Blackhearted Betrayal (21 page)

“Of course he will,” Durra said with a scowl. “But we can’t just splash around forever. He’ll send reinforcements to another portal and overland the slower way.”

Slower than traveling straight to
this
portal, but not slow enough. Rage burned the back of my throat when I faced the inevitable. Someone was going to have to stay behind to churn the waters long enough for the rest to
get away—and it couldn’t be me. Despite my imperviousness to death, I was also the only indispensable member of our group. I
could not
fall into Anubis’s hands—he might not be able to kill me yet, but he could keep me away from the Hall of Two Truths until my time expired and he
could
do me in. Or worse, do to me what he’d helped Medea do to Nan.

I shuddered.
Over my dead body.
Such a stupid thought under the circumstances, but it steadied my resolve.

I opened my mouth to ask for volunteers but Mijai beat me to the punch. “We three will stay while the rest of you make for the Hall.”

The Seer clenched her fists. “You mean the
four
of us.”

He shook his head with a resolute expression. “No, Jeserit, you will go on with them. They’ll need you to restore any transmuted souls along the way.”

“But you can do that just as well as I. Better!
I’ll
stay.”

“No, I forbid it. You may be able to divine something for the Nemesis when she needs it most. Now go, and that’s an order.”

Tears welled at the corners of the Seer’s eyes, but she stopped arguing. These two were obviously more to each other than fellow priests. I wanted to offer to stay in Mijai’s place but knew I couldn’t.
Gods damn you thrice over, Anubis.

Nan patted me awkwardly on the arm and stepped toward the center of the pond. “Three of you will not be enough to cover the entire pond. I’ll stay as well.”

The newborn shade jumped at the chance for something to do and leaped into the water next to her. “As will I.”

I shook my head as firmly as Mijai. “No, Nan, you
can’t. We need you with us so we can restore you when we find Medea. We can’t risk—”

She gave me a decidedly
grandmother
look, one that suggested she’d like nothing better than to turn me over her knee if I didn’t behave.
Been there, done that.
“I
can
risk it and I
will
. Besides, what’s Anubis going to do? Kill me? Wait, no, I’m already a shade. He can capture me again, but then you’ll just rescue me once you invoke the Feather against him. Now stop being stupid, Riss, my lass, and
go
.”

Gods damn it, but she was right. The pond might have been small, but not
that
small. Three people would never be able to keep the water’s surface moving. Three people and two shades, on the other hand, just might.

Scott’s hand settled upon my shoulder, giving me the strength to do what had to be done. I reached forward to hug Nan, then turned to Mijai. “Thank you. May Imseti guard you and yours and—see you safely home.” Home in this case likely being the afterlife. Anubis wouldn’t
need
to keep them alive anymore.

He nodded brusquely. “Gods speed and good luck, Nemesis.” Then he added in a more emotional tone, “Please keep my wife safe.”

Tears pricked
my
eyes at that choked plea. No wonder they’d argued over who would be the one to go—and live. My gaze flew to Scott, and we shared a wordless look. Would we be willing to make such a sacrifice to save others? He’d given up his patron deity out of love for me, but would he be able to walk away from me to carry on with our mission? More importantly, would I be willing to do the same were the roles reversed?

Nike gamely tried to reassure me.
It won’t come to that.

Of course it won’t,
I echoed automatically, though deep inside I didn’t believe that. Having had to give up the man I loved most in the world once, I knew it all-too-surely
could
happen again. What scared me was the fact I truly didn’t know what I would do if faced with that awful choice. Once, my mission—whatever it was—would have been my number one priority. Now? I wasn’t so sure …

WALKING AWAY FROM MY GRANDMOTHER’S
shade wasn’t the hardest thing I’d ever done, but it came close. It did help to remind myself what she had pointed out: Anubis
couldn’t
kill her again, especially considering she wasn’t technically dead. While her body lived, Nan was safe. Well, in a manner of speaking.

We hotfooted it away from the oasis and back into the neon blue desert. The sun was sinking into the horizon way faster than it would have on earth, which made it easier to travel quickly since we weren’t sweating out every ounce of the water we’d replenished before leaving the pond. About an hour into our twilight jaunt, Nike let out a hiss and tightened her body around my upper arm.
Nemesis says she and the Cat have infiltrated Anubis’s stronghold unseen.
She gave another hiss, this
one very much in disgust.
They have managed to track down your bitch former mentor, who seems to be ordering other Anubian shades around.

Amusement at her snarky—though accurate—designation of Stacia soon faded, to be replaced by a sudden flash of insight. We wouldn’t have a better opportunity to discover if Stacia really
was
planning to steal the Harpy Queen’s body.
Ask them to look for a pregnant woman with white hair, yellow-green eyes, and pale skin. Stick skinny except for the prego belly.

So you really
do
think Stacia is behind Serise’s disappearance?

Is my
former
mentor a psychotic bitch?

Mental laughter was the only response to
that
rhetorical question. Seconds later, she spoke again.
Nemesis says they haven’t seen any pregnant women but that the Cat is willing to check the areas where they might secure such a prisoner.

Good. Make sure they let us know right away if they see her.

Done. Nemesis confirms that Anubis
does
have a lover among the greater gods; the buzz among his followers is that the lover is someone powerful married to an equally strong Deity. Oh! She says that a number of shades and priests just jumped into a portal in a hurry.
No need to guess where
they
might be headed …

Scott’s voice suddenly murmured into my ear. “You planning to set up camp already?”

I started, then flushed when I realized my steps had slowed to a near stop. “No, Nemesis was giving Nike an update. Stacia is
definitely
involved in this whole mess, and they’re going to see if they can find any trace of Serise. Apparently Anubis just sent a hunting party
through a portal—which means we need to put as much distance between us as—”

“Riss! Do you feel that?”

Sahana’s panicked tone had me augmenting my senses and shooting my gaze to the west, from where a humongous burst of Death magic had flared. She and I shared a grim glance and began urging the others to step up the pace. Nobody was dumb enough to protest, but Scott did arch a curious brow. “There must be a portal within a mile or two of here.”
That
statement had everyone moving even faster than before. Too much was at stake to give up.

At first it seemed like we might manage to stay ahead of any trouble as the seconds turned into minutes, then over an hour without any further signs of pursuit. I had just started to breathe a little easier when Sahana let out a hiss and slammed into Scott, knocking him to the ground just as a deadly spear of magic lanced through the air. Sparks of Death energy rained against my arm, enough to have me growling at Scott’s near brush with death. No time to thank Sahana for intervening, time only to shift into full Fury form, leap into the air, and
hunt
. “Run!” I screamed over my shoulder as Durra and Mac launched themselves after me. “We’ll slow them down and catch up. It’s our only chance!” Fortunately, most people assumed that Mac’s Sidhe blood allowed him to imitate my own Fury form—something the typical half-blooded Sidhe could
not
do, but everyone assumed the genetic manipulation performed by the scientists allowed him the ability to use full-on glamourie. A misapprehension we took every advantage of.

Our airborne trio topped a nearby sand dune, only to see a group of Anubian priests working more Death
magic, surrounded by a miniature army of shades. What had ice forming into a frigid lump in my belly, however, were the four immortals letting out battle cries and rushing toward us, steely resolve on their faces and murder in their silver-rimmed eyes.

I let out a roar of my own, made all the more impressive by my extra boost of Nemesis power. Durra and Mac echoed my hundred-decibel cry with none-too-shabby shrieks of their own, and we swooped upon our divine enemies. Magic responded to my call, knocking into the four immortals with the impact of a tornado, sending them flying every which way and blue sand swirling angrily, giving us a slight edge as we attacked the sprawling figures ferociously. Durra and Mac were wise enough to dart in and out, making as many on-the-fly swipes as they could and getting back out of reach before their targets could really retaliate. Both channeled as much Rage and magic as they dared, eyes glowing with the same furious emerald green as mine.

My hands were full harrying two of the immortals, since I knew my partners would barely be able to stand up to one divine opponent each, much less two. Death magic swirled around us, and it took every ounce of flying skill we possessed to avoid it—Durra and Mac because it would kill them and me because I
wanted
the priests to waste as much magic on fruitless attacks as they could be goaded into squandering. We were vastly outnumbered, and our only hope was to delay our attackers as long as possible so the others could make good their escape. Then we would have to fly faster than
any
bat out of hell.

It helped that Anubis must have given the order to capture
me
as priority number one because they focused
their efforts on that rather than stopping to wonder where the rest of our party had disappeared to. The shades and priests also couldn’t fly, so were limited to throwing spell after spell into the air against us. The immortals could likely have manifested wings to come after us, which was precisely the reason that we concentrated most of our efforts on keeping them off balance.

Minutes passed in a painful blur, and I knew that Durra and Mac wouldn’t be able to keep this up much longer—not and still be able to make a madcap flight away. I racked my brain for a plan of action, but no flash of insight ignited other than making a kamikaze stand here while everyone else got away since I couldn’t be killed. While I would have no problem making such a sacrifice, that plan would only lead to ultimate failure since only
I
could invoke the Feather against Anubis. Letting his minions capture me would give him
exactly
what he wanted. My gaze jumped from my opponents to my baby brother, who bore many cuts and bruises and whose wings were looking much the worse for wear. He gamely fought on, but exhaustion etched itself onto every line of his face, and I knew he couldn’t hold out much longer.

Gods, no, I
can’t
lose him now!

But it was quickly looking like I had no other option, as his enemy let loose a sudden burst of magic (
not
Death energy, thankfully) that Mac was a fraction too slow to dodge. He plummeted toward the ground, and my heart sank along with him, certain he was falling to his death—but Durra moved with inhuman speed to catch him under the elbows and zoom away. Knowing she had risked her own life to save his bumped her up a few notches in my book, and I focused on doing what
I could to cover their retreat. Unfortunately, once I was the sole target available, it looked like I was going to give Anubis that chance to open up his best Chianti after all. All four immortals turned their attention to me and started channeling magic—most likely so they could make like birds—until something unexpected happened. An explosion of silver-touched earth magic went off like a bomb beneath the Anubians’ feet, and the sand swallowed them all whole.

My mouth dropped open in shock, and I shot a glance behind me, catching sight of a haggard-looking Charlie, his eyes rimmed in silver showing that he’d
somehow
tapped into divine magic in order to pull off that mind-blowing spell. I knew it wouldn’t hold our enemies forever—especially not the immortals—but it just might manage to buy us enough time to get away. There’d be time later to wonder how he had pulled off the minor miracle. I landed next to him, and we took off running; no way could I leave him behind when he had risked his ass to save mine. Fortunately, whatever extra power he was channeling granted him augmented speed and stamina, which meant we rapidly left the Anubian sinkhole behind and caught up with everyone else before they had gone more than a few miles.

We might have managed a last-minute escape from the overwhelming odds sent against us, but Anubis was by no means willing to admit defeat, which he proved by turning Duat’s very environment against us. Despite the fact I
knew
we kept moving in the same direction, we found ourselves coming across footsteps we had previously made in the sand, meaning we were somehow managing to walk in circles. We paused long enough for Jeserit to try scrying the whereabouts of the Hall of Two
Truths, only to fail miserably—an undoubted defense mechanism meant to keep the unworthy from tracking it down. An eerie dark purple mist descended upon us not too long after, making it even more difficult for us to catch our bearings. At that rate we’d make it to the Hall of Two Truths right around the time I became eligible as a Fury Elder.