Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
The summons came while Scorpio sunbathed on a beach in Florida.
Your presence is requested immediately.
He uttered a groan, and the bikini-clad lady by his side murmured, “What’s wrong, handsome?”
“Work’s calling.”
“How do you know? Your phone didn’t ring.”
“The boss has his ways,” Scorpio’s cryptic reply as he rose from the sand and stretched.
“Will I see you again?” she asked.
“Not likely.” Scorpio wasn’t into the whole relationship thing. In his defense, the women he dated weren’t either. Fun, casual times. That was the way to live.
He padded to the hut he’d been renting and gathered his belongings, stuffing them into a bag before bowing his head and concentrating.
No place like home.
The tattoo on his back, a scorpion that spanned the entire width, heated.
In moments, he found himself on the first floor of the Tower of Babel. Not destroyed as historical texts claimed but hidden from human view after the attempt.
The massive structure used to house all the Zodiac Warriors. However, these days, some of them chose to maintain homes outside of it, wanting the freedom to enjoy what the modern world offered.
Not Aries. Given he’d married the prophetess, Sage, he remained, and the two embraced a life devoid of the chaos and constant surveillance now happening pretty much everywhere in the world. Other Zodiac Warriors stayed because they had a preference for solitude. Neither was why Scorpio maintained a suite of rooms in the tower. He liked people, liked partying. However, there were numerous reasons he had for continuing to call the Tower home: one being, he couldn’t decide on a new permanent place. Besides, it wasn’t as if he spent much time there. On his days off he tended to travel the world: the warmer the climate, the better.
As Scorpio climbed the stairs to Aries’ office—a thigh-burning two hundred steps out of the almost twelve thousand that it took to reach the peak of Babel Tower—he wondered what the de facto leader wanted. Scorpio had just returned from a mission, a rescue of migrant children who’d been smuggled over the border for foul reasons. The tykes he’d freed had been handed over to adults who didn’t have nefarious designs. As for those responsible… Currently feeding coyotes in the wild. Scorpio recycled whenever he could.
He arrived on the seventh floor breathing a little heavily. It had been a while since he’d trained by running up and down those steps. Might be time to recondition.
The windows that wound around the tower, along with the staircase, let in the bright sun and illuminated the circling corridor lined with potted plants. When he’d first been recruited, he tried to find out who kept them watered. No matter how much caffeine he pumped into his body, he always fell asleep. The plants weren’t the only thing that seemed to be magically cared for. The tower never stayed dirty. No matter how many muddy boots he tromped through his quarters, or how much pizza he dropped, when he either woke or returned after a trip, everything was once more pristine. It proved jarring at times because, in the real world, when he roamed among the humans, his messes didn’t vanish. Part of the reason why he kept his home in the tower. He liked having an invisible maid.
His boots barely made a sound as he strode to the wooden panel carved with the wheel of the Zodiac. Within that circle, the inscribed symbols for each of the warriors. Twelve marks, for twelve constellations, for twelve flesh-based avatars. Scorpio’s emblem glowed as he placed his hand on the portal.
Click . The door opened, and Scorpio entered to find Aries standing behind his desk, looking out the window.
“Hey bossman, what’s up? Thought I was supposed to be on a two-week break before the next mission.” He flopped into a chair across from the desk.
Aries glanced at him over his shoulder. “Change of plans. Sage had a vision.”
Scorpio stiffened. All the Zodiac Warriors listened when Sage spoke. “What did she see?”
“Something wicked is coming, and to stop it, we have to locate some artifacts.”
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to fight it?” Scorpio usually had one simple solution to most things: Kill it. That tended to end most problems.
“Apparently, we can’t. Sage insists we find these relics, and lucky you, you’re first up.”
“Fair enough. What am I looking for?”
“I don’t know. Sage couldn’t see the actual items in question, although she did have a location for the first one. Congrats, you’re going to Antarctica.”
“Where it’s like a billion degrees below zero?” Scorpio huffed. “You know I hate the cold.” Yes, he complained. Why couldn’t his task be somewhere hot and sticky?
“One, where you’re going, it’s only minus twenty or so degrees Fahrenheit. Two, the cold can’t hurt you.” One of the quirks of being a Zodiac Warrior. “And three, you are going because Sage said it had to be you. Trust me, you weren’t my first choice because I knew you’d whine.”
“I’m just busting your balls. ’Course, I’ll go. However, if Sage doesn’t even know what I’m looking for, how the fuck am I going to find it?”
“It’s a mystic quest. It will reveal itself. And you won’t be completely without aid. You’re to locate a doctor… Hold, let me find the name.” Aries checked the notes on his computer screen. “Dr. Guthrie, who is already there studying the glaciers.”
“They have scientists analyzing giant ice cubes? Sounds absolutely scintillating.” Not. “I assume I’m not supposed to kill this doctor.”
“No.” A flat statement accompanied by a stern look.
“What about roughing them up if they don’t cooperate?”
Aries sighed. “You know, you don’t always have to use your fists—or knives—to solve problems.”
“You’re right. Guns are much more efficient, as they can be used from a distance.” Yes, Scorpio antagonized on purpose. The leader of their faction took his role very seriously.
“No hurting anyone unless your life is in peril,” snapped Aries.
“Aye, aye, bossman. So, how am I getting there? Do we have a portal I don’t know about in Antarctica?” Because, while Scorpio had been around the world using the doorways that linked their home base to various locations, he’d never heard of one at the South Pole. North, yes. It was shared with Claus. Yes, that Claus.
“No portal. You’ll have to starbeam in.”
Scorpio groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That is like the most annoying way to travel.” Starbeam involved triangulating their constellation to act as a conduit that would basically disassemble a warrior and reshape them at their desired location. Uncomfortable at best, but at its worst, if they miscalculated even slightly, they’d been known to reappear with nothing. In other words, in the buff. Hard to intimidate with your dick and balls swinging around.
“I am not wasting the time or resources renting a plane to drop you. And you know, starbeaming wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t rush the calculations.”
Scorpio’s lips pinched. “I hate math.” He’d hated it when young and the teacher would show them five apples then take two away and ask them to count the remainder. She never liked his answer, which was five, because there were still five apples, just not in the same pile. Then when he ate the two and finally gave the response she wanted of three, she’d put him in time out.
“And I hate peas,” Aries replied.
“What’s little balls of green deliciousness have to do with math?” he exclaimed.
“Nothing. It’s as pointless as you arguing. Now, if you’re done, here’s the coordinates of the doctor’s camp.”
Aries handed over a printout that kindly included his constellation’s positioning for the next forty-eight hours, as well as that of a meteor travelling in the area that would require making some adjustments—AKA, more fucking math.
“Guess I’ll finally get to wrestle polar bears,” Scorpio stated as he stood to take his leave.
“The bears live in the north. South Pole is penguins and seals.”
“Bummer. Can’t exactly wrestle a cute penguin. Think a seal will provide a challenge?”
Aries once more sighed. “Don’t fuck up.”
“Who, me?”
“And don’t kill anything!”
“No promises,” Scorpio sang as he walked out the door.
He spent a few hours getting his shit together. Had a nap. Packed a knapsack—with weapons. Another with food. Played a few rounds of COD —and got destroyed by some kids who called him old. Then struggled with the calculations for his starbeam. By the time he finished, his brain hurt, but in good news, he was ready to go.
He went outside the tower with his gear but kept the knapsack in his lap as he plopped to the ground, cross-legged. Scorpio drew symbols in the courtyard sandbox, like, literally a sandbox. A square ringed in stones and filled with sand—not the earthly variety, but that created by grinding meteors. It provided a perfect base for the squiggles he dug with a finger, the ones at his back being the most annoying to complete. Why starbeaming couldn’t be as simple as concentrating, he never understood. After all, his tattoo gave him a direct link to home. Why couldn’t the person who created the warriors have devised a similar method for travelling elsewhere? Yes, they had portals, twelve of them scattered around the world in major areas, but in a hurry, it would have been useful to choose their exact destination.
Once done with his drawing, Scorpio placed his hands on his knees, closed his eyes, and then, because it amused him, muttered, “By the power of the Zodiac, let’s go!”
Uh-oh. The realization he’d miscalculated hit the moment his body began disincorporating, but by then, it was too late. He shot to his constellation of stars, faster than noise and light, and then, from there, ricocheted back to Earth.
In good news, he made it to Antarctica.
The bad? He arrived wearing nothing but a grimace.