Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Reid
My hands are shaking as I set the book slowly down on the library table. Beneath the dim lights, the artifact gleams up at me. According to the book, the strange ring with the grinning teeth was one of the few items in existence that could tell if a god was inside someone.
And it was kept in this school.
The thought of breaking in and trying to steal yet another item made my stomach sink. We’d been sent to this place because of forces outside of our control, but I was starting to feel like the longer we were here the more we’d belong here.
Rules used to mean something to me. I’d easily follow them. They made me feel safe, maybe even comfortable. When I thought about my future, I was drawn to careers like being an engineer or an architect.
But now…now I was the God of the Underworld. And apparently, rules mean nothing to me, because we’re the bad guys. We’re just trying to stay one step ahead of everyone, so we won’t be imprisoned for eternity.
Looking at the ring, I feel strangely numb. It’s the only thing I’ve found that might be able to help us, so taking it is inevitable. I just hate feeling like I’m being pushed to do things that…that aren’t me.
“You’re still you.”
I jerk up and find a woman standing over me.
She’s older and wears a blue gown as if she’d just stepped out of another time period.
Her hair is swept up into a loose bun and little hairs frame her face, which all seem carefully placed.
She has wrinkles around her mouth and eyes, and the kind of regality I imagine in a queen.
“Uh, are you a ghost?”
She looks startled as she smiles. “No, boy, don’t you even know the basics about ghosts?”
I shake my head, and her smile falters. “You’re so…innocent…so unknowing of our world.”
“You mean ignorant?” I say, wincing. “I thought I’d studied and understood enough, when I was a human, to have a basic understanding of the world, but right now it’s enough to just try to figure out what we are and to keep up with our classes.
Even though I have a lifetime of things to learn about the paranormal world. ”
“I understand,” she says, then indicates a chair beside me. “May I sit?”
It’s strange, I have no idea who this woman is, but I find myself nodding. It just feels like telling my grandmother no, even though this woman looks a heck of a lot younger than my grandma.
She draws out the chair and sits lightly beside me. “I’m Esmerelda. A teacher at this school and a close friend of Mr. Time. I am also one of the teachers rooting for you kids.”
I find it’s hard to look away from her intense hazel eyes. “Uh, thanks.”
She glances down at the books. “I’m guessing, given the massive charred earth we all woke up to, and what you’re researching, that none of you intentionally created that destruction.”
I finally manage to look away from her. Should I tell her? I don’t really know anything about this woman.
She sighs softly. “The weight on your shoulders is unfair for a creature your age.”
My gaze meets hers. “But I guess it’s better us than people who would abuse their powers.”
She doesn’t answer me. “Come on, Reid, let’s go get the ring.”
I’m shocked when she takes me to the warehouse.
The guards give me a funny look, but none of them move to stop us.
I sense magic in the air for a few moments, before she waves her hands, and the strange feeling in the air fades.
When at last we come to a room full of treasures, she goes straight to a box on a shelf and removes it.
Turning to me, she opens it up. On a bed of red velvet, the ring stares up at me. And somehow, it looks even more dangerous in person. In fact, the longer I stare at it, the more I’m sure that its red eyes are blood. They look wet, almost alive. And the smile promises pain and bloodshed.
“I created this ring,” the woman says.
I jerk in surprise, so beneath the spell of the ring that I’d forgotten she was there.
She lifts her other hand, and I see that on her ring finger the flesh is terribly scarred. My stomach turns as I look at it. Her finger looks as if some kind of creature had burrowed into her flesh and chewed it.
“Hell,” I mutter, then stiffen when I realize I cursed in front of an adult.
“It’s okay,” she says. “It is a bit shocking. I just wanted you to know that using the ring has a price. It’ll hurt like hell, but then you’ll know the truth.”
“And what do I do when I find out?”
Her gaze locks with mine. “It means you guys need to become more powerful faster, first of all. You have no chance in hell of taking on the gods if you don’t get it together.” And then her voice gentles. “And when you find the god, you must figure out why your friend is allowing them control.”
“They aren’t--”
“There has to be a reason. They could push the god back, if they want to enough.”
Man, I can’t believe one of us is struggling so badly that we allowed a god to take over control...and the rest of us didn’t notice. Is it Aiden, who deals with so much guilt about our sister? Or Van, so scarred from his dickhead parents?
“Thank you,” I say.
She nods. “Just take care of it, Reid.”
Handing me the box, she leads me right back out of the warehouse. At the door to the library, I can feel her watching me as I head back to my dorm, the rain, thankfully, just a light drizzle. The woman said she’s on our side, but I really can’t be sure.
Everyone in this place seems to be willing to help us…unless they decide we’re too dangerous. But she’s right about one thing: we need to improve our powers. Fast. Faster than what we’re doing. I can feel time ticking away, and time is the one thing we don’t have.
When the godslayers left this morning, I’d watched them go.
They rode out in a couple dark cars, and every one of them looked serious.
Almost as if they were resigned to something awful.
There had been a powerful feeling in my stomach as they sped past, not even glancing a look in my direction, a feeling that told me that if we didn’t deal with this issue before they got back, we’d be dead.
And I still felt that way.
Opening the door into our hall, I rap on everyone’s doors and tell them to get dressed and ready and meet me outside.
A few minutes that feel like an eternity pass, and then they join me outside.
Everybody looks more than a little annoyed.
Van shoots the sky a dirty look, as if by glaring at the sky he could control the rain.
Aiden looks at the sky and points a hand toward it. An instant later the light drizzle stops.
I’m momentarily distracted from the box I hold. “How did you learn to do that?”
Aiden frowns. “Not a clue. The rain was just annoying, so I…”
Van grins. “That’ll be useful.”
So maybe we were learning our powers. But still, not quickly enough.
Izzy, on the hand, doesn’t seem to care about Van or his new powers.
She just looks at me and lifts a brow. For a second, I don’t want her to ask me anything, I just want to gather her in my arms and pretend none of this is happening.
She has that glow about her, the one that seems to surround her sometimes.
Her hair is just a little messy, and her skin looks achingly soft.
Could I just hide the box? Could I just handle it tomorrow?
“Reid?”
I lift my gaze to meet her eyes. “Yes?”
“Are you going to tell us why you called us all outside?”
I think of the godslayers and time ticking away. In my mind, I picture all the many people we’ve met at this school. People who are counting on us to control the gods and protect them.
Everything inside my soul wants to just hold Izzy and forget about everything, but my brain wins out. And my brain is saying that there’s no time to be wasted.
My stomach twists. “Yeah, but not here.”
Turning, I start walking before I even know where I’m heading. When we reach the massive blackened pit, I hesitate only a second before I start walking again. We need to know the truth, and we need to be somewhere we won’t be overheard. The massive pit seems like the natural place for that.
For some reason.
When we reach the center of it, where the white bones are still scattered, I turn and look at everyone. Immediately I can tell they’ve all been exchanging those, “what the hell is wrong with Reid” looks. For once, I wish it was just something wrong with me.
“I need to do something. And I need you guys to trust me.”
They exchange another look, but this one isn’t so much annoyed as worried. But somehow I’d come to a conclusion: I didn’t want to tell them what I was doing. If I did, who knew what the god would do when he realizes he's in danger?
I had to be careful. I trust my friends. But I didn’t trust the god.
“Reid, are you okay?” Izzy asks, and her soft gaze holds mine.
My stomach turns. Please don’t let the god have taken her over. I didn’t want it to be any of them, but I didn’t know how any of us would react if it was her.
“Yes, just...just give me the benefit of the doubt here.”
Turning away from them, I open the box. The sinister ring grins up at me. I think of the portrait. Couldn’t any of these magical objects be bunnies and unicorns? Maybe something…not awful? I guess that was too much to ask for.
I pluck the ring out of the velvet before I can change my mind and kneel to set the box down. Taking a deep breath, I slide the ring onto my finger.
Instantly, I have to swallow down the scream that threatens to tear from my throat. It feels like the damn ring is chewing on my flesh. Chewing it down to the bone.
I teeter, almost falling over. My vision wavers and then turns white.
Dark red blood drips from my finger onto the ground, and my gut turns. I need to get this over with, before I pass out. Rising on legs that shake, I wonder how I’ll know how to use the ring, or even if I can be sure it’s working.
But as I hold it closer to me, I stiffen. An image beams in front of me. Of Hel. But her image is thin, almost transparent.
When I pull the ring away from me, the image fades away. Does this mean that I’m the one? Or does it mean I’m not? And did the others see?
“Reid, you having a breakdown, man?” Aiden mutters behind me.
I take a deep breath, spin around, and point the ring at my brother. An image appears in front of him of Thor. The massive god holds his hammer, his gaze intense. But the image is just as transparent and weak as the image of Hel.
Sliding the ring toward Izzy, Thor vanishes and Loki appears. The trickster is a handsome fellow with dark hair and blue eyes. He grins at me, but I get the same feeling as before. That he isn’t powerful.
Hand shaking, blood continuing to drip down my hand, I point the ring at Van.
“What the hell is wrong with your hand?” Van shouts.
Tyr appears in front of Van. He’s a massive god, with a threat in his eyes, a promise of pain and death. But his image is like all of ours…weak and transparent.
Taking a deep breath, I point the ring at Wilder. Behind him, the god grows larger and larger, towering over him like a giant. Odin clutches his spear in his hand, and there’s a glint in his eyes.
“That was a mistake, boy,” he growls.
Before I can respond, he throws the spear toward me.
It slices through my belly and I slam to the ground, pinned to the earth by the blade through my stomach.
Pain, like nothing I’ve experienced, overwhelms me.
The world turns black, and all I can hear is the sound of my heartbeat and screaming behind me.
Suddenly, I can see Izzy’s image hovering about me. “What happened?”
“Wilder,” I say, blood spurting out of my lips. “His god has taken control.”
And then everything fades away.