Selena zipped up her coat as she stepped off the train in Magnitogorsk. She’d expected Russia to be cold in November, but not this cold. Cameron smiled at her and pulled her hat lower over her ears. It had been her idea to take the train rather than letting Cameron just bring them here once they’d figured out just where Sintashta used to be because she’d wanted to see some of the country. She’d enjoyed the scenery from the warmth of the train; now, she’d decided she’d seen enough of Russia.
Cameron kissed the tip of her nose and put his arms around her. “I won’t let you freeze to death. I can just build us a fire right here. I was reading about this place on the train. Did you know Stalin enslaved his own people to build the steel plant and city?”
“Did you know I don’t care right now?” Selena answered as she shivered against him.
“If you were a Slavic god and lived around here, where would you hide a big pot?” Cameron asked.
“Somewhere warm,” Selena answered.
Cameron nodded smartly and retorted, “At least there aren’t any cornfields.”
“I’d dig around in a cornfield in order to get out of this weather,” she responded.
“We should have brought Jasper,” Cameron said. “Just in case we needed a human sacrifice.”
Selena snorted and pulled him toward the inviting light and warmth of a nearby restaurant. She wasn’t exactly sure what they were preparing inside, but based on the smell, it was nothing she wanted to eat. But they had heat and if they had to brave borsch or shchi in order to stay in that heat, then she’d develop a sudden fondness for beets or cabbage.
Cameron apparently had a far more adventurous palate because he began playing guessing games with her as to what the restaurant was preparing and what he would be willing to try and what he wouldn’t. He claimed he’d only draw the line at salo. Selena didn’t bother asking him what that was or why he even knew about it.
Cameron stopped abruptly before they reached the door of the restaurant, pulling Selena back toward him. He wrapped his arm around her and looked around but Selena didn’t need to ask him what was wrong either. She sensed its presence, too. She glanced up at her boyfriend and gasped when she saw the deadly anger and fearsome vengeance had supplanted the emotions of the man she loved. This was the god whose power could easily become uncontrollable, and they were standing in the middle of a bustling, crowded city.
“Cameron,” she said softly. “There are innocent people all around us. Be careful.”
His eyes remained fixed on a spot across the street, but so far, Selena couldn’t see anything other than ordinary pedestrians and storefronts that dotted the sidewalk. “What do any of these people matter if you’re taken away from me?” Cameron responded.
Selena shuddered, only this time, it wasn’t from the cold. How would she convince him to rein in his power if he thought she was in danger? And she could sense something dangerous nearby, even if she couldn’t see it. She couldn’t heal hundreds or even thousands of people who had the misfortune of becoming trapped in the blazes of Cameron’s fires.
“Who is it?” Selena asked.
Cameron’s eyes narrowed and he hissed, “Mithra.”
“No,” Selena whispered. “How did he find you so quickly?”
Cameron shook his head. “He’s not alone. There are a dozen other gods with him. Some Slavic. They most likely knew we’d arrived here and have an agreement with Mithra for both you and the Otherworld.”
Selena hadn’t noticed a dozen other gods but after he mentioned their presence in Magnitogorsk, she felt them, too. They were scattered throughout the city, surrounding the Irish sun god and his girlfriend who could heal like no one else, who had the power to grant gods immortality.
“You can’t burn down the whole city, Cameron!” Selena insisted.
“I can, actually,” Cameron responded.
Selena wiggled out of his grasp and pushed him toward the restaurant. He looked at her with surprise but with so many threats close by, she wouldn’t be able to bring him back as easily as she had in Tyr’s palace.
“Figure out a way to get rid of them without hurting all of these people,” Selena demanded.
“We could leave Russia, but they’d just follow us,” Cameron countered. “I have to kill them now.”
“Fine!” Selena acknowledged. “But do it without killing all of the humans here, too!”
Selena felt that unnerving and chilling presence suddenly move closer and she didn’t have time to warn Cameron again about the dangers of risking the entire city just to protect her. Flames leapt from his fingertips and spread down the sidewalk as if his body dripped the fires of Hell along this busy stretch of a southeastern Russian city’s street.
She spun around and screamed, “Cameron, the people!”
Cameron scoffed but answered her. “They’re fine. For now.”
Selena braved a glance down the sidewalk and saw the flames surrounding the terrified, screaming pedestrians. Somehow, he’d managed to keep his fires from touching anyone, but Selena kept repeating For now in her mind, knowing that if the gods that had shown up to kill him and abduct her came closer, that could change instantly.
She wanted to hold his hand or put her fingers around his arm, something to remind him of her physical presence, but she was afraid to touch him. Just as she’d witnessed at Lake Waco, it seemed as if he himself were on fire. A familiar, comforting presence washed over her but that momentary comfort was soon replaced by abject fear. She groaned and twisted around toward the direction she’d sensed her friend’s arrival. And as usual, she hadn’t come alone.
“Badb, no,” Selena begged. “Go home!”
Cameron’s eyes flickered in her direction and he sucked in a quick, hissing breath. “What are you doing here?”
“Helping you,” Badb answered. “As is Nemain and Athena. And it’s just us, Cameron. No one else is coming. I promise. Put out your fires and let’s fight them a safer way for all of these people.”
“It’s not safer for her!” Cameron yelled, nodding toward Selena. The wall of fire he’d built around them reached higher into the darkening sky, creating an eerie orange-red glow against the slate gray dusk.
Badb took a step closer and Selena reached out to stop her. Badb gently pushed her hand off her arm and stepped even closer. “Nobody can fight like you can, Cameron. With your Spear, your aim is perfect. My sister and Athena will distract the other gods while you take care of Mithra. Think of Selena’s anguish if innocent people die. Her purpose in both worlds is to preserve life, not end it. How could she ever be the same again?”
Cameron blinked at the war goddess and shook his head slowly. “But I can’t heal her, Badb. If one of those bastards kills her, I can’t bring her back. She’s the only one who can do something like that.”
“I know,” Badb assured him. “Which is why we won’t let any of them get close enough to her to even try. I would die for her. You know this. Despite everything between us, you’ve always understood this to be true.”
Cameron’s dark brown eyes shifted to Selena and she recognized a glimmer of the man inside the god, the man she loved more than herself, more than this world or any other. She took a deep breath and remembered the way Anita had reached for Ukko’s hand as his fingertips still sizzled with the energy he yielded. Selena reached for his hand.
She clenched her jaw and waited for the searing, scorching pain of being burned by the fires that emanated from his body, but that pain never came. She let that deep breath out slowly as she stared at their hands, woven together now, flames still leaping around them, but inexplicably, they didn’t burn her.
“I need my boyfriend back,” she said softly. “Please. You can control this, Cameron. Together, we can do anything. And I’m right here. I will never abandon you.”
“Selena,” he whispered. He watched their hands for a few moments then closed his eyes, his chest heaving and falling as he attempted to calm himself down. There. He’s returning to you. He’ll always come back to you, just as he’ll always find you.
Selena had no idea if that voice, that now familiar stirring within her, was referring to Cameron or this strange phenomenon that existed between them. And she hardly had time to find out or ruminate on it. As Cameron allowed the walls of fire he’d built around them to collapse, she could sense the presence of the other gods again. And they were closing in on them.
“I’m heading north,” Nemain yelled. “There are three of them advancing from there and I’ll keep them away. Athena, take the south end of the street.”
Cameron opened his eyes and Selena sighed, relief and love and fear that she could have been too late, flooding through her as she recognized him again. A bright blue flame snapped her attention away from her boyfriend as his Spear appeared in his other hand, his focus back on the opposite side of the street. But this time, she could see the god she hadn’t been able to see before, the Persian god who had destroyed their motel door in Baton Rouge and threatened to subsume Cameron’s power.
Badb stayed beside her and spoke quietly to Cameron. “I’m staying here to make sure no one gets close to Selena. The other gods that get around Nemain and Athena will close in on us. You go after Mithra. Once he’s dead, it’s unlikely those he’s recruited will see any benefit to sticking around.”
Cameron nodded and reluctantly let go of Selena’s hand, offering her one last remorseful glance before he gripped his Spear tightly and disappeared. Selena whimpered because she hadn’t expected him to leave her behind while he went after the god who had threatened to murder him and somehow take his power.
“Don’t worry about him, Selena,” Badb said. “No one can hurt Cameron.”
“Huitzilopochtli did,” Selena shot back.
Badb nodded and wrapped both hands around the hilt of her sword. “Because he took Cameron by surprise. Huitzilopochtli is quite powerful, but Cameron can defeat him. He just needs to be able to keep control of himself when he encounters him again.”
A tall god with broad shoulders and dark brown hair appeared in front of them, his sword raised above his head as if he were prepared to decapitate the Irish war goddess. But Badb had somehow known he was there and what he was doing, even while she was holding a conversation about something entirely unrelated, and had been prepared for the unfamiliar god’s attack. She retreated as the blade swung toward her neck then lunged at the god’s stomach. Her blade entered the surprisingly soft and human like skin and muscle of the god, his crimson blood pooling around the entry wound, leaving a wide circle against his ivory coat.
Badb’s fingers tightened around the grip of her sword as she pulled it free and swung the edge of her sword at the god’s neck. Selena looked away as the god’s head tumbled to the sidewalk. She heard the thumping of his body as it fell beside the head that was no longer attached to its body.
She tried to search the opposite side of the street for Cameron, but neither he nor Mithra were there. Her heart accelerated with the horror of losing him, but the sharp clinking of metal momentarily distracted her as Badb deflected an attack from yet another god. The Irish war goddess pivoted with remarkable speed and swung the edge of her sword upward toward the arm of the god that held his sword. It fell to the ground beside the bloody body of his headless comrade.
Selena’s stomach quivered and she stepped back until her body was pressed against the cold bricks of the restaurant she and Cameron had intended to enter what seemed like months ago rather than mere minutes. A third goddess advanced toward Badb, her sword slicing the war goddess’s forearm before Badb could deflect or retreat. Badb winced but held onto the grip of her sword and sloped back to counterattack the goddess who had injured her. But a fourth and fifth god appeared, outnumbering her friend and even the great Irish war goddess couldn’t single-handedly kill three skilled sword-wielders.
And Badb was already hurt.
Selena looked around the emptied streets helplessly but she still couldn’t find Cameron. She didn’t even feel him anymore, which meant wherever he and Mithra had gone, they weren’t close to her anymore. The goddess that had cut Badb’s left arm advanced on her again and Selena panicked. She refused to watch one of her best friends die.
Then kill them, Selena! You’re not helpless!
Selena’s telekinesis, usually the weaker of her two gifts, surged through her with a surprising strength. She directed the energy she commanded toward the gods approaching Badb, knowing the only way to get to the healer they wanted was by killing the most famous of the Mórrígna.
The gods stumbled backwards against the wave Selena threw at them. Each of them lost their stance, their plan of attack momentarily thwarted by the unexpected force trying to knock them down. And Badb wasn’t the most famous of the Mórrígna for no reason. She had long ago earned the title of the Guardian of the Tuatha Dé because of her brilliance in battle, her ability to regroup and refocus when the unexpected occurred. She wasted no time now to descend upon their enemies.
Selena kept the wall of energy pushing against the gods in order to keep them easy targets for her friend, and Badb quickly and efficiently beheaded each one. As the last god fell, Selena’s eyes immediately settled on Badb’s injured arm, which let go of the grip on her hilt and dropped by her side. She had refused to show her pain and weakness in battle, but with no immediate threats on their lives, Selena could see the agony written on her friend’s face.
She hurried to Badb’s side and grabbed her arm, keeping her eyes on the long, red gash as she willed it to heal. She heard Nemain’s voice but didn’t look up at her.
“Mithra ran,” she said. “Cameron is looking for him. Should we try to find him?”
Badb wiped the blood off her arm and sighed. Not even a scar remained. “We can’t find Cameron if he doesn’t want to be found.”
“Then how did you get here?” Selena asked.
“We followed you,” Badb answered.
Athena approached them and held out her own injured arm. Selena wrapped her hands around it and watched the wound close but her mind was on Cameron and the fact that he was alone. Despite Badb’s constant assurances that he was the most powerful god this world had ever known, he was still a new god, one who hadn’t yet learned the extent of his powers and how to use them. And if he was hiding himself now, it was because he believed he had to in order to protect her.
Selena blinked away tears as Athena wiped them away with her other hand. “We can’t find him,” she said slowly. “But Selena can.”
“What?” Selena squeaked.
She let go of Athena’s healed arm and shook her head. “How? It’s Cameron! I don’t have that kind of power!”
Nemain waved her off and retied her hair in a ponytail. Selena only then noticed her hair wasn’t blonde anymore. She gaped at her and asked, “Since when are you a brunette?”
“When I’m on Earth,” Nemain answered. “Always have been.”
“Why?” Selena demanded, as if the color of Nemain’s hair were the most important thing for them to discuss at that moment.
Nemain just blinked at her and answered, “Why not?”
Athena sighed heavily and asked, “Are you going to try to find Cameron or not?”
“I don’t know how!” Selena insisted.
“Of course you do,” Nemain said. “You two are connected. Always have been, always will be.”
“Nemain,” Badb warned, but Nemain waved her off, too.
“He’s a part of you, Selena, just as you’re a part of him. The reason neither of you can imagine a life without the other anymore is that you’re literally bound by the same spirit. When Cameron saved you from Ninurta, that healing power didn’t come from him. He’s a healer but even as a god, he’s not that powerful of a healer. He channeled your power to heal you. And you can channel his power now.”
“Ok, Nemain, that’s enough,” Badb barked.
Nemain ignored her sister.
“I don’t know how,” Selena protested.
“Don’t overthink it,” Nemain advised. “When Cameron needed to save you, he just acted. We need to help him now. Just find him.”
Selena crossed her arms and scowled at Nemain. “You make it sound like it’s so easy. Like all I have to do is think, ‘Hey, I want to be with Cameron,’ and we’ll just…”
But Selena couldn’t finish her feeble protest. Her desire to be with Cameron pulled her to him, and with her, the three war goddesses at her side. And wherever they were now, it wasn’t the empty street of Magnitogorsk.