Pandora (Book 3) (The Omega Group) (9 page)

The drive to Mount Olympus was less than enjoyable.
Sandwiched between Orano and a very sullen Greco in the back seat of their
rental car, Mirissa made idle conversation to pass the time. Greco simply
stared out the window. It would most likely end up being a wasted trip, but on
the off chance there was something there—a flashing sign pointing the way to a
secret entrance to the land of the gods, perhaps—they had to go.

When they arrived in the small town of Litochoro at the base
of the mountain, Mirissa was more than ready to escape the confines of the car.
Warm air filled her lungs as she stretched out her cramped limbs and took in
the beautiful scenery around her.

The town felt as though it belonged in a Thomas Kincaid painting.
The old ceramic tile-roofed buildings surrounded flat stone streets, with the
incredible twin peaks of the mountain framing the entire area. If she were to
look up the word “quaint” in a dictionary, Mirissa felt pretty sure a picture
of that town would be there. Even the electrical storm, still raging from the
night before, added to the picturesque quality.

“All right guys, grab your backpacks and let’s go,” her
father said. He was definitely in his element on this excursion. Being a former
Navy SEAL, he had plenty of experience traversing difficult terrain and, as
such, Myrine chose him to lead their expedition.

The sheer number of tourists joining them on the trail
surprised Mirissa. The weather had gotten worse overnight, with harsh winds
blowing dust and debris everywhere. She’d assumed most of the people still looking
to commune with the gods on their home turf, even with the looming apocalypse,
would take the easy way. After all, the trail they were on ended halfway up the
mountain in Prionia—a destination easily reachable by car—and it wasn’t an easy
hike.

Fortunately, they were able to escape the masses about an
hour in, when they diverted south toward Daedric’s last known whereabouts. That
was where things got tricky. While the busy trail was steep with several
switchbacks, the rest of their trek would be through the natural rocks and
vegetation.

“According to the GPS, Daedric dropped off the map about a
half mile south of here. Watch your footing,” Steve said as he pulled back a tree
branch to allow the others to pass.

“Do we have any idea what we’re supposed to be looking for?”
Orano’s enormous build was not conducive to that kind of hiking, and his mood
soured with every passing minute.

“Nope,” Myrine said. “Hopefully, we’ll know it when we see
it.”

“If there’s even anything there,” Orano grumbled.

When they reached the location, Myrine’s optimism seemed to
wane. The area looked no different than any other on the mountain. “Split up
and search every inch. There must be something here, or else why would Daedric
have chosen this place to cross out of our dimension?”

Mirissa knew her mother was right, considering Daedric could
teleport anywhere he wanted, but she still felt hesitant.
 
An uneasy feeling plagued her, as though
someone was watching her. It was similar to the feeling she got every time she
visited Tritonia, but with more of a sinister edge.
My imagination is getting the better of me.

They each focused on a different area and began their
search. Orano took the group of trees to the south, while Myrine and Greco went
to the east and west. They were inspecting trunks and branches and brushing
away fallen leaves and debris to better see the ground. Mirissa and her father
decided to scour the gigantic monolith. They’d passed similar rock formations
on their way, and each reminded Mirissa of a compound fracture—as though the
mountain’s bones were breaking, and the jagged ends were pushing through its
surface.

Starting on opposite sides,
Mirissa
and her father began the arduous task of scrutinizing the rock’s surface. Small
bushes and weeds sprouted from the stone in several places, making the job even
more difficult.
How do they grow in rock,
anyway?
There were so many crevices and protrusions that the twenty-foot-long
area she needed to search felt like a mile. She’d barely covered a quarter of
it when her mother and Orano finished their sections and joined in. Greco, who
completed his area a short time later, chose to help Steve.

The closer they got to completion without finding anything
even remotely close to a clue, the stronger Mirissa’s uneasiness became. Jumping
at the occasional clap of thunder, she darted her eyes back and forth as though
the source of the lightning could be an unseen enemy.

“Nothing,” her mother said, as they finished their
inspection.

Greco spoke for the first time since leaving the hotel.
“What if we’re looking in the wrong spot?”

Steve pulled out his GPS and double-checked their
coordinates. “No, we’re definitely in the right place.”

“But GPS only tells us latitude and longitude. It doesn’t
tell us elevation.” Greco raised his gaze to the upper portion of the monolith.

“Of course! That actually makes more sense.” Myrine looked
seriously excited.

“Um, why exactly?” Mirissa asked.

“These rock formations are intrusions. Basically, they
formed out of molten lava under the surface of the earth, but didn’t erode the
same way the other rock and soil did. Even though they look like they grew out
of the ground, it’s really that the ground around them eroded away.” Myrine
eyed each of them as though expecting someone to understand her words. “Ah, you
guys aren’t up on your geology. In a nutshell, this thing has gotten taller
over the years as the ground got lower.
 
What used to be at eye level in ancient times, could be way up there
now.”

Mirissa’s father sprouted a goofy grin. “Have you been
reading the encyclopedia again, honey?”

“Very funny,” Myrine quipped. “How are we going to get up
there to look?”

Mirissa raised her hand. “We don’t need to. I can magnify my
vision and see it all from down here.” Expanding her senses gave Mirissa the
ability to hear and see things no human could. She’d spent much of the last few
months training herself to be able to focus whatever sense she was expanding
without being overwhelmed. Vision was the easiest one for her to control, and
hearing the most difficult. She had a hard time blocking out the ambient noises
around her and narrowing the auditory capabilities to a single target. She’d
also worked on expanding her sense of smell but quickly put that training on
the back burner after being inundated with odors she never wanted to experience
again.

She focused on the rock at a spot just above their heads,
slowly bringing forth her ability. The area grew in size and detail until a
space measuring a few inches square filled her field of view. She backed the
expansion off a little to allow her to study a sample as large as she would
have if it had been located at ground level.

“I’ve got it. Make yourselves comfortable. This is gonna
take a while.” Mirissa worked in a pattern—up three squares, over one, down
three, repeat. Without the benefit of being able to see the entire rock
formation, she needed to proceed that way to ensure she didn’t miss anything and
to keep track of where she was looking.

When she finished her first pass, she moved her gaze up and
started over again. The work was tedious, evidenced by the headache threatening
to split her skull, but she pushed herself to continue with only a few short
breaks.

One block of space on her third pass gave her pause. A small
crevice with an unusual shape bisected the area. Following the jagged line, its
likeness became clear. “I might have something. There’s a lightning bolt carved
into the stone. It’s too perfect to be natural—

Mirissa’s headache exploded as a blinding flash of light
erupted above her. Her eyes felt like they’d been dropped into a deep fryer and,
even with her eyelids squeezed shut, the pain wouldn’t subside. Her knees gave
out, and the only thing that stopped her from slamming to the ground was a pair
of strong arms suddenly wrapped around her. Her mother let out a scream filled
with terror, but Mirissa couldn’t push through the agony enough to form words
that would placate her.

Just give me a minute,
Mom,
she thought.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain lessened to a
point where Mirissa felt she could risk opening her eyes. What she saw through
the glowing orbs still obscuring her vision, stopped her heart.

“Dad!” She tore free of Greco’s grasp and scrambled to her
mother’s side. The lightning, all but blinding her when it struck, had broken a
large piece of the rock formation away.

That chunk now crushed her bloodied, unconscious father.

The surgeon from the small hospital in Litochoro entered the
cramped waiting area with a concerned look on his face. It was an expression
Mirissa had seen on every television doctor who approached a soon-to-be
grieving family.

“Your husband is out of surgery, and we’re moving him to ICU
now.” The surgeon’s thick Greek accent made it difficult to understand his
words, but his meaning remained clear. “He suffered severe crush injuries to
his chest, abdomen, and left arm—in addition to head trauma.”

“But he’s going to recover,” Mirissa’s mother said as more
of a statement than a question.

“His injuries are quite severe, Mrs. Colson. We’ve done
everything we can, but I’m afraid it’s up to him now. We’ll monitor him closely
and keep you informed of any changes.”

A deafening silence filled the room after the doctor’s
departure. Mirissa collapsed into a chair, her head in her hands, and wept.
“This is my fault. I didn’t see it. I could have blasted that rock if I’d been
paying attention.”

“It’s no one’s fault, sweetheart,” her mother said, taking
the seat next to her. “It was a freak accident that none of us could have
prevented.”

Mirissa shot out of her chair. “We can give him our blood!
It’ll heal him.” Artemis had imbued Amazon blood with many special abilities,
not the least of which was incredible healing power. But the goddess had also
put a safeguard in place to ensure their abilities couldn’t be spread
throughout mankind, changing the natural course of the human race. If an Amazon
lost more than a small amount of blood, their bodies decayed, one organ at a
time, until they were dead.

Myrine took a deep breath and held her daughter’s gaze. “Even
if we had the same blood type, which we don’t, your father would never allow
one of us to sacrifice our life to save his, no matter how much we might want
to. As the doctor said, it’s up to him now. To me, that’s good news. He’s the
strongest man I’ve ever known.”

A nurse popped her head through the open door. “You can see
him now.”

As they filed into the small hospital room, Mirissa’s breath
hitched at the sight of her battered father. Fresh bandages wrapped his head
and torso, the cast on his arm reached from his shoulder to his fingers, and
tubes and wires flowed off of him to the multitude of machines lining the wall
behind his bed. What struck her most, though, wasn’t the evidence of medical
intervention. It was the man underneath it all.

Her father looked weak for the first time she could
remember. None of the vitality or energy that normally radiated from him seemed
to be present. He was there, but at the same time, he wasn’t.

She hadn’t realized she’d been shaking until Greco wrapped
his arms around her. His warm embrace—usually such a source of strength for
her—did little more than remind her that she might never again feel her dad do
the same.

Orano’s phone rang, and he stepped from the room to answer
it. Greco led Mirissa to a chair he’d moved to the side of the bed opposite her
mother.

“I’ll wait outside,” Greco said before lightly kissing her
cheek and moving into the hallway.

“Dad?” she said, grasping his limp hand in hers. “Can you
hear me?” Mirissa didn’t expect him to answer but still felt disappointment at
his silence.

The possibility of losing her father had never even occurred
to her. Since she was a child, he’d been her entire world. No matter what
happened, he was there. Even after her mother disappeared—a time when most men
would have spiraled into a cesspool of despair—her father put his feelings of
loss aside to ensure Mirissa survived hers.

She laid her head gently on the bed, careful to not disturb
his injuries, and whispered, “I’m here, Dad. I won’t leave you.”

“Sweetheart?” her mother said. “Look at me.”

Mirissa raised her gaze to meet her mother’s. The anguish
she saw there mirrored her own.

“There’s nothing you can do here. But out there, there is.”

“No!” Mirissa sat up straight. “Don’t even say it.”

Her mother reached out and gingerly pushed a lock of hair
from Mirissa’s face. “In less than three days, the entire human race will be
destroyed, unless you stop it. If you don’t, there won’t be anything left for
your father to wake up to.”

Mirissa allowed her gaze to follow her mother’s to the muted
television set bolted to the far wall. News footage from several large cities
spanning the globe showed riots breaking out. People had just gotten over the
fear created when Daedric destroyed the world’s oil production abilities, and
now they were faced with yet another impending catastrophe.

Knowing her mother was right didn’t make the thought of leaving
her father any easier. “I can’t, Mom. I can’t leave him alone.”

“I’ll be here for him, sweetheart. You need to fulfill your
destiny.” She squeezed Mirissa’s hand and held her gaze. “That’s what your
father would want.”

Of course he would. If he could, he’d have been yelling at
her right then for wasting time with him instead of kicking some goddess ass.
The thought put a faint smile on her face.

From the doorway behind her, Orano cleared his throat. “I’m
sorry to interrupt. That was Beck. Daedric’s tracker is live again.”