Chapter 20 Quentin
For all Gareth’s faults, he’d clearly taken on board what I had said to him earlier.
A single phone call to him had pushed him to action, and now we stood in one of the lecture theatres at the Life Sciences building, watching as tired colleagues filed in.
Weary and anxious, they filled the seats, all curious to why they had been summoned in the early hours of the morning.
“How much longer do you want to wait?” Gareth asked me, surveying our crowd.
“Just a little longer.”
The door opened, and Charlie stepped into the room with a crease between her brows. She scanned the space before spotting me and headed over.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Gareth said, giving her a curt nod and walking over to his seat.
“Hi,” I greeted her awkwardly. “Thank you for coming.”
Charlie stayed silent for a moment before she pulled me into a hug. I sank into the embrace and a rush of warm tears filled my eyes. Blinking quickly, I rid myself of them and squeezed her back.
“I thought this might have something to do with you,” she said quietly. “Are you in trouble?”
“Something like that.” The laugh that bubbled out of me was laced with nerves. “I’m sorry that it couldn’t wait until a more sociable hour.”
She blew out a breath and smiled. “Who needs beauty sleep, anyway?”
This time, my laugh was a genuine one. But it died away, and I took in Charlie as a wave of guilt hit me. “I should have been helping you with wedding plans.”
“Life had other plans for you. I won’t hold it against you. Just promise me you’ll be there on the day.”
“I promise.”
It was a foolish thing to do. A promise that I had no idea if I could keep, but I was sick of losing people from my life.
Tired of letting my divinity stop me from enjoying the simple things that once brought me so much joy.
If I didn’t hope for those things again, then I’d already lost this battle.
“I’ll be right in the front,” Charlie assured me. “Ready to hear what you have to say.”
I nodded and watched as she walked away and slipped into the front row. As I stared out at the growing crowd, I could sense Andreas’s looming presence behind me.
“I think you’re making them feel unsettled,” I muttered over my shoulder.
He came forward, stopping by my shoulder. “Perhaps. But I think they are just as terrified of you.”
“I’m not—”
“You’re a Goddess, Quentin. Even a demi holds more power than a mortal.” He sniffed, and I watched him as he steadily assessed all my colleagues. “If they aren’t terrified of you now, they will be once you’ve had this conversation with them.”
The thought made me pale. “I don’t think we should waste any more time.”
“I’ll follow your lead.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I moved towards the lectern. Memories of the last time I stood here hit me. Gray was by my side as I announced to the rest of the team what I was. It seemed a lifetime ago. Things were different then as Hunter orchestrated my confession, but this one was my decision.
“Hello, everyone.” My voice reverberated around the space and a hush fell over the room. “Thank you for being here on such short notice and at such an unsociable hour.”
Silence.
“Tough crowd,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else, but Andreas chuckled behind me.
The door to the room opened again, and everyone’s attention turned to the latecomer.
Matthew stood in the doorway, sheepish at turning up late.
When he caught my eye, I thought he might turn around and leave.
I wouldn’t have blamed him if he made that decision after the way our past had unfurled.
Eventually, he dropped eye contact and strode into the room, taking a seat at the end of one row.
“Um,” I said, trying to find my train of thought. “You all know what I am and where I’ve been.”
There was a murmur of conversation that met that statement.
“Becoming one of the Gods was never something I could have imagined, but it has meant that I’ve learned about their lives and their history and their politics.
” I glanced back at Andreas, unsure of how much I was allowed to say.
And then, I decided I truly didn’t care.
“You need to listen to me. They are waging a war up there and it will filter down here. All the freak accidents and weather reports. All those strange incidences that you’re seeing, they aren’t a coincidence. ”
The din of the murmur rose.
“Hunter has lied,” I told them loudly. “He’s been misleading everyone. He wants complete submission from mortals to keep them in existence. He wants complete submission from the Gods so that he can continue to lead without question. We have to stop him.”
“And what are we meant to do?” someone shouted from the rows in front of me.
“I can help stop this, but only with all of your help.” Swallowing hard, I continued, “I’m not demanding anything from anyone.
If you don’t believe me or if you don’t want to be a part of this, you can leave.
I’ll never hold it against you. But if you’re willing, then I need you to pray to me.
I need you all to think of success in whatever form you want it in, and I need you to pray.
It’ll strengthen me, and that means I can go back to Elysia and help them fight against Hunter.
We don’t have time to waste, so I need you to decide what you want to do now. ”
The faces in the crowd morphed into a range of emotions. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Unsurprisingly, a few bodies shifted, rising from their seats and making their way out of the room. When the space settled again, I addressed everyone that was left.
“Thank you,” I told them as they stared back at me.
I noticed Charlie slowly bow her head, lips moving slowly. The lab technician to her left followed her lead. Gareth leaned forward, clasping his hands together on the desk and closing his eyes as he began his prayer.
A warmth pooled in my stomach and spread through my body, flooding my limbs and reaching down to the tips of my fingers and toes.
My aura, which had been forced away by the cuffs, began to stretch out from me in lazy wisps.
The relief that my plan had worked made it difficult to breathe.
We were so close to finding a way out of this.
As I looked at the bowed heads and listened to the whispers, I was filled with an immense amount of gratitude to the people in front of me that I had enough faith to believe what I said.
When my eyes found Matthew again, he was the only one who hadn’t joined the prayers. He held my gaze before finally getting up and leaving through the door at the back.
There was no point in focusing on those who had left. I needed to put all my energy into what was next.
“Andreas,” I said, turning around to face him. But as I did so, the swell of voices grew louder until I clutched my head.
A powerful pair of hands gripped my upper arms, and I peeled my eyes open to be met with Andreas’s weathered face.
“Breathe through it,” he instructed gruffly.
I did as he said, remembering all the training Archer had put me through. The way he coached me through all the rough moments. How quickly I’d forgotten the basics after a few days bound in cuffs.
“Why’s it so strong?” I asked, as everything came back into focus slowly.
“I’d ask your little lab rat friend.”
Looking up, I saw James hurrying down the steps towards us.
My aura was growing, pulsing out around me like the living entity that it was. The heat was building inside of me, making me slightly light-headed.
“You’ll be no use to anyone unless you keep yourself in check.” The way Andreas spoke to me now was not as a friend. His tone was cold and stern. “You’ve made a decision. You need to see it through.”
It was advice, or maybe more of an order, from a war general. Swallowing his words and the last of my doubts, I straightened up as James joined us.
“What did you do?” I asked him.
James grew wary of me the way he had the first time my aura unleashed itself in the patient room. “I didn’t know if we’d have enough people, so I streamed your speech.”
My eyes grew. “You did what?”
“I streamed it.” He pointed over to where he had been sitting, and I could see his phone on a small desktop tripod. “It’s still streaming.”
“To whom?”
“To friends. Family.” I opened my mouth to speak, but James continued. “Wrestling fans around the world who follow my weekly commentary on TikTok.”
“You’ve broken the NDA,” I told him. “You’ll be lucky to get a job again. The government is going to blacklist you from everything. Life.”
“Yeah, well.” James swallowed. “This seemed way more important.”
“James.”
“I told you before, I have always believed in the Gods. Do what you need to do. Keep us all safe.”
More of my colleagues rose from their seats, approaching us. Whispers of good luck. Reassurances that their prayers would continue.
“Stay safe,” Charlie told me, squeezing my hand.
“Come home,” James added.
I nodded at them slowly before Gareth stepped in front of me.
“I always knew you were capable of great things. It’s why I hired you for this job,” he told me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “We will keep up the fight down here for you. You can rely on us.”
“Thank you,” I told them all.
Gareth dropped his hand and Andreas split the crowd of people easily with his body.
“Are you ready?” he asked me.
That was a good question.