Prison of Hope (34 page)

CHAPTER
33

T
he journey from central London to Stonehenge is roughly two hours, factoring in traffic and observing pesky little rules like speed limits. Fortunately, we didn’t have to. Within half an hour, we were halfway there, hurtling down the M3 motorway. There really isn’t anything quite like a flashing light and lack of other motorists to ensure you get to your destination in record time.

My phone began to ring, breaking the silence that had settled in the car. “Hi, Sky,” I said after answering it.

“My parents are here,” she said. “Brutus told us you’re on the way to Stonehenge.”

“Let me put you on speaker,” I said and switched my phone over so that Olivia and Tommy could also hear. We’d all decided to take the same car so we’d arrive together. The LOA agents hadn’t been thrilled that only one of them was in the car with Olivia, but none of us had time for arguing, and they’d decided to follow in the second SUV.

“Any good news?” Olivia asked.

“Lucie is trying to get permission for my father to leave
London
,” Sky told us. “She says that someone’s blocking his
permission
to leave.”

“Any idea who?”

“No, but Lucie hasn’t mentioned Cronus once, so whoever it is has no reason to actually do it. Even at short notice, it shouldn’t be as much of an issue as it’s become. Not unless they have an ulterior motive about keeping Cronus active.”

Someone of Hades’s stature had to ask for permission from Avalon to set food on English soil, not including London. It was the same for all of the more powerful beings who had a stake in Avalon but didn’t have anything to do with running its day-to-day operations. It was a fairly standard request, although it usually took a little while to process, because it went to the Shield of Avalon for any objections. It was why Hades had sent Sky to help us deal with the lich problem we’d acquired a few years ago.

Some things can be arranged on short notice, but this usually requires favors being owed. With Lucie’s help, and considering her standing within the SOA and Avalon, Hades’s request should have been pushed through within a few hours, bypassing a lot of red tape. The fact that it was being blocked meant someone with serious power, well above Lucie, was ensuring it didn’t happen. They couldn’t block it forever; any request has to be seen by the highest-ranking SOA members, whether it’s initially turned down or not, but that can take a few weeks.

“I’m not sure I can call in
favors
this time,” Olivia said. “If someone higher than Lucie is involved, I doubt I’d make
any difference.”

By favors, she meant threats. She’d told a few people they didn’t want her as an enemy, and they’d allowed Hades to visit me at Tommy’s place of business.

“That’s fine,” Sky said. “But someone in Avalon didn’t want my dad helping with the lich, and now they’re stopping him from leaving London to help with Cronus.”

There was some muffled whispering. “You’re on loudspeaker,” Sky said a second later.

“Nate”—Hades’s voice came through the phone’s speakers—“you need to keep Cronus occupied. Someone will be there as soon as possible to help.”

“I’ve got LOA agents en route too,” Olivia said.

“Good,” Hades said. “But even with their help, someone will have to go into the well and ensure that Cronus doesn’t keep absorbing magic. Someone has to keep him distracted. And by someone, I mean you, Nate.”

“And how exactly should he do that?” Tommy asked. “By the cunning use of bad language?”

“And why me, exactly?” I chimed in. “Why can’t we just throw everyone at him?”

“Have you ever used a magic well before?” Hades asked.

“No,” I admitted.

“Right, well, the person performing the ritual opens the well, and the magic goes into them, and for the most part, only that person. Anyone else walking in there will have zero abilities. It’s the natural equivalent of my security system.”

“The rune,” I said softly. “I need to use it.”

“Yes. And drawing it on a bunch of people won’t work either. If they’re not as powerful, or not compatible with it, there could be dire consequences.”

“Like people dying?” Tommy asked.

“Like people dying in the most horrific manner possible.”

I began to understand why these runes were hidden, why they had been changed to less powerful versions before being sent into the world. “Anything else I need to know?”

“Once the well is operational nothing nonorganic can get in or out of it without being attached to something organic. So the clothes you’re wearing will be fine, but firing bullets won’t work. The well will just act as an impenetrable barrier.
Even taking the
gun in wouldn’t work unless you were touching each of the pieces individually.”

“Okay, get into the well and stop him,” I repeated. “Not sure I can. I only used the rune for a short time earlier, so didn’t feel any adverse effects. If it needs energy to keep going, then it’s going to start feeding off me. I don’t know if I can stop Cronus before it drains me.”

“Once in the well, you’ll start to absorb excess magic automatically. That should keep the rune activated, but you won’t have long. You need to put Cronus down. Hard. He can only maintain the ritual when stationary and concentrating. Just keep him moving.”

“Okay, will do,” I said.

“And Nate, be very careful. Cronus isn’t someone to underestimate. When he was at full power, it took the combined might of most of the Olympians to stop him.”

“That’s not reassuring, Hades; that’s the opposite
of reassuring.”

“If it helps, we were very young at the time, and Cronus was at full strength.”

“Not even a little bit,” I let him know.

There was silence for a heartbeat.

“Nate,” said Sky. “Please be careful. Dad’s worried. He doesn’t like to show it, but I know when something is concerning him. Cronus won’t go down easily. He’s got too much invested. He wants too much.”

I said good-bye and the phone went dead just as we began the drive toward the Stonehenge visitor center. In the distance, where the henge itself stood, a column of green light rose high into the clouds above. Cronus had already started the ritual.

The car stopped and we all got out, with three LOA agents who were already at Stonehenge, moving up to talk to Olivia. All wore combat armor and carried SA80 combat rifles. “He’s surrounded by armed men,” one of them reported to her. “We’ve tried engaging, but there’s no cover for about a hundred yards from the road.”

“We need to create a space for Nate to get into the well,” Olivia told them.

“Ma’am, no offense, but I’m not sure why anyone would willingly go in there. From what I understand, the only person who could be in there and still have access to their abilities is the person performing the ritual.”

“Do you have a pen?” I asked. “Permanent ink, like a Sharpie, would be better.”

The LOA officer opened a pocket on his armored jacket and removed a small pen, passing it to me.

I drew the rune on the back of my hand and passed the
pen back.

“Right, I’m good to go,” I said.

“It’s a five-minute ride to the stones,” the officer told us.

We climbed back into the SUV, and the three officers stood on the running boards and hung on to the car. We waited for a few seconds before we were off once more, and I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do.

“You’ll be fine,” Tommy said.

“Sure, it’s just one little guy who people used to worship as a god. No biggy.”

The car stopped beside some sort of visitor center, and we all piled out. There was a steep slope beside us, and well over a dozen cars sat in a semicircle around a large number of
LOA agents.

“So, what do we know?” Olivia asked.

An agent with the name “Scott” embroidered on his breast walked over to us. He had a balaclava pulled up to show his face, which was thin and hadn’t been shaved in some time. He looked angry about something. “It started twenty minutes ago. Cronus appeared and simply walked through the few men who’d arrived by then. By the time we’d got here, he’d had already had ten minutes to set up the ritual without
interruption
. We engaged and were attacked with small arms fire. There’s a ring of heavily armed people surrounding Stonehenge. From what we’ve heard from witnesses, they were already here, waiting
for Cronus.”

“Those people with Cronus are mostly likely Vanguard,” Tommy told him. “Although I’d expected them to run off when Cronus escaped.”

“Frankly, sir, I don’t give a flying fuck who they are,” he said. “They opened fire on my men and seriously hurt two of them. If I have to sit here all night, that’s something they’re going to pay for.” He turned to me. “You’re the one who needs to get in there. You capable of stopping him?”

“No idea. But if I don’t try, a lot of people are going to die before the next few days are over.”

“That’ll do, I guess.”

“I assume you have a plan,” Olivia said.

The agent brought us to a nearby table, which contained a large map of the immediate area. “The Vanguard members have placed a barricade of cars between us and the well. Also, once you’re in that well, what’s stopping them from just shooting at you?”

“The bullets can’t pass into the well,” I explained. “And any Vanguard trying to get in there will die. Just get me in there; I’ll do the rest. You guys just need to take the Vanguard out. If all of this works and I stop Cronus, that well will collapse. I don’t want to be a sitting duck for a lot of pissed off, heavily armed nutcases.” I spoke with about as much confidence as I could muster.

Something in my tone must have sounded a little off, because the agent raised an eyebrow in question, but he soon looked back at the table. “If we can create enough hell, you can sneak in here.” He pointed to two spots on the map.

“I have another idea,” Tommy said with a grin that meant it was not an idea I would enjoy.

“And that would be?” Olivia asked.

“I noticed you have a helicopter,” Tommy said to the LOA agent.

“I’m not jumping out of a helicopter,” I told everyone. They all completely ignored me and instead started working out exactly
how
I was going to jump out of said helicopter.

I’m sure I’ve said it before, but my friends suck. They suck h
ard eno
ugh that when I was getting fitted with a parachute and loaded onto a helicopter, no one listened to me as I pointedly reiterated the fact that I did not wish to jump out of the fucking thing.

I watched as the second part of Tommy’s glorious plan came to fruition, namely the part where the agents stood well back and shot at the Vanguard from the relative safety of being on t
he ground.

“You done this before?” asked an agent who was sitting in the rear of the Eurocopter with me.

“Once or twice. Not in one of these, though.”

“The EC145 is excellent. Loads of room back here.”

Indeed there was tons of room in the back of the helicopter, plenty to put five or six people without too much trouble. He glanced out of the window and then turned back to me. “We’re just over a thousand feet high, got a bit more to climb. You’ll
be jumpin
g at fifteen hundred feet.”

“Screw you, Tommy,” I whispered, which caused the agent to laugh as he heard it through my microphone.

“Not a fan of heights.”

“Mostly I’m not a fan of hitting the ground at speed
from
a great height.”

“You’ll be fine. By the time you reach the ground, you’ll be gliding in beautifully. Now, this won’t be like a normal jump. You’ve got only a few hundred feet before you need to deploy, or you’ll hit the ground too hard. When your altimeter says it’s time to release the chute, do so. Don’t fuck around with this; you won’t have long before you reach the height you need to be at, so pay attention.” He tapped the altimeter strapped to my wrist. “You’re wearing a base-jump parachute, it should make things smoother from this height. You’re lucky we have them.”

Lucky! I didn’t bloody well feel all that lucky.

“We also can’t take you too close to the landing zone,” he continued, “because we’d crash once we touch that magic well. Same for you. If you go into it too early, you’re going to drop like a stone. Try to avoid the gunfire. I think everyone below is keeping the Vanguard busy, but if any of them look up they might see you, despite the outfit.”

I’d been given some black armor similar to that used by the Faceless. Hopefully, the fact that it was touching my skin would mean it wouldn’t vanish the second I hit the well. I didn’t really want to fight Cronus in my boxer shorts and socks.

The agent pulled open the helicopter’s door and motioned for me to come close, which I did as my stomach decided to flip up and down.
Do not vomit,
I demanded of myself.

“You ready?” the agent shouted.

Am I ready? Am I fuck!
Instead, I raised my thumb, although the middle finger almost popped up too.