and his eyes sparkled with pride. I scowled at him, wiping the grin from his lips.
“On it,” Jerry said.
“Classy guy, that Jerry,” Boman said.
“A real class act, eh, Jerry?” Thane replied.
“You guys sound brain-dead.” Bria shook her head.
“It is such bullshit what the magical world allows Demigods to get away with,” I said. Distantly, I felt Kieran break away from Zorn somewhere in the trees and head back toward the cabin. “Jerry would’ve been forced into a blood oath if people could’ve gotten to him. They would have done the same for Amber and me. Why is this allowed to happen? It’s against the law! No way should this practice be this prevalent.”
“It’s not, really,” Bria said, leaning against the side of the cabin. “I’m an experienced level five in good standing with the community and plenty of job offers, but I’ve never had a problem turning jobs down. No one minds when I do freelance work. Most of the magical world is comprised of people like me—we’re too common to be chased or stolen or forced. We can be replaced.
“But there are a few rare gems that can’t be replaced, and when it comes to them, to you, we’re in the Wild West, so to speak. Normal laws don’t apply, or at least they’re not regulated, and no one knows how to change that or cares enough to bother. Now, Amber really shouldn’t have been in this camp. She’s exceptional, yes, but not so exceptional someone would force her into a position against her will. She’s basically CIA—Chesters can do that job. Spitting acid, her actual magic, doesn’t factor in here. Her attraction lies in how she might help with you, and Demigod Aaron lost his mind for a moment. Jerry made himself invaluable by basically becoming an urban legend. He was the king of the mountain, and Demigods are competitive enough to feel the allure of being crowned the new king, basically.
“Then there’s magic like yours. Like the Thunderbolt’s. Priceless, rare magic that promises to give a Demigod an edge over everyone else. With magic like that, you’ll always be forced to deal with the underbelly of our world. You have to harden up just to survive. It’s not awesome, but it’s your lot in life. Thank your mom when you see her next for hiding you for so long. It was a shit existence, but it was probably better than this.”
When Bria fell silent, I didn’t rush to fill the gap. Murmuring reached me from around the cabin, where Kieran had connected with Henry and Boman in the backyard. The kids were both in the house, playing cards at a small table. They’d changed so much over this last year, really blossoming into their own people despite all of the danger and uncertainty. Maybe because of it. Thane and Red stood off with Jerry in the trees, and I could feel Jack moving to the edge of my perimeter, heading toward a collection of what I knew were spirits. He was in charge of getting them organized.
Harding sat to my other side, staring at me with a flat expression—analyzing me, I knew, as he’d done the day I talked Jerry out of killing us.
“It wasn’t better than this,” I said, part of me knowing it was this answer Harding had been waiting for. “My old life was a pale comparison to this one. I wouldn’t go back for anything. I have friends now. A man I love with all my heart. A nice home and nice things for my kids. I have a community and a purpose. I have a place in the world where I fit, as strange as I am. As strange as my magic is. Despite the danger, I wouldn’t trade this life for the existence I had. I know for a fact my kids wouldn’t, either. I’ve even accepted Harding and his enormous kittens. My life is full, and I’m blessed to have it. I’ll fight for that.”
“Just wait until you consent to taking those cats around with you,” Harding murmured, finally looking away. “You’ll take strange to a whole new level. Death on a pale horse is for losers—give me a cat lady in her pajamas any day. You can ride next to Poseidon’s Demigod on his goldfish steed.”
Bria crossed her arms and looked strangely uncomfortable, and since she couldn’t hear Harding, I wondered what she was reacting to.
Amber and Donovan cut toward us before I could ask, though, through the trees, moving fast. Clouds built on the horizon, flashes of light interrupting the boiling dark mass. A peal of distant thunder rolled through the sky.
“Someone is making a move,” I said, standing. Kieran and the others moved my way. Expectancy fell over our group.
The fire within me, kept contained all day, emerged with a roar, filling me to bursting.
I cracked my muscles and pulled power from the Line. “It’s time to see what Zeus’s people are really made of.”
17
Alexis
“She’s got dogs looking for him,” Amber said as she ran toward us, out of breath. Kieran had just come around the cabin.
Donovan had sweat running down his face, clearly in worse shape than Amber. “She’s trying to flush him out. Demigods of Zeus can sense their kind, just like the Lightning Rod. She’s on horseback following the dogs. All she has to do is get close.”
“He’s moving.” Jerry braced his hands on his hips. “He’s left the rock chair I made and moving out of my range. I need to head that way to get traction on him again. There are over two dozen others that I can feel, too, moving slowly. They don’t seem to be disturbing many rocks. They must be on the hunt.”
“Can you feel if people are magical or not?” I asked. Jerry shook his head.
“She’ll use townspeople,” Kieran said, ducking into the cabin before reemerging with a leather vest to match the leather chaps he was already wearing. He was preparing for fire. “If they die in the crossfire, she’ll shower the town in money while talking about their bravery in bringing a dangerous magical person to justice. This town is tiny, not influential, and the people here already hate magic—their lives mean nothing to her.”
“Or she can blame everything on us and wash her hands of it,” Amber said. Kieran nodded his agreement.
“They mean something to Dylan,” I said, remembering his bright soul when he was around them. Remembering how warmly the woman and man in that café had greeted him.
“He’ll play the Zeus hero card if those he favors are in harm’s way,” Amber said.
“He’ll light this mountain up,” Thane said, gathered with everyone else.
I felt Jack sectioning the spirits off into groups. The stronger ones were organizing into lines, while the others gathered into a cluster out of the way.
“We’re going to have to stay fluid out there.” Kieran crossed the group and exited the other side, seeking open space. Confidence and determination surged through the soul link. “We’ll be running over rough terrain, and we’ll be playing for keeps. They will not hesitate to put you into the ground. Get them first. Do not kill innocents if you can help it, however. Keep this a magical fight wherever possible. Now that Dylan is on the move, it’s only a matter of time before he’s discovered. The second we can extract him, we will. Got it? Our goal is to join forces with him.”
Everyone nodded or murmured their assent.
“We’re outnumbered, but that’s nothing new,” Kieran continued. “Alexis and Bria will load up the cadavers right after this. Everyone else will get into their battle gear. When we’re all ready, we’ll head off together, led by Jerry and myself. Bria and Red, stay near Alexis. I won’t be able to feel your positions, but she will. If one of you does something that looks shady, I have faith that Alexis will happily turn you into another cadaver. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Red said without hesitation. Bria ho
oked a thumb into her pocket. Kieran looked at her hard for a moment.
After a moment he continued. “Thane, you’ll fight with steel until I say otherwise. After that, you will go Berserk. You will be aiming away from the town before you change form. You know the drill.”
Fire lit Kieran’s eyes as he surveyed all of us, his large shoulders squared, his posture powerful. Although he stood in the wilderness with only a handful of his people around him, his aura of unblinking authority said he could’ve been standing in front of a golden throne speaking to the masses.
Confidence wound within me, shared through the soul link, bolstering my spirits. This situation wasn’t new, anymore. Loading up cadavers and marching into danger wasn’t an unknown experience. The terrain had changed, but the people I fought with remained the same. We had something Flora couldn’t dream of—love and loyalty for one another. This tight unit fought for one another more than we fought for ourselves. We were stronger because of it. Even Jack, who had taken a fall, had insisted on joining us. He planned on taking a body for the first time since he’d lost his life.
“That Demigod of Zeus has no idea the hornets’ nest she has kicked,” I said softly, fire eating through my middle. “This will be the last time she tries to roll up on us, throwing her weight around.”
A grin pulled at Thane’s lips. Zorn shifted his weight, nodding slightly. Donovan outright laughed.
“Get it, girl!” he said, and clapped. “Show that ol’ Demigod of Zeus how gross Hades can be.”
“Way to ruin a good thing, Donovan,” Jerry said quietly, looking away with a small grin.
I laughed and hurried toward the spirits, now completely organized and staying in their formations.
“Bria, a word,” Kieran said behind me, his tone hard and rough. “I’ll send her to you when I’m done, Alexis.”
I frowned at him, not sure what that was about, but turned and hurried toward those spirits. Kieran was an excellent battle commander—he saw things in people they sometimes didn’t even see in themselves. He was probably warning Bria not to step out of line during this battle or risk lightning crashing down on her. It was a good warning.