Dead Lines

33: Three Black Carriages

Unedited.

Chapter Thirty-Three

My bare feet had just touched the first floor of the Agora when the outline of the doorway to the projection room lit up.

"That's the main portal?" I asked.

Cecil nodded slowly as we both approached the doorway with caution. "Stay behind me."

"Cyrus, wait."

Both of us stopped and turned to look when we heard Logios' voice. The God was descending the stairs at a fast clip, worry etching his usually amused face. Kells was hot on his heels along with several Elite I didn't immediately recognize and Gods I knew all too well.

None of them reached us in time.

The door to the projection room burst open, crashing so hard against the adjacent wall the hinges snapped and the whole thing crashed to the floor.

The portal glowed bright blue; the center of it swirling so fast it closely resembled a whirlpool. Out of the depths of the brightness came a shadow, small at first and then growing to become a full silhouette of a man.

I held onto Cecil's right arm while the mysterious sword was formed in his left.

"He can't get through," Logios said as he stepped up on my other side. "The portal is warded."

As if to demonstrate, Caelus raised his hands chest level and pushed. The barrier seemed so thin, like it would break at any second. But it held firm, keeping Caelus on his side and barring him from coming through.

"Will it hold?" I asked.

Logios nodded slowly. "I believe so."

When Caelus was finished testing the barrier, he dropped his hands and his no-name-face took survey of those of us gathered before him.

"Here we all are. Finally." Even though I couldn't see it, I sensed this all amused him. "To think, the once proud twelve Elite families have evolved to this-simply stunning."

I felt a hand press against the small of my back and I knew without looking it was Kells. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Salmacis on Cecil's other side. Where Andrzej was, I didn't know and it worried me a little. If there was something going on, he was normally in the thick of things. But there was neither hide nor hair of him.

"What do you want, Caelus?" Logios asked. "I don't imagine you're here for pleasantries."

"I can't profess my intentions are honorable, no. By now, I imagine everyone knows my plans. I highly doubt you've kept them quiet."

The crowd shifted, sensing the still leashed hostilities his words promised.

"You've come to state your terms," Cecil affirmed.

"I'm sure everyone is as tired of the waiting as I. My terms are rather simple, my children: I want the Oracle and the one you know as Christopher Embry and I want them by sunrise." The "or else" being implied.

"The feeble attempt at a super soldier, I understand," Ares piped up. "But what use do you have of the Oracle? You've no need of the future as you already have a clear picture of its being. She's useless to you."

Cecil squeezed my hand the same time my hold on his arm tightened. We both knew the answer to Ares' question and the fact that the God of War didn't already know was baffling. Or perhaps he was feeling out Caelus to find out where he was going with all this.

"My dear boy, if you truly believe that, you are indeed very stupid."

"It's not going to happen, Caelus," Logios said. "You know we'd never turn either of them over to you."