The Last Guardian of Tara (The Guardians of Tara Book 5) Read online

  “That’s it?” she asked. “A description of the vessels and what they offered Perses in exchange for destroying them?”

  “Unfortunately,” Prometheus said, “Perses is still going to expect some sort of compensation for his help. He’s not the kind of god who does things for others just to be a good person.”

  “So what do we have that we can offer?” Hanna asked. “Assuming we can even find Enlil’s vessel.”

  “And Veles,” Cameron added. “Don’t forget the Slavic pervy soulless god.”

  “Why is he pervy?” Hanna said. “Aside from the fact that soulless gods have absolutely no moral compass anymore.”

  “Not sure he had one to begin with,” Badb interjected. “I mean, he did allow Koschei to remove his soul and hide it in a box.”

  “Vessel,” Cameron corrected.

  “Cameron,” Badb warned, “I will convince your daughter to smite you.”

  “And you’ve all forgotten about Nergal,” London added. “I mean, I know we’ve killed him like a thousand times, but we apparently have to kill him again.”

  “Technically,” Cameron responded, “I’ve had to kill him like a thousand times. I think it’s only fair you do it this time.”

  “Can I answer Hanna’s first question yet?” Prometheus asked.

  “Please,” Hanna begged. “Then keep talking so they don’t have a chance to speak again.”

  “Traitor,” Cameron mumbled.

  Hanna squinted at her father before returning her attention to Prometheus who watched Cameron carefully for a few seconds to see if he’d interrupt their conversation. When he seemed satisfied he’d be allowed to talk, he told Hanna, “The New Pantheon exchanged favors with Perses. Since your father and London did free all of us Titans, he might be more inclined to help this group, but he’ll still want something.”

  “Favors,” Cameron repeated. “I don’t like where this is going.”

  “Probably nothing too traumatic,” Prometheus assured him. “More like… convincing Athena to go out with him.”

  “Never going to happen,” Athena insisted.

  Prometheus laughed and told her he’d only been joking, even though Perses did have a millennia-old crush on her. He wasn’t sure what Perses would demand of them, but he’d do his best to convince his old friend to make it reasonable.

  “And,” Selena added, “we’ll worry about working it out with Perses after we find the vessels. Finding them needs to be our priority.”

  “Back to treasure hunting,” Cameron sighed.

  “I much preferred searching for swords and cauldrons,” Selena replied.

  “And we don’t even know where to start,” London added.

  The door to the New Pantheon’s headquarters swung open and Jasper snapped, “I suggest you start somewhere away from my building. And soon, before Enlil makes his final play to reclaim Mesopotamia.”

  “If that’s our only problem, then we’re golden,” Cameron responded smartly. “There isn’t a Mesopotamia anymore, dumbass.”

  “Selena,” Jasper said, “I’m begging you here. Make him go away.”

  “I have an idea,” Hanna offered. “We can’t summon Enlil, but we can summon the gods who might be helping him. Who haven’t you killed on the Sumerian pantheon?”

  Cameron and Badb glanced at each other and shuffled their feet awkwardly as they ran through their mental lists of Sumerian gods. “Well,” he answered, “the only other god I’ve dealt with is Ninurta, and he’s definitely dead.”

  “And I definitely killed Ishtar,” Badb added.

  “And Perses definitely killed An,” Athena also added.

  “Just give me a list of who’s alive,” Hanna sighed.

  “On it,” Cameron proclaimed. He pulled his phone from his pocket and grinned at his daughter. “Thank God Wikipedia still exists.”

  “Dad,” she pretend-warned.

  “I know,” he promised her. “I’m just not sure which god to invoke for technology.”

  London shrugged and offered, “You can invoke me. I keep up with changing technology, which is why you have that new phone.”

  “Okay, then thank London,” Cameron decided. He held up his phone and asked, “What about Enki?”

  “Nope,” Badb said. “Even if he’s alive, he’s a mischief god, and I’ve had enough of those.”

  “Totally agree,” Thor mumbled.

  Cameron glanced at the screen again and tried, “Ninhursag?”

  “Are you even reading these?” Athena demanded. “That’s Ninurta’s mother.”

  “Oh,” Cameron said. “Yeah, good call on not getting more family members involved of the god I had to kill because he kidnapped Selena and almost killed her.”

  “Read,” Badb commanded.

  Cameron returned his attention to the screen then tried, “Nabu?”

  The older gods looked at each other as they considered summoning this particular god none of the younger ones had heard of, but Badb finally nodded and said, “Let’s get out of the city and find a safe place to summon him.”

  “I think I know where we can do this,” Thor said. “You burned our Asgard beneath Lake Waco, but it left behind what’s essentially a cave.”

  “Yeah, an underwater cave,” Cameron replied.

  “So we empty it,” Hanna suggested. “It’s a better idea than pissing off a Sumerian god who might get away from us and smite an entire city in retaliation.”

  “Get away from us?” Badb scoffed.

  “Good God,” Macha muttered then glared at Cameron before he could ask her. She pointed to her sister and said, “Her. How has her ego not gotten us killed yet?”

  “Have to admit. I’ve been wondering that for years, too,” Cameron agreed.

  “Lake Waco,” Hanna ordered. “Now.”

  Houston disappeared and the Guardians found themselves staring out over a large lake with a peculiar and unpleasant smell. Selena wrinkled her nose and said, “You’d think after twenty-six years, they could do something about that.”

  “I just hope there aren’t any water horses in there this time,” Cameron said.

  Thor pointed to a spot in the middle of the lake and said, “There. That’s where the entrance should be. Part the lake and let’s see what Nabu can tell us about Enlil’s whereabouts.”

  “You’ve been watching CSI reruns again, haven’t you?” Cameron asked him.

  “Dad,” Hanna groaned. “My birthday present can be one day of you not being a constant smartass.”

  “Baby, you know I’d give you anything within my power, but that’s not within my power.”

  Selena and Hanna both nodded as they sighed. “I know.”

  Hanna lifted a hand and flicked her wrist and the lake obeyed, its water separating into two towering walls of a cascade of colors as the mud and debris from the lake settled to the bottom. A path leading to the entrance of the temporary Asgard the Norse had built opened up for them, and Hanna quickly began the trek toward what appeared to be the entrance to a cave.

  Cameron and Selena immediately followed her while the other Guardians murmured their awe over Hanna’s complex and powerful gifts. She’d inherited all of her parents’ powers—from all of their lives—which meant she reigned over water and fire, healing and the land. And as the Stone of Fal’s heir, as soon as she stepped onto Earth, she held complete dominion over its seas and sky. This world was hers, and Fate had entrusted her and her alone to defend it.

  Hanna paused outside the old gates of Asgard where Heimdall had once kept watch and traced her fingers over the Norse inscriptions that had been carved into the rock.

  “Would you like me to translate for you?” Thor offered.

  Hanna nodded, so Thor stepped closer and pointed to a line of inscriptions. “May we never forget.” His finger moved to a different line and he read, “And may we recover what was ours.”

  Behind her, the old gods of the Tuatha Dé and Olympians cleared their throats and shifted their weapons between hand
s. They had made peace with the Norse and most were good friends now, but occasionally, both sides were confronted with the pain of their pasts.

  After all, because of the Norse, the Greeks had lost Olympus.

  The world of the gods had always seemed a bit strange to Hanna, but it also instilled so much hope in her. If Thor and her father, who’d once been such great enemies that they’d tried to kill each other, could become best friends, it seemed to promise a better future was possible for everyone. So if gods, who were well-known for being stubborn and stuck in their ways, could change, she knew there was so much potential for Earth to be saved from its own path of destruction.

  “All right,” Hanna announced. “Let’s do this.”

  The Guardians entered what was left of the Norse’s makeshift Asgard, and Cameron lit a fire to provide them light. Hanna wasted no time in finding the Sumerian god whom they would have to compel to reveal his family’s secrets or hope Badb’s telepathy was powerful enough to retrieve that information if they could get him to at least think about it without blocking her.

  Regardless, Hanna’s planet was in danger, and this bastard was giving her the first lead on this final quest to save the world, or he could burn with the remnants of Asgard.

  Because if Enlil thought he could take Earth from her, she’d soon show him how wrong he was and send him straight to Hel.

  Chapter Three

  Nabu’s confusion quickly melted away as he seemed to realize who had summoned him and why. He crossed his arms defiantly and stared at Cameron, challenging him to be the kind of god he’d never become: vengeful and cruel and sadistic. So Cameron folded his arms and stared back at him, but Hanna wasn’t quite sure why other than her father was just being a smartass about summoning an enemy god to compel him to give the Guardians information.

  Hanna rolled her eyes and stepped in front of her father, but Nabu hardly glanced at her. Every god knew about the Irish sun god whose power was unparalleled, but few knew about her. She’d been a secret, carefully guarded and hidden until she was old enough to protect herself and had learned to master all of her gifts, and if gods weren’t afraid of her yet, they would soon learn to fear her rather than her father.

  Hanna flicked her wrist and the ground beneath Nabu’s feet liquefied, causing him to sink in a pool of molten rock. When it reached his waist, she reformed the ground so that he became trapped, immobilized by the Earth itself. Nabu slapped the ground with his open hands and yelled what she assumed were Sumerian obscenities and curses, but she thought it was pretty pointless to curse someone in a language they didn’t speak. “You’ll stay there,” she warned, “until you tell us how to find Enlil’s vessel.”

  “What vessel?” Nabu snapped. “And why would I know where it is?”

  “His soul,” Hanna replied.

  Nabu scoffed and struggled against his confinement, but it was a useless gesture since freeing himself from solid rock would be impossible. “Are you stupid? Do you really think he’d tell anyone where his mortality lies?”

  “Talk to my daughter like that again, and I’ll torch you,” Cameron threatened.

  Nabu narrowed his eyes in Cameron’s direction, but Hanna knelt in front of him and demanded, “You know something. I’d rather not hurt anyone, even gods like you, but I will protect this planet at any cost. Enlil sealed his fate when he teamed up with Huitzilopochtli and let Koschei remove his soul to make him immortal. He’s evil, and I won’t let him kill innocent people.”

  “As far as I know,” Nabu replied, “he hasn’t killed anyone. You’re jumping the gun, aren’t you?”

  “Twenty-six years ago, he was part of an alliance that contributed to numerous outbreaks and natural disasters, and thousands died,” Selena said. “We’re not going to forgive or forget that. And recently, two-dozen people disappeared from Iraq, and we know that was Enlil’s doing. He may not have hurt them, but kidnapping isn’t okay… and I really shouldn’t have to explain that to you. If you’re okay with gods murdering and abducting humans, you don’t deserve to call yourself a god.”

  Nabu snorted and arched an eyebrow at her. “And what are you going to do? Magically turn me into a human?”

  “No,” Hanna answered. “It’s not magic. It’s simply Fate growing tired of the Games of the Gods and wanting to end your bullshit once and for all.” She touched Nabu’s head and some of his power seeped out, dissolving beneath her command to transform this deity into a mortal. Not surprisingly, Nabu panicked and screamed, hitting at her arm to force her away from him.

  Behind her, fire burst from her father’s body, but she held up a hand to stop him from burning the Sumerian god. “I touch you again, and it’s all gone. The only god-like characteristic you’ll have left is your ego, and you can spend the next fifty years of your mortal life wishing you’d made a different decision. When I ask you about Enlil and Nergal again, think carefully and speak wisely. After all, isn’t that your thing, God of Wisdom?”

  Nabu’s hands curled into fists, but he didn’t curse the young goddess this time. He stared back at her, considering his options, but even he seemed to realize he only had two: cooperate or become mortal. He finally offered a brief, curt nod and Hanna asked again, “Where is Enlil’s soul?”

  He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I don’t know. Honestly. He’s been in Nippur with Nergal, but few know what they’re planning. Ever since An’s death, Enlil has been the undisputed head of the Sumerian pantheon. What you’re asking of me is treason.”

  “I know,” Hanna assured him. “But I’m assuming neither he nor Nergal consulted your pantheon when they allied with Huitzilopochtli, because not all Sumerians joined the Aztecs.”

  “Of course not,” Nabu said. “Huitzilopochtli expected anyone who wanted to take part in his quest for the Otherworld and Earth to swear fealty to him, and I’d never offer my loyalty to a god who isn’t Sumerian.”

  “Then it seems Enlil betrayed you, and you owe him nothing anymore,” Hanna reasoned.

  Nabu sighed and insisted, “I don’t know where his soul is. You might be able to find him in Nippur at the palace he’s built, but it’s enchanted and visible only to certain gods and his mortal army.”

  “Mortal army?” Badb repeated. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Explains the cult following though,” Athena pointed out. “And maybe even why humans are disappearing. Slave labor?”

  “So an invisible castle guarded by a human army with radical devotion to a soulless god. This should be fun,” Hanna said.

  “We need to work on your understanding of fun,” Cameron teased. “Because honestly, I’d rather another party hosted by Dionysus over this.”

  “Hey,” Hanna shot back, “you had fun at my birthday party last year.”

  “Yeah, up until the time I had to carry you home.”

  “Not my fault his wine is supernaturally good.”

  “Um…” Prometheus interjected, “there’s a Sumerian god still stuck in the ground over here, and we might want to get to Nippur to find this invisible fortress.”

  “Hold up,” Cameron said, “is it a castle, a palace, or a fortress? We should make up our minds before looking for it.”

  “What difference does it make?” Badb snapped.

  “A big difference,” Cameron answered, his voice feigning innocence even though everyone knew he was just messing with the war goddess who so easily became annoyed by him. “A castle is fortified against attacks, often with a moat and battlements and towers. A palace is just where a king or ruler lives. And a fortress—”

  “Cameron,” Badb warned, “I swear to God, if you finish—”

  But Cameron interrupted her, too. “I’m sending you to Ellesmere Island the next time you make me ask.”

  “You!” Badb shouted, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “I swear to you, if you don’t shut up and just come with us to Nippur…”

  But Badb couldn’t finish that sentence either because she disappeared from the room
, along with her sisters and Athena. The remaining Guardians and Prometheus crossed their arms and scowled at Cameron, but he just smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “I was clearly annoying her, and she clearly wanted to go to Nippur immediately, so I just did the courteous thing and sent her. I’m nice like that.”

  “Mom,” Hanna sighed, “I know we ask you all the time, but—”

  Selena laughed and kissed her husband’s cheek. “Because underneath all that smartassiness and joking around, he has the kindest soul of any man I’ve ever met.” Selena smiled mischievously at him and added, “And he’s incredibly hot.”

  “Ew,” Hanna groaned, but she was only teasing, too. Her parents’ devotion to each other through each lifetime was as legendary as their fated roles as the saviors of the Tuatha Dé.

  Prometheus nodded toward the god in the ground and asked, “What are you going to do about him?”

  “Temporarily, I need to keep him away from the other Sumerians so he can’t warn them. I’ll go to Hel and ask her if she can keep a few prisoners for us until this is over. The rest of you should go to Nippur and find that invisible… what did we decide to call it?”

  “Fortress,” Cameron decided. “Sounds more badass.”

  “You’re going to Hel alone?” Prometheus asked her.

  Hanna shrugged. “Sure. Ever since Mom healed her, she’s been a completely different goddess. She is Loki’s daughter, so she still has a bit of a mischievous streak in her, but she’s not evil. I’ll be fine.”

  Prometheus shook his head and insisted, “I’m going with you. The Guardians have plenty of help, and just in case anything happens and you need backup, someone should be there.”

  “Dude,” Cameron hissed, “I’d better not have freed you from Tartarus just so you could hit on my daughter.”

  “Cameron,” Selena hissed back. “She’s an adult, and it’s none of our business.”

  Prometheus blinked at Cameron before whispering to Hanna, “He’s going to smite me, isn’t he? Even if my intentions are completely honorable.”