Caged Lightning (Shadows of the Immortals Book 5) Read online

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  ALSO BY MARINA FINLAYSON

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CAGED LIGHTNING

  Marina Finlayson

  Copyright © 2018 Marina Finlayson

  www.marinafinlayson.com

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Marina Finlayson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author.

  Cover design by Karri Klawiter

  Model stock image from Taria Reed/The Reed Files

  Editing by Larks & Katydids

  Formatting by Polgarus Studio

  Published by Finesse Solutions Pty Ltd

  2018/02

  Author’s note: This book was written and produced in Australia and uses British/Australian spelling conventions, such as “colour” instead of “color”, and “-ise” endings instead of “-ize” on words like “realise”.

  To be notified when Marina Finlayson’s next novel is released, plus get special deals and other book news, sign up for her newsletter at:

  www.marinafinlayson.com/mailing-list

  For all the wonderful readers who have followed Lexi’s journey. Thanks for coming along on the ride!

  Table of Contents

  1

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  9

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  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

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  18

  19

  20

  21

  ALSO BY MARINA FINLAYSON

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  1

  It’s a strange thing to meet your brother for the first time as a grown woman.

  Well, I’d met him before, but that was before I knew he was my brother. That one little fact changed everything between us—and made me feel more than a little guilty about some of my past judgements of him. I mean, if Apollo really was a douche, then finding out he was my brother didn’t make him any less of one. But when I was Artemis, and actually knew he was my brother, I’d been prepared to give up my godhood, at least temporarily, to save him. Which kind of suggested that I hadn’t considered him a douche at all, and that maybe I—human, amnesiac, Lexi-I, not the forgotten moon goddess-I—had misjudged him.

  And I did so hate to be wrong.

  I scowled as I threw another rock over the cliff. The wind whipped my dark hair, which had come loose from its ponytail, around my face and brought the salt smell of the waves to my nostrils. The sea spread out below me, a vast blue mystery reaching all the way to the distant horizon. If I’d turned my head to the left, I would have seen the little town of Berkley’s Bay, my home for the last few months, huddled around the curve of the shoreline. But I didn’t look—I’d come up here to escape my problems while I tried to get my shit together. Most of those problems were down there, and I didn’t need any reminders.

  Jake was—possibly—down there, though for all I knew he’d headed back to the city already. He had a house on the cliff not far from here. A mansion, really. Nothing but the best for the Master of the South-East, and one of the strongest fireshapers on the Ruby Council. Or, at least, he had been. Who knew who was on the council anymore, now that Apollo had started weeding out the traitors?

  I’d just broken up with Jake, though our relationship had barely begun, and my heart was still smarting at the wound. The stupid man had developed a sudden case of cold feet when he’d discovered I was really a goddess. Hey, how did he think I felt? I’d been happy being plain old Lexi. No one had asked me if I wanted to be a goddess. Hades had been sure I’d be thrilled to take back my old life as Artemis, goddess of the hunt and his niece. Shame his little trick of disguising me as a human had worked so well that I had no memories, now, of that former life.

  He was down there, too, my manipulative uncle, along with most of the people I cared about in the world. Like Holly and Joe, friends and neighbours. Like Syl, my best friend. How was I going to tell her I was a goddess? She knew something weird was going on with me, but not the depth of the shit I’d landed myself in this time. I’d headed out of town after my final confrontation with Jake, not ready to face anyone else yet, and had ended up here, on this familiar stretch of coast. I’d walked along this clifftop path many times, admiring the view. It was from here that I’d hurled the mayor’s stolen altarpiece into the sea below, right before all my adventures with gods and monsters had begun, and my life had started to unravel.

  The blue sea was darkening as the approach of night leached the colour from the world. I’d been up here for hours. Syl and her new boyfriend, Lucas, would be back from the underworld by now, probably wondering where the hell I was. I should head back, before they all started panicking that I’d been snatched by the shadow shapers—which was a possibility now that I’d lost my human disguise. I mean, I still looked the same, but my powers were back in full force. Other gods would be able to sense them. Shadow shapers, too—and, unfortunately, it didn’t work the other way. Shadow shapers had too little divine power in them for me to be able to sense them, so I had no early warning system. But I was too chicken to move. I was scared stiff of meeting my brother.

  I remembered a brother, with golden hair just like Apollo’s, but he’d been human, like me. Turned out that he was a false memory, implanted by Hades in his attempt to disguise me as a human. Even though my main memory of this fake brother was of watching a group of men carry his body away, his golden hair matted with blood, I was still reluctant to let go of him completely. I’d searched my mind for any memories of Apollo in that role but had come up empty-handed. Apollo was just a rather annoying guy I’d saved from death a couple of weeks ago. Except now he was my brother. If he expected me to be his sister again, he was going to be sadly disappointed. And I hated letting people down almost as much as I hated being wrong.

  Finally, the sea, and the edge of the cliff in front of me, disappeared into the blackness of night. I couldn’t put it off any longer. Reluctantly, I stood, stretching out legs cramped from sitting so long in one spot. I brushed dirt and grass off the back of my jeans and cast my mind out, searching for animals to bond with—I needed to boost my night vision before I went arse over turkey off the cliff edge in the dark.

  The bright spark of a fox trotting through the bush caught my attention. I linked to him and the blackness around me suddenly became individual trees, bushes on the cliff edge, rocks and pebbles. I tied my hair in an impatient knot to stop it whipping into my eyes and turned my back on the vast, whispering darkness of the sea.

  I trudged down the dirt track that led back towards town, the night around me alive with the bright sparks of animal life. Lines of light connected them to each other and to me, forming a web of life, with us all interconnected and dependent on each other. The natural world was a beautiful thing, softly glowing with energy. Now I knew why I could see these life sparks, how I could link with them—I was a goddess, and power over animals was my thing. But I was the goddess of the hunt, which made me wonder—did I use my power to track them, or, worse still, control them so I could kill them? Because that would be cheating. There was no point boasting about your hunting prowess if the animals literally couldn’t get away from you.

  I had so many questions about the person I used to be. I hoped I would like her, but if she had pulled stunts like that, we weren’t going to be friends. I wasn’t even sure I wanted the memories of a person like that.

  Still, I shouldn’t judge her on the limited information I had. That was what I’d done with Apollo.

  The lights of Berkley’s Bay winked through the trees as I came to the edge of the bush. The track ended at a gravel car park, and I crunched across it to the road. Berkley’s Bay wasn’t a big place, just a handful of streets arranged to make the most of the view across the bay, with a couple of wharves stretching out into deeper water for the fishing and tourist boats. Down here, we were sheltered by the headland, and the breeze was only light. I soon arrived at the end of the main street.

  My footsteps slowed as I got closer to home. I lived above the town’s tiny bookshop, right across the street from its only pub. The blinds were drawn in the windows facing the street, and a large figure’s silhouette moved behind the kitchen blind. Probably Lucas, which meant Syl was home.

  I stopped on the pavement outside the café. I should go up there and fill her in on what had happened. Or I could stand here and beat my head repeatedly against the front windows of the café. That might be more fun.

  Dammit, I needed a drink.

  I escaped
into Alberto’s pub, opening the first of the doors with relief. I wasn’t being a wimp, just … fortifying myself. There was nothing wrong with that. Making sure the outer door was shut, I opened the inner door, and the noise and light of the pub hit me, the swell of sound a welcome distraction. The two doors were part of Hades’ role-playing. He’d lived here for years as Alberto, the famous vampire publican, and the two doors were never supposed to be open at the same time, to protect him from any light that might get in. He’d put a lot of effort into his cover story.

  I took a seat at the long wooden bar with its front carved with wattle flowers and eucalyptus leaves. It was old, but beautifully maintained, Alberto’s pride and joy. I wondered how someone who was thousands of years old could care so much about a hunk of wood. Was it part of the act, or did hundreds of little things to care about add up to a reason for an immortal to still find pleasure in life? What were my little things that kept me grounded? Somewhere, there must be a whole life that I’d left behind, full of people and interests and maybe wooden bars to keep polished to a perpetual shine.

  Winston sat alone at a table in the corner, and I waved to him. He nodded back. He was wearing his civvies tonight, a pair of grey trousers and blue shirt. Only if you saw the gold ring on his right hand might you guess that he was actually a priest of Apollo.

  Apollo’s uncle—and mine, as it turned out, and that was going to take some getting used to—now in his familiar vampire guise, came to serve me. Dark hair slicked back from a pale, high forehead, lips blood-red against his white skin, Alberto looked every inch the classic vampire. I marvelled anew at how convincing the con was. No one would ever suspect, looking at him, that he was actually a Greek god.

  “Everything all right?” he asked, smiling in a way that didn’t reveal his fangs. “You don’t look happy.”

  I restrained an urge to punch him right in his aquiline nose. Why would I be happy? I’d just received the unwelcome news that I was a goddess—and it was his fault that I hadn’t known—and had lost my new boyfriend over it. Also his fault, come to think of it—he was the one who’d blabbed to Jake. I really should deck him. He’d completely screwed up my life.

  “No,” I said brusquely. “I need a drink.”

  “Beer?” he asked, reaching for my usual poison.

  Beer wasn’t going to cut it tonight. “Something stronger.”

  He asked no further questions and soon deposited a shot glass full of some clear liquid in front of me. Vodka, maybe. I tipped my head back and swallowed it in one go. Whatever it was, it burned all the way down in a most satisfying way.

  I slammed the glass back down on the bar, enjoying his slight wince at this mistreatment of his precious bar top. “Another.”

  Pointedly, he put the glass back on the coaster before refilling it. I sculled this one as quickly as the first, then sighed. A pleasant warmth spread from my stomach into my limbs. At least becoming a goddess hadn’t destroyed my ability to get drunk. A few more of these and I could forget about my problems for a while.

  “Another.”

  Alberto raised an eyebrow. “It might be time to switch to beer. I’m not carrying you home.”

  “Seriously? You’re cutting me off after two shots? What kind of a lightweight do you think I am?”

  He began filling a glass with beer. “We have work to do. The time for drinking will be when every last shadow shaper has taken up residence in my kingdom. Then we’ll have something to celebrate.”

  “This is not the celebratory kind of drinking.”

  “Jake didn’t come around, then?”

  “No.” I stared morosely at the foaming head on the beer. “It’s ironic, really. I became a goddess because it was the only way to save him—and you—but becoming a goddess means that I lost him.”

  “Well, I’m grateful, at least. And he’ll come round eventually. Just give him time.”

  I wished I shared his confidence. Time seemed to be something we were running out of. Hestia, at least, was convinced that if we didn’t get Zeus back soon, it would be too late for him. And if I was about to go haring off on another adventure to try to save the father of the gods, I wanted Jake by my side, dammit. He was a handy guy to have around in a fight.

  And speaking of fights …

  “I’m surprised you’re still here. Isn’t it dangerous for you to hang around, now that the shadow shapers know where to find you? Why aren’t you back in the underworld?”

  Out of habit, he glanced around to make sure no one had overheard that. He’d been protecting his real identity for years now. Sneakiness was a way of life. “I’m not staying. I’ve just been setting things up with Harry—I told him I’m going on a long business trip.”

  “Does that mean you’re coming with me?”

  “Where are you going?”

  Good question. “Hestia said we needed to reunite the parts of Zeus’s lightning bolt so we could get him back out of the wires, but how are you and she and everyone else so certain that’s where he is? Couldn’t he be held prisoner somewhere by the shadow shapers?”

  “If he was, he’d have one of their infernal collars on, so he wouldn’t be able to access his power at all to send us these little hints.”

  “So maybe he’s injured somewhere?”

  He frowned. “Gods don’t stay injured this long. And if he was still in this world, he could call the lightning bolts back to himself anyway. No, this is the only theory that makes sense. He used the wires all the time to travel—it used to drive Hera crazy, because she never knew where he was. He wasn’t limited to jumping between his temples—he could go anywhere they had electricity.” The frown deepened. “Naturally, he boasted all the time that only someone as powerful as he was could manage the trick. Thor, for instance, couldn’t do it, a fact which pleased my brother greatly.”

  “And now he’s lost his power, he’s not strong enough to … become corporeal again?”

  Hades rubbed at a non-existent spot on the bar, still frowning. “I’m surprised he’s lasted this long, to be honest. It must be draining whatever power he has left to hold himself together.” He sighed. “I think Hestia’s right. If we don’t find him soon, he’ll dissipate and be unable to reform.”

  That sounded nasty. And kind of an ignominious end for the father of the gods, to dissolve as if he were no more than sugar in a cup of tea.

  “So, the clock’s ticking, and we don’t know where to start.”

  “That pretty much sums it up. We are Zeus’s only hope at this point, and I fear he may also be ours. The shadow shapers are proving depressingly resilient.”

  “Like cockroaches.”

  “But, unfortunately, much more dangerous. We need a power like Zeus’s to exterminate the vermin properly.”

  A customer called to him from the other end of the bar. The place was starting to fill up now, and the noise of conversation threatened to rise from a background hum to a dull roar.

  “We’ll talk more about this later,” he said, moving off to greet the customer with an easy smile.

  I sat back and looked around. Winston was still sitting by himself, a large glass of water in front of him, so I took my beer over to his table. “Hi. How are you?”

  “Drowning my sorrows,” he said.

  I took a closer look at the glass on the table in front of him, but it still looked like water. Either that or it was the world’s biggest vodka shot. “In water?”

  He smiled, but there was a distracted air to his smile. He looked miserable. “I have no head for alcohol.”

  “That would make the sorrow-drowning easier,” I pointed out. “Cheaper, too. You’d get drunk faster. What’s wrong?”

  “I crashed Holly and Joe’s new car. I feel terrible.”

  Was that all? I’d been expecting some new disaster among the fireshapers, or the disappearance of another god, or something equally dire. “Nobody got hurt. It’s only money.” And Apollo had plenty. I would make sure he parted with some of it to make this right.