Chapter Thirty-Seven
Storming off ahead of us, Shango reached the tracing hut first. Out of politeness, the rest of us stood just outside the door to wait our turn. He set his palm on the far wall and started to vanish. I say “started” because he never finished. Shango turned translucent, shuddered, and then screamed.
I rushed forward, but Odin stopped me before I grabbed Shango.
“Don't, Vervain!” Odin pulled me back, then said to Shango, “Pull back! Focus on me as a destination. Pull yourself back!”
Shango whimpered.
“Oh, fungus this!” I grabbed Shango and pulled both mentally and physically.
“Vervain!”
Under my hands, energy shifted, but despite his appearance, Shango felt solid.
Something tried to tear him away from me, but then it flowed through him and fluttered against me.
Several firm hands gripped me, but I couldn't see them.
My vision slid into the Aether, where part of Shango hovered.
He reached for me, eyes wide. I knew then that if I let go, he would be lost in the Aether forever.
The Aether would consume him as it did every other thought offered to it.
As I mentally reached for Shango, the power that had him focused on me.
It pushed me away from Shango, but I held firm.
Inside me, the Trinity Star shone, giving me strength that surpassed the physical.
Shango's mouth opened in a silent roar as he struggled an inch closer.
I pushed harder too, and Shango grabbed my translucent hands.
As soon as I had him, we fell out of the Aether, becoming whole again.
My husbands steadied us as we swayed.
“What the fuck was that?” Thoth demanded.
Shango backed away from the wall and pushed his way past the other gods.
“Let me through!” Torrent came in just after Shango left and marched up to the tracing wall.
“Torr!” Artemis grabbed his arm.
“I will encase myself in Internet. Do not worry.” He kissed her cheek. Then he motioned at us. “Please stand aside.”
“No, I'm going with you.” I stepped closer to him. “I'm the only one immune to the machine. If something happens, I want to be there to bring you back.”
“All right. Thanks, V.”
“Of course.” I looked at my husbands. “I'll be fine.”
“Vervain, we're not sure this is the machine's doing,” Odin said.
I gave him the look that deserved. Then I took Torrent's hand. “Go on.”
A small vein of Internet formed around us, leaving the others untouched. They stared blindly at where we had been, but Torr and I were already moving past the tracing wall. Or trying to.
“Impossible.” Torrent pushed at the wall that shouldn't have been solid in the Inter Realm. It moved like rubber, but bounced back when he removed his hand.
“Let me.” I pushed at the wall, and it buckled. My hand went through, but then, suddenly, it was shoved back. “Oh, no.”
“V, I rule the Internet, and the Internet runs through the Aether. It shouldn't be able to cut me off.”
“It hasn't. It's simply blocked your path.” I paused, considering our options. “If you try to unmake it, it could unmake the Aether.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “We're trapped.”
“Don't say that. We'll find a way out.”
Torrent dropped the vein of Internet, and the other gods immediately bombarded us with questions.
Torr held up his hand even as he took Artemis's hand. “It has blocked me.”
“Even I can't get through,” I added.
The gods stepped back, their expressions going from anger to shock.
“I sensed something, though,” Torr went on. “The Aether isn't doing this. Another magic loiters around this entrance. I believe the machine is keeping us here.”
“Not us,” Hephaestus said. “Her. It wants the Godhunter. Maybe we should give her to it.”
“Say one more vord about harming Vervain, and I vill kill you.” Kirill delivered the threat with all the coolness of his Winter Magic.
And then the other death gods in his trinity stepped up beside him—Odin to the left and Azrael on Kirill's right. They stared Hephaestus down.
“Fine,” Hephaestus growled. “You'll come to the same conclusion eventually.” He turned and stormed back to the house.
The remaining gods looked from him to us.
“Well?” Athena demanded. “What is our next course of action?”
“We go inside and try to come up with a new plan.” I walked out of the tracing room and followed Hephaestus. “If we ever want to get out of here, we have to kill that machine.”
As I entered the living room where Agwusi still sat chained in a chair, I stumbled. Hephaestus was already gone, heading in the kitchen's direction.
But Agwusi saw me, and her eyes went wide. “Vervain?”
“Vervain?” Kirill, coming in on my heels, took my arm to steady me.
“I feel strange,” I whispered.
“Get her to the couch,” Odin said.
Kirill picked me up and carried me to the couch. He sat me down, propping me against a pillow, and then brushed my hair away from my face. But I barely noticed—my focus had shifted inward. Something was pushing on my magic, trying to invade.
“Vervain!” Odin shook me. “What's happening?”
“The machine is trying to infect my star.” I rubbed my chest. “It's heavy.”
“It's trying to resolve you,” Agwusi said.
“Resolve her?” Viper snapped. “What does that mean?”
“It doesn't understand her. Outside of destiny, of three races, each one complete, and able to travel through time. Able to break it. The machine cannot define Vervain. It's trying to change that.”
“It's not the first time,” I murmured.
“What?” Odin shook my arm. “Vervain, what did you say?”
“When I started to go dark, back at Pride Palace, it was the machine. I thought it was trying to control me, but if Agwusi is right, it's trying to change me.”
“Fight it, La-la!” Re grabbed my hand and offered me his power through our link.
“Thanks, but I've got this, babe,” I growled.
My trinity star suddenly blasted light from its nine points, each one representing an aspect of me.
Three trinities made up my star, and each of them baffled the god machine.
The power reaching inside me was cold, metallic, and apathetic—no match for the Trinity Star.
My star was connected to the Great Magics and was born within a living being.
It could change the past and the future, rejecting the confines of linear time.
Under its glare, the machine's tendrils withered and withdrew.
I drew in a relieved breath. “It's gone.”
“But we're still trapped,” Anubis said.
“I've got one more option.” I glanced at Odin, and he nodded.
“What?” Hades demanded.
“I'm going to wish upon a star.”
As I closed my eyes, the gods questioned my husbands about my star.
I tuned them out, focusing inward once more.
The Elves of Alfheim had once called me the Trinity Star, but that wasn't entirely accurate.
Yes, I held it inside me, and it comprised pieces of me, but it had become a separate entity.
Sometimes it would grant my wishes, even without me asking.
But it followed rules I had no control over.
It would only grant my wish if it didn't change my destiny.
Since I had no destiny anymore, I hoped that the rule was void.
Silently, I said to my star, I wish for the machine to be destroyed.
Nothing happened. Perhaps it was in the wording. I tried again.
I wish for the machine to be dismantled, preserving the relics inside it, without harm coming to anyone or anything. There, that covered it.
Still, my star remained silent.
Come on! This is for the greater good! I'm trying to save the realms.
I didn't expect an answer. My star rarely spoke. At least not with words. The last time it had been chatty had been when I, and therefore it, had gone dark.
So, I flinched when it said, True divinity protects this machine. You cannot destroy it, only outwit it.
My eyes popped open. The Trinity Star had helped me in the only way it could—by guiding me. This wasn't the first time it had guided me, but it was the first time it had been impotent against a foe. Its words had both terrified and encouraged me.
“Vervain?” Odin leaned into my view.
“It says it can't help against a true god.”
The room fell silent.
A few heartbeats later, Odin said, “So, it's true. This entity is a god—a real god.”
“If even the Trinity Star can't fight it, how do we?” Trevor took my hand.
“The Trinity Star says we can't fight it, only outwit it.”
Hephaestus stormed back into the room. “I'm telling you, when you can't conquer a foe, the best you can do is give it what it wants and pray for mercy.”
Viper stood up. Just stood up. It was enough to make the massive blacksmith god back down.
Then Shango, who'd been outside on the porch, gaining control of his fear, came striding in. “He's right. There is no other option. At least with Vervain controlling the machine, the realms are safe.”
I stood up.
My husbands joined me.
“I'm not giving in,” I said. “I'm finding a better battlefield.”
“No, you are not!” Fenrir knocked Hephaestus out of his way as he strode over to me. “You will not bind yourself to that machine. I forbid it. You are bound to too many already, little frami.”
“This is the only way.” I looked from him to my husbands. “When I'm bound to it, I'll be able to learn about it, and maybe I can find a weakness. Outwit it, that's what my star said.”
“Nyet.” Kirill crossed his arms. “If you fail, it vill have you.”
“Kirill, think of Lesya.”
Kirill's jaw dropped.
“Vero,” I said to Trevor. “Dominic and Sebastian.” I looked at Az. “I'm doing this for them and all of you. I'm doing it for Samara. For Brevyn and Rian. You cannot stop a mother from defending her children. Now, kiss me goodbye.”
“No.” Viper shook his head. “No, it can't go like this. It's not possible.”
I kissed his cheek. Viper pulled me into an embrace.
“Trust in your destiny,” I whispered in his ear.
“Starlight, please don't leave me again.” A tear trickled down his cheek.
“I'm not leaving you. I'm fighting for you. If you can't trust your destiny, trust me.” I brushed his tear away and turned toward Trevor.
“Minn elska, you think you're saving us, but this will destroy us.”
“I'm not dying, nor will you lose me. You can visit me here until I find my way back home.”
“No, please.”
“I love you, honey-eyes.” I kissed him.
I had to pull myself free of his arms. “Odin.”
“This is the best option, but I hate it.” He pulled me into his arms. “I love you, Vervain, and I know what you're capable of. I will trust you to fight for all of us.”
“I love you, too, Oathbreaker.” I kissed him goodbye. Then I opened my arms to Azrael. “My Angel.”
“Carus, I have the armies of Heaven and Hell at my call, but I'm still not strong enough to save you.” He wrapped his black wings around us and kissed me.
“I don't need you to save me, remember? I'm the Godhunter. Let me do my job.” I stroked his cheek beneath the silver symbol of his name in Angelic script. “I love you, Death.”
“I love you too.” Death released me to his brother.
“Kirill, you must take care of the Intare while I'm here.”
Kirill yanked me into an embrace and kissed me. When he pulled back, it was only to place our foreheads together. “Tima, I need you more zan zey do.”
“I won't let you down. I love you, my black lion.”
“I love you.” He let me go, his face tightening with pain.
“Re.” I held out my arms.
“I will stay here with you and help you fight, La-la.” Re pulled me close to kiss me, but then took my hand. “We go together. If you need me, my power is yours. Just reach down our bond.”
“Thank you.” I let him lead me down the corridor to the machine, all the while knowing that this was something I had to do alone. I doubted his magic would reach me once the machine connected to me.
An eager humming came from the machine as we entered the room.
“I should burn it to dust,” Re growled.
The machine whirred loudly, as if in challenge.
“It's too late for that.” I let go of Re even as my other husbands entered the room. I didn't look at them. Seeing their fear would weaken me.
“I love you, La-la.” Re's grim expression made the silly nickname serious.
“I love you, Sun God.” I laid my hands on the machine. “You like to cause chaos, don't you? Well, let's see how you handle it.”