Ukko glanced in his direction then turned his eyes toward the Irish war goddess again. “No, Badb. We don’t have any fish that imbue wisdom on people… and I seriously doubt you Irish do either.”
“Clearly,” Cameron agreed.
Ukko continued to ignore him. “But I wish you did.”
All three Irish gods flipped him off.
“So there’s nothing in your own mythology that could give us any insight into how to break into glass prisons?” Badb asked.
“If there were, I would have used that information already,” Ukko insisted. “Those are my gods in there. Believe me: nobody wants them out more than I do.”
“Um, Badb?” Cameron said quietly. “What if the Dagda was lying about the fish story, too? You know, making you think he didn’t really know the answer either and only by eating some mythical fish could you find out.”
“Except Fionn really did eat a salmon that gave him knowledge of the Otherworld,” Badb argued. “Maybe not all of the knowledge in the world like the story claims, but since we’re not above Ireland or the Earth but parallel to it, we used to share a common source for a river where our fish could freely swim back and forth.”
“Whoa,” Cameron interrupted. “That’s probably the coolest thing you’ve ever told me. It’s about time, honestly.”
“Selena,” Badb begged, “please make him shut up.”
“Can’t,” Selena responded. “Nobody can. Don’t you know that by now?”
“Unfortunately,” Badb muttered.
“Why would the Dagda be lying to you about the fish or your own glass castle?” Ukko asked.
“Long story,” Cameron said.
“Then give me the short version,” Ukko insisted. “Not you, Cameron,” he hurriedly clarified. “I’m convinced it’s impossible for you to offer a short version of anything.”
“That… is also really pervy. But thanks. I totally agree,” Cameron responded.
Ukko grunted at him and tried to leave. Cameron forced him back to the forest, and shook his head at him. “No way. If I’m stuck here, so are you.”
“You’re wasting my time,” Ukko insisted. “I could be doing something to actually help my gods.”
“You’re assuming that you can make Loviatar tell you how to open the prison if you find her,” Selena countered. “We do have to stop her, but I’m not convinced she’ll tell us how to open the glass house no matter what you do to her.”
Ukko arched an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “You underestimate me, Daughter of Danu.”
“Now I remember why I don’t like you,” Cameron replied.
“If your friends were trapped in there, suffering with no hope of help coming anytime soon, you wouldn’t be ruthless in your attempts to free them?” Ukko asked.
Cameron glanced at Badb and stubbornly crossed his arms, too. “Maybe,” he mumbled. “Depends on which friends.”
Badb put both hands on her hips now and glared at Ukko. “What about other glass prisons in your history? This can’t be the first. How were gods freed?”
“That’s the whole point of a glass prison, Badb,” Ukko explained. “They’re not supposed to get out. I never needed to use one since the idea is to imprison the gods that can’t be killed.”
Badb’s normally confident expression faltered as she glanced at the young Irish gods and took a deep breath. “What if you’re right?” she asked quietly. “About the Dagda lying? What if he’s always known how to get into the glass castle? What if all of the old gods have always known?”
Cameron immediately grabbed on to what the Irish war goddess was implying. “Then we have a traitor among us who freed Odin…”
Badb nodded slowly and shifted her weight uncomfortably.
“Oh my God,” Selena whispered.
Badb’s pale gray eyes shifted to the young goddess and she took another deep breath. “If we’re right, then we have absolutely no idea who that god is.”
“Why does this group always find itself in the midst of so much treachery and conflict?” Ukko groaned.
“Hey,” Cameron countered, “we’re in the middle of this frozen wasteland because one of your goddesses made a dozen of your gods sick then stuck them in a glass house. You know the adage… glass houses and stones and all that.” Cameron grinned at Selena and added, “That’s kind of ironic, actually.”
Selena laughed then covered her mouth with her gloved hand. “Sorry,” she uttered through her fingers.
“Think throwing stones at it would work?” Cameron asked. He wasn’t quite sure if he was just being a smartass or not. He was really damn cold and just wanted to get out of Finland so he was pretty desperate to try anything.
“Considering you couldn’t open it before,” Ukko teased, “let me try throwing the stones. Clearly, we need a physically stronger god.”
“Ego alert,” Cameron coughed.
Ukko squinted at him again and lifted his chin in the air. “It’s hardly my fault I’ve always been more powerful than the other Finnish gods.”
“You’re right,” Selena breathed.
“Don’t encourage him,” Cameron groaned. “And it’s not even true. We all know I could totally kick his ass if I wanted to.”
“No,” Selena said excitedly. “Ukko is the most powerful Finnish god. A Finnish goddess built the prison. Maybe the answer has been right in front of us the entire time. We don’t need Loviatar, just a god who’s more powerful than she is. Thor couldn’t break into the prison because he’s Norse, and you couldn’t damage it because you’re Irish.”
“Just like Ninurta’s followers couldn’t have opened the glass castle…” Badb whispered.
Cameron and Selena glanced nervously at her, but Ukko shook his head and opened his mouth slightly then looked over his shoulder at the sleek walls of the glass house. “It can’t be that easy,” he murmured.
“Only one way to find out,” Cameron said. “I doubt your sword will break open the wall. Try lightning.”
Ukko took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as he studied the seemingly empty glass house beside them. Unless someone looked beneath the clear floorboards, they would think the building was empty. But it contained a ghastly, sinister secret that Selena still avoided. She turned away from the house and kept her eyes on Cameron as the air around them filled with the sizzling electrical charge of Ukko’s power.
Cameron put his arms around Selena and backed away from the Finnish thunder god whose fingertips crackled with the electrical currents he would soon direct toward the glass prison. He shot one last glance in Cameron’s direction and asked, quietly and almost compassionately, “You don’t think this could hurt them?”
“If it opens the prison and lets me inside, I’ll help them all, Ukko,” Selena promised. “It won’t matter. Just get me inside.”
“Ok,” he whispered as he turned back to the glass house. Cameron closed his eyes as a brilliant streak of lightning lit up the distance between him and the prison. He pulled Selena closer to his chest and held his breath as he waited for something to happen.
It seemed like hours passed before the unmistakable sound of glass cracking then shattering replaced the thunderous clamor of Ukko’s lightning. He felt Selena stirring in his arms as she turned to look at the prison, and before he even opened his eyes, he knew they’d been right: Ukko had broken through the walls of the glass prison.
Selena pushed away from him and ran to the side of the glass wall, pausing for only a second before she ducked beneath the sharp angles of broken glass and stepped inside the prison.
Ukko immediately followed her, and they both stared at the trapped gods beneath their feet. “What now?” he asked.
Selena looked at him and asked, “Can’t you summon lightning from in here?”
“I could kill them,” he answered.
“Then I’ll bring them back,” Selena promised.
Ukko looked back at her, his pale blue eyes betraying his fear that he’d be responsibl
e for the death of most of the surviving members of his own pantheon, but he nodded at her. “Ok, Daughter of Danu. I trust you.”
He extended his fingers again, and Cameron hurried inside the prison to try to protect Selena. Instead of closing his eyes this time, he watched with equal parts fascination and horror as lightning radiated not from the sky this time but from Ukko’s own body. It struck the floor beneath him and small fissures spread like a glacier breaking apart.
The glass suddenly shattered, and Ukko fell into the hollow space under the floor where his gods, bloodied and moaning and crying for help, lay trapped in their own misery.
Selena let go of Cameron and jumped into the cavernous space, calling for him to join her. “You have to help me again!” she shouted.
Cameron stood at the edge of the glass cavern Ukko had created and inhaled a slow, deep breath before jumping in.
Chapter Thirteen
By the time Selena finished healing all of the gods and goddesses trapped within Loviatar’s glass prison, she struggled to keep her eyes open and her pale complexion had paled even more. Cameron sat with her on the snow bank again with his arms around her, one of his fires burning in front of them to keep her warm. She rested her head on his chest and let her eyes close, but she didn’t want to return to Murias or even the hotel room she’d been in when she ditched the other gods earlier that day.
Ukko watched her carefully for a few minutes then said, “I’m going back to meet Thor. We’ll let you know if we turn up anything.”
Badb nodded and sighed. “I guess we should go find Nemain and London. They went to the Basin to see if Loviatar is hiding out with the rest of the asshole gods.”
Cameron waved a dismissive hand in her direction. “Like you said: there are way more asshole gods in this world than those hiding in the Basin.”
“True,” Badb conceded. Her eyes flickered to Ukko, and she almost smiled. “And apparently, some gods can change.”
“Hey,” Ukko protested, “I’ve never been an asshole.”
“Dude,” Cameron protested back, “five hundred years ago, you invaded the Otherworld. And you tried to kidnap Selena like a thousand times. And you tried to kidnap Jasper, although I’m still not sure why.”
“Still an obnoxious asshole,” Ukko teased.
“Stop listening to Jasper,” Cameron insisted.
“Go find Thor,” Badb groaned.
Selena opened her eyes and lifted her head. “One of the Mórrígna is telling Ukko to help Thor. Are you sure we didn’t trigger the Apocalypse with that Battle of the Gods?”
“We definitely shifted something within the cosmos,” Cameron agreed.
Badb stood up and rolled her eyes at the young gods. “I’m going to Louisiana to meet my sister. Stay here and look for your reindeer. I have a feeling it’ll be much easier without you there anyway.”
“Just for that we’re coming,” Cameron told her.
“Um…” Selena said. “Did anybody else notice Ukko is already gone?”
“Can you blame him?” Cameron asked.
“Nope,” Selena said. “Bastard could’ve said goodbye though.”
“How?” Badb exclaimed. “How can anyone ever get a word in with Cameron around?”
“Good point,” Cameron acknowledged.
Badb flipped him off again then Cameron and Selena found themselves alone in a freezing Finnish forest by a now empty glass prison.
“Huh,” Cameron said. “She didn’t say goodbye either.”
“Cameron,” Selena laughed. “Let’s go to the Basin. She might claim it’ll be easier without us, but we all know that’s not true.”
“There’s going to be a snake,” Cameron muttered.
Selena nodded seriously. “Probably.”
“I hope you’re planning on paying for my therapy after this,” Cameron told her.
“Love, I was planning on paying for your therapy before this.”
Cameron let go of her and offered her a mischievous smile. “Forget the whole ‘you have a piece of my soul thing.’ This is why we’re meant to be together. You know the saying… the couple who goes crazy together stays together.”
“I don’t think that’s how it goes,” Selena said with a smile.
Cameron waved her off. “Of course it is. After some point, I expect I’ll have killed all the mythological snakes though so we can rule out exposure therapy.”
Selena laughed and grabbed his hand. “What if some gods have the ability to make more giant serpent monsters?”
Cameron let go of her hand so he could cross his arms defensively. “Then you need to figure out who those gods are so I can kill them.”
Selena smiled at him again and pulled his arm free. She gave him the same smartass expression that told him she was only messing with him, but God he loved her so much for it. And it always turned him on, even when he was standing in a snow covered forest after helping to heal a dozen deities who appeared to have the plague just like the humans Loviatar had tossed into his living room in Baton Rouge.
“If they’re making new snakes,” she teased, “then they’re clearly evil and deserve to be smote. I won’t stop you.”
“Seriously?” Cameron asked.
Selena’s smile turned slyer, and she lifted a shoulder at him. “Do we really have to go to the Basin right now?”
“We never have to go back to the Basin,” Cameron immediately answered. “In fact, we never have to leave our room again. I’ve already told you this.”
He could sense Selena was actually about to agree with him – maybe not about permanently ditching their friends but at least temporarily – but his ecstatic surprise was quickly replaced by annoyed frustration when Badb returned and grabbed them both.
“What the hell is taking you two so long?” she demanded. “Get your asses to Louisiana! We think there’s something out there in the swamp and we need help!”
“Goddamn it,” Cameron muttered.
“Exactly,” Badb snapped. “We’re hoping you will get over there and damn it.”
“Badb,” Cameron whined. “Can’t this wait? For like… one hour?”
Selena snickered and said, “Nice try. Thirty minutes and we’ll be there.”
“Hey,” Cameron protested. “Don’t listen to her. That’s only because we’re on a time crunch.”
“Come kill whatever’s in the swamp then I don’t care how long you take!” Badb yelled.
“Fine,” Cameron agreed, “but it’s still way closer to an hour.”
Cameron brought them all to Nemain and London who were waiting impatiently in the Atchafalaya River Basin. Badb tried to tell him that becoming a god hadn’t granted him unnatural stamina, but Nemain shushed her and nodded toward a grove of cypress trees that jutted from a nearby swamp.
“There’s something in the water,” she whispered. “And I don’t think Cameron’s going to like this.”
“I’m done,” he said. “I officially quit. I’ll be on Ellesmere Island looking for my reindeer.”
“You know I’m giving you a reindeer now,” London said.
“Good. Just make sure it’s the right one. Badb already screwed this up once.”
“I don’t even want to know how you determine which reindeer is the right one,” London shot back.
Cameron waved her off but kept his attention on the swamp. Small bubbles broke the otherwise calm surface and he cringed as he imagined what might be causing those air bubbles to rise. He glanced hopefully at Nemain and whispered, “It could be an alligator, right?”
“Tell you what, Sun God,” Nemain responded. “If that’s an alligator, I’ll kill it myself. If it’s Ušumgallu, it’s all you.”
Cameron grunted at her and shook his head. “What the hell is that?”
“Um,” Selena responded. “I think she means it’s that thing.” She pointed toward the swamp and Cameron’s eyes followed her extended arm until they fell on the reptilian eyes emerging from the water.
He groaned a
s he counted the golden orbs that stared back at him. “One, two, three, four, five… oh hell, I’m torching it.”
A fire erupted over the swamp, and London moved closer to his side, her hands on her hips with a smartass smirk on her face that rivaled any Cameron usually wore. “It’s a swamp, Genius,” she said. “You can’t burn water.”
“Water will evaporate, Genius,” he retorted.
London shrugged and nodded toward the swamp. “Perhaps, but that snake with too many heads is climbing out of the swamp and your fire.”
“Another lion-snake?” Cameron complained.
“Should we get Vishnu and the Dagda back?” Selena asked.
“Don’t know,” London admitted. “How did Ninurta supposedly kill this one?”
“Probably the same way,” Cameron guessed. “When Ninurta invaded the Otherworld, he only carried a mace.”
“I think we’re all missing something here,” Nemain interrupted. “Enlil is controlling these beasts, which means he’s nearby. And we’ve let that distract us twice now.”
“Well, what choice do we have?” Cameron snapped. “There’s a lion dragon trying to eat us!”
Selena tapped his shoulder and gestured to the lion-serpent again. “And this one has wings, too.”
“I never agreed to this,” Cameron groaned. “There’s got to be some clause in my contract to get me out of fighting giant multi-headed snakes.”
“You complain more than any other god I’ve ever met,” London told him. She gripped her spear in her right hand, and just like last time, a flash of white and yellow flitted before the gods and London was gone.
“Do you think Jasper sent her just to make my life miserable?” Cameron asked.
“No, love,” Selena answered. “I think you have a remarkable ability to annoy the hell out of some people.”
Dumbfounded, Cameron stared at her because she’d never spoken to him that way, and only moments before, she’d seemed so much like herself. Her bantering had been the same kind of loving, good-natured bantering they often exchanged, but this comment had been biting. And it hurt.
The Gatekeeper (The Guardians of Tara Book 1) Page 14
