Page 38 of Deadly Games
I dropped down onto an uneven floor that had once been solid concrete and was now more of a collage of jagged rock. Just taking a single step forward required calculation, but Cat Loki easily navigated the winding tunnels. We followed the spots he chose, careful not to take any missteps that would collapse the tentative stability of the tunnels.
When we finally reached the holding area, all I could recognize of it was a few twisted iron bars that had been misshapen by the falling rubble. Loki paused and lifted his head to sniff the air.
I smell blood.
His words dissolved the fragile calm that had allowed us to think clearly enough to get this far, and Dionysus and I both started tearing away stones and fallen chunks of plaster in a frantic search that couldn’t end well.
Fenrir finally made it through the pass and came barreling through more recklessly than I would have liked. He sniffed the air as well and his sharp golden eyes met mine.
The blood isn’t hers.
The announcement filled me with as much relief as confusion. We kept digging anyway and his chuff alerted us to the fact that he’d found something. A large hand stuck out from underneath a heavy pile of stone, and blood was already pooling at my feet.
As the giant wolf made quick work of the rubble, my confusion only amplified. The body lying beneath the stone was broken and bloodied, but unmistakable nonetheless.
It was Thor.
We all turned to face Loki, stunned into silence. He seemed to be having the same problem and I’d never seen him so unexpressive as he was then, staring at his brother’s mangled corpse.
For a long moment, he said nothing. In fact, I was pretty sure he’d stopped breathing. When at last he spoke, he turned back toward the rest of the chaos surrounding us and announced in a surprisingly calm voice, “She’s not here.”
He was right. Now that I was calm enough to think clearly through the panic, the connection that had led me to her every time she was in danger, both in the waking world and the Ether, was telling me she wasn’t here. Wherever she was, she must have gotten out in time.
Or she’d been the one to cause the earthquake in the first place. I wasn’t sure how that was even possible, given that I thought I’d seen every permutation of her power available, but if Kore had taught me one thing, it was to never assume anything was impossible when it involved her.
“Up there,” Dionysus said, pointing to the glimmer of light peeking through the ceiling. Loki shifted into the form of a raven, disappearing into the sky up above. A few seconds later, he tossed down a green vine.
“She definitely went out this way,” I muttered, tugging to check its sturdiness. Once we all made it up top, with Loki and Fenrir shifted back into their human forms, I took in the ruins of what had once been the east wing of the Academy.
“She always joked about tearing this place down, but I never thought it would be literal,” Dionysus murmured, looking around the empty field. “Where do you think she went?”
I glanced Fenrir’s way immediately only to realize the others were all looking at me. “What? I’m not the resident bloodhound.”
“No, but you found her at the well,” Dionysus countered.
He had a point. Whatever link existed between the four of us, it seemed I was the one capable of tracking her down even more than Fenrir. “It’s not something I can just turn on and off.”
“Try,” Loki pressed.
I would’ve had a few choice words for him, if we hadn’t just found his brother’s body. I tried to focus and identify whatever it was that had sparked the sixth sense the last time. Both times it had happened, it wasn’t conscious. It just became a premonition that was too unsettling to ignore.
Something drew my attention toward the sparkling blue city in the distance. I didn’t know how I knew, but something told me she was there. “Atlantis. That’s where we start.”
“We should split up,” Fenrir suggested. “The city’s huge. We need to cover as much ground as possible.”
I nodded. “I’m fine on my own. One of you should go with Dionysus.”
“Why do you say that likeIneed a chaperone?” he asked sourly.
Fenrir snorted. “He can come with me.”
“No,” Loki said brusquely. Dionysus gave him a startled look. I definitely hadn’t expected that reaction, either. “I’ll take him.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That should probably be up to him.”
“It’s fine,” Dionysus interjected, even though he seemed anything but comfortable with the arrangement. “We shouldn’t waste any more time.”
“Fine,” I sighed. Whatever was going on with Loki, he was far from alright, but we didn’t have time to sort it out. Dionysus probably had a better chance of keeping him in line than I did. “I’ll take care of the...scene before I head out.”
