Unwrapped: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 3) (12 page)

“Um, okay,” I said, swallowing my fear. “How do we navigate through the less dangerous parts of the acid?”

“Not sure.” He rubbed his chin with his fingers. “The safe spots are hidden.”

“So is your big plan to wade through acid and hope we find a super-secret path to the tiny platform in the middle?” I asked, wanting to smack the god.

“Well when you say it like that, it does sound a touch unrealistic.” Osiris sighed. “And the platform is a decoy. If you step upon its surface, it will explode.” He made a kerboom noise.

“Awesome, so what do we do?” I asked, barely stopping myself from growling at him. We were so going to die because he was an idiot.

“We have to swim down through the acid to the door in the floor, open it via the puzzle lock and get inside, once it opens.” And with those words, Osiris leapt into the acid like an Olympic diver. He didn’t splash much acid into the air, but what little acid did hit the stone began to sizzle. The odor, like burning plastic and ozone, turned my stomach as Osiris bobbed to the surface hollering and screaming while he flailed his limbs.

“It burns!” he cried, raising one quickly dissolving hand into the air as his skin bubbled and smoked.

I looked around for something to help him, my heart nearly shattering the inside of my ribcage in panic as adrenaline surged through me. There was only one way. I was going to have to go in after him. Hopefully, my werewolf healing would help. I leapt toward the Egyptian god, transforming in midair. I landed in the acid next to him with a splash that flung the fluid everywhere.

And nothing happened to me. I stood there dumbfounded as Osiris’s stupid face twisted into a huge grin and laughter burst from his throat. His skin reformed instantly as he doubled over and slapped his knees. “I can’t believe you jumped into the acid after me.” He snorted loudly, trying to breathe, talk, and laugh at the same time. “You’re a real hero.”

“This isn’t acid, is it?” I asked, my voice strangely even as I stood over the god in all my hulking werewolf glory.

“Of course not,” Osiris replied, shaking his head. “Do you think I’d just jump into a vat of acid?”

“And the platform doesn’t explode, does it?” My entire body tensed with my words as I took a deep breath, trying to not leap across the space between us and choke the life out of the god. He was so far past my last nerve it was insane.

“It explodes downward like an elevator.” Osiris said, walking past me with tears in his eyes and clamoring onto the platform. “Which is sort of the same, but much more helpful since we need to go subterranean.” He cocked his eyebrow at me. “Subterranean means below the ground if you didn’t know.”

“You know, I thought I couldn’t hate anyone more than Khufu, but after only a few minutes with you…” I made my way toward the tiny silver space jutting above the surface of the fake acid.

“You know, the way I’m acting is all for you right? When I looked into your mind, I saw every person you’d ever talked to and did some quick mental math on which personality I should use to ensure the best possible chance of success. Evidently you like being annoyed incessantly,” Osiris replied, reaching out a hand to help me up.

I ignored him because his answer pissed me off in more ways than one. For one, he’d definitely violated some memory related trust with his snooping. Then he had the nerve to say I liked having the crap annoyed out of me. That was really, really lame, and while I was partially sure he was just using it as an excuse to bother me, a smaller part of me hoped he wasn’t right.

“Did you not grab my hand because you thought I’d pull it away and leave you to fall at the last moment?” he asked as I climbed onto the platform myself.

“Yes,” I replied as he knelt down and pressed his palm into a spot on the stone that vaguely resembled a handprint. Blue light flashed from beneath his splayed fingers as the platform began to shake violently, throwing me from my feet.

“Good, you’re learning.” He shot me a wry grin as we vanished completely off the face of the entire goddamned planet. “And, by the way, those fantasies you have in your head about Sekhmet? Those don’t even come close to the real thing.” He shot me a grin that made my entire face burn like the sun with embarrassment.

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” I squeaked, looking around for a rock to hide beneath.

He waved off my comment. “Let’s just say you’re in for a real treat, Mr. Mercer. A real treat.”

Chapter 13

Just when you think you’re down and out, you get sucked through a wormhole by an Egyptian deity. At least in my experience, which I’ll admit, might be uniquely singular.

I sighed, wiping my face with my hands as I stared at our surroundings. We stood in a gleaming silver box. Every surface was cold and unforgiving and made me feel like I was inside of a very sterile, very chrome-plated amphitheater. A cage with bars made of blue fire stood on a raised platform in the center of the arena, and even though I was as far away as I could get from the flaming prison since my back was pressed against one of the immense stainless steel walls, I could feel the heat coming off of them like I was standing next to a blast furnace.

From where I stood, I couldn’t make out any occupant inside the monstrous jail, but based on the shrieks of agony filling the air like gnats in a swamp at dusk, I was relatively sure it was Horus. I’d heard his screams before, after all.

Osiris leaned heavily on his staff and glanced at me, his eyes sparkling. “I’ll just wait here for you.” He gestured toward the cage. “You know, keeping a lookout.”

“Why does part of me think that even if something happens you won’t warn me?” I let out a small sigh as I searched deep inside myself for the will to approach the prison. It was too bad I couldn’t just roll for willpower and make myself go over there.

“I give you fifty-fifty odds on the helping thing,” Osiris replied, shooting me a grin much too wide for his face. I scowled in response. I’d be really super-duper happy when I was out of Egypt and away from these damned deities and their assorted brand of crazy.

The steel ground beneath my feet wobbled as I moved toward the cage. It was like walking on a very thin piece of sheet metal, and I wondered what would happen if I fell through the floor. Would I be eaten by crocodiles? I pushed the thought away before it could latch onto me. I wiped the sweat from my brow and flung it on the ground. It was hotter than hell, and since I was still in werewolf form, I got the added bonus of having my fur smolder and burn away, filling my nostrils with the delightful aroma of burnt hair. It was less than fun.

I’d made it no more than a third of the way across the football-field-sized box when a screech made me stop in my tracks, my right foot still raised above the floor. I slowly turned toward the sound, my heart hammering in my chest as a combination of panic, and more panic surged through me. A massive in the way dump trucks are massive baboon sprinted toward me, loping across the metal ground with such speed my breath caught in my throat.

I turned and raced toward the flaming cage as another ear-splitting howl ripped from the creature’s throat. I hoped with everything in me this wasn’t Nephthys even though I knew deep down it was the goddess. The last time I’d fought her in full on baboon form she’d punched me so hard I’d broken a ceiling. If possible, I wanted to avoid a reoccurrence.

“Thes, watch out!” Osiris called just as a bolt of lightning hit the space in front of me, melting the steel into slag and splattering me with bits of molten metal. I cried out in pain as I covered my face and tried to veer around the puddle of super-heated death. That hesitation cost me dearly. The ape grabbed me by the left arm and flung me sideways like I weighed all of six ounces. My arm jerked free from its socket with an audible pop that would have turned my stomach if I could have focused on anything besides blinding agony.

My body smacked into the stadium wall hard enough to dent the metal, although I’ll admit, my blood made an interesting if ghastly splatter across its surface as I slumped broken to the ground, everything inside of me shattered.

The ape loped toward me, knuckles dragging across the metallic ground as I tried vainly to stand. I don’t know how I got to my feet as she reached me, but I did. One of her immense fists was already flying at my face, which I totally dodged because my legs gave out. Go me!

I crashed to the ground in a heap, and her fist punched into the metal above me hard enough for the gong-like sound to devastate my hearing.

She screamed, but I couldn’t hear it over the ringing in my ears as I surged upward, using what strength I had in my newly healed bones to slam my shoulder into the underside of her chin. The blow snapped her head back and sent her flying backward into the air. Can you say whiplash is a bitch, bitch?

I let out a howl of rage as I popped my shoulder back into place, driving the pain down into the deep dark part of my being. As she crashed onto the metal floor a few yards away, another primal howl tore from my throat as I licked my lips, my tongue dragging along my razor-sharp teeth.

As I bounded forward to sink my fangs into the ape-goddess, I caught sight of Osiris on the very edge of my vision. He was backed into the far corner fighting for his life against Set. The god of chaos’s armor was alight with crimson flames as he struck, a burning khopesh in each blacker than the pit of hell hand. For the moment, it looked like Osiris was holding his own, but even from here, I could tell Set was just feeling out his opponent. In another few moments, he’d stop holding back, and Osiris would be in real trouble, you know, unless he had some kind of godly trick up his sleeve that involved not dying, which he might, given his status as the god of death.

Hoping Osiris could last a few more seconds, I sprinted toward Nephthys and pounced upon the slowly rising ape. I landed with the full force of my weight on her back, driving her chest into the steel and snapping her ribcage like twigs. She roared, somehow rolling over beneath me. Her eyes filled with rage and agony as I reared back and drove one fist into her face… and she bit me. Her monkey jaws latched around my entire fist, her impossibly sharp incisors gripping my flesh and filling my veins with fire.

A howl tore from my throat as I slammed my other fist down right between her beady eyes. The blow was hard enough to dent her skull, but still she didn’t release me. Instead, her long hairy arms reached up and seized my ankles as she rolled backward, snapping my body outward like a towel as she came to her feet. The vertebrae in my spine snapped in a horrific crescendo as she released me, and I tumbled through the air. My vision went blurry as collided with the steel wall once again and slid down in a bloody smear.

The goddess moved toward me, already looking like I hadn’t even hit her when a ragged scream tore through the air. My eyes turned toward it reflexively even though I should have been focused on Nephthys. Osiris staggered backward, one of Set’s flaming khopeshes lodged firmly in his chest. Golden god blood spilled from the wound, flowing down over his gilded armor and pooling at his feet. He clutched at the wound, trying to staunch the flow of ichor flowing through his fingers while also trying to ward off Set’s onslaught of blows one-handed.

Set struck again, and Osiris’s staff went flying while his hand was still attached to it. The death god screamed as blood spewed into the air from the stump of his right hand. I tried to get up, to run over and help when Nephthys seized me by the throat and hauled me up until we were face to face.

“Hello, Thes,” she said, the words sounding jagged and coarse as they left her mouth. “Why have you come here?”

“To rescue Horus,” I wheezed, trying to resist the urge to shut my eyes so I wouldn’t have to stare into her angry, violent eyes. “Isis has Sekhmet…”

“What do I care of Isis and Sekhmet?” she asked, arching one eyebrow, and the expression was weird on her monkey face. “We cannot release Horus. It is not part of the plan.”

“Why?” I asked as my ribs snapped back into place with an audible pop.

“Because we cannot.” She shook her head, not even caring that I was healing before her eyes. “That is not how it should be.”

“That’s not even an answer,” I snarled, bringing around my left hand and slashing her across the face before she could respond. Golden blood sprayed from the wounds as her grip loosened. My toes touched the ground, and I threw myself forward, burying my jaws in her throat. Her blood filled my mouth, and the flavors of honey and cream flowed over my tongue. My throat convulsed like I’d bitten into a live wire as I swallowed. My body suddenly blazed with energy, my fur smoldered and burned, and my bones snapped back into place.

Her grip tightened, and as I worried at the wound, she ripped me free in a spray of gore and flung me sideways. My claws tore at her arm, shredding her flesh as she released me so I didn’t go far, and hey, I even managed to land on my feet.

My ankle rolled as I hit the ground and agony lanced through me. Nephthys wobbled, one hand grasping her ruined neck as blood gushed from between her fingers. She took a step toward me, leaving a bloody footprint in her wake as I turned and, ignoring my throbbing ankle, sprinted for the battling gods in the corner.

Osiris was on his knees, and Set stood over him, flaming sword raised high to deliver the coup de grâce. I slammed into the storm god from behind, knocking him forward into the wall. His sword went flying. As it clattered across the floor, Osiris looked up at me, blood dripping down his face.

“You’re right in the nick of time, Thes. Another moment and I was going to try to put out his sword with the blood spewing from my neck.” He tried to smile as his wounds slowly began to close. “It wasn’t the best plan, I’ll admit.”

“Stop making jokes and release Horus! I’ll keep them occupied!” I cried as Set started getting to his feet. Without waiting for an answer, I bounded toward the downed storm god and kicked him square in the stomach. The blow lifted him into the air, and I drove my elbow down on his back with all my weight. We slammed into the metal so hard my teeth rattled. Set’s back sort of folded inward at an awkward angle as Nephthys kneed me in the face.