New Olympus Saga (Book 3): Apocalypse Dance (38 page)

Freedom Island, Caribbean Sea, March 4, 2014

John had been understanding. Maybe too understanding.

She couldn’t tell what he was feeling after she awkwardly told him she’d changed her mind. Apparently Uncle Adam had made him a ring that made him impervious to empathy, even more so than normal, so even her Christine-senses couldn’t see what he was feeling. It kinda made sense, she guessed, that he would want something like that, to help deal with her. It was a bit like shutting a door on her face, but she couldn’t blame him. She’d used him as a rebound guy after Mark was presumed dead, had told him she’d chosen him when she came back from her magical mystery tour, and then she’d gone and chosen Mark over him at the last moment. And she was sure he’d overheard their conversation in Mark’s apartment; the way he hadn’t looked surprised at all when she went to tell him the news had been pretty suspicious. With his super-hearing, he could well have eavesdropped on them. Not very ethical, and that worried her a bit, but again, could she blame him?

Their goodbyes had been cool, almost cold. She had a feeling they weren’t going to stay friends after this.

Christine left Freedom Hall and decided to fly around for a bit to clear her head. Once she was a thousand feet in the air, she hovered leisurely over the island, being careful to stay out of other people’s flight paths.

She still didn’t remember anything that happened to her while she played Sleeping Beauty. All she could recall was coming up behind her evil twin in Dreamland and blasting her into oblivion. How had Dark Christine ended up there, and almost stolen her body? What had she been doing during those weeks? No clue. Hopefully she’d regain those memories eventually.

Which left her with wondering what to do next.

It was going to be a year since her disappearance from Earth Prime. Her mom must think she was dead by now. One way or another, she had to figure out how to get home, if only so she could tell her mother she was okay.

Then there was the whole mess with the Source. Neos were beginning to pop up again, which meant she was going to have to try and fix that situation, again. Except it seemed that she’d burned out her connection to the Source, also again, maybe permanently this time. She’d known there’d be a price to pay for all the stuff she’d done. Also, she was pretty sure the Outsiders would try something insidious sooner or later. And of course she was still a Legion member, with all the duties that came with the job. Uncle Adam was insistent they met soon. So was Janus, and something told her that meeting had to go to the top of her to-do list.

She should be feeling worried and anxious about all of that, she wasn’t. Christine was happy. There was a lot of stuff to do, but now that she’d handled fighting gods and monsters like some badass version of Lana DelRey, she figured she could handle anything. Christine smiled and headed back to the ground, thinking of Mark.

There was plenty left to do, but right now she just wanted to be with him, and be happy for a bit.

The Invincible Man watched her fly, and brooded.

THE END

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