The Gatekeeper (The Guardians of Tara Book 1) Read online

  “Loviatar,” Selena sighed again.

  Ukko glared at the glass prison and nodded. “Summon her. I have friends in there.”

  “You have friends?” Cameron asked.

  “Cameron,” Selena groaned.

  “All right,” he laughed. “I’ll summon…” Cameron trailed off as he attempted to pull the goddess to the frigid Finnish forest, but he couldn’t find her.

  Ukko immediately seized on his frustration and shook his head. “No way is she powerful enough to prevent you from summoning her. Hell, I could probably do it.”

  “Then try,” Cameron said. “I can’t even sense her.”

  Ukko blinked at him then hissed angrily. “Where is she?”

  “She shouldn’t be able to hide herself like Huitzilopochtli,” Nemain offered. “Ukko’s right. She’s not that powerful or I wouldn’t have gotten away from her so easily. Thor and London wouldn’t have been able to track her so well. But you couldn’t summon her when she grabbed me either.”

  “So… where is she?” Cameron echoed.

  “She must have found someone to help her,” Selena guessed. “Someone who would be powerful enough to hide her or who at least is powerful enough that when they combine their strengths, they’re able to hide from us.”

  “Someone like the pervy heart-stealing Aztec god we’re trying to hunt down and kill?” Cameron asked.

  All of the gods shrugged because none of them had any clue where Loviatar had gone or to whom she’d offered her support in exchange for protection.

  Thor rubbed his eyes and mumbled, “I really hope we don’t have to go back to that Basin.”

  Cameron pulled his list from the back pocket of his jeans and pretended to study it. “If it’s not Huitzilopochtli, it could be Enlil, who’s likely working for Huitzilopochtli. Or Tlaloc who’s also likely working for Huitzilopochtli. Sorry, Thor, looks like we’re going back to the Basin.”

  Thor crossed his arms stubbornly. “I’ll stay here and guard the prison… in case she returns.”

  “What’s the matter, big guy?” Cameron teased. “Afraid of snakes?”

  “Who isn’t?” Thor responded. “You do know a giant snake is fated to kill me, right?”

  “Pretty sure Jörmungandr isn’t going to show up in the Atchafalaya Basin,” Selena assured him.

  Badb tilted her head at the bantering gods and tapped her finger against her chin. “What if Loviatar didn’t get help from any of the pervy asshole gods hiding out in a swamp? What if she simply found a god much like herself?”

  “Who can control diseases and is legitimately evil? Besides the pervy asshole gods in the swamp?” Cameron asked.

  “You’d be surprised, Cameron,” Badb answered. “Not about the diseases, but how many gods would be willing to do truly evil things in order to get some of their power back.”

  “Somebody needs to check out the Basin anyway,” Ukko said. “Just in case.”

  “Not it,” Cameron immediately said.

  “Me either,” Thor insisted. “Let the Mórrígna do it. They’re Irish. They have a genetic advantage at ridding the world of snakes.”

  Cameron nodded even though he was Irish, too. “And London can go with them. She seems bored.”

  “You don’t get to order me around, Sun God,” she challenged.

  Cameron snorted and challenged back, “I can, actually. How are you going to stop me?”

  “London,” Ukko sighed, “don’t piss off the most powerful god in the world. And Cameron, don’t smite my employees.”

  “She’s not your employee anymore,” Cameron pointed out.

  Ukko waved a hand at him. “Close enough.”

  “You know what?” Selena snapped. “I’ll go look for Loviatar on my own.”

  Cameron reached for her hand to apologize for all of the distractions, but his fingers only found air.

  Because Selena had actually disappeared.

  Chapter Twelve

  Cameron sat on the edge of the hotel bed where Selena lay staring at the ceiling. She hadn’t greeted him when he’d shown up in the room, and she hadn’t answered him when he’d asked her what was wrong. But part of him already knew. She wasn’t well.

  He touched her leg gently and spoke just as softly. “Selena, you need to go back to Murias and get some rest.”

  “I’m a goddess of healing,” she said, her eyes still riveted to the textured ecru plaster above her. “I somehow healed myself when Odin hit me with Ukko’s lightning, so why can’t I heal myself now?”

  “Because you’re not hurt. You’re exhausted.”

  “We’re all exhausted, Cameron. We’ve been fighting gods and monsters nonstop for three months.”

  “Perhaps healing takes a greater toll than fighting,” Cameron countered. “Whatever the reason, it doesn’t change that you need to slow down and…”

  “Slow down?” Selena exclaimed. She sat up and glared at him, and Cameron moved his hand away from her leg. He’d never seen her like this, and his concern morphed into fear. Something was changing the woman he loved, and it was something he couldn’t see or fight.

  “And when one of these huge serpents injures you, who’s going to heal you? Or when this new girl discovers all of the bravado in the world is no match for a god like Huitzilopochtli, who’s going to bring her back to life?”

  “Maybe we can all take a few days off,” Cameron suggested.

  “And let Ukko’s gods suffer just because we want a mini-vacation?” Selena shouted.

  “I don’t know what else to do!” Cameron shouted back. “I can’t lose you. Not again!”

  Selena opened her mouth then closed it. Instead of shouting at him again, she began to cry. Cameron had never felt so helpless in his life. He scooted closer to her on the bed and put his arms around her, running his fingers through her long blonde hair and searching desperately for any argument that would convince her to return to Murias. And with their thoughts and emotions so intertwined now, Selena immediately knew what he was planning. She pulled away from him and fixed him with another angry scowl.

  “What should we do then?” he asked. “Ignore this and hope it goes away? Whatever this is? Selena, we’re new gods. We know so little about our lives now.”

  “We may be new gods, but this isn’t the first time we’ve been gods,” Selena argued. “Maybe we know more than we realize. And I don’t want you dragging Badb into this. I know you’re considering it.”

  Cameron sighed and ran his fingers through his hair now. Of course he’d been thinking about summoning Badb because he suspected she’d be able to help Selena, and when it came to Selena, there was nothing in any world he wouldn’t do. “I’ve got nothing,” Cameron admitted. “Even with Midir’s memories. Étain never got sick and neither did Midir.”

  “I’m not sick,” Selena interrupted.

  “But you’re also not yourself,” Cameron countered.

  “No,” Selena admitted quietly. “I’m not. But I don’t want to worry the others when we have so many other problems to deal with.”

  “I don’t care about any of the other gods or even this planet without you,” he told her.

  “I’m not dying, Cameron,” Selena replied. “And…” Her eyes narrowed, but Cameron had sensed her, too.

  “Badb,” he sighed, “what are you doing here?”

  “What do you think? Checking on Selena,” Badb answered.

  “I’m fine,” Selena insisted. “Aren’t you supposed to be searching for Loviatar?”

  Badb shrugged. “Nemain and London are searching the Basin while Ukko and Thor are looking into a few gods that might be helping her. And you’re not fine.”

  Selena waved her off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “Cameron and I will stick with Ukko. I know trusting him will be even harder for you than trusting Thor.”

  Badb watched Selena carefully for a few seconds then sighed. “All right. I doubt Huitzilopochtli or Enlil will even show up without Cameron and you around, but Nem
ain thinks she can track them anyway. Perhaps we should go back to the prison to see if we can figure out a way inside.”

  “Chances are, someone’s going to throw an enormous serpent at London and Nemain in the Basin, but perhaps we can split up once they do. A few gods fight the snake, the others go after whomever sent it,” Selena suggested.

  “Dibs on going after the god who sent it,” Cameron said quickly.

  Badb narrowed her eyes at him, but her focus flickered to Selena and she relented. “Take my sister with you. London and I can handle one snake.”

  Cameron snorted and smiled at his friend. “Turns out, I don’t really want you to die so let’s go with your idea first.”

  Badb gawked at him, but Cameron brought them back to the forest where the Finnish gods remained trapped inside the glass prison. They walked around the smooth, transparent walls slowly as they searched for any anomaly that might trigger an opening then after a few trips around the entire structure, collapsed in the snow out of frustration.

  Cameron put his arm around Selena as they stared at the prison, their thoughts swirling faster and faster toward the same thought: the Tuatha Dé had built their own glass castle to imprison Odin so perhaps the structures weren’t so different after all.

  Selena tilted her head and nudged Badb with her foot. “How did you plan to get Odin out of the glass castle?”

  Badb shrugged. “We didn’t. Not as far as I know.”

  “You were going to keep him there forever?” Selena exclaimed.

  “Selena, look what he did once he got out,” Badb reminded her. “And come on. This wasn’t that long ago. You remember the druid’s prophecy, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “We couldn’t kill him,” Badb interrupted. “So we did the next best thing.”

  “Then how did Ninurta’s followers break him out?” Cameron asked.

  Badb shrugged again. “Still have no idea. The glass was broken, but Thor nor you would have been able to break through it by strength alone.”

  Cameron grunted at her because his frustration was shifting from his inability to get into the prison to his inability to get Badb to give them direct answers. “Then who built the glass castle? And don’t you dare say Lugh.”

  Badb’s pale gray eyes blinked at him then she stared into the prison. “No. Not Lugh. The glass castle is extremely old. I think it’s one of the few structures on any of the islands that were around before us.”

  “Like the Stone,” Selena breathed.

  Badb nodded. “Why do you think the Dagda is lying?”

  Her question surprised Cameron because he was used to being the one to question the gods. Badb’s faltering faith in the father-figure of the Irish unnerved him more than he’d ever admit to anyone except Selena.

  “I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I think he knows exactly what happened to the Nemedians, and for some reason, he doesn’t want us to know. I don’t think this is ancient history and something he’s just ashamed of now. I think there’s something strange still going on.”

  Badb nodded again. “Let’s assume, then, that the Nemedians built the glass castle. I helped put Odin in it, but the Dagda told me he only knew of one way out once the enchantment was cast, but you’re going to think it’s incredibly stupid.”

  “Badb,” Cameron said, “we’re sitting on a bank of snow in the middle of a forest in Finland by a glass prison filled with diseased gods. My entire life has become characterized by the absurd. I don’t think you can make that worse.”

  Badb looked away from the glass building and lifted a pale yellow eyebrow at him. “With a salmon.”

  Cameron opened his mouth then closed it. Selena snickered. He opened his mouth again. “I was wrong. You can make it worse.”

  Badb laughed and hugged her knees to her chest. “You know the story of Fionn’s fish and gaining all of the wisdom in the world, right?”

  Cameron was about to tell her no, but Selena answered for them both. “Of course. The hazel trees surrounding Connla’s Well were believed to be magical and the fish that swam in those waters and ate the fallen hazelnuts absorbed all of the world’s wisdom. If a man wanted to gain that knowledge, he would have to find one of those fish and eat it. Fionn gained this wisdom when he was a child after being burned by the cooking fish and putting his injured thumb in his mouth.”

  “We have the most ridiculous history of any pantheon,” Cameron added helpfully.

  Badb narrowed her eyes at him and most likely cursed at him as well, but he couldn’t remember ancient Gaelic so he wasn’t quite sure. He just smiled at her and reminded her they were sitting in Finland discussing smart fish.

  “It’s not so stupid, actually,” Badb said defensively. “The Dagda told me that anyone who would want to get into the glass castle would have to find one of those salmon and eat it and that the fish would give him the knowledge he needed to break into the castle.”

  “Question,” Cameron interrupted, and Badb sighed impatiently. “Two, actually. One: how did you all know how to use the glass castle and cast enchantments on it if you didn’t build it?”

  “Because it’s just a building,” Badb answered before he could ask his second question. “Anyone who knows how to cast spells can imprison weaker gods regardless of who built the prison. Getting them out is a different matter because some buildings like the glass castle carry their own permanent enchantments.”

  “And this fish apparently contains the secrets to breaking those enchantments. So… while a battle was raging in Murias, someone went fishing?” Cameron asked. “And had time to clean the fish, cook it, and eat it?”

  “I never said the fish had to be cooked,” Badb pointed out.

  “Ew,” Cameron said. He winked at Selena and added, “If that’s the only way out of this place, we’ll have to tell Ukko he’s on his own.”

  Selena rolled her eyes and studied the glass prison again. “So what exactly are you proposing, Badb? That we go to Murias, spend God knows how long looking for a fish that contains infinite wisdom, and hope it reveals the secret to opening this damn thing?”

  “No,” Badb answered. “The salmon is from our legends. I’m suggesting there must be something similar in Finnish myths that can give us the knowledge about how to open this prison.”

  “Again,” Cameron said, “you’ve successfully made my world infinitely dumber.”

  “Shut up and summon Ukko,” Badb retorted.

  “Why?” Cameron asked. “Are we going to eat him?”

  “Um,” Selena said, “that’s the perviest thing you’ve ever said. Don’t ever say that again.”

  Cameron grimaced and shook his head. “You should totally smite me for saying it the first time.”

  “I totally should because I’ll never be able to get that image out of my head,” Selena agreed.

  “What is wrong with you two?” Badb asked.

  “Clearly, we never ate the fish of wisdom,” Cameron answered.

  “Salmon of Knowledge,” Selena corrected. “But I’m not sure it would matter.”

  “Agreed,” Cameron said.

  “Please shut up and get Ukko,” Badb groaned.

  “Only if you swear never to tell him what I just said,” Cameron told her.

  “Cameron, I swear to God…”

  “Which god?” Cameron asked. “Him or me?”

  “I will tell him if you don’t drop it,” Badb hissed.

  “Why am I back in Finland?” Ukko sighed.

  Cameron pointed to Badb and said, “She made me do it.”

  “Also kinda pervy, love,” Selena whispered.

  “Sh,” Cameron whispered back. “He’s psychic. You’re going to make him go digging around in my head and then I’ll lock myself in that prison.”

  Ukko squinted at him and sighed again. “Tell me you didn’t pull me away from questioning Veles just to listen to you two being… you.”

  Cameron shot Badb a pleading look. “Can I please tell him that?
”

  Badb pushed him away from her and told Ukko, “Pretend like he’s not here or we’ll never have the chance to tell you why you’re here.”

  Ukko nodded seriously. “I often try to pretend like he’s not here.”

  “You both suck,” Cameron told them.

  “Cameron,” Selena cautioned, “after what you just said a minute ago, I’d be careful about accusing people of that.”

  “Deal breaker,” Cameron decided. “I’ll be in Baton Rouge.”

  “Am I still supposed to be ignoring him?” Ukko asked Badb.

  “More than ever,” Badb said.

  “How?” Ukko exclaimed, waving a hand in Cameron’s direction. “He never shuts up!”

  “True,” Cameron agreed.

  “Cameron,” Badb scolded, “let me explain why you brought Ukko here!”

  “You’d better stick to why you wanted him here,” Cameron warned. “Or I’ll send you to look for my reindeer.”

  Badb put a hand on her hip and squinted at him, too. “There are reindeer all around us. If it’ll make you shut up, I’ll go get you one.”

  “I’m about to leave,” Ukko mumbled.

  “Go ahead and try it,” Cameron told him.

  “I hate you,” Ukko sighed.

  Cameron shrugged. “Get in line.”

  “Ukko,” Selena interjected, “any chance you have a magical fish that will give us the information we need to break into this prison?”

  Ukko blinked at her then blinked at Cameron.

  “No, we’re totally serious,” Cameron told him.

  Ukko blinked at Badb.

  “We’re sort of serious,” Badb explained. “In Irish myth, there’s a Salmon of Knowledge that has the ability to impart all of the wisdom in the world to whomever eats it. The Dagda once told me the only way to know how to get into the glass castle is by finding one of those fish because it could impart the wisdom we’d need to know how to open it. We were just wondering if there’s anything similar in Finnish mythology.”

  “And absolutely nothing else was said after the fish story,” Cameron quickly added.

  “What is wrong with all of you Irish?” Ukko asked.

  Cameron smiled at Badb. “Finally someone realizes there’s something wrong with you, too!”