Justin got to his feet, slowly getting his breath back. Slipping under one of his arms, I half-walked, half-dragged him to the side of the road, as close to the buildings and as far from the fighting as we could get.
It was hard to keep going. I hated leaving people behind. I wanted to turn around, to fight alongside my Heroes and the orishas, instead of slinking away like a coward.
Justin met my eyes, and I knew he felt the same way. The only difference was he had a mission of his very own. Keeping me safe. He would push everything else aside for that.
Justin pulled out his smartphone. He mapped us to the warehouse. As we crept along, the sounds of the ferocious fighting grew quieter. But I couldn't help but strain to hear a familiar battle cry, a victorious shout, or worst of all, an agonized scream. Mercifully, it was impossible to hear anything that specific in all the commotion.
Justin stopped in front of a large, unlit building with a row of high windows, mostly smashed. It was surrounded by a chain-link fence with a large, impressive-looking lock on its gate. No sign of any guards. Ekhidna had committed all of her forces to the battle. She'd never expected us to make it this far. She'd expected the monsters to slaughter us, slaughter everyone except me. I was to be taken prisoner and brought to her until she could rip the Promethean Fire from my hands and the Element of Water from inside of me.
"Can you squeeze through?" Justin asked, as he pulled on the lock. The fence moved apart, but only a foot.
"The gap isn't big enough," I said.
"I could jump to the Dreamlands," Justin suggested.
"I'd rather not risk it," I replied. I pointed. "Up and over."
I slid the briefcase through the fence to the other side. Justin knelt and linked his hands. Steadying myself on his shoulder, I placed one of my feet in his hands, and he thrust me up with that surprising strength he had.
I caught myself on the fence, finding handholds and then toeholds in the links. It wasn't graceful, but I managed to scramble up to the top and drop down on the other side.
Justin was already at the top of the fence when I looked back.
"Climb a lot of fences?" I asked dryly.
"You do a lot of things when you're running from guys like Darren," he replied. And there was no humour in his voice.
I kept forgetting he had a past, that he hadn't always been the immensely powerful Dreamer I knew and loved.
There was a door ahead of us, but I didn't like the idea of just strolling in the front door, especially when the power of Water was keeping me from using my powers to see what would happen if we did.
Instead, we circled the building. I cleared my mind, and focused on the power of Water, hoping to pick up a trace of emotion to warn us if someone was close.
But all I felt was Justin. Fear. Determination. Love. Happiness. A maelstrom of confusion and conflict, just like me.
Once we were around the building, we found a back door at the top of some metal stairs. Justin crept up. I followed close behind, careful to keep an eye out so we wouldn't get surprised.
Justin pointed at the door. No handle. I sighed. But Justin closed his eyes and pressed his hand against the door. He pulled, and the door swung open.
I didn't bother asking how. In the Dreamlands, Justin was virtually a god. In the mortal world, his powers were much weaker, but he could still bend reality to his will in small ways.
Inside was dark. When Justin gently shut the door behind us, it was pitch black. Before I could say anything, a small glowing orb appeared over my shoulder. Justin. Again.
But even in the faint light, I could see his eyes. The creeping red. I couldn't rely on his powers forever. I had enough enemies. I didn't need one more.
The hallway was wide and empty, its ceiling a nest of exposed pipes. But despite the size, I felt trapped. The hallway had no doors, only a bend to the right at the far end. Only one way to go.
I started to creep ahead, but Justin caught me on the shoulder. I froze. I looked again. Slowly. Carefully.
This time, I saw it. The slightest distortion, like light refracted underwater.
A cachar.
It had to have seen us. But it was just standing there, blocking our way. It didn't make any sense.
And then I knew. But it was too late.
Strong hands gripped me painfully and hauled me upwards. My arms were wrapped tightly by my sides. I could barely breathe, let alone struggle free. Something wound itself around my mouth. I couldn't even call out for help. All I could do was clutch the briefcase with all my strength. It could pry that Promethean Fire from my cold, dead hands.
I spotted Justin out of the corner of my eye: the same was happening to him. He was squirming just as uselessly against a cachar who had wound its limbs around him.
Their hold was unbreakable. They started to squeeze. My breath whooshed out of me. The cachar clamped its other hand over my nose.
I started to feel tired, weak. My vision was blurring. My lungs burned. Seconds left before I blacked out. Seconds to save myself, and the world.
Against everything I was, I felt fear well up inside me. Fear of failing the world. Fear of losing Justin.
And all that fear gave me an idea.
I took my fear. I fed it. And then, I hurled it at the cachars.
I'd never been so glad to fall in my life.
I landed hard on my side. I lay there, too weak to stand. So did Justin. After minutes of gasping for air, we were finally both able to stand.
Behind us, the door burst open. Wavers in the air flowed outside. The door slammed shut again. The cachars had fled.
We headed down the hall in silence. No sign of any more cachars. No sign of anything.
We followed the hallway to the right.
A door.
I looked at Justin. He looked at me. We couldn't risk saying anything out loud, so we said what we had to say with our eyes. And when all was finally said, I took a deep breath and opened the door.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
A bright light stabbed my eyes. Coming out of the darkness made it twice as intense. Everything went white, then black.
I was blind.
I felt someone tear the briefcase from my hand.
"So good of you to return this to me, Queen Hera."
I recognized that dead voice. The Alchemist.
I felt his breath in my ear.
"Whose days are numbered now?" he whispered.
Someone grabbed my arms and forced them behind my back. I felt something rough against my skin. Then the same feeling against my ankles. I was being tied up.
Someone pushed me, and I fell to the ground. Hard.
"Justin?" I called out.
"Really, Hera?" a sibilant voice purred.
Ekhidna.
"Calling out for your mortal?" she asked. "To sssave you? You underessstimate me. I remember how powerful he isss. I made sssure he wouldn't interfere."
I was too scared to move, to even breathe. Ekhidna could have killed him in an instant.
I had to know. I concentrated. I let the power of Water flow.
There.
Faint, but unmistakeable. I'd felt it before. Seen it in his eyes. Felt it when he held me. I knew his love anywhere.
Justin was still alive.
I almost cried with relief. But I forced those feelings down.
Unless. I reached out with the power again.
But Ekhidna laughed.
"Don't bother trying to ussse your powersss on me," Ekhidna said. "The Alchemissst hasss immunizssed me againssst the power of Water. And asss you ssshould have guessssssed by now, he'sss immune to the Elementsss too."
"One of the many benefits of being an Alchemist," he said. "It comes with working with the Elements in their purest form. I wouldn't be able to do that if they affected me, now could I?"
"Really, Hera. That ssshould have been obviousss," Ekhidna said. "Mortality really hasss taken itsss toll on you. Made you ssso ... dissssappointing."
I gritte
d my teeth. I felt tears of frustration welling up, but I didn't want to cry in front of her. I wanted to punch her in the face. But, blind and bound, all I could do was lay there. Waiting. Thinking.
"Can we hurry this along?" the Alchemist asked. "Now that the sacrifice has arrived, we can get started."
I gasped.
Ekhidna's ugly laugher rang in my ears. She was right beside me. "That'sss right," she said. "I almossst forgot that you have no idea you're the guessst of honour. Oh, sssilly, sssilly Hera. Think!"
I said nothing. I refused to play her games.
"It'sss a bit sssentimental," she admitted. "But we've been through ssso much together."
"And no one else has the power," the Alchemist added.
"The power to what?" I snapped.
I could only control myself for so long. I was so angry, so frustrated, so scared.
"To clossse the Void oncsse we tear it open," Ekhidna answered, "ssso we're not all sssucked inssside. It'd all be impossssssible without you, Hera. It took me ssso long to figure it out. The missssssing piecssse. But it'sss you. All along. Right in front of me. You're the missssssing piecssse! You're the key!"
"The Elements are the key," the Alchemist corrected. "Queen Hera is the lock."
"I didn't meant it literally," Ekhidna hissed.
Her temper was showing, and not just in her voice. I felt it. I saw it. In my mind. A flash of red. Small. Barely a blip. But it was definitely there.
Immunity apparently had its limits.
And then I saw something else.
Another flash of colour. Not from Ekhidna. From someone else. Grey. Glossy. Refined and precise. The Alchemist.
But he was immune to my powers. At least that's what he'd said.
He'd lied.
He wanted me to feel his emotions. The question was why.
Unless he wanted a way to communicate with me without Ekhidna hearing. But if that were true, then he wasn't working with Ekhidna at all. He was working with me!
"Begin the ritual!" Ekhidna ordered.
I heard the Alchemist nearby. I didn't know what he was doing, but I knew I didn't have much time. The ritual required the Elements, which meant before long, he'd have to take the Element of Water from me, and then it'd be too late to use this secret advantage.
If I was going to make my move, it had to be now.
I went deep. Deep inside myself. Deep to where I struggled to contain the roiling, surging power of the Element of Water. Then I went deeper. And deeper. I took the Element of Water and pushed as it deep as it would go. And I made it smaller. I forced the Water into the smallest, further part of me. It was almost impossible. But I'd never been more desperate.
I shook with effort.
Ekhidna laughed in my ear. "Tremble, Hera. Tremble! Becaussse when thisss isss all over, and you take Typhon'sss placsse in the Void, you're going to wisssh for the ressst of eternity that I had jussst killed you!"
She caressed the side of my face with her finger. I jerked away. And she laughed again.
I hated that laugh. I hated that laugh more than I hated anything in my life! I hated it to my core. And that was exactly what I needed.
A spark.
And deep inside, where it was compressed and buried, the power of Water erupted from inside me like a geyser.
I couldn't control it. I knew that when I took the risk of pushing it so far down. A sacrifice of control for raw power.
It slammed into Ekhidna and the Alchemist.
Silence.
I still couldn't see. I strained to hear something, anything. A moan. A whimper. Some sign I'd been successful. Some sign I'd crippled Ekhidna.
"See?" the Alchemist said finally. "I told you she'd give it up."
"All of it?" Ekhidna pressed.
"Every last drop," the Alchemist assured her.
Ekhidna laughed again. My face burned.
"Exsstracting the Element from you againssst your will would have killed you," she said. "And then the Element would have russshed back to itsss Realm. Ssso we had to wait until you gave it up yourssself. I knew you would. So desssperate. Ssso predictable."
She laughed again. "Where are your Heroes now? They're dead, Hera. Ripped to ssshredsss. There'sss no one to come ressscue you. Ssso, jussst sssit back. Relaxss. The Alchemissst promisssesss me thisss won't be like anything you've ever exssperiencssed. In the mossst painful, possssssible way."
"I'm done," the Alchemist announced. "The Star is ready."
"You're sssure?" Ekhidna asked tightly. "Everything hasss to be perfect. You sssaid yourssself there wasss only one ssshot at thisss."
"I'm sure," the Alchemist snapped. "I checked it twice already."
"Then check again," Ekhidna shot back.
"As you wish," the Alchemist replied.
I felt a cold touch against my neck. It trailed down to the centre of my chest. I tried to pull away. But a powerful hand grabbed my shoulder so tightly, I had to stifle a cry.
"Just making sure," the Alchemist informed me. "Don't want you hiding anything."
An incredible pain, piercing right into my heart, burning and then radiating out. Up my arms. Down my legs. Through my neck and into my face. Ending at my eyes.
I could see again.
The Alchemist turned my face one way, then the other.
"She's empty," the Alchemist confirmed.
He released my face. But for the briefest moment, our eyes met.
I dropped my head. My hair masked my face, masked my smile.
The Alchemist had restored my sight. I'd been wrong about what he was doing before, but I wasn't wrong about one thing. He was on my side, or at least, he wasn't on Ekhidna's. He didn't want to do what she wanted.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't. It was still up to me to stop them.
I spotted Justin. He was lying motionless on the ground beside me. He was so still and pale, so frail and mortal. He had incredible power, a brilliant mind, and the biggest, gentlest heart. But right now, all I saw was a mortal boy.
They hadn't even bothered to tie him up.
Terror gripped me. I could've made a mistake. I might've imagined sensing his love. I'd been desperate. I could easily have convinced myself he was still alive.
But then he breathed. I stared. I refused to blink, even though my eyes burned with whatever the Alchemist had done to restore my sight.
It took forever. But I ignored the time. I ignored everything. Because at that moment, nothing else mattered to me, except seeing him breathe.
And then he did it again.
Justin was alive.
But something was wrong. His breathing was so shallow. He was barely breathing at all, and it was only happening once every few minutes.
The Alchemist.
He'd spared Justin and tricked Ekhidna into thinking he was dead.
I couldn't worry about Justin right now. I had a world to save first.
Directly ahead of me was a large table. On it glowed five crystal orbs. The Elements. They formed the points of a star. Some kind of shimmering field shielded each of the orbs.
"Releassse the Elementsss!" Ekhidna breathed, clutching the edge of the table in excitement.
She didn't even bother to look back at me.
She was in her human form, ready to perform whatever magick would bring Typhon back. That made her vulnerable.
I had a chance. A small chance. But a chance.
Even though I could see again, I was still tied up with no way to get free. No way except Justin.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the Alchemist asked carefully. "There's no turning back once we start."
"Of courssse I'm sssure," Ekhidna snapped. She shook with fury and excitement. "I've waited millennia for thisss. Now, do it!"
"And then you'll give me the waters from Hades," the Alchemist finished.
"I'll give you all of Hadesss if that'sss what you want," she raged. "Jussst do it already!"
"Very well," the Alchemist replied.
<
br /> He took a bottle from the inside of his black suit jacket. I could smell it from here. Acrid. Burning. Vile. I couldn't stop myself from shuddering. There was something very wrong about that bottle. I felt it with every fibre of my being.
There wasn't much time.
My mind raced. Justin was the key. I had to wake him somehow.
I'd reached him before, just by relying on our connection, on his love for me. It created a bond that he could hear between worlds.
I closed my eyes. I concentrated. I reached out to him with all the love I had for him, a love I rarely let myself feel, a love I kept carefully stored so it would be safe and treasured, the way it deserved. My most precious possession.
But he didn't even stir. There was no sign he'd heard me at all.
Whatever the Alchemist had done to make Ekhidna think he was dead could have put Justin too deep into unconsciousness. I could be wasting my time, time I needed to save the world.
"Hurry up!" Ekhidna shrieked.
"This vial contains the most powerful concoction in all the worlds," the Alchemist responded evenly. "It took centuries to make. If I spill even a single drop, we won't have enough to complete this ... task. So, if it's alright with you, I'll take my time."
But he wasn't talking to her. Not anymore. That message was for me. He was buying me time.
I tried to think quickly. I even struggled to free my hands and feet, but it was futile. It was up to Justin. There was no other way. The fate of this world all came down to him. A mortal. Again.
With a sidelong glance at me, the Alchemist slowly tipped the vial, pouring its contents from one orb to the other, connecting them with crossing lines. The moment the liquid touched them, the fields around the orbs disintegrated, and the orbs flared brilliantly. I could feel the power like an intense heat. It seared me, body and soul.
The lines of potion began to ignite. One by one. Earth to Fire. Fire to Promethean Fire. Promethean Fire to Water. Water to Air. Air to Earth. A glowing star. A gateway of pure Elemental energy. It took my breath away.
The moment it was complete, the star blazed upwards, sheets of light reaching up to the ceiling and plunging down to the floor. The table disintegrated. But the star remained, floating in midair, radiating energy in intoxicating, terrifying waves.
Hera, Queen of Mortals (Goddess Unbound) Page 28
