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

by S. M. Schmitz

  Cameron ignored him again. Or maybe he couldn’t even hear him now. Selena wasn’t sure what she could and couldn’t hear or see or feel anymore either.

  “So… are we done reptile hunting?” Justin asked.

  Quinn nodded. “We clearly need reinforcements if we’re going to go after him again.”

  Selena pulled herself from her stupor and wiped her dirty hands against the legs of her jeans. “Are you serious? We can’t go after him again. He just threatened a war with us in seven days.”

  Quinn blinked at her then looked at Cameron. “Does this happen to her when she’s expended too much energy on healing?”

  “Does what happen to her?”

  “She starts hallucinating and shit.”

  “I’m not hallucinating,” Selena hissed. “Cameron, tell him!”

  Cameron licked his lips and rose to his feet. He pulled his gloves from his pocket and slipped them back on. “Let’s get back to Baton Rouge. You must be exhausted.”

  “Cameron,” Selena cried. “Tell him I’m not crazy!”

  Quinn held his hands up in a conciliatory gesture and spoke quietly and calmly to her, the way Selena assumed he’d talk to a crazy person. “I never said you were, Selena. You just healed two people and that must have taken a huge toll on you. I think Cameron is right. Let’s get back home so we can all get some rest.”

  Selena put her hands on her hips and glowered at Cameron. “I’m fine and you know it. And I’m not going anywhere unless you tell them the truth.”

  “Ok,” Cameron said slowly, “what do you want me to say?”

  “Tell them about Badb and the…”

  “Who?” Cameron interrupted.

  “Oh my God!” Selena shouted at him, and Cameron gave her his warning look. “I should have stayed. I never should have come back with you!”

  “Wait a second,” Cameron said, putting his own hands on his hips, “stayed with Ukko? Are you kidding me?”

  “Um… is this like some lovers’ quarrel?” Justin asked Quinn.

  “We’re not lovers,” Selena snapped. “And we never will be.”

  “I never said we were or would be,” Cameron snapped back.

  “Guys,” Jasper interjected, “can we argue about this later? You two have made enough noise to wake the dead, and that’s the last thing we need: that goddamn snake to come back with an army of ghosts.”

  Quinn ran his thick fingers over his eyes and blew a quick breath through his lips. “This is going to be a fun car ride.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Selena said. “I’ll ride with someone else.”

  “Selena,” Cameron sighed, “don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Oh, now I’m crazy, a liar, and ridiculous?”

  “I never called you any of those things!” Cameron insisted.

  “Stop!” Quinn yelled. “Both of you!” Whatever birds had remained in this area of the woods in the midst of the presence of these demigods and their arguing fluttered away at the booming of Quinn’s voice. “Everybody back to the cars. We’ll deal with… whatever this is later. Selena, you can ride with Justin and Avery.”

  Quinn stomped away from them, back toward the burned out camp where their cars were parked, and Cameron reluctantly followed him when Selena refused to look at him. She waited until only Justin and Avery were left, waiting on her to leave, before spinning around to leave the Atchafalaya Basin far behind her. She never wanted to step foot in this place again. As she walked away, she caught the flapping of the wing of a black crow on the branch of a tree above her and she lifted her head, catching the beady yellow eyes of the crow watching her before it flapped its wings again and flew away.

  Selena wouldn’t let Avery drop her off at Cameron’s apartment and asked to go to a hotel instead. Both Avery and Justin kept asking her if she had money to stay in a hotel and if she’d be all right by herself, and she reminded them she’d managed just fine for three years without anyone’s help. She wouldn’t answer their questions about money. She wasn’t proud of it, but it wouldn’t be the first time she stole money from an ATM since it was impossible to hold a job while running from the New Pantheon.

  Avery dropped her off at the Radisson and Selena went straight to the ATM in the lobby, disabling the camera before she approached it. She pretended to insert a card and punch in a PIN then held her hand out as the machine dispensed the bills she’d forced it to relinquish. She approached the counter and smiled at the middle-aged man standing behind the computer. The only identification she had on her was the fake ID Quinn and Cameron knew about, and she was sure Avery would call them as soon as she could, if she hadn’t already. But Selena didn’t want to call a cab and go anywhere else for the night. When she left this hotel, she planned on leaving Baton Rouge forever.

  She passed her ID across the counter and asked for one non-smoking room and the man smiled back at her and asked for a credit card.

  “I have cash.”

  “We need a credit card for any amenities,” he explained, still smiling at her.

  “I don’t have a credit card. I have cash. I’ll leave a deposit and I’ll get it back tomorrow when I check out.”

  “Miss Winger,” the clerk said, his smile slipping a little but Selena put the cash on the counter and pushed it toward him.

  “I’m hungry, I’m tired, and I need a shower. Would you please just put me in a room before my ex-boyfriend shows up and we end up having to call the cops instead?”

  The clerk sighed and focused on his computer screen again, tapping at his keyboard and occasionally glancing up at her, but he swiped a room key to program it and handed it to her. “Room 248. If you order room service, you’ll have to pay in cash. I’ve deactivated pay-per-view in your room and please don’t use the telephone to make local or long distance calls. In-house only.”

  Selena nodded and thanked him, grabbing the room key and the rest of her money from the counter before he could change his mind. She found the elevator and hit the button for the second floor, closing her eyes as it jerked upward. She had been waiting for Cameron’s betrayal but hadn’t expected it like this.

  The elevator car lurched to a stop and the doors opened. Selena walked slowly down the empty hallway until she found her room. The card reader blinked green at her and she twisted the door handle, a cold blast of air-conditioning making her both curse and shiver. Her fingers found the light switch on the wall and she turned on the heat then ran the hot water in the shower. She spent a long time under the stream, washing her hair slowly, trying to wash away the confusing memories of this horrible day, but they wouldn’t cleanse as easily as her body.

  When the water began to get cold, she reluctantly turned off the stream and stepped out of the tub, wrapping a towel around her hair then a second one around her body. She hoped the hotel room had warmed up.

  Selena swung the bathroom door opened and screamed when she spotted the black shape lying on her bed. A slender, crooked finger rose to the old woman’s lips and she issued a loud rasping, “Shhhh!”

  Selena covered her mouth and backed into the bathroom.

  “Come,” Badb ordered. “Sit.”

  Selena let her hand fall when her brain was sure she could keep her screams contained. Her heart wasn’t as convinced. She approached the bed slowly and sat on the opposite side of the old woman.

  Badb turned her attention back to the television and clicked her tongue at it. “So many channels. Nothing good.”

  “Why do you do that? Pretend to speak only broken English when you look like this.”

  Badb pointed the remote at the television and changed the channel. She cackled when she found a rerun of Cheers. “This one was good.”

  “Yeah, I always liked Norm and Cliff.”

  She couldn’t explain it, but Selena was glad Badb had shown up. She wished the goddess had just knocked on her door and not scared the shit out of her, but her promise to her that she wouldn’t abandon her, that she would always be around to help her, seemed
true now. And if she were telling the truth about that, then maybe Cameron was wrong about it all. Maybe she could trust Badb about everything.

  Badb set the remote down and without looking away from the television, told her, “You need clothes.”

  “They’re dirty,” Selena sighed. “I didn’t want to…”

  “New clothes,” Badb interrupted. “Check bathroom counter.”

  Selena looked over her shoulder then back at the goddess who cackled at the screen. She’d missed the punch line to whatever joke Norm told.

  “Hurry,” Badb insisted. “I’m hungry.”

  Selena got off the bed and peeked inside the bathroom. A stack of neatly folded clothes waited for her on the counter. Selena picked up the t-shirt and smelled it, surprised that it didn’t have that chemically new clothes smell. She slipped it over her head then put the panties and pajama pants on, both her size, both perfect fits.

  Selena stepped back into the hotel room as Badb cackled at the television again. The old woman pointed to the phone and directed, “Hamburger with fries. And a Guinness.”

  “A Guinness,” Selena murmured. Badb ignored her.

  Selena grabbed the room service menu and scanned it quickly before deciding to order the same thing. She put the phone back on the handset and sat in the chair by the desk and watched the goddess, who continued to ignore her until the episode of Cheers was over. She shook her head at the TV and wagged her finger at it. “Never understood those women. Sam Malone not that attractive.”

  “And you can speak perfect English. Cut it out.”

  Badb turned her beady eyes on Selena, and they sparkled impishly. “But that Cameron…”

  “Don’t,” Selena warned.

  Badb turned the television off and placed the remote on the bed beside her. “He can’t remember, Selena. He began to lose his memory of visiting the Otherworld as soon as you got back. He wasn’t trying to throw you under the bus.”

  “Why do I still have mine then?” Selena asked.

  “Because I didn’t make you forget. You have to admit: trying to tell him the truth didn’t exactly go well at our palace.”

  Selena closed her eyes and shook her head. “They’re all going to think I’m nuts now.”

  “Not all of them. Avery suspects something strange was happening to you both. She just didn’t know what. She will vouch for you.”

  Selena opened her eyes and shook her head again. “She didn’t vouch for me in the forest when everyone was treating me like I was some lunatic. I don’t know, Badb. If you’re right that everyone is going to want me dead so badly, then I’m better off leaving anyway. They shouldn’t be dragged into…”

  “No!” Badb scolded, that long, crooked finger wagging in her direction. “You are too important to give up. And you can’t leave Cameron. You don’t have to like him right now, but you do have to stay.”

  “And tell him what?” Selena whined. “That I was wrong?”

  No way. Badb would have to force her, and she wasn’t convinced the goddess was that powerful.

  Badb shrugged and rearranged her long black robe over her thin, bony legs. “Pretend you don’t remember any of it. Then you don’t have to admit to anything.”

  Selena arched an eyebrow at the goddess and waited to see if she was serious. When Badb reached for the remote again, she figured that was her answer: she was completely serious and she was also done with this conversation.

  “Wait,” Selena said. “Before you get lost in a Boston bar again, what exactly is my fate you wanted to tell me about in the Otherworld?”

  Badb exhaled slowly and turned the television off. When Badb spoke again, Selena didn’t hear the voice of an old woman but of the young beautiful goddess she’d met in the Otherworld, even though Badb’s body didn’t change. “You are part of our fate, Selena. The Tuatha Dé’s. At the end of the war in the Otherworld, it was prophesied that only a descendant of Dian Cécht who can heal as well as him will be able to prevent our downfall. Long ago, before the druids were all killed off by the Christians and they forced us into hiding and spread lies about us cowering in the Sidhe, I visited a powerful druid who told me about you and Cameron, who would be your protector. He is the descendant of not only Lugh but the great warrior, Cú Chulainn. You must accept his help, Selena, and if you won’t believe him then believe me: he is drawn to defend you and will die to protect you because it’s his fate.”

  Selena gasped and her eyes widened. “To die for me?” she whispered.

  Badb smiled and picked up the remote again. “I don’t know about that part. The druid didn’t tell me if he would live or die, only that he would be willing to defend you to his last breath.”

  “Was Quetzalcoatl serious? Are we really going to have to fight a war with him?” Selena asked.

  Badb’s wrinkled forehead wrinkled even further as she thought about Selena’s question. “Does he strike you as the kind of god who would joke about anything?”

  “And you’re not worried?”

  Badb waved her off. “More worried about Cameron’s Norse friends stabbing us in the back,” she muttered.

  “What’s his story? Why doesn’t he trust any god?”

  Badb shrugged and turned up the volume. “Don’t know. Ask him. This is a good episode. Come watch it with me.”

  Selena smiled at the old woman who wasn’t really an old woman and settled on the bed beside her. “One more question,” Selena asked quietly.

  Badb tilted her head but kept watching the TV.

  “How’s my Aunt Tara?”

  Badb patted her hand and smiled. “Smarter than those bastards who are looking for you. Don’t worry about her, Child.”

  Selena blew out a slow breath and blinked away tears. “Thank you, Badb.”

  “You have never been alone, Selena, even when you were at your loneliest. Watch. This is the best part.”

  Selena wiped her damp cheeks and laughed along with Badb, feeling far less frightened than she had in a long time. She didn’t know yet how she would ever convince Cameron to trust Badb and her sisters, but the Tuatha Dé had her allegiance. If she had to fight for them, she would enter the battlefield at Badb’s side. And if Cameron wouldn’t fight with her, then he could be condemning their history, their pantheon, their family, all because he couldn’t overcome the prejudices of his past.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The faded green paint of Cameron’s apartment door seemed to be taunting Selena, beckoning her to knock so she could fake amnesia about an argument she remembered perfectly well and had been completely right about. It was a better alternative than admitting she was wrong when she wasn’t but Badb had stubbornly refused to give Cameron his memories back, so she had no other alternative. Selena took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the wooden door.

  She heard movement on the other side then locks sliding out of place. The door opened and Cameron stood there, his hair slightly disheveled in a sexy lazy morning kind of way, the gray cotton of his t-shirt pulling taut over the muscles in his chest and arms. How could Jasper be the one descended from a sex god? Selena swallowed and forced her eyes to meet his. She’d been wondering if he’d just slam the door in her face, but he didn’t look angry at all. He looked worried and relieved.

  “Selena,” he breathed, “Avery told me she dropped you off at the Radisson. I was going to go by later…”

  He stopped and bit his lip and looked shyly at his feet. Selena no longer felt any resentment over Badb’s insistence she show up this morning and make peace with him. He looked like he hadn’t slept much the night before, and she only felt guilty she hadn’t called and made peace with him sooner.

  “Cameron, can I come in?”

  “Yeah, of course.” He stepped aside and Selena entered his apartment, the smell of freshly brewed coffee greeting her. She smiled at him and gave him her best hopeful expression and he smiled back at her.

  “I’ll make you a cup. How are you…?” He stopped himself and bit his lip again as
he walked into his kitchen and pulled a mug from his cabinet.

  “Feeling better,” Selena assured him. “Something weird happened yesterday, but I’m not sure what. The details are kinda hazy.”

  Selena kept her focus on the open laptop in front of her on the coffee table because she really was a terrible liar. He’d been reading about Badb and she felt guilty all over again. He was obviously trying to understand her accusations from the Basin the day before.

  She pointed to the computer screen and smiled at him, though she feared it looked as fake as it felt, as he handed her the cup of coffee. “Been doing your homework on our probable ancestry?”

  Cameron glanced at his computer then met her eyes again. “Not exactly. Yesterday, you seemed to think Badb had shown up and told us something. I wasn’t even sure who that was and it took me forever to figure out how to spell it so I could Google her.”

  Selena sipped on her hot coffee and pretended to read the screen. “We’ve been talking so much about the Tuatha Dé lately. I guess it all just…”

  “Hey,” Cameron said gently, sitting beside her on the sofa. He picked up her free hand and held it between his own and Selena stared at the toffee colored coffee inside her mug. Cameron had remembered how she liked it: two teaspoons of sugar and a splash of milk. “You’ve been through so much trauma lately. Don’t do this. Don’t be ashamed about yesterday. I’m just worried about you. Maybe I could do the healing from now on unless it’s something serious, and…”

  “Cameron,” Selena interrupted, “I’ll be fine. Really. I’m pretty sure I experienced a vision yesterday and I thought you were with me, but I guess not. Or you were in my vision but not experiencing it, I mean. You can ask Avery. She should be able to tell, right?”

  Cameron’s fingers twitched as he inhaled slowly. “I did ask her last night as soon as she dropped you off. The only thing she picked up was that your thoughts seemed scattered, chaotic.”

  “What?” Selena whispered. She put her coffee down and pulled her hand out of his, shaking her head at him. “That can’t be right. She’s lying.”