Ashton frowned at Pax from under thick dark eyebrows as he pumped his massive arms to either side of his body. A freezing cold wind swept through the palace, along with a pale blue glow. “The shield is up. The Obake guards are frozen. Break Amara free now.”
“Right,” Pax said, as she flew up to the pyramid. She pressed both hands against what she believed was the weakest part of the pyramid. She searched her mind for wisdom on how to break or dissolve an element that had never had been studied by man. Mara! How do I get you out of there? Pax asked. Her friend’s knowledge of chemistry and science was vast.
Get them off me. Ash. Please, Ash.
“Dammit,” Pax said, realizing that her friend was too traumatized to be of any use. “If my thoughts can travel through the substance…” Pax tried to focus on creating heat inside the pyramid to expand the air on the inside, and force the structure to break apart. When Amara began to scream, Pax realized that she couldn’t heat the insides of the pyramid without frying her friend. Anyway, the material was from the core of a star! Heat was not the answer, although it was Pax’s strength. She began to try to emulate the acidic attack that Asher had used a moment before, but she felt a soft hand suddenly grasp her by the throat.
“Things could have been different between us, sweetie,” Suja said as she crushed Pax’s windpipe beneath her fingers. “We could have been friends.”
Pax gasped for air desperately before she remembered—she didn’t need oxygen. Drawing her energy from the world around her, she reached out and grabbed Suja’s wrist. Her hand burned through the Asura woman’s skin until she felt carpal bones. Pax looked into the woman’s eyes before grabbing the wire that had been used to harm her earlier. She grabbed the wire and wrapped it around Suja’s wounded wrist. The Asura woman began to scream as the electricity from Amara’s energy caused her body to spasm wildly.
Ashton’s unfamiliar voice echoed in her mind. I can only hold this shield for about thirty seconds, Pax. You need to get a move on.
I don’t know what to do, she told him. Do you have any ideas on how to break a substance harder than diamond?
You probably can’t break it. So find another way to get her out!
I could try teleporting into the pyramid…
No! Ashton commanded fiercely. You are inept with that skill, and if you drain your energy trying you won’t be able to take us home. We’ll die here.
Suja ripped the wire from her wrist, and clutched the wound with annoyance. “We don’t have to fight,” the goddess said softly. “Children, with my guidance don’t you see what an unstoppable force we would be together? I can free Amara and we could work together to create something instead of all this destruction.”
“Free Amara,” Ashton said. “Then I’m yours to command.”
“Pax said the same thing earlier,” Suja mused. “How loyal you all are! That I would have three devas enslaved to me just for the freedom of that pipsqueak? It baffles reason.”
“Will you do it or not?” Ashton asked.
“That depends,” Suja said. “Will you be my champion and help me conquer the Earth? If I can find a way to keep you joined as one, will you rule at my side as my King?”
“It would be my pleasure, Suja,” Ashton said with a grin. “Free Amara and you’ve got yourself a deal. We can begin right away.”
“No!” Pax yelled. “But Thorn…”
“I’m not Thorn,” Ashton said. “I’m exponentially stronger. Instead of running a stupid tech company, I should be running the whole fucking world.”
Pax felt physically ill as Suja laughed. “Then let’s seal the deal, young man.” The Asura woman extended her hand toward Amara’s prison and the fjuyen pyramid disappeared. When the blonde woman began falling, Pax moved forward to catch her friend’s limp body. She began to scratch off the energy sucking worms, as Amara whimpered in her arms.
“You can take her away,” Suja said to Pax, gesturing in dismissal. “I’m done with you two.”
Pax nodded slightly, but looked up at Ashton in confusion. Thorn…
Get out while you can, Pax. Before she changes her mind. The shield is going down any minute now. I’m nearly depleted.
Do you really want to stay with her?
I want for you and Mara to be safe. I said what I needed to say.
I’m not leaving you, Pax told him mentally. Throwing Amara over her shoulder, Pax flew towards Ashton as fast as she could, intending to grab him and teleport all of them home.
Suja blocked her path. “Excuse me?” the woman said. “You need to go, and you can’t take my stuff.”
“Actually, ma’am, he’s my stuff,” Pax told her.
“Ask him,” Suja said. “He wants to join forces with me and take over Earth.”
“I don’t want to join forces,” Ashton said through gritted teeth. “I want this miserable fiscal year to be over! I want a good night’s sleep! I want my mother and my accountants to stop bothering me, and I want my girlfriend back!”
“So modest,” Suja said with a sigh. “I hate modesty. But I hate liars more than anything!” Suja flung her hand out at Ashton, causing the air around him to cackle with electricity. Ashton screamed in pain.
“Pax! You need to go!” Ashton shouted, as he fell to his knees. Sweat was pouring down his face and his shirt was soaked. “I’m sorry.” The deva man’s arms fell, releasing the shield. His face tumbled forward, colliding with the ground as he collapsed.
As the shield disappeared around them, Pax flew to Ashton’s side. She deposited Amara beside the unconscious man, and Amara stirred awake just as the Obake began to defrost and attack them. Pax turned rapidly to defend her friends against the invisible foes.
“Wow! He is totally ripped,” Amara said as she stared at the comatose body on the ground beside her. “What a cutie. I’m completely over Ash! Who is he?”
Pax sighed as she hacked apart three Obake guards with their own weapons. “You’re hopeless. How can a technological genius be such a total imbecile?”
When Pax had cleared the immediate attackers and was turning to grab her friends and teleport away, Suja abruptly materialized in her path. “Darling, I’m so sorry. I’m afraid I cannot allow any of you to leave. This kind of insult cannot go unpunished.”
“Suja, Suja, Suja,” Pax murmured, as a smile overtook her face. “Remember when I said that reaching for me was a mistake? Reaching for him was an even bigger one. He belongs to us.” Pax telekinetically flung the Asura woman clean across the room, placing her own body between her friends and the Obake guards.
“Guards! Don’t let her touch them,” Suja commanded. “She cannot leave this palace!”
Pax snorted. “Actually, I can.” She glared across the room into Suja’s eyes, and she thought about her mother. She thought about her grandfather. Every dark part of her life had been caused by the Asura. This woman was the enemy, regardless of her sweet voice and beautiful appearance. This woman could have been directly responsible for her mother’s death. It was that thought which helped Pax realize what she needed to do. Suja was still wearing the body of Karina Allbright, and as Pax stared at the woman’s pinstriped business suit, she realized that Suja was responsible for corrupting Thornton and breaking her heart. She had surely used magick to ruin Pax’s life. Her chest heaving in anger, Pax discovered the strength to do what she needed to do.
Plug your ears, she told Amara mentally. Pax threw her arms up over her head and curled her spine backwards, letting out an ear-piercing scream. A stream of red energy shot out of her mouth like the eruption of a volcano, filling the room like freshly spewed lava. It headed directly for Suja, whose eyes widened.
The Asura woman’s kindly voice entered Pax’s mind. If I’m going down, then I’m taking you with me, child. The goddess raised both of her hands and retaliated by sending a green substance into the lava. Pax grasped that it was radioactive, for she saw that as soon as the green fluid touched the lava, it caused combustion. She realized that the whole pal
ace, possibly the whole continent, was going to explode with the force of her own volcano meeting Suja’s nuclear bomb.
She turned to Amara fearfully as the explosion instantaneously engulfed the room. Even though the blonde woman had forced her index fingers into her ears, blood still ran down her cheeks from the thunderous sounds raping her eardrums. The woman’s frightened pale blue eyes were the last sight Pax saw before the heat and force of the explosion collided with her back.
Chapter 21: Let’s Go Home
Groaning, Pax tried to move her fingers. They were caked with dried blood and glued to the open gashes along her abdomen. She winced as she pulled her hand away from the wounds, causing them to begin bleeding again. She placed her hand beside her, and felt the most welcome texture she had ever felt in her life; it was the moisture of morning dewdrops on grass.
Pax released a laugh as she rolled over, pressing both of her hands into the grass, along with her face. The grass was sweet-smelling and it felt like home. Sitting up quickly, she looked around and saw that Amara and the boys were lying unconscious just a few feet away. She must have been able to reflexively initiate one final teleport just as the nuclear explosion had tossed her against her friends. Because their bodies had been in contact, they had come with her. She laughed at this amazing luck and turned her face skyward. The first rays of dawn were just beginning to break the horizons, and it was the perfect sight to welcome her home.
Why does it always have to be just in the nick of time? she wondered to herself. I would experience much less of the heart-stopping stress that causes me to lose five years of my life if I could save my friends, say, with a few minutes of time to spare. Her moment of happiness had segued directly into cynicism and she pulled herself to her feet. Looking down at the claw marks and wounds all over her body, she knew that her friends would need immediate medical attention.
Turning to Thornton and Asher, Pax saw that the boys had separated. This meant that she had probably been unconscious for longer than thirty minutes. She smiled and nudged Asher with her foot.
“Hey. Uncle Asshole.��
Asher groaned as the prodding foot roused him from his sleep. He rubbed his aching head. “Paxie. What gives?”
“Thanks for helping to save Mara.”
“You kind of clued me in at the last minute there, cupcake. Next time someone I love is in mortal danger, can you include me as part of the initial rescue party?”
She hesitated, surprised at his casual use of the word. “I wasn’t sure whether you cared.”
“Are you kidding me?” Asher asked, rising to his feet angrily. He swayed for a moment, slightly dizzy. “This is serious stuff, Pax! You better be careful before you go practicing dangerous techniques and get us all involved in…”
“I know about mom,” Pax said softly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What about Bridget?” Asher asked, rubbing his head again and grunting.
“That it was the Asura who killed her? That it wasn’t an accident because she was trying to practice?”
Asher’s face froze. “It was?” He sighed and reached out to hug his niece gently. “I swear, kiddo, I didn’t know.”
Pax hugged back, feeling forgiveness creep into her skull. It seemed her uncle was innocent—in this at least.
“Hey,” Thornton said, pulling his head off the ground. “Are we alive?”
Smiling, Pax ripped herself away from her uncle and moved to the ground to hug Thornton. She hugged him a bit too fiercely, causing many of their wounds to be rammed together, and they instantly recoiled.
“Ow,” Pax whimpered, clutching her stomach.
Thornton groaned, running his fingers over the claw marks in his chest. “Yep. That pain means I’m alive.”
“Do you think Suja is dead?” Pax asked as she pressed her hand down on the deep gashes to stop the bleeding. “That was a pretty big explosion.”
“No kidding,” Asher said. “We all need to get some vials of Sakra’s water. Pax, the skin of your back is totally burned off. It’s really gross looking.”
“Thanks, Ash,” she said with a grimace. His mention of the wounds brought them to the forefront of her mind and somehow made them hurt more.
“She’s still alive,” Thornton said, staring up at the sky. “I’m pretty sure that explosion wouldn’t kill a goddess of her level. It may slow her down for a while.”
“She’s going to be angry with me for destroying her home,” Pax said softly. “We should talk to Sakra—he’s the one she’s really angry with. They’re having marital problems, obviously.”
Amara stirred then, pulling herself from the ground. She immediately twitched and moved her hands over her body to check for worms. “Oh god, oh god! Please tell me those things are gone.”
Asher laughed. “Yep. No more slimy green critters.”
“Do not laugh at me!” she warned him. “Those weren’t regular bugs. They were energy-sucking space bugs, Ash. I’m going to have nightmares about it forever.”
Pax suddenly emitted a giant yawn. “Nightmares sound wonderful right about now. I’m so tired I could sleep right here in the grass.”
“Don’t do that,” Thornton said with a smile. “Let’s go home.”
The four devas suddenly looked at each other awkwardly. An unspoken question hung in the air: who would go home with whom? Pax looked at the blonde man with a touch of hope on her face. She wanted nothing more than to forget the misery of the past few months and go home with her lover. She had only slept in his arms for about five minutes, and she dreadfully longed to lie in bed next to him for the next five days. The fighting, frequent teleportation, and excessive expenditure of energy had left her exhausted.
Suja revealing herself as the source of his duplicity had definitely changed Pax’s perspective. While she still felt crunchy about the situation with Thornton, she was willing to make steps towards forgiveness. Suja’s magick was powerful, and her manipulation was legendary; it was not completely Thornton’s fault. Pax truly felt she would be able to let go of the feelings of betrayal… someday.
But when Amara lifted her eyes to look at Asher, the dark-haired man turned away. Amara’s lips parted and she was about to speak, but she could read in his body language that anything she requested would be rejected. Suja was not responsible for their relationship problems. Amara sunk her teeth into her bottom lip to stop it from quivering. She crawled in the grass over to Pax’s side and took her friend’s hand. “Take me home, Paxie,” she whispered. She sounded more defeated and miserable than when she had been trapped in the pyramid.
Pax glanced at her uncle with disappointment before nodding. “We should probably go to the compound and tell Vincent about what happened. His football game is probably over by now. Your dad will protect you better than I can, Mara. Right after he slices my scalp off, that is.”
Thornton stepped forward. “I’ll go with Ash to the grove. I can tell Raymond what happened. If he doesn’t cut any important parts of me off for going near Pax, that is.”
Pax nodded at the boys and commenced the teleport. She expected to land directly in front of Vincent, but she found that she was suddenly sitting in a few inches of muddy swamp-water. Amara began to cry.
“Your dress was already ruined,” Pax told her.
“Paxie, he barely spoke to me. I was hurt and scared, and he didn’t even care.”
“He does care,” Pax answered. “He risked his life to save you. If you could hear his thoughts, you would know that he cares. He told me he cares.”
“But it doesn’t matter. He’s not here with me right now, and I need him.”
“I’m sorry. I know.” Pax hugged her friend and allowed Amara to cry into her shoulder. She sighed and rubbed her friend’s back. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll help do whatever makes you feel better. We still have Para, and they don’t know about her…”
“Forget it,” Amara whispered. “Nothing can make me feel better. He’s just so… indifferent.”
<
br /> “I really don’t believe he’s like that on the inside,” Pax said. “He’s just troubled.”
“By what? What’s troubling him? Did Suja do something? Is there someone else? Why doesn’t he want to be with me? It doesn’t make sense, Paxie.”
“Shh, Mara. It’s okay.”
The blonde woman was inconsolable as she sobbed into her friend’s bloody clothes. Pax could not say or do anything but remain still and hold Amara as she cried.
Pax. Thornton’s voice said into her mind. Stay with me tonight?
Yes, please, she answered instantly. Once I put your sister to bed. She’s really shaken up.
Have my parents look after her. You were a real heroine today, and I want to make sure you get some of that deep, dreamless sleep I promised you.
Pax felt guilty that she should be happy while her friend was not, but she smiled against Amara’s shoulder. For the first time in months, she could not wait to get home. For the first time in months, she felt like she actually had a home.
* * *
Wearing a loose cotton dress, Pax exited Amara’s room with a replacement phone in her hand. Having lost her phone sometime early during her teleportation failures, Amara had insisted that she get a new one before doing anything else; even before healing her wounds. As Pax caught up on her text messages, she was interrupted by a firm hand on her shoulder.
“Girl,” said Vincent angrily. Pax cringed, awaiting her sentence. She was surprised when the man paused and relaxed his death-grip on her shoulder. “You did well today. But next time something of this magnitude happens, I expect you will inform me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“There’s one more thing. You know when I said there was only one rule for all devas to remember? I lied.”
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