by Holly Hook
"I'm getting a lot of driving experience," I said, both hands on the wheel.
"Please," Xavier said, closing his door. "Don't run over any little kids."
I laughed. For a second, the idea sounded humorous. Then I shook my head. Running over little kids was evil, and for a second, I had thought it might be fun.
It was something Thoreau would do.
If I didn't find a way to reverse my little problem, it was something I might eventually try, too.
It took me about fifteen minutes to figure out how to get the truck going. It was way different than driving anything else, especially with changing gears. But once I could do a circle around the parking lot, I felt more confident. Xavier took over the directions for the water park and told me where to go. So far, we were ahead of Thoreau.
Maybe.
I didn't feel safe driving this thing on the freeway, so Xavier and I had to take a different way there. He told me where to go and kept one hand on my upper arm the entire way. I sensed that he was afraid I would run people over. We took back roads. Cumberland's Water Adventure was on the edge of the city, which made that possible.
But in the end, about half an hour later, I pulled up to the front gates of Cumberland's Water Adventure.
I hadn't seen the front of the place before. Last time I'd been here, Xavier had Transposed us. A huge sign with colorful waves and palm trees spread over the entry gates. A few cars sat in the parking lot with us, probably belonging to the people getting ready for the opening tonight. Even from here, I spotted a few employees inside in bright blue polo shirts, carrying folding chairs towards the pool. They were getting ready for the opening.
And we still didn't have a way to blow the place up.
"How do we find the God of War now?" I asked. I had a thought of ramming through the front entrance with the truck and crushing anyone who got in the way, but I shook my head to chase it away. I had to save my life, but I had to do it in a way that wouldn't get the military called. No. I had to save the world and not kill innocent people. That was the mission here.
Janine opened the compartment door and poked her head out. "I can hear a few dozen people in there. Someone's messing with a microphone."
"Thanks," I said. "There must be a back door. Let's pretend we're turning around and go through there. Janine, we'll need you and George to listen for any trapped War Gods." It was a good thing we'd brought them. I realized what an important role they played.
I drove the truck around the parking lot, which was big enough to fit a couple of thousand cars. We passed a few more parked vehicles and circled to a back gate that had a chain holding it shut.
"That won't be a problem," Xavier said. "Park here."
I did.
We got out, and I could see the agony coming over Janine as she emerged into the sun. She grabbed her head and squinted as the five of us rushed to the gate. It was pain that I understood. My head hurt, too, but not to that degree.
"Is it always going to be like this?" she asked me. Her teeth still looked okay. The final part of her Turning hadn't come yet.
"Yes," I told her matter-of-factly. "The sun will always hurt." I couldn't even sound sympathetic anymore. "If you stay in it for too long, you can have seizures and slip into a coma. I don't think you're at that point yet."
"You're acting different," Janine said.
I realized I had let go of Xavier's hand. I had to. Xavier stood before the chained lock and raised both hands. He didn't need my help to use his War Magic. A charge flew at the door and blasted the lock off.
"I'm not the same person anymore," I said, trying to evade Xavier's hearing.
Our friendship was over, whether or not Janine knew it yet. I was not likable, let alone lovable. I did bad things even when I was trying to do good. It was inevitable.
The double doors swung open with Xavier's kick. Liliana went ahead and peeked inside. "All clear," she said.
Janine eyed the ground as she walked in after Xavier's sister. They waved the rest of us into the park. Trees decorated this corner of it, casting us in the cool shade. Janine sighed with relief. Several cheesy water shooter games lined the sidewalk, filled with stuffed prizes. I caught a glimpse of dolls in the shape of a Roman god with a leather skirt and a broom helmet.
It was Mars, all right.
Xavier shot me a glance. He'd seen it, too.
"Alyssa, you were right," he said, holding my arm again.
He had let go of me too long. I felt the love in his grasp. Warmth. I let them flow into me, and I blinked. I dared to take off the sunglasses to get a better look around. We stood by a colorful water slide that rose above the foliage. The slide had a large, colorful statue of the War God at the top, watching over the park with an angry glare. Mars leaned on a flaming sword that, ironically, was lit up with an electric magenta glow.
"Xavier, he looks like you," I said. There was something familiar and rebellious in the War God's glare. He had Xavier's chin and his nose. I was too far away to see if he had the same eyes, but I was willing to bet that the painter had taken orders to imitate those as well.
"Alyssa. Wait. No."
Xavier hadn't paid attention to my comment. He stared at me.
"Huh?" I asked.
"Your eyes. For a second they looked like they were back to normal. Well, for you." He squinted. "They're all black again and full of fire. Sorry. I might have been seeing things."
"Wait," I said. "I had my old eyes for a second?" I blinked. Maybe my glamour was a bit better than I thought.
"I thought they were," Xavier said. Disappointment washed over him, followed by hope. "Maybe you can fight this, Alyssa. There could be a way for you to suppress Thoreau's blood like before."
"I still have some vampire traits," I said. "It could have just been that. I still feel sort of sick in the sun."
The hope died. I felt it. Xavier's face fell.
Janine paced nearby. She was listening. "There's something under here," Janine said. "I hear a man groaning and something trying to crack. I can't explain it, but we need to find a way down."
"It makes sense that the War God would be here," George said. "We're on one of the star points right now. The sidewalk here literally ends in one."
"I see it," Liliana said.
I had already seen the map. I didn't have to look. "We need to find the way down," I said. I slipped the glasses on again, mainly because both George and Liliana stared at me with horror.
Janine had to guide us. She squinted, doing her best in the light, and walked around the water slide. The designers had made it look like a Roman palace complete with columns. Water flowed inside and emerged from slides into a large pool. Janine kept her gaze trained on the ground. I hated that my hearing was useless in this case.
I'd think about it later. Janine led us around the ride and finally stopped at the fence. Then she climbed the fence without a word and walked underneath the slide tubes.
I followed. "Is there some underground entrance here?"
"I think so," Janine said. "I hear chains rattling. I'm serious."
A sense of dread rose inside of me. I kept the Blood Orb hugged to my side. This nightmare was almost over, provided we found the War God before Thoreau got here. Xavier followed and retook my hand. George and Liliana came up in the back.
So far, so good.
I followed Janine, and she walked around, listening, wandering deeper underneath the ride. The light dimmed. We were getting close.
At last, she kneeled down in the stones.
"There's a door here," Janine said.
I took the sunglasses off again, knowing full well what the others had to see when I did. I kneeled down as well, thankful that Xavier had sprayed that stuff all over me. Janine struggled not to make a face. She was trying to be nice.
But she was also right. There was green, metal door here that looked like nothing more than a panel in the concrete. It had a small handle and one of those electrical warning stickers. Janine knoc
ked on the panel, and even I could hear the hollow sound that it made. "I think we have our way in," Janine told me. "There's no electrical stuff fizzling or any machinery."
"Then let's pull this open," I said.
The door was on tight. Thoreau didn't want any Normals getting down here. Even the employees of the Water Adventure probably hadn't come down here unless they were Bound. I had the feeling they might not even know about this. I hoped that Janine was right, that her senses had developed enough, or we were going to waste a bunch of time.
It took Janine and I both to pry the door open. I still had incredible strength. George stood by, and a growl came from his throat. He was becoming downright hostile towards me. I understood why. He knew the pain of getting Turned into something that society hated, and now Janine was going through the same thing.
Right now, I didn't care.
"Wow," Janine said once we pried the cover off.
There were no electrical wires at all--just a narrow stairway that led down, down into the earth. I couldn't see very well, but Janine leaned forward, peering into the pit.
"There's light down there," she said. "It's the color of Xavier's magic."
"Then we have our man," Xavier said. "Come on. Let's free Mars and break all of Thoreau's contracts. I'm ready to give him an unpleasant surprise when his army doesn't march."
I thought of my father, now buried under a pile of guns.
He must have no idea what was happening.
Janine led the way into the pit. The stairway was only wide enough to allow one person down at a time. I had to hold my sword against me to keep it from hitting the wall or anyone else. There was also no way I could hold Xavier's hand.
I would free the War God to get revenge on Thoreau and save my life. There was no choice about it.
The walk down the spiral staircase didn't take that long. The five of us walked, single-file, about a hundred or so feet down. The walls turned from brick to solid stone. The place smelled of moisture at first, then dried out. I shuddered to think of what was underneath each section of this circle.
The magenta light from below brightened. At last, we stepped off the stairs and into a large, stone chamber that arched overhead. The light came from everywhere and nowhere. No torches adorned the walls. It was as if the energy of the War God had filled the room. It felt warm here, even hot.
Mars stood against the wall, chained in between two pillars with his arms over his head. He was the size of a Normal man, but a faint magenta glow surrounded him. He looked just like his statue, minus the sword, and he stared at the floor, unmoving. The chains holding him in place were thick and glowed with War Magic. His brush helmet pointed at us. I couldn't tell if the War God realized we were here.
Xavier stood next to me, breathless.
"This place is full of War Magic," he said. "I've never felt so much of it. We have to get him out."
A sense of dread filled me again.
I had seen something like this in a nightmare.
"Xavier, you need to go," I said.
"Why?" He faced me. "Do you know something that I don't?"
"Just get back up those stairs and run." I hadn't told him about the part where I had found him chained. This situation looked too much like it.
"I'm not leaving you," he said.
Mars lifted his gaze. He had pure magenta irises. The energy in the room intensified. He said something in what might be Latin. His voice boomed through the chamber, and the light brightened. The god pulled at his binds, rattling the chains, but they refused to break. What kind of chains could hold a deity? Mars had a ripped body. He was every inch pure strength and muscle. The magic coming from him threatened to burn my skin.
Xavier didn't listen to me. He let go of me walked up to Mars, tensing under the immense energy. He stared for a long moment.
The War God's stare met Xavier's, and the two of them looked at each other for a long moment. Just like the statue, he did have Xavier's chin and cheekbones.
A look of pride came over the god's face. He shot Xavier a grin but didn't speak. The resemblance was uncanny. The War God looked like an older version of Xavier, but he had that same rebellious streak in his eyes. Could it be that--
"How do we free him?" Xavier asked, facing me. "We can't leave him here."
I waited for Mars to say something, but maybe he didn't understand the language of today. Maybe he only spoke Latin. I held up the Blood Orb. The god glared at it in recognition and pulled at his chains with such force that dust rose from the stone wall.
Janine and Liliana jumped. George growled again.
"It's okay," Xavier said. "If he's going to kill anyone, it's going to be Thoreau. Alyssa, can you melt the wall that's holding these chains? I don't think fire is going to bother a god."
"I can try," I said, stepping forward. I didn't want to get closer.
"Alyssa," George said. "I don't think he likes you."
The War God glared at me with hatred. I held the Orb that enslaved him, after all, and I had black eyes that looked like Thoreau's. He must even be able to see through the glasses. This creature could roast me, but Thoreau must have ordered him not to. Xavier stood between him and me and held up a hand. I raised the Orb and made a motion like I was going to smash it to the ground. Then I moved around Xavier, dared to stare the War God in the eye, and made a motion like I was smashing my fist down on the Orb.
I seemed to get the point across. Mars's expression softened (as much as a War God's could), and he nodded with understanding.
He had the most intense eyes I had ever seen.
I eyed the wall. The pressure was on. I put all my focus into making the stone that held the chains melt. At last, a fiery glow spread through the rock, creating veins at first, until magma dripped down around the metal mount that held the War God to the wall. He pulled at the chains, ducking as if trying to escape the lava, but Thoreau had secured them well, drilling the mount deep into the wall. The metal refused to melt. I glared at the wall for what felt like five whole minutes, melting more and more stone that ran and dripped to the floor.
At last, the War God pulled free. The shackles still bound his arms, which he brought down over his head along with the metal mount. The god seethed with rage and muttered something in Latin. Of course, I couldn't understand it, but he had to be describing what he wanted to do to Thoreau. I backed away, fearing I'd be first on the War God's hit list.
Mars faced me.
He gave me a nod fit for a military general. His glare turned to the Blood Orb in my hands. I knew what I was supposed to do.
I handed the War God the Orb. As I did, the air heated around me, almost to an unbearable level. He had incredible amounts of War Magic. I could see why he was a threat to Thoreau and why Thoreau had Bound him.
And now he was about to disobey his master. The War God was a legit rebel.
Mars held Xavier in his gaze again. He smiled and thumped his fist to his bare chest. It was a gesture from one warrior to another. Xavier, transfixed, did the same as his mouth fell open.
The War God turned away, squeezing the Blood Orb between both hands. He grunted in pain. The Orb glowed with magenta, brighter and brighter, forcing me to squint. Liliana screamed. The god's arms trembled. He siphoned War Magic off the Orb, pulling it up through his arms. He grimaced as the energy reunited with the rest of him. The heat became so bad that I had to back away.
Xavier seized my hand again.
It made me care about the god that was helping us. He must be risking a lot, going against Thoreau's orders. The magenta glow in the room intensified. Even Xavier was beginning to sweat.
At last, the light died.
The Orb faded to regular glass again, with the same blood sloshing around inside. I thought Mars was going to smash it himself, but he turned and handed it to me instead. I took the artifact and backed away, afraid he would attack, but then I saw the horror.
The War God was still shaking. He sucked in a breath and backed aga
inst one of the pillars, grasping his chest. His mouth fell open.
"What's happening?" Liliana asked. "We have to help him!"
"He's beyond help," Janine said. "He's burning. I hear it."
Janine was right.
Flames lashed at the roof of the War God's mouth. He was burning from the inside out. He managed to look at Xavier again with those intense eyes, eyes that now burned along with his insides. He had broken a demonic contract. Now he took his punishment.
But Mars was resilient. He seethed, but he didn't scream even as flames burst from his skin. I didn't even want to watch. Instead, I pulled Xavier away as my battle partner's horror washed over me. An immortal was dying. It was no wonder Thoreau had been able to Bind the strongest creatures in the world.
"Don't look," I said to Xavier, forcing him to turn away.
At that moment, while he had my arm, I cared.
Chapter Eighteen
It seemed to take forever for the War God to perish.
Only well after the last of his groans had stopped did I dare to turn around. The sight was horrible. A pile of ashes lay where Mars once stood. The War Magic in the room remained like it was mourning his loss.
The chamber now cooled like a freshly dead body.
The War God had given his life to end this madness. I still held the Blood Orb, now unprotected by War Magic. I could smash it now, but Thoreau knew where this place was. He would recollect the blood and enslave everyone all over again.
Xavier let go of me and sank to his knees, staring at the ashes. I felt a sense of loss come over him, but also a relief. No one else moved or spoke.
"It's over," he said. "Without the War God, Thoreau can't merge the worlds." He looked at me as if I had all the answers. "He needs the whole Dark Council, right?"
I pushed the sunglasses higher onto my nose. I had to remember them. The world darkened and so did I. "He shouldn't be able to," I said, unable to shake the dread.
"You don't sound so sure about that," Xavier said. He stood. The sense of loss remained. "We need to find somewhere to smash that Orb. Doing it anywhere inside the park is a horrible idea."
