Vulcan's Kittens (Children of Myth Book 1) (23 page)

Back in Hawaii... however far away that was, now... she’d put a Mylar wrap in her cargo pocket, in case it got cold enough that night to need it against the damp conditions. She’d been hypothermic once and that was enough. She stretched it out, now, knowing the thin layer of plastic would help keep him from losing anymore body heat, at least.

She tucked it around him, ignoring his murmured protestations. Blackie reappeared and stretched out next to Bes, his tongue lolling out. She nodded at him.

“You OK?” she asked.

He nodded, then put his big head on Bes’s shoulder. Linn realized that he was as long as the short man, stretched out like this. She stood up and looked around again. The moon was high overhead, thin clouds racing across the surface. She could see dark shapes huddled on the ground here and there.

There was no sign of the hyenas. She refocused, drawing upon her Sight. She sucked in a quick breath. Off to one side, far enough away she couldn’t make out details, there was a flare of golden power. She drew Lambent again and stood over Bes, remembering not to lock her knees.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Just... a lot of power.”

Now there was another flare, near where the first one had been, but this one was a pale blue. Linn swore, tensing. Bes, below her, chuckled hoarsely.

“Better not let anyone else hear you say things like that.”

She glanced down at him, seeing the smile on his face. “Glad you’re feeling better. At least down there validates your low sense of humor.”

He tried to suppress the laughter this time, as it obviously hurt. She was pleased that he was laughing, though, and closer to normal.

The flares happened again, closer. Linn could see people walking, now, and... She squinted. A horse-drawn wagon?

“Bes?” she asked quietly, not looking at him. She didn’t dare look away from the approaching group.

“Yes, Linn?” He had an odd note to his voice.

“Who is the enemy here, and how do I tell?”

“Ah...” He sighed. “There is a question I could spend years on.”

“A quick answer would be good,” she shot back dryly.

“Try shouting ‘Aduro’ when they draw near.” He sounded better, she noted absently. Whatever she and Blackie had done, it must have worked. Blackie...

Linn looked down. Blackie was asleep, his paws twitching in a dream. Fat lot of help he was. “Blackie!” she hissed urgently at him. He sat up, yawning. His ears twitched toward the approaching group of people. They stopped, and there was another flare of golden power.

Blackie jumped to his feet and took off.

“Dammit, cat!” Linn shouted hoarsely after him. She looked back down at Bes, torn. Did she leave him, when he still couldn’t move, or go after the idiot kitten?

She stayed where she was. The group bunched up when Blackie bounded into them, and then started to move toward her, fast. In the moonlight she still couldn’t make out details. There were, she thought, six of them coming toward her. The rest were staying with the wagon, which had stopped.

She had been holding Lambent loosely at her side, and now she swung her up, power flaring off the tip as she did so. Bracing herself over Bes, she screamed defiantly. “Aduro!”

Bes shouted weakly beneath her. Linn bared her teeth and prepared to die. She had no illusions about her chances against immortals. They had started to run, now, and suddenly they shouted back to her.

“Aduro! Aduro!”

The power flared from all of them... Red, green, gold, blue, iridescent, and the pure yellow that was Sekhmet. Sobbing, Linn dropped Lambent and ran to meet them. She cried out as she recognized the golden woman.

“Mama! Mama...” She fell into Theta’s arms. Sobbing wildly, she couldn’t have stopped crying if she had wanted to. Burying her face in her mother’s embrace, Linn clung to her for a second.

Her face wet with tears, she looked up at her mother. “Bes... Bes is hurt.”

Her mother was crying too, Linn realized. She just nodded and let Linn go, hurrying toward Bes. Her Grandfather caught hold of her now, kissing her forehead.

“How the hell did you get here?!” he demanded, squeezing her.

Linn gurgled a little laugh. “Bes asked me that, too. Blackie brought me.”

Sekhmet squeezed her shoulder. “You looked ready for trouble there. Anything we should know?”

Linn shook her head, suddenly very tired. “There were zombie hyenas. I think they are gone, now.”

Quetzalcoatl kissed her cheek tenderly and she felt a jump of power from him. “Brave little girl,” was all he said.

Coyote strolled up. He hugged her and led her to meet the member of the party she hadn’t met. The blue lady was a tall, dark-haired woman with a prominent nose and a broad smile.

“I am Panacea.” She held out her hands and Linn took them, feeling warm, soft skin.

“The Greek goddess of healing,” Linn said softly, wondering why she was with Grandpa Heff. She was an old one, and shouldn’t be on his side.

Panacea nodded. “After battles, I roam the field helping the fallen ones recover.”

“Bes is hurt,” Linn told her, looking over to where her mother was kneeling at Bes’ side. Panacea walked over and knelt on the other side of him. They had stopped talking when she came near. “What?” Linn asked.

“Bes was just telling me how you and Blackie were trying to heal him.” Her mother had a little quiver in her voice.

Linn looked at her numbly. “Did I do it wrong?" she asked, suddenly alarmed.

“No, no...” Theta bit her lip.

Linn recognized that. She did it herself when worried. “What is wrong?” Her voice squeaked a little.

“Hey, there,” Bes spoke, lifting a hand to her. She took it automatically, squeezing it a little. He did it to calm her, and it worked.

“It’s just that it was very dangerous for you to do,” her mother told her. “Healing is a huge power drain. I’m tapping into all the power I’ve drained from volcanoes over the course of months, Panacea has been charging herself for years...”

“Oh.” Linn looked down at Bes. He had that look on his face again. “I didn’t think about it, Mom. I just...” She fluttered her hands, trying to put into words the way she’d felt when she looked down and saw him lying there broken and split open.

Bes grunted and tried to push himself up. Both Linn and Theta grabbed him by the shoulders. Theta looked at Linn. “Do. Not. Try. To. Help,” she snapped. Then she flared.

Linn felt like she was wrapped in golden flames. Warmth slid through her skin, into her bones. She looked into Bes’ face, seeing his eyes closed and a tear sliding down his cheek. The world slowed to a crawl and the expression on his face was of agony and joy all at once. The flames snapped out and he sat up, wrapping his arms around her.

Linn was crying again, into Bes’ solid shoulder. She was sitting awry on the cold, hard ground, her arms wrapped around him. He was petting her hair. “Shhh. Shhh... let it out now.”

She hiccupped.

He chuckled. “Can we get up now?” he asked, a mixture of laughter and tenderness in his voice.

She scrambled to her feet, sniffing and looking for her handkerchief. That, at least, she hadn’t left behind.

Her grandfather, smiling, extended a hand to Bes. They clasped forearms and the burly smith pulled the shorter immortal to his feet.

Bes stretched and groaned. “Thank you, Theta.” He hugged her briefly.

Coyote handed Lambent to Linn. She smiled at him. Her face felt stiff with fatigue and dried tears. She was covered in blood and mud from the run throughout the field and her fight. But everything was all right.

Blackie bumped her hand with his head. She cupped his skull in her fingers. “Can we go home now?” she asked softly.

“Yes, you can. Which home to you want to go to?” her mother asked her very gently.

Chapter 31

Linn blinked at her mother. She realized this was a choice... the apartment in Seattle, or the Sanctuary. Suddenly she knew that if she chose the apartment, she wouldn’t remember all this. She could go back to the shallow girl she had been on the plane that summer, just killing time, waiting for life to go back to normal. None of this would seem real, just a bad dream she’d awakened from.

Linn drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders. There was something she still needed to do before she could be safely at home, wherever that was. “I left the Coblyns at the bunker in Hawaii. I need to get back there and help them get home.”

Theta blinked at her, then slowly smiled. She looked at Heff without speaking.

He grinned broadly. Then he looked at Bes. “Feel up to taking her?”

“Not babysitting this time,” the Egyptian growled.

“No, not any more,” Heff agreed with a chuckle.

Bes looked at Linn, his eyes clear and dark. No power shone there to conceal his soul. “Want me to come along?” he asked.

“Of course,” she replied. “I have no idea how to get back there.”

He laughed, that full belly laugh she hadn’t heard in too long. “Right then. Ready?”

“Just a minute,” she told him tranquilly. Then she hugged everyone, ending with her mother.

“Will you come to Sanctuary? Bring Grampa?” she whispered.

“Of course,” her mother whispered in her ear. “Couldn’t keep me away, love.”

Linn sniffed and stepped away. “OK, now I’m ready,” she told her companions

Bes took her hand and Blackie flanked her. They started to run. The moonlit land tunneled out and away. They were back on the high path. Bes didn’t move as fast as Blackie had, before. Linn thought that Blackie must have known Bes was in trouble. Maybe Blackie came here every time he'd disappeared into the fog.

They landed much more smoothly, as Bes had talked her through how to do it as they jogged along the tunnel. She’d told him where they were going, and he told her how to land with bended knees for more bounce.

The fog still laid over the landscape like a wet blanket. Linn sucked in a lungful of warm, wet air, catching the exotic scents and sea air. She pulled her compass out and consulted it, looking at the ground. She figured if she found the cattle path that she could get back to camp.

Bes swept her a little bow. “Lead on!”

She nodded wanly. All the activity had caught up with her. She really wanted a nap and food, not necessarily in that order. By the time she got them into camp, she was shaking a little.

Bes sat her down and put her jacket over her. It seemed odd to Linn that nothing had changed here since she'd left. Her pack was all put together and leaning against the pole of the lean-to. The little green fire was still flickering merrily. She held her hands out to it, and then snatched them back, not wanting Bes to see how they were trembling.

He pulled open the small pouch on her backpack and handed her a protein bar and then the spout of her CamelBak. “Eat and drink. You put a lot of yourself into me...” His eyes softened. “Using that much power means you need to refuel. This will help.”

Linn just nodded, too tired to speak. She chewed slowly. It tasted delicious, which probably meant she was pretty bad off. Normally the protein bars were disgusting.

He stood up. “I’m going to go check in with the Coblyns. I will be right back, OK?”

“I’ll be here.” Which was true, Linn reflected, because she didn’t have the energy to go with him. Once they had gotten safely back to Earth, it was like someone had opened a tap and emptied her out. She took another bite.

She was half asleep when he came back. She was aware that he was there, but too tired to speak to him.

He talked to her instead. “They are almost done. It’s ready to launch when Heff sends word. Daffyd wants me to take you straight back to the Sanctuary.”

“How...?” she managed.

“Since we don’t know when launch will be, and maybe we’ll never need it at all, they need a stronger look-don’t-see spell. I’m going to send Coyote to them. He can set concealment and get them home.”

Linn closed her eyes. She didn’t want to go anywhere. She was too tired to move.

Bes shook her shoulder. “Come on, Linn. Let’s go home.”

“There’s an offer I can’t refuse...” she muttered. She still didn’t move.

Bes scooped her up.

Linn squeaked. “You can’t carry me!”

“I can and you aren’t moving...” He started to walk, and she knew without opening her eyes they were back on the high path.

She relaxed and let herself drift into sleep. She felt safe again.

Linn woke up in her own bed at the Sanctuary. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. She had been undressed and was in a baggy tee and her underwear. She had not been cleaned up, though. She looked at her hands and could see traces of the blood from the battlefield.

“Ugh.” She rolled out of bed and staggered into the bathroom. She felt like she had been hit with a stick. Several times, by someone who meant it. She stood for a long time under the hot water, washing twice to get off the mud and blood, and that helped. Clean, fresh clothes helped too. Linn decided that food would make everything better.