Cameron opened his apartment door and Quinn barreled in, his large frame taking up most of the narrow hallway until it spit him out into the living room. Selena looked up from the laptop where she was reading as much as she could about Quetzalcoatl but when she saw Quinn’s expression, she set the laptop down so she wouldn’t inadvertently drop it whenever he delivered whatever news he’d come to deliver.
“Avery’s gone,” he panted breathlessly. “I can’t find her anywhere.”
“How long?” Cameron asked. “Maybe she just went to visit someone she doesn’t want you to know about.”
Quinn shook his head quickly and collapsed onto one of the chairs near Cameron’s coffee table. “First Selena takes off and now Avery. What the hell is going on?”
“Well, I think we have more reason to be concerned about Avery,” Selena said. “She’s been part of your group for a while. I’m new here and thought people were judging me for hallucinating shit, so…”
Cameron rolled his eyes at her and sat at the other end of the sofa. “I’ve told you a thousand times. Nobody was judging you and considering no one knows anything about a healing power, we have no way of knowing what kind of toll it takes on a person.”
Both Cameron and Selena glanced at Quinn to see if he would even register their deception, but Selena wasn’t convinced he was even listening. But when Cameron healed her in that hotel room in New Orleans, he had been telling her the truth: he’d never told anyone about his ability to heal, not even his demigod friends. He’d taken an enormous risk to help her with Justin, but so far, no one seemed to think he’d been doing anything but comforting an injured friend and that Selena had done all the healing herself. Perhaps Avery had sensed what he was doing, but she hadn’t mentioned it.
When they returned from Atlanta, Cameron told her he wanted to come clean with the others so the burden of healing wouldn’t always fall on her but Selena had refused. She didn’t want him hunted the same way she had been hunted for most of her adult life. Cameron had argued that it wouldn’t matter: he’d be running with her anyway, but Selena had finally convinced him to keep his secret a little longer.
Truthfully, part of her couldn’t let go of the suspicion that she shouldn’t trust the Norse, no matter what had or hadn’t happened with Badb. But she couldn’t tell Cameron that without him giving her another one of his you’re-one-comment-away-from-being-institutionalized looks.
“What are we going to do?” Quinn groaned, burying his large round face in his equally large hands.
“I… have a stupid and possibly crazy question,” Selena said slowly. Quinn lifted his head and waited and when Selena didn’t immediately ask her stupid and possibly crazy question, he urged her on.
“Selena, she may be in danger. Any idea is worth hearing out right now.”
“Any chance you have a way of contacting Thor?” Selena winced a little as she asked him, anticipating Cameron’s patronizing reaction, but he surprised her.
“That’s not a stupid or crazy idea,” he said excitedly. “Her own gods may be able to help us track her down.”
Selena’s palms began to sweat and she wiped them against the legs of her jeans as she nodded along, pretending she wanted to meet and help Thor as badly as the others. “Let Quinn try to reach him on his own first and if he needs us, he’ll let us know. I think we may end up just getting in the way right now.”
Quinn’s blue-gray eyes darted between them but he nodded as he thought about Selena’s proposal. “I can’t really… summon him or anything. But I’ll see what I can do. If she’s hurt, I will need your help though.”
Selena offered him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Of course. Just call us as soon as you hear anything.”
Quinn nodded his large round head again and stood up, raking his thick fingers through his reddish brown hair. “At least you’re back,” he sighed. “With so many gods out there trying to kill us, I’m starting to think we should all go into hiding.”
“Separately,” Cameron added quickly. “No offense, but the fewer people who know where we are, the better.”
Quinn nodded again and lifted a hand at Selena as if he no longer had the energy or heart to utter a goodbye. Selena watched him leave then closed her eyes, offering a silent prayer to whatever god could hear her that Avery had left town on her own volition and had not been kidnapped. She’d prefer betrayal over abduction.
Cameron locked the door behind Quinn then returned to his living room, his arms folded over his chest, a serious expression on his face that Selena rarely witnessed. “I know you wanted to stay out of this war you think is coming with Quetzalcoatl, but this has to be related to his vengeance. He’s taking us now, Selena. We have to do something before there aren’t enough of us left to fight back.”
“You don’t know Quetzalcoatl was behind Avery’s disappearance,” Selena argued.
Cameron grunted and shook his head at her. “Then you tell me who else would have kidnapped her. She wouldn’t take off. She wouldn’t just disappear on Quinn. They’re engaged, for God’s sake!”
“Which god?” Selena asked.
Cameron rolled his eyes and raised his voice, “Not now!”
Selena shrugged, still not convinced she should be worried about Avery. She couldn’t share Cameron’s panic because she couldn’t shake the belief that while Badb may have been manipulating her, she hadn’t been lying about the Norse and a far more disastrous war on the horizon than the one quickly approaching with Quetzalcoatl.
“Quetzalcoatl almost killed us once, Cameron. What do you want us to do? Walk back out to the Atchafalaya River and let him finish the job?”
“Of course not. We’ll get more help. Maybe Thor himself will fight with us. Avery is descended from him, after all.”
Selena eyed the computer screen because she didn’t want Cameron to notice that the idea of fighting beside Thor made her nervous. She was convinced he was just as likely to turn on her as he would be to kill Quetzalcoatl, especially if he knew who she was. Or if he knew who Cameron was supposed to be.
“Selena,” Cameron said, “I know you’re scared. I know I almost got eaten by a giant ass snake and that’s one injury even you can’t heal, but we’ll do things differently this time…”
A knock on Cameron’s door interrupted him and for the second time that evening, he stared at his door like it had somehow become animate and was just trying to piss him off. And he was so damn cute about it, Selena found herself smiling at him then immediately reprimanded herself for smiling about anything right now.
Cameron looked through the peephole then glanced over his shoulder at her. “Do you know an old woman who wears a long black robe and looks suspiciously like a witch that should have been burned at the stake in the seventeenth century?”
Selena jumped off the sofa and hurried to the door. She didn’t mean to push Cameron aside, but Badb had a lot to account for and she had no intention of letting her talk her way out of anything now. She yanked the door open and scowled at her.
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here,” Selena told her.
“Nice to see you, too,” Badb croaked.
Selena shook her head. “I’m not happy to see you. I’m pissed off at you and you know why. You lied to me!”
“Now wait,” Badb said, lifting an old, bony hand. Her black robe waved beneath her arm as the evening breeze blew the draping material like a flag on a post. “Invite me in and I will explain.”
“Badb…” Cameron said. “The Badb you keep telling me has been harassing you?”
Badb’s thin, wrinkled hand rested on her hip and she shot Selena a what-the-hell? look. “I never said harassing,” Selena muttered.
“Move,” Badb ordered, waving her hands toward the interior of Cameron’s apartment. Selena found herself obeying the goddess, even though she was still angry at her. She moved out of the way so Badb could enter. “Come, Children,” she instructed.
Cameron arched an eyebrow at Selena as if to ask if the old woman was serious, and Selena just sighed and motioned for him to follow her. Despite Badb’s many broken promises, Selena was sure Cameron hadn’t forgotten his promises to her, and he reluctantly followed the goddess and sat on the exact spot on the sofa she indicated she wanted him to sit. She pointed again and Selena sat next to Cameron, a little too close. She could feel the heat from his body on her bare arms and smell the deodorant he used, an intoxicating mix of spices and cedar.
Badb sat across from them, in the same chair Quinn had occupied only minutes before. She took her time smoothing out the folds of her robe and Selena lost her patience.
“For God’s sake, Badb, you abandoned me in Atlanta! Explain!”
Badb looked up at her, her small beady eyes conveying so much regret and sorrow. “I didn’t abandon you. I knew Cameron was with you and you would be all right. But I couldn’t return to the hotel that night as I’d assured you I would because I was no longer on Earth. I got called back to the Otherworld.”
“Why?” Selena asked weakly.
“Word is out about you both, I’m afraid. Our enemies know who you are now. And that’s why you can’t find Avery.”
“Avery…” Selena whispered. The cogs in her mind began turning faster and she stared wide-eyed at the goddess who had brought them far worse news than she’d originally thought. “It was her. Avery told the Norse. She sensed it in me after I healed her and she turned me in!”
Badb lowered her eyes and studied the back of her hands, the thin pale skin punctuated with age spots and ropey blue veins. “Yes,” she sighed. “Your heart is so good, Selena. But you must be careful because as you’re learning, not everyone you save will value your sacrifice over their own selfish desires.”
“Wait,” Cameron interrupted. “Avery did something to stab you in the back after you saved her life?”
Selena nodded but couldn’t meet his eyes. She had endangered them all. She had endangered him. And she was beginning to think there was nothing worse in this world than risking Cameron’s life.
“That bitch!” Cameron yelled. He stood up, but Selena grabbed his hand and forced him to sit down again.
“There’s nothing we can do now, Cameron,” she told him. “She’s gone because she turned me in. Not to the New Pantheon, but to the Norse who took sides against the Tuatha Dé in the war. And the Norse are protecting her now. She will try to convince Quinn to go with her. It’s already in motion and there’s nothing we can do.” Selena closed her eyes and swallowed the burning pain in her throat. She wanted to cry for ruining his life, destroying his friendships, but she didn’t want to upset him. “I am so sorry,” she whispered.
“Hey,” Cameron said softly, “this is not your fault. You were betrayed. If you want to blame someone then blame me. I trusted her… I led her right to you, and…”
“And,” Badb interjected, “neither of you are at fault. You can make choices that determine the outcome of your life, but you can’t escape your fate, Cameron. And you and Selena would have been discovered eventually.”
Selena finally forced herself to meet Cameron’s eyes and she’d never seen such a murderous expression in them before. “The spear,” he said. “You wanted me to accept some spear, so where is it? I’ll learn how to use it and I’ll kill those bastards…”
“No!” Selena yelled. She grabbed his hand again and shook her head quickly. “When I asked you to make that promise, I didn’t know what it would do to you. You can’t… not until you know the truth. When Badb tells you everything and you decide it’s the destiny you want.”
Cameron inhaled slowly then turned to the old woman sitting quietly across from them. “Will it help me kill these assholes who are after Selena?”
“Yes,” Badb answered. “Indirectly. It’s not the spear itself but how it will transform you.”
“Transform me…” he repeated. He took another slow, deep breath then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever happens… if it helps her…”
“No,” Selena cried. “You don’t want this fate, Cameron. You don’t want to be a god.”
“A god?” His handsome face contorted into utter confusion, and Selena shot Badb another explain-now-or-I’ll-kick-your-old-ass glare. She knew she didn’t stand a chance against the war goddess, but she wouldn’t let Cameron be manipulated into taking Lugh’s place among the Tuatha Dé.
“When a god dies,” Badb explained, “a descendant is chosen to take his place. Because time on Earth and time in the Otherworld are so different, often, that descendant is born hundreds of years after the death of the god. Lugh’s power, the essence of what made him a god, was passed to you, just as the essence of what made Dian Cécht such a powerful god has been passed to Selena. You are meant to be one of us, one of the Children of Danu, but the treasures we brought from the island cities to Ireland have been stolen from us. You remember this now.”
Cameron blinked at her then gasped. “Oh my God,” he breathed. He turned those beautiful chocolate brown eyes toward Selena and shook his head slowly at her. “Selena… I am so sorry. God, you must have hated me.”
“Which god?” she teased.
Cameron let out a half-hearted laugh, but she could tell he was overwhelmed with guilt about his argument with her in the woods. “Cameron, Badb did the right thing. She has a terribly bad habit of not explaining herself better in the moment, but in hindsight, if we had both admitted everything we’d just experienced… traveling to the Otherworld, meeting Perun and learning about our ancestry, then we could be dead already. I don’t think Avery knows about you yet. Only me. When Badb cloaked your memories, she hid them from Avery and that protected you in the end.”
“But it doesn’t matter if…”
“Of course it matters!” Selena laughed. “Our destinies are bound together somehow. We are meant to be the new protectors of the Tuatha Dé but I will never ask you to become something you don’t want to be. But I will find the Dagda’s Cauldron and I will accept my role as a goddess in their pantheon. You don’t have to take the Spear, but I would like your help in finding the missing treasures.”
Cameron sighed and cast a quick glance at the old goddess who still sat there silently, just watching the young couple as if she knew more about their future than she was letting on. “Of course I’ll help you, Selena. You know I will. But I don’t… I don’t want to be a god. I’m sorry.”
She had expected him to say that, but hearing it stung more than she’d expected. She already knew why: she would take her place in her pantheon and live far longer than he. Cameron would remain a demigod, which meant she would have to watch him grow old and die. She tried to remind herself there was nothing in the destinies Badb had shared with her that foretold they were meant to be lovers, but it’s not like the heart had ever been a rational organ.
“Well,” Badb said, smoothing out more invisible wrinkles in her long black robe, “you should pack. You can’t stay here anymore since they’ll be coming for you anytime now. And we still have to deal with Quetzalcoatl and the army he’s amassing against us.”
“Who, exactly, are our allies?” Selena asked. “Don’t tell me we’re doing this on our own.”
Badb waved a hand at her then made a shooing motion to try to get her moving. “Course not. The Greeks will help us.”
“The Greeks…” Cameron groaned and rolled his eyes but Selena couldn’t imagine why having the Greeks as allies would be a bad thing. They had a large pantheon and many of them were supposedly quite powerful. Badb had been watching him, and she cackled when Selena asked what was so bad about the Greeks.
Cameron flipped Badb off.
“Jasper is Greek,” he answered, not even trying to contain the vitriol he felt toward the man who would have to fight alongside him.
Selena snorted. “That’s pretty fitting, actually. He’s got a bit of a Zeus and Eros complex going.”
“He’s got a bit of an asshole complex going,” Cameron mumbled.
“Also fitting then,” Selena giggled.
Cameron smiled at her, but Badb had heard enough of their joking. “We’re leaving,” she said.
The goddess stood up and waved a hand at them to follow her but Cameron remained on his couch, scowling at the old woman who thought she could command him like a dog. Badb rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like a spell so Selena pulled Cameron to his feet and urged him to leave with them.
“I’ll leave with you,” he told Selena while still scowling at Badb.
“You don’t have a car,” Selena reminded him. “We kinda have to go with Badb.”
Cameron sighed heavily and raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Ukko owes me a new car. I liked that car.”
“We’ll work on getting you a Batmobile,” Selena laughed. “Now come on. Before Quinn returns with Thor.”
“Huh,” Badb scoffed. “Let that giant bastard come. I’ll show him what good a magic hammer does when that’s all you’ve relied on for millennia.”
Selena kept pulling Cameron toward the door as he tried to turn off lights as they passed them. “Isn’t he a weather god though? Didn’t he ever figure out how to use that to his advantage?”
Badb’s old face wrinkled in disgust as she thought about her enemy. “Thor doesn’t think. Not that bright. Why do you think he trusted Loki for so long?”
“He should have killed him when he cut off Sif’s hair,” Cameron agreed.
“Thor is quick to anger but easily appeased,” Badb explained. “But still not that bright. He is exceptionally strong though. There are others you must be more careful of. Tyr is both strong and intelligent, and he has shown himself willing to make tremendous sacrifices for the good of his people.”
Selena slowed down as they descended the stairs from Cameron’s apartment and since he was still holding her hand, she fell forward. He caught her and helped her regain her footing and Badb shot her a what-the-hell-was-that-about? look quickly followed by a that-was-totally-intentional-wasn’t it? look. Selena shook her head at her. She was never clumsy on purpose, even when it did result in Cameron coming to her rescue.
“I know these myths,” Selena said. “I know how much they loved their friends and wives… ok, they were all cheating assholes, but I guess everyone was back then… it’s just… I’m going to have to fight gods who have homes and families and people who love them. Most of these gods aren’t evil. I’m willing to bet even Quetzalcoatl has something good about him.”
Badb snorted and shook her head. “When people still believed in him, he demanded human sacrifices to fill his appetite for human flesh. You tell me… what is good about that?”
“Didn’t people sacrifice animals for the Tuatha Dé?” Cameron asked.
Badb held a hand in the air as if that were a ridiculous question and kept walking. “All religions used animal sacrifices. Sometimes, people ate the sacrificed animal afterward. People have to eat, don’t they?”
“It’s kinda arrogant to assume any living thing should be killed just as a way for someone to show they respect you,” Cameron persisted.
Badb just shrugged. “Never said I needed a lamb slaughtered in my name. Humans have made their own rules about how to conduct their religions for thousands of years, Cameron. That’s not our doing.”
Cameron started to argue with her, but Selena groaned and interrupted him as they reached Badb’s car. “Just tell us who Quetzalcoatl will be fighting with. Who in his pantheon is left and who has he recruited?”
Selena heard the doors unlock and Badb motioned for them to get in the car. Neither of them had packed any of their belongings as she’d originally asked so they had nothing to load inside. Selena pulled the door open and slid onto the backseat and Cameron sat beside her. The doors immediately closed and locked on their own. Cameron eyed them uneasily but Selena was still waiting for Badb’s explanation.
Badb turned the key in the ignition and gunned the engine then turned around and winked at her.
“Um, Cameron, you might want to put on your seatbelt,” Selena whispered.
Badb threw the car into reverse, hit the gas and peeled out of the parking space. She shifted the transmission into drive and hit the gas again, and Selena swerved along with the car, sliding into Cameron who hit his head on the glass of the window.
“Ow!” he yelled. “Who the hell taught you how to drive?”
Cameron rubbed his head and helped Selena sit up but Badb just cackled and sped down Sherwood Forest Boulevard.
“There are a lot of cops that patrol around here,” Cameron warned.
Badb cackled again and pressed her foot on the gas.
“We’re not going to live to see this war,” Selena whispered to him.
“Hey,” Badb snapped. “I’m a good driver. You watch.”
“You’re making me seasick,” Selena snapped back. “You watch me throw up all over the back of your car.”
Badb lifted one of her thin, black robed shoulders at her. “It’s a rental.”
“Would you just tell us about the Aztec?” Cameron asked irritably. He looked a little seasick, too.
Badb swerved around a truck, this one with a Virginia Confederate battle flag sticker on its bumper and what Selena could only assume were supposed to be testicles hanging from its hitch. Badb flipped the driver off then cackled again as she cut in front of him.
“What was that for?” Cameron asked.
“Don’t like men like that,” Badb answered. “Give you all a bad name.”
“What is wrong with her?” Cameron asked Selena.
“She’s old. She’s cranky,” Selena answered.
“Quetzalcoatl,” Badb said. “He’s always been a bit of a loner but the surviving members of his pantheon will help him. They are rightfully bitter about their history. They can’t even live in Mexico anymore, which is why Quetzalcoatl is in the Atchafalaya Basin.”
“Weren’t you chased out of Ireland? Not only by Christian missionaries, but eventually, the English?” Cameron asked.
Badb nodded and swerved around another car. “Yes, but it wasn’t as bad. Today’s major religions replaced us all but what happened in Africa and the Americas was a massacre of the people who worshipped those gods. With fewer people who believed in them or who could even remember them, the gods were weakened. Sometimes, they were so weakened, they became mortals themselves.”
“That’s why there are no Polynesian gods anymore,” Selena said, understanding illuminating her tone. “They didn’t have a written language and their religions were transmitted orally. When the Europeans arrived, they wiped out every pantheon in the islands.”
Badb nodded again and pressed the gas pedal farther to the floorboard as the light ahead of her changed to yellow. Selena gripped Cameron’s arm, whose eyes watched the intersection warily. Badb made it through the intersection as the light above them turned red. A cop on the corner watched them pass and Selena and Cameron twisted in their seats, but his lights never turned on. He went through the intersection as if he hadn’t even seen the car flying down a busy, crowded boulevard.
“The Aztec gods were once powerful. Very powerful,” Badb explained. “Quetzalcoatl is resentful that he has been weakened so much, but with Huitzilopochtli dead, he wants to rule over the others. He wants to rule over all others, not just the Aztec. If this isn’t settled soon, we may need to convince the other Aztec gods that fighting with Quetzalcoatl just because they’re from the same pantheon isn’t in their best interest.”
“And how are we supposed to do that? I can’t even get you to drive like a sane person,” Cameron said.
“I’m a good driver. Perfect record,” Badb insisted. “Here’s who I know will be there. Tonatiuh, the sun god.” Badb paused and looked over her shoulder, her beady eyes giving Cameron a pointed look, but he returned a “Yeah, so?” look which made Badb sigh and face the street again. “Xipe Totec, who may be worse than Quetzalcoatl…”
Selena groaned and Cameron put an arm around her. “Please don’t tell me he’s another giant reptile.”
“Worse. Quetzalcoatl demanded human sacrifices because he ate what was given to him on the altar. Xipe Totec is violent by nature. His priests would wear human skins at his ceremonies, and…”
“Ok!” Selena interrupted. “Great. Get eaten by a giant snake or have our skin become a fashion accessory. Anything else we need to know?”
Badb just kept talking. “Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of running water like oceans and rivers. During the ceremonies celebrating water and rain and life, children were sacrificed because their tears were believed to…”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Cameron said. “We don’t need all the details. We get it. The Aztec liked to kill people and were a pretty gruesome bunch. But does that mean the gods are, too?”
“Why is it always god’s sake? Why not goddess’s?” Badb asked.
“Badb!” Selena reprimanded. “What about the gods we’re going to fight?”
“Pretty bad,” Badb answered. “You’ve already met Quetzalcoatl. And when gods do nothing to stop the sacrifice of children, what do you expect from them?”
Selena had to admit that was a fair question. She closed her eyes and rested her head against Cameron’s arm who held her a little closer. There was something so safe, so perfectly natural, in the way he kept his arms around her protectively, affectionately. She told herself it was only because his genetics drove him to defend her at all costs because she didn’t want another broken heart. Alan had been bad enough. Cameron had the potential to destroy it completely.
Selena lifted her head as Badb swerved onto the interstate and headed west. “We’re going out there now, aren’t we?” she asked.
Badb nodded. “It’s been six days. Tomorrow, Quetzalcoatl will be waging a war whether we’re there or not. If we’re not, he’ll come looking for us. Might as well prevent widespread carnage if we can.”
“And… you’ve got an army of Irish and Greek gods waiting for us in the Basin, right?” Cameron asked.
“I’ve got a few,” Badb answered.
“A few…” Cameron said. His arms seemed to instinctively tighten around Selena and she closed her eyes again, allowing herself one last moment to imagine they were simply ordinary people living an ordinary life on their way to a completely, utterly ordinary friend’s house for poker night.
“We can’t leave the Otherworld unprotected, Cameron. We would lose it. Macha and Nemain have stayed to guard the palace. The Dagda will be with us.”
“Why do you keep calling him the Dagda? Can I be known as the Cameron from now on?”
“No,” Badb answered.
Selena snickered and lifted her head. “I think it’s from the meaning of his name, but I’m not sure. ‘Dagda’ translates as ‘good god,’ so when they put ‘the’ in front of it, they’re saying ‘the good god.’ It’s his Cauldron I need to find in order to become the next goddess of healing.”
“Goddess…” Cameron whispered. He sat back from her and stared out the window as they crossed the Mississippi River.
“What did you think I meant back at your apartment?” Selena asked.
Cameron shrugged but kept staring out his window. Selena caught Badb looking at him in her rearview mirror, but Selena sat up straighter and stared out her own window. She wondered if Cameron thought he would be able to change her mind about joining the Tuatha Dé or if he was just angry and felt his own sense of betrayal that she would choose this destiny when he’d made it so clear how little he liked the gods and the games they played.
Or maybe he was worried it would change her, turn her into the same kind of creature that most gods and goddesses seemed to be: selfish and more concerned with their own victories and fortunes than the wellbeing of others. Even though Badb had demonstrated considerable concern for their welfare, her allegiance was to the Tuatha Dé, and Selena knew their history. She and her entire pantheon had taken sides in the wars of men and even influenced outcomes when they wanted to. If there was such a thing as a loving and benevolent god, then it wasn’t the gods who had birthed the demigods that roamed the Earth now.
Nobody spoke again until Badb pulled off the interstate at the Butte La Rose exit. Cameron leaned forward and flicked his wrist at the goddess still pretending to be an old woman. “Where are you going? If this war isn’t starting until tomorrow, I seriously don’t want to sleep in the middle of a swamp where I’ll likely just get eaten by a giant snake again.”
“You didn’t get eaten by a giant snake last time so how could it happen again?” Badb retorted.
“You’re a pain in the ass,” Cameron said.
Badb just nodded.
“And cranky,” Selena added. “Don’t forget the cranky part.”
“Yeah,” Cameron agreed. “You’re a cranky pain in the ass.”
Badb cut a hard right and sent them both careening into the door. Cameron hit his head again and cursed at the goddess who just laughed, or more accurately, cackled.
She flicked on her headlights as the sun dipped below the tree line and the sky darkened to a bluish gray. She finally eased off the accelerator when she pulled off the paved street and onto a narrow dirt road dotted with camps. Cameron rubbed the sore spot on his head and Selena touched his hand. He smiled at her as she healed the headache Badb’s terrible driving had given him.
Selena’s heart and stomach seemed to coordinate their fluttering and she moved her hand away as soon as the pain was gone.
Badb stopped in front of one of the camps and turned off the ignition. She switched the headlights off and told them to follow her inside as she opened her door and climbed out of the car. She didn’t wait to hear a response from either of the demigods in the backseat.
“Any chance we can get her to change back into a crow?” Cameron asked.
“No way,” Selena whispered. “She might just leave us out here. And I have no clue where we are.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Selena. Quetzalcoatl will find us.”
He grinned at her then opened his door and ascended the wooden steps to the camp. “They’re both a pain in the ass,” Selena mumbled to herself.
She pushed the door open and swatted at the mosquitoes that immediately descended upon her. A rustling in the dark bushes sent her running up the stairs and she barreled through the front door, narrowly missing Cameron who had been waiting for her.
“Did you hear something hissing at you?” Cameron laughed.
Selena pushed him and narrowed her eyes at him. “That is not funny. Besides, it could be him.”
“Nah,” Badb said from the kitchen, her head hidden inside the refrigerator. She pulled another bottle out and set it on the counter behind her. “He’ll be keeping a low profile tonight, preparing for this battle with us tomorrow.”
Selena approached the counter and looked at the bottles she was lining up. “And we’re preparing with Worcestershire sauce and horseradish?”
“Of course,” Badb replied. “I’m feeding my troops.” She stood up and closed the refrigerator door, making shooing motions with her hands again. “Now out. I don’t give away my culinary secrets.”
“The Irish war goddess has culinary secrets,” Cameron said. “Because this whole ordeal hasn’t been weird enough.”
“That’s how we should settle things with Ukko. A cook-off. The Finns aren’t exactly known for their cuisine.”
Cameron gave her that sexy smirk and told her, “The Finns aren’t exactly known for anything. How many people do you think could even find Finland on a map?”
“Don’t underestimate Ukko,” Badb called from the kitchen. She beat a spoon against the side of a glass bowl as she stirred a marinade together. “We’ll deal with him once Quetzalcoatl is out of the way, but Ukko is far more dangerous. You know what you’re getting with Quetzalcoatl. He doesn’t pretend to be your ally or enemy: he is what he is. But Ukko…” Badb paused and poured her marinade over the chicken breasts and thighs then turned the water on in the sink to clean the bowl.
Cameron and Selena glanced at each other as they waited to see if Badb was going to finish her thought or if that was all she had to say. Cameron finally got tired of waiting. “But Ukko what?”
Badb lifted a black-robed shoulder at him and turned the water off. “He was the original god to betray us all by aligning himself with the New Pantheon. He wanted some of his old power back, and the only way to do that was to attract believers, people who would be willing to worship him and revere him. The New Pantheon would have remained toothless, just a bunch of demigods, had it not been for Ukko. But now… we are all hunted, and the more power the New Pantheon gets, the more powerful he becomes.”
“This… is exactly what I needed to hear on the night before going into a battle with a giant snake who wants me enslaved,” Selena said.
“Go,” Badb said, nodding toward the living room. “Watch television. Relax. Enjoy yourselves. It may be a while before you can have a normal evening again.”
“This is normal?” Cameron asked.
Badb smiled at the dishes in the sink and shrugged again. “You’re together and you’re both well then. Go enjoy that.”
“That sounds ominous,” Cameron mumbled.
Selena pulled on his arm and dragged him to the living room where they spent several minutes just hunting for the remote before Cameron reminded her she was telekinetic; they didn’t need the remote. Selena giggled at her own oversight then sat by him on the sofa, though not as close as Badb had her sit to him back in his apartment, and they watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld while Badb grilled chicken and made a huge pot of mashed potatoes and kept pulling bottles of Guinness from her magical refrigerator.
The goddess brought Cameron a Diet Coke, remembering Selena’s admission that he didn’t drink, and they stuffed themselves then watched a silly romantic comedy, which Selena fell asleep on. At some point in the night, she felt Cameron’s strong arms lift her from the sofa and carry her to a dark bedroom, where, for the second time since meeting him, he gently laid her on a bed and covered her with a blanket and slipped out quietly.
Selena smiled to herself as she drifted back to sleep, thinking this night, even with the knowledge of what they would be facing the next day, even with the warning of what Ukko had done to his fellow gods and what future she and Cameron would have to confront in order to defeat him, this night, had been one of the best nights of her life. She’d been given a taste of what having a real family was like, and it was everything she wanted, even though the man she loved wanted nothing to do with the fate she had chosen.