The Black God (#2, Damian Eternal Series) (37 page)

Realizing my five minutes were up, I lifted
my feet and dried them on my pants legs then replaced my shoes and
socks. I didn’t feel nearly as urgent about returning to the forest
where I’d spent most of my life and ambled back. It was strange,
but I could almost feel the tide of the lake still moving through
me, rocking from toes to head and back again before rustling the
grass around me. It was gentle, soothing and peaceful. I was an
extension of the water, and it felt natural, nice.

I had nothing to compare
the experience to and couldn’t help wondering if I’d spent my
entire life cut off from such small pleasures. It made me despise
the nymphs even more, since they probably spent every
weekend
feeling
whatever this was out in the real world.

Stepping over the red rope, the internal
rocking stopped, and I realized it hadn’t only been the lake I
felt. The breeze that stirred the surface of the lake stopped at
the barrier, too, and its gentle touch on my skin fell away.

I missed them almost as soon as I left them.
Facing the lake once more, I smiled. If nothing else, I now knew
one of the secrets of the world outside my boundaries, and it was
beautiful.

Beyond happy with my secret adventure, I
moved five meters from the cord to an area big enough for a fire
and built a little campsite. My assigned kit contained a canteen of
water and the ingredients for s’mores. Herakles’ thoughtfulness
only added to my happiness. I went through my tasks of finding
shelter, starting a fire and stretching out on the ground to watch
the stars with a smile plastered on my face. After my treats, I let
the fire die out and retreated to a small shelter I’d created from
a poncho and tree branches. I had brought a sleeping bag and
crawled into it.

My mind was on the lake, on my future and
how incredible it was going to be to leave the compound once and
for all and join the rest of the world. I slid into deep, contented
sleep.

Something awoke me shortly before dawn. I
opened my eyes, senses trained on the world outside my makeshift
tent. Animals used their instincts and intuition better than
humans, and Herakles had emphasized being more like the locals when
camping out. So I listened in silence and stillness.

An animal was rustling quietly, but it
wasn’t close, and it wasn’t in the forest, which meant it was large
if I could hear it this far off. The sounds came from the direction
of the lake. I crept out of my sleeping bag and covered the
distance quickly between me and the boundary. Reaching the stump
where I often perched to gaze at the lake, I squatted on top of it
and stared.

It was an animal, but nothing like I’d seen
before. Monster was probably a better description. The creature had
a wingspan of ten meters and was the size of a linebacker with the
long, lean musculature and grace of a feline. It stood on two legs
and had two arms that looked pretty human. The sound I heard was of
its long tail tapping the brush lining the bank of the lake. Its
skin was an unnatural shade of stone grey. One of its ears stuck
out at an odd angle and its eyes glowed like blue jewels in the
night. It had fangs, talons, and a barbed tail, and its eyes were
positioned facing forward, all of which were characteristics of a
predator of some sort and not something I cared to confront.

It stood where I had sat earlier, peering at
the lake, at the surrounding area, at the sky. It crouched beside
the lake, tail tapping against the dirt.

It was horrifying – and magnificent. I
couldn’t have imagined a more incredible combination of man and
beast. The raw power it exuded in each tiny, controlled movement
exceeded anything a human or traditional predator possessed.

This is a dream.
It had to be. No such creature existed, unless it
was some sort of undiscovered animal or leftover dinosaur. And if
that were the case, I didn’t think this would be the first time I’d
seen it. I spent too many days and nights in the forest for it to
belong here. Where it had originated, and why it chose here to
stop, I couldn’t begin to guess.

There was intelligence in its movement and
visual exploration of the environment. The man-beast hybrid wasn’t
something I was able to explain away. I pinched my arm to ensure I
was awake. The light sting wasn’t much of a reassurance when faced
with a monster from a nightmare.

It stood and unfurled its wings. They were
charcoal in color, lined with black fur, beautiful and wide, shaped
neither like a bat’s nor a bird’s but something in between. With
ease that left me astonished, one flap of the mighty wings
propelled the creature into the sky effortlessly. Within seconds,
it had disappeared into the clouds above.

For once, I was grateful for the red cords
marking the boundaries of the property. The priests claimed they
would protect us from unwanted attention. The creature hadn’t
glanced once in my direction, which made me think the ropes were
working. Or maybe I was blessed by Tyche for once.

I stood on the tree stump, trying to get
another glimpse of the beast in the clouds without success.

My gaze returned to the lake. What other
surprises awaited me in the outside world? Was this creature the
reason why the priests insisted I never cross the boundaries and if
so, had I risked being eaten or killed when I left the forest
earlier for the lake?

I shuddered, this time out of dread. If the
priests knew, the creature would be on the list of animals to avoid
they kept posted in the main schoolhouse as a warning of what
wildlife not to engage.

No one, except maybe
Herakles, was going to believe me if I told them about the
creature. Easing back from the edge of the property, I returned to
my shelter but wasn’t able to sleep again, not with the knowledge
something like
that
was hovering in the clouds above the forest. I silently
thanked Herakles for his survival training and insistence I carry a
knife with me wherever I went. I clutched it in my hand and
remained still until dawn swept across the sky. Only then did I
start to relax again and packed up my tent.

Bad things didn’t happen during daylight, I
told myself. I clung to the childish notion and decided to disobey
Herakles for a second time.

I was going back to the school today without
completing my assigned treasure hunt. There was no way I was
spending another night in the forest while some creature big enough
to eat me was on the loose. Bears were one thing, but this … this
was something even I knew better than to mess with.

It was a four hour trek back to the center
of the property. I hiked through the forest, always sensitive to
the fact there were creatures that lived here. While I’d catch and
eat them if I had to, I also wasn’t going to disturb their daily
lives by leaving messes or destroying their homes. Herakles was
strict about appreciating and respecting the domain of Artemis and
Dionysis and all their children.

My mind kept returning to the creature. I
wasn’t able to flush the image of the terrifying creature standing
beside the lake from my thoughts. It didn’t seem to be a part of
nature, yet it had to be. Everything was, except for the gods and
goddesses, who were still part of nature, just a different nature
from ours.

Lost in thought, I didn’t notice the drone
of an airplane until it roared overhead. I looked up, unaccustomed
to hearing them quite so low, but not alarmed to see the plane. A
municipal airport was nearby. It was how the priests brought in
guest speakers and other visitors from outside the area.

Unconcerned, I continued on my hike, unable
to prevent the occasional look over my shoulder. I’d hear the
creature if it was following me, but similarly to my hope that bad
things didn’t happen during the day, I wasn’t fully convinced.

The tip of the roof of the manor house was
soon visible through the trees. Suddenly, the ground beneath my
feet quaked. I caught myself against a tree and was about to curse
under my breath when an explosion ripped through the air. Fire
belched into the sky from the direction of the compound. I stared
at it and the black smoke chasing it before bolting towards
home.

My heart filled my ears, and I mentally went
through one of the checklists Herakles forced me to recite during
exercises. I was assessing what the sound was and how many priests
were present during the weekend when I reached the edge of the
greens and stopped.

The mansion was in flames. The small plane
had smashed straight into it before exploding. Smoke billowed off
the building into the sky while two priests in brown robes stood,
stunned, in the greens. I hesitated only a moment before racing to
them.

“
Father Cristopolos!” I
cried.

Both faced me. “Thank the gods,” Father
Cristopolos breathed. The eldest of the priests, he was around
fifty, bald and beefy.

“
Are you hurt? Herakles and
I have a stash of medical –”

“
Come with me.” Rather than
race towards the fire and those who might need help, Father
Cristopolos snatched my arm and hurried towards the forest, back
from the direction I just came.

“
But – ” I twisted, worried
about those who might be trapped in the wreckage or
fire.

“
You are not to leave the
forest!”

“
Father, I can
–”

“
You are not to leave the
forest!” This time he squeezed my arm tightly enough that my
attention went from what was happening behind us to his face. His
features were blanched, his eyes bulging and jaw clenched so hard,
the muscles of his cheeks ticked.

We reached the forest, and he pushed me
behind the tree line. Whipping off the red cord belt he wore, he
tossed it at the edge of the greens.

“
Do not cross the
boundary,” he ordered.

“
What? But –”

“
Alessandra!” He snatched
both my arms and shook me until I met his gaze. “Do not step past
the boundary or all we have done here for the past twelve years is
destroyed.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but
his face and unusual intensity scared me. The normally calm priest
was freaking out. “Okay,” I said, concerned. “Do you want to know
where our medical stash is?”

“
We have our own.” Without
another word, he whirled and hurried back to join the other priest,
who had moved to help a third stumble out of the collapsing
building.

I watched helplessly, hating to be excluded
like usual. The red belt near my feet was expanding and stretching
the way the boundaries did whenever the priests adjusted them.
There was some sort of magic in the cords, and the red rope snaked
quickly away to outline the perimeter of the greens. I didn’t
understand the importance of a barrier that didn’t actually prevent
people from coming and going and paced, aching to help.

It wasn’t the apocalypse, but I was trained
for emergency response and dressing wounds caused by pretty much
anything.

Instead, I was sidelined again by the
priests, left out when I should have been helping.

All of the nymphs and most of the staff were
in town for the day. The five priests who stayed back were soon all
accounted for with only one injured. I watched them huddle and
speak, guessing they needed to figure out how to house thirty
nymphs now that a plane had gone done in the middle of the
compound. The building imploded completely into piles of rubble
while everything that could burn continued to do so.

I stressed about wanting to help until the
fire department came and put out the blaze. One priest was taken
away in an ambulance while the others were checked out by
paramedics and released.

I stayed in the forest, saddened to see my
home of twelve years destroyed while also hoping this was the
impetus to enter the real world and go to a hotel for the rest of
the weekend.

I nibbled on food I’d taken for my camping
trip. The firemen left the smoldering ruins of our home around one,
and I stared glumly at the scene before me. I began to think the
priests had forgotten about me when Father Cristopolos pointed in
my direction.

Perking up, I stood as my favorite priest,
Father Ellis, headed towards me.

“
Is Father Thiebauld okay?”
I asked immediately.

“
His arm was broken and he
had some burns,” Father Ellis replied. “But he will be fine. The
EMTs said he’d be released tonight.”

“
And the rest of
you?”

“
We are well, Lyssa,” he
assured me.

“
Why wouldn’t Father
Cristopolos let me help?” I demanded. “I know how to handle this
situation.” Well, I thought I did at least. Herakles always said I
was too eager to want to try my hand at disaster, that there were
things I would never understand until I went through
them.

Father Ellis smiled. “I know,” he said
kindly.

Mollified, I drew a deep breath. “No
survivors from the plane?”

“
There was no one to
survive. The plane crash was meant to break the boundaries. Hence
the new one.” He pointed to the red cord near my feet.

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Someone did
this on purpose?”

“
Lyssa, I need to ask you
something, and I need you to tell me the truth,” he said
quietly.

“
I always do.”

“
Did you leave the
boundaries at any point recently? Or ever?”

My flushing face answered his question.

“
I need to know when and
where,” he said.

“
Does it matter right now?
I mean, shouldn’t we figure out where we’re going to put all the
nymphs? I doubt they can survive in the forest,” I pointed
out.