Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

Nereus in a vision when she touched the sapphire—”
    “When you forced it into my hand, you mean, which is something we need to discuss,” Keely said, smoothly cutting across Liam‟s report. “Warrior guy or not, you need to know that ambushing me like that did not exactly make me thrilled to accept your invitation.”
    The one Liam had called Lord Vengeance laughed, and his laughter changed him from forbidding warrior to pure, potent male. Every one of them radiated sexual magnetism so strongly that Keely felt she‟d landed in some sort of fantasyland for women who‟d been alone for way too long.
    “Yeah, McHottie. Your bad, definitely,” Ven said, cutting into her woozy mental meanderings. “Too bad we don‟t have time to hear all about it.” He turned his gaze to her.
    “Call me Ven. Can I call you Keely?”
    “Of course—”
    “Great. Now is not a good time, Keely. As an archaeologist, I‟m guessing you‟re pretty good at finding things. Head due north. In fact, just go straight toward that group of armed guards running toward us; see them?”
    She nodded, assuming he was pointing to the slight haziness she could see in the distance down the tree-lined path to their right. Atlantean vision was superior to human, then, she noted and filed away the thought.
    “Take Ms. Butler with you, if you would,” the prince said, dismissing her as he turned back toward the strangely distorted mirrorlike shape with the rest of them.
    Liam bowed to her, that Old World courtesy still in place in spite of the apparent threat.
    “Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. McDermott. We will soon—”
    A shout from the group at the mirror shape interrupted him and a booming noise thundered through the ground like a minor earthquake. Keely had experienced cave-ins before and had an archaeologist‟s instinctive and healthy fear of anything that could bring tons of dirt collapsing down upon her.
    This time, for a change, she was aboveground, but she scanned the area for any unstable structures that might topple over and crush them. Seeing none, Keely glanced at Tiernan and noticed that the woman‟s face had gone dead white, and the bruises on her face stood out in stark contrast to her pallor.
    “Not a lot of earthquakes where you come from?” she asked, as she crossed rapidly to Tiernan‟s side. “Maybe we should take their advice and get moving.”
    Tiernan lifted one shaking arm and pointed. “I‟m all for getting out of here,” she said, “but the guy on the other side of that mirror seems to be headed straight for you.”
    Keely swung around to gaze back at the shimmering mirror, or window, or whatever it was, and gasped, taking a quick step back. Because the man she could see through it, covered with dirt and blood and worse, was snarling like some kind of feral predator. Her scientist‟s mind cataloged the details, even as she recoiled from the sight of him: His long braid of dirt-crusted hair swung behind him as he ran. The sword he held in attack position gleamed with cold, steely light from symbols on the blade. He was gaining ground, pounding across a landscape that couldn‟t exist in reality, and a ghoul-like creature shambled along behind him.
    Although she couldn‟t hear him—the barrier must have trapped sound—he was clearly screaming. The eerie silence coming from the vision contradicted the evidence that was plain to see: his mouth was open, his teeth were bared, and the cords in his neck were strained taut as he screamed soundlessly. Or, at least, soundlessly to all of them on this side of the barrier.
    Then she noticed one final detail, and her careful, dispassionate, scientific observation collapsed underneath the weight of a single fact. This predator, this terrifying attacker, was ignoring every one of the armed men surrounding the window and staring straight at her. And, somehow, he looked familiar.
     
    The Void
    First, there had been the faintest glimmer of light. Then, Justice and Pharnatus had seen what looked like a portal, in the distance. Stumbling at first, then moving more swiftly, they‟d headed toward what would perhaps be freedom—or merely a mirage.
    Justice could see Keely now. The sight of her inflamed and overwhelmed the remnant of sanity that laughter and the light from his sword had briefly returned to him. Some core of reason knew it might be another mirage. A false oasis sent by Anubisa to torment him.
    She had done it before, Poseidon knew. Sent him images