Badb shook her head to agree with her. “No, he wouldn’t. But Cameron isn’t Lugh. I swear, sometimes it feels like I really am talking to children. You don’t pay attention. I’ve told you: he’s inherited the qualities of several gods and heroes, and with you in his life now, it’s awakened the power from all of them. Everyone, not just the Norse and Slavs, will want you both dead. You, because of your own role in our destiny, and Cameron because he’s your protector and because if he takes the Spear, he’ll become one of the most powerful gods this world has ever known.”
“Whoa,” Cameron interrupted, “were you planning on telling me this? All you said was taking the Spear would make me a sun god.”
Badb shot him a defensive look and lifted her chin in the air. “It will. I never lied to you. And the rest doesn’t matter because you don’t want to become one of the Tuatha Dé.”
“So…” Mrs. Granger said timidly. “Is it ok if I remind everyone that I don’t trust the Norse not to return with an entire army? And maybe we really should be getting the hell out of Larken?”
Badb smiled at her then looked at Cameron, arching an eyebrow at him while pointing to her descendant. “See? My genes are reasonable.”
Selena snickered and rolled her eyes. “Badb, we need to work on your interpretation of about half of the English words you use.”
“I don’t think there is a Porsche in Larken,” Badb said, ignoring Selena’s jab. “Too bad. I’d have us out of here in no time.”
“If you’re driving, I’m walking,” Cameron insisted.
Badb waved him off and looked down the street. Her petite nose wrinkled as she spotted a silver Sonata parked on the side of the road. It appeared to be their only option. “You’re not walking. And I am driving,” she told Cameron.
Cameron gave her his best make-me glare so Badb returned it with a fine-just-watch-me look and grabbed Selena’s hand and walked toward the car. Selena glanced over her shoulder at Cameron who was giving Badb’s back a different glare. Selena interpreted this one as, “I hate you.” She didn’t want to be the leverage that forced Cameron to act, but she couldn’t free her hand from Badb’s grip. She looked at Cameron hopefully again because she was worried the goddess would actually leave without him if he didn’t hurry up and change his mind.
He sighed loudly and yelled at her, “I hate you, you know that?”
Badb nodded and yelled back, “Yes. But I still hope one day you’ll change your mind.”
“Doubtful,” he said, but he finally followed them to the car and the tightening pain in Selena’s chest lessened.
“Sit in the front, Anita,” Badb told Mrs. Granger. “And these kids apparently think I’m a reckless driver, so make sure you buckle up.”
“You are a terrible driver,” Selena said.
“Got you to the camp alive, didn’t I?” Badb shot back.
“Cameron hit his head twice. You’re lucky I could heal him or my knight in shining armor could be dead.”
“Can I get some shining armor?” Cameron asked.
“No,” Badb told him. “And Selena, don’t be so dramatic.”
Badb finally let go of Selena’s hand when they reached the car and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Selena to unlock the doors, even though Selena had witnessed her using telekinesis before, like the last time she and Cameron had ridden in a car with her. Her telekinetic powers may not be as strong, but Selena knew she could do it and was just being stubborn.
“You don’t be so dramatic,” Selena scolded. She unlocked the doors, and as Badb slid behind the wheel, she gave Selena another impatient look, this time telling her to hurry up and start the engine. Cameron closed his door and handed Selena Thor’s hammer.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked.
“Look. It has Thor’s blood on it. I have his weapon with his own blood on it. I should officially get my own myth now.”
Selena held the heavy hammer away from her and shook her head. “Who says romance is dead,” she mumbled.
“I’m supposed to be romancing you?”
“Hold on,” Badb warned. She floored the gas pedal and the car’s tires spun in the gravel that lined the shoulder of the road before they gained traction and the car sped forward. Selena dropped the hammer and it narrowly missed Cameron’s foot as he grabbed the door handle to prevent himself from receiving another minor concussion.
Anita Granger glanced in the backseat then looked at Badb as she gripped the dashboard. “What’s their story?”
“They’re both chosen to replace gods in our pantheon. Cameron’s being stubborn about it though,” Badb explained.
“Yeah, I picked up that much,” Anita said. “I meant them. They claim they’re just friends, but…”
“Yes,” Badb interrupted. “They are. It’s part of Cameron’s fate to keep Selena alive against all of these threats, which is partly why he’s destined to be so powerful, but they are good friends.”
Badb’s gray eyes met Selena’s in the rearview mirror, and Selena motioned toward the hammer on the floorboard in the hopes of changing the subject. “What are you going to do with that?” she asked Cameron.
“Not sure. Bury it in a cornfield?”
Selena pretended to think about it. “Hm, only if we can get a red-eyed monster to stand guard over it.”
Cameron nodded and gestured toward Badb. “We’ve got one.”
“You’re still not funny,” Badb told him.
“I’m a little funny,” Cameron insisted.
“Where are we going?” Selena asked. Please don’t say a cornfield.
“You have Anita now. You need her to help track down Nuada’s heir,” Badb explained. “Where you go from here? I don’t have a clue.”
“I don’t know anything about Nuada’s heir,” Anita protested. “I don’t even know many demigods. I’ve spent the last thirty years hiding from everyone after Ukko…”
Anita bit her lip and stared out the windshield, but they’d left Larken’s town limits and Cameron had been right. They were surrounded by nothing but cornfields.
“Um… how did you know Ukko again?” Cameron asked.
Anita lifted a shoulder but kept her eyes on the black asphalt that stretched endlessly before them. “I worked for the New Pantheon for a brief amount of time in the early 80s. I was young and stupid and didn’t know any better.”
“And… you knew Ukko really well, didn’t you?” Cameron asked.
“Cameron,” Selena whispered. “None of our business!”
“Hey, she just asked Badb if we were lying about being a couple, so apparently, people’s romantic histories are fair game, especially if that history involves one of the gods trying to kill us.”
Truthfully, Selena was curious about Anita and Ukko’s past, and by the silence Badb had fallen into, she already knew the answer anyway. Anita sighed and removed her glasses so she could rub her eyes. “Yes, we were… in a relationship for a while.”
“Yep,” Cameron announced, “I’m definitely going to need that lobotomy now.”
“You’re the one who pried,” Selena reminded him.
“Well, how are we supposed to know she isn’t some New Pantheon plant? Maybe she and Ukko are still hooking up. That would explain all the thunder lately.”
“Cameron,” Selena groaned.
“You can trust her,” Badb assured them. “Ukko betrayed her just as he’s willing to betray anyone to get his way.”
Anita didn’t confirm or deny what the goddess said. She put her glasses back on and kept her eyes fixed on the road.
“I’m so sorry,” Selena said, and she meant it. She understood exactly what it felt like to be betrayed by someone she loved. “What was it he wanted?”
“He assembled a team of psychics to attend a meeting with the CIA in the weeks leading up to the invasion of Grenada. Ukko secretly wanted the entire operation to be a disaster because the government had refused to grant him several requests that would have given
him some degree of command in the Armed Forces. He planned on leaking details of the invasion to Grenada’s military.”
“Did he?” Cameron asked. “I’m no history expert, but I thought Grenada kinda was a disaster.”
“It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been,” Anita answered. “I wasn’t the only psychic who refused to betray her country.”
“And he dumped you for that, or…?” Selena asked. She berated herself for prying, again, into this poor woman’s personal life, but at the same time, discovering that Ukko really was as bad as she’d always suspected justified everything she’d been through and everything they were enduring now.
“Yes,” Anita breathed. “He told me he never wanted to see me again. He let me leave the New Pantheon, but I’m not sure others were as lucky.”
“He killed them?” Selena asked, her voice rising in pitch even though she had long suspected the New Pantheon murdered people who refused to cooperate with it. By now, gods and demigods alike knew that sometimes, people disappeared and were never heard from again.
Anita lifted a shoulder and sighed. “Most likely, yes. He had them murdered.”
“Had them murdered? By whom?” Selena asked. She could guess the answer though: by anyone who wanted to live and was willing to follow Ukko’s orders, no matter what they were.
“Most likely Nyyrikki.”
“Nyyrikki…” Cameron repeated slowly. “Is that Hawaiian?”
Anita turned around and blinked at him. “It’s Finnish, Cameron. Nyyrikki is the Finnish god of hunting.”
“Oh, well, that explains why they’re so good at hunting down demigods then.”
Selena shook her head at him. “What does he look like? Any chance he’s tall with a muscular build and short brown hair?”
“That could explain a lot of gods, but yeah, that sounds like him,” Anita said.
“That’s why he’s always with Ukko,” Selena said. “They’re from the same pantheon, and Ukko is the head of his pantheon.”
“Yeah, that dude with the name I can’t pronounce is royally screwed if he’s not up for Ukko’s nefarious plans,” Cameron said.
“Nefarious?” Selena teased.
“Hey, I’m smart. Sometimes. I can use big words.”
“This car doesn’t go fast enough,” Badb muttered.
Anita snickered and looked out the windshield again. “I think they’re cute. There’s something remarkably… compatible about them.”
Selena felt her cheeks warming and selfishly wished they could prioritize finding the Dagda’s Cauldron just so she could become a goddess and stop this constant blushing already. But Cameron seemed embarrassed by Anita’s observation as well, and distracted himself by studying Thor’s hammer. Selena used the opportunity to pretend that she was suddenly incredibly interested in watching the cornfields as they quickly passed by them.
Two hours later, Badb reached another small town near the border between Iowa and Illinois. Matthison seemed to be a larger town than Larken but was hardly a metropolis. She pulled into the parking lot of a Motel 6 and Cameron sighed. “At least Ukko put us in a nice hotel with room service.”
Badb shot him a sharp look and retorted, “Do you see a Ritz in this town?”
“Stop antagonizing her,” Selena told him. “We’ll order pizza, and I’ll start immortalizing your heroic deeds for future generations on hotel stationary.”
Cameron laughed and shook his head. “Given the size of those pads of paper, this is going to be a really short myth.”
Selena looked into the driver’s seat again to ask Badb if she had the ability to make laptops magically appear, but forgot about her myth writing project when she saw Badb’s older – much older – guise in the front seat, smoothing out her robe in that strange habit of hers.
“Great,” Selena said, “let me guess. Anita gets to play your daughter and we get to play your grandchildren.”
Badb turned her beady eyes on her and smiled mischievously. “Why is that a bad thing? I could be an excellent grandmother.”
Cameron shook his head. “You probably scared the hell out of us when we were kids.”
Selena snickered. “That’s changed?”
He tilted his head and looked Badb over quickly then smiled impishly back at her. “Nope. Actually, you still scare the hell out of me.”
Badb turned to Anita and gestured toward the backseat. “Do something about your kids. I’m going to get our rooms.”
Anita waited until Badb was walking away from the car before turning around and smiling at Cameron and Selena. “I have to admit. As utterly terrifying as parts of this day have been, it’s also been one of the best days of my life. I never thought I’d actually get to meet Badb or that she’d be so… funny and normal.”
“You think she’s normal?” Cameron asked.
Anita laughed and nodded. “Just wait. Spend more time around gods and you’ll see a lot of them aren’t as willing to put up with the way we demigods interact. We’re more human in that regard. We ask for things and hope someone will help us. Gods demand things and expect others to deliver. Badb doesn’t seem like that at all.”
“Were there any Irish gods in the New Pantheon?” Selena asked.
Anita thought about it then shook her head. “Demigods, yes. But most of the gods who joined the New Pantheon seemed to be Slavic, Finnish, Norse, Mesopotamian…”
“The losers,” Selena breathed.
“Well, I’m not sure they’re losers,” Anita said, but Selena interrupted her so she could explain.
“No, the reason gods from those pantheons are joining with Ukko is that they fought against the Tuatha Dé and Greeks in a civil war for the Otherworld. I know the Egyptians fought with them as well, and I’m almost positive there were other pantheons that allied with the Irish and Greeks, but those were the two that led the alliance. Some of them, like Ukko, must have figured the Otherworld was a lost cause so that’s why they’re teaming up with the New Pantheon. If they can’t rule in their own Asgard, they’ll eventually create one here on Earth.”
“Holy shit,” Cameron mumbled. He rubbed his fingers across Mjölnir and looked angrily at the motel’s office where they could see Badb signing paperwork through the window. “So typical of her. She’s constantly hiding all this information from us.”
“Yes,” Selena agreed, “but I think she has a reason.”
“You’re always defending her,” Cameron said.
Selena nodded and looked at him, his dark brown eyes filled with a combination of pain and defensiveness. “Because I trust her, Cameron. I understand you don’t, and I won’t ask you to change your mind, so please don’t ask me to change mine.”
“Selena,” he said gently, “that’s not what I meant…”
But Selena didn’t get a chance to find out what he meant. Badb’s stooped, black robed figure darted out of the office and approached the car, surprisingly fast for a woman who appeared to be pushing ninety. She waved her hand at the car for the demigods to follow her. Cameron complained about Badb treating them like dogs but grabbed the hammer and opened his door.
Selena quickly caught up to him, secretly hoping – or probably not so secretly since she sometimes suspected Badb had a way of sensing things within her – that her room would at least be next to Cameron’s. She knew she wasn’t helpless. She’d spent years on her own, evading the New Pantheon while taking care of herself, and sometimes, even Alan whom she now thought was just occasionally feigning helplessness as to what they should do next. She’d made almost all of their plans, and they had been good plans. If she ever got a few minutes alone with Badb in which she wasn’t worried about just surviving, she planned on asking her if something had been awakened in her genes that knew Cameron was meant to be her protector and now relied on him.
She had no intention of fighting her DNA because it meant she got to spend almost all of her time with him, and she certainly wasn’t complaining about that.
Badb stopped in
front of a forest green door and handed Cameron a card key. “Your room.” She handed Selena another card key and pointed to the door next to it. “Anita and I have the two rooms right by you, but if I were you, I’d keep the door open between your room and Cameron’s just in case.”
“Keep the door open…?” Selena repeated. She looked at the forest green door again and wondered what Badb meant by that and why she thought it would be safe to keep her door wide open.
Cameron answered her question though. He’d opened his own door and called from inside his room, “Hey, we have adjoining rooms! Badb, you’re kinda pervy for an old woman.”
Badb rolled her eyes and muttered what sounded like “Good luck.”
Selena smiled at her then entered her room and opened the door that led into Cameron’s. He stood on the other side, grinning at her, that sexy playful grin, and she nodded toward the nightstand. “See? Pizza delivery. How does Domino’s sound?”
“Like a last resort.”
“Beggars and choosers and all that,” Selena teased.
“Too bad no one delivers fancy sandwiches in Iowa,” Cameron teased back.
“Seriously. I didn’t even get to finish my last one.”
Cameron gave her a pretend-serious-scowl and told her, “That is what will lead to the next catastrophic civil war, only this time with the Greeks. Bastards made you waste a perfectly good po-boy.”
Selena tossed the pizza menu onto the bed beside him and sat on the other bed, picking at the edge of a fingernail again. Cameron may have Mjölnir now, but that only made Thor slightly less dangerous. And aside from the Norse, there was an entire Slavic pantheon they hadn’t really met yet, Ukko’s government affiliated pantheon, and any military or government agencies Ukko decided to call in because these two demigods were proving to be too big a pain in the ass to subdue.
He glanced up from the menu and eyed her fingers. “You do that every time you get nervous. I was only joking about their pizza being a last resort. It’s not that bad.”
Selena laughed and shook her head. “How do you do it, Cameron? How do you not constantly obsess about just how impossible everything we’re supposed to accomplish seems and how many gods want to kill us now?”
Cities of the Gods (The Unbreakable Sword Series Book 2) Page 6
