1304 The Harbinger (The 13th Floor) (7 page)

Sam’s fingers brushed her cheek, and when she opened her eyes, he walked toward the next bend. “We’re almost out of lipstick.”

“I can make scratch marks.” Meira turned and followed Sam around the corner into his spacious downtown apartment.

CHAPTER 10

Meira loved Sam’s sense of style. Sleek and modern and not afraid to use bold colors. Several modern works of art decorated the walls. All originals from artist friends of his. Chunky furniture and a spectacular, irregularly shaped coffee table with foam pads on the corners.

Foam pads?

What was going on? There seemed to be nothing threatening, but this only served to make her more tense. No longer could she see any part of the maze. It was as if they were back in the Middle Realm.

She followed Sam through the entry hall and into an open living space. Her talons didn’t make a sound on the hardwood floor. That was almost as strange as the fact Sam was now dressed in a house robe.

Sam stopped and stooped to pick up something from the floor. He straightened himself, staring at the pacifier in his hand.

A woman came out from the master bedroom. Black hair mussed in the most beautiful way and a silky blue robe swishing as she walked. Not just any woman. Her. Meira. It was her, but with no wings and no ugly bird feet.

What was even more, she carried a baby in her arms. A chubby, curly haired baby.

“Oh good, you found it. She hasn’t fussed yet, but you know how she gets.” The robed Meira smiled at Sam and rocked the baby in her arms.

Sam raised a hand and caressed the top of the baby’s head. The child cooed and nabbed his pinky finger. “She looks so much like you. So beautiful.”

Meira made a circle around the couple, searching the apartment for anything out of the ordinary. No traps or spells. Just this one grand illusion. She moved to stand behind Sam. “Don’t get caught up in this. It isn’t real.”

Sam didn’t appear to have heard her. His eyes were shimmering with emotion, and he wore a goofy grin. He scooped up the baby and pressed his cheek to her head. “I love the way she smells. She’s perfect.”

“She’s definitely already daddy’s girl.” The robed Meira chuckled and wrapped her arms around Sam, watching the child with him. “I’ve never been so happy.”

Sam wrapped one arm around her. “Then be prepared. Things are only going to get better. I want at least another half dozen of these little heartbreakers.”

“Six kids?” Meira gasped. “You can’t possibly want six kids. You know this isn’t real, right? There’s no way I’d stay home taking care of a bunch of babies. Sam, come on. Snap out of it.”

Not that she could snap her fingers. She fanned him with her wing to get his attention. She even brushed her feathers over him, but didn’t get any reaction. When she attempted to touch the other Meira, her wing went right through her.

“Whatever you want, baby.” Robed Meira kissed his neck as she cuddled him.

“Sam!” Meira shouted his name. She moved right up to his ear. “Sam!”

The baby started to cry and he hoisted her up, cradling her against his chest. Sam patted her little bottom as he soothed her, whispering sweet nothings to the child.

“Sam!” Meira screeched, but only the baby wailed louder. “Dammit, Sam. Don’t you dare fall for this! There’s no way I’d be a simpering little housewife like that. Is that what you really wish me to be like?”

It was offensive. Back on Earth, Meira was a modern, career-focused woman. She’d never had a desire to be domestic even when she had her own fantasies of having a life with Sam. If they ever had kids, there would be a maid and a nanny. Though the idea of kids was still a question mark in Meira’s mind; given the experiences she’d had with her own family, she had little maternal instinct.

The baby quieted as he slipped the pacifier into her mouth. Her little eyes fluttered, and she dozed off in Sam’s arms.

Robed Meira smiled at them and motioned to the bedroom. “You know, it’s been over six weeks now. She’s sleeping, and I’ve never wanted you more than I want you now.”

She tugged at the belt of her robe, and it fell open revealing her naked figure in its full glory.

“Oh come on!” Meira threw up her wings. “There’s no way any woman looks that good after just having a baby.”

“Come on, darling.” Open-robed Meira crooked a finger at Sam and did a slow, tantalizing walk backward to the bedroom.

“No. I don’t think so.” Meira groaned. “I hate to do this, Sam, but you’re not leaving me any choice.” She raised one foot and jerked a talon over the back of his calf. She was careful not to make it deep, but she wanted to make it hurt and bring him back to reality.

Sam didn’t flinch. Didn’t even look her way. Blood trickled down his leg and dripped onto the floor.

He walked toward the bedroom.

“Dammit.” Meira growled and readied herself to knock Sam over when a hand on her shoulder restrained her. She spun, ready to strike with her claws.

Ares caught her ankle and smiled at her, waiting to see if she would continue her attack or stand down. When she yanked herself away from him, he released her leg. “Let him go and live out the rest of his days happy. He’ll never know this isn’t real.”

“It’s not real happiness. He’s not really here.” Meira’s eyes darted back and forth between Ares and the bedroom.

“It’s real enough for him.” Ares smirked as the woman’s laughter floated out of the bedroom. “I set up this part of the labyrinth with a little help from my sister. What do you think? It’s the only one that has rendered you useless.”

“I’m not useless. I will drag him kicking and screaming from here if I have to.” Meira bared her teeth and marched to the bedroom. Ares was suddenly there blocking her way. “I will move you if you don’t get out of my way.”

“Okay, I confess Aphrodite did do most of the work. We brought out his inner most desires. A family, a lovely home, and a gorgeous and submissive wife. He really thought that could be you. Is that what you want? To be a doting little housewife and soccer mom?” Ares raised a single brow. No mocking smirk accompanying it.

Meira hesitated. From Ares, she had expected something vicious. The minotaur wasn’t his style, but something that was determined to cut the hero down was. In no way was this subtle, at least not to her, but it was sly and consuming. Aphrodite could see into everyone’s heart. Was this truly what Sam wanted?

Even when Meira realized she couldn’t have a life with Sam and then he stated he couldn’t be with someone who couldn’t give him a simple life, this was the final kicker. This was what Sam wanted from her all along. It wasn’t going to work out, even if he lived.

Was she helping him for what could’ve been? Except now she knew what could’ve been could have never been.

She stumbled back and hit a wall. Coldness seeped through her limbs. Meira didn’t want to know this. She’d rather have lived with her heartbroken misery than with the knowledge that it would’ve never worked in the first place.

“You’re not a part of this.” Ares waved a hand, motioning to the apartment. “Not a part of that world. You’re something greater than it. And I can help you realize that greatness.”

Numb and empty, Meira knew she should kick the bastard and walk away. Sam didn’t want her to help him. He didn’t want to escape this. And Ares would only use her. He’d make her fight. Grand battles. Not that it mattered any more. Maybe she should go with him.

“Meira!” Sam rushed into the hall, pushing Ares to the side. The God of War vanished as if he hadn’t been there to begin with. Sam cupped her cheek. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

She blinked slowly. Maybe she was caught up in an illusion now. Closing her eyes and ramming her head back against the wall, a lance of pain went through her.

When she opened her eyes, Sam was still there, looking more concerned than before. “Is that really you?”

“Yes, of course. What happened?”

“You came back.” Meira pushed the pounding from her newly acquired headache into the fading numbness. “Why did you come back?”

“Why would you ask that? This isn’t real. We need to get through the labyrinth.” Sam pointed out the window. No longer a cityscape, but the gray rock walls of the maze.

Meira pushed away from the wall and cocked her head as she regarded him. “Sam, you were lost to the illusion. I saw your face. This is what you want, isn’t it? You could’ve stayed here forever and been happy.”

Sam sighed and glanced back at the bedroom. “This is one of my dreams, but I know it for what it is. It’s not real. I just wanted to …” His lips thinned, and he shook his head. “I’ll never be happy with something that isn’t real. Reality is imperfection, and while I have dreams of perfection, I embrace the real world as it is.” Then he flashed her a little grin. “Besides, even if I imagined you as a mother, you’d never be like that. You’d have a nanny.”

She laughed and impulsively kissed him. Sam knew her. He truly knew her.

As she pulled away, there was a moment of awkwardness. It felt right to kiss him, but she belonged to Zeus, and he was going to make her life horrendous after this challenge. Sam would never be hers no matter how every molecule in her body screamed that he belonged to her.

“We should go.” This time, her feet clicked as she walked toward the door.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed softly and opened the front door for her. She stepped back into the labyrinth with the exit in sight.

CHAPTER 11

The end stretch was designed to take them out with a bang. Meira accidentally discovered this as she had Sam throw a rock down the corridor to check for traps. The stone hit the ground and was blown into miniscule bits.

“Land mines.” Dangerous, but it wasn’t something that was a difficult problem to solve. Meira couldn’t fly Sam over the walls, but she could lift him off the ground and get them to the exit. “Prepare yourself for a short flight. Keep your knees bent and legs up.”

“All right.” Sam nodded and rolled his shoulders.

As Meira spread her wings, the upper half of the corridor over their heads filled with murky water. Not a single drop fell on the bottom ten feet of the corridor, but it was as if the ocean had stretched to that exact spot. It was surreal and more than a bit disorientating.

“You can’t fly through water.” Sam gaped at the river flowing gently above them.

Meira wasn’t going to let the gods beat her with a bit of water. Harpies weren’t swimmers by any means, but ten feet was just enough room. She could hold her breath if her head dipped into the water. “We can still do this. You need to curl up. Hug your legs tight to your chest and don’t slip. I can fly with my knees bent. It won’t be pretty, but we only need to go two hundred feet or so.”

“You’ll drown. No, you can’t do it.” Sam picked up another rock and chucked it into the water. It plopped with a splash and didn’t fall out. Splotches of water soaked into the sandy ground as the only evidence that both the river and the booby-trapped path were of the same realm.

“I can hold my breath.” Meira assured him. The thought of having her head underwater as she was flying was more than a little unnerving, but she could do this. Sam trusted her to get him through the labyrinth. She would do it.

“Do you think, maybe, if you helped me up into the river, I could swim? The rock didn’t fall out.” Sam tossed up another bigger stone and it plopped into the water too.

“Maybe, but I don’t want to chance you suddenly falling to the ground onto a mine. I wouldn’t be able to grab you fast enough.” The image that produced in her mind was not a pleasant one. “I can do this. Don’t worry. I’ve never dropped anything before, and I’ve flown with much heavier things than you.”

“Okay. I trust you.” Sam crouched down and wrapped his arms around his legs.

He didn’t need to say the words, but they meant more to her than anything else at the moment. After everything that had happened, Sam still trusted her. Those three little words strengthened her. She spread her wings and puffed out her chest. She would make certain he won back his soul.

Meira started closer to where they had exited the illusion of his apartment. There was no river there, and she could build some momentum. The faster they got to the exit, the better.

She flew up and dipped down under the water where it started. Her feet opened wide and locked around Sam’s shoulders as she zipped over him. The added weight didn’t slow her or even make her breathe harder.

Lifting him, she took in a deep breath as her head hit the water. It was cold. Shockingly so. Her instinct was to gasp, but she couldn’t stop to catch another lungful of air.

The water was salty and stung her eyes. Even close to the surface, Meira could barely see through the murk and the blurriness of her vision. She was flying blind.

Just keep going until she hit the end. She could breathe when they reached the exit.

Something tugged on her hair.

No, not tugged. It caught on something and yanked when she kept going.

Her wings pumped harder. For all she knew, Zeus could’ve set a leviathan in this water.

Sam needed her. Her lungs burned more than her eyes. Almost there. They had to be almost there.

Meira’s head slammed into something hard. There was no stopping the gasp for air as she flailed, dropped her load, and fell back. Then she was thrown back even farther. There was no boom, but the world went silent and black.

She was vaguely aware of falling to the ground. No. Not to the ground, but into the river. The impact was just as jarring. With her wings spread out, she floated and coughed up stale sea water.

Willing herself to stay as still as possible as she ejected the water from her body, she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes. Her feet flexed, open and empty. Sam. No.

“Sam!” Meira gurgled and moved to sit, but as she sank a little, she realized it was a terrible idea to move around so much. With her body spread, she floated and wasn’t in danger of touching anything not just under the surface. She shook her head trying to clear her ears and eyes.

“Meira!” Sam’s voice seemed far away, but it was his voice. He was still alive. “Stay still. Breathe.”