“Where is Arthur?” I asked.
“Go fuck yourself, Nathaniel Garrett,” Poseidon said. “I hope your pet wolf got skinned.”
I leaped forward, grabbing Poseidon by the throat and dragging him off the bed, across the floor, and to the window, where I smashed him through the glass to the balcony beyond. He fell to the floor, bleeding badly from several cuts, before I lifted him off the floor again and smashed his forehead into the steel railing. The sky above darkened, and thunder rolled across above us.
“Where is Arthur?” I asked again, turning Poseidon over so he could see the heavens as lightning streaked down and slammed into the balcony a foot away from his head.
“Want me to repeat myself?” I asked, moving his head to the singed metal, letting him feel the heat of what the lightning had caused.
“Killing me won’t bring back your friend,” he screamed.
“No, but it will kill you,” I whispered. “I think that’ll be enough.”
Poseidon looked up at me, genuinely terrified. “Atlantis. He’s in Atlantis.”
“And what’s the real plan in DC?” I asked. “Arthur would never burn this entire realm. He’s spent too long wanting to rule over it and crush the resistance. He can’t rule over a wasteland.”
“The last person I received orders from was Gawain,” Poseidon said. “President Reed is going to sign a declaration stating that Avalon is now in control of both the military and policing inside the country. There are people inside every organization inside the country ready to take control. We’re going to turn the United States of America into a police state.
“The resistance might have taken back the UK, and you might take back some of Europe, but you’ll never take back all of America. We’ve worked too long to set this up. The blood of those who oppose Arthur will run in the streets. Once the USA is ours, we’ll finish with Canada and South America. Russia is already falling into line, most of eastern Europe too. Those countries who resisted will be small fry compared to those who are loyal.”
Arthur would cause the deaths of millions of people. “What’s he waiting for?”
“What?”
“Well, why not just sign the damn law?” I asked. “What’s he waiting for?”
Poseidon shook his head. “I don’t know.”
The sky rumbled.
“Honestly, no idea,” he said hurriedly. “All I know is it has to wait until midnight. Gawain is doing something and needs time to prepare. I swear, I don’t know what.”
“How do you contact President Reed?”
“I don’t,” he said. “I contacted Gawain and the head of the Senate. The latter by encrypted phone.”
I dragged Poseidon back into the room and dropped him on the floor before opening the bedroom door. “Anyone found a phone?”
Chloe had one in her hands and tossed it to me, which I caught one handed. “It was in the room with the summoning circle. The circle and its runes are drawn in blood, by the way. Because of course they were.”
I looked back at Poseidon. I placed a foot on his chest and pushed down. “Make the call,” I said.
“I need assurances,” he said.
“I can assure you I’ll rip your face off if you don’t,” Remy said from the doorway. “I bet none of the fishes will want to fuck you after that.”
“I do not have sex with fish!” Poseidon screamed.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Remy, looking contrite. “I meant make love . . .”
“Nate, I think you’re going to want to see this,” Zamek shouted from the doorway of the room he’d been investigating.
“Keep an eye on Poseidon,” I said to Remy and went next door to find a glowing purple summoning circle on the wall and a second one on the bare wooden floor.
“What’d you do?” I asked. “They’re not meant to activate unless someone uses them. Did you use it?”
Zamek shook his head. “I tried to figure out exactly where it goes to. And it goes to Avalon.”
“Like we expected,” I said. “But?”
“But it doesn’t end there,” Zamek said, pointing to several runes drawn on the floor and mirrored on the wall. “This pings the signal. You can’t use a summoning circle and bounce around the same realm, but if you figured out a way to send it to one realm, you could ping it back to this realm and a third circle.”
“So that’s what this is doing?”
Zamek nodded.
“Do you know where it’s being pinged to?”
“No,” Zamek said. “But if we activated it and got Poseidon to talk to whoever is on the end, I could, yes.”
I went next door and found Poseidon still on the floor, while Remy sat on the bed beside him, using the remote control to scroll through the films on the internal entertainment system.
“You okay?” I asked Remy.
“Just trying to find Poseidon Dolphin Tale to watch,” Remy said with a snigger.
I pulled Poseidon to his feet. “You’re going to talk to whoever is on the end of that summoning circle.”
“They will kill me,” Poseidon said.
“Maybe, but I will for certain if you don’t,” I said. “And I’m here right now.”
Poseidon walked with me into the other room, where I untied his hands, although I kept the band in place. He knelt in the circle on the floor and placed his hands on the runes. A second later the circle on the wall shimmered.
“Say what you like,” I told him.
“What?” Gawain asked a second later.
I could see Gawain from where I stood, all long blond hair and handsome features. He was a monster the likes of which I’d rarely met before. I wondered how many people had lost their lives because of his charm and looks and the way he used them to make himself appear approachable. Until it was too late.
“Nate is here,” Poseidon said.
I walked around until Gawain could see me. “Hey, Gawain. How’s being a mass-murdering dickhead?”
Gawain smiled. “My brother is with you, I assume.”
“Fuck you, Gawain,” Mordred called out from the doorway. “I look forward to cutting your head off.”
“I did wonder if you’d eventually be able to track down Poseidon and his sirens,” Gawain said. “It took you long enough. I assume he told you about everything.”
I glared at him.
“Arthur is in Atlantis, and you’re in the Earth realm,” I said, looking beyond Gawain at the library of books behind him. “Bit weird how you got here, though, considering there’s no realm gate from Avalon to here that we don’t know about and aren’t keeping tabs on. Oh, wait, I guess there must be.” I took a guess with the last part, but the look on his face told me I was right.
“Arthur will rule this realm,” he said. “We will make an example out of those who stand against him.”
“Yeah, I’ve read the brochure,” I said. “Still not buying.”
“Poseidon,” Gawain said. “You have been of great service to our cause, but now our time has ended.” He removed a small device from his pocket. “Goodbye, gentlemen.”