Shadows of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 1)

by S. M. Schmitz

  If it came down to it and he really was part of the New Pantheon, maybe he would at least allow her to be his partner. She couldn’t imagine Cameron being involved in some of the things she’d heard about. Of course, she’d never have thought Alan capable of some of those things either.

  “Cameron?”

  “Hm?” He blinked away from the bright fluorescent lights of the shopping center where most of the stores except for the Wal-Mart were closed.

  “You never had a chance to tell me how you’d kept your secret before me. You had girlfriends before, and you said you ‘sort of’ told them the truth. What did you tell them?”

  “Uh… so, I almost never lie. I told them it was part of the skin condition thing, but it was harmless. And really, it is.”

  Selena stopped walking and gaped at him. “How stupid are these women you date?”

  Cameron dug his phone out of his pocket and cocked an eyebrow at her. “No, check it out. I created a Wiki page for it and everything.”

  He handed her his phone and Selena scanned the screen then scrolled down to the bottom. “Didn’t they ever try to click on your… references?”

  “Sure. Each one redirects back to a website I created. Go ahead and try it. Looks totally professional and medical and all that shit.”

  Selena shook her head and handed his phone back to him. “And you teased me for reading comic books. I still think you must have been singling out the intellectually weakest of the herd if they fell for it.”

  Cameron waved his phone in front of her and his lips turned up in a half-smile. “It’s on the Internet. Nobody questions anything if they can find it online now.”

  “Do something useful with your phone and call us a cab. Please,” Selena begged. “Unless you’re planning on carrying me to your apartment. The gloves can wait. I’m exhausted.”

  Cameron opened his contact list and pressed a button, and she watched him as he held it to his ear, the phone ringing and ringing until a man’s voice told him he’d reached Quinn who wasn’t available right now. Cameron hung up then clicked Quinn’s number again.

  He grinned at Selena as the phone began to ring. “Bastard just doesn’t want to get up. He knows it’s me, too.”

  Selena opened her mouth to ask him who Quinn was, but this time, he answered. Standing this close to Cameron, she could hear the man’s voice, husky from interrupted sleep, coming through the phone.

  “If you’re in jail, I’m leaving you there,” Quinn warned.

  “Not in jail,” Cameron answered. “I’m with Selena and we need you to come pick us up. We’re in front of the Marriott on Siegen. Come get us.”

  “Holy shit,” Quinn said. Selena stared dumbfounded at the phone in Cameron’s hands. Her tired brain replayed the conversation from the hotel in New Orleans, Cameron’s admission that he’d been following her for a while now and that he worked with a small group of demigods who were trying to stay out of the New Pantheon’s reach and were somehow trying to destroy it.

  She couldn’t help feeling like they had a different reason for helping her, and the truth was far more sinister than just keeping her out of the hands of the New Pantheon.

  “Oh,” Cameron added, “bring money. I’m kinda broke. I had to abandon my car at the camp.”

  “Dude, what the hell happened at our camp?”

  “Just come get us before somebody else does,” Cameron snapped.

  Quinn mumbled something and Cameron smiled and hung up. “Want to wait by the pool?” he asked.

  “How will your friend know where to find us?”

  “Because I have a phone,” Cameron answered slowly. “Did you hit your head? Do I need to check you for a concussion?”

  “Annoying,” she reminded him.

  Selena unlocked the gate by the pool and they both collapsed onto loungers. Cameron rubbed his forehead and yawned and Selena put her head back and closed her eyes. The loungers were only two feet apart, but suddenly, those two feet may as well as have been as wide as the Mississippi River. She’d managed to evade Ukko and his men on her own for three years. So why did she feel so dependent on someone else now?

  Something gently touched her shoulder and she jumped and gasped for air. Cameron held his hands up and spoke calmly and quietly to her. “It’s ok. Quinn’s here.”

  Selena looked around her and for a brief moment, tried to remember why she’d been sleeping by a pool at night. Except it wasn’t really nighttime. The first hint of dawn was creeping over the city. She climbed into the back of Quinn’s car and lay on the seat. She caught him stealing glances at her, but her eyes closed on their own volition again, and even the hushed conversation between him and Cameron in the front couldn’t keep her awake.

  She felt Cameron’s arms slip around her and lift her from the back of the car and she immediately rested her head against his chest. She could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

  “Quinn,” he whispered. “Go open my door.”

  Part of her wanted to open her eyes to see if he had a key or was a telekinetic like her, but her eyes refused to open. Cameron carried her into a dark bedroom and put her gently on a bed, covering her with a blanket, but then she had no more memories of arriving at Cameron’s apartment in Baton Rouge.

  Night had almost fallen again when her eyes finally opened. A gnawing burning pain in her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten since she and Cameron had made bacon and eggs for the skeleton crew of the tugboat. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room and heard the muffled conversation from somewhere in Cameron’s apartment seeping beneath her bedroom door.

  She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through her tangled blonde hair. She couldn’t tell what they were talking about. She wondered if they were talking about her.

  Selena opened the door and found Cameron and the man she assumed was Quinn sitting in the living room. They had both stopped talking as soon as they heard the bedroom door opening, and by the expression on Cameron’s face, it looked like they’d been arguing.

  Cameron forced a smile but she’d seen his silly, and admittedly far too sexy, grin often enough to know this one wasn’t genuine. “Selena, this is my friend, Quinn.”

  Quinn stood up and extended his hand and Selena hesitated. Cameron snickered and told her he already knew who she was. Selena didn’t want to be rude to the man who had gotten out of bed to pick them up far too early in the morning, but another memory trickled through her mind and she crossed her arms and glared at Cameron. He wasn’t wearing his gloves.

  “I thought you said none of your friends know who you really are and what you can do.”

  Cameron shot her a warning look then glanced at Quinn. “Obviously, Quinn knows I have to be related to a sun god. He’s in the same group of demigods that I’m working with to bring down the New Pantheon.”

  Selena assumed Cameron’s reaction meant that Quinn really didn’t know anything about his ability to heal, and she needed to drop it. Selena quickly redirected their conversation. “And you’re sure they’re not really part of the New Pantheon?” she asked.

  Quinn snorted and lowered his hand. “Our mole is sort of in the New Pantheon, and we have a guy with us who escaped them. We only trust him because we have a psychic with us who told us he was legit. The rest of us are trying to figure out how to destroy the New Pantheon, so no, we’re definitely not associated with them.”

  “Destroy them?” Selena whispered. “Oh, my God…”

  “I asked you to stop doing that,” Cameron said.

  Quinn shot him a puzzled look, but Selena ignored him.

  “That’s why you’re helping me! You do want me to work for you; it’s just a different group than the New Pantheon! Killing them isn’t any better than what they’re doing,” Selena cried.

  “Now wait,” Cameron argued. “I never said we were going to kill everyone in the New Pantheon, but guys like Ukko… Selena, we can’t destroy the agency if we don’t do something to g
et rid of the leaders. And I was serious. I haven’t lied to you. I’ve been helping you because it’s that important to all of us to keep you from becoming one of them. We’d like your help, but we’re not going to force you to do anything.”

  Selena looked uncertainly between Quinn, who remained on his feet, and Cameron, who remained sitting on his couch. “I’m not killing anyone unless it’s self-defense,” she said firmly.

  “Fair enough,” Cameron agreed.

  She pointed her chin toward Quinn and asked him, “What’s your power? And who are you related to?”

  “Telekinetic,” he answered. “And I’m Norse. Most likely descended from Freyr.”

  Selena sighed heavily and let her arms fall by her side. She collapsed on the other end of the sofa and pouted at Cameron. “Not fair that everyone else knows not only what region they come from, but who they’re related to.”

  “Their families kept their histories alive. Ours didn’t,” Cameron said, as if Selena didn’t already know that.

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” she mumbled.

  “Is that a Marvel superhero, too?” he asked. The smartass grin on his face was so damn cute she couldn’t even pretend to be angry.

  “Yes. He kicks Batman’s ass in the DC vs. Marvel civil war.”

  “That explains a lot,” Cameron observed smartly.

  Selena’s stomach rumbled to remind her it needed food and Cameron tried to stand up, already asking her what she’d like to eat, but she reached out to stop him. “What were you arguing about? If it has something to do with me, then I should know. I’m tired of secrets.”

  Cameron and Quinn stared at each other and Quinn ran a hand over his short reddish-brown hair. His round freckled face turned bright pink as he waited for Cameron to say something.

  Cameron sank back against the sofa and exhaled slowly. “I think our serpent friend is looking for us.”

  “I know your serpent friend is looking for you,” Quinn corrected.

  “God,” Selena groaned, and Cameron shot her a cut-that-shit-out look.

  “Yeah,” he said, “and I don’t think this god is too happy with us.”

  “How do you know he’s here?” Selena asked.

  “I’m willing to bet,” Quinn said, narrowing his eyes at Cameron, “he’s just been hanging out in that swamp since the Spanish arrived and you show up…”

  “Not true,” Cameron interrupted. “Montezuma thought Cortez might actually be Quetzalcoatl so he probably didn’t flee right away.”

  Quinn blinked at him and folded his arms over his thick chest. “And how long did it take Cortez and his Conquistadors to wipe out the Aztec?”

  Selena liked history and all – what demigoddess wouldn’t? – but now hardly seemed like an appropriate time to engage in an historical debate. “What is he doing?” she reiterated, more forcefully this time.

  Cameron sighed and gave Quinn one last this-isn’t-over glare then turned to Selena. “Two people disappeared from the Atchafalaya Refuge yesterday. The news says they were fishing and they suspect a boating accident, but Quetzalcoatl contacted Quinn and told him people would continue to die unless we returned you.”

  “Returned me?” Selena scoffed then immediately felt guilty for focusing on that part of Cameron’s story. Two people were dead because of her, and more would die unless they did something to stop it. She swallowed something painful and burning in her throat and breathed slowly. “We have to find him then. We have to do something.”

  “See?” Quinn said. “She agrees with me.”

  “I never said we shouldn’t,” Cameron corrected. “But I don’t think you should come with us, Selena.”

  “She can keep Quetzalcoatl from killing us, Cameron! We don’t have any gods on our side. We’re just a bunch of demigods. What can we do against someone like that without her?”

  “Wait,” Selena interrupted, “why don’t you want me there? Is this because of what happened last time? I’ll watch where I’m going. No more falling into swamps. Or… I’ll try. I mean, I get it, I’m clumsy, but Quinn is right…”

  “Of course, he’s right,” Cameron said. “And if Quetzalcoatl still beats us, you’re his prisoner again, and he is potentially indestructible.”

  “So you’re just going to face off with Quetzalcoatl on your own even though you know your chances of getting killed are ridiculously high?” Selena asked, her voice rising in her frustration and panic.

  Quinn kept his arms folded over his chest and his eyes on Cameron. She wondered how long they’d been arguing about this. And she wondered who was in charge of this group because if she had to change Cameron’s mind, she could be fighting yet another losing battle.

  “Well, I’m going anyway,” Selena decided. “The last thing I want is innocent people dying because of me.”

  Cameron sighed angrily and shook his head at her. “Do you have any idea what these gods will do to you to force you to cooperate with them?”

  “I’m not stupid, Cameron. I may not have gone to college, but that doesn’t make me an idiot.”

  Cameron threw his hands up and looked at Quinn helplessly who just shrugged at him. “I never said you were stupid!” Cameron insisted. “I just…”

  “Cameron,” Quinn interrupted, “ultimately, you don’t get to tell her what to do. We appreciate everything you’ve done over the past couple of weeks, but we don’t operate that way. The whole reason we exist is that we think gods and their descendants should still have free will.”

  “Ending the New Pantheon won’t change that,” Cameron complained.

  “What do you mean?” Selena asked. Cameron sank back into the sofa and stared at the coffee table in front of him, so Quinn finally unfolded his arms and sat across from her.

  “You don’t know why the New Pantheon was started in the first place?”

  Selena thought back to every story her aunt had ever told her about the New Pantheon’s existence, its purpose in this world. She could remember the first time she’d learned of them, sitting at her aunt’s kitchen table as they furrowed their brows over trigonometry. Her aunt threw her pencil down and muttered something about how “those damn gods are preventing you from going to school with real teachers.”

  Selena had looked up from her math book and blinked at her aunt. “Which gods? And why don’t they want me to go to school? I thought you said it was people I had to watch out for.”

  “It’s both,” Aunt Tara sighed. “You’re fifteen. I guess you’re old enough to know.”

  Selena hadn’t liked the ominous warning implied in her tone or word choice. She put the eraserless end of her pencil between her teeth and chewed nervously and Aunt Tara reached across the table and pulled it out of her mouth. “That’s bad for your teeth,” she scolded.

  “What am I old enough to know, Aunt Tara?” Selena thought her voice sounded so small and childlike, not at all like the teenager she was now.

  “Humans aren’t the only ones who don’t want us around, Lena. There’s a group of gods and demigods like us who work for the government and do terrible things to people, and if they find out what you can do, they’ll be merciless in getting you to agree to do anything they want.”

  Selena shook her head. “I won’t do it.”

  “Oh, Lena,” Aunt Tara sighed again, and tucked some of Selena’s blonde hair behind her ear, “sometimes I think I’ve shielded you from the world too much.”

  Selena’s throat burned with the memory of her aunt, this bittersweet snapshot of learning about the New Pantheon for the first time, the fear it had instilled in her mixed with her aunt’s loving touch. She could still see Aunt Tara’s sad and worried expression that they’d end up capturing her niece, and she would be powerless to stop them.

  She hadn’t even talked to her aunt in three years. As soon as they realized the New Pantheon had found her, they’d both gone into hiding. She had no idea where her Aunt Tara was.

  Selena swallowed the pain in her throat and tried to remember
what Quinn had asked her. You don’t know why the New Pantheon was started in the first place? For the past eleven years, she’d thought she had. “They’ve been recruited by the government for decades. Originally, they were part of the surveillance program during the Cold War, and now, they function as an arm of the government’s counterterrorism programs.”

  “That’s what they do,” Quinn corrected. “But it’s not why they exist. Originally, the program started because the U.S. government didn’t like that there were a handful of people in this world with so much power. They focused their recruitment specifically on demigods who were more likely to have families and had more to lose, and gave them a choice: join this new program and do whatever you’re told, or you and your entire family will disappear. Most joined. Before the New Pantheon, demigods had just spent hundreds of years blending in with normal humans, so it’s not like they had a network of friends they could rely on for help. And just because one person in a family is really powerful doesn’t mean the other family members are. Our psychic’s brother is pretty normal, actually. He senses general things but nothing specific.”

  Quinn’s phone buzzed and vibrated on the coffee table and he grabbed it and frowned at the number. Selena glanced at Cameron, who had been watching her. He lifted a shoulder at her and said, “Free will.”

  She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. It was her choice to go to the Refuge and help them look for Quetzalcoatl, and he wouldn’t argue with her? He was reiterating what Quinn had been explaining about free will being stripped away from demigods, and as the New Pantheon increased in its power, even the remaining gods themselves? And what were Quinn and Cameron hoping to accomplish? Even if they brought this pantheon down, if the government were really that evil in its pursuit of gods and demigods, what would stop them from starting up the program again? Perhaps that’s what Cameron had meant when he claimed that ending the New Pantheon wouldn’t really change anything.

  Quinn stood up and smiled weakly at her. “Cameron can answer any other questions you have. I need to check on…” Quinn grunted and gave Cameron a pointed look. “Just hope Jasper isn’t in jail. Or next time, I will let you kick his ass.”