Chapter Twenty
Looking around at the mix of gods filling the VIP balcony, I was glad we had Moonshine.
I wouldn't want all of them in my territory with my children.
Anubis and Ma'at were allies, and I trusted Amaterasu, Hachiman, and Athena.
But I didn't know Shango, Hephaestus, or Ereshkigal well enough yet, and as much as I wanted to trust Ninkasi, people change, and it had been a while.
As for Thoth, well, I don't think I have to explain why I don't trust him.
Torrent still had the jewel even though Amaterasu was present.
Since he was leading the way through the Aether, he needed to hold the jewel.
I was hoping Agwusi hadn't repaired her ward.
As I said, I didn't trust these gods, and I didn't want them to know about Torrent's Unmaking Magic.
If the wrong god learned about what Torr could do, it would put a target on his back.
“Hades should be here,” Athena, the new Queen of Olympus, declared.
“Hades doesn't have a relic in the machine,” Odin said. “We've already got too many people here. It stresses Torrent's power.” He looked pointedly at her.
“I'm the head of the Greek Pantheon.” Athena lifted her chin. “I'm going.”
“And I go where Amaterasu goes,” Hachiman added.
Before any of the other tag-alongs spoke up, I held up my hands. “You can all come, but while we are in the Internet, you will listen to Torrent.”
“Fine,” Ninkasi said. “We listen to Torrent and go after our relics alone.”
“That's not what I said.” I took a deep breath to calm myself.
There were too many gods in this operation.
Gods only listen when they want to, and sometimes they only half-listen.
“We go in, and those of you who have relics in the machine will connect with your items. If you focus on what your relic means to you, I believe that through the magic, you will find your bond.
Shango has said his axe punishes the wicked.
Punishment will be his path. Ma'at, what does your feather represent?”
“Truth,” Ma'at said. “It reveals the true nature of a soul when weighed against it.”
“All right, so you focus on truth. And Thoth, your tablets represent wisdom?”
Thoth grimaced. “They are knowledge, but to me, they represent decision-making. If I were to label their magic, I'd call it Analyze.”
I nodded. “And Hephaestus?”
“My core is power. Simple. It supplies energy.” Hephaestus looked at Athena as if he needed confirmation.
Athena nodded.
I rolled my eyes. “Ereshkigal?”
Ereshkigal frowned. “My keys open the gates of the underworld, but to me, they represent judgment. The gates open only for the worthy.”
“Good. Focus on judgment. And that brings us to Amy.” I looked at Amaterasu.
Amy inclined her head. “The mirror holds the magic of Transformation. I will focus on that.”
“Great, we've got that settled,” Shango said. “Can we go get our stuff back now?”
I looked at Torrent. “You ready?”
“Sure.” Torr looked around. “Form a line and stay close together. Do not gaze upon the Aether for more than a few seconds.”
I took the spot behind Torrent, and then my husbands and Fenrir lined up behind me. When the other gods had formed a curving line over the balcony, I nodded at Torrent.
The sounds of Moonshine muted as Torrent led us past the Family Room door and down the stairs to the bottom-floor corridor.
We formed a line before the tracing wall while Torr formed a vein of Internet around us.
Suddenly, the glowing lines of the Inter Realm came into sight, each line a different color depending on its content, and binary code zipping through them.
There were so many more of them on Earth, even in that little corridor.
But those lines vanished as Torrent led us into the Aether.
Instead of lines of information, it was images of people and things wavering around us in the dark.
I ignored them, especially now that I'd seen what looking could do to you.
The jewel glowed in Torrent's hand, guiding our way through the dark as it tugged him along.
The gods behind my husbands had gone silent, some of them seeing the Aether for the first time.
We all traveled it, but those traces were over in seconds.
This was the only way to view the realm.
At least, this was the only way I knew of. Agwusi had another way.
“Don't look too long,” I reminded them. “It's what made the trickster insane.”
Heads spun to face forward, and expressions hardened. It was easy to forget Torrent's warning when snippets of lives danced by and spells manifested beside you. I'd have to keep reminding them.
“There it is,” Torrent said. Then he whispered to me, “It's open.”
“Thank goodness,” I whispered back.
We entered the same strange world we'd seen earlier that day, but Torrent didn't release the vein of Internet this time. He kept walking us across the territory unseen, the jewel leading us on. We passed souls wandering the vastness, but there was no sign of Agwusi or Ty.
“Are you going to let us out?” Shango growled.
“We're invisible as long as we stay in the Inter Realm,” Odin explained. It's better to stay here as long as possible.”
Everyone went silent after that. We left the souls behind and entered a half-formed landscape with a palace that looked suspiciously like Pride Palace—the new version, not the original.
The only things missing were the statues of dragons on either side of the steps.
Torrent glanced back at me with wide eyes and then took us into the palace, walking up the front stairs and across the drawbridge veranda.
Inside, the layout was similar enough to tell me Agwusi had not only wandered through my home, but she'd also taken notes.
Maybe pictures. My hands clenched into fists when we passed the central stairs and gilded cage elevator.
Had the woman no creativity at all? We headed down a hallway, passed the side kitchen entrance, and several bedrooms. At last, we entered a large room at the back of the palace.
It was empty except for a massive monster of a machine, golden and shiny.
There were the normal bits and bobs you expected to find in a computer workstation—sheets of metal, wires, blinking lights, and even a speaker.
But within that normality—if you can call a giant gold machine normal—god relics sat in glass cases.
Wires ran through the cases, connecting the items to the machine.
Torrent released the Internet, and the tube vanished.
“My axe!” Shango growled.
Through the glass case containing Amaterasu’s mirror, I saw a portion of his axe, set deep in the machine. I held a hand out to wave him back.
“Where's my core?” Hephaestus stalked around the machine, hand outstretched.
“It must be inside it,” Athena said.
“Everyone, stick to the plan,” I said. “Feel for the main magic within your items.”
“I don't know where my item is,” Hephaestus snarled.
“Just feel for it,” Athena said. “You don't have to see it to connect to it. It's your magic that made it.”
The gods, who had been robbed, stood around the machine and closed their eyes. Glowing hands stretched forward. The machine, whirring softly, stuttered. Lights brightened. The whirring became higher in pitch. Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass drowned out everything else.
I looked toward Amaterasu just as her mirror broke free of its wires and launched into her hand. She made a sound of joy and clasped it to her chest. The other gods focused more intently on their items. More cracking came, and the machine shuddered.
“Wait!” I cried out.
Then Amy screamed.
Everyone turned toward her. Her hands were open before her, dripping blood. The mirror was on the floor, shattered into tiny pieces. Even the frame had been broken.
The other gods immediately dropped their hands.
The machine whirred down, but it still sounded wrong. Smoke filled the broken case that had held the mirror, the wires on fire. I looked from it to Amaterasu's hands. They were already healing, but her mirror wouldn’t heal.
“No,” Amaterasu whispered and knelt over the remains. “My mirror.”
“I'm so sorry,” I whispered.
“Vervain!” Odin snapped.
I looked up. His gaze was on the machine. The mirror's case had melted, leaving a glass seal over the wound. Was the machine healing itself?
“Time to go!” Torrent said. “Form a line!”
Hachiman helped Amaterasu to her feet and eased her in line behind me. My husbands gathered the others, and Torrent formed a tube around us. Just in time too. Before we could leave, Agwusi ran into the room with Ty beside her.
Torrent started to walk away.
“Wait!” Odin whispered. “I want to hear this.”
Invisible to them, we waited in the Internet, watching as Agwusi fussed with the machine.
“How did this happen?” Agwusi got to the empty case. “No!”
“What is it?” Ty joined her.
“The mirror's gone!” She spun, looking around the room as if searching for us. Then she spotted the glass on the floor. Agwusi knelt over the mirror pieces. “They were here!”
“Maybe this is for the best,” Ty said. “That machine is unstable.”
“It was working just fine,” Agwusi growled. “Until they interfered.”
“Can't you just replace the mirror?”
“Yes, but it will take time to find something with the same Transformation Magic, and the machine will need to be repaired.” She made a frustrated sound. “Just look at this damage! Why would they do this?”
“Because they wanted their relics back.”
Agwusi straightened and fisted her hands. “This is to help them! It will make everything better.”
Ty looked like he wanted to dispute that, but he only asked, “Why does the machine need Transformation Magic?”
“Transformation is integral to bringing a soul to its afterlife.” Agwusi waved at the empty case. “Souls transform from incorporeal spirits to something more substantial that can be contained.”
“Contained?”
Agwusi looked away. “Without substance, the souls will slip away.”
“Then shut the machine down.”
Suddenly, she went still and stared at the machine. After a few seconds, she bent to peer into the melted case and made a surprised sound. She straightened and faced Ty. “No, I may not be able to restart it if I shut it down. It's a very complex machine.”
“Agwusi.” Ty took her hands. “Please, give this up. We can live here peacefully. If you turn off the machine, I can convince Vervain to leave us alone.”
“I'm not afraid of Vervain. She is the reason I'm doing this.”
I went still.
“Because God told you to?” Ty let go of her hands, the skin around his eyes twitching.
“Yes, God has a plan for Vervain, but the Gods and their interference with humans distract her, leading her away from the path he’s set.”
“She's the Godhunter. That's her path.”
“That's not all she is.”
The other gods looked at me, but I kept my attention focused on Agwusi.
“I know.” Ty glanced at the machine, whirring beside them. “She's a goddess and a faerie too. The Trinity Star.”
“Yes, our guiding star. Did she tell you about the future she changed?”
“She died in that future. Her daughter came back and brought her forward so she could figure out how to avert her own death.”
“Yes, and Vervain set it to rights. As in, she set the future back on the correct path. Does that not sound astonishing to you?”
“Well, yes, but anything is possible with magic.”
“Not just magic, Ty. Vervain perfectly combines races, animals, and magic. There is only one Trinity Star, and there will ever only be one.”
“Why is that important to you?”
“Without Vervain, the realms would crumble.”
Ty snorted. “I love Vervain, but I don't think the world will end without her.”
“Then you're wrong, sweetheart.” She cupped Ty's face.
“You know about that broken future. What you don't know is how broken it would have become. Samara brought her mother to the future under the guidance of Faerie itself. Because the Consciousness of Faerie knew its realm was fading. It was dying. So, it sent Samara to bring Vervain forward to the perfect moment when she could learn how to avert catastrophe. And she did. Vervain returned to her time and changed her future. How did she do that?” Agwusi held out her hands.
“I believe she saved Odin. He was being consumed by the body she put his soul in.”
“Yes, and losing him would have changed everything.”
“So, then Odin is just as important.”
“No!” Agwusi made an exasperated sound. “I mean, yes, he is important, but only because of his relationship with Vervain. It was her death that tore the threads of Fate. Her will mended them.”
“How?”
“I'll tell you how—she had the help of the Consciousness of Faerie, the Consciousness of the Void, and God himself.
A trinity, you might say. They guided her daughter back through time, and Vervain forward.
They guided Vervain to a solution and brought her home.
But it was Vervain that made it possible.
They could have helped no one else navigate time as she did.
And that's not the only time traveling she's done.”
“Yes, I know. She uses her ring to move between realms so she can be with her children constantly.”
“No, I'm speaking of her recent trip into Faerie's past. The distant past.”
“What?” Ty backed away further. “What are you talking about?”
“Ah, she didn't tell you about that.”
I grimaced as the other gods gaped at me.
“It was an accident.” Agwusi grinned as if there were no accidents.
“The wrong words spoken at the wrong time. Arach removed Vervain’s ring in an attempt to stop it from sending her back, but instead, she went back without the ring.
She was almost trapped in the past, but she escaped.
She made it back to her time.” She stepped closer to Ty, her expression that of a zealot.
“Now, perhaps, if one of these incredible things had happened to Vervain, we could discount it as chance. But one obstacle after another finds her, and she prevails. From the moment she learned the truth of the gods, the realms have shifted to suit her. To protect her. Bring her into eternity. She is God’s chosen one. Think of her as the real Jesus.”
Ty frowned. “A sacrifice?”
“No, a child of God.”
“Vervain doesn't even believe in God.”
“Yes, she does. She has felt his presence from her first breath.”
“Take us out of here,” I whispered to Torrent.
Agwusi suddenly turned and looked directly at me. “The Trinity Star cannot fall.”
“Go!” I hissed.
Torrent pushed the Inter Realm forward and led me away from the most insane person I'd ever met.