God of the Abyss (49 page)

“Xul,”
I sent my call out and it was just a
moment before he appeared in front of me. 

“I knew you were going to come out victorious,” he
started before sizing up Ron. “I had no idea you would do it so ingeniously.”

“Not by choice, I assure you, but I did promise I
wouldn’t send you back into the void when this was over.”

He looked ashamed. “I failed you. One of the Ancients
was able to get past me to you.”

“He was dealt with. You saved Mordon and how many
demons were you able to keep at bay?” I asked. “Is Mordon able to shift back
and forth?”

“I only unlocked what was already there. He should
have full shifting abilities.”

“Then I think you held up your end of the deal
extremely well. Where is the lotus wand?” I asked Mordon.

“I’ll get it.” He ran inside, then right back out
with the wand, as if he were afraid Xul would attack me when his back was
turned.

“I need to shield you in case Ron has trouble sending
everyone
but
you back.” I figured the lotus wand should make the shield
stronger. I put up my shield, which created the weird sort of fog around him.
“Ron, you need to send the demons back, but not this one.”

“I’ll try. How do I call them here?”

“The demons obey the balance. Just will it,” Xul
offered.

Ron closed his eyes and within two minutes, demons
started to flood our yard. They came in every horrible sight, from the slimiest
to the blobbiest. None of them moved to attack. Without opening his eyes, Ron
must have felt them. “Go back to the void where you belong,” he growled.

Eerie light filled the space and the demons began to
vanish. It was void light. I felt a sense of tugging against my shield as Xul
was compelled to obey Ron, so I strengthened my shield until it stopped. Other
demons, the Ancients, arrived in the stolen bodies of people. Even though they
struggled harder than the minor demons, each of them succumbed to the void
light and left their victims behind.

Ron’s eyes glowed green as he chanted in Enochian for
the gates to be closed. I felt the moment they were sealed like the first
breath of fresh air after sitting in a dark closet for hours. My magic
rejoiced.

It was over suddenly and Sammy caught Ron.
Fortunately, this time, Ron was just tired. He gave me his smile before Divina
carried him inside. I let my shield down and gave Xul a nod that he was free to
go. He vanished. Mordon watched my back as I healed the injured people. One man
had already been dead for days, but the other six people were able to be
healed.

Mordon had to keep getting me water. Minor burns were
bad enough to heal; there was so much detail to it. Burns that went deep into
the organs took hours, and by the end of it, what didn’t hurt felt feverish.
Obviously, the last thing I wanted was flames licking up my arms, but Mordon
wasn’t listening to me anymore. He sat me down on a chair and let his fire heal
me from injuries that weren’t mine. “I have to get those people back to their
worlds,” I said, trying to stand.

“Divina is taking care of it. You need to get some
sleep.”

I tried to resist, but he walked me to the bed and
pushed me down. I was joined a minute later by two half-asleep kids. Mordon
pulled my shoes off, but I didn’t have any strength left to help him.

*          *          *

Sometime later, I was woken as Divina climbed into
bed beside me. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest. “Are
you done with work now?” I asked.

Her nose was cold as she pressed her face against my
collarbone. “Yeah.”

“I love you.”

“I know,” she said.

“You love me, too.”

“That’s true.”

“We love our kids.”

“I agree.”

“We’ve been married for nearly five years.”

“Yep.”

“Would you shut up and let me finish?”

She laughed. “Those were rhetorical rambles?”

“They always are, and I’m not rambling. I’m getting
to the point.”

“The point is that you don’t like being left with the
boys for weeks at a time and you want to go on adventures like the other
Guardians. Preferably with me, Mordon, and the boys. I’m fine with that.” She
pushed herself up on her elbow to give me her serious expression. “But I’ve
been thinking, too. On Earth, when you get married, you’re supposed to do
something special together.”

I frowned. Unfortunately, my mouth had a mind of its
own. “Have sex in every room of the house?” It was the first thing that came to
mind.

“A honeymoon, stupid.”

“You want to go on a honeymoon?” I asked with
disbelief.

“Why wouldn’t I want to go on a honeymoon?”

“Um… because you’re not a–” I cut myself off just
in time as she glared. There was no way to end that sentence without getting
punched. “We should totally have a honeymoon. Most people go to Hawaii.”

“I want to go to Venice. I’ve never been there.”

“You are the god of Earth.”

“I have been living as a sago for hundreds of years.
It makes it hard to stay up to date on every single thing that happens on
Earth.”

“Okay. We’ll go to Venice for our honeymoon. When?”

“A week from now,” she said.

“We need to get Edward or Mordon to baby-sit. But
there was something I wanted to talk to you about, too. What if we stayed on Earth?”

She frowned. “I know the kids are getting older and
everything, but I don’t think we need to hide from them just yet. At least not
on another planet.”

I laughed. “I was thinking of taking them with us.
After our honeymoon, of course. I never finished college, and I really didn’t
care at the time because I knew I was in the wrong field. I love psychology,
but I didn’t want to be a counselor. I want to go back, get into a better
university, and become a doctor.”

“Why? You can heal with magic.”

“Magic can obviously fail. I don’t want to ever be in
a situation where I can’t help someone because I don’t know how. Ronez left me
enough money to get me through medical school. If you want to stay here, I can
flash home every day after class. I was hoping we could live there for a few
years so the boys can experience human culture. Television and all that. Mordon
might want to stay with us.”

“What happens when Earth needs its Guardian and
you’re in class?”

“You send Edward.”

“They’re going to expect you to have a laptop.”

“I’ll learn to keep my energy calm and stay away from
the computer lab. I understand the work involved. Between undergraduate,
medical school, and residency, it could take nine to sixteen years.”

“Listen, you’re married to a god, which comes with
certain advantages. I can copy someone’s knowledge, even experiences, and give
them to you. I can find someone in the field or even with a specialty you want,
copy all of the information, and transfer it to you.”

“Like Regivus did to teach me how to create a human
body?” I asked. She nodded. “I don’t want someone else’s memories.”

“You wouldn’t get any personal information from them.
It’s more like the knowledge of sitting in a classroom and reading a book, but
in the spans of seconds instead of months and years. I can forge records and
get you a good job at a hospital in just a few weeks.”

“That sounds… immoral and unsafe,” I said.

“In the nine to sixteen years that it takes to get
the degree, you could be in a classroom, no help to anyone, or in a hospital,
saving lives with the skills learned from a veteran doctor. The doctor whose
knowledge I copy wouldn’t be harmed. It would be as if he taught you everything
you needed to know. With his skill and your magic, you should be unstoppable.
Think about it. We can go live on Earth for a few years and you can actually be
a doctor. You can save lives from day one, instead of waiting for many years.
Don’t waste the advantages you have.”

“You make a good point. Give me a day or so to think
about it.”

The point was, I could spend those nine to sixteen
years saving lives instead of sitting in the classroom… The first time I saved
a life, it would be more than worth any immoral dilemma I had about leaching
off someone else’s hard-earned knowledge.

“All those days you were busy with your brothers… did
you guys accomplish anything or just bicker?”

“Well,” she settled closer and laid her head on my
chest, “they made three important decisions. The first was that they would
rather yell at me than come to any sensible conclusions. The second was that
the female of every species was for more vicious that the male. And the third
decision was that all future problems that arise should be passed to you.”

“Um… Can I refuse?”

“That would not be wise. They are gods; they will
talk you to death and then determine their own rightness by how loud they
were.”

“I think I would still like to decline. Can I appoint
Mordon as my–” I was cut off as Ron’s baby boot hit me in the head. I tossed
it on the floor. “Mordon, what are you still doing here?”

*          *          *

I woke to the sound of chaos. “Mommy! Shinobu took my
sock! Mommy!” Ron was yelling. I realized that since Ron started speaking, our
house was likely to be a lot louder. Our little furry pet must have come home.
I waited two seconds for the small explosion. Sammy was getting the sock back
from Shinobu.

“I don’t want yucky veggies for breakfast! I want
pizza!” Sammy demanded.

“They’re not veggies, they’re herbs and seasonings.
Divina!” Mordon was still here. “I’m going to eat your child!”

“You don’t want to do that; you don’t know where he’s
been. Go wake up Dylan. And don’t throw anything at him,” she said. Right as
the door started to open, I heard her yell again. “And don’t poke him! Edward
asked me if Dylan was in an abusive relationship-affair with an octopus.”

“I’m up,” I said as he went to smack me. “You know,
you could try waking me like a decent human being.”

“What? Like your wife? No, thanks.”

“No, you’re too hairy to be my wife. I would wake
thinking I was being attacked by Bigfoot.”

“What does hair have to do with big feet?” he asked
me as if I were insane. “We need to go and tell the Guardians they can safely
return to their own worlds and never return.” I frowned at him. “Edward’s
words. He wants his house back.”

“He just wants alone time with Meri.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

“We want to go!” Sammy said, running into the room
and jumping up on the bed. Ron was in his shadow, predictably.

“Ask your mother.”

“You’re only going for a couple of minutes, so it
should be fine,” Divina said from the doorway. She approached the bed and
leaned over me to give me a kiss.

“Oh, no, my eyes!” Ron exclaimed, covering his eyes
in a “see no evil” way. We laughed, because he sounded like Sammy, but I
couldn’t help the fear. I feared that he wasn’t strong enough to endure what he
just took into himself, and I feared that what made him Ron would be crushed by
the powerful force.

“Can you feel it?” I asked. Knowing exactly what I
was talking about, his expression grew serious and he nodded. “What does it
feel like?”

“It’s quiet right now, like one of the gods standing
behind me, watching everything I do and judging everyone. But it’s not beside
me. And it really doesn’t like you. I think it’s like what Mordon feels with
Rojan; like there is someone in his head.”

“He can feel what is acting against the balance,”
Sammy added.

“Can you handle it?”

He smiled. “Right now I can. Don’t worry about me.
You have other things to worry about right now.”

“How can I not worry about you when–”

“Daddy, the balance is calm right now, but I can…
feel what’s right and what isn’t,” he interrupted. “The balance was opening the
gates and the demons were acting on behalf of the balance… but the balance
wasn’t what was attacking the Guardians. It wasn’t the darkness the griffins
were after. Whoever attacked them was very powerful and is still out there.”

“Someone powerful enough to spy on the gods and not
get caught?” Mordon asked.

Ron nodded.

Divina tried to keep her face neutral, and for the
most part she was able to. However, I knew the goddess enough to recognize the
worry in her eyes.

“Let’s go,” I said, trying to change the subject. I
hated to see such fear in my youngest child. “Maybe when we can get back, we
can have lunch at the springs.” Unsurprisingly, Sammy screamed with joy.
Nothing about him showed worry for Ron.

I flashed us to Edward’s cabin and before I had
finished, I put a shield over Ron and Sammy. It wasn’t even a thought; my magic
knew to protect them before my body did. I appeared right between Samorde and
Emrys. The plasma that Emrys was attacking Samorde with missed me narrowly when
the air filled with fire. At least ten foot high and six foot wide, the fire
burned everything in its path, except for me.

The flames died and everyone but Emrys was unharmed.
The old Guardian was on his back and his clothes were blackened. Mordon’s eyes,
teeth, and claws shifted. “You could have hurt him.” Mordon’s words were very
difficult to make out because they were half roar. It wasn’t a mere growl of
anger; he was losing his words for the dragon tongue. He was shifting.

His skin shimmered eerily, beginning to change to
scales. When he started towards Emrys, I knew he meant to shift and eat the
Guardian. I grabbed his arm to hold him back, but Mordon raised his other as if
to focus his fire. It was lightning that struck the Guardian and Emrys seemed
to know better than to fight back.

“Mordon, it was an accident! He didn’t try to hurt
me. I’m perfectly safe!” Mordon struggled and snapped his teeth, unable to
speak. He started growing so slowly that I thought he would suffer the
reshaping of each and every bone. “There isn’t enough room here. You can’t
shift here, you’re too big.” I thought of excuses to give him, but realized
reason wouldn’t get through to him.