Omega (36 page)

Noob move.
Herakles had trained me for this, too, for
getting out of bindings of almost any sort. Sometimes, I wondered
if he knew what I’d face one day or if his paranoia was simply
paying off.

Face planted against the seat and seatbelt
fasteners jabbing me in the ribs and thigh, I stretched backwards
until I could reach the tape around my ankles. With some
embarrassment, I realized they’d snagged me in nothing more than
underwear and a t-shirt. I wasn’t even wearing a bra.

It made me hate them more, whoever they
were.

I prodded the tape with my fingers,
searching first for any tears I could exploit and second for any
single layers that would be easier to rip. I found one, and ripped
it. Duct tape was the easiest of all bindings to get free of for
the simple reason that it was more vulnerable to tears. A good tug,
and it’d rip down the center to free my legs.

The hands would be harder since I’d need
leverage. Behind my back, it was almost impossible. I shifted with
some effort until I was on my back and began sawing at the tape
with the seatbelt fastener. I didn’t need a clean cut – just a hole
in the integrity of the tape.

The car turned several times, and the men
were silent. The journey was longer than I expected; they had a
specific destination, which could either be good or bad. In my
head, I began to drill myself on the different scenarios that might
occur, all the while praying for this to be some kind of huge
misunderstanding or joke or similar.

The long drive ended about twenty minutes
later. The driver parked, killed the engine, and seconds later, the
large man who carried me was hauling me out of the back. Stairs
came next. Lots of them. The cool night air brushed my exposed
legs, and I sought some explanation as to why there were so many
stairs outside.

The footsteps of several other men sounded
on the solid, cement or stone steps behind us. We reached the top
finally. Thank gods, the giant didn’t run again. My ribs were
burning from the jolting trip out of the villa. I was slung into a
chair somewhere outside.

I listened. It was impossible to count the
number of people moving around me, but it had to be more than five
or six. Heart throbbing, I began to think my chances of escaping
weren’t going to be good. I tested the bonds as discreetly as
possible, unwilling to act until I could see what I was up
against.

The hood was ripped off. A man with crossed
arms stood before me, flanked by four more. A quick look around
revealed three more lingering in the shadows.

But it was our location that left me the
most surprised.

The wall.
We were on top of it with the lights of DC
lighting up the left side and the darkness of what lay outside on
the right. The wall’s width was easily ten meters, too wide for me
to see what was at the bottom of it.

“
This is her.” His voice
brought my attention back. “She’s young. Little.”

“
She beat a
Typhon.”

He nodded, considering yet skeptical. I
watched their ribbons for a moment, debating how far I’d be willing
to go if I had to fight my way out of this. I hadn’t yet killed a
person, and I wanted to keep it that way.

The men were dressed in mixed combinations
of fatigues, jeans, workout gear, and other non uniform clothing,
although, every one of them wore the patch of Mama on their left
bicep.

Shit.
Had the Silent Queen been dissatisfied with our discussion?
Was this the latest demonstration of duplicity that plagued my
world? Of everyone I met, she was my favorite, even if I suspected
her beauty hid cunningness characteristic of the other members of
the Triumvirate.

“
This is it,” the leader
of the small gang said with pride. “The day we prevent the gods
from destroying the rest of our world. The day we rise up against
them and their elite!”

The men around him roared and clapped in
encouragement.

In that moment, I didn’t blame them for
wanting me dead. But I wasn’t about to die without a fight,
either.

“
Remember. It has to look
like an accident,” he added and motioned to the two men on either
side of me. They lifted the chair and tilted it back to keep me in
place.

Fear tore through me. I had no plan – and no
time to make one. They were all armed; I had to risk being shot or
beaten or shocked to get to one of them.

Eyeing the edge of the wall they intended to
throw me off of, I shifted and ripped the tape around my ankles
first and twisted, lashing out at the man to my left with a hearty
kick to the throat. He dropped his side of the chair, gagging, and
I rolled onto the ground. Springing to my feet, I struggled with
the tape around my wrists and instead of fighting, resorted to
dodging the attempts of the second man to grab me.

Two more men came forward. I tore through
the tape finally but didn’t have time to remove the gag. I dived
for the man on the ground holding his throat and ripped what
weapons I could off his body then danced away.

A baton and a knife. Neither were going to
stand up to a gun.

“
So she has some fight in
her left.” Their leader’s hand rested on his weapon. “Look, girl,
this isn’t about you. This is about righting a wrong.”

I yanked off the gag. “I … know that. But
there’s another way.”

“
No. There’s not. Without
you, the political elite lose power and the gods can’t crush
us.”

Some part of me knew this. I had never – not
once – in my life questioned my existence. Never contemplated
suicide or whether the world was better off without me. And I
wasn’t about to start now. I was a fighter to the bone.

“
You’re wrong!” I
insisted. “There are other ways of –” I stopped as one man lunged
at me and smashed the baton across the hand holding his
gun.

“
Instead of a trip to the
wall gone wrong, it’ll have to be a mugging,” the leader said. “Or
you can make this easy for me and painless for you and simply
jump.”

I shook my head.

“
Being beat to death is
not a quick way to go.”

“
I’ll take my chances,” I
retorted.

“
No guns,” he ordered his
men. More of them appeared, and I suspected I was about to enter a
battle I didn’t have much of a chance of winning.

But I’d always try.

The men began attacking. I did my best to
use my environment to line them up, so I only faced one man at a
time. The wall didn’t offer much in terms of obstacles, with the
exception of a couple of ventilation boxes and maintenance closets.
I maneuvered close to them.

Pure instinct took over. This time, when I
let go, it wasn’t because someone like Adonis was capable of
handling it. It was desperation and fear that drove me. I was alone
again to determine my fate, to decide if I’d lie down and die
peacefully or if I’d make them take me down by force.

Though well armed, none of them knew much
about fighting. At least, not like Adonis, and no one moved like
him. They had numbers, but I had speed and skill, and I used
both.

Ducking, striking, whirling … my lethal
dance saw the first three sprawling on the ground. The next fell
beneath a kick that smashed him into someone else and knocked him
out cold, and the next got in one good slash of a knife before he,
too, was knocked silly by the club in my hand.

“
Enough!” their leader
roared at last. He withdrew a gun that didn’t quite look
normal.

I started to dive for cover when he
shot.

It wasn’t a bullet but a shock wave of some
sort, one that slammed me backwards into one of the obstacles I’d
been using to manipulate his men’s attack. My head hit hard, and I
slumped then caught myself. The world was spinning, my ears
ringing.

Too disoriented to move, I braced myself
when he raised the gun to do it again. This time, I slashed my
thigh as I sailed past the ventilation box. I sprawled onto my
back, stunned, the weapons having fallen from my hands.

I stared into the night sky above me, dazed.
With a start, I realized it wasn’t a carrion bird silhouetted
against the clouds above.

Mismatch.
At first, my hope surged and heart gleefully
flipped at the thought that he really hadn’t abandoned me. But he
was so far away in the night sky, too far to help me.
Is he here to watch me die?

I wanted to cry at the thought. The
connection between us left me rattled and emotionally raw, unable
to know which way was up when it came to him. I could protect
myself from anyone but him.

The leader appeared in my view, the gun
pointed at my head.

“
Wait!” I cried and held
up my hands. My ribs and back hurt, and the slashes in my abdomen
and thigh burned. “Just …wait.”

He did.

“
I’ll jump,” I said
quietly.

“
Good girl,” he said and
stepped back without lowering the gun.

A commotion started towards the rear of his
gathered men. I glanced towards it but away quickly, more concerned
with the man before me. With some effort, I climbed to my feet and
tossed my long hair over my shoulder.

“
There is another
–”

“
I’ll count to ten. If
you’re not dropping to the ground, I’ll bash your head in and toss
you.”

I had no idea what kind of gun he held, but
it had knocked my body into a state of sluggishness I wasn’t able
to shake. Blood streamed down my leg and soaked my t-shirt. I
raised my hands and glanced up at his ribbons again. I didn’t know
how to use them. I either brought something to life or robbed it of
life and didn’t know how else to use my power.

If I survive this, I’m going to ask the
Oracle how it all works.

“
Four,” he
said.

“
What happened to one
through three?” I retorted.

“
Six.” He motioned towards
the edge.

“
I’m going!” I clasped my
hands behind my head and walked to the edge of the wall. Small
lights were visible in the distance. Otherwise, it was dark, almost
as dark as the wall in my dream. I couldn’t even tell how tall it
was and I doubted I’d be able to defy gravity as I had when
recovering my memories.

“
Eight.”

“
Zeus, man!” I muttered,
unsettled at the prospect. “You won’t recon–”

“
Nine.”

I closed my eyes, more aware of the ruckus
from the direction of his men but not about to spend my last second
alive giving them the time of day. Instead, I closed my eyes and
drew a deep breath.

“
Ten.”

My instincts screaming, I stepped off the
ledge and began to fall.

But I didn’t fall for long. At about three
meters down, I hit something hard as a rock. Soft wings grazed my
body, and we spun in midair. His strong arms were around me, my
legs locked between his, and the rest of me pressed against his
muscular form.

My eyes flew open. Mismatch had caught me
flying on his back and twirled us several times, until I started to
get dizzy and nauseated.

Hang on,
he instructed me. Disoriented, I wrapped my arms
around his neck and buried my face into the nape, breathing his
scent. The wings flared out on either side of us, catching us and
putting an end to the spin.

My Mismatch. What part of me truly believed
if I sent him away he’d stay away? Why did I bother, when being
held in his arms felt so natural? We were connected and had been
since I awoke him. No matter what emotions left me in a constant
state of confusion, he was always – and would remain – my
Mismatch.

“
Lyssa!”

I jerked at the familiar voice coming from
above on top of the walls.

I’ll take you home then
deal with these idiots,
Mismatch
said.

“
Wait,” I murmured.
“That’s Herakles.”

“
Lyssa! These fools didn’t
get the message you’re hands off.”

I listened, thrilled to hear his voice yet
sorrowful as well.

“
Tell that thing to bring
you back here.”

I debated what to do for a moment. Mismatch
hovered. “Take me back, please.”

They hurt you. I won’t let anyone else do
that.

His words touched me on a level I hadn’t
expected. I lifted my head from his shoulder and gazed at him
briefly. His tension was clear in his hard body, and his eyes
glowed with a feral flare. He cared – no matter what he was during
the daylight. No matter how scared of him I was.

“
I’m sorry for sending you
away. I won’t do it again,” I whispered. “Please take me
back.”

Mismatch hovered for a moment longer before
relenting. He landed a safe distance from the men, and I slid to
the ground. Before I had a chance to turn, he had a palm pressed to
my ribs.

“
Ow,” I
muttered.

He lifted my shirt to peer
at the spot and the slash. The sensation of his warm hand on my
bare skin made me shiver.
Bruised, not
broken. The gash on your thigh needs looked at.
I pushed my shirt down self-consciously. I’d been aware of my
relative state of undress with the others, but with him
…

My face burned as hot as my blood.

Meeting his glowing gaze, I studied him
briefly. “You came for me. That’s pretty cool.”

I will always come for
you.
His tail flicked the wall, and his
wings were held out in a show of what I took to be readiness
combined with intimidation.