The Storm Herald Series {#Wattys2018}

2.2

"I have to go," Clark says, releasing me from his grip.

"Then take me with you," I plead, grabbing onto his cape.

"No," he whispers, looking back at me. His blue eyes are soft, almost as if they're melting. "You need to stay here. You'll be safer."

"I don't want to be safe, I want to help you!" I protest. I try to pull him out of the air, trying to pull him back to me.

"Mackenzie," Clark huffs, ripping the cape from my hands. "I have to go." He flies off, leaving me alone with the wreckage of the escape pod.

"Clark!" I yell, throwing up my hands, but he doesn't come back. I stand there, my breath coming out as ragged. I don't know why I'm so upset. He just wants to protect me, just wants to protect me.

"Mac. . . Kenzie. . ." a voice suddenly hisses. I turn around, looking for the source of the voice. I can't find it, which is weird. Usually disembodied voices don't speak to me. I must be going crazy.

"Mackenzie. . . Wright," the voice hisses out again.

"Who's there!?" I yell, starting to get agitated. "Show yourself!" The fields rustle, and a large form appears. Armor is what the figure is wearing, blood red armor. Only the eye area is visible, but even that is blood red.

"Who are you," I ask, reaching for my bow. But then I remember that Swanwick took it from me back at the military base.

"Ms. Wright, I am Egan," the figure explains. "And I have direct orders to bring you to your Step-mother." I raise an eyebrow,"my Step-mother?"

"Yes, Hera. Your father's wife," Egan says to me. A crimson gloved hand roughly grabs my arm, but I try to shake it off. I am not going to see Her, because I know the prejudice she had against her husband's other Demigod children.

"What if I don't want to?" I snap.

"I'm taking you anyways," Egan tells me. The world turns black, and that's the last thing I remember.

***

When I come to, I'm strapped to a chair in a glowing room. I start to look around, wondering where I am, and how the hell I got here.

"Comfortable?" a cool voice asks from in front of me. I look at the source, and see a woman wearing a crimson velvet dress. Her dark hair reaches just a little ways past her shoulders, and crimson lips curl into an upwards smile.

I give her no answer, my eyes narrowing. This must be Hera. Her beauty matches her cruelty.

"Good," she says, sitting on a desk. "It makes me happy so see that my husband's bastard daughter is, what do you call it?" She thinks for a moment, picking up a white cup.

"Content."

"You've known about me for thirty three years, so why only show yourself to me now?" I ask, leaning forward in the chair. I want answers from her. I want them now.

"Please, please, let's not bicker," Hera says, with a wave of her hand. "Erago, Belen, release her." Two crimson armored guards untie my wrists, and, as soon as they do, I'm up and fighting. The guards fall beneath my fists, so I pick up one of their weapons.

"Hera, you may be Queen of the Gods, but you'll never rule over me," I hiss, pointing the weapon at her.

"Oh, this isn't over, Ms. Wright," she hisses. "I'll take out everyone you love, starting with that Kent boy you're playing house with." A vicious grin grows on her face.

"Or maybe the Kryptonians just might. Remember, Ms. Wright. I am your worst nightmare." Hera waves her hand, and the glowing room is replaced with the military base where this all started.

Soldiers run over to me, so I hold my hands up, in a surrender. "I'm not a threat." They all blink at me in shock.

"But you were on the Kryptonian ship," one says to me, a female.

"I was," I tell her. "And so was he. But we escaped."

"Well, where is he, then?" I am asked. "Where is the Superman?"

It caught on, I think with a smirk, before I answer them.

"I'm not sure, entirely. But I know what we can do to stop the enemies."