Chapter 7 #2
I’m careful with how I word that so I don't let anything slip.
I can feel Nox in my head still, and he's not reacting to anything that I've said. Clearly, I haven’t stepped over any boundaries here.
“The dragon takes the longest to cycle. The Cleaver usually comes alone, and the Soothsayer…
the Soothsayer has come with others a few times.
We've gotten close before, close enough that it gave us hope we would make it someday.
That's it. That's all I've gotten. Do you guys know anything?”
Gabe takes a breath the same way that I had, like he’s trying to find the secrets hidden within himself, but he shakes his head. “The dragon doesn't give me anything. It’s really not interested in anything but you.”
Atlas is quiet for a moment. “My god-bond is more this time. I can feel it flexing in my mind and coming to terms with how much more we are. I think it's because the Bonded Group has been completed. There's just no limit to the power this time.”
No limit.
As the Crux finally steps forward and shadows spill from his body, taking form around us as he prepares to go down and let the god-bond in, I hope that we're right and that there is no limit.
I get the feeling we're going to need all the help we can get.
* * *
Punching the god-bond right in the jaw is just as incredible as I thought it would be, and the sound of it dislocating is like music to my ears.
I would’ve swung at him again, if Atlas hadn’t stopped me, planting himself between me and the god-bond. The Soothsayer had taken over his mind and forced his compliance to make sure he didn’t try to swing back at me, both of them disapproving of my actions in different ways.
I might be a cocky bitch at this moment, but I feel like I could take the little weasel.
The Corvus and the Crux get him moving into one of the Tac Training Center’s interrogation rooms without a word between them.
Even when the Soothsayer eases up the mind control to test the god-bond, it doesn't attempt to fight them or speak to them at all.
It just complies as the shadows wrap around its body and move it to where we need it to go.
The hardest part is doing all of this without the entire Sanctuary knowing what's going on.
That involves telling a very concerned and very alarmed Kieran, who then involves an incredibly pissed-off Vivian.
I almost see why the Tac personnel are scared of him.
“And when exactly were you planning on telling us that all of you have these eyes now,” he snaps, and I throw him one of my most shit-eating grins to deflect from the ‘oh dear God’ of the situation.
“It was a need-to-know basis, and until we had a handle on things you just… didn't need to know. But now that we’ve discovered that there are more of those things out there—”
“Hold up! Things?” he asks, raising a large palm at me that instantly sets Atlas on edge, though clearly Vivian wasn't going to do anything about it.
“So we all know that my bond is a little extra, and it just so happens that my entire Bonded Group also has extra going on with their bonds.”
“What the hell does extra mean, Fallows?”
“Again, you remember that there are certain rules that have to be followed when it comes to my bond? Their bonds are all the same. I highly suggest lowering your tone around me, especially with… wait, no, they’re all a bit psycho about me.
Anyway, I’m more than happy to have all of the conversations in the world with you about it, except we do have one of these bonds here with us, one that is capable of hacking into people's brains and forcing them to kill people. So we should probably save the chitchat for a later date.”
Vivian stares at me for a second as though I'm the dumbest human being on Earth before he curses viciously under his breath and starts barking orders into his walkie-talkie, moving operatives around while Kieran gets Sawyer on the phone to have the cameras turned off.
Gabe leans over to murmur into my ear, “North and Gryphon aren't going to be happy with this.”
I shrug back. “I’m not sure what exactly I'm supposed to do about it. I only told the two people that all of us trust anyway, so they're just gonna have to get over it.”
Strong words that I hope I don’t regret.
When we have the god-bond sitting in the interrogation room, no one in the Sanctuary any wiser, Kieran and Vivian both insist on sitting in the viewing room to watch the interaction as well. I try to persuade them to leave, but neither of them are having it.
“I don't even want you in there,” Kieran snaps, gesturing a hand at Gryphon's black eyes.
“And I’m fairly certain that Shore would also not want you in there.
If North wakes up and catches wind of any of this, he's going to go on a full shadow warpath that will scorch the goddamn earth. We can toss a coin to figure out how Nox is going to feel about it.”
I don't need to.
Nox is the one who told me to go and speak to Kieran and Vivian about it in the first place, but I'm being very closed-mouth about that. It does make me worry how North is going to react to all of this, enough that the tension bleeds through the mind connection, and Nox is quick to reassure me.
He’s not going to be angry at you, Oleander.
Whatever happens, I will deal with it. We need the god-bonds to take care of this quietly now for us.
Everything else can be sorted out. If you want to be in the room with the god-bond as well, you are more than welcome.
The Corvus has already assured me that he will keep you safe, and you can always take Azrael in there with you.
As more of a reassurance to Kieran than myself, I do let the shadow pup down from behind my ear, loving on him for a moment before we step into the room with the rest of my Bonded Group.
Atlas stays close to my side as always, but the god-bond is very careful about where he's looking, never once focusing on me. I feel sort of weird about it until he finally speaks.
“I mean the Eternal no harm. If it's going to be here in the room with us, please know that and refrain from killing me before you've heard what I have to say.”
So it's a respect thing, I'm sure, even if it does sort of make me feel as though I'm diseased. But with one glance, I see the look on the Crux and the Soothsayer’s faces right now and that sort of excuses it, because I'm not sure how either of them makes a blank face look quite so aggressive, but damn, are they good at it.
The Corvus says, “We’ve already heard what you have to say. You're here because your Bonded is dead. You chose the wrong side.”
The god-bond cocks its head, and even though I should probably stay out of this, I find myself compelled to ask, “So, what's your name? What do you do, other than attempt to ruin a Gifted girl's life by controlling her and framing her for a murder she had nothing to do with?”
Its eyes dart around me again before it shrugs. “My vessel's name was Gene; you can call me that.”
I feel an itch of irritation, but it answers me before I can snap something back. “We don't cycle here often enough to have the same sort of legacies that you do. None of us are strong enough to cycle like you. Well, you lot and Pain.”
Pain.
Not very creative and easy to figure out which god-bond that is.
“So why exactly did you pick Pain? What did it offer you to be on its side?”
It stares at Atlas for a moment before it answers. “It offered me nothing. Pain found me after my Bonded was already dead. Instead of just killing me as well, it decided to use me. That's what happens to the small god-bonds when the others come out to play.”
He sounds miserable and jaded, but I’m not going to be so easy to fool. This could all just be a game to him, a way to gain even a tiny bit of our trust to use against us.
I won’t let him hurt us.
Gabe looks at me and then says, disbelief dripping from his words, “So you were just used by the pain god to get them in here? That's it? You really think that you could come and tell us that, and we’d just help you?”
The Crux turns to look at me, its eyes bright and unreadable, but my heart skips a beat in my chest all the same.
When he looks at me, I feel the same way I had back when we’d first met in that perfectly put-together bathroom.
Like he’s obsessed with me. Like he’s waited all eternity for us to be together again, like we’re two celestial beings in orbit, just waiting to finally collide.
He speaks, his voice a powerful and commanding sound. “You’ve come here to die. Any god-bond is a danger to my Eternal, and I won’t wait for you to become a threat before I kill you.”
I get all sorts of fluttery feelings at him calling me his Eternal.
The god-bond turns to look at me finally before it answers with a new tone to his voice, one laced with respect and deference. “You've helped me once before. I was hoping you'd remember that and help me again. If I'm wrong and I die… Well, I guess I'll just remember that for the next life.”