The Phantom Queen (The Guardians of Tara Book 3) Read online

  “Cameron, it’s empty,” he pointed out.

  “No, check it out…this is the coolest dungeon ever.” Cameron placed his hand on the gray stones of the wall that hid Lugh’s spirit and once again, it shimmered and transformed into the glass prison.

  “Holy shit,” Thor mumbled.

  Cameron nodded and as Lugh approached the glass wall, eyeing Thor suspiciously, Cameron asked him, “Any chance Sigyn is down here with you?”

  Lugh blinked at him then asked back, “Why are you with Thor?”

  “Dude,” Cameron hissed, “focus! We’ve got like sixty seconds to break you both out of here! Do you know where Sigyn is?”

  “But…” Lugh started so Cameron interrupted him.

  “Sigyn,” he said again. He glanced at Thor and asked, “Am I mispronouncing it or something?”

  Thor snickered, but Lugh finally answered him. “Across the room.”

  Cameron stepped back from the glass and told Lugh to do the same. Thor lifted Mjölnir and struck the prison wall as hard as he could, and even with only a fraction of his strength in Hel’s realm, the glass still shattered beneath the impact. As Cameron reached inside to pull Lugh out, Thor ran across the dungeon and put his hand on the stone wall until it too transformed into the glass prison containing Sigyn’s spirit. By the time Cameron turned around to see if Sigyn were all right, Thor had already shattered the glass and helped her through the opening.

  “We should probably run now,” Cameron suggested. “Even Baldr’s poetry isn’t going to distract Hel from all this noise.”

  Thor nodded in agreement and advised Cameron to produce his Spear because they likely weren’t leaving this palace without a fight.

  Cameron’s Spear appeared in his right hand, its blue flames lighting up the dim room.

  “Hey!” Lugh teased. “You have my Spear!”

  “Dude, I have your power,” Cameron retorted. “Didn’t you know I’m your heir?”

  Lugh snorted and pushed him toward the stairs. “Of course I do. And I can also tell you’re far more powerful than I ever was. Let’s hope it’s enough to get us out of Hel.”

  The gods stopped at the top of the stairs because they could hear Hel’s army running down the hallway. Cameron glanced over his shoulder at Lugh and whispered, “Any chance you’re still really intuitive and can tell us how many guards are coming?”

  “Yeah, but you’re not going to like my answer.”

  Cameron shrugged. “As long as one of them isn’t a snake, I think I’m cool with whatever your answer is.”

  “Uh…about fifty.”

  “Great,” Thor sighed. “If I could summon lightning down here, we’d have a chance, but…”

  “Huh,” Cameron interrupted. “How pissed off do you think Hel will be if I torch her guards? Are they dead already?”

  “No,” Lugh answered. “But you can’t use your ability to control fire here either.”

  “Kinda weird then how I’m about to do it anyway,” Cameron told him. He stepped into the hallway and ignited a fire in front of the guards who had been running toward them. Behind him, he heard Lugh mumble, “Holy shit.”

  “What about spirits?” Cameron asked. “Can you and Sigyn burn?”

  “Do we really have to find out?” Sigyn groaned.

  “Well, there’s only one way out of this palace, and my fire is kinda blocking our path. But if I extinguish it, Hel’s guards will kill us. So yeah, we really have to find out,” Cameron replied.

  “Cameron, I’m still alive,” Thor pointed out. “And I’d like to stay that way.”

  “I’ll part the flames so we can get through. Just be ready to throw Mjölnir at anyone not attempting a jailbreak.”

  The fire split in half and Cameron immediately raised his Spear and threw it at the first body to enter his line of sight.

  “Mjölnir!” Thor exclaimed.

  Cameron sighed heavily and squinted at him. “You can stop doing that now.”

  “Never going to happen.”

  “Am I the only one still completely baffled that Thor is helping two Irish gods escape Hel?” Lugh asked.

  “Yes,” Cameron said.

  Cameron threw his Spear again and Lugh tapped him on the shoulder. “Any chance you have another spear lying around?”

  Cameron arched an eyebrow at him and asked, “You can throw a spear?”

  “I’ve pushed you and tapped your shoulder, yet you still think I couldn’t lift a spear? As long as we’re in a realm of the dead, I can help.”

  Cameron summoned another spear from his room in Murias and handed it to the legendary god of the Tuatha Dé. “I want that back though,” he added.

  “Why?” Thor asked. “You only ever use one.”

  Cameron shrugged. “What is Lugh going to do with it in Findias?”

  “Conceded,” Thor agreed.

  “Hey,” Lugh interjected. “This one used to be mine, too!”

  “They all used to be yours,” Cameron said. “Why the hell would I have owned spears? It’s the twenty-first century. No one fights with spears anymore.”

  Lugh held up the spear and offered him a crooked grin. “And yet...here we are.”

  “Just throw it,” Cameron sighed.

  Lugh took a step back for balance and threw the spear toward one of the guards attempting to enter Cameron’s tunnel of fire. Just like Cameron’s aim, Lugh’s was perfect and hit the guard in the center of his chest. He stumbled and fell to his knees before collapsing onto the ground.

  From the great hall, Cameron heard Hel screaming, “The prisoners can’t escape! I’ll throw you all in the glass prison if you don’t stop them!”

  “I think we need a better escape route,” Cameron said smartly.

  “I think we need any escape route,” Lugh countered. “This was a good idea, Cameron, but we’ll never get past Hel and all of these guards.”

  Cameron nodded and pointed to his spear that still protruded from the dead guard’s chest. “I want that back.”

  Lugh grunted at him but approached the end of the fire’s tunnel and slowly bent down to retrieve the spear. Another guard stepped into their line of sight and Thor exclaimed, “Mjölnir!” a second before it sailed past Cameron’s head.

  Cameron turned around and told him, “I’ve been a bad influence on you.”

  “That’s the rumor,” Thor agreed.

  Lugh returned with his old spear and pointed it toward the walls of fire surrounding them. “How are you keeping the heat from this fire away from us?”

  “You’re dead,” Cameron pointed out. “How do you know I am?”

  “Because I’m a god. And our spirits are physical as long as we’re in a realm of the dead.” Lugh shot him a sly smile and added, “Come on. Midir knows that really well.”

  “Midir forgets a lot of shit,” Cameron retorted. “He’s old. I think he’s getting senile, to be honest.”

  Sigyn sighed loudly and gestured toward the end of the fiery tunnel. “If you’re done being a smartass, can we figure out how to get out of Hel’s palace or should we just all go back to the dungeon and re-imprison ourselves?”

  “Oh,” Cameron responded, “I figured I’d just teleport us out of here.”

  “You can’t,” Lugh insisted. “You’re…”

  But Lugh’s protest was cut off once again when the small group of gods found themselves standing outside of Hel’s gates.

  “Well, I’d kinda hoped to make it farther, but this is better than nothing,” Cameron said.

  “How the hell did you do that?” Lugh asked, his vibrant blue eyes wide with surprise and maybe even a little reverence.

  “Lugh, from now on, just accept that I really don’t have a clue how I do anything. It’ll save us a lot of time in the future,” Cameron explained.

  “Totally true,” Thor hurriedly agreed.

  Sigyn pointed to the River Gjöll in front of them and said, “We still have to cross Modgud’s bridge. And she’ll certainly try to stop us.”r />
  “She knows what people’s greatest fears are,” Lugh told them. “And she conjures whatever that is to attack those she doesn’t want crossing her bridge.”

  “That explains the snake,” Cameron said smartly. “And I’m guessing we’ll be fighting another one.”

  The sound of the gates opening promised the gods that Hel’s army was leaving the grounds of her palace to pursue them. Lugh nudged Cameron with his elbow and nodded toward the gates and wall behind them. “Any chance you can light another fire to keep them from reaching us?”

  Cameron glanced at the guards pouring from the gates and lit another fire in front of them that spread rapidly around the walls of Hel’s palace. With the guards trapped behind it, the gods focused on the golden bridge once more, but Modgud had been watching them. And she still looked pissed off.

  “No more snakes,” Cameron begged.

  “Don’t worry, Sun God,” Modgud responded. “It’s not your fear I’m sensing.”

  A loud caw that sounded suspiciously like a crow snapped his attention to the dark sky of Hel, and as a bird swooped toward them, Cameron realized Modgud had sent a giant crow after them. He gestured toward it and exclaimed, “Who the hell is afraid of crows?”

  “Um…that would be me,” Lugh answered.

  Cameron gaped at him then exclaimed, “Your greatest fear is Badb?”

  “Hey,” Lugh shot back, “have you ever pissed her off?”

  “Conceded,” Cameron agreed.

  The crow dove toward them so Cameron threw his Spear at one of its golden eyes. The bird cawed angrily in response and opened its beak wider as it changed course to swallow Cameron.

  “I’m tired of things trying to eat me!” he yelled.

  Mjölnir sailed through the air and struck the crow in its other eye, blinding the giant bird and knocking it off its trajectory. As Cameron’s Spear returned to his hand, he threw it again at the bird’s chest, and his Spear was quickly joined by the spear Lugh wielded.

  “I’m really not comfortable with killing crows,” Lugh said. “Even if they do scare the shit out of me.”

  “Just to be clear,” Cameron interjected, “does Badb scare the shit out of you or just when she’s a crow? Because this is starting to sound like a really dysfunctional relationship.”

  Lugh snorted and held out his hand for his spear. “Just crows. And it’s not Badb I’m scared of. It’s losing her that always terrified me. She used to fly over the heads of men in battle to distract our enemies, and I always worried it would get her killed.”

  Thor threw Mjölnir one last time at the dying crow then tucked his hammer back into his belt. “Modgud obviously misinterpreted your fear.”

  Lugh nodded then glared at the angry goddess on the other side of the bridge. “We killed your beast. We’ve won our passage.”

  Modgud gritted her teeth but stepped aside so the gods could cross. Cameron patted Lugh on the back and took a deep breath. “So you’re like my great-grandfather six hundred times over or something, huh?”

  Lugh shrugged and smiled at him. “When you think about it like that, this gets kinda weird, doesn’t it?”

  Cameron laughed and shook his head. “Believe me: After everything I’ve been through the past four months, this is one of the least weird things I’ve done.”

  “I’m looking forward to hearing about it,” Lugh admitted. He nodded toward Thor and Sigyn and added, “Seems like a lot has changed since I died.”

  “Some things for the better,” Cameron said. “But we’ve got some pretty big problems right now, and we need your help.”

  Lugh waved a hand toward the bridge and told him, “Then lead the way, Sun God.”

  Cameron smiled back at him and asked, “Are you ready to go to Findias?”

  “Cameron,” Lugh sighed happily, “I’ve been ready for five hundred years. And because of you and your unexpected ally, I finally have the chance. Yes, Midir. I’m ready to go home.”

  Chapter Four

  The tall red spires of Uscias’s palace reflected the warm sunlight of the Otherworld as the gods stepped onto the marble path leading to the center of Findias. Their return trip to the Otherworld had been much faster since Cameron had figured out how to summon some of his powers in Hel, and those long days of traveling through the deep valleys leading to and from Hel had been largely bypassed.

  Lugh lifted his eyes to the tips of the castle and sighed happily one more time. “I never thought I’d see this place again.”

  “Why did Odin kidnap your spirit and haul you off to Hel?” Cameron asked.

  “Not sure,” Lugh responded. “Could be that he just hated me. He couldn’t possibly have known about this prophecy you told me about since it was made after my death.”

  “But Odin was an asshole who hated everybody. There must have been a reason he feared you…even your spirit,” Cameron persisted.

  Lugh nodded in agreement. “He knew I’m intuitive, which has benefits beyond being psychic. A psychic can only hear someone’s thoughts, but in a lot of ways, I can see the pasts and futures of gods. That’s a big reason for our enemies to fear me.”

  Cameron opened his mouth to tell him it was probably also the fact that Odin was just an asshole, but the most exhilarating sound he’d ever heard in any world stopped their conversation.

  “Cameron!” Selena exclaimed.

  He’d just turned toward the sound of her voice when she was next to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him over and over as if she’d been convinced he wouldn’t really return to her. Cameron kissed her back and brushed her long blonde hair away from her face.

  “Um, by the way, this is Lugh,” he laughed.

  Selena smiled at the legendary god whose eyes had grown wide again. “Étain?” he breathed.

  Selena shrugged. “Close enough.”

  “Two powerful heirs…two lovers reunited…” Lugh murmured.

  “Yeah, about that…please tell us you can figure out why we’re obviously so important to Fate,” Cameron begged. “Everyone keeps telling us nobody has ever been given three chances at life, and Selena has. Maybe even four if you include her ability to heal herself after Odin killed her during the Battle of the Gods.”

  Lugh’s eyes traveled down to Selena’s abdomen, and he smiled back at her. “I can’t be sure, but I suspect it has something to do with the child you’re carrying.”

  “Oh, my God,” Selena whispered. “You know something about her.”

  Lugh nodded but before he could explain anything to the young parents, before Cameron could even ask her which god, another familiar voice stopped them.

  “Lugh,” she breathed.

  Lugh inhaled sharply, the air catching in his lungs as he turned around slowly to face the goddess he’d loved for so long, the goddess he thought had been lost to him forever.

  “Badb,” he breathed back.

  Badb’s pale gray eyes blinked at him as if he were only a mirage, an apparition that would disappear if she stepped too closely or looked away for even a moment.

  Lugh lifted a hand toward her then it paused in the air as he faltered with both words and actions.

  “You’re here,” Badb finally cried. “You’re really here.”

  Lugh opened his arms instead and engulfed Badb within them, speaking softly against the war goddess’s hair in a language Cameron only vaguely remembered. Selena tugged on his hand and said, “Let’s give them some space. We can come back for answers soon.”

  “Figures,” Cameron sighed. “I do all the work to get him here, and Badb just shows up and steals him before we can get him to tell us anything about our daughter.”

  “He’s not going anywhere,” Selena assured him. “Pretty sure Badb isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either.”

  Cameron grimaced and threatened, “Keep it up, and I’ll go back to Hel.”

  “Is Sigyn going to live here now?” Selena asked, nodding toward Thor and the spirit of the goddess in the distance.


  “Guess so,” Cameron told her. “They’re recreating their own Valhalla in Falias, but that’s always been for their slain warriors who would rise again during Ragnarok. Otherwise, Norse spirits live in Hel, but we couldn’t leave her there for obvious reasons.”

  “She’s okay?” Selena asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go talk to her. She couldn’t tell us much about Loki, but you might want to hear what little she knows directly from her.”

  Cameron gripped Selena’s hand and led her to Sigyn, who was being welcomed to Findias by Uscias. The wise man smiled widely at the young sun god and shook his head. “I can’t believe it. You continue to do the impossible, Cameron. And now, you’ve brought one of our greatest warriors home.”

  Cameron waved off the compliment because he didn’t want all the adulation he suspected would be coming. “It’s not me, really. Fate keeps giving me the ability to do things I shouldn’t be able to do. I can’t take credit for that.”

  “Can’t you?” Uscias asked. “Fate never gives so much power to those who don’t deserve it.”

  Cameron felt his cheeks warming, and he almost never blushed. Fortunately, Selena felt his embarrassment and immediately changed the subject. “Sigyn, I’m sorry if this brings up fresh wounds, but could you tell me about Loki’s escape?”

  Sigyn shook her head slowly. “I wish I could tell you more, Daughter of Danu. I was deceived into leaving the cave by someone I thought was a demigod who’d been hurt. He cried out in pain near the entrance to the cave so I went to check on him. I found a young man lying on the ground, clutching his knee to his chest, so I bent down to help him. Suddenly, gods just seemed to fall on me from everywhere and I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a strange room guarded by several of those gods who attacked me.”

  “How long were you held prisoner?” Selena asked.

  “A week maybe?” Sigyn answered. “And then Loki shows up one day and doesn’t even give me the chance to speak. He slits my throat and leaves without saying a word.”