“You suck at calming people down, you know that?” Cameron asked.
Selena snickered but her smile quickly faded as the god ascended to the top of the hillock closest to them and for the first time, she was able to see him clearly. She didn’t recognize him, but she doubted she would recognize most deities. The descriptions in recorded myths weren’t necessarily accurate since they’d been written by humans.
The god stared down at them, his dark blue eyes fierce and menacing. His long brown beard ended at a tapered point in the center of his thick chest and his wavy chestnut hair spilled over his shoulders. He put his fists on his wide hips and his voice thundered above them. “Trespassers. How did you get here?”
This was the second time they’d been accused of trespassing. Cameron had been right about one thing: gods were obviously really territorial.
“We have no idea,” Selena answered truthfully. “We were in the Atchafalaya Basin hunting for Quetzalcoatl and…”
The god’s lips curled into a sneer. “Quetzalcoatl? Why are you hunting for that asshole?”
Selena tried not to gawk at the god still staring angrily at them, but his casual use of the term “asshole” to describe Quetzalcoatl was both comical and a little discomforting. “Well… he’s going around killing people,” she explained.
“So?” the god interrupted. “What are you? The Justice League?”
Cameron laughed and the god shot him a shut-the-hell-up look. He stopped laughing, but being Cameron, he just had to say something. “Sorry, it’s just my friend here loves comic books and even called me Bruce Wayne when we first met.”
The god blinked at him then turned his attention back to Selena. “Did Quetzalcoatl send you here? Why wouldn’t he just kill you?”
“I don’t think he sent us,” Selena answered slowly. “We ran into him and he did try to kill us, but Badb showed up and rescued us…”
The god’s thunderous laughter cut her off and Selena gripped Cameron’s hand. He squeezed it gently but she wasn’t sure if it was meant to reassure her or to reassure himself.
“Badb?” the god repeated. “Then you are one of the Tuatha Dé. Weak. Relegated to fairies.” The god laughed again as he stepped closer to them and Cameron and Selena instinctively stepped back. Selena bumped into another body and screamed and she and Cameron spun around, staring into the face of a beautiful young woman with long golden hair and gray eyes that were fixed on the approaching god.
“A fairy?” she repeated.
“You sent these demigods here?” the god asked. “That was awfully stupid of you.”
The young woman crossed her arms and continued to scowl at the god. “Tell me again that I’m only a fairy, Perun.”
“Perun,” Selena whispered. Cameron glanced at her, raising an eyebrow as if to say that at least when they pissed off gods, they aimed high, and Selena bit her lip so she wouldn’t smile. There was nothing funny about their current situation, stuck between two angry gods who detested each other.
“It was obviously a joke, Badb,” Perun said through gritted teeth.
“Wait,” Cameron interjected. He faced the beautiful young woman again and repeated her name. “Badb?”
“Not now,” Selena hissed.
Badb ignored him anyway. She put a hand on each of their arms and pulled them apart then stood between them, but her eyes never left Perun. “Then tell me again how the Tuatha Dé are weak.”
Perun’s nostrils flared as he glared at the beautiful goddess. Selena heard footsteps behind her and turned to see two more beautiful young goddesses approaching. “The Morrígna,” she breathed.
“Perun,” one of them said, her voice cold and steely, “you’ve outstayed your time here.”
Perun shook his head and those ringlets of chestnut hair bobbed around his oval face. “I haven’t. I’ve kept my word and you know it, Macha.”
“Shall we renegotiate the terms of our agreement then, Perun?” the third goddess asked. Selena assumed she must be Nemain and if the Morrígna were asking about renegotiating a treaty, there was only one way they would settle this dispute. Her skin felt cold and clammy despite the warm, dry air of the Otherworld.
“What a lot of trouble you are making for demigods,” Perun observed. “Don’t worry, Morrigan. I’ll go.” His eyes lingered on Cameron and Selena and there was a threat implicit in his admission of defeat, but Selena wasn’t quite sure what he was planning – if it involved them or the sisters of war who had come to their aid.
Perun turned his attention to the sky, which suddenly darkened with low clouds rolling quickly over the bright blue, obscuring the sun. The winds picked up and thunder rumbled in the distance, just as it had when Ukko transported them from this world back to Earth. Selena squinted against the harsh wind and Badb’s hand tightened around her arm to keep her from falling over. Lightning crackled and sizzled across the horizon and Selena was glad she hadn’t been able to see Ukko transporting them this way.
Cameron had finally been wrong about something. This wasn’t cool at all; the intensity of the storm frightened her. She buried her face against Badb’s shoulder and waited until the winds quieted before lifting her head. She caught Badb’s round gray eyes, no longer bird-like and beady at all, watching her and she smiled. Selena smiled back at her.
“You’re all right for now,” Badb assured her.
“I hate that guy,” Nemain muttered. “Fairy. God, I get so sick of hearing that.”
“So…” Cameron said, “I’m going to have to point out the obvious because I wasted too much time studying the wrong mythologies. Badb, you were an old woman like… fifteen minutes ago. And I don’t know who these other two goddesses are because I thought Morrigan was a goddess.”
Badb raised a golden eyebrow at Selena and continued to smile at her.
“The Morrígna is a trio of goddesses. Three sisters: Badb, the goddess of war, Nemain, the goddess of the havoc of war, and Macha, the goddess of war dead… although I thought you were killed by Balor.”
Macha shook her head and the same golden waves as her sisters cascaded over her breasts. “My sisters saved me.” Her gray eyes shifted to Cameron and her smile widened. “And then your ancestor saved us all.”
“Mine?” Cameron asked.
“Lugh. He killed Balor.”
“Holy shit, Selena, you were right about all of this?”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” Badb reprimanded, but it was a lighthearted reprimand.
“Oh,” Selena added, “according to Irish myths, Badb also appeared in different ways. As a crow, especially in battles, as an old woman, and as a beautiful young woman.”
“Huh,” Cameron said, “you know, you kinda look like her. I mean now, not as the cranky old woman. Sorry, Badb, but you were acting kinda cranky down there.”
“Badb is kind of cranky,” Macha added.
“Shut up, Macha,” Badb sighed.
“See?” Macha said, gesturing toward her sister.
“Let’s get these two out of the open so we can try to figure out how they ended up here,” Badb ordered. Her sisters nodded and stood protectively around Cameron and Selena, who waited for the winds to pick up and the skies to darken, but nothing happened. She blinked and the field disappeared, as did the crystalline blue sky and the rolling hills and aquamarine sea. She felt Cameron’s hand slip around hers again as they looked around their new surroundings, a massive room with tall walls that spiraled into brightly colored domes. The white marble floors and walls reflected the sunlight streaming in from the high windows, creating an illusion of an eruption of light all around them.
Long, thin banners hung from the pillars that lined the walls, decorated with elaborate symbols that Selena recognized as Celtic, maybe even Gaelic, but she had no idea what they meant. “That’s the symbol,” Cameron said.
“What?” Selena asked.
“In the hotel room,” he explained. He pointed to one of the banners adorned with an intricate woven ci
rcular pattern. “That’s what you were tracing on your pillow.”
“It’s the seal of Dian Cécht,” Badb said. “Each of the original Tuatha Dé have their place here, even if they are no longer with us.”
“How would I have known what it looked like?” Selena asked. She could remember seeing numerous similar symbols in books and online, but why would this one stand out to her? Why would she have remembered it above all others?
Badb smiled at her then looked at the long green banner with its elaborate gold weaving. “Some things are just in us, Selena.”
Cameron tapped her shoulder to get her attention and pointed to the wall behind them. Selena inhaled a quick, sharp breath as she admired the beautiful tapestries – four perfectly sewn, perfectly illustrated tapestries.
“The gifts of the Tuatha Dé,” Selena said.
Cameron pulled her closer to the tapestries and she let him, even though she was afraid to get too close, to damage the perfection of the artwork before her. Selena studied each one carefully, but Cameron’s eyes were drawn to one in particular and he didn’t want to move to look at the others.
“What is this?” he asked. He reached out to touch it, but Selena stopped him.
“Let him touch it,” Badb said. “It’s his history, Selena. And yours.”
Cameron’s fingers brushed against the spear, gleaming white and blue, a masterpiece. “My history is a spear?”
Selena nodded and lifted her own hand to feel the intricate weaving of the tapestry. Only a god could have possessed this kind of craftsmanship.
“It’s the spear of Lugh,” Selena said. She felt breathless and dizzy. “It was supposed to be indestructible. When the original Tuatha Dé arrived in Ireland from the four island cities, they brought with them four treasures, one from each magical island.” Selena paused and pointed to the tapestry to her left. “From Falias, they brought the Stone of Fál, which would proclaim the rightful king of Ireland whenever he stood on it.”
Selena ran her fingers along the tapestry in front of her again and smiled at Cameron. “The Spear of Lugh from the island of Gorias, indestructible and no man could defeat him when he fought with it.” She forced him away from the tapestry of the spear to the third tapestry and let her fingers linger on the sword, bright blue flames surrounding the hilt. “The Sword of Nuada, the Sword of Light, from Findias and here,” she moved to the fourth and final tapestery, “the Cauldron of the Dagda from Murias. It never emptied no matter how many it fed.”
“You know your stories well,” Badb said, the approving tone in her voice making Selena blush. Cameron still held her hand and pulled her back to the tapestry of Lugh’s spear.
“Where are these treasures now?” he asked.
Badb sighed, a sad sound, and her sisters joined her. Selena studied the expression of each goddess and knew the news they would share could not be good.
“Stolen,” Badb said. “They were taken from us during the war and brought to Earth and hidden. Only one remains in our possession, Cameron.”
Selena felt Cameron’s body tense, and he turned away from the tapestry and gave Badb a look that was far more serious than she’d ever seen him. “The spear. You still have it.”
Badb nodded. “And Lugh is dead. Our great warrior was killed in the war when his spear was stolen from him. It was the only gift I was able to retrieve before the Norse and Slavs retreated to Earth. You can wield it, Cameron, but only you can. And you are driven to protect Selena for a reason. If you want to protect her from all that is coming, you will need help. I will try to help direct you to Nuada’s heir, but he must have his sword if the Norse and Slavs ally again to wage war against us. And as soon as they discover who Selena is, they will.”
Cameron swallowed and looked down at Selena, his dark brown eyes still so serious and contemplative. “They’re going to start a war with us over Selena. Oh my God, our friends…” he breathed.
“Your friends will end up choosing their sides. And Ukko and the New Pantheon will exploit the war for their own agenda. We must find the Unbreakable Sword, Cameron. You must find it.”
“How?” Cameron asked weakly. “We’ve got the entire New Pantheon after us, a pissed off Aztec god who just threatened his own war against us in seven days and, now, the Norse and Slavic gods may be teaming up to try to kidnap, Selena, too? What the hell am I supposed to do?”
“Macha, bring him his spear,” Badb ordered. She rested one delicate hand on his shoulder and her gray eyes peered into his. Selena thought she may be looking straight into his soul. “You will keep her alive, Cameron. And out of their hands. We will help you. And once you’ve found the Unbreakable Sword, we will help you find Nuada’s heir who will help you defeat her enemies. You are both more valuable to the Tuatha Dé than you realize. And you are more powerful than you know, especially when you work together. Look around you,” Badb paused and motioned to the palace around them. “It shouldn’t be possible for you to have arrived here on your own, and yet… here you are.”
Macha emerged from one of the rooms in the back of the palace, carrying Lugh’s spear. In her hands, it seemed dull, lifeless, nothing like the brilliant gleaming spear in the tapestry on the wall. Selena watched Cameron’s face as she approached him, but he wouldn’t take the spear from her.
He backed away slowly then met Badb’s eyes again. “You want to drag me into a war against my friends. I won’t fight Quinn just because he’s Norse and you harbor some old grudge against them.”
“Cameron,” Selena said softly, but he didn’t let her finish.
“No. Selena, I told you. We can’t trust them. Any of them. You think they’re not trying to manipulate us just like all the others?”
“But Cameron, what if they’re right?” Selena asked.
Cameron put his hands on her shoulders, still far too serious, and his expression made Selena nervous. “Then I will protect you. We’ll disappear. We’ll hide from them all.”
“Like Alan…” Selena whispered.
Cameron shook his head quickly then exhaled angrily. “God, Selena! What do I have to go through to prove to you I’m not Alan?”
“Then let them help us!” Selena cried.
“Help us? Weren’t you listening? They want us to take sides in one of their wars. They want me to fight one of my best friends and for what? He knows who you are and what you can do and he hasn’t tried to turn you in to anyone. He’s risked his life to protect you, too.” Cameron ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and sighed angrily again, cursing all of the gods under his breath.
“You think this is because she can heal, Cameron?” Badb asked.
Cameron shot her an I’m-not-stupid glare. “Of course it is. Why the hell else would Ukko and Quetzalcoatl be chasing her?”
“That’s why they are now, yes. Quetzalcoatl may know now, but Ukko doesn’t know your ancestry and couldn’t have put the pieces together. It’s her fate that will lead them to want to destroy her, not kidnap her, Cameron.”
Cameron glanced at Selena, but he didn’t look convinced. He didn’t even look like he was on the verge of trusting any of these goddesses. “Let us go home. Now.”
“Cameron,” Badb tried again, but he still wouldn’t listen.
“Now, goddamn it!” he yelled.
Selena jumped and backed away from him, suddenly terrified to go back to Earth or stay in the Otherworld. She had no idea what had happened to Cameron to make him so skeptical about trusting gods, but for some reason, she trusted the Morrígna, especially Badb, and she didn’t want to leave her side. But she didn’t want to leave Cameron’s either.
“What’s my fate?” she asked Badb.
Badb’s gray eyes settled on her, filled with a mixture of sadness and reverence, which made Selena tense and uncomfortable. Why would a powerful war goddess look at her with reverence?
“Selena,” Cameron pleaded, “please. Don’t listen to her. She’s just making this shit up. She’ll put ideas in your head and that can g
et dangerous for us. Let’s just go home and we’ll figure out how to deal with Quetzalcoatl first, then we’ll… I don’t know, we’ll go somewhere. I won’t let Ukko find you again.”
“But what if she’s telling us the truth, Cameron?”
“This is exactly why I warned you not to trust the gods. If they won’t help us get home, we can probably find someone who will. Please.” He held his hand out to her again and Selena hesitated only a moment before offering her hand to him. She saw the tension in his shoulders ease with the reassurance that she would follow him after all.
“All right,” Badb said softly. “I have no intention of coming between you. Ultimately, you need each other more than you need me. But I won’t be far. Go home now, Children. And be careful.”
The world exploded in another bright flash of blinding white light, and Selena and Cameron were cast out of the Otherworld.
Chapter Twelve
Justin sat up slowly and brushed the dirt off his arms. Selena rocked back on her heels, falling into the leaves and soft earth of the forest floor, and stared wide-eyed at Cameron. He stared back at her then tapped Quinn’s shoulder as he lowered himself by Justin to help him to his feet.
“Yeah?” Quinn asked.
“How long did it take for Selena to heal him?” Cameron asked, his voice shaky and distant.
“I dunno. Thirty seconds?” Quinn pulled Justin up and looked him over, confirming he wasn’t hurting anywhere but only Avery seemed to notice Cameron and Selena didn’t share everyone’s enthusiasm over the second healing that day. And no one seemed to notice Badb had disappeared.
“This can’t be real,” Cameron breathed.
Quinn gave him a funny look and stuck his hand out. “Need help?”
Cameron didn’t even look at his hand. His eyes never left Selena. “It’s a trick,” he said. “It was all a trick. That’s what they do, Selena. That’s what they all do.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Quinn asked.
Shadows of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 1) Page 12
