Chapter 11 #2
“Yes, and that’s not the only thing. Even more people have disappeared just driving down the road to go home from work. All over the world, GPS is failing and people are lost,” Kira says.
“What do you mean the GPS is failing?” I ask.
“Just like the first reports, it has signal one second and the next it’s gone. None of the signals have popped up again. It’s as if the vehicles don’t exist in this place.” Kira shakes her head.
“Every signal is unique to the vehicle?” I ask.
“Yes, I wanted to study technology and logistics before I found out I was a demigod and couldn’t even touch it without bad things potentially happening,” Kira says.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Jayden throwing my phone out the window on our way to Halfling Academy flits through my brain and I grin over at the son of Hades.
He gave me a crash course that I wasn’t prepared for when he did that.
I was so mad but I understood when we first met Tristan and the demon pigeons found us almost instantly.
“It’s fine. I’m a daughter of Hephaestus. We just have to adapt magic to do the same thing human technology does.” Kira shrugs.
“You’re well on your way to doing that, my friend.” I glance around at what she has already accomplished with a smile.
“I’m trying.” She blushes. “It’s a lot of trial and error.”
“It will help a ton. It already has.” I point to the radio.
“It’s not good enough,” Kira says. “Not fast enough.”
“Do you want to stay here and keep working?” I raise a brow at her.
“No. I need to go with my men.” She shakes her head.
“I’m sure Dax would stay behind with you. I can promise we won’t let anything happen to Draven, but we do need him. I don’t trust anyone else in the Hermes house to do this.” I flop into a chair.
“The fact that we trust Draven enough to do this now is a huge step in the right direction.” Jayden pulls me into his lap.
“He has proven himself,” I say. “He helped last time and has had our backs since. We had our backs against the wall and thought we were going to lose.”
“The betrayal got to him a little more than I would have guessed,” Kira says softly.
“I think I would have had a similar reaction and rethought my life choices had I been in a similar position.” I nod.
“In any case,” Kira says, “I refuse to be separated from either of my men so if Draven is needed, I’m going too.”
“We’re already packed,” Dax says. “We knew we would need to leave quickly but what happens now? The roads are crazy and planes keep crashing from the sky.”
“We adapt to whatever’s going to happen as it happens.” I shrug. “We can’t change things so we take it as it comes.”
“If Kira’s going, then so am I,” Dax says.
“Agreed. There’s no point in limiting the number of demigods in the group at this point. There’s safety in numbers. The queen already knows that we’re coming for her anyway.”
“Plus, Hermes never fought monsters,” Kira says. “Just giants.”
“Giants aren’t always bad,” I say. “Look at Orion. He’s a giant and he’s a good guy that shows understanding to others. This may not be as bad as we think.”
“When do we leave?” Kira asks.
“As soon as we find Adrian and Draven.” I glance around the war room. “Do you have your bags with you?”
“Yeah, we wanted to be ready to leave at any moment.” Kira points to two bags sitting by the door.
“Good, let’s get moving. We don’t know how bad things will get the longer we wait. Anything could happen.” I clap my hands together.
“I think Draven was going to visit with Adrian this morning and find out how he’s doing,” Dax says.
“Then if we’re lucky, we’ll find them both at the same place.” I nod.
“Should I bring the radio?” Kira asks.
“Nah, we can use the radio in the SUV. Let’s leave that here just in case. We’re probably going to need it again at some point.” I open the door but Greyson stops me.
“I need to contact Grant and let him know we’re passing through.”
I reach in my bag and pull out the shell, handing it to Greyson, and step to the side out of view. These wolves always seem to want to say something inappropriate and rile Jayden up. So from now on, I’m taking myself out of the equation as much as possible.
“Grant, alpha of the California pack,” Greyson says into the shell.
The mist does its thing, giving us a picture of a disheveled Grant. He has dark circles under his eyes and his hair is sticking up at odd angles.
“Greyson? Bro, did you get my message? It’s bad.” Grant runs his hand through his hair.
“Yeah, I got it. Hades said to go see Orpheus anytime you need to get me a message here at the academy.” Greyson glances at me with a raised brow.
I nod. “Yup, we might have been the cause of the shifter problem so it’s only fitting we help when needed.”
“Your alliance is much appreciated,” Grant says with a sigh.
“How bad is the threat? Is there going to be a problem anytime soon?” I ask.
“We don’t even know. Right now, it’s just a few isolated incidents with rogues.
I think he’s trying to build an army which could take time.
Shifters are volatile and there are always skirmishes between packs, but this is different.
Based on recent events, we think this is the wolf who got that god blood on him. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Yeah, the timing is too perfect,” I agree.
“He didn’t have the power to challenge anyone before that. Now he does and I fear war is on the horizon.” Grant shakes his head.
“Oh, war is definitely on the horizon. I just wonder how many we will have to fight before we can fucking rest.” My shoulders slump.
“Do you need my assistance, Beth?” Grant asks.
“Not currently. We just wanted to inform you we’ll be traveling in your territory. Oh and probably tell your pack to limit their travel or they could end up lost.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard the reports. I wondered if it was a Greek thing,” Grant says.
“Yup, definitely a Greek thing which means we get to go save the world again. Yay.” I can’t help the sarcasm that drips in my tone.
Jayden wraps an arm around me and I lay my head on his shoulder. We need to go. Every moment we waste is another moment things might get worse. Every moment that Hermes could be erased. A moment closer to the queen winning this time and dooming us all.