Volcanoes (17 page)

I couldn't stop the look of revulsion I knew I wore, but I did clamp my mouth shut. I wasn't going to complain if she was going to heal me.

"Wise." She rubbed more of the foul smellin
g cream into my knees, then stepped back and away. I didn't blame her. I reeked.

"How long before the smell goes away?"

"Mmm, it should fade in a few hours. I won't have to reapply the cream and you can take a bath. The nanites will be integrated into you
r system by then."

"Do you think that they'll repopulate my system, replacing the dead ones in there now?"

She shook her head. "No, dear. These are temporary. Once the small damage is repaired in the area where they were placed, they will become inert and
you'll slough them off like dead skin."

"Oh," I slumped. I had hoped for something good here. Maybe a miracle cure
–
I don't know…
just something.

"Your nanites aren't dead, Grace. They're dormant. They will come back online sooner or later. Have patience
."

She was right. I was acting very impatient considering that I was still alive and kicking despite my lack of power. But again, if we were going to list my character defects, impatience would be right there at the top.

"I'm trying."

"No you're not," she
said with a snort.

"Okay. No I'm not. But I will. Tell me about this big thing that has everyone gone."

I popped a piece of fruit in my mouth and chewed slowly as she explained.

"Well, you know that Colin has been kidnapped and Adriana was seized when yo
u were attacked. Unfortunately, that's not all that happened." She frowned and I felt a momentary fear that she was holding off a major panic attack.

"You look really scared. What in the hell could have happened that you would look this panicked?"

She swa
llowed and bit the inside of her cheek. "Poseidon had been hiding a pair of Kraken from us for the last few hundred years - they were let loose."

I gasped in horror. Sure, the only reference to Kraken I had was
Clash of the Titans
, but that was bad enough
to scare the shit out of me. 

She nodded and closed her eyes. "In the last twelve hours, five ships have been sunk and countless number of lives have been lost. The US Navy is currently on a search and destroy mission, thinking that they're up against an
enemy naval attack. I don't even know how our PR department is going to spin this one, much less how to avert this war that
’
s building."

"Oh my God," I breathed. I didn
’
t know what else to say. Hypnos was on a full blown assault at this point
–
creating so
much panic, havoc and devastation that we could do nothing but clean-up. "That's why everyone but a skeleton crew is out."

"Yes. We have to find Colin and Adriana and try to do more than just play catch up. We can't do that until they're found. The only p
eople who knew where the Kraken were - besides Pie - were those two. She dug her fist into her hip and stared out the small window. "I should have killed him when I had the chance. I thought I was showing mercy. I had no idea it would result in this."

"Mom
, you couldn't risk killing Drew in the process. I understand why you didn't."

She shook her head. "No, not that time. I was the one who hunted him down after he put Zachary to sleep. I was the one who ferreted him out and gave him the opportunity for exil
e or death." She looked at me and shrugged. "How do you think Zachary woke up? It wasn't until Hypnos was off this world that his control broke. I just," her voice cracked. "I felt like there had been enough death."

I stood up and wrapped my arms around he
r shoulders. "You can't beat yourself up. You made the best decision possible with the information that you had. Flogging yourself now for it isn't going to help the situation."

She sniffed and nodded against my neck. "I know," she whispered.

"Well if you
know it, then live it. Stop being a ninny, Diana, and be the goddess I know you can be."

Her spine straightened and slowly the layers that made her a creature to be feared settled back onto her frame. "There's the mother I know and fear," I joked.

She gav
e me a small smile for my effort.

"So we have a crew out doing rescue efforts and a crew out hunting down sea monsters?"

"No, Poseidon has already taken care of the Kraken. He was so upset, Grace. He loved those creatures."

I nodded sympathetically but rea
lly in the back of my head, I couldn't help but think how cracked one would have to be to love monsters like that.

"We have half of our people trying to clean up the mess from the oil spills, gathering the dead, searching for possible survivors and the li
ke. The others are looking for Colin and Adriana."

"How are they looking for Colin? I sealed Atlantis up good and tight."

"I Rifted Pie in."

I nodded. I guess if you couldn't teleport in or out, Rifting would be the only way to do it.

That reminded me. "M
om?"

"Yes?"

"How did Hypnos get out of Atlantis before I sealed it? Wasn
’
t he there during the fight?"

Her lips compressed into a thin line of fury and she shook her head. "No. He had others doing his dirty work for him."

"I can't believe that I haven
’
t as
ked that before. I just assumed that he would have been there. Was Lyssa there?"

Again, she shook her head in the negative. "Damn," I whispered. "These guys just keep getting all the breaks. How can we beat an enemy that we can't pin down?"

"That's a good
question."

"Well the good news is they don't have Rifting capability, since Hope is locked up."

When that bit of revelation was met with silence, I looked up in a panic. "Tell me that she's still locked up."

I received a small sad nod and I
breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God for something going right. But then a trickle of fear crawled up my spine.

"Diana? How many adults were left here in Olympus?"

"Hmmm…
myself, you and two others. Why?"

"Are there any wards keeping Lyssa or Hypnos out?"

Understanding dawned on her face and dread settled in. "No," she whispered. "There has always been some line of defense here to keep them out."

"But that can't be said right now, can it? You guys don't watch enough TV. The best way to clear out a place yo
u want to break into is to create a distraction."

I practically fell off the bed in an attempt to get upright. I had to find my son. It wasn't a given that they would invade, but it's what I would have done. "Scooter, find Dylan now. Bring him back here."

Scooter immediately disappeared and I stumbled for the door, pulling my pants up as I half walked, half ran. "How much has changed since they were here last?"

"I don't know exactly, but quite a bit."

"Is there anywhere safe we can stash the kids who can't
teleport? Is there a place we can hide - just in case?"

She was shaking her head and I had to restrain myself from shaking her. "Okay, well we need to find a place. Is there any portion of the city that is secured against intruders? Like
–
I don't know
–
t
he archives?"

"Yes!" She grabbed my arm and started pulling me along. "We have a secure site set up near where the initial Rift onto Earth was created. There's a small tear that we've never been able to close, so we created a series of wards and technical
barriers that only a few people know of."

"Is Hypnos aware of it?"

She paused, mid step and I nearly knocked her to the ground. "It's possible. But even if he did
–
we've changed the security enough that he wouldn't know how to get in."

"Okay. Let's gather
up the kids - just for the sake of caution - and take them there." I stopped. "Wait. Scooter is bringing Dylan back to the Med Unit. I'll go back there and wait for them. You go on and let's meet at the
–
"

I paused to give her the chance to tell me wh
ere we were going. "It's behind Hephaestus' forge."

"You're kidding me."

She shook her head. "Nope. It's the only place that we could think of that nobody would just stumble into."

"Okay. Once I have the kid, I'll meet you there."

She nodded and teleporte
d out. Why anyone around here ran about - when they could just pop in and out of existence wherever they wanted - was beyond me.

I turned around and slowly jogged back to the Med Unit, hoping I was being paranoid. I was a paranoid woman. I think it takes
a modicum of insanity to be a halfway decent writer because you have to think up scenarios in your head that nobody actually wants to entertain.

So there we had it. I was being paranoid and creating an improbable scenario in my head and we'd all laugh whe
n the cavalry got back from saving the day. Someone would chuckle, chuck me under the chin and say
–
"Well that's Grace," and we'd have pumpkin pie. Yeah…
pumpkin pie.

My fantasies were dashed when I turned the corner to hear Scooter growling menacingly a
t something out of my sight. But I could see my son trembling in fear.

"Psst." I tried, hoping to get his attention.

He slowly turned his head toward me and I could see the whites around his irises as he gazed at me with terror. Someone was in the Med Un
it with him.

"Baby, I want you to go visit your Master."

That's all I said. He would get what I wanted him to do and teleport out. "I can't leave you alone, Mom," he said with a tremor in his voice.

"It's okay. I'll have Scooter with me. Can you go visit
your Master please? I would feel so much better if I knew that you were busy at work."

"Let's not pretend you don't know I'm here, Grace." The cracked voice hit me like nails on a chalkboard.

I stepped around the corner and was met with a scarred and hai
rless Lyssa. "Well, I see that you're healing well," I said. "At least your arms and legs have grown back."

Her lips hadn't completely reformed and her smile made her face look even more macabre as they pulled tightly across teeth that now seemed too big.
"I'm going to have so much fun with you now. We'll see how well you like having your arms and legs ripped off while I set you on fire."

"Oh that sounds like such a good time," I responded putting a bit of regret into my voice. "But I'm afraid I have a prev
ious engagement. We'll have to reschedule."

"I think not, Grace."

"Dylan Thomas Murphy," I growled in the best authoritative mom voice I could, "Get your ass out of here now. I cannot worry about your safety. Now do as I tell you."

I was so proud that my
voice didn't crack with the fear I was feeling.

"Yes, Mom."

Scooter moved in front of me, which I took as a sign that Dylan had gotten away. I didn't breathe a sigh of relief. I didn't want to give her any satisfaction. Hell, if I could have hidden my fe
ar
–
I would have.

"So it looks like it's a play date reunion." I clapped my hands and gave her a snarky smile. "Who will be the first to bleed this time? I'm going to bet it's you. But let's not ruin the fun and give away spoilers, huh?"

She paused and t
ilted her head at me. "Sometimes, I think that if we hadn't been on opposite sides of this conflict, you and I could have been friends."

"No we couldn't have," I replied flatly.

"Hmm, perhaps not."

"I have a tendency to kill my unhealthy friends," I said.
"And sister, you are unhinged."

The smile disappeared and her eyes turned to slits with the pent up rage she was holding in.

I took a moment to wonder why I hadn't just teleported out of here with my kid. Where were logic and my sense of reason hiding? T
his woman was going to kill me. I had no way to stop her and no way to protect myself.

"How about we start over and let bygones be bygones," I started, holding my hands up in a conciliatory manner. Slowly I backed away, putting more distance between her a
nd I. "I mean, we don't have to be enemies."

She tilted her head at me, a look of understanding broke across her face and then her head fell back as she howled with laughter. "Oh Goodness! It looks like our little surprise has caught up to you more quickly
than we anticipated."

What? What did she mean surprise?  "I have no idea what you are talking about," I replied in the best bored tone I could muster. I should have been an actor. I was getting good at these scenes. I even improvised well.

"Don't pretend
you don't know what I'm talking about, Grace. Where are your swords? I would have thought that you'd have materialized them by now." The smirk on her face looked more gruesome than anything and I shuddered.

She was going to torture and then kill me. There
wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop her. I had no weapons, no powers and no idea how to get myself out of this jam.

If I was lucky and I mean
really
lucky
–
my mother would show up and save the day. Chances were she was just as busy keeping the kids s
afe in the secret location. I didn't even dare think of the name of the place out loud in case my mental blocks weren't strong enough to repel Lyssa.

"Maybe I don't need weapons to kick your scrawny, hairless ass," I said, full of false bravado.

That made
her laugh even harder. "I'll give you this
–
at least you're entertaining. Why don't you come over here and make it easier on me? I don't want to expend more energy than I have to."

So, the good news was I didn't automatically walk over to her. The bad ne
ws was I had to fight really hard against the impulse. I kept repeating
–
'titanium walls' over and over again in my head to keep my shields up.

She frowned with uncertainty and I could have wept with relief. Instead, I leaned back, crossed my arms over m
y chest and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so. If you want me so bad, you're going to have to court me just like any other suitor. I demand flowers, chocolates and a foot rub before you get my panties off."

I earned a slightly confused glance before she
started moving forward.

"That's far enough," I warned.

"I don't think so," she replied, stepping up the pace.

"Well, I warned you. Scooter?"

At my word, he launched himself at Lyssa, changing from menacing Labrador to scary fucking monster with huge tee
th, huge muscles and massive claws meant to rend and tear.

I didn't wait to see what he was going to do to her. Scooter could take care of himself. I, on the other hand, could not. I half hobbled
–
half ran back down the corridor looking for a place to hi
de. The whole way I kept thinking
–
there's no place like home
–
there's no place like home.

The hope was that if I thought it hard enough, I would magically regain my teleportation skills and get the hell out of Dodge. There were a few times that I thoug
ht maybe
–
just maybe
–
it was going to work. I imagine that I looked something like Scott, phasing in and out down the hallway. I would only teleport a few steps before my body was once again solid.

So basically, it wasn't working.

But I kept running.

I could still hear Scooter and Lyssa battling behind me, which meant I wasn't far enough away. I just had to keep moving. A sharp and sudden whine made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and a pain of fear pierce between my shoulder blades. She'
d
hurt him and he was warning me.

My protector was down.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home," I panted.

Her fist knotted in my hair and jerked me backwards. My legs and arms waved wildly as I went flying, landing hard on my tailbone
–
again. I yelped with the pain and tried to get free, but her grip was strong and without pause, she began dragging me by my hair down the hallway.

My legs kicked and flailed as I tried to slow her down. My arms were useless as I used one to keep from fa
lling down again and the other to ensure she didn't rip my hair out of my head.

But then I thought
–
wait a second, my hair will grow back. Maybe teleporting was too much to ask for. Maybe I could call in a weapon. Not even a big weapon. Just something th
at I could use to cut myself loose. Oh
–
and stab her. I was so going to stab her.

Stiletto. Stiletto. Stiletto. Stiletto. I kept repeating it over and over. I must have said it a thousand times in a single minute, as impossible as that sounds.

I could h
ave cried. On the one thousand and first repeat, a weight filled my hand. It wasn't the stiletto that I'd been looking for, but a dagger would do in a pinch.

The hand with the dagger swept up and sliced through my hair releasing me from her fisted grip. I
t took her a moment to realize she wasn't pulling me along with her.  When she turned, she found me lunging toward her with the dagger aiming for anything vulnerable, preferably her neck.

She ducked and I missed and rolled, my body remembering the trainin
g I
’
d received. I came up into a crouch and cocked my head. "What was that about not being able to materialize a weapon?"

"Don't get cocky. It won't last long," she sniped back at me.

"Well then, let's get on with it."

She was so fast and I was impossibly
slow. Thin lines of blood crossed my arms, torso and face where she cut me. She wasn't even trying and I only deflected maybe one out of five hits.

I was a girl who knew when I was being toyed with and Lyssa was treating me like a cat with a mouse. It wa
s only a matter of time before she grabbed me and took me out of this sanctuary to kill me. Or maybe she'd leave me here as a warning to the others. Nobody was going to be able to stop them.

Together, Hypnos and his siblings were too strong for us and too
well organized.

"Defeatist attitudes like that never won wars, Grace."