Gods Of The Stone Oracle

by Krista Walsh

  “What does it matter?” Allegra asked. “The Collegiate should be acting in the next five —”

  She fell silent as a pair of flame-touched wings extended from between Mayes’s shoulders. They extended at least twenty feet in length, burning everything they touched.

  Vera could do nothing more than stare in horror. Gabe’s hand tightened around her thigh, and Emmett released the wheel long enough to step forward to pull Molly toward the back of the boat.

  “What’s happening?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s no way out of this,” Emmett said. “That devil’s coming after us and there’s no way we can stop him.”

  The tension hanging over the ferry was so tight that Vera felt it as a vise around her chest. All of the hope and joy from a moment ago vanished beneath the dark waves of the sea. How could she have believed it was over?

  She wrapped her arm around Gabe’s shoulder and held him tight against her. If this is how it was going to end, there wasn’t anywhere else she wanted to be.

  But he pulled away from her. She stared at him in confusion until she noticed the way he was playing with the orb in his hand.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked. “Can you see a way to use the orb against him? Turn him human so we can bring him down?”

  She wracked her brain trying to see what he might see, but the ferry had already drifted a good fifty yards away from shore. The only way they could possibly make contact with Mayes would be to reverse the boat — yet how would they reach him before he attacked?

  But Gabe was already shaking his head. “We’d never get close enough. Whoever made the attempt would burn up before they got within a foot of him.”

  Zach frowned and stretched out his wings. “He might not get through me.”

  “You can’t,” Vera said. “I don’t think you could lift yourself off this boat in the state you’re in.”

  Zach looked like he was about to argue, but he bowed his head in defeat. Vera turned back to Gabe. “If you don’t plan to use the orb, then what?”

  She knew him well enough to recognize that something was running through his head, and by his reluctance to tell her, she guessed she wouldn’t like it. She watched as he raised the orb to the level of his eye, a furrow forming between his brows.

  “It would have been nice to see what the world had to offer with the help of this thing.” He shifted his gaze to meet hers and gave her a forced smile. “You know I love you, right?”

  More slowly than it should have, his intentions dawned on her. Her breath caught in her throat as she grabbed his arm to pull him back, but he tugged himself free and moved to the front of the ferry.

  “Gabe, no,” she said. She got to her feet and followed after him. “He’s too strong. It could kill you.”

  “I’m the only one still standing who can do anything,” he said. “If he comes after us, none of us is escaping. This has to end. Now.”

  He looped his fingers through hers and cast his gaze once more across the sea, as though the sight were as much a breath of fresh air as the breeze whipping around them. Then he turned around and stared at each of his friends. They wouldn’t look back at him, obviously not trusting the orb to carry out its curse, but Vera understood what this meant for him. For the first time, he was seeing them the way she saw them. The way the rest of the world saw them.

  Then he dropped the orb, sending it rolling toward the back of the ferry where Daphne lay stretched on the deck.

  Tears prickled the corners of Vera’s eyes as she watched him turn toward the prison and stare across the ocean at the demon about to hurtle toward them. Unable to breathe, she switched her gaze between one and the other. Confusion mixed with her fears when nothing happened. Mayes was still moving. He crouched down and extended his wings, ready to lift off.

  “Why is nothing happening?” she asked, the words blurting out before she could stop them.

  Gabe shoved his hand through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut. “Come on.”

  He opened his eyes again, and this time Vera caught the gleam of his snake-like pupils in the rising dawn. His gaze shot across the water, and Mayes fell still. He stood braced on the edge of the island, his wings still beating, gaining momentum.

  Vera latched on to Gabe’s arm.

  It should be working. Why isn’t it working? Did she even want it to work? If Gabe succeeded and absorbed Mayes’s memories, there was no way his mind would be strong enough to take them all in.

  She was doing her best not to panic, but their final solution was fading into nothing. If Mayes made it off that island, there would be nothing to stop him from starting his project all over again, and this time he would be smarter. He would destroy them and move underground, somewhere even the Collegiate would be unable to find him until it was too late.

  The change came so quickly, she couldn’t have described how it had happened. For one second, Mayes lifted off the ground, his wings curling in to beat out again, the heat from his fire-touched feathers turning the water to steam. In the next second, a demon-shaped statue dropped to the earth, cracking the edge of the island where it stood, sending rock and dirt crumbling into the ocean. Its face was pulled back in a scowl, the fire around its wings still reaching outward, frozen mid-flicker.

  Vera couldn’t stop staring. Every second that passed, she was braced for Mayes to shake it off and come after them again. It couldn’t be possible that Gabe’s last-ditch effort had worked. It couldn’t have been that quick.

  But as the stone cooled and his splitting chest cracked with enough force that the sound echoed across the water, she had to accept it.

  The threat was gone.

  At her side, Gabe crumpled to the ground, his entire body taken over by a seizure that wracked his muscles and sent his limbs jerking. Vera grabbed hold of his shoulder to keep him on his side, her heart once more racing. His eyes were rolled back in his head, exposing nothing but the whites, and blood leaked out the corner of his mouth.

  “The orb,” Emmett said. He bent down to pick it up where it had rolled against his foot and held it out to her. “Would this help him?”

  Vera shook her head and held Gabe tighter. “I think right now being human would kill him.”

  Fear threatened to choke her and took hold of her insides until she felt as though she were being torn in two. If Mayes was as old as Zach had suggested and as powerful as he’d appeared, the strength of his mind might be too much for Gabe’s to handle. She could only imagine the memories that were now searing into his consciousness — images filled with his rage and lust for power.

  As a last act of revenge, Mayes might have broken Vera’s heart by stealing the man she loved.

  She refused to take her eyes off Gabe, so she missed the show as a series of bursts and cracks sounded behind her, the Collegiate carrying out their promise and destroying the prison. All she heard was the rock crumbling, years of horrors and otherworldly nightmares falling into the ocean to be wiped clean. She had no idea how many other demons might still have been walking the corridors, unknowingly sacrificing themselves for their cause.

  She considered how much her friends had suffered, and how much worse it could have been. She would have wept if she weren’t so exhausted.

  Instead, she held on to Gabe as his body continued to revolt against the new memories flooding his brain, and sagged against the edge of the boat.

  Finally, as the far shore came into view, his body relaxed and he eased into sleep.

  Vera tilted her head back into the wind and embraced the warmth of the sun as it rose over the ocean, heralding a new day and a chance at a new start for the world.

  40

  The drive back to Gabe’s farmhouse was long, quiet, and tense. Following his seizure, Gabe had fallen into a state of semi-consciousness, unable to rift them home, so Percy and Emmett were taking turns at the wheel.

  The space in the back of the RV was cramped, but no one complained. Daphne, like Gabe, was only hal
f aware of what was passing around her. She sat in the corner of the bench seat, the side of her face pressed against the wall. Beside her sat Molly, her hands folded on the narrow dinette table, Gabe’s comforter tight around her shoulders. Zach took up the rest of the space on the bench, ever her constant guardian. Allegra sat in the chair in front of the computer desk, Matthew and the wolfhound beside her, tucked between the desk and the cab.

  Vera had opted for the floor, where she sat with Gabe’s head resting on her lap. She stroked her fingers through his thick hair, her gaze never leaving the steady rise and fall of his chest.

  The drive took ten hours, and the sun had long set by the time Percy switched off the engine in front of the house.

  As they climbed out of the RV, they glanced toward the empty porch and dark windows. Although none of them said a word, they all appeared to be thinking the same thing — that it felt as though years had passed since they’d been here last, working to strip and rebuild the RV and sitting around the dining table making plans for the hours to come.

  Had any of them been prepared for what they’d discovered?

  Tartarus Prison had long been seen as a place of nightmare, and each member of the once-jokingly termed Invisible Entente could now safely vouch for the veracity of the epithet. They had found loved ones and lost them; they had lost themselves. But they’d also each discovered a well of strength they’d never known before. They’d fought through hopelessness and come out victors.

  Such thoughts offered little consolation tonight. Maybe they would mean more tomorrow.

  The women of the Collegiate hadn’t even bothered to come by and thank them or say goodbye, though there had been traces of their energy lingering on the edge of the docks. No one was too disappointed, as each of them harbored a silent wish that they’d never have the misfortune of running into them again.

  As things stood, there was no further reason for the Gnosis Collegiate to interfere with their lives. The threat had been defeated, and the balance of the otherworld had been restored. For now. Undoubtedly someone down the road would pick up Mayes’s mantle and make another move for otherworldly superiority, but they would be dealt with when the time came.

  Hopefully by someone else.

  Vera grabbed Gabe’s keys out of his coat pocket and let everyone into the house.

  The silence they walked in on remained heavy and oppressive as they moved throughout the room, finding places to sit down and stretch. Although they knew the priority of calling their loved ones as soon as possible, no one had the energy to make those calls tonight. Vera carried Gabe upstairs and put him to bed, with Zach following behind her to lay Daphne down in one of the guest rooms. When they came back downstairs, Molly was curled up on the couch, her head on Emmett’s knee, and she was snoring.

  Percy was already back at his computer in the corner. For a change, his fingers lacked urgency as they moved across the keyboard, as though he were sitting there simply because it was the only place he knew how to be comfortable. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, but nothing anyone said could induce him to get some rest yet.

  Vera said nothing as she went into the kitchen, but the others flocked around her when she approached the dining table with a bottle of Gabe’s whiskey. She poured a glass for each of them and raised her own in a silent toast.

  Allegra and Zach clinked their glasses against hers while Matthew closed the circle.

  It felt right that they should acknowledge the fact that they’d made it home in one piece. Regardless of how much they’d lost, even little victories deserved celebration.

  ***

  They took the rest of that night to recover, slowly splitting off alone or in pairs to find quiet places to sleep.

  The next afternoon, everyone except Percy rose with enough energy to move around the house. Gabe and Vera were the first downstairs, working together to make breakfast for everyone. Soon, the entire house smelled of bacon and toast, maple syrup and scrambled eggs. The aroma was enough to lure even half-asleep Allegra to the table.

  “My stomach will regret all this fat, but at the moment I could not care less,” she said, holding out her plate. Matthew grinned at her, remaining close by her side.

  A seemingly recovered Gabe, with his new mirrored sunglasses safely in place, filled it up, then moved on to Emmett, who stood there requesting more until a heap of potatoes rested next to his toast. Then he grinned and held out a second plate.

  “You’re only human,” Gabe said.

  Emmett rolled his eyes. “It’s for Daphne.”

  The sorceress sat on the couch, her feet propped up in front of the crackling fire with the throw blanket around her shoulders. Her recovery was lagging behind everyone else’s, though it was difficult to tell by the way her face lit up when Emmett carried over her food.

  “Bacon,” she sighed. “I wasn’t sure if I’d see you again.”

  Molly’s stomach grumbled as Vera added some freshly popped toast onto her plate. “I hear you on that,” Molly said, adjusting the oversized sweater Gabe had lent her. “The whole time I was in that cell, they gave me one heel of dry bread. Can you believe that? You’d think they’d have tried to butter me up or something.”

  “Watch your words, kid,” Zach said. “If you’d been there any longer, they might have tried to do just that. Then cooked you over a spit to share among the guards.”

  Molly wrinkled her nose. “Thanks for putting that idea in my head. Ah, well, they would have been disappointed. I don’t have nearly enough meat on my bones to be worthwhile.”

  “Some of them prefer the bones,” Allegra said, her eyes glinting with sly amusement.

  Molly sagged into a chair at the dining table. Despite her words, she sat with her hands on either side of her plate, playing with her fork rather than eating her food.

  The others were too wrapped up in their own appetites to notice, but Emmett dropped into the seat beside her.

  “I know your head can’t be in a good place right now,” he said, his gaze flicking away when Molly’s lip started to wobble. “But you’re safe now. You held up in conditions not many people would have, and you were willing to go back to save your friends. You’re a hero, Molly. I don’t know what they did to you in there, and you never need to tell me if you don’t want to, but I think you’re awesome and stronger and braver and more kickass than most people I know.”

  Molly reached her hand out to him, and he twined his fingers through hers. Without letting him go, she tucked into her meal. No one made any mention of the tears running down her cheeks.

  After breakfast, Gabe gave her his phone, and she went into the backyard to call her parents. Although the others pretended to keep themselves busy, they all found reasons to walk by the door to try to overhear how the conversation was going.

  “No, Mom, I’m fine. Really. Okay, well, yes, I have some bruises and things like that, but they’re taking really good care of me here. By the time I get home, you won’t even know I was being held in a dungeon in the bottom of a fortress on a magical island.” She wrinkled her nose as she realized what she’d said. “Mom, please, stop crying. I’m fine. Gabe says he should be ready to take me home tomorrow, so I’ll see you soon, okay? I love you. Tell Dad I love him too.”

  When she came back inside, the others scattered, trying to make their curiosity less obvious. Molly smirked, not fooled for an instant. She dropped down on the couch beside Daphne and released a groan to the room.

  “I’m so glad I don’t need to head home just yet. I’m too exhausted to put up with all that emotion.”

  Vera went around topping up everyone’s coffee mugs, then settled herself down next to Molly with a cup of tea.

  “I’m sure they’ll be glad to have you back,” she said.

  “No doubt,” Molly said. “And don’t get me wrong, I’ll be glad to be home. It’s just…”

  “What’s up?” Emmett asked, pulling a chair up in front of her.

  She shrugged and drew her k
nees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “What am I supposed to do after this? There’s no way I can tell my parents about everything I went through — not in detail anyway — so who am I supposed to talk to about what happened? Am I supposed to pretend it didn’t?”

  Emmett tapped her knee. “You have me.”

  She offered him a shy smile. “I suppose that’s true. But it’ll be weird, you know? Here, we’re all together again. Just like we were in Jermaine’s room — plus Emmett and Percy and Matthew — except this time we know each other. We’ve saved each other’s lives, and not because someone else told us to. In fact, we did it even though some people told us not to.”

  She tilted her head in Allegra’s vague direction, and the succubus tossed her hair, turning her attention to her coffee.

  “So how can we do what we did last time?” Molly asked. “Walk out of here and go back to pretending like we want nothing to do with each other?”

  The others exchanged glances as they stared around the room. From the state of them, ignoring what had happened and going on with their separate lives actually seemed like it might be the smartest decision. Vera’s shoulder was still stiff from the double dislocation and Lozak’s manhandling. Thanks to Frank’s healing the damage from Rega’s blade was minimal, and she’d reset her wrist, but she moved stiffly whenever she picked up her teacup.

  Gabe’s good humor had returned, if a bit sluggishly, but there were a few streaks of gray in his dark brown hair, and the corners of his mouth had new lines of exhaustion.

  Zach and Daphne both seemed to have one foot in another world, their bodies and minds not yet caught up with the experience of having their full powers come into being only to be torn apart. Of the two, Daphne seemed the worse for wear, as though the well of her power had been emptied and would take time to refill.