Blood of Gods Read online

  “She started down the stairs, and the lower she got, the less pain she felt. By the time it had eased off enough for her to become really aware of what was happening around her, she realized she couldn’t breathe. She knew she went too far to make it back, so she pressed on, hoping to find a way out. She tripped and fell and that’s the last thing she remembers before we pulled you both out.”

  “Shit,” I say, surprised. “So she was actually going to wait for us?”

  Sunday nods.

  “Yeah. She said she was, and I’m inclined to believe her. She’s never lied to us about anything like that. She’d have just shrugged and said she thought she’d be okay alone.”

  I nod. That’s definitely what she would have done. She’s definitely headstrong, but she’s never tried to keep it a secret. If she thinks she can handle it, she lets you know.

  “What the hell is down there?” I muse.

  “I don’t know. But if I had to hazard a guess, from what Sailor said about the gem lighting up, I’d guess it was the second Soul Gem. And if it’s reaching out to Sailor like that, she doesn’t have much choice but to try again.”

  ***

  I take a deep breath, nervous suddenly. I shift from foot to foot and run one hand through my hair. I tell myself to get a grip. I’m a god, not some scared teenage boy. I have faced demons that would scare the average human to death just looking at them. I have fought creatures that could kill me without even trying. And here I am, a fucking wreck at the thought of facing Adam, Sailor’s dad.

  I smile to myself. Maybe when it comes to matters of the heart I am just a normal teenage boy. I for sure don’t seem to be able to get my shit together with Sailor. I reach out and knock on the door before I can change my mind.

  I wait, suddenly feeling stupid for buying a gigantic bunch of flowers. What if Adam turns me away? What if Sailor doesn’t want to see me because I wasn’t there when she needed me?

  My thoughts are still buzzing around in my head when the door opens and Adam stands there. He beams when he sees me. It doesn’t mean Sailor has forgiven me for not being there for her, but it means she at least calmed down enough that she hasn’t told her dad she hates me.

  “Rye. What a nice surprise,” Adam says. He looks at the flowers and his smile widens. “Purple calla lilies and lilacs. Sailor’s favorites.”

  “Yes sir,” I reply, not really knowing what else to say.

  “You even managed to find the sensation lilacs and the two-tone lilies,” Adam says with approval and a raised eyebrow. “Where did you find those around here at this time of the year?”

  I can hardly tell him I convinced Nexus to enchant them to look this way. Instead I smile again.

  “I know a guy,” I say.

  “That’s usually a bad thing,” Adam says, eyeing me carefully.

  I think I said the wrong thing, but then he laughs softly.

  “But I guess seeing as your guy is a florist I probably have nothing to worry about.”

  “No sir, you don’t,” I say.

  He holds his hands out for the flowers. I hand them over, not really knowing what else to do with them.

  “Thank you for dropping by. And thank you for these. I’ll let Sailor know you stopped by. I’m sure she’ll be pleased.”

  “No, please. I need to see her,” I say before I can stop myself.

  “She’s resting,” Adam says, but I can see him wavering.

  “Please,” I say again. “I promise not to disturb her. I just need to know she’s okay. And I need her to know I’m here for her.”

  Adam nods his head and steps back, gesturing for me to come inside. I step in and he closes the door.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  Adam nods and smiles. “Sailor would never forgive me if I sent you away.”

  I return his smile and stand there, suddenly awkward. Do I just go up the stairs, or do I wait for his permission? He saves me from making the decision when he speaks up, suddenly serious.

  “Can I ask you something?” he says.

  I nod.

  “You and your friends. You all seem to care a lot about Sailor,” he says.

  “Yes sir, we do. She’s… special,” I say.

  I curse myself inside. I said that with way more feeling than I meant to show. I mean, I want Adam to know we do care for Sailor, but I didn’t mean to say it so passionately that the emotion made my voice shake slightly.

  “I can see you mean that. Give it to me straight, Rye. Are you in love with my daughter?”

  CHAPTER THREE: TELLTALE DREAM

  Adam’s question takes me completely by surprise and I just stand there staring at him. I don’t know quite what to say. I mean, there’s no doubt in my mind that I am absolutely in love with his daughter, but I don’t know whether I should admit it to him or not. I am saved when Raven comes up behind Adam from the living room,

  “Leave him alone, Adam. Can’t you see you’re making him uncomfortable?” She smiles.

  “I just don’t want to see Sailor get hurt,” he says.

  “She won’t. Not by me,” I say.

  I can tell him that much. Even Sailor can’t be angry at me for that much. Adam reaches out and claps his hand against the top of my arm with a laugh.

  “You got lucky this time, kid. But we’ll finish this conversation another time. Go see Sailor and mind you keep your word and don’t disturb her.”

  I nod my head and hurry up the stairs quickly before he has time to change his mind. I go to Sailor’s room. I tap lightly on the door, and when there’s no response, I push it open and peer in. Sailor is in bed, her eyes closed. She looks so peaceful lying there, and I feel my heart skip a beat looking at her. I hate that she got hurt because I wasn’t there to stop it.

  Her face is a little pale and the cut on her head stands out, but her breathing is deep and even and she doesn’t seem any the worse for wear. I slip into the room and pull the door closed behind me. I walk over to stand beside the bed. I gently stroke Sailor’s cheek. She mutters something and snuggles down beneath her covers, a half smile playing over her face.

  I sit down on the side of the bed and watch her for a moment. She isn’t waking up, and as much as I want to talk to her, to tell her I’m sorry, I don’t want to wake her. I pull my cell phone out and text Aziza for an update.

  Nexus has been checking out the staircase, seeing if she can find out where it leads to, and I’m hoping she found something useful by now. I slip my cell phone back into my pocket. Sailor shifts slightly in the bed and whimpers in her sleep. I reach out and stroke her face again.

  “It’s okay, Sailor. I’m right here. Nothing can hurt you now,” I whisper.

  “Don’t leave me,” she mutters thickly.

  “Never,” I whisper.

  I tuck a stray hair behind her ear and she seems to settle back down again. I wait for a moment and then I pull my cell phone out again, checking for a reply from Aziza. There’s nothing, and I’m debating calling her when a flash of yellow fills the room and a portal opens up. The team and Nexus stroll out, and I put a finger to my lips, nodding towards Sailor.

  “I went with her and Adam to the hospital and then came back here,” Aziza says. “Once they let her out, she was almost hysterical saying she couldn’t stay here and stuff. Adam gave her a sedative. We can talk all we want. She won’t be waking up until tomorrow morning.”

  I nod my head and Sailor mutters something. Jinx grins and moves closer to her.

  “Hey, Sailor?” he says. “Is Jinx the hottest member of the team?”

  “Totally,” she whispers thickly.

  I smack Jinx in the shoulder.

  “Cut it out. She’s not a fucking toy,” I snap.

  “Ah, you’re just bitter because she didn’t say no.” Jinx grins, rubbing his arm where I smacked him.

  I glare at Jinx, debating whether or not to give him another smack, but Sailor whimpers. I move my gaze from Jinx,
thinking only of Sailor now. I take her hand in mine and rub my thumb over it gently.

  “It’s okay,” I say softly.

  “It’s not okay,” she mumbles.

  Her body starts to writhe on the bed as if she’s trying to fight something off in her sleep. I know there won’t be any waking her after what Aziza told me, but I can’t just leave her to suffer like that. I give Sunday a pleading look.

  “No way,” he says.

  “Sunday, please,” I say. “I need to know she’s alright.”

  “Do you have any idea how invasive this is?” he says.

  “I do. And I wouldn’t ask under any normal circumstances,” I say.

  Sailor moans loudly, almost as if she wants to emphasize my point.

  “Fine. But you owe me one,” Sunday says.

  He sits down on the bed beside Sailor. He takes her other hand in both of his and closes his eyes. His body goes limp, and I know he’s in her head. I can hear quiet whispers coming from both Sailor and Sunday, but I can’t make out what they are saying, and even though I move closer to try and hear their words, they don’t seem to get any louder.

  “This is bad, isn’t it?” I say. “Something in the air on that staircase affected her.”

  “I’d say that’s unlikely, Rye. She’d be showing more symptoms than this if she’d been poisoned or something,” Mel says.

  I hope she’s right. I really hope it’s nothing more than a nightmare that the sedative is keeping her trapped in.

  Sunday suddenly sits bolt upright, his eyes wide open. He drops Sailor’s hand and rubs his hands over his face.

  “What is it?” I demand.

  “That was intense,” Sunday says. I get the impression he’s choosing his words very carefully. “She’s okay now. I pulled her out of it and gave her a nice dream, but it took longer than it should have. It was like I couldn’t quite reach her at first.”

  “What was she dreaming about when she was trapped?” Nexus asks, beating me to it.

  Sunday shakes his head.

  “Dreams are private, Nexus,” he says.

  “I know,” she replies. “But this could be important.”

  He considers her words and then he starts to speak. His voice is shaky, and his eyes stare off into the distance as he talks, and I can’t help but squeeze Sailor’s hand a little too tightly. If just seeing her dreams has affected Sunday this much, I dread to think what she was going through actually living the dreams.

  “It was a bunch of flashes, little flashes from a hundred different scenes, each one worse than the last one. When I first got in, Sailor was running from a pack of demons. Then she was in a clearing facing a whole army of demons. We were there and she was begging us for help, but we were all just watching her, laughing at her, taunting her.

  “The scene changed and she was with her dad in the living room. Ms. Price came in and told her that her dad was hers now and they didn’t want Sailor in their lives. Sailor was begging her dad not to do this, not to cut her out, but he stood up and walked away from her. She was crying, following him, begging him to acknowledge her, but he just looked right past her like she wasn’t there and held his hand out to Ms. Price. And the whole time, Ms. Price was laughing.

  “The scene changed again and Jenny was killing Grace. Sailor tried to stop her, but she couldn’t. It was like she couldn’t move, although she was trying her best to get to them. Grace died, but then she stood up and glared at Sailor, telling her it was all her fault she was dead. She said that Sailor is a failure and she hates her. And she said Rye can stop blaming himself for her death, because everyone knows it wasn’t his fault; it was all her fault.

  “There was a flash of a restaurant. Sailor was looking in the window. Rye, you were there with that Felicity girl you went on the date with. Sailor was trying to get your attention. You looked up and saw her but you didn’t acknowledge her. You were kissing Felicity but you were looking Sailor in the eye as you did it, and the people at all of the other tables were pointing and laughing at Sailor through the window.

  “And finally, there was a woman. I didn’t recognize her, but I knew she was Sailor’s mom. She told Sailor it was all her fault she was dead, that she killed herself because she couldn’t stand everyone knowing what a weakling she had for daughter, that she was ashamed of her. She was smiling as she said it. And then she told Sailor that the gods aren’t really keeping you two apart, Rye. She said that you don’t want her because she’s weak and useless, and you deserve a hero. That’s when I managed to get through to her and pull her out.”

  I don’t know what to say. I mean, what can you say to any of that? I can only imagine the hell Sailor was going through. The whole team has fallen silent—even Jinx doesn’t have a sarcastic comment or a joke.

  “She’s okay now, Rye,” Sunday says. “I made sure she was in a nice dream where we were all together and having a good day.”

  “Thanks,” I say, trying to find some solace in the knowledge that she’s okay now, that she’s out of the nightmares. “Really. I appreciate it more than you know.”

  Sunday shrugs.

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Rye, we should go,” Ya-Ya says quietly. “I know we won’t wake Sailor, but if her dad hears us all talking and comes up here to see what’s going on, he’s going to have questions.”

  “I’m not leaving her,” I say automatically.

  “I know,” Ya-Ya says, resting her hand on my shoulder for a moment. “But the rest of us need to go.”

  I realize what she’s trying to say and I nod.

  “Yes. Yes, of course, go. She’ll be okay now,” I say.

  Nexus portals the team out and I am alone with Sailor. I hate the silence that fills the room, and I’m worried if she can’t hear my voice, she will end up having another nightmare. I don’t know what to say at first, but then a story comes into my head. One my mom used to tell me when I was a kid. I begin to tell it to Sailor.

  “Once upon a time, in a world far away, a beautiful princess was walking through the woods picking flowers for her mom, the queen. Her mom’s favorites were yellow roses, and she picked armfuls of them, causing quite a stir with the palace gardeners.

  “As she headed back toward the palace with her flowers, she heard a scream. She dropped the flowers and ran, recognizing the scream as her mom’s. She arrived back in time to see a huge golden dragon dragging her mom away in its claws.

  “Distraught, the princess knew she had to save her mom and she called in the head guard and told him to make an announcement to her kingdom. Any knight who could slay the dragon and rescue her mom would get to take her hand in marriage.

  “The princess was very beautiful, and many knights took up her challenge, but none succeeded. The princess was about to give up hope of ever getting her mom back when the head guard came to her and told her a peasant boy was asking to see her. She almost turned him away, but something told her the boy was special—not many peasants would even dare to approach the palace, let alone request an audience with the princess—and she went to receive him in the throne room.

  “The boy stood before her and told her he could slay the dragon. The only problem was his family was poor and he didn’t have a sword. The princess tried to dismiss him. What would a peasant boy know about slaying dragons? He refused to leave until she at least gave him a chance to prove himself. She agreed and had one of her guards give him a sword. She told the peasant boy if he could disarm her head guard, he could take the sword and try to slay the dragon. She didn’t think he stood a chance of disarming her head guard, but she knew this way she would be seen as being fair.

  “She watched as the peasant boy made a few practice jabs. She began to notice he was more muscular than any peasant boy should be, and he was clearly good with a sword. He disarmed her head guard within minutes, surprising the princess, as her head guard was the best swordsmen in the land. Or so she had thought.

  “Sh
e told the peasant boy he may undertake the quest, and that if he succeeded, he would have his prize. He left the palace, and the princess was sure he wouldn’t return. After all, he might be skilled, but the knights of her kingdom were skilled too, and none of them had returned.

  “She found herself saddened at the thought, and not just about her mom. She realized she wanted the peasant boy to come back because she wanted to give him her hand in marriage. Days went by and the princess resigned herself to the fact that he was dead. She began to mourn, for both the peasant boy and her mom.

  “The palace arranged for a funeral service to be held for the queen and for the princess to be crowned the new queen. As the crowning ceremony began, the doors to the throne room burst open. The princess jumped to her feet as the peasant boy entered, her mom at his side. Tears of joy fell down her cheeks as she embraced her mom.

  “She turned to the peasant boy as the queen began to address the crowd. She thanked him and told him she was his prize. She explained that his family would move into the palace and never want for anything again. The peasant boy knelt before her and smiled up at her. He told her that although he appreciated her offer, he could not take her up on it, and if she wanted to reward him, all he would ask was that he be allowed to keep the sword she had loaned him.

  “She told him to rise and that the sword was his. She realized she was upset that he didn’t want to marry her. He began to leave, and the princess followed him outside. She asked the peasant boy why he didn’t want to marry her—did he not find her attractive?

  “He told her he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and while he would be honored to have her as his wife, he knew what it was like to be forced into a marriage the person didn’t want. He told her he wasn’t really a peasant. He was a prince from a neighboring kingdom. His father, the king, had tried to force him to marry a princess from a distant land because he wanted to make an alliance with their king. When he had refused, it had been made clear to him that he either did what his father wanted, or he was disowned. He had left and never returned, and he assured the princess he would never claim her as his wife, because she deserved the chance to marry for love.