“Ava?”
Her smile was nothing he’d ever seen before. Part adder, part demon, it was enticing. “Tell me about this place you want to take me. Tell me what it is. Tell me what it means to you.”
His tongue, it seemed, had no ability to resist. “It is a secret place, one I prepared many eons ago, for when I became as strong as I am now. Once we go, you will experience the full extent of my power. And yours. Only then will you understand. Once that is complete, nothing can touch us.”
Ava stopped him with a wave. “Nothing seems to touch you now. You already broke Hel.”
“I broke her, yes. But I didn’t kill her.” He paused, considering. “Once I merge with the source of my power, I’ll wipe out the gods with a single thought. I can extinguish life on this world…all the worlds, at my whim.”
She considered this for a long moment. “And what about this body of… Domenic’s? What if I like it?”
“Then I will endeavor to keep it intact. But we must return to the place where I was created.”
“This place in France?”
“Yes.”
Again, she took a minute to consider him, her dark eyes sizing him up, yet making him feel so small. “About these bodies of ours… They need certain things. Like air. Food. Water. Stuff like that. If you destroy the world, how will we get those?”
“I never said I was going to destroy this world. I am going to wipe it clean of humanity. And the gods. There is a difference.”
“Sounds like you got it all planned out.”
He did. All except for one little thing. Whatever had awoken inside of him gave another tug.
“Come with me, Ava.” He made his face smile. “Come with me and let me show you the whole world.” For whatever reason, the thing inside of him wanted this, wanted Ava to go with him. Wanted her there. Wanted someone else—someone like him—to witness what he’d create.
She simpered up at him. “Well, when you put it like that, how can a girl refuse?”
And the thing inside of him purred.
37
Sydney gazed at the faces around the table with all the satisfaction of someone who knew something nobody else did. Mir was super annoyed, but he would be, since he was usually the smartest person in the room. Just not at the moment.
“So, like I was saying, there’s really only one place it would be.”
“Spit it out, Syd. Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“You’re just pissed you didn’t figure it out first.”
“Spit. It. Out.”
Her dimples grew even deeper. “Jealous asshole.” But she said it with love. “In answer to my beloved’s order, I believe the most likely location is the Cairn De Gavrinis, just off the coast of France.”
Mir snorted.
Sydney raised her eyebrows.
Balder braced himself.
“If you have something to say, love, then say it.” A hint of anger glimmered beneath her words. “Or, you can let me finish, and then decide if you want to take that tone.” The door flung open and Hel, Hunter, and Morgane snuck in, Morgane studiously ignoring Hel, Hunter strategically placed in the middle.
Sydney clapped her hands. “Wonderful. We’re all here.” When she made it a point to completely ignore Mir, Balder knew the guy was totally screwed. “Now, the cairn is located on a low slice of an island just off the coast of France. It’s usually only reachable by boat, a half an hour from shore to shore.” She simpered at Balder. “Usually.”
She went on, “We discussed several methods of reaching the cairn…”
“You didn’t even ask my opinion,” Mir grumbled beneath his breath.
“You were busy, my love. I was forced to improvise.”
Sliding a piece of paper across the table into his hand, Balder noticed the rough sketch looked terribly familiar. Familiar because he’d spent far too much time there. “Surely, you’re not suggesting…”
“I am not suggesting anything.” For just a second, Sydney raised her gaze to his, and in her eyes, he saw the regret—before she straightened her shoulders. “We are doing this. Hel has offered to help, and we will accept. Ports in a storm and all that.”
Balder knew Syd was right, but this? He glanced over to Morgane. She’d be the lynchpin in this. If she didn’t go along with it?
As if she read his mind, Morgane spoke quietly, “Yes. If it saves my sister, then my answer is yes.”
So Balder remained quiet and listened to Sydney’s plan. Yet his eyes drifted down, over and over again, to that rough drawn map. Then his thoughts drifted upwards, to where Gabriella still slept in his bed. And how he was going to explain any of this to her.
Sydney’s eyes scanned the room. “We go in through the Underworld. We pass through Hel’s realm…”
“My old realm.”
“And then we come out on the island, right?” Syd uneasily glanced to Hel for confirmation.
“Right. Easy peasy.” A heartbeat passed before the goddess clarified, “Think of the Underworld like a long hallway lined with doors that go everywhere.” A few murmurings from the peanut gallery. “The Underworld leads everywhere, or rather, everywhere leads to the Underworld, since it’s designed to accept the souls from all the realms. Which means I can go wherever I want to. Which means, I’ll take you all to this godforsaken island in France. After that, you’re on your own.”
“What about the Orobus?” Hunter asked. “We’ll need help to contain him.”
“I spent three long months with that bastard.” Hel’s gaze flew to the now-empty laptop screen. “I’m not keen on spending another second anywhere near him.”
“Fair enough,” Odin cut in. “So, we have a way in. Any ideas on what to do once we get there?”
“I might have one or two.”
Balder clenched his fists as Gabriella squeezed herself up to the table. She was wrapped in a blanket and was white as a ghost, but she was moving. And talking, apparently.
“Sydney, how well do you know the layout of the island?” Gabriella asked, looking up to him before glancing down at the roughly drawn map. Her brow scrunched up. “What exactly is this?”
“That’s our way in.” Hel’s voice was bored amusement. “Unless you have a means to ferry us all across the ocean to France?”
“No, but I thought when you mentioned doors as I walked in, you were talking in…euphemisms.” She shook her head before continuing briskly, “I see I was wrong. Shouldn’t be surprised. What’re magical doorways after giant monsters and death by black, evil smoke?” She blew out a shaky breath, and Balder hesitated before settling his arm around her, surprised when she leaned her weight into him.
“Sydney, what’s the island like?”
“Well, it’s more like a windswept spit of land in the middle of a shallow bay. We’ll be able to see the cairn from shore—a cairn is a low, sort of hill structure, a burial site of some kind, most likely.”
“Enough with the history lesson,” Fen growled. “Get to the part of why you think it belongs to the Orobus.”
“Because it’s full of his fingerprints.” Sydney pulled out the bag and dumped the rocks onto the table. Instantly, everyone recoiled back a step. Uneasy silence filled the room, which was understandable. The last time all those rocks were out, disaster had struck.
Sydney went on, but her voice had lost every trace of humor. “There are twenty-six stones in the cairn, most marked with the same kind of grooving that’s on these smaller stones. A sort of DNA-like coding. I don’t know what it means…” She met Mir’s eyes, then continued hastily, “…and I don’t have to. It’s all the same, and it’s the only place on the planet that matches these. It’s got to be the right place,” she finished stubbornly.
“All right, then,” Mir agreed. “If my woman’s sure about it, then so am I. We know where we’re going.” He glanced at the drawing. “And we know how we’re getting there. Question is, who’s going?”
Nobody raised their hands, except for Hel. “I’m tota
lly in.” She put her hand down. “Until we get to the portal, that is. Maybe I’ll detour to Paris. Or Bordeaux. Still trying to decide.”
Balder was busy tallying heads. Not everyone could go, not everyone should go.
“I’m in. Don’t even consider leaving me behind,” Odin’s dry, raspy voice hung in the air between them.
“I’m going.” Tyr nodded to Hunter, who smiled up at him sweetly. “And her.”
Gabriella stayed quiet. Eyeing the piece of paper apprehensively, as well she should.
Good, this was good. “You don’t have to go, Gabbie.” Balder brushed a hand down her back, searching her eyes. “Stay here, help Syd and Tyr work out a plan of entry, and it’ll be enough.”
Morgane chimed in quietly, “It’s one thing if you’ve been down in the Underworld before, Gabriella. But if you haven’t, nothing can prepare you for what you’ll encounter, and once we reach the island…” Morgane’s voice trailed off as her uneasy gaze wandered up to Balder’s.
He knew what she was thinking. Once they were on the island, anything could happen. Simple fact of the matter? Mortals were more breakable. Balder stopped himself from marching Gabriella right back upstairs. Shit, between the Orobus, whatever Ava was turning into, and the variety of monsters unleashed on this planet…
“It’s true, I don’t understand everything that’s happening here.” Gabriella eyed the drawing again, pulled it over to her, drew a finger around the white edge. “But I understand more than you think.” Then she changed her mind and pushed the paper away. “I’ll help with a plan. But I have to warn you, Morgane, you can’t get too close. This power inside of them? It draws something from us humans. Keep your distance, especially from your sister.”
Balder felt her utter turmoil, but when he gripped her arm, with the sole intention of leading her away, Odin stopped them. “Make sure the plan’s foolproof. We need to reach that cairn unseen. Which means past whatever traps the Orobus has waiting for us.”
Gabriella’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded in agreement, pulled out of Balder’s grip, and followed Sydney, Tyr, and Hunter out of the room. Balder turned to Odin.
But before he could even start, Odin held up a hand. “She needs time, Balder. Let her decide for herself if she can go.”
Balder knew Odin was right, it just felt like…
“It feels like you should be able to do more. It feels like you should be able to help her decide.” Odin’s voice had all the gravity of an immortal’s, eons upon eons of weight behind it. “But you can’t. She has to figure this out by herself.”
Balder was surprised when he felt Odin’s hand fall on his shoulder, even more surprised by the strength of the grip.
“My advice to you? Hear her out when she does.”
38
Gabriella felt like she was teetering on the brink of something huge.
Her mind kept wandering back to that piece of paper lying on the table, and everything it represented. She tugged the blanket in tighter around her. “Syd, give me a run-down of this place. Every pertinent detail.”
“Built about three thousand BC, it’s the…”
“Pertinent, Syd, means important. Not boring historical stuff. I need structure, location on the island, elevation, length, entry points, possible ambush sites, that kind of stuff. And make it fast, we’re on a deadline.”
Sydney blinked. “All right. It’s all stone, two-and-a-half meters…”
“Feet, Sydney—I’m American—I need feet.”
“Eight feet,” Syd grumbled. “The cairn is eight feet across and forty-five feet long.” Then she mumbled under her breath to Hunter, “Seriously, who can’t convert meters to feet?”
“Most Americans, actually.” Gabriella ran a hand through her tangled hair. “We’re stupid like that.”
“The whole thing covers half a football field.” Syd grinned, “See? I can speak your language when I have to. It’s on the south end of the island, up on a hill, and there’s only one entrance. On the east side, facing the water.”
Gabriella pulled out a chair and plunked down in it. “It sounds like you know this place pretty well, Syd. You’ve been there?”
“Once,” Sydney admitted. “It was when I was in grad school for a Neolithic burial mounds and monuments day trip. Pretty boring stuff, but Gavrinis was…stunning. Different from anything I’d ever seen.” The tone in her voice could only be classified as reverence. “It’s one of a kind, Gabriella. And had you let me finish, it’s been dated to five thousand years ago. That time period is well outside when such mounds were built. Which is why I’m sure this is the Orobus’s personal site.”
“If it’s on one end of the island, we’d be open to attack from the water,” Hunter pointed out.
“And from the north side,” Tyr added.
“But it sits on a rise, so it’s easily defended from all sides.” Gabriella was thinking about what she’d do if she was the Orobus. How she’d defend her fortress, the most important strategic stronghold in all the Nine Realms. “He’ll have security in place to keep us out. It’ll be invisible—magical. A net—or a series of interlocking defenses—covering the entire area from edge to edge.” She paused as a thought struck her. “No, scratch that, not edge to edge. Underneath. His security goes all the way around the entire land mass. It’s the only way he could ensure complete and total separation.” A sense of defeat overwhelmed her. “Getting to the island won’t be the problem, it’s getting onto the island.”
Except…
“Hel, get in here.”
She strutted in like she owned the place, which was saying something, given she had on baggy green scrubs and looked like death warmed over. “You rang?”
“When we walk though the other side of your doorway, passageway, whatever you want to call it, where will we end up?” And when the immortal went to throw out a pithy come back, Gabriella warned her with a look not to. “Exactly where. Pinpoint the location for me. Can we decide, or is it up to Fate?”
“It’s a tricky business,” The Queen of the Underworld admitted, quailing when she saw the looks plastered on everyone’s faces. “But yes, it is possible we can do some fine-tuning.”
Gabriella slipped into that place where she went before a job, cool calculation taking over. Weighing their options. Risk versus success.
“How fine?”
“Fine enough for government work,” Hel snapped before smoothing down her hair. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
Gabriella didn’t disagree.
“To the meter, if you must know.” Sydney smiled sweetly, showing her teeth.
“I’d prefer to the inch. My guess is, the Orobus has a network of magic spread all over that island. We need to get underneath it. Without setting any alarms off. Without alerting anyone. Can it be done?”
“Anything can be…” She snapped her mouth shut at the look on Gabriella’s face. “Yes. It can be done. The doorway on the other side is an opening through the veil, so there’s no real disturbance in the physical psyche of the world. You’ll just step right through, onto the island. The problem will be what happens when you do step through. If his warding detects the presence of a living being, he’ll detect you, no matter how you arrive on the island.”
“What if we aren’t alive?” Gabriella asked, and Hel’s mouth snapped shut again. Opened. Then closed. “Would such a spell…a ward work then?”
“Nope. I won’t do it.”
“Thought you were Queen of the Underworld?” Gabriella allowed herself a ghost of a smile. “Didn’t think you’d shy away from adding to your impressive body count.”
“It can be done,” Hel admitted smoothly. “I would take your souls, and when you arrive on the island, if the wards are keyed to living creatures, you should pass by undetected.”
Tyr growled, Hunter putting out a hand to stop him. “If you think for one fucking minute, I’m going to let this lying, conniving bitch kill me, then…”
Without even turning around, Gab
riella answered him, “Then don’t go. This is probably a suicide mission, anyway. We go in dead, and we leave the same way.” She shrugged, hating what was being asked of them. “Volunteers only, since this looks like the only viable option.”
Gabriella pointed to Hel. “She takes our souls, so we’ll be dead when we arrive on the island, which should make us impossible to detect. We need at least five people to make this work. Two to take out the guards, two at the point of entry, and me. Odin’s insisting on going, but he’ll only slow us down. I’ll be the one going into the cairn. If I manage to kill the Orobus…” Her voice trailed off.
How do you kill an immortal being? Common sense asked. Maybe you don’t. It answered. She brushed off her doubts. Odin had faith in her, she just had to have a little in herself.
“If I’m successful, we can get Ava out of there.” She fixed her glare on Hel. “Once we do our part, then you’ll come back from Paris or fucking Bordeaux or wherever your little French holiday is, and you will make us all alive again, do you understand?”
“Got it.”
“Tyr, anything I missed?”
Tyr shook his head, then scowled at the others. “Let’s figure out who is going and who’s staying. Whoever stays has to deal with the Dark Elves. My guess is they’re nearly here. We’ll need weapons.” Tyr turned to Hel. “What can we take through the Underworld?”
“Anything made of wood does not fare so well, from my experience.”
“We’re good to go on guns?”
His mouth twisted slightly when she met his mocking eyes. “Oh yes, God of War, guns will do just fine. Gunpowder, on the other hand, not so well.”
“So knives, is what you’re saying?”
“Knives is what I’m saying. Metal handles, only.”
As if they needed one more hurdle. Gabriella’s shoulders slumped. She was so tired, like death warmed over. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe that when Hel took her soul, she wouldn’t feel much worse.
The Tower Page 17
