by Tessa Cole
Whatever else happened with her, with this diseased naiad and her companion, I knew that I’d stay with Annie, no matter what. And from the conversations I’d had with the guys, they all felt the same way. We didn’t yet know how that would work out, but we’d all agreed that if she came back into our lives, we’d make it work, somehow.
And she had.
“Was there anything else you learned?” Annie asked, perhaps trying to get the conversation away from her. Her inability to meet our gazes and the way she shifted made it clear that talking about her and her new power made her feel uncomfortable.
“The fellow in the alley over there,” I said, pointing behind me, “said he asked the woman about her strange skin. She’d seemed confused for a moment, then mentioned a convergence of some sort.”
“No, a convention,” Aethan corrected me. “That was the word he’d used.”
“Mine mentioned a convention as well. Said she was in town for one.” Annie frowned but I couldn’t tell if it was in confusion or thought. “But why would that explain the blue skin?”
I didn’t know, and from the looks on the other guys, they didn’t either.
Then her eyes went wide and she gasped. “Wait. I have a friend who’s into sci-fi stuff.” I had no clue what that was, but I let her go on without interrupting. “I think she said that there was a comic convention in town. It was going to be soon, but that was a couple weeks ago.”
“Sci-fi stuff? Comic convention?” Aethan asked before I got there.
Annie opened her mouth then snapped it shut as if realizing that explaining might make things more confusing. “The details don’t matter,” she said instead. “What’s important is that there will be a lot of people there and a blue-skinned woman won’t be out of place. My people will be in all sorts of costumes and makeup. She’ll fit right in.”
“We need to get there quickly,” Rion said. “Where is it?”
“I have no clue.” Annie pulled out the device she called her phone. “Give me a sec and I’ll call my friend.” She tapped the luminescent pad with her finger then put it to her ear. “Hey, Lacey! — Yeah, really loud. — Are you at that sci-fi convention thingy?” Annie removed the phone from her ear and covered it, as she hissed, “Fuck.” Then turned to us and said, “She’s there, and I don’t want to tell her to leave in case she might already be infected. I wouldn’t want her to spread it.” She didn’t look happy, but put on a fake smile as she put the phone back to her ear as if her friend could actually see her as well as hear her. “Ah… no, cool. Remind me, where is it again? — McCormick Place? Thanks — Yeah, I’m coming. Maybe I’ll see you. Gotta go. Bye!” She tapped the phone again before putting it away.
“McCormick Place?” I asked, sounding out the words. “Where’s that?”
“Closer to downtown. We’ll need a tax—” Annie’s gaze swept over us and her frown deepened. “We’ll need two. You all won’t fit in a single taxi. Fuck.”
“I could fly there and take Annie,” Rion suggested.
“No wings,” Annie insisted. “Although, once we get there… you all might just fit in fine, even with your powers. They’ll think it’s special effects or something. She put her phone against her cheek again, turning away as she spoke to the person on the other end. I didn’t know exactly how the device worked, but had figured out that somehow she was able to speak to people through it, which was absolutely amazing.
Annie turned back to us. “Okay. I’m just gonna run up my credit card today, but fuck it. We need to save the world, right?”
We all agreed to that.
A few minutes later, two of those self-propelled carts arrived. Apparently, that was what Annie had meant by a taxi… which led to our next hurdle: trying to get Keph into one.
He didn’t quite fit well inside, but we eventually managed to squish him into the back of one — it’s rear portion now scraping the ground, making the driver glare at us. Annie took the seat at the front of that one, ignoring the driver’s dark look. The rest of us piled into the other, and we were off.
Chapter 27
Kephas
I was relieved to be out of the metal beast, which had made the most horrible screeching sound the entire time I’d been in it. Except upon exiting the car, I was faced with a crowd larger than any I’d ever seen before. That made my heart race and cold fear slide down my spine.
“So many people,” I breathed.
Annie, next to me, didn’t seem bothered by this at all. “Lacey said these things can draw tens of thousands of people.”
“Tens of… thousands? By the Hammer!” That was more people than I’d ever seen in my life. The stone titans were few, perhaps a few thousand in total, and I’d never met all of them. I knew only my clan, one of the largest, and it didn’t even number a full thousand. The only other place I’d been was the town of Masia and it held no more than a few hundred people.
I drew in a long breath, trying to steady my nerves.
“You’re not afraid, are you?” she asked. “You’re bigger than anyone here. You can easily push through these people.”
True.
And while I was a little afraid — afraid that the wrong move could hurt a lot of people — I was also awed and a bit stunned at the sheer number.
But this was where we had to be, so I was just going to have to deal with it.
I sucked in another breath and was feeling a bit better, by the time the other three had joined us.
“Zeus’s balls, there’s a lot of people here,” Aethan said. I was glad I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. “How are we ever going to find one woman… who can be several women. Gods, this is impossible!”
“We’ll need to split up,” Del said. “But we’ll need some way to keep in contact.”
“Oh, right!” Annie dug around inside the bag she carried and pulled out another device like the one she’d talked into. She handed it to Del. “Take this. I got it while you guys were getting fitted for your suits.” She showed him how to use it. “It should come up to this screen when you press here. And I’ve programmed my number in. Just touch where it says Annie. Then we can talk to each other.”
“Only one?” Del asked.
Annie gave him a dry look. “I’m not made of money, you know.”
“Then two groups.” Del looked around. “Rion with me, Aethan and Keph with Annie. How’s that sound?”
“It sounds like this is still going to take forever,” Aethan replied, his gaze sliding over the crowd. “Half of these people are dressed up in strange ways even for this world. There’s another woman with blue skin, but she has red hair. We can’t even ask around for a blue woman.”
“Unless you can think of something better, this is the best plan we’ve got,” Annie said. “You can call when you come up with that. Until then, let’s start asking around and keep an eye out for any signs of the disease. That could lead us to her as well.”
Del nodded and he and Rion set off into the crowd.
“Come on,” Annie said, pushing forward into the sea of people.
Once inside the large building, things got worse. Luckily the halls and rooms were large with soaring ceilings that were more than big enough for me, but everywhere I looked there were people. And while Annie had been right and they got out of my way quickly, there were, however, lots of muttered comments.
“Who’s that supposed to be?”
“Dude! He’s huge!”
“That’s got to be padding.”
“Great costume, bro!”
We stepped into a narrow side hall which seemed to run between two of the larger rooms. Thankfully the smaller hallway was empty, and I didn’t feel like I was accidentally going to crush someone — which had seem inevitable in most of the other packed rooms and halls.
“I’m going to check down here,” Aethan said, pointing down the tight hallway. There were a few small doors off it farther away from the bustling crowds. “Back in a moment.” Then he was a blur moving down the em
pty hall, checking doors. He was back to us quickly.
“I think I found her,” he said excited. “Or at least one of her.”
“Which room?” Annie asked.
“Second on the right.”
“Okay, you two get your hands on her, make sure she can’t get away,” Annie commanded, looking sure of herself in a way I’d never seen from her before. It was a good look on her, and reminded me that goddess or not, she was an amazing woman. “I’ll see if she’s infected anyone and try to heal them.”
“Aethan,” I said, as we headed for the door. “Zip in and grab her if you can. I’ll clear the room for you.”
He raised a brow at that, but nodded, and I opened the door, ducked, and squeezed through the entrance.
A second later Aethan was a blur, rushing past me.
“Got her!” he shouted. He’d moved perhaps thirty feet in and had a woman in a white cloak by the arm.
“Everyone out!” I roared as loud as I could. I saw Annie jump beside me.
Then she muttered. “So much for finding any sick ones.”
Oh… right.
Still, my plan had worked. People scattered in all directions, leaving a large area around Aethan and the woman. She was much smaller than Annie was, and I stalked forward and reached to grab her. But as I got there, the struggling woman seemed to dissipate. Her clothes fell in on themselves and Aethan was holding nothing but clothes and… water.
“Fuck,” Aethan cursed, as I too recalled that naiads could shift into pure water, similar to how I could turn to stone.
The woman flowed out of Aethan’s hands, reformed, now naked, behind Aethan and kicked him hard between his legs.
Aethan doubled over with a yelp and a thick groan.
I took one large step and reached for the woman, but she was quicker than me, dancing away, before turning to run. But Annie had gotten around behind her and slammed her fist into the woman’s cheek.
The naiad reeled back toward me. I caught her this time, one hand easily holding her shoulder, and the thumb and finger of my other hand clamped around her neck.
She huffed in disgust and turned to water again, slipping from my grip.
“Fuck!” Annie said. “That’s getting annoying.”
I had to agree.
I turned, following the moving puddle as it slid across the floor to reform on the other side of me. The woman kicked again, perhaps thinking I’d go down as easily as Aethan.
Her foot landed hard against my groin. I hardly felt anything, but she shrieked in pain and hopped back, probably with a broken foot. Stone titans were tough to begin with. And in this world, I was tougher still.
I stepped in and swung, remembering at the last minute how much stronger I was in this world, and pulled the punch.
Still the small woman lifted from the ground, flew a few feet away, hit the floor, and slid a dozen feet across the polished tiles. She collapsed in a blue, naked heap and lay still.
Annie ran to her, checking at the woman’s neck. Except even as she did, the woman melted into nothing.
I rushed over, checking for water. “Did she shift?” I asked.
“To water?” Annie patted the floor. “No, it’s not wet at all. She just vanished.” She looked up at me surprised. I was just as astonished and shrugged my ignorance of what had happened.
“Perhaps that’s what happens when you kill one of her duplicates?” Aethan said, voice strained, as he staggered over to us.
That made sense.
“So, this wasn’t the real one then,” I said, then huffed out a sigh. What was that word? Oh Right. “Fuck.”
Chapter 28
Hyperion
“There!” I spotted a woman in white and caught a glimpse of blue skin, and pointed across the massive hall filled with people milling about. “She’s there.”
“I don’t have eagle’s eyes like you do. All I see is people everywhere,” Del muttered. “You’ll have to get us closer.”
I grabbed his arm and began pushing through the crowd. People were packed in tightly among booths which seemed to be selling all manner of strange items. I threaded my way through them, Del in tow, but progress wasn’t quick.
I debated using my blinding light like I had at the wedding, but that would be a beacon to our quarry in addition to blinding everyone here. And I wasn’t certain that would actually get people out of our way.
Once closer, perhaps fifty feet away, I pointed again. “There, in the white.”
“I see now, yes. Any ideas?”
“Remember, she’s a naiad. That means she can turn to water and slip out of here, if she wishes.” If we still had our other shifting powers, then she would as well.
Del laughed. “Well that sounds like a plan to me.”
I frowned at him and he flashed me a wide grin.
“I can control water, remember?”
Right! He could. “So I get her to shift and you—”
“Do what I do,” he finished.
We moved closer. The naiad was at a booth, looking over items, but also subtly touching peoples’ hands as they reached for things under the guise of reaching for the same one.
“I’ll get around the other side,” I whispered and slipped off into the crowd, finding a slow-moving flow of people and threading my way around. Once close, on the other side of the woman, I caught Del’s eye and nodded.
He nodded in return, closing in a bit more.
I reached out and grabbed the naiad’s wrist.
Startled, that hooded head turned to me. It was her, blue face, shimmering blue eyes. I lowered my voice. “Come with me, naiad.” Her eyes widened a bit more.
I made sure my grip was iron around her wrist. Her only way to escape would be to shift.
And, as expected, my fist clamped closed around the woman’s sleeve as she turned to water.
“Del!” I called out.
“Got her,” he replied, pushing through the crowd to the booth. “Under the table.”
I knelt and lifted the skirt around the booth’s table, to see a frozen glob of ice.
I looked up at Del as he arrived. “Frozen?”
He smiled. “I was inspired by the snow outside. I’ve been toying with freezing and unfreezing water while we were outside talking to people. It seems to have worked.”
But then, as I looked back at the ice, it simply vanished. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “The water just… went away.”
I rose. “I’m guessing this wasn’t the original woman then. I—” I caught sight of another woman with blue skin and a white cloak, staring at us from across the hall.
Her eyes flashed wide and she turned and ran.
It would take us forever to get to where she’d been if we tried to push our way through the crowd.
“By Hades!” I cursed.
I’d be able to get there a lot faster if I shifted. My mind warred as to the best option, but then I remembered Annie’s words: You all might just fit in fine, even with your powers.
“Prepare to fly,” I said to Del. It would be easiest to carry him in my full eagle form, but that would tear up the suit Annie had borrowed for me.
I shrugged out of my jacket and tossed it to Del. There wasn’t time to undo all the buttons on the shirt, so I unleashed my wings, which ripped through the back of the fabric, and I tore the rest of the ruined shirt away. Then I grabbed Del under the arms, leaped into the air, and flapped my wings to gain some height in the — thankfully — high-ceilinged hall.
Del started cursing and went rigid in my grip. Guess he didn’t like flying. But this was our only option. I soared across the room reached the door the woman had just exited through, and landed, setting us both down lightly.
People all around us gasped and clapped as I set us down and shed my wings. They vanished before they’d even hit the ground, drawing even more gasps and a louder round of applause.
As Annie had suspected, people were surprised, but not overly so, nor
terrified. Strange folk.
I grabbed my jacket back from Del and we pushed through the doorway out into the hall. But I couldn’t see the woman among the crowd. Then I caught sight of Annie — I’d never be able to miss her — and Keph, who was also hard to miss. They were moving toward us down the hall.
Which meant the woman probably wouldn’t have gone that way.
I flagged down the others, then began pushing through the crowd in the opposite direction — hopefully the direction the naiad had gone.
“This way,” I called over the roar of voices around us.
I caught sight of the white cloak again. The naiad was about a hundred feet away, talking to two burly men guarding a closed set of doors.
Then the cloak fell limp. She’d turned to water, and the guards hadn’t even blinked an eye. I had no idea why they hadn’t reacted to her suddenly disappearing and I didn’t have time to worry about it. Without a doubt she was slipping into that guarded room, which made things more difficult
But Keph would be there soon. He’d convince the guards to move… or he’d make them.
Chapter 29
Annie
Rion pointed to a door with two large security guards and I hurried up to them.
“We have to get in there,” I said.
“You and everyone else,” the guy on the left said.
“Look I don’t have time to explain.” And even if I did, I doubted either of them would believe me. ‘Hi, yeah, a blue-skinned-woman is spreading a disease by touching people and now she’s in that room because she turned to water.’ A not-so plausible story, even if the evidence — the woman’s clothes — still sat in a lump in front of these guys. They’d watched her melt, but still didn’t look willing to talk and I had no idea why—
