Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)(147)

He took out another device from his bag of tricks and plunged back into the warehouse without another word. Mae again recognized her limitations at this stage of the search and simply followed him around. Fifteen minutes later, he came to a halt in front of a large machine that appeared to be some kind of grain sorter.

“Here we are.” He knelt down. “Help me move it.”

The machine was heavy, but casters aided in getting it out of the way. Below it, Mae saw neither a security system nor an underground lair. “Shine the light down,” he ordered. He ran his hands over the floor several times and then made a grunt of approval. “Nicely laid. I don’t suppose you have a knife, do you?”

Mae handed him the one from her boot and heard him mutter, “Goddamned pr?torians.” But after a little prying with the blade, he lifted up a large section of the floor that had blended seamlessly with the concrete. A metal door showed itself, glowing with all sorts of lights. “Oh, baby,” he breathed. Mae had a feeling that as far as he was concerned, this was a brush with divinity. He handed her his ego. “Send something to Dom, and make yourself comfortable.”

One look at the tools he produced from his bag, and Mae was quick to comply. She sat cross-legged nearby and took out her own ego, once she’d sent Leo’s message. To Justin, she tapped out: Leo really is a genius.

When no response came, she asked Leo, “Do you think they’re all right? Justin isn’t taking advantage of a chance to flout his superiority.”

“Dom’ll look after him,” said Leo, eyes on the panel. “They’re not the ones in danger of tripping an alarm.”

She jerked her head around, nearly expecting attackers to come swooping in. “What happened to your amazing prowess?”

“I told you, I’m not a miracle worker.” He sat back with a frown. “But I think we’re okay.” He took hold of two handles on the door and lifted it up. Both of them froze. No wailing sounded; no one rushed at them. “If I set it off, it’d be silent,” he said, which didn’t reassure her. He shined his light downward, illuminating a chute with a narrow, spiraling staircase. “How quaint. Let’s make this fast.”

Mae took the lead, gun out, trying her best to see ahead of her. Her fight-or-flight mode continued ramping up, burning nearly as strongly as it would have in active combat. The implant could sustain this state for a long time, but that just meant she’d experience a big crash later. She reached the ground unharmed, and after a quick survey with the light, she allowed Leo to join her.

“No windows. We can do an overhead light,” he said. “It’ll get us out of here faster.”

The control switch was near the bottom of the stairs. He found it, and within seconds, light flooded the space, revealing a wide doorway that opened to an enormous room.

And Mae came face-to-face with her nightmares.

The walls of the vast room were painted with murals predominately in black and red, depicting people dying in gruesome ways. Entrails, skulls, expressions of terror. Around her, the smell of dampness and decay filled the air. A stone altar sat at one end of the room, stained with some dark substance and surrounded by piles of bones. The picture behind it depicted a monstrous woman, larger than life, whose form took up the entire wall. Her face managed to be human, reptilian, and aquiline all at the same time. Black robes clothed her body, the sleeves stretching down like bat wings. A high crown sat on her head, displaying a twisted pattern of thirteen tormented faces—and a crow made of knot work in the center. The sky painted behind her was the color of blood. That horrific face was mirrored in thirteen black masks hanging around the room—and they all were watching Mae.

“Fucked up,” said Leo. Mae couldn’t speak. She could barely even breathe, and he turned to her in surprise when he noticed her reaction. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been here,” she said, her voice very small. The air felt oppressive, a heavy weight bearing down on her. “A long time ago.”

It was the place her mother had taken her so many years ago, the place that had continued to haunt her dreams in shadows and half-formed faces. All this time, she’d thought her childhood imagination had twisted the memories into something greater than what they were. But here they were, exactly the same.

My mother lied, she realized fleetingly. She had to have known about all this.

Mae hadn’t been truly afraid of anything in a very long time, but she wanted to run out of this place as quickly as she could.

“Are you going to be okay?” Leo asked.

I have to be, she thought. Her personal experiences were irrelevant and could be dealt with later. For now, they had to complete their task. This was what they’d been looking for. Even if they found no evidence linking the murders, it still contained an unlicensed church that SCI could shut down, possibly preventing tomorrow’s murder. Justin would be completely justified in requesting a raid by local law enforcement or even the military right now. Maybe it wouldn’t be enough to redeem himself in Cornelia’s eyes, but it might very well keep him from Panama.

“I’m okay.” Mae took a deep breath. “Let’s take a quick look and get out of here. I’m going to tell Justin to call in his cavalry.”

She sent the message and joined Leo in his survey of the room, despite her instincts’ screaming against it. She felt choked and sluggish. That goddess, with her eyes everywhere, wanted to trap Mae. Claustrophobia had never been a problem for her, but now the walls seemed to be closing in. What was noticeable, however, was that Mae felt no invasion of her body—no sense of the Morrigan taking control. She still felt a pressure, like the air was heavy, pressing down with the weight of the Morrigan’s wanting to penetrate Mae and take control…but she couldn’t.