Chapter 30 Sage
No one thought it was a good idea to figure out where Radames and Lola went until we knew how to kill them.
They said they would be more dangerous than ever now that Adrian could expose Radames.
Khalid said Radames could spin Iman seeing him turn into a snake by claiming to be the gender bent reincarnation of Wadjet, a cobra goddess.
We knew he wasn’t Wadjet because he tried to hurt Iman for seeing him shift and ended up killing Adrian.
“Could we be wrong about him being Apep?” I asked.
“I never felt weird around him. Professor Mykene said his father is a Coptic priest and kind of hard core. What if he knows nothing about any of this like I do? Some of the other students treated Mazen a certain way for being Set. What if he is Wadjet, but thinks he’s Apep and lost his shit when someone found out? ”
Mazen was gone. As soon as he laid eyes on Iman, he was out.
As much as Alexios and Ivar said they didn’t think Mazen could share, Mazen seemed fine with it and it was the two of them that didn’t want to share her with Mazen.
Ari was trying to play peacemaker and Iman looked like she wasn’t handling all the attention well at all and wanted to turn into a cat again.
“It’s entirely possible, but as soon as everyone got to know Mazen and he stopped acting like a psychopath because of Lola, everyone started treating him like he was his own person.
Alexios and Ivar don’t like him because of his own actions, not because he was Set in a former life.
Wadjet was a protector god and appears in the creation myths, so Radames never coming across her would be weird.
It’s also would be weird for the son of a Coptic priest to see two completely different snake gods in Egyptian myth and wrongly assume he’s the bad one. ”
“No, you’re right. Let’s just celebrate this one win and get back to work after,” I said.
The tavern was bigger than any bar I’d visited when I was backpacking through Europe and it was packed to the gills when I got there.
I was only ever allowed to listen to Christian singers that Blue Matthews approved of.
If they sang Christian music but did anything like get divorced, I was no longer allowed to listen to them.
I had started expanding my musical tastes by listening to local bands on my travels. I saw a band in Scotland that everyone showed up to see and they nearly didn’t let me in because it was a fire hazard. There were more people here tonight. I guess I underestimated how much Adrian was loved here.
Old Jingo had the piano and a set of bongos out.
There were already people playing. It wasn’t Liam’s guitar, but there was now a guitar out there, too.
I was pretty sure the throngs of bodies in the center were where Adrian was sitting with his mates and we had no hope of getting anywhere close to them, but Morgana, Elliot, and Petros found us.
“So, we managed to catch Adrian before the mob took him and he’s requesting a celebratory song from the Horned God. Also, Iman may end up biting someone,” Morgana said.
“Any song or can I pick?”
“I’m not sure what Adrian was thinking, but he didn’t specify.”
“He was thinking I have a playlist for every occasion and have a song on deck that is so perfectly Adrian, even if he’s never heard it before.”
“Yeah, I’ve picked Adrian’s pockets before and he keeps some weird shit in there. He’s basically a walking erection who takes the piss out of literally anything. I’ve got playlists, too, and I don’t have a song that’s Adrian.”
“I do. Out of the way, pets. I’ve a mind to sing,” Liam said, elbowing his way to the front.
The crowd parted for him because I think everyone except Lola loved it when Liam graced everyone with a song.
I knew he played the guitar, but I didn’t know he played the piano, too.
He sat at the upright and launched into some song that was quite obviously meant to be sung by a very horny woman.
Morgana threw back her head and laughed.
“I know that one. It’s Bring on the Men from the musical Jekyll and Hyde.”
Based on his reaction, Adrian seemed to love it, too, as Liam sang about how much men annoyed him, but he really wanted to have sex with them.
The whole tavern was into it, but Iman didn’t look too amused at all.
I didn’t think she had a problem sharing Adrian with Ivar, Ari, and Alexios, but I didn’t think she wanted to be reminded of Adrian’s other lovers.
I hadn’t had a chance to really talk to my roommate since she decided to stop being a cat. I wasn’t really sure if I’d get the chance since we didn’t have any classes together and I didn’t think her mates were going to let her out of their sight when they could with Radames looking for her.
The party was raging. The food and drink at the tavern were amazing and so was the entertainment. Liam sang two more times and one of them was with some of the students who frequently got up there with him when he performed. If they wanted to, they could form a band and sell out shows.
It was nice to pretend I was just a normal college student drinking with my friends instead of someone trying to figure out how to stop a prophecy about the end of the world coming true.