January in Atlantis by Alyssa Day (cat reading book .txt) đź“•
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- Author: Alyssa Day
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With that, he turned to leave, only to be slammed in the shoulder with a searing pain that drove him to his knees. Beside him, Griffin and Jake landed on the ground next to him, quite clearly in the same predicament. When Flynn could breathe again, which took a lot longer than he felt good about, he yanked the neck of his shirt to the side and discovered that one of his worst fears had come true: he’d been branded.
“How dare you,” Griffin snarled, pulling himself up to his feet and aiming a death glare at Denal.
Jake did the opposite and just flopped down on his back on the ground, panting. “I did not expect that.”
“What in the nine hells did you do to me?” Flynn dragged himself to his feet and started toward Denal. At this point, he didn’t give a damn if he got beat up again because he really, really wanted to see his fist smash into Denal’s smirking mouth.
Before he could carry out his plan, Poseidon appeared—or to be precise, a giant image of Poseidon’s head appeared—in the sky above them.
I DID THIS TO YOU. IT IS NOTHING OF THE NINE HELLS. YOU ARE MY WARRIORS NOW, AND YOU WILL BRING HONOR TO MY NAME AND TO ATLANTIS OR YOU WILL REGRET THE DAY YOU WERE BORN.
Jake, still lying on the ground, started laughing. “Here we go again. Hello, your sea godliness.”
Flynn, still gaping up at the sky, was completely speechless. During all his years in Atlantis, he’d never once seen Poseidon manifest himself. Now, when he’d been back for maybe two hours?
Poseidon.
The answer was simple. None of this was happening. Denal had actually kicked him in the head so hard he was in the temple being treated for a brain injury of his own.
The brand aching on his shoulder was a pretty big clue otherwise, but he decided to ignore it.
The sea god ignored them all and pointed one enormous finger at Denal.
MAKE THIS WORK, OR YOU WILL BE SORRY.
With that, he vanished with a clap of thunder.
Flynn whistled. “Bit overdramatic, don’t you think?”
“What makes him think I’m not already sorry?” Denal asked, rolling his eyes. Then he turned his attention to the three newest of Poseidon’s warriors. “I’m not going to make you swear the oath yet. Complete this mission, decide who you want to be when you grow up, and get back to me. You at least know what the mark means, right?”
Jake, who was rubbing his shoulder and wincing, raised his hand.
Denal muttered something that sounded like “Why me?” and then pointed at Jake. “You don’t have to raise your hand, you moron. This isn’t a youngling training school.”
Jake lowered his hand, looking sheepish but determined. “I know what it means. The circle representing all the peoples of the world, intersected by the pyramid of knowledge deeded to them by the ancients. The silhouette of Poseidon’s Trident bisecting them both, to show your—our—vow to protect humanity.”
By the end of his recitation, Jake’s face had hardened, his voice had turned serious, and Flynn caught a glimpse of what might be the real Jake beneath the laid-back exterior.
“I’ll take the vow now or then,” Jake continued, shooting a hard gaze at Denal, “but we’re each Poseidon’s Warriors now. Remember that.”
Denal said nothing for a minute, then he nodded. “Fine. Get your gear. For this first mission, you’re working with the US FBI’s Paranormal Operations division to infiltrate and undermine—if not destroy—a chapter of a group that calls itself Hell’s Dark Angels.”
“I know the Dark Angels. They are seriously bad dudes. Rumor is that their overall leader is a demon. An actual Lord Marquis and general of hell demon.” Flynn brushed the dirt off his pants in one quick motion and then aimed his own flat stare at their fearless leader. “I didn’t know Poseidon’s Warriors were drafting people now. I thought it was a strictly volunteer thing.”
Denal shook his head. “By all means, chase the sea god down and lodge a complaint. In the meantime, the three of you are going to a town named Early, in the state of Nevada, to find the monsters who are kidnapping teenaged human girls and using them for blood sacrifices.”
An icy wave of rage flooded Flynn, sweeping away every objection he’d thought he had. “If I’m going to be one of Poseidon’s Warriors, this is certainly a job worth doing. I’m in. Give us the intel.”
Well, that did it. He’d surprised Denal, whose eyes widened. Denal gave him a slight nod and then jerked his head toward the armory building. “I’ve got anything you might need or want for this job in there. Let’s go in for a quick briefing while I tell you the details. You’ll see why the need for fast action is crucial, and then you can be on your way within a couple of hours. Is everybody in?”
Flynn glanced at Griffin, who stood next to him as still as a statue. Only the blaze of anger in those odd silver eyes gave away any emotion he might be feeling. Griffin snapped his hand open and pointed at a stone bench some thirty feet away from them, across the training grounds.
A second later, the bench exploded with a booming sound and a flash of silver-blue light. When the dust settled, only a large hole in the ground, twice the length and width of the bench, remained.
Jake’s eyes widened. “Whoa. Dude.”
“I’m in,” Griffin—mage, Flynn’s brain shouted at him—said calmly. “At least to rescue those innocents. And then we’ll talk.”
Denal glanced at the smoking hole in the ground where the stone bench had been and shook his head. “I might be impressed, mage, if I hadn’t spent years working with Alaric.”
“Just what I was hoping for,” Griffin drawled. “Yet another unsolicited comparison to the mighty Alaric, the greatest high priest Atlantis has ever known, ruler of magic, lord of little bunny rabbits, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Ex-priest,” Denal told him. “And I’d almost pay money to hear you call him the lord of little bunny rabbits to his face.”
Jake, still on the ground, started laughing. “Met him once. Damn near made me run home to Mommy.”
Griffin said nothing, but Flynn could almost see the layer of frost rolling over his expression.
Mages. Better altogether to stay away from them, so that’s what Flynn would try to do on this mission. And afterward? As Griffin said, then they’d talk.
Jake finally bounced up off the ground like a puppy. “Here we go. I’m not about to let the Dark Angels get away with this. I’ve run into them before too, and Flynn’s right. They’re very bad guys. The upper echelon of the club are all actual demons, or so the rumor goes.”
“Out of the dragon cave and into the demon fire,” Flynn muttered. “What could go wrong?”
Early, Nevada, PURRS: Pets for Rescue Society
Puppy whispering was not for wimps.
Eva held a small piece of hot dog flat on her palm and tried to coax a terrified terrier mix out of the back corner of his crate.
“Come on, baby. You know you want this. Nobody’s going to hurt you,” Eva crooned.
The puppy, who was almost skeletal in his emaciation, strained every muscle in his tiny body toward her hand without actually moving. Eva wanted so badly to hand over the goods, but food was her best chance to coax the pup into her reach so the vet could look him over. She didn’t want to just reach in and grab him. From the looks of him, he had no reason to trust humans, and she didn’t want to add to that.
He’d been dumped at their doorstep overnight in a broken-down crate that had wires poking out from a jerry-rigged mesh door. It had scratched the puppy up a bit, or at least she hoped the scratches were only from the crate and not from predators, but it was still better than some of the ways people dumped their unwanted animals at the shelter. There were many days when they opened the front gate to find dogs and cats roaming loose in the parking lot, clearly
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