The Banished Gods Box Set: Books 1-3

by L. A. McGinnis

  She seemed to weigh her next words very carefully as she looked up at him. “Listen, I realize how completely crazy this sounds. But I brought something real out of one of my dreams.”

  Hesitating, she chewed her lip before continuing. “Don’t think badly of me, but…”

  “Celine. What are you talking about?”

  “There’s this black, carved stone. I stole it. From the dark god-thingie in my dreams. He had it, and I wanted it.” She shrugged. “He controlled me in there. I hated him for it. So when I saw he had this stone, and it seemed important to him, I imagined taking it away from him. The problem was, I woke up with it clutched in my hand.” Her eyes were wide and depthless. “I left it on my dresser for a few days, not even believing it was real. But then…” She bit her lip again.

  Fen held his breath.

  “The damn thing was still there, days later. I poked it and it was real. I picked it up, and it was heavy. Looking at it, I saw the whole damn thing was covered in carvings. Swirls, kind of. So…you know me, I was curious. I went and did tons of research on it in the library. The closest thing I found were the carvings at this place called Cairn de Gavrinis, in France. The inside of the cairn has the same sort of markings and seems to be made from the same type of rock. Then I took it to one of the grad assistants in the geology department, and he confirmed the stone’s about the same age as the cairn.”

  “I’ve got to get that stone. No, scratch that, we need that rock. It might be the missing part of this puzzle.”

  That bottom lip was sucked between her teeth again.

  “As for it being hidden under my bed? To tell you the truth, after a while the whole thing totally wigged me out, so I stuck it in a box, shoved it under there, and kind of forgot about it.” She shot him a wry smile. “Totally forgot about it until right now. But once Mir sees it, if it means anything, I know he’ll be able to figure it out.”

  She was already pulling on a sweatshirt when Fen put his hand on her arm, stopping her. She blinked up at him. “Oh, of course you’re coming too. I wouldn’t go without you, Fen.”

  “There’s nothing left of your apartment, Celine. If the stone was there…” Fen stumbled over the words, unsure of how to tell her. “Shit, I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry, someone trashed your place yesterday. Tyr and I went over there to get my chain and we found it like that.” He watched her face fall and added, “They must have been after the writings or your computer. I’m really sorry.” He didn’t point out they might have been there for her.

  “Well, we have to at least look. Go and see if it’s still there.” She was a stubborn thing, Fen thought. Enough so, she was going to get herself killed.

  “Never going to happen.” Fen shook his head, a million reasons sloshing around in there, all of them really, fucking good reasons why she was definitely not going back to that apartment.

  An hour later he and Tyr flanked her in the back of an SUV, Vali driving silently and slowly though the stop and go traffic. “This is a bad fucking idea,” Tyr muttered. We’re on the same fucking page here, Fenrir wanted to shoot back at him. But here they were, and right now, their only objective was to get this insane field trip over as fast as possible. Five immortal gods, fully armed, just to retrieve one little stone from a mortal’s efficiency apartment. In the SUV behind them rode Loki, Odin, and Njor, who’d tagged along for whatever the fuck reason. The Vanir had asked, and Odin had agreed, so here they all were.

  Happy family outing.

  “Really, really bad fucking idea,” Tyr muttered again, obviously his version of Are we there yet? Fenrir gripped his gun even harder, shifting slightly closer to Celine. It was rush hour and the streets were jam packed, and they were headed into gods only knows what kind of cluster.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  “This is a really bad fucking idea,” Fen whispered into her ear.

  She patted his hand. “It’s going to be all right, you two. You both need to stop, you’re freaking Vali out.” Celine was a nervous wreck herself. Fenrir could smell it on her, but that damn stubbornness was going to be the death of her. Or them all, his brain amended. “We’ll be in and out. I know exactly where to look, won’t take me but a minute,” she added breezily.

  “Don’t sound so confident. You haven’t seen what they did to your apartment, little girl,” Tyr rumbled, his eyes fixed on the city outside.

  “Don’t you little girl me, big guy,” she shot right back at him. “I know right where the box is. It’ll either be there and we go home, or it won’t and we go home. If it’s not there…” She chewed her lip. “Well, I have a feeling it’d better be right where I left it.”

  Fen kept a close eye on her as she surveyed the damage to her apartment a few minutes later. He clasped a hand around her shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze as a faint, “Holy shit” slipped out of her mouth at what was left. It was kind of impressive, really, the sheer level of destruction wreaked in such a small space. “So much for OCD, huh?” She waded into the wreckage, most of her belongings now completely unrecognizable. But she made it to the bedroom with just a few scratches and one small tear in her jeans. She threw the lid of the box, completely crushed, over her shoulder before sifting through the debris for the stone itself. Fen crawled around to help her.

  Strangely enough, Njor joined them.

  “What are we looking for down here on the floor?” He seemed far too jovial for being locked in with Odin for hours. “If you explain to me that which we are searching for, then perhaps I could be of help?”

  “A rock.” Celine illustrated, by holding out her hand. “Fits in your palm. Black and it has swirls all over it.” She shot Fenrir a look that clearly asked, Are you sure this is a good idea?

  Odin was lounging in the doorway, overseeing the entire process with a look of distaste. But Fen shrugged, answering with a glance that clearly said, Hell no, but that’s not up to me, is it?

  She shook her head and kept digging.

  Njor dug right alongside her, his every movement suddenly as determined and as frenetic as hers.

  An hour later, Celine sat back and blew her hair out of her face in frustration. She was sweaty, banged up, had three splinters, and was pissed off. Over a fucking rock that she’d completely forgotten about for months. “Fuck.”

  Njor looked absolutely shocked.

  So she said it again. Louder. “Fuck.”

  “It’s not here. If they knew to come here and ransack my entire apartment for it, then I guess it’s more important than I ever gave it credit for. Sorry, Fen, I should have remembered it sooner. I should have…” Her voice trailed off as her knee hit something. She plunged her hand down into a pile of splintered wood and fabric and yanked out the stone. It felt warm, as if it had been cradled in her hand for hours, not buried deep in the wreckage waiting for her to find it.

  Running her thumb along one of the marks, she couldn’t help notice Njor edge closer. She could practically feel his enthrallment. Noting the way his eyes locked onto the thing, she lifted it higher, admiring the way the light played off the flecks of mica sprinkled among the dark, matte background. Not unlike stars in the night sky.

  The ghost of a smile played around her mouth for a minute before she tucked the prize into her pocket, Njor’s eyes following every movement like a cat after a laser.

  “Well, thank God they missed it. They should have been a little more careful before they demolished my place, I guess.” Reaching a hand up, Fen he lifted her to her feet. “Let’s get out of here,” she muttered, searching the rest of the room for anything worth salvaging. But before she could pause for more than a few seconds, he tugged her along behind him, obviously needing to get her home quickly.

  Celine paused at the door to the SUV. “Njor, would you like to ride back to the Tower with us? And Odin, too? We’ve got tons of room.” Tyr grumbled but headed for the other vehicle where Loki waited. Njor, he of the Let’s get down on the floor and help look for the rock, had just sho
t to the top of her list of people who seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Coincidence didn’t exist in her world. Which meant she didn’t trust this little shit one bit.

  Whatever his reasons for being here, Njor didn’t belong. However. In Celine’s experience, a huge, busy city knocked you off your stride at first, god or no god.

  “Chicago’s a big place, huh?” she asked, offering him her most innocent smile. “When I first came here, I felt like I was a little fish in a big ocean. Like there was so much to see, that I couldn’t ever possibly cram it all in.” She allowed a bit of sympathy to creep into her voice as she went on.

  “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this mess. I know how it feels, you know, having that monster inside your head. When that thing comes into my dreams, he gives me all these symbols to write down. And afterwards, well, I can’t seem to get them out of my head fast enough. Almost like I’m compelled to purge them. Is it that way with you?” She knew Fen was watching carefully as was Odin. All she had to do was see if she could get this little shit to give himself away.

  “He speaks to me. Mind-to-mind. Words without words, if that makes sense?” Celine continued watching with sympathetic eyes. “I know sometimes it hurts when he makes you do something, especially if you fight him. Especially with these words he’s planting into my brain. Like they’re his secret, and you are just the vessel.”

  Contempt sparked in his eyes. “A vessel? Is that how you see yourself?”

  Celine leaned forward. “Not exactly. What do you think about all of this—and why did he choose you in the first place? Fen told me you were safe on your world? Why would he involve you in all of this?”

  Njor settled his measuring stare on her. “The Vanir have been honored since the beginning of time to be chosen as the oracles of greater gods. To be chosen by such an ancient, powerful being is…” His voice trailed off, a faraway look in his eyes. “To be chosen now, as the last of my race, is what I consider the highest privilege.”

  Celine allowed a hint of disbelief to lace her next words. “You don’t see it as an invasion of your mind? We weren’t chosen for some noble purpose. The thing’s using you and me as tools to further his cause, Njor, and you don’t have a problem with that?”

  For a moment he blinked, until he seemed to remember where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. “No…I mean, yes, yes of course. He is a foul being and I am here to help you stop him. Just as I promised.”

  “Well.” She pushed back into the leather seat. “We need all the help we can get, right Fen?” Fen grumbled out an answer of some sort. “And I… We appreciate you coming along today and helping me find this.” Celine drew out the stone and laid it on the seat next to her.

  “This might be the missing piece of the puzzle, you know.” She pursed her lips and shot Njor another open, sunny smile. “Have you ever seen anything like it before?” She nudged it toward him across the seat, noting the way his fingers curled back, as though he wanted nothing more than to snatch it away, but it took everything he had not to reach for it.

  “No, I cannot say that I have.”

  “I hadn’t either. Not until the night that thing came into my mind and ripped through my memories and took control of me.” Her voice narrowed down to a bare whisper. “So do you know what I did then, Njor?” Celine pushed the rock into Njor’s palm, closing his fingers gently around the warm rock. Hoping that Odin was listening closely.

  Knowing that Fen was.

  Her smile turned conspiratorial. “I stole this away from him. As he took from me, I took from him. I reached out and I grabbed it, and when I was hurled out of my dreams, somehow the stone came with me.”

  Her smile faded away as she stared hard at the aging god. “How does it feel, Njor? To hold something stolen from one of the ancients in your hand?” Both greed and fear simmered in his steel-gray eyes as he gazed at the ridged, dark oval of granite.

  He ran a thumb over the markings. Quietly, almost reverently, he spoke, “Some say the Orobus is made up of the dark matter left behind when life was created. The first energy that ever existed. That he is the original fingerprint upon which every living thing is based. Seeing this…stone makes me believe it is all true.” He looked to her curiously. “Why did you do it? Why dare steal from a god?”

  Tension as sharp as a razor stretched out between them. “Because he might as well have raped me, coming into my mind as he did. Taking my power, my thoughts, taking away my choice. Bending me to his will.” Celine hoped he sensed both the anger and the truth in her shaking words. Believed them wholly.

  Reluctantly he offered her the stone. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have been so stupid to take something of his, then.” Next to her, Fen stiffened, his face hard as granite as Njor went on, dropping the stone into Celine’s waiting palm.

  “Not if you didn’t want him to come after it, that is.”

  A low, vicious snarl came out of Fen’s mouth, and she didn’t have to look over to know his fangs were dropping, his eyes changing. She clasped her other hand tightly over his arm, Wait, please, please wait. I’m close now, so, so close.

  Leaning in, her voice was even and low as she asked, “And exactly why do you think he’d come here, just for this little thing? It seems to me he has better things to do. Breaking the curse that binds him, for one.” Her voice softened even more. “Razing this world to the ground, for another. What’s one little rock in the midst of all of that?”

  She swore his eyes grew a bit brighter, keener. And with that, she had her answer. It didn’t matter if no one else saw it, she knew. And that was enough.

  This stone played an important role in whatever was coming.

  Important enough that Njor coveted it.

  The Vanir straightened, drew away, tugging his coat tighter around himself. “I came here to avert the dark god from ever entering your realm.” A flicker of hesitation, a glance over to Odin before he added, “With a bit of luck, working together, the lot of us will prevent such a thing from ever happening, girl.” His gaze hardened. “But you should have thought better than to steal from an ancient. I didn’t figure you for a thief.”

  It was all she could do to hold her tongue, Fen vibrating with rage beside her the rest of the way home. Odin ushered Njor back into the building, sparing her a fleeting glance. A single look that told her everything she needed to know.

  He knew as well as she did that Njor of the Vanir was a lying sack of shit.

  Once Odin and the sack of shit were in the elevator, Celine tore up the steps, Fen right on her heels. “I knew it. He’s lying about everything. He knows exactly what this stone is.”

  Mir met them at the top of the stairs, and fell into step with them as they flew down the hallway to the War Room, where her notebooks and laptop were stacked.

  Morgane was just leaving the room. “Hey. There you are. I put all of your stuff on the bed. I found everything you asked for. Shampoo, body lotion, conditioner…” Her voice trailed off. “What’s happened?”

  Pushing by her, Celine debated for a second then motioned her to join them inside. “Shut the door.” Fenrir closed the door, while Mir shoved everything on the table to one side.

  Morgane frowned. “For your information, I just straightened that all up.”

  Celine placed the stone on the table, where they all stared at it as if it would jump off and eat their faces. “What’s that?” There was a fair amount of trepidation in Morgane’s voice. “And please tell me that’s just a plain old rock. Because you’re all acting weird. A strange guy shows up, all of you leave in the middle of the day, armed to the hilt, and now we’re locked in here, staring at a rock.”

  “It can’t be just a plain old rock,” Celine said, “because I brought it out of my dream.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Mir demanded.

  Celine explained. Everything Fen already knew, she told Mir and Morgane. “But I have no earthly idea of what it’s for. But it has to be important, right?
Because of the way I ended up with it?”

  Fen cursed before growling, “There’s another problem.”

  Morgane groaned as she rolled her eyes. “There’s always a problem.”

  “Njor knows what the stone is. And I think he knows something else too.”

  Celine kept her eyes carefully away from Fen’s probing stare as she answered, “I think he knows why this dark god chose me in the first place.”

  Chapter 22

  For a few minutes, Mir, Fen, and Morgane argued while Celine let the disarray, the chaos of the place sink into her, finding the utter mess oddly calming. At least until Tyr and Thor suddenly burst into the room unannounced.

  “Celine?” Tyr bowed awkwardly, which she found wonderfully endearing if a bit weird. “Odin wishes an audience. Right now. You’re to come with me.”

  When Fen went to join her, Thor stepped in front of him and blocked him with an arm and an easy smile. “Sorry my brother, just her this time. Odin said no exceptions.”

  “Fuck if that’s going to happen.”

  “I’ve got my orders. Just her.” Thor’s arm was beginning to strain as Fenrir pushed against it.

  Tyr went on, his voice reassuring, “I’ll be in there too, Fen. I’ll keep a close eye on her. I won’t leave her alone.”

  “Not going to happen, Tyr,” Fen gritted out. “You know what he’s like. Could have anything up his sleeve.” Mir got into the game, wrapping two arms around Fen from behind.

  “She’s got to go and she’s got to go alone. You’re only making this worse.”

  Celine put her hand on Fen’s chest and felt the tension in the room ease up a little.

  “Fen, I’ll only be a minute. Let me talk to Odin, and when I get back, we’ll figure out how we’re going to stop the…Orobus guy from coming over. I’ve got an idea, but I want to run it by Mir first.” She winked at him. She was pretty sure she was right, based on something Njor had said, but she wanted to see what Mir thought first. “Trust me, this will only take a minute.”