Page 95 of Gods' Battleground

This had to end.

“Six days,” I said to Nero as I stroked Sierra’s forehead gently, trying to soothe her. “For six days, our soldiers have been searching, and they still haven’t found Mordon, Regin, Kia, or any of their forces.”

After our escape, I’d sent soldiers to the graveyard city where Nero and Sierra had buried the Guardians’ forces under a mountain of rock. The bad guys had survived, dug themselves out. There were tracks leading away from the massive pile of rocks.

My soldiers had followed those tracks as far as the nearby mountains, where they’d lost the trail. Mordon and his followers were no longer on that world. Somehow, inexplicably, they had escaped to another one. Maybe they were using Regin’s teleportation artifacts. Yeah, that was probably it. I would have realized it earlier if I weren’t so scared and tired.

We’d sent out more search parties, more soldiers. They’d all come back empty-handed. Wherever the Guardians were hiding, it was well-hidden.

“We have to find Mordon and the other Guardians,” I told Nero. “We have to end this.”

Nero opened his mouth to speak. A soft knock sounded on our door.

“Wait here.” Nero kissed my forehead, then Sierra’s. “I’ll check it out.” He grabbed his sword and stalked toward the door.

“It’s just us,” Cadence said when he opened it.

Nero’s sigh was stuck somewhere between relief and frustration. “It’s about time. Did you find it?”

“Yes, we found it,” Damiel confirmed.

Nero’s parents followed him inside. After Angel let them pass, they joined me and Sierra on the sofa. Damiel was holding a heavy tome, black and big, the gold-foil title shining out like a sudden sunburst in a midnight sky.

“Sierra?” Cadence said, touching her arm.

“Sierra sleepy.” Moaning, she batted at Cadence’s hand. “Go away.” She buried her face in my fluffy sweatshirt.

“How bad have the nightmares become?” Cadence asked me.

My throat was so tight I could hardly speak. “Bad.”

When Mordon had first started his nightmare attacks, we’d been able to distract Sierra, to keep her awake by feeding her cookies and watching movies with her. But the novelty had worn off with the sugar rush. Sierra was only three. Kids her age needed a lot of sleep.

“Look what I’ve brought you, sweet pea,” Damiel said to Sierra.

He handed the heavy book to Cadence, then pulled a box out of his pack. When he peeled back the lid, the sweet scent of pancakes wafted out. Sierra turned toward it.

“Pancakes?” Damiel offered, holding the box out to her.

Sierra stared at the pancakes for a moment. Then she screamed, “No!”, shoving the box away.

“We need to do this now,” Cadence said to Damiel as Sierra retreated into Nero’s arms, hiding her face.

“What do you need to do?” I asked. “What did you find?”

“A spell to locate the Guardians,” Damiel told me.

I perked up. “How?”

“Mordon is using Vertigo’s magic to attack Sierra,” said Cadence. “That means there’s a strand of magic connecting the two of them.” She opened the book to a page marked with a crimson silk ribbon. “With this spell, we can follow the magic strand all the way back to Mordon. We can find out where he’s hiding.”

And then we could go there and stop him, once and for all.

“What do I have to do?” I asked, reaching for the book.

Cadence set her hand on mine, stopping it. “No, not you, Leda.”

“It’s a telepathic spell. I am the Goddess and Demon of Telepathy.”

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