When they arrived on Venus, Pax was pleasantly surprised by her own good aim. They arrived directly in the large room of the palace where Amara was being held prisoner. She immediately moved away from Thornton and flew to the fjuyen pyramid. There was still a neon green glow visible over Amara’s body.
I’m back, Mara. Are you hanging in there?
Ash? The telepathic voice was feeble.
Pax placed her hand on the transparent fjuyen material. No, it’s me. Your big brother’s here and we’re going to bust you out!
Where’s Ash? Amara asked wretchedly. I need him.
Ignoring this because she did not quite know how to respond, Pax focused her energy on breaking apart the pyramid prison. Just hang in there, Mara. I’ll get you out. Channeling her prana to what she believed was the weakest point of the structure, Pax tried to use her mind to force a crack in the fjuyen. Harder than diamond, my ass! She summoned every ounce of grit she possessed.
Pax suddenly felt sharp Obake claws rip across her thigh, and she levitated away from the pyramid in surprise. She turned back to observe Thornton as the blonde man struggled to hold up the shield.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him. “Isn’t it working?”
Thornton growled as a pair of claws slashed across his own chest. “It’s not activated yet. I can’t get it to work.”
“Do you need my help?” she asked, already flying back down to him.
“No!” he shouted. “If you waste all your energy on the shield then you’ll pass out and we won’t be able to free Mara and teleport back. It’ll be a waste.”
“Try harder,” she encouraged. “You can do it.”
“No, I can’t. I’m sorry, Pax. I can’t manage to control the shape of the shield and fill it with enough prana at the same time.”
She moved to dodge an Obake that she could sense was moving to attack her. “Let me help a little…”
“We have to go back to Earth and get a new strategy,” Thornton said.
“Thorn! Your sister is going nuts up there,” Pax said frantically. “She has energy sucking bugs digging into her skin and we can’t leave her trapped in that pyramid for even an hour more…”
“She’s safe, Pax. She’s not going to be killed…”
“But she’s scared!” Pax insisted. “She’s not tough like us. She keeps calling me Ash and I know there’s a family resemblance but do I look like a retarded, macho, nincompoop, freak of…”
“What did you say?”
Pax dodged another invisible beast, realizing that she was learning to see them better without actually seeing them. “That I’m not a retarded, macho, nincompoop…”
“Ash!” Thornton said abruptly. “Get Ash now!”
“Are you serious?” she asked. She felt that he was about to be attacked, and she dove forward, grabbing an invisible clawed Obake hand before it connected with Thornton’s face. She reached out and twisted the creature’s head sharply, killing it instantly.
“Thanks. I can’t put up the shield on my own,” Thornton gasped. Every inch of his skin was moistened with sweat, and his blonde hair was sticking to his forehead and cheeks. “It’s harder than I anticipated. You have to get Ash.”
“Why?” she yelled, as she continued to fight the Obake around them.
“There’s a coalescence technique,” Thornton said, struggling to control the icy blue energy around him. “Ash and I can join our bodies together and it will increase our power by at least ten times. We should be able to manage this then.”
Pax paused in her fighting, turning to look at Thornton nervously. So he was aware of the coalescence technique. An Obake used her moment of distraction to slash her across the stomach, and she screamed. In rage, she lashed out and shoved her own hand completely through the creature’s stomach. She was almost sure that she broke a nail on its spine. “I can’t leave you unprotected!” Pax said. “There are too many of these things.”
The muscles in Thornton’s arms strained to hold up the portion of the shield he had already erected. “Just go! I’ll be fine. Hurry, Pax!”
She nodded quickly and moved her hand to her bleeding stomach. “Be safe,” she whispered as her body disappeared. Thornton returned his attention to the shield, concentrating to keep it from dissipating. At the same time, he could sense the Obake creatures closing in around him. His eyes drifted back and forth from invisible being to invisible being. When they lunged at him, he tried to divide a portion of his prana into fighting them, but there were too many. He was able to deflect some of the blows, while several claws sneaked past his defenses to slice at his body.
“Enough!” commanded a white-haired woman as she glided into the room. “A handsome visitor is so rare in these parts. Let us not shred him like mozzarella.”
Thornton groaned at this analogy. “You’ll find my texture is closer to tough beef.”
“Thorn, dear boy! How good to see you again,” Suja remarked.
“Again? We haven’t been introduced,” Thornton said. He knew that he needed to stall for time until Pax returned, and gods and goddess loved to waste time on big ceremonious introductions. He nervously glanced up at the pyramid holding his sister.
“How rude of me to forget to welcome you to the Palace of Ishtar,” Suja said. She curtsied slightly to Thornton, and as her head lowered, her hair began to change color once more. The white tendrils snaked and writhed until they became ginger-dyed waves. When she looked up again, her clothes began transforming from stately, flowing robes into a professional pinstriped business suit. She ran her tongue along her top lip almost hungrily as she toyed with her new red hair.
“Perhaps you remember me like this?” she purred. “The last time we met, I was inside this body. And so were you.”
* * *
When Pax completed her teleport to Earth, she found herself standing before the strongest life force on the planet. She considered asking him for help, but he sneered at her and seemed prepared to toss a handful of popcorn into her face.
“Girl, the humans are all abuzz about this phenomenon called ‘game night.’ I have placed bets on this spectacle and if you don’t quit blocking the television, I will destroy you.”
“Sorry, Vince.”
What a serious man, she thought to herself. I shouldn’t bother him. Covering her wounds with her hands, she began teleporting to Asher. Of course, she failed again.
Times Square. Elephant Graveyard. Sahara Desert. Each time she botched the technique, she grew more and more frustrated. Finally, Pax found herself standing on the edge of an extremely high skyscraper. She was about to try teleporting again when she heard a voice behind her.
“What’s up, cupcake?”
“Ash!” she said, pivoting in midair. Her eyes widened when she saw that her uncle was leaning against the railing and smoking. “Are you smoking? Forget it, explain later. Amara’s in trouble.”
“Sorry,” he said, dropping his cigarette and crushing it under his shoe sheepishly. “What’s going on? Pax! What the hell happened to your stomach?”
“Would you risk your life to save Mara?”
His eyes narrowed. “In a heartbeat.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
“Wha—”
When Pax grabbed her uncle and initiated the relocation technique, she clenched her eyes tightly and hoped it would work. She focused on the distant feeling of Thornton’s shield, and his weakening energy signal. When she was able to open her eyes again, she saw that Amara’s pyramid was inches away from her nose. She breathed in relief and released her uncle.
Asher fell a few feet before catching himself, shocked at being suddenly dematerialized. He reached out and touched the fjuyen pyramid tentatively. Mara? he asked in confusion.
Ash, she moaned. They’re eating my life away…
Meanwhile, Pax was staring down at the scene unfolding below them. She noticed that Suja had changed form, and the particular form was causing her blood to boil.
“Perhaps you remember me like this?” Suja was saying in a seductive voice. “The last time we met, I was inside this body. And so were you.”
“Karina?” Thornton asked furiously.
“Mmm,” she responded, walking up to him. Her patent leather heels clinked on the floor as she approached him and dragged a fingernail over his chest. “So you do remember.”
“You did this?” Pax asked. She didn’t wait for an answer before her body burst into flames hotter than Venus. “You did this!”
Suja smiled deviously as she glanced back over her shoulder. She continued to stroke Thornton’s chest possessively. “Did what? Had some fun with your lover? Sure. If either of you had looked deeper than the surface, you would have been able to tell I was hitching a ride in that pathetic human’s body.”
“So I didn’t actually kill someone?” Pax asked as she advanced on the woman. “You just made everyone think I was a murderer?”
“No, you totally killed her,” Suja said cheerfully. “I hightailed it out of her body before you attacked her. I prefer to make love, not war.”
Pax raised a hand to launch a fireball at Suja’s face, and the woman pursed her lips, blowing a gust of prana forth which turned the fireball into red feathers. “That wasn’t nice, Pax. In fact, I’m starting to think you’re not a nice girl. Poor Karina Allbright had a major crush on Thorn. She was jealous of you, and just wanted one night when she could feel…”
“Shut up!” Pax shouted, clenching her fists to her sides. The flames consuming her body swept out several feet around her.
Pax! Thornton yelled telepathically. She’s distracting you from Mara. Direct your anger at the pyramid. When Pax nodded, he changed the channel of his thoughts and focused on his dark-haired friend. Ash! Get down here and join your body with mine so that I can put up this shield.
Asher had been staring through the transparent pyramid in horror. “She hates bugs,” he whispered.
Ash! Thornton’s voice bellowed into his brain. Coalescence technique, now!
Coming. The slightly younger man flew down to his friend and touched his fingertips to Thornton’s. I’m not sure if I remember how to do this, buddy. It’s been a long while.
You have to remember. My sister needs us.
Asher nodded and closed his eyes as he began releasing his energy. Be in me. Be of me. Be with me. Only but fragments, let us be whole. He had almost allowed the magenta glow to cover Thornton’s arms when Suja began shouting orders to her Obake.
“Stop them!” Suja barked at her invisible guards. They immediately advanced on Asher, attacking him from behind with weapons instead of their claws.
Asher swiveled and caught an invisible sword in his hand. “I don’t think so,” he said, ripping the weapon away from the invisible guard and impaling the creature’s head with the blunt end. Asher lifted both hands and released an acidic dark orange wave which melted the Obake advancing on him.
You have to join with me now, Ash, Thornton was demanding. I’m about to lose the shield.
Nodding, Asher turned and clenched his friend’s hands and let out a yell as he surrendered the form of his body completely. Seamlessly we unite, soul to soul; my heart is half yours this half hour. His energy rushed out in the color of magenta, surrounding Thornton and finally transforming the two men in a blinding white, iridescent inferno.
Even Suja lifted her arm to shield her eyes from the overwhelming luminosity. The mighty woman cursed under her breath when she sensed the power increase the deva men had undergone.
Pax had never been on the outside of a bodily fusion. When the magenta glow gave away to a pure white glare, she felt the pain of sharp arrows stabbing through her eyeballs and she hadn’t even been looking directly at the men. She had been studying the fjuyen pyramid and trying to determine how to break Amara out, but the light reflected sharply off the surface of the foreign substance. Pax had to close her eyes, and she imagined the center of the white dwarf star from which the mineral had been extracted. Surely there was a way to cut the fjuyen if Suja had forced it into the shape of a pyramid?
“Wow,” Suja said when the light finally died down and one man was left standing where two had previously stood. “Wow. And I thought they were attractive before.”
With an introduction like this, Pax could not resist stealing a glance down over her shoulder to behold the merger of Thornton and Asher. Her eyes widened as she observed the shoulder-length indigo locks that framed the man’s chiseled face. His eyes were of deepest midnight-sapphire, almost identical to Para’s ethereal coloring. Pax was unable to resist allowing her eyes to travel down over the man’s body hungrily, and she found every aspect of him to be angular and pleasing.
“Wow,” breathed Pax, as she looked at the merger of Thornton and Asher. “Wow, guys. You just became, like, muscle-magazine buff.”
“How do you like this mozzarella, baby?” the colossal man asked with a hostile leer. “I am Ashton, a fucking raw filet mignon. Sink your teeth in me, woman. Chances are you’ll choke.” His voice was deep and filled with foreboding. Pax shivered, realizing that she did not know this man. There was no familiarity in the metallic tone of his voice, and she hoped he was still on her side.
Ashton frowned at Pax from under thick dark eyebrows as he pumped his massive arms to either side of his body. A freezing cold wind swept through the palace, along with a pale blue glow. “The shield is up. The Obake guards are frozen. Break Amara free now.”
“Right,” Pax said, as she flew up to the pyramid. She pressed both hands against what she believed was the weakest part of the pyramid. She searched her mind for wisdom on how to break or dissolve an element that had never had been studied by man. Mara! How do I get you out of there? Pax asked. Her friend’s knowledge of chemistry and science was vast.
Get them off me. Ash. Please, Ash.
“Dammit,” Pax said, realizing that her friend was too traumatized to be of any use. “If my thoughts can travel through the substance…” Pax tried to focus on creating heat inside the pyramid to expand the air on the inside, and force the structure to break apart. When Amara began to scream, Pax realized that she couldn’t heat the insides of the pyramid without frying her friend. Anyway, the material was from the core of a star! Heat was not the answer, although it was Pax’s strength. She began to try to emulate the acidic attack that Asher had used a moment before, but she felt a soft hand suddenly grasp her by the throat.
“Things could have been different between us, sweetie,” Suja said as she crushed Pax’s windpipe beneath her fingers. “We could have been friends.”
Pax gasped for air desperately before she remembered—she didn’t need oxygen. Drawing her energy from the world around her, she reached out and grabbed Suja’s wrist. Her hand burned through the Asura woman’s skin until she felt carpal bones. Pax looked into the woman’s eyes before grabbing the wire that had been used to harm her earlier. She twisted the wire and wrapped it around Suja’s wounded wrist. The Asura woman began to scream as the electricity from Amara’s energy caused her body to spasm wildly.
Ashton’s unfamiliar voice echoed in her mind. I can only hold this shield for about thirty seconds, Pax. You need to get a move on.
I don’t know what to do, she told him. Do you have any ideas on how to break a substance harder than diamond?
You probably can’t break it. So find another way to get her out!
I could try teleporting into the pyramid…
No! Ashton commanded fiercely. You are inept with that skill, and if you drain your energy trying you won’t be able to take us home. We’ll die here.
Suja ripped the wire from her wrist, and clutched the wound with annoyance. “We don’t have to fight,” the goddess said softly. “Children, with my guidance don’t you see what an unstoppable force we would be together? I can free Amara and we could work together to create something instead of all this destruction.”
“Free Amara,” Ashton said. “Then I’m yours to command.”
“Pax said the same thing earlier,” Suja mused. “How loyal you all are! That I would have three devas enslaved to me just for the freedom of that pipsqueak? It baffles reason.”
“Will you do it or not?” Ashton asked.
“That depends,” Suja said. “Will you be my champion and help me conquer the Earth? If I can find a way to keep you joined as one, will you rule at my side as my King?”
“It would be my pleasure, Suja,” Ashton said with a grin. “Free Amara and you’ve got yourself a deal. We can begin right away.”
“No!” Pax yelled. “But Thorn…”
“I’m not Thorn,” Ashton said. “I’m exponentially stronger. Instead of running a stupid tech company, I should be running the whole fucking world.”
Pax felt physically ill as Suja laughed. “Then let’s seal the deal, young man.” The Asura woman extended her hand toward Amara’s prison and the fjuyen pyramid disappeared. When the blonde woman began falling, Pax moved forward to catch her friend’s limp body. She began to scratch off the energy sucking worms, as Amara whimpered in her arms.
“You can take her away,” Suja said to Pax, gesturing in dismissal. “I’m done with you two.”
Pax nodded slightly, but looked up at Ashton in confusion. Thorn…
Get out while you can, Pax. Before she changes her mind. The shield is going down any minute now. I’m nearly depleted.
Do you really want to stay with her?
I want for you and Mara to be safe. I said what I needed to say.
I’m not leaving you, Pax told him mentally. Throwing Amara over her shoulder, Pax flew towards Ashton as fast as she could, intending to grab him and teleport all of them home.
Suja blocked her path. “Excuse me?” the woman said. “You need to go, and you can’t take my stuff.”
“Actually, ma’am, he’s my stuff,” Pax told her.
“Ask him,” Suja said. “He wants to join forces with me and take over Earth.”
“I don’t want to join forces,” Ashton said through gritted teeth. “I want this miserable fiscal year to be over! I want a good night’s sleep! I want my mother and my accountants to stop bothering me, and I want my girlfriend back!”
“So modest,” Suja said with a sigh. “I hate modesty. But I hate liars more than anything!” Suja flung her hand out at Ashton, causing the air around him to cackle with electricity. Ashton screamed in pain.
“Pax! You need to go!” Ashton shouted, as he fell to his knees. Sweat was pouring down his face and his shirt was soaked. “I’m sorry.” The deva man’s arms fell, releasing the shield. His face tumbled forward, colliding with the ground as he collapsed.
As the shield disappeared around them, Pax flew to Ashton’s side. She deposited Amara beside the unconscious man, and Amara stirred awake just as the Obake began to defrost and attack them. Pax turned rapidly to defend her friends against the invisible foes.
“Wow! He is totally ripped,” Amara said as she stared at the comatose body on the ground beside her. “What a cutie. I’m completely over Ash! Who is he?”
Pax sighed as she hacked apart three Obake guards with their own weapons. “You’re hopeless. How can a technological genius be such a total imbecile?”
When Pax had cleared the immediate attackers and was turning to grab her friends and teleport away, Suja abruptly materialized in her path. “Darling, I’m so sorry. I’m afraid I cannot allow any of you to leave. This kind of insult cannot go unpunished.”
“Suja, Suja, Suja,” Pax murmured, as a smile overtook her face. “Remember when I said that reaching for me was a mistake? Reaching for him was an even bigger one. He belongs to us.” Pax telekinetically flung the Asura woman clean across the room, placing her own body between her friends and the Obake guards.
“Guards! Don’t let her touch them,” Suja commanded. “She cannot leave this palace!”
Pax snorted. “Actually, I can.” She glared across the room into Suja’s eyes, and she thought about her mother. She thought about her grandfather. Every dark part of her life had been caused by the Asura. This woman was the enemy, regardless of her sweet voice and beautiful appearance. This woman could have been directly responsible for her mother’s death. It was that thought which helped Pax realize what she needed to do. Suja was still wearing the body of Karina Allbright, and as Pax stared at the woman’s pinstriped business suit, she realized that Suja was responsible for corrupting Thornton and breaking her heart. She had surely used magick to ruin Pax’s life. Her chest heaving in anger, Pax discovered the strength to do what she needed to do.
Plug your ears, she told Amara mentally. Pax threw her arms up over her head and curled her spine backwards, letting out an ear-piercing scream. A stream of red energy shot out of her mouth like the eruption of a volcano, filling the room like freshly spewed lava. It headed directly for Suja, whose eyes widened.
The Asura woman’s kindly voice entered Pax’s mind. If I’m going down, then I’m taking you with me, child. The goddess raised both of her hands and retaliated by sending a green substance into the lava. Pax grasped that it was radioactive, for she saw that as soon as the green fluid touched the lava, it caused combustion. She realized that the whole palace, possibly the whole continent, was going to explode with the force of her own volcano meeting Suja’s nuclear bomb.
She turned to Amara fearfully as the explosion instantaneously engulfed the room. Even though the blonde woman had forced her index fingers into her ears, blood still ran down her cheeks from the thunderous sounds raping her eardrums. The woman’s frightened pale blue eyes were the last sight Pax saw before the heat and force of the explosion collided with her back.