Fate Undone (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 5) (6 page)

“Why? Wondering if you need to turn me back into the prison?”

“Exactly. Why the hell were you there, anyway? You knew this super prison was being constructed by prisoners so you broke in?”

“I wish it were so simple. My friend Ian MacKenzie was imprisoned. He had been for a hundred years. Finally the guilt was enough to force me to help him escape. I’d planned to break onto the university campus to investigate the labyrinth, but not so soon. I hadn’t realized it was so near completion or I’d have waited to take his place.” He didn’t mention that he’d also known she was at the university and had planned to eventually seek her out.

“You left your friend in prison for a hundred years and didn’t help him out sooner?”

He shrugged. “He was safer there.”

“What the hell?” Her green eyes blazed. “You can’t just make that decision for him.”

“Why? It was the right one. The university caught him when we were trying to break into a museum. We had some high profile enemies who wanted him dead at the time, so when he got nabbed by the university, it seemed safest to leave him there. And I had things to do—like destroying this labyrinth.”

“You can’t just decide for him! A century behind bars!” Disgust shone in her eyes and wrinkled her brow.

“He’s out now.” He didn’t see why she was so upset. He wasn’t an utter bastard. He’d made sure Ian wasn’t in dire peril before leaving him. It
had
been safer in there, after all.

She huffed. “Your arrogance has only grown. You weren’t this bad when I knew you.”

“It’s been eight hundred years. But I promise—you’ll like the new me even better.”

“I doubt that. You’re cockier than ever.”

“And lucky. It was sheer coincidence that saving Ian put me right at the labyrinth gates.”

“So you’ve got what you want—as usual—and the real prisoner is long gone. What next? Give me one good reason I shouldn’t turn you over right now.”

“Because unless I destroy the labyrinth, you’ll be imprisoned too. I’m doing this for myself—because fate knows, I don’t like what’s in store for me if I sit back and watch it happen. But I don’t want to see the people I care about end up in some hellish labyrinth that sucks out your soul.”

She glared at him. “You care about me?”

“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate.

“Huh.” She frowned, uncertainty in her gaze. “I don’t want to think about that right now. How do you plan to destroy the labyrinth? Presuming that you’re even telling the truth.”

“I’ll find Ian. He has a map I gave him that Aleia made from her visions. What’s at the end of the map will destroy the prison—though neither Aleia nor I know what it is. She was never able to see that. I’d intended to let him find it and then spring me from prison, but with the completion of the labyrinth so near, I have to go help him.”

“Why should I let you go? You should be held accountable for breaking onto the university grounds.”

“You’re really hooked on the university, huh?”

“It’s my home. Of course I don’t like seeing you break its rules.”

“Come with me. Make sure I tread the straight and narrow.” He was committed to the idea now. He didn’t want to resist her.

“Hell, no.”

“You know this is true if Aleia prophesied it.”

Her knuckles tightened where she gripped her knee. He knew she didn’t want to believe Aleia, but it was hard not to. The seeress was faultless. She didn’t see everything, but what she saw was inevitably true.
 

Sylvi touched his cheek. A wash of heat ran over him.

“Sleep,” she said.

Before he could wonder what she meant to do, blackness overcame him.

CHAPTER FOUR

Sylvi stared down at a passed-out Logan. She needed proof of what he was saying and might get it from her visions.
 

Normally, she’d go outside to enhance her ability to see, but she couldn’t keep an eye on him and do that. She turned off the living room lights and went to sit under the window where starlight could shine upon her but she could still see Logan.

As a Vala, her skills were different from other seers. She required a calm night and the stars to guide her visions. Because she’d been kicked out of Asgard when she was only part way through her training as the first, and only, one of Freya’s magical disciples, she’d had to figure out a lot of her powers on her own. She theorized that she required a dark night and the stars because it connected her to Freya. Though she hadn’t forgiven her mother for evicting her from Asgard, she would still use the power her mother had taught her to wield. It would be stupid not to.

All this insanity made her want to start racing across the hills, to outrun the thoughts and feelings welling inside of her. But no. She wouldn’t be driven from her home by a stupid panic attack or anything else.

Certainly not by Loki.
Logan
.
 

She’d thought she was over him. Or at least, she’d told herself that. She should
not
be feeling this way about Logan. Especially if he was on some insane mission to destroy the university.
 

The idea of a super prison built on an abandoned afterworld was ridiculous. Everything he was saying was ridiculous. A prison that could hold the gods?
 

Laughable.

Except, Aleia wasn’t laughing. Sylvi was a seer as well, but not nearly as accomplished as Aleia.
 

Could Logan possibly be telling the truth? One of his titles might be Originator of Deceits, but he’d never turned that talent toward her. He’d done things to hurt her, but he’d never lied.
 

It was the only thing keeping her from marching over to the Praesidium and telling Warren that she had the escaped prisoner.

But if Logan was telling the truth… Then something was very wrong at the university. She’d never believe that the entire organization was behind this ridiculous super prison. It just wasn’t possible. But an individual? Even a few of them?

She had to know. She couldn’t always see everything she needed to, but if she knew what questions to ask, she could usually get close.

With a deep breath, she reached into the aether and withdrew her staff. It was her tie to the aether from which she drew her magic and the wood was warm and comforting against her palms.
 

After laying the staff across her lap, she closed her eyes and thought of her question, then tried to clear her mind. She focused on the feeling of starlight on her face, weak as it was through the windows. It didn’t feel warm so much as tingly, like tiny bubbles exploding on her skin.
 

Her mind drifted away on a sea of stars, her thoughts dissipating until she was nothing but a vessel to be filled with the knowledge of eons. Seconds or hours passed, she had no idea.

When the vision came, it hit like a fist to her solar plexus. The breath whooshed out of her lungs. Within her mind, a great stone maze stretched for miles. A labyrinth, so big it must have been built by giants. Bright green plants and vines blanketed the place.

Her brain hurt just to look at it, a piercing pain like a nail driven into her temple, as if it possessed some magic to protect itself from prying eyes.

She forced herself to stare harder, to try to glean as much as she could from the vision. The labyrinth appeared endless, but in several segments she caught sight of desert sands around its edges. Which made no sense, considering that the labyrinth was ripe with plants.
 

The river Lethe must feed it.

This was located nowhere on earth, there was no question. Though the university was hidden by magic, this place was far too large to be concealed by any spell. It must be located in an afterworld.

Eventually, the pain become too much and her mind retreated. She returned to herself, gasping and shaking, almost unable to support her upper body.

Logan was right. There was a prison. A labyrinth so great it could perhaps hold the gods. Could perhaps hold her. It was an insane thought. Even more insane, it had been built by prisoners in the university’s normal prison for non-godly Mytheans.

Whoever was behind this—could they truly capture the gods? She had to know.

Sylvi gripped her staff in both hands and closed her eyes, sending out a call to Aleia. She could only communicate like this with seers, and even then, it wasn’t always successful. If she made contact, Aleia would have to agree to speak to her.

She waited what felt like endless moments, sending her request out through the aether to the other seer, hoping it would nudge at her mind until she answered.

Finally, an annoyed voice asked, “What?”

Sylvi opened her eyes to see a projection of Aleia sitting across from her. She was lovely, with round cheeks and bright eyes. Dark hair flowed down her back. Though Sylvi had never seen Aleia before, the power that hovered around the other woman was unmistakable.

Dread welled in Sylvi. Aleia was more powerful than she’d realized. She’d known—intellectually—that Aleia was the most accurate and powerful seer in this world and all the afterworlds. But to feel her power…

It almost crushed the air from Sylvi’s lungs.

“Thank you for answering,” Sylvi said when she had gotten control of herself. “I have to know—is it true what Loki says? That the labyrinth is built to hold the gods?”

Aleia nodded. “It is. You’ve seen it, I gather?”

“Yes. In my vision. But I can’t believe it’s possible that they could capture the other gods and hold them.”

“Whoever it is, can. I can’t see all, but what I do see indicates the earth-walking gods and demigods—such as yourself and Loki—will be taken first as you are separated from your afterworld, and therefore weaker. But in time, the creators of the labyrinth will capture the other gods as well.”

“But
how
?”

“I haven’t seen how. But none of this is outside of the realm of possibility.”

Fear shivered through Sylvi. “And it’s going to happen soon?”

“Two weeks, give or take a few days. I can’t be quite sure,” Aleia said. “Is this all? It’s bridge night and I’m really quite busy.”

Bridge night? Sylvi’s world was collapsing around her and the other seer was concerned with cards? “Yes. Yes, thank you.”

Aleia disappeared. Her mind tumbled out of her trance, desperate for the fresh, familiar air of her home.
 

Logan was telling the truth. And something was terribly, terribly wrong.

“Logan!” The voice boomed through Logan’s mind, pulling him from a dark slumber. “Wake the hell up!”

His eyes snapped open to find Sylvi standing in front of him, as tall and beautiful as he remembered her. He rose to his feet, surprised to feel almost normal again. Sylvi had helped him. No one had helped him in a long time. Not since Ian, when his friend had saved him from imprisonment in a tomb he’d been raiding.

It both annoyed and pleased him. Annoyed because he liked not needing anyone. Pleased because it was Sylvi.

Then he remembered that she’d knocked him out. “Why the hell did you put me to sleep? How long was I out?”

“Only a couple hours. I needed to figure out if you were telling the truth.”

“I didn’t lie to you.”

Her lips flattened. “No, you didn’t.”

“You don’t like that.”

“Of course not. I’d rather have a lie than my world collapsing around me. There’s corruption here.” Her fist clenched. “And it will destroy the place I love.”

“Exactly. The university isn’t what you think it is.”

Her eyes flashed. “No. The university—the core of its mission—is good. It’s not the entire university behind this, but whoever can hide such a massive operation is immensely powerful. They’re threatening everything I love! Of course I’d rather have a freaking lie.”

“So you’re going to help me figure out who’s behind this?” If she said no, he had a feeling he’d try to drag her along.

“Obviously. I don’t want you targeting the whole university when I know only a small part is the problem. And I don’t want myself, or the place I love, to get thrown under the bus in the process. You’re pretty good at that.”

He frowned. She thought he’d thrown her under the bus all those years ago? True, their history was complicated, but he’d never meant to do that.