The Last Aquarius (The Thirteenth Zodiac #6)

CHAPTER 1

No sooner did Aquarius walk into his boss’s office—at the ungodly hour of nine am!—than Aries dropped a bomb.

“You need to find a way to reach Mars,” Aries declared, sitting behind his massive wooden desk, the only piece of furniture in the room.

It took Aquarius a moment to realize the boss spoke seriously before he blurted out, “You do realize that’s impossible.

” While a Zodiac Warrior could do many things—zip from one end of Earth to the other, turn into motes of energy to blast asteroids, and more—actually visiting other planets? Impossible.

“I’m aware it sounds crazy,” Aries stated on a sigh. “However, Sage and Olivia presented me with a weird, synchronized prediction last night.”

“What do you mean by synchronized? Did they both have the same vision?” Aquarius questioned. The warriors had long listened to Sage when she saw a hint of the future, but Olivia, an actual child, had only recently begun relating the things she could see.

“Last night, as I headed back into Tower after a startling encounter, which I’ll tell you about in a minute, both Sage and Olivia emerged and, as if possessed of one voice, said, and I quote, ‘As great evil arises promising destruction, there is but a single, narrow branch to victory. To the dusty red planet, the water bearer must journey to seek audience with the queen who once was. The queen who lost everything fighting the ancient enemy. The queen who will demand the impossible in exchange for saving humanity. But beware, for once the water bearer sets upon this path, there is no return and the stars shall weep.’”

“Um, that’s an ominous prediction.” Stars weeping? Definitely not good. “And might I add, they never actually mentioned the planet Mars.”

Aries arched a brow. “What other planet would match that description?”

None. Nor could he deny that the term water bearer had to refer to him.

Aquarius. The coolest of the Zodiacs of course.

“Mars has never shown any signs of life. At least not in like a gazillion years.” Scientists speculated that, at one time, Mars might have possessed an atmosphere and even water, two essential building blocks when it came to living things.

However, there’d never been any kind of confirmation that Martians ever existed.

“I’m aware their foretelling makes no sense. However, it is my duty to listen and relay.” Aries took his job as leader of the Zodiac Warriors seriously.

“Did you question them about it?”

At his query, Aries appeared even more troubled. “I tried, but neither remember talking to me. Soon as they made their announcement, they suddenly woke, confused as to how they’d gotten outside. And before you ask, I am one hundred percent certain that is what they said.”

“I don’t doubt you heard them correctly, but it all seems rather odd.”

“It gets stranger,” Aries muttered, drumming his fingers on his desk. “It turns out the aliens we destroyed were only the tip of our problem. I was visited by their master last night.”

The claim shot Aquarius’ brows into the stratosphere. “Visited as in here, at Tower?” The Tower of Babel, the home of the Zodiac Warriors and other strays who didn’t fit into the human world. A magical place with defenses to prevent discovery and infiltration.

“It didn’t come inside. This thing”—Aries’ lip curled—“appeared on the other side of the moat. It claimed the rabid aliens we exterminated were pawns, basically cannon fodder. Says more of their kind are coming.”

“Fuck me, that’s bad news,” Aquarius exclaimed.

The aliens they’d fought had been four-armed, three-eyed, ugly critters who could create clones of themselves from a tiny hunk of flesh.

It made the warriors’ task of eradicating them difficult, as they couldn’t miss a single spattered bit.

They’d been rampaging around the world, with the highest concentration murdering their way through Toronto, Canada.

Luckily, the Zodiac Warriors had stumbled across their Kryptonite, some toxic water from Lake Natron.

They’d thought them wiped out. Wrong. “Pity the poison we sprayed in the sewers and tunnels of Toronto missed the alien commander.”

“Oh, it didn’t miss. This fucker isn’t like the ones we were fighting. For one, it wore a human body.”

“Wore as in like a suit?” Aquarius almost called it an Edgar suit. Blame his love for Men in Black.

“It claimed to be a being of power who chose to inhabit flesh that it might better try and rule over our world.”

“So it’s a parasite?”

“Not exactly. At least not the physical kind.” Aries’ lips pressed into a grim line. “I threw a sword and pierced it through the chest. As it died, it said it would simply find a new body. Pretty sure it wasn’t lying because a ball of light shot out of the corpse and took off into the sky.”

Aquarius whistled. “Well shit. That’s not good.”

“Understatement. What’s worrisome is it implied it could inhabit anyone.”

“Like the President of the United States or the people controlling the nukes?”

“Actually, it claimed our leaders were too hideous and old.” Aries offered a wry smile.

“Which may or may not be true. Is there any way of knowing who it might take over next? Anything that gave it away?”

“Glowing eyes, but I don’t know if that’s a constant tell or not.”

“Did it mention what it wanted?”

“World domination.”

Aquarius snorted. “Villains, always trying for the impossible.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss its threat. Even without its minions, the havoc it could cause simply by taking over the wrong person…”

No need to say more. Aquarius could easily imagine all kinds of worst-case scenarios.

“You think this body-snatching alien is related to the premonition from Sage and Olivia.”

“Seems likely, given the mention of an ancient enemy. I have to wonder if they’ve visited our solar system in the very distant past.”

“And the Martians somehow repelled them?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“If that’s the case, it could be why Mars is now inhabitable. Doesn’t seem like we should be following their lead.”

“We don’t know what happened. Could be Mars died from something unrelated. All I know is that’s the only clue we have.”

“A clue that seems to imply that if I succeed, I won’t return.”

Sorrow filled Aries’ expression. “Which is the reason why I hesitated to even mention the prophecy to you. I’ll understand if you refuse.”

“We both know that’s not an option.” When Sage spoke, the warriors listened. “And this is what I signed up for. Guardian of Earth and all.”

“There has to be another way.” Aries rose and paced in front of his window. “You’re too valuable to lose.” And then more softly. “I don’t know if I could live with myself if I sent you to die.”

“Maybe we’re misinterpreting the message.

I mean we know there’s no way to get to Mars.

Even if I could find a way there, wouldn’t its queen be long dead?

Add in the fact neither Sage nor Olivia even remembers saying it.

Could be this is that alien fucker trying to screw with us by sending your most valuable asset on an impossible quest so that it can terrorize the planet. ”

“A possibility I hadn’t thought of,” Aries mused, rubbing his chin. “It is odd neither have any recollection.”

“Tell you what. I won’t try and hitch a ride of one of Musk’s mission-to-Mars vessels, but I will do some research on the planet.”

“I think that’s the wisest course for now. Perhaps you should pay a visit to the library. See if perhaps there are some mentions of Mars that can’t be found on the internet or in a NASA database.”

“On it, boss. And don’t worry. I have no intention of dying if I can help it.”

But if it came down to sacrificing his life to save the world? A hero always made the right choice.