Serpent's Storm (21 page)

“Well, I’m here to challenge you, Cal,” Daniel said, his tone serious.

“Okay.”

He seemed surprised. I guess he’d been waiting for me to protest, or maybe even to tell him he should just get it over with and end my existence right here and now—neither of which I was going to do.

“Should we do this outside?” I asked, and Daniel nodded.

“Yeah, we need to take a little walk,” he said.

I followed him onto the porch, but before I’d gone very far, I turned around and I did something crazy. I made a snap decision about the Siren, something I hoped I wasn’t going to regret later.

I swallowed hard then whispered:

“Wake up, Starr.”

Silence greeted my whisper.

“Okay, fine, be that way,” I said. “Just know that I release you from bondage. Go and be free!”

The stupid creature just hung there on the wall, still as a piece of driftwood—which I guess she kind of was—ignoring me. I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

“Ugh,” I mumbled, rethinking my possibly unsound snap decision.

“You coming?” I heard Daniel say from the head of the stairway.

“On my way,” I called back, wishing I were anywhere but right there on that porch with Daniel.

Of course, as usual I had no say in my fate.

Typical,
I thought to myself as I closed the door behind me, hoping I wasn’t closing the door on the innocent part of my life forever. Feeling uncertain about what the future held, I followed Daniel down the rickety stairs, careful not to touch the railing. My last experience with the stairs had not been positive, and though I doubted the gold armor was an electrical conductor, I wasn’t taking any chances—I didn’t want to get flambéed.

For the first time since I’d been dragged back into the supernatural world, I was on my own. There was no Jarvis, no Hyacinth, no Clio or Runt to help guide me anymore. I just hoped I had what it took to do the right thing and save the people I loved.

The old me would’ve sat down in the dirt and cried, lamenting the unfair predicament her family had entangled her in . . . But the new Callie? Well, she was made of tougher stuff.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, marshaling every ounce of willpower I possessed. Then I did exactly what I knew Hyacinth and Sumi wanted me to do:

I started jogging after my competition.

“Wait up,” I called, chasing after Daniel, who was keeping an Olympic record-setting pace down the dirt sidewalk. He didn’t seem worried about having his back to me, not that I would play dirty and jump him while he wasn’t looking, but it still made me feel funny, like he didn’t really consider me a threat even though I was wearing the exact same suit of golden armor that he had on—

My thoughts were interrupted when, without warning, my body tensed, my fight-or-flight response triggered by something I couldn’t see. The hairs on the back of my neck bristled and I spun around, my breath coming hard and fast as fear, more palpable than the air I was breathing, invaded my body. My skin responded to the perceived threat by breaking into gooseflesh, but I ignored my cowardly body and took a visual scan of the surrounding space, my eyes testing every nook and cranny of darkness for signs of life.

I found nothing.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw something or someone waiting in the shadows underneath one of the stilted houses. Two sets of violet eyes, their tapeta lucida reflecting back at me under cover of night, were watching me with an intensity that was unsettling. My senses itched and I tried to figure out what was causing me to feel so unhinged.

I swallowed, fear making my mouth so dry the flesh felt smooth, and let my attention wander back to Daniel. He’d put more distance between us than he’d realized and had to turn back around to reclaim me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, but I shook my head. I had no words to describe the
crawling
sensation I felt.

He didn’t seem to mind my silence, shrugging off my unwillingness to confide in him and gesturing for me to follow. At first, my body didn’t want to comply, but I picked up my feet and made them fall into sync with Daniel’s steps.

I was still having trouble keeping up, so my former love slowed even more, giving me an opportunity to catch him, and together we headed back down the street. The fog was long gone now, allowing me to see more of the island as we walked. We were very close to the water here, and the surf was like a lullaby, gently rocking the land to sleep. I wanted to shuck off the heavy armor, run to the shoreline, and slip into the waiting embrace of the sea, but the human part of my brain held the impulse in check, reminding me that running away now meant letting my whole family down.

We continued on the same road Sumi and I had taken, only going in the opposite direction, the asphalt giving way to dirt under our feet. Once again I began to feel kind of spooked by our setting, by all those houses on their crazy stilted legs, the gaps between their skeletal foundations casting shadows on the ground around us.

Every so often, I thought I caught a flash of violet keeping pace with us, but when I turned my head to investigate, there was nothing there but empty night. My brain was trying to put the “violet-eyed creature” puzzle together as we walked, but it wasn’t having very much luck.

“You all right?” Daniel asked after we’d trudged along for a few minutes in silence. “You’re usually a regular old chatterbox.”

I knew he was trying to be cute, but all his little comment made me want to do was smack him. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly to stymie the violent impulse.

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” I offered instead. I was half serious and half just hoping to distract myself from the creepy feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. I was pretty certain that nothing I had to say was gonna sway Daniel from fighting me and getting Hell as his reward.

“You’re wrong,” he replied, shaking his head. “We
do
have to do this. We have no other choice.”

Angry, he picked up speed and I had to trot to keep up with him.

“We were going to go to Heaven and ask God for help,” I pleaded, but the pounding of the surf picked up just then, dulling my words. “We can still do that. It’s not too late.”

Daniel stopped abruptly and grabbed my wrist, aggressively yanking me into him.

“Ow,” I cried, trying to wrest my arm out of his grasp.

“You don’t understand,” he rasped, gritting his teeth in frustration as I glared at him. “There are creatures counting on me to help them and time has run out. I have to do this or the Devil will do terrible things in Hell.”

I couldn’t believe the bullshit he was spewing. How could he possibly believe the Devil and his cohorts would leave Hell alone if he just did what he was told and handed them Death on a silver platter?

“So, you kill me and then they give you Hell,” I said, marveling at his naïveté. “You
really
think that’s what’s gonna happen?”

He stared at me, his face riddled with confusion.

“Kill you?”
he asked, incredulous.

“Damn straight, kill me,” I said, annoyed at his stupidity. “What do you think this armor is for? We’re supposed to battle it out for supremacy and that means death, buddy.”

Daniel looked horrified. Apparently, he hadn’t taken the time to think the whole thing through.

“My sister can never be Death, Daniel. She isn’t one of the chosen ones.”

In every generation there were two or three people who were fated to possibly become Death, but only one would reign supreme by besting the others at three tasks set by the Board of Death. Daniel was aware of the 411 on how someone got to be the Grim Reaper, and he knew my sister was ineligible—a detail that had been one of the contributing factors in why she’d kidnapped my dad all those months before.

“You challenge me and win? Well, then
you’re
Death,” I said, stabbing my gloved finger into his armored chest for emphasis. “You’ll be my sister’s plaything, and you’ll never get anywhere near Hell.”

I was telling him the truth, as I knew it, and I could tell he believed what I was saying. If he defeated me, he’d be at the mercy of the Devil
and
my sister—and he’d actually be in a
worse
place than when I’d first met him.

“So what do we do, then?” he asked me finally.

I wished I could’ve told him I had a plan, but I didn’t even have the beginnings of one.

“We gotta at least look like we’re down for doing this thing,” I said, letting my arms drop to my sides. “Just don’t kill me until I can put all the pieces together.”

He nodded, flashing me a brief smile.

With a truce of some sort in place, we continued walking down the derelict path. A few minutes later Daniel stopped abruptly in the middle of the road and declared:

“We’re here.”

I let my eyes sweep across the empty lane, following the curve of the land until it bowed to the sea. I couldn’t imagine what was so important about this random, uninhabited stretch of road that meant we had to stop and make our little battle party here.

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

The ground began to rumble like a freight train, the earth heaving beneath my feet in undulating waves that played havoc with my balance. Before I knew what was happening, I’d lost my footing and fallen flat on my ass in the middle of the road.

“Come on, not fair—” I whined, but I shut up when I saw what had caused the tremor.

Above me, in all its opalescent glory, rose the gleaming white seascape of Atlantis.

I goggled at its majestic beauty, the creamy marble pavilions silhouetted against the agate swell of the sea. I’d always been in awe of the mysterious Lost City of Atlantis ever since I’d come across a picture of it in a book when I was a kid. I can still remember bugging my parents to take us there for summer vacation, only to be told we couldn’t actually go there because it was “lost.” I also remember the very strange looks I got from the other kids in school when I told them I would rather go to Atlantis for my vacation than dumb old Disney World.

It seemed that the venue for our battle had been chosen for a reason. And though I was leery about fighting Daniel, period, I didn’t think I could’ve picked a better battle site.

Atlantis was where I would make my stand.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be my last.

As I steeled myself for the battle ahead, I realized that, though it appeared to be daytime in Atlantis, I could still feel the coolness of the night at my back. I turned around and was shocked to find my feet still firmly planted in the marshy backwater of New York.

“Whoa,” I said, the word escaping from my lips of its own volition. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the disorienting feeling of being in two places at once.

“Pretty weird, huh?” Daniel said, giving me a nervous smile.

“Yeah, weird,” I agreed.

“Look,” Daniel said suddenly, grabbing my armor-clad arm with a
clank
. “I feel terrible about all of this. I really had no idea it would be a battle to the death—”

“It’s okay,” I said, interrupting him. “I know you’re one of the good guys, Daniel.”

I wasn’t sure if I really meant what I said or if the last bit had been laced with a hint of sarcasm. Daniel took it at face value, shaking his head, his handsome face creased with worry.

“I meant everything I said this morning. I’m not gonna let you run away from me.”

Because I was so not expecting to have a conversation about our relationship, I just stood there, dumbfounded.

“Callie, I have very strong feelings for you,” he continued, taking my silence as an open invitation to keep talking. “And I want to make our relationship work, no matter what happens.”

“Uhm, I don’t know if this is really the right time to be having this conversation,” I said, looking around uncomfortably. I was starting to feel like I was the guy in our relationship: all terror at having to talk about feelings and other intimate things.

“Just know that whatever happens,” Daniel said with an air of finality in his voice, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

He lifted my arm, pressing his lips to the top of my golden glove-encased hand—and even though there was no skin-on-skin contact, I had to say it was one of the more erotic experiences I’d ever had. He released my hand, his pale blue eyes raking my face for some sign of capitulation—which he must’ve found, because the taut muscles of his jaw visibly relaxed.

“I love you, Calliope Reaper-Jones. With all of my heart.”

He gave me a wan smile as he closed the face flap on his golden helmet and walked into Atlantis.

I had no recourse but to follow him, so I flipped my own visor forward—and found that I couldn’t see a thing in front of me because the helmet was entirely too big for my head. Resigned, I flipped the visor back up in place and took a deep breath. The visor immediately fell forward, covering my face again and making my ears ring.

“Dammit,” I muttered under my breath, my voice reverberating hollowly in my ears as it echoed inside the helmet.

I reached up and shoved the visor into what I thought was a secure position, but the stupid thing just clanged back over my face again, obscuring my vision.

“Dumb visor!” I said, grappling with the golden face guard and trying to force it into a raised position. Apparently the armor didn’t like being trifled with, because no matter what I did, I could
not
budge the faceplate. It remained locked in place, making me feel slightly claustrophobic while also giving me a new appreciation for what sardines go through.

“Fine,” I said, deciding if I couldn’t beat ’em, I’d join’em. “You wanna stay shut? Then just move the stupid eyeholes down so I can see out of ’em.”

Instantly, the helmet began to heat up, scalding the top of my head.