Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(100)

"Someone call 911!"

"Oh my god! Get an ambulance!"

"Is there a doctor here?"

Apollo heard the cries of the mortals around him. They would come and take her from him.

"No!" he screamed his rage. Standing, he threw his arms out wide. "Be silent!" His command shot like an arrow through the growing crowd, forming a wall of power that struck each of them deaf and dumb, turning the mortals into silent, openmouthed statues.

Then the God of Light looked down at his fallen love.

"No." He whispered the word this time. "It will not be." He made the decision quickly. He had to. If he hesitated now, it would be too late. Regardless of the consequences, it was the only way. Apollo stretched his hands out above Pamela's body. "Come to me. I command you not to depart this realm."

Beneath Apollo's outstretched hands, Pamela's body began to glow, and then a sphere of pure light lifted to hover between the god's palms.

"Apollo!"

He heard the cry behind him and, keeping the globe of light between his hands, he whirled. Like a sprite, Artemis ran through the smashed cars and silent, frozen mortals until she came close enough to see what it was her brother loomed over and what it was he held between his palms. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Moving with surprising speed, Eddie rushed up beside her. As his mind tried to make sense of the scene before him, the author's face drained of all color.

"You should not have lifted the spell from him," Apollo snarled.

"I didn't know... I didn't think... Oh, my brother. What have you done?" She stared from Pamela's body to the pulsing light he gripped possessively.

"I was too late," he said brokenly. "The sun was too late. They killed her."

Artemis approached him slowly, as if he was one of her wild woodland creatures. "But what are you doing? You hold her immortal soul."

Apollo cradled the light against his body. "I will not lose her!"

"Apollo - " she began.

"No! I will not lose her!" His angry cry caused lightning to spike across the sky. "Laws of the Universe be damned. Over and over it has been said that love is the strongest force in the universe." The god's wild eyes turned to the stunned author. "You are a bard in this world. Is that not what you proclaim?"

Unable to find the words to speak, E. D. Faust could only nod.

"Then I say my love for her overrules the Laws of the Universe!"

"Apollo, you can not keep her like this. Her immortal soul will not rest in this realm. You know that," Artemis said.

"I am not going to keep her in this realm."

Artemis' eyes widened with understanding. "Hades!"

"He will know what to do. He must know what to do," Apollo said.

"Yes." The goddess's voice broke. "Go to your friend, my Brother. I pray that he will have an answer for you. For both of you."

His expression dazed, as if he was just noticing the extent of what his power had wrought, Apollo looked around him at the crumpled cars and frozen people.

"I will make this right," Artemis said. "Go. Pamela needs you."

"Zeus?"

"I will appear before our father. It was because of me you entered this kingdom. I began this. I should end it."

Apollo shook his head. "It was not you, Artemis. Blame the Fates if you must. Pamela and I were destined to meet."

"Then you must take her to the Underworld and petition Hades for a resolution."

"Thank you, my Sister..." Apollo's voice faded. Still clutching the glowing soul, the god moved with speed that was impossible for mortal eyes to behold between the cars and into Caesars Palace to the portal that waited there.

With heavy steps, Artemis approached Pamela's body.

"How could something so strong be contained in such a fragile shell?" The goddess looked down at her friend as tears washed her cheeks.

"My heart was right all along," Eddie said reverently. He approached her and then, when he was beside her, he dropped to one knee. "You truly are the Goddess Artemis."

"Yes," she said, resting one soft hand on the author's shoulder, "but I do not feel like a goddess. I feel like a woman who has just lost a very good friend." She drew a deep breath and let it out on a sob. "Look at her, Eddie. She is all broken."

For a moment Eddie hesitated. Then he reached up and patted the goddess's hand reassuringly. "She isn't here, Artemis. She's with Apollo."

"You're right. I know. It's just that... just that I didn't have a chance to say good-bye, or I'm sorry, or even thank you."

"Sometimes," Eddie said quietly, "you don't get to say those things. That's what it is to be a mortal. We can only try to live our lives with enough joy and passion that when our time is finished we leave behind more good memories than regrets."

"I didn't understand that before, but I do now. I think there is a part of me that from here on throughout eternity will always feel a little mortal." She smiled sadly at Pamela's body. "I think it might be the best part of me."

On impulse, Artemis bent and grasped the coin carrying her brother's image, which still hung around Pamela's neck. With a flick of her fingers it came free and pooled in her palm. "Apollo would want me to keep this for her." She closed her hand, and the coin disappeared. Then the goddess knelt beside her friend's body.