{Enki | Pantheon}

Xelan’s words over the mic meant the worlds to Tameka, especially as she and the First Progeny approached the target. Celindria didn’t say a word, probably concentrating on the strange things happening with Chris inside his mind. Over the earpiece, Tameka thought he’d spoken on his own. If so, she’d count that as a win.

Soon, Tameka would get what they came for, save her son, and kill Celindria. Tameka knew Rayne was awake and out there somewhere. She felt it in her Progeny blood. They were winning. But first…

Celindria kept a nacre-disabling gun trained on Tameka’s back. “I like your weapon. Few people are skilled with a chain dart. I’ll add it to my collection.”

The redheaded Progeny marched along with her hands cuffed behind her, certain she could overload and break them. Feeling sore, Tameka quipped back, “You keep a lot of trophies from your victims? You know that makes you a serial killer, right?” Losing her favorite weapon—one she should really get Xelan to name—only added to a growing list of things she’d reclaim from the First Progeny.

It disgusted Tameka that Celindria sounded impressed. “You’re still full of so much fire after I stripped everything away from you.”

With all the love of her family within, this next statement came from Tameka’s heart. “Not everything, and not as much as you think.”

“That’s the truth,” Xelan said, most perfectly.

The Pantheon’s white-on-white shelves and books climbing to the atmosphere fell away to an empty field of white dirt. It was level with no cover of any kind for kilometers. This was where the Shadow would soon stage their armies. Tameka left the task in excellent hands that wouldn’t fail her. It’s how she knew they’d retrieve Pax and rebuild the Twelve Worlds together.

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After about thirty minutes, a split shimmered ahead. The conduit. The target.

Celindria said, “You think you know something of the Wrong Side of Eternity—Of Hell? You will now.”

Tameka didn’t want to come across as eager, so she bit back her initial response of, “Bring it, bitch.” Instead, she said, “You can never take everything from someone.”

Xelan’s voice in her ear lent her so much strength. “I love you, Fury.”

In a move so sudden it choked Tameka, Celindria pulled the other woman’s back to her front. Celindria bit down on her own lip and dripped actual blood on Tameka’s shoulder. It was red, viscous, and smelled of jasmines. This would send her through the conduit despite the DNA lock programmed to Celindria.

The First Progeny whispered in Tameka’s ear, “Father, you should have told her what you taught me of Hell.”

Then Celindria pushed Tameka into the conduit.

It didn’t transport her to the ground, no. Tameka fell through the sky in a storm, roaring with wind and thunder and strobing with lightning. She was soaked in rain almost instantly. Thinking quickly, she opened her wings, but they struggled against the turbulence. There was a spin to the gusts which threatened to cyclone her down. It took a bout of patience, buffeting, and intentional falling to travel to the ground miles away.

If Celindria disposed of all her experiments this way, they likely died from the fall alone—

Lightning split the sky beside Tameka in a beautiful branching arc that sent her heart racing. When she alighted, she closed her wings and tried to find shelter anywhere, speaking into the earpiece, “Can you hear me? Come in? Over.”

No response.

Okay. Focus.

Seek the source of Torrentus and drain it, all while avoiding deadly lightning strikes. Another one blasted nearby and sparks chased along the muddy ground to Tameka’s inert boots.

Deep breath. Eyes closed—

Wait.

Tameka opened her eyes. Did she glimpse something in the distance? What could it be in this wasteland? No, it was a trick of the lightning flash.

A second attempt. Meditate and locate the heart of Torrentus like all the suns Tameka had explored—

There.

The energy felt different from a star. More suffused with life and the allocation of it. It breathed fresh air and tasted like rich soil. Tameka reached for its source and opened the well inside her to drain—

A roar—the loudest noise—guttural and desperate, busted her eardrums.

The storm screamed at Tameka and turned rain into fire.