Read New Olympus Saga (Book 3): Apocalypse Dance for Free Online

had shown up uninvited. It might behoove him to assist Mr. Smith in his endeavors, to ensure the most propitious results. The other messages reported that Lady Shi had betrayed them, and accused Mr. Night of being responsible, which was somewhat accurate. He probably shouldn’t have indulged in his urge to inflict pain for its own sake. Oh, bother.
    Two messages were from one Thaddeus Twist, multibillionaire leader of the Humanity Foundation, a secret conspiracy dedicated to the elimination of the Neolympian menace. Twist needed the definite location of the Source in New York City. Mr. Night called back, went straight to voice mail – Twist was either too busy to answer the call, or being petty – and left a message confirming the Source was beneath New York City, a mere hundred feet under Central Park. He provided precise coordinates. At this point, Twist’s plan provided a fail-safe of sorts. If everything else failed, the Humanity Foundation’s bomb plot would do a fair bit of damage and help put the planet on its proper path towards extinction.
    Moving on. He made another call. Daedalus Smith answered in person. “Where the hell were you, Night?”
    “I was occupied dealing with Janus. I fear he may have eluded me, but now I’m back and ready to do my duty, Mr. Smith, sir.”
    “Cut the crap. You got my messages. You fucked up, and now the girl is with the Iron Tsar. I’m going to have to go the Ukraine and try to fix this mess.”
    “If you allow it, I would like to accompany you, sir. I believe I can be of some use in this endeavor.”
    “Nice try, chump. The Tsar will have you shot on sight.”
    “I’ve no doubt he would do so, were you to introduce me as your loyal friend Mr. Night. But if you bring along the former Hero of the Revolution Medved as your bodyguard, he might be more welcoming.”
    There was a pause at the other end before Daedalus replied. “Do you think you can pull that off? You normally reek of dark energy.”
    “It will take some effort, but I can hide my true self under the aura of our dearly departed Bear. I can even use some of his memories to produce a passable simile of his normal demeanor and vocal patterns.” Dropping his perennial smile would be the hardest part, but Mr. Night could do so if the need was pressing enough.
    “If you screw up, we’ll have to fight our way out of the Dominion. There are anti-teleport wards all over the damn country, so good luck trying to gate out. We’ll have to walk out. Chances are we won’t.”
    “To quote a wise man: ‘He fears his fate too much, or his deserts are small…’”
    “Yeah, yeah, put fate to the touch, blah blah. Nice sentiment, until it’s your balls on the wall, win or lose it all. Bah. All right, Night, it’s on. We leave in less than forty-eight hours. Will be in touch.” He hung up.
    Things were going to get very interesting.
     

Christine Dark
     
    Kiev, Dominion of the Ukraine, March 27, 2013
    She heard the guards coming before she sensed them; her empathy wasn’t working as well as normal.
    
    Four armed men in gray and black uniforms walked in. Three of them were armed with disruptors; they aimed them at her and gestured towards the wall farthest from the entrance. She stood on the spot they indicated, and a man and a woman entered the cell.
    The man was, well, rotund, a pretty big guy, and probably had been body-shamed for it. His head was oversized, and his face was, well, deformed, uh, otherwise-shaped. His eyes were different colors, one green, one solid red, the red one being about four times bigger than the other and a good inch or two lower in the face. The side with the red eye looked like melted wax. He regarded Christine with curiosity and more than a little lust, her empathy reported. Yikes.
    The woman was very beautiful, and appeared to be in her late teens, with long raven-black hair and deep blue eyes, prettier than her roommate Sophie’s and