Chapter Twelve #2
Okay, even Nico had to admit the quartet of ukulele players just worked, given the setting.
Something about palm trees, ocean breezes and the twanging just gelled.
In fact, everything was going really well with this meet and greet beach party Apep had organised for primarily the water-centric deities.
Nico still buzzing from the fact that Poseidon, the Poseidon, had scarfed down several of his churrasco skewers marinated in a mojito dressing, and raved about them. Poseidon.
Call him pessimistic, but Nico couldn’t help but think things were going too well. He kept waiting for the ground to split apart. Or a barrage of lightning strikes to obliterate the atoll.
And trying to split his focus in so many bloody directions was beginning to give him a headache.
Hovering near the thatched structure where the food had been set up gave him a good vantage point.
But trying to be on the lookout for danger, plus keep a protective eye on so many potential moving targets was proving a challenge.
There was Copper, who was a bright beacon with her red hair hanging loose down around her shoulders, circulating, looking awesome and powerful in a bright orange sarong styled dress that he knew for sure Riya had designed.
And the delectable Gigi, who was wearing a short dark purple dress that kept flapping in the breeze.
Revealing distracting glimpses of leg, cleavage and a surprisingly tantalising bare back, thanks to those thin straps and a dipping neckline.
Now added to his plate were the DeWitt twins, who kind of reminded him of the fembots from Austin Powers, only with violet eyes. They looked like decorations, not bodyguards, and Nico had from the moment he’d been introduced added them to his list of people to watch over at this blasted event.
Not that they seemed to require much help.
They loitered off to his right. Five feet away.
Looking casual, but not bored. Their gazes, like his, constantly flickering over the crowd.
And anyone who tried to approach them to initiate conversation was treated with dual remote superior glares, that automatically had the approachee slinking away.
Hah, these girls could outstare Gods and Goddesses, perhaps they didn’t need Nico’s protection after all.
His gaze clashing momentarily with Elijah’s over the heads of the crowd.
The two of them exchanging a brief nod of acknowledgement.
Yeah, he probably didn’t need to keep making Copper a priority either, she had Elijah, and the ever hovering Apep at her elbow, performing introductions like a benevolent Uncle.
Which just left earthquakes, lightning strikes, and Gigi.
The hardest thing about trying to determine who the bad guys were was complicated by the sheer number of glittering gold beings present.
He hadn’t noticed so much at Mount Olympus, given all the blindingly bright marble and disturbing endless sky overhead, but damn, a lot of deity lines had the tendency to gleam, glitter, and just be downright golden.
Making it hard to determine whether they were a threat sent by Qetesh, or just some river Goddess who was sidling on up to Gigi wanting to know if any of the sweet treats contained dairy.
Certainly the party was a success. Apep beaming. Everyone had been polite to Copper. Lots of cocktails and mocktails had been served. And even a few of the deities had hit the sandy makeshift dancefloor and grooved along to the ukulele quartet’s version of an Elvis hit.
Though calling it dancing was kind of going too far. Standing there posing, moving a limb occasionally, their heads swivelling constantly, trying to gauge if everyone was watching them. They weren’t. Everyone too busy caught up in their own self-importance.
Deity parties, Nico had quickly discovered, were like getting the world’s most popular influencers together in one room and then only providing one soft filtered spotlight.
Absently Nico glanced back to check on the food.
The party was beginning to wind down so there was very little left.
That didn’t stop some massive seven-foot dude with hardened green grey skin, that kind of reminded Nico of a crab, from grazing, picking over the remains.
Hah, perhaps the guy was the God of the Crabs.
Thank Saint Medard, all the seafood dishes were long gone.
He should probably start thinking about cleaning up, but crabbie was doing a pretty good job of it on his lonesome. Shoving whatever was left into his mouth, chewing away voraciously. Uncaring that he was chomping on bones, or even wooden skewers. Yeah, probably a good idea just to leave him to it.
Apep had scooped Copper and Elijah up about twenty minutes ago, making their exit with a showy flash of gold lightning.
Since then a steady stream had been leaving.
Either by diving off the atoll or just disappearing into the ether.
Even the ukelele quartet had called it a day.
Which just left a few stragglers over by the bar.
Still, Nico’s instincts clamoured. Danger. Danger. Checking the skies, nothing. The ocean, nope, flat and idyllic. The twins must have sensed it too, suddenly they were flanking him, but their attention was on the ground. Earthquake? Sinkhole?
Thirty-foot sand monster appearing out of nowhere. And we have a winner.
This dude was seriously late to the party, Copper was long gone, yet it didn’t seem to care as it opened its sandy mouth and let out a gargling rough roar that sent birdlife into the air. Whilst any remaining partygoers quickly chose that moment to make a swift and speedy exit.
Instinctively Nico’s arms went up, intending to push Chase and Brynn behind him. Except they were pushing his arms down and running towards the scary assed massive sand monster.
“We’ve got this.” Brynn promised.
Chase likewise sending him a wide happy grin as she loped past. What the… No, he couldn’t let them do this, not alone. He’d only taken one step when Gigi was next to him, gripping his arm. “We should go.”
“But the girls.” Watching on horrified as Brynn raced directly towards the monster, its arm swinging, its massive clubbed hand headed straight for her and Brynn either didn’t see it, or didn’t care.
Stopping in place, putting her hands on her hips and glaring up at the monstrosity.
The defiant scowl on her face a little incongruous with her sky hive beehive do and blue and white bikini.
Nico wincing in horror, anticipating carnage as the massive hand hit her and exploded on contact.
Saint Medard. Brynn hadn’t moved a muscle, because clearly she was some kind of immoveable object.
The sand monster roaring, lifting its now handless limb into the air.
But even before the sound of its roar had finished echoing in the otherwise still air, a new clubbed hand was back in place, replacing the old.
The monster, perhaps a tiny bit shorter than it had been a minute ago.
Great, it could regenerate and shift the sand around at will.
“Come on. They’re giving us a head start.
” Nico allowing Gigi to pull him in the direction of the Transportal gate that Faleph had organised.
Located behind the bar for easier transport of alcohol, food and those who didn’t have deity fuelled power to pop into and out of places at will.
Problem was, the area behind the bar wasn’t only deserted, there was no sign of the makeshift Portal door either.
Mierda. And double mierda, as the thatched bar broke apart with a crack of wood and the tinkling of breaking glassware. The sand monster having stomped on it. Staring down at them with its featureless face, yet it felt like it could see them somehow.
Chase barrelled around the corner. “It seems to be after you guys. Run!” Except there wasn’t anywhere to run to.
The bar had backed onto a small stoney flat piece of ground that was barely ten feet in any direction.
Perfect for what was essentially the tradesman’s entrance, but it was essentially a dead end.
“Left. Go left.” Chase instructed.
They raced off to the left, zig zagging between palm trees.
Unfortunately, the sand monster didn’t have to zig or zag, it just crushed everything in its path as it followed after them.
It wasn’t fast, but it was relentless in its pursuit.
Worse, the atoll that Apep had created especially for this occasion was barely a mile wide in any direction and would take less than ten minutes to walk around.
Definitely less if you were a sand monster and willing to obliterate whatever got in your path.
“Can you explode it? The sand?” Nico questioned, leaping over a fallen smashed palm tree.
“No, its magic fuelled. Different… set of rules.”
“We could maybe punch it apart.” Brynn joined them.
“It would have to stand still.” Chase zigged, then zagged, staying on Gigi’s heels, providing protection.
“We could get behind it, each take an ankle and just start pounding away. If it loses enough sand, maybe it won’t be able to reform.”
“Plan.” Chase agreed. The two girls breaking off and ducking behind the monster, who ignored the twins, it knew its target and refused to be deterred or distracted.
“Keep running.” Brynn called.
“Yeah. Thanks for the advice.” Gigi’s sarcasm was a little blunted by how hard she was breathing.
Nico’s mind racing. He considered proposing they split up, but what if Sandy went after Gigi?
Damn, all they could do was run in circles.
Five minutes later, though, he was wondering how much longer they could keep that up.
All the debris the sand monster was stomping into oblivion was making a hell of an obstacle course for him and Gigi.
“It’s getting smaller.” Brynn yelled at one point.
“But not fast enough.” Chase returned.
“This isn’t working.” Gigi huffed, leaping over some fallen smashed up palm trees, almost stumbling but righting herself at the last moment.
“We could stand. Fight. Let the girls concentrate on a stationary target. What do you think?”
“I don’t think we have a choice. I’m about done.”
“Okay. We stop in five, four, three….” They halted.
Turning. The sand monster skidding to a halt in surprise, almost a human reaction, weird.
It was smaller. Brynn was correct. But still over twenty feet tall, towering over them.
They could hear thuds, as the twins went to work on its ankles, the sounds of their super hardened fists loud in the sudden silence.
The sand monster bending over, two club hands sweeping towards them.
“Drop.” Gigi was pleased Nico followed her instruction. Getting squished by a giant clubbed hand made of sand would not look good on either of their gravestones.
The sand monster roared again, a raspy gravelly sound, as if frustrated, its size decreasing another two feet or so. The twins were making progress.
Nico got to his feet, helping Gigi up. “Okay. I’m presuming we just keep ducking and diving and soon it will be small enough to kick in the head.
” Clasping Gigi’s hand in his. Ready to yank her out of the way from Sandy’s next strike, except the monster stood up as tall as it could get and then just let itself fall forward, like a tree being felled in the woods.
Mierda. Its long shadow looming over Nico and Gigi.
“Run.” The two of them turning on the spot, thumping away across the debris strewn ground.
Nico very aware of the dark shadow lengthening across the ground in front of them.
They weren’t going to make it. Grabbing for Gigi’s hand again, urging her to dig deep.
And then with one final leap, they were clear.
The sand monster hitting the ground behind them with an atoll trembling thud. Nico and Gigi sharing a relieved grin. Their smiles dropping away instantly as the cloud of sand that had been thrown up settled on their skin. Nico could feel it, magic.
He tried to brush it off. Horrified to look down and note the mounds of sand on the ground suddenly looked like a river, the sand running over his shoes and up his legs.
Saint Medard. He managed to take one step closer to Gigi before the sand stopped him in his tracks.
His arm wrapped tightly around her waist, as a thick layer of sand climbed up to his thighs.
“Nico?”
“I can’t move. You?”
“No.”
“Gigi?” They could hear Brynn and Chase.
“Stay back.” Gigi yelled. “Stay away from the sand.” It was up to her waist now, engulfing Canary in his small cage attached to the belt at her waist. Thank Heavens he didn’t need to breathe.
Breathe? “It’s going to suffocate us.” She couldn’t keep the fear at bay, it sounded a horrible way to go, drowning standing upright in a river of sand.
“I don’t think so.” Nico grit his teeth as the sand encased his chest and flowed higher still. Squeezing Gigi’s waist lightly in reassurance. “I think we’re about to go on a trip. Just think of this as a really sandy inconvenient taxi service.”
“I really, really hate this.” Suffocating was one of Gigi’s number one fears.
“I’ve got you.” Nico’s gaze blazed with confidence. His arm around her waist already frozen in place by the encasing sand. Wherever they were going, they were going together.
It was too late to do anything now but take a deep breath and stare into each other’s eyes for two seconds more before they were forced to close them as the sand moved ever higher, covering them completely.
By all the storms. Nico felt the magic around them surge, grip tighter and yank them elsewhere.
Anger boiling in his gut. He’d seen the fear in Gigi’s eyes, a first, as he didn’t think there was much that scared her.
He wanted to soothe it away. Reassure her that everything would be alright.
Seriously, who was he kidding, he wanted to make someone pay in blood and pain for upsetting the woman he had come to admire so very much.
Ouch. Feet slamming down onto a hard surface, his knees protesting, the sand dropping away in an instant. Excellent, time to kick some ass.