Pegasus and the Rise of the Titans (Pegasus #5) (17 page)

Nerves settled in the pit of her stomach. They were about to enter the lion’s den, but they had no clue what they would find there. What had the CRU done to the Olympians? Were they even still there?

As they got closer to Honolulu, commuter traffic increased. Cars cut her off and horns blared around them as Emily drove much slower than the speed limit.

‘Perhaps you should drive faster,’ Paelen suggested.

Emily shot him a dirty look. ‘Do you want to drive?’

He held up his hands. ‘No thank you! You are doing fine. But might I suggest we try a less busy route?’

Emily nodded. Her knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel as she tried to manoeuvre the vehicle off the main highway and on to a less busy road. She indicated right, but miscalculated as she turned the van around the corner and grazed a red sedan waiting at the light. Emily turned the wheel sharply in the other direction, but lost control and smashed headlong into a lamp post.

Steam rose from under the bonnet and the engine chugged and then died. Emily looked over at Paelen. ‘You OK?’

Paelen grinned. ‘Well, that is one way to turn a corner. Not the best way, but still . . .’

Cars pulled up around them and drivers were getting out.

‘What are we going to do now?’ Emily grimaced.

‘Play it cool.’ Paelen opened his door and climbed out of the van. Emily took a deep breath and did the same. The driver of the red sedan was walking towards them. He looked around forty and wore a light linen business suit. ‘Are you both all right?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Emily said carefully. ‘Are you?’

He nodded but then clocked that there was no adult with them. ‘How old are you kids? Do you even have a driver’s licence?’

‘I am older than you could ever imagine,’ Paelen answered boldly.

The man was just about to retort when a woman ran up to them. ‘I’ve just called the police and they’ll be here in a moment.’

‘The police!’ Emily cried. ‘Why did you do that? It’s my dad’s van. He’ll pay for the damages. There was no need to call the police!’

‘Hey, calm down,’ the man said, growing even more suspicious. ‘We’ll let the cops sort this out. But I think you two are in a bit of trouble. I doubt you’ve got insurance.’

Paelen took hold of Emily’s arm. ‘I think we should be going.’

‘Oh no you don’t,’ the man said, catching hold of Paelen’s shirt. ‘You’re not going anywhere until the cops get here.’

Paelen grabbed the man’s hand and squeezed. ‘I say we are. I am very sorry about your car, but there is nothing we can do about that now. But if you do not release me right now, I shall break your hand.’

The man was driven to his knees as Paelen’s grip hardened.

‘That’s enough,’ Emily said as she pulled Paelen free. ‘Let’s go!’

They took off running down the street as the wail of police sirens sounded in the distance. At the corner, they turned left into a suburban-looking street with houses that stood away from the road.

‘This way!’ Paelen shouted to Emily as he led her down a long driveway. They kept low behind a couple of large SUV cars and ducked round the side of the house and into the open back garden where they continued to run. At the rear of the garden, they climbed over a fence and ran through another garden.

They dipped and dodged through streets and yards until they could no longer hear police sirens. They stopped to catch their breath, huddled behind a large, flowering bush growing up against a house. They took in their surroundings. They were in a built-up residential area. They saw the odd person walking their dog, but otherwise, the area was quiet.

Emily cursed. ‘I left the map in the van!’

‘I am sure we are not far from the zoo,’ Paelen said.

‘That’s not what I’m worried about. The zoo was circled on the map! If the police see it, they’ll know where we’re going.’

Paelen started to laugh. ‘Emily, we are going to the zoo – a place that we already know is a trap for us. There are CRU agents and soldiers with guns waiting to shoot us the moment we arrive. And you are worried about the police because of the stolen van?’

Emily paused and then broke into a big smile. ‘OK, you’re right.’ She rose and peered out of the bush. ‘The sun is almost down. Maybe we should wait here until dark. Then we can go save Pegasus.’

31

Lorin was surrounded by blazing white light. She heard sounds like nothing she’d ever heard before. But then, her only experience of sounds were from deep inside Tartarus. Here in the Solar Stream there was no screaming, or crying, just a loud whooshing in her ears.

Shivers of excitement coursed down her spine. Soon she would come face to face with Emily. From there, she would find the shard and finally be complete.

The bright lights faded as her journey ended. Her eyes adjusted and she looked around in awe. It was dark out, but the air around her felt fresh and full of sounds and wondrous smells. A gentle, warm breeze blew on her face and she could taste salt on her lips.

The ground beneath her feet was not solid like Tartarus. As she turned around, it seemed to move beneath her and pour into her sandals. She reached down and picked up a handful of sand and it slipped through her fingers. The bits that were left were small and gritty.

Lorin’s eyes widened as she faced the largest body of water she had ever seen. It went well beyond her vision and was lost to the dark horizon. There was water in the prison, but it was only for drinking and was not to be wasted. But here, the water seemed endless. It rolled to shore with a soft hushing sound that stroked her ears pleasantly.

She looked up and was awestruck by millions of stars in the night sky. When Phoebe first took her to the surface of Tartarus, a storm had been blowing. But Phoebe had described in detail the night sky on Titus. Lorin imagined it must be just like this.

Behind her were tall structures. Torch lights shined through most of the windows and she could see people on some of the open balconies. Further down the beach, she heard laughter. She stood still as a man and woman approached. They were holding hands and only gave her a passing glance.

The woman was wearing a long floral skirt and white T-shirt. Lorin looked down at her own garments. They looked like filthy rags, barely held together. She looked back at the water. Without hesitation, Lorin walked into the ocean and had her first bath.

The sensations of the cool water on her skin were indescribable. She laughed and splashed in the light surf. Lorin discovered she could float on her back and stare up at the stars. This one moment was the happiest she had known since waking.

Soon, Lorin became aware of something else. A gentle drawing sensation was rising from the pit of her stomach – almost as though something was calling to her.

She stood in the water and gazed around. It seemed to be pulling from one specific direction. At first the feeling frightened her. But then, as the moments passed, she seemed to understand what it was.

‘The shard,’ she said aloud.

Lorin followed the feeling. From the light of the stars and moon, she saw a giant dark shape, looming in the distance. The feeling was coming from there. She emerged from the water on to the shore, and started to walk in the direction of the shard.

With each step, she felt more excited. Walking was just too slow. She started to run, but even that wasn’t fast enough. Lorin had to get there. The shard was calling her.

She focused everything she had on the shard and the next thing she knew she was rising from the ground. Her powers! Lorin laughed as she began to realize what she was able to do. She started to fly in the direction of the shard.

She wasn’t sure what was making her more excited. The proximity of the shard, or the absolute freedom she felt, flying in a clear, open sky. To her left, she saw strange vehicles moving along the ground. She watched one stop and people climbed out. She laughed even louder, excited at the idea of riding in one of those things.

Within minutes, she was rising up the steep side of the mountain that housed the shard. She approached the summit. But just as she sailed over the top, her heart sank. It was full of water.

Lorin landed on the upper edge and gazed down into the black depths. The shard was there, she could feel it, but it was deep beneath the surface. How was she going to free it?

She held out her arms to summon it the way she made Flame shoot from her hands. She could feel the shard, it was right there, but something was blocking it. Lorin fed more power into her command. The ground beneath her started to shake. The harder she tried, the harder the ground shook.

Lorin looked up into the star-filled sky and shouted, ‘I will have the shard! Do you hear me, Emily? I will have it and I will be complete!’

Rage made Flames blaze in her hands. Lorin looked down into the black water and fired two powerful blasts of Flame at it. It sizzled and smoked on the surface. She added more power, hoping to burn her way down to the shard, but no matter how much power she added to the Flame, all she accomplished was the creation of a large plume of steam. Water was filling the crater faster than she could burn it away.

‘You there – don’t move. Stay where you are!’ She was so focused on the shard that she hadn’t noticed soldiers running towards her along the path that ran around the rim of the volcano.

Lorin pulled the Flame back into herself and waited for them to get closer. They would tell her where Emily was.

‘Drop your weapons and put up your hands!’ one of them shouted.

‘I do not have weapons,’ Lorin said.

‘We saw you using a flame thrower. Where is it?’

Lorin held out her hand and it burst into Flame. ‘Do you mean this?’

The men gasped and stepped back. They raised the items they carried in their hands. ‘Who – who are you? How did you get up here?’

Lorin studied them closely. They were young men wearing strange clothes and had serious expressions on their faces. They almost looked like Titans, but there was something very different about them. It was more a feeling than anything physical.

‘Answer my question,’ one of them demanded as he stepped forward. He looked older than the others and appeared to be in charge. ‘How did you get up here?’

‘I flew,’ Lorin answered. ‘Where is Emily?’

‘Flew?’ the man repeated.

‘Yes,’ Lorin said. ‘Like this . . .’ She used her powers to lift off the ground. ‘It is wonderful. You should try it. Now will you tell me about Emily?’

The men’s mouths hung open.

‘How do you know Emily?’ the one in charge asked.

Lorin tilted her head to the side. ‘She is the reason I came here. She has stolen something from me and I want it back.’

‘Well now, miss, if you come with us, I – I’m sure we can help you find her.’

Lorin landed back on the ground. ‘You will take me to her?’

‘Yes, yes of course we will. Just come this way.’

Lorin smiled and started to walk with the men who surrounded her on all sides.

‘What are you?’ she asked.

‘I’m a sergeant,’ the one in charge said. ‘Sergeant Walker.’

‘Sergeant Walker,’ Lorin repeated. ‘I am a Titan. You all look like Titans, but you are different – smaller. You speak differently too.’

‘Titans, miss?’ the sergeant repeated. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Neither do I,’ Lorin admitted. ‘This is all very strange to me. I have never been to Earth before . . .’ She paused. ‘This is Earth, is it not? Honolulu – Hawaii – where Emily is?’

‘You’ve never been to Earth . . .’ the soldier repeated. He stopped and studied her closely. ‘Where do you come from?’

‘Tartarus,’ Lorin answered. ‘But Phoebe told me I was born on Titus. It was Jupiter and the Olympians who locked us in Tartarus. But we are free now. Soon Saturn will claim Olympus and I will go there.’

‘You know about Jupiter and Olympus?’

Lorin nodded. ‘Yes, Saturn is attacking Olympus right now. He wants me to kill Jupiter, but I do not want to do it. I came here to find Emily and become whole, not to kill anyone else.’

‘I’m glad you don’t want to kill,’ the soldier said carefully. ‘If you come with me, maybe we can help you find her.’

Lorin continued to follow the men when her sandal caught in a weed and she stumbled. Before she fell, the sergeant caught her and steadied her. ‘Careful there, it’s easy to trip up here.’

Lorin smiled at him. He was so nice and friendly and was only a little bit scared of her. ‘Tell me, do all Sergeant Walkers dress like you? I saw others down there by the water that looked very different.’

The sergeant gave her a curious expression. ‘We’re soldiers – this is how we dress.’

‘Soldiers,’ Lorin repeated. ‘You said you were a Sergeant Walker.’

The man started to chuckle. ‘No, my name is Walker. I’m David Walker. I’m a sergeant in the United States Army. But you can call me David.’

‘Oh,’ Lorin said, just as confused as ever. ‘I am Lorin.’ Her eyes landed on the item in his hands. ‘Is that a weapon?’

‘Yes,’ David answered, looking at his rifle. ‘A very dangerous weapon.’

‘Why do you need it?’

‘We’re assigned to keep trespassers away from here.’

‘What is a trespasser?’

‘Someone who does not belong here.’

‘Like me?’

The sergeant nodded. ‘But don’t be frightened. I won’t use it on you. We’ll just help you get down from here.’

‘And then we can find Emily?’

‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘Then we’ll find Emily.’

The soldiers accompanied Lorin down a long set of stairs. David Walker stayed at her side and helped her down.

At the bottom, Lorin was escorted into a building and then into a large room. She saw other men in there, watching her with interest. There were two men who were different from the rest. They were dressed in dark clothes and had angry expressions on their faces. Their eyes landed on her and studied her intently. There was something about them that Lorin didn’t like one bit.

They stood before them. ‘Report.’

‘This is Lorin,’ Sergeant Walker said. ‘We found her at the top of Diamond Head. She is very special, and is looking for Emily. She says she is from Tartarus.’

Lorin watched the exchange with interest. David Walker was a bit scared of her. But he was even more scared of them.

‘We’ll take it from here, Sergeant,’ the older of the two men said.

The sergeant nodded. ‘Yes, Agent G.’ He looked at Lorin. ‘These two men will take you to Emily.’

Lorin looked into the predatory eyes of Agent G. She smiled back at the sergeant. ‘No, I prefer you to take me to her.’

‘That’s quite impossible,’ Agent G said. He grabbed her arm roughly.

‘No!’ Lorin’s temper flared and she used her powers to drive the two men across the room. They hit the wall with an explosive contact and crumpled to the floor. ‘I will stay with David Walker!’

The soldiers in the room raised their weapons at her.

‘Stand down!’ the sergeant ordered. He turned to Lorin. ‘You calm down too! You can’t go doing things like that. You will get into trouble.’

She felt his fear increasing. Was it of her, or for her? ‘Do not be frightened of me, David. I would never hurt you. But tell them to stay away from me.’

Lorin walked deeper into the room, ignoring the soldiers that watched her every move. She was fascinated by her surroundings. There were so many strange things here. Lights blazed in the ceiling and on a desk. She held her hand above the bulb and smiled at him. ‘This is not fire, but it is hot?’

Sergeant Walker nodded to his men as they carried the two unconscious CRU agents out of the room. ‘It is a light,’ he said to Lorin. ‘It uses electricity, not fire. Now, would you like to come and sit down beside me?’

Lorin did as she was asked and sat beside the desk. She watched in fascination as Sergeant Walker held a strange device up to his ear and pressed several buttons on a small box. Then he started to speak. She could hear the whole conversation. He was talking to someone called Colonel James and they were discussing her. He told Colonel James that Lorin had just arrived from Tartarus and had flown up to the top of Diamond Head. He said she was looking for Emily who had stolen something from her. He added that the CRU agents were being taken to hospital. Colonel James ordered the sergeant to get Lorin to the Honolulu Zoo as quickly as possible. Priority
Alpha, Alpha One
.

‘What is Honolulu Zoo?’ she asked when Sergeant Walker disconnected the call. ‘And what does Alpha, Alpha One mean?’

The sergeant frowned at her. ‘You heard all that?’

Lorin nodded.

‘My colonel, that is the man I serve, has asked me to bring you to the zoo. It is a very special place and he really wants to meet you.’

‘And Alpha, Alpha One?’

‘That means that you are a very, very special and important girl and he can’t wait to meet you.’

Lorin could sense something from him. He wasn’t telling the whole truth. ‘Is he angry at me because of what I did to those two men?’

‘No, of course not.’ David leaned in closer to her. ‘I don’t think the colonel likes them much either.’

‘Will Emily be there?’

‘I hope so. I do know that they have some very special animals there. In fact, I heard that they have a horse with wings.’

‘Pegasus is there!’ Lorin cried.

The sergeant looked at his men, and then back to Lorin. ‘You know about Pegasus?’

Lorin nodded. ‘I saw him in Emily’s mind. She thinks he belongs to her. But he does not. He is mine.’

As she spoke, Lorin sniffed the air and became distracted by the most overwhelming fragrance. The smell made her stomach rumble. She realized she hadn’t eaten anything in ages and was starving. She rose. As she did, the men at the door stiffened and grasped their weapons. Lorin noticed this, but once again took no notice. Instead she walked over to the next desk. The smell was coming from a large, flat, white box.

‘I said stand down,’ Sergeant Walker said to his men. He walked up to Lorin. ‘Are you hungry? Do you want one?’

When the sergeant opened the box, Lorin almost cried with excitement. She snatched up a small round treat and took her first bite. Flavours exploded in her mouth.

‘These are called doughnuts,’ he explained. He smiled at her. ‘I see you like them.’

‘They are wonderful,’ Lorin said as crumbs flew from her mouth. Before she’d finished the first one, she was starting on a second doughnut. ‘I have never tasted anything so good.’

The sergeant went to a white cupboard and pulled out a tin. He opened the top and held it out to her. ‘Here, drink this and slow down a bit – I don’t want you to choke.’