Chapter Forty-One
My last sight before I flew back into my body was that of A.D.
vanishing, a peaceful smile on its face.
Then I gasped and flung myself away from the god machine.
The sounds of life bombarded me—people shouting as a whirring sound screeched into silence.
Hands steadied me, but it took a few seconds for my vision to clear.
With a hand clasped to my chest, I reveled in breathing.
The rise and fall of my chest reassured me, making me accept that I was real.
I was back. The machine stood before me, still golden and shiny, but it was silent.
Its lights had gone dark, and its glass cases hung open.
The gods had already claimed their relics, cradling the items as my husbands cradled me.
Everything was back in its rightful place.
“Great sunlight!” Amaterasu shouted.
Still shaking, I looked across the machine toward the sound of her voice. She was crouched, but stood up with a smile on her face. In her hands was her mirror, shining as if it were newly made.
Amy looked up and met my gaze. “How?”
I slid my gaze to the machine, an image of a golden man flashing in my memories. “Redemption.” I looked back at her. “One last act to prove its worth.”
“Whose worth?” Odin asked.
“A.D.'s. It—no, he—was the consciousness of the machine. He was a victim as much as we were.” I raised my gaze, hoping he could hear me. “I have judged you good and deserving of reward.”
“Vervain, are you all right?” Trevor asked.
Smiling, I hugged my wolf. “I am good.”
My men exchanged worried glances as they led me out of the room. Later, I would tell them what happened, but I knew they'd never understand what it was like to be in the machine. Only one person could understand.
“Torrent.” Pushing free of my husbands, I went to Torr. “I saw you.” I hugged him. “I saw you in my memory. You stopped the pain. You gave me a reprieve and helped me stay sane. Thank you, my friend.” I held his face in my hands. “You are a good man.”
“You saw me? How?” Torrent searched my eyes and then understanding came over his expression. “You bonded with it. You gave it access to your thoughts—your memories.”
“Yes, I forced it to judge me. It was how I freed four items, including the condenser.”
“What? How did you free them by making it judge you?” Hades asked.
I grinned at him, sensing his worry. “Your judges are alive. They are safe.”
“But how, Vervain?” Athena asked, a happy Hephaestus cradling his automaton core like a baby behind her.
“My life is full of contradictions. The machine couldn't process them. Unity broke, then Judgment, Truth, and Computation.”
Pan burst out laughing. “You confused it to death? Way to go, V!”
“That was only half the battle.” I looked at Agwusi, still chained, her eyes wide. “It realized what I was doing and tried to stop me. But God had you program the machine to be used by me. It told me I was in control. I only had to accept that control.”
“You shut it down because you were its master,” Agwusi whispered. “How did he not think of that?”
“I don't know. Maybe your God wanted it to happen this way.”
“He's not my god. Not anymore. And I don't think so, Vervain. I think this was more about taking you out of the world than making things easier for the Gods.”
“Duh.” Horus rolled his bi-colored eyes.
Pan snickered. “Well said, bro.”
“Who has the key to Gleipnir?” I held out a hand.
“I do.” Fenrir stepped forward. “But I don't want this woman released, little frami.”
“She's not a danger to us anymore. I freed Ty from her love, and she knows what she did was wrong. I believe Agwusi was a victim too, Dad. She tried to help us in the end. Can you not forgive her?”
“She took my son!”
“And only tried to love him.”
Fenrir sighed, his massive shoulders falling, and pulled out a golden key.
Agwusi's eyes widened as I approached her with the key. “Truly? After all I've done?”
“You've done a lot of good too, Trickster.” I unlocked her chains and removed them.
As Agwusi stood up, Fenrir wound the chain and locked it upon itself. But she didn't even glance at the Wolf God. Her eyes were on Ty as she went to him. He stiffened when she stopped before him.
“I know you don't love me anymore,” Agwusi said. “But my love for you will be eternal. Please, forgive me.”
Ty frowned at the ground and then raised his face to meet her gaze. “Your intentions were good, but you were misled. I forgive you.”
Agwusi let out a shaky sigh. “Thank you, Ty.” She stepped back. “Goodbye. I wish you true happiness.”
“I wish you well too, Agwusi.”
The trickster turned and left the house, heading to the tracing hut without another word. People moved out of her path and watched her leave, all of us feeling the weight of it. Here was the true end to our ordeal. The end of the trickster.
A crash startled us and drew our attention to the corridor.
Trevor, Kirill, and Viper came out of the corridor carrying pieces of the machine.
Grim-faced, they strode past us. We followed them outside, where they cast the pieces into a pile and stood back.
We surrounded the wreckage, and everyone looked at me.
I stepped forward, but instead of looking at the machine, I looked up. I wanted to say something eloquent, something that would make God think twice before messing with us again. But all that came out was, “Fuck you!”
I blasted the hunks of metal, glass, and wire with dragonfire. The metal turned red and then black, slowly melting.
Shango joined me, adding his fire to mine. With a deep, rumbling voice, he roared, “Fuck you!”
Re stepped forward, and sunlight poured from his hands. “Fuck you!”
Blue, the Aztec God of War and the Sun, strode up next. Grinning, he shouted, “Fuck you!” More sunshine burned the machine.
Mr. T. wasn't a man to curse, but as he came forward, he shouted, “Fuck you!” More sunlight shone on the pile.
Pan made an expectant face at Horus.
The Egyptian Sky God grimaced as he came forward and added his Sun Magic to the blinding mix.
Pan whined, “Horus!”
Horus winked at me and shouted, “Fuck you!”
“Oh, I'm not missing out on this.” Viper jumped into our inner ring and blasted the pile with burning starlight, which was essentially sunlight. His delight poured through his words, “Fuck you!”
There were a lot of sun gods in attendance.
And one sun goddess.
Amaterasu joined our ranks, lifted her delicate, pale hands, and sent the power of the sun onto the god machine. She glanced at me and then shouted in her beautiful voice, “Fuck you!”
The other gods cheered and applauded, thinking the display was over. But it wasn't.
Lightning struck the burning pile of molten metal.
Everyone fell silent as Thor joined us. “Fuck you!” Thor's voice rumbled through the territory, shaking the ground beneath our feet.
He lifted a fist and brought lightning down again.
The second bolt shoved the black heap into the soil of Ala Mmuo.
The ground closed over it in one last fuck you.
We released our magic in unison to watch the god soil seal in the remains of the god machine.
Artificial Divinity was free. Maybe it would return to the god who made it.
I hoped it wouldn't. That wouldn't be true freedom.
Either way, it couldn't hurt us anymore.
But we had defeated real divinity, and if this true god was anything like the Atlanteans, he would be furious and out for revenge.
Maybe we shouldn't have shouted obscenities at him. Oh, well, I've never been known for my subtlety.