Pandora (Book 3) (The Omega Group) (12 page)

Mirissa’s heart raced as she frantically scanned the area.
Beck crouched beside the stone floor of Apollo’s temple, covering an unconscious
Orano with her shield. There was no sign of Daedric or Greco.

Where the hell are
they?

As soon as she’d completed the thought, an invisible force
lifted her off her feet and slammed her into the ruins that descended down the
side of the mountain below the temple. Unable to catch her breath as she
righted herself, Mirissa fought through the pain caused by her ribs that were
no doubt cracked.

“Is that the best you got, Daedric?” she yelled, though her
new injury took most of the power out of it. Her ribs would heal quickly, but
not quickly enough. “Show yourself, you coward.”

Every step she took toward the temple sent a stab of pain
through her chest that proved difficult to ignore. The tingling in her ring
finger which had diminished when she was hurled down the mountain, resumed when
she once again reached the plateau.
What
are you trying to tell me?

A slight movement from behind the tallest of the ancient
pillars lining the edge of the temple caught her attention. Bracing herself for
the excruciating pain she knew would come, Mirissa flung her right arm out,
sending a blast of energy to the only part of Daedric visible to her—his butt.
A smile graced her lips as she watched him tumble backward, yelping at the
unexpected hit.

Pressing her advantage, Mirissa charged the temple, leaping
up to the stone platform and preparing for her next attack. But, as soon as her
feet hit the rock floor, an overwhelming sensation enveloped her. Her ring’s
snake grew, spiraling up her arm as it had done many times before, but she
barely noticed. The scene around her was changing, the same way it had in
Pella. The ancient ruins were still there, but superimposed on top of them were
the images of the site as it must have looked thousands of years ago.

Intricately carved
stone walls
and
a myriad of statues surrounded Mirissa. Behind her, where Orano still lay, a
small group of men kneeled with their heads bowed. An old woman, sitting on an
uncomfortable-looking tripod, swayed back and forth while chanting words
Mirissa couldn’t understand. The bitter smell of something she couldn’t
identify filled the room.

Mirissa, knowing she would soon lose her advantage over
Daedric, shook her head to rid herself of the unwanted images of the past. It
almost worked. As quickly as the scene had grown around her, it fell away to
reveal an empty mountain plateau: no temple, no man-made structures of any
kind. How far back in time the image came from, Mirissa didn’t know. But before
she could even hazard a guess, a flash of light erupted a few feet in front of
her. It seared her eyes almost as much as the lightning strike had done on
Mount Olympus. Glowing white orbs bounced around the inside of her eyelids as
she squeezed them shut against the light. When she felt stable enough to open
them again, she was no longer alone.

A beautiful man, easily almost seven feet tall, wearing a
white tunic cinched at the waist, stood before her. Mirissa instinctively knew
exactly what he was. A god. Which god he was, she had no idea, just that he
radiated the same awesome power she’d felt when Ares and Artemis had popped in
on them at Ortega.

She watched as he pulled a long, curved sword from his tunic
and held it in front of him. Blood dripped from its blade, soaking the ground
at his feet. Mirissa scrunched her nose as the same bitter smell—stronger this
time—assailed her. In one swift move, the god drove the sword into the dirt,
leaving only the blood-soaked ground to mark its burial place.

A self-satisfied grin spread across his face as he rose up
to his full intimidating height. His gaze scanned the area around him, pausing
when it crossed her. The grin immediately fell away, replaced by a look she
could only describe as confusion.

Could he see her? Could that even be possible? Before she
could come up with any explanation, pain exploded in her head as a man-sized
chunk of ruin pummeled her left shoulder, almost tearing off her ear. The scene
around her instantly returned to the present day as another man-sized
object—this time Greco—drove his shoulder into her chest, pushing them both
over the edge of the temple floor.

Mirissa screamed in pain as her ribs almost collapsed under
the force of the blow. She tried to stand, but couldn’t push herself past her
knees. Her head hung low as she took short, quick breaths, each one bringing
more pain than the last.

“What the hell happened, Mirissa?” Greco yelled. “You had
him!”

“I … I can’t ...” The words wouldn’t come out, so she gave
up trying. Instead she focused all of her energy on breathing through the pain.
She used her right arm, still wrapped in her shimmering green snake, to push
herself up. Dizzy from not taking a full breath in far too long, Mirissa rested
her hands on her knees, halfway to a standing position.

Greco grabbed her shoulders and yanked her the rest of the
way up. “What’s going on with you?”

Mirissa cringed as she spat out the words through clenched
teeth. “Ribs … broken.”

Had she not been in so much pain, she might have laughed at
Greco’s look of guilt and shame. “God, I’m sorry. That rock almost took your
head off and I didn’t think. I just needed to get you away from Daedric. If his
aim had been better, you’d be dead already.”

The relief of not being assaulted anymore allowed Mirissa to
fully regain her awareness. “I have to stop him.” She forced herself to take a
step, then another, and another, until the agony would let her go no further,
and she crumpled to the ground.

Greco held her shoulders, gently this time. “Stay here. Beck
and Orano and I will keep him busy until you’re healed enough to move safely.
You can use your telekinesis from here, without having to move a muscle. Take
advantage of that power.” Before she could argue, Greco sprinted around to the
back side
of the temple where Beck was crouched.

Didn’t he know she needed to actually see what she was doing
when she used her powers? The retaining wall that kept the temple floor from
crumbling down the mountainside, towered above her, blocking her view of
everything above.
Here goes nothing,
she thought, hoping Greco wouldn’t plow into her again when he saw what she’d
done.

She teleported to the one place she knew would allow her to
protect her team: the temple floor. Forcing herself to ignore the string of
curses coming from Greco, she focused her mind on aiding Beck, who now held a
shield over Daedric. Sweat dripped from her brow as she fought to keep the
barrier in place under the onslaught of Daedric’s telekinetic fury. Mirissa
could see by the expression on Beck’s face that her strength was seriously
waning. The shield would fall soon.

Taking as deep a breath as she could tolerate, Mirissa
readied herself for her very first entirely non-physical battle. Although her
powers were a natural part of her, she’d never solely relied on them in a fight.
Even when she did use them, she always used physical movements to focus them.
Both Greco and her father had tried to convince her it wasn’t necessary, but it
felt more real to her to connect the powers of her mind with those of her body.

Except for right now.

Mirissa gingerly placed both of her hands underneath her,
sitting on them in an effort to restrain herself. One more semi-deep breath,
and she conjured a mini whirlwind of small rocks, twigs, and other debris from
the ground.
So far, so good.
With
Daedric safely trapped inside Beck’s shield, at least for the moment, Mirissa
continued to test herself. Keeping the debris cyclone hovering in place, she
focused her mind on lifting the large chunk of rock that had almost killed her
a few moments ago. As soon as it rose into the air, her cyclone dissipated.

She jerked at her trapped hands, groaning at the pain the
movement caused, before convincing herself not to give up. The little tornado
once again roared into place, while the enormous rock raised itself slowly off
the floor. Just a few inches, but it didn’t matter. She could do this.

“I can’t hold him anymore,” Beck yelled as a blast of
telekinetic power launched her over the retaining wall.

Mirissa propelled the cyclone to where Daedric stood, only
to have it disintegrate with a flick of his wrist. Undaunted, she flung the
chunk of rock she’d been levitating at his head. It didn’t make actual contact,
as he simply used his own powers to bat it away, but it did make him falter.

Trying once again to press her advantage, she lifted every
piece of rock she could see that wasn’t part of a building and drove them at
Daedric, one at a time, until he bellowed in anger.

That same bitter smell from her earlier visions assailed her
again. Her ring’s snake, still wrapped around her arm, began to expand and
contract with every beat of her heart. A warmth radiated from its body,
spreading through hers. The fear of being pulled into another vision increased
her heart rate exponentially. She found herself panting at the effort to keep focused
on hurling projectiles.

It doesn’t hurt
,
she thought with surprise. Every breath she’d taken since her ribs cracked had
filled her with excruciating pain. But now, even panting heavily, she felt
nothing. She shouldn’t have healed that quickly.

With renewed strength, Mirissa bolted to her feet. She felt
a new power filling every cell of her being. She didn’t know where it came from
but didn’t really care at the moment. All that mattered was taking Daedric
down, once and for all.

********

Daedric’s rage erupted through him as he deflected the
multitude of rocks and stones cascading down on him. It took far more effort
than it should have. His nemesis, as Ares had taken to calling Mirissa, was
getting stronger with every passing second, while he got weaker. So much so,
her power threatened to dwarf his own if he couldn’t stop her soon.

It felt as though the entire mountain rumbled under his
feet. Cracks in the two thousand-year-old temple foundation cleaved their way
through the stone, toppling two of the ancient pillars. He raised his arms to
erect a force field between him and the girl, hoping to block at least some of
her barrage.

It didn’t work. One blast of her energy, and the invisible
barrier disintegrated as quickly as it had formed. Although the admission
filled him with rage, Daedric knew he would lose this battle. His only hope was
to escape and come back at a later time.

A ball of energy, bright enough to illuminate half of the
temple, shattered the darkness around him. The big one must have finally
regained consciousness.
I should have
torn his head off when I had the chance.

Daedric threw another shield in place to give himself enough
time to teleport without being pummeled. Just before he did so, the light from
another incoming energy ball reflected off something at the base of a newly
formed crack in the temple floor. He reached out with his mind and drew the
item to him from the earth.

The scythe felt warm in his hand, as though it had always
been meant to be held by him. In a wink, he was gone.

“What the hell was that?” Mirissa asked nobody in
particular. The awesome power she’d been drawing from seemed to have faded the
instant Daedric disappeared with the weird curved sword. Although she remained
fully healed and had use of all of her abilities, she felt nowhere near as
strong as she’d been mere moments before.

She’d gone up against Daedric several times without feeling
that kind of boost, so she knew he hadn’t caused it. Then what had? The only
plausible explanation was the strange looking sword. She’d seen it in her
vision and, as soon as he’d taken it away, everything had gone back to normal.

She turned to face her team. Although exhausted and perhaps
a little disappointed they’d come up empty-handed, they looked none the worse
for wear. “Thank you, guys. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”

“That’s an understatement,” Orano said, absently stroking
his throat. “But, your powers are definitely getting stronger. No way
you could
have beaten him back that way before.”

“About that,” Mirissa began. “I don’t think it was actually
me. I mean, they were my abilities, but something else was increasing their
strength. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Greco came to her side, eyeing her still-extended snake. “It
could be your ring. Its powers grow with yours.”

Mirissa shook her head. “No. The ring felt like it was being
infused from an outside source as well. This is going to sound crazy, but I
think it was the curved sword Daedric took out of the ground. When I first
stepped on this floor, I had another experience like the one at Pella. I saw
this place back in its heyday, Oracle and all. Then I went back even further.
One of the gods buried that sword in the ground, right where Daedric found it.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

Greco pulled the key from around his neck and handed it back
to her. “That might explain why the key didn’t react to this place at all. After
you engaged with Daedric, I zigzagged around pretty much the whole area and got
nothing.”

“So, he wasn’t here for the box. He came for the sword,”
Mirissa said.

“Looks that way,” he said. “But if it belonged to a god, why
was it still here? This place has been built and rebuilt several times. Not to
mention the hundreds of archeologists that have been scouring every inch of
these ruins. There’s no way the sword you saw in your vision is the same one
Daedric took.”

Beck cleared her throat from behind them. “Um, it might be
possible. Every time they rebuilt this place, they did so to repair damage
caused by plunderers. They kept as much of the original temple as they could.
And as for the archeologists, their whole job is to preserve these ruins. Look
around, guys. We destroyed an entire corner of an ancient temple,
pillars
and all. That’s what caused the sword to be
uncovered.”

For the first time since Daedric disappeared, Mirissa
looked—really looked—at what she’d done. Not only had she basically handed
Daedric the very thing he wanted, but one of the world’s most famous ancient
landmarks had been irreparably damaged. “The Greek government is gonna be
pissed.”

*******

Flip leaned his forehead
against the cold stone of the top row of the amphitheater. He’d arrived just as
Daedric launched Mirissa down the side of the mountain. It had taken all of his
willpower to not return the favor to the miserable half-breed, but he couldn’t
risk alerting any of them to his presence. All he could do was watch as his
friends—his only friends—got their asses kicked.

When Mirissa had leapt up
to the temple floor after knocking Daedric back, Flip thought she might have a
shot. But she’d just stood there, frozen. He’d been screaming silently at her
to
do something
, but she didn’t. If
he hadn’t risked exposure by redirecting the massive stone Daedric had hurled
at her, she’d have been killed.

But that wasn’t what had
Flip so concerned.

He’d realized something
odd was happening after Mirissa teleported to the center of the temple floor.
She’d obviously been in pain, judging by her stilted movements and the scowl on
her face, but then she’d jumped up like nothing was wrong. She raised her arms,
and all Hades broke loose.

Flip knew of her powers,
but that display exhibited a force far beyond any capabilities she’d previously
possessed. She’d dominated Daedric, thoroughly. Although he hated the demi-god
and had many choice words to describe him,
weak
didn’t make the list. No, something else was going on.

And when Daedric drew the
blade from the earth below the temple, Flip understood all too well.

The demi-god had somehow
located Zeus’s scythe, which meant every god on Olympus, not to mention the
other pantheons, could be killed.