Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Oh, for fucks,” Raven said. “Apep? That asshole? Like this couldn’t get worse.”
“Are you sure?” Cupid asked. “Elmer, are you very sure?”
“As can be.” He scraped fork tines over the plate, catching the last of the red cherry glaze. “We’ve had multiple sightings, and at least one hunter asked the god his name, and he said Apep.”
Raven took a last gulp of coffee. “I’ll stay to the road,” he said. “Do what I can to keep him off their trail. You taking on the big jobs, Bo?”
Cupid stood. “Yes. If I can pull him off this plane of existence, it should buy us some time. Lu, Brogan, you need to leave, now. I thought you had time to learn how to use the book, but there’s no guarantee.”
“Where?” I asked. “Where won’t any of these gods find us?”
“Ordinary?” Lula asked.
“They’d know you were there,” Raven said. “And I’m not sure Delaney would allow you to use the book and cast god spells. We’ve recently had a run in with one page of the book. She’s not a fan.”
“Ricky’s?” I asked Lu.
“Maybe?”
“No,” Cupid said, as he and Raven moved toward the door. “The Crossroads is a beacon. You don’t want to go there. Somewhere hidden. Somewhere,” here he turned and looked straight at Elmer, “built to be safe.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Elmer stood too. “That’s it then. Let’s get you out of here.”
Eunice walked back into the room, Abbi right behind her with Hado in her arms.
“Which disaster is it?” Eunice asked. “The god?”
“The god,” Raven said. “Thank you for your hospitality.” He gave Eunice a hug and kissed her temple. “Stay safe.” He spun and pointed back at us. “Don’t forget Ordinary.”
He turned, took a step, and was no longer a man. Instead, a single black raven with gold-tipped wings called out a rough song and flew up and up to disappear through the ceiling.
Cupid put one hand on Eunice’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything, and neither did she, but I could tell they exchanged information.
“Safe travels to you,” she said. “I’ll do what I can from here.”
“You are under my protection, Lula and Brogan Gauge,” he said, the power of the words warming like a fire against winter. “Nothing changes that.”
He strode out of the kitchen and disappeared. A clap of thunder rolled in the cloudless sky.
“All right then,” Eunice clapped her hands softly like a teacher asking for the class’s attention. “You are being hunted by a very angry, evil god—more than one. You must leave and quickly. Elmer Walch and family, will you guide them to a place where they can learn to wield the spells in the book?”
“That’s what we came here for,” Pamela said. “Right, Grandpa?”
He frowned. I don’t know what he saw in Lula and me, standing side-by-side, my arm over her shoulders, neither of us panicking over something that was undeniably panic worthy.
“Well, hell,” he said. “Yes. We came here to tell you about the god, and to ask you if you needed a safe place to hole up.”
Lightning flashed and thunder cracked, then rolled across the sky. A murder of crows called out, the shadow of wings passing over the window dappling the late afternoon sunlight.
“We need to go.” Abbi darted over. “Brogan, we really need to go.” Her eyes were huge, moonlight pooling in static blue.
A wind rattled the roof as if warning us to run, to fly, to drive as fast as we could away from the darkness hounding down from the horizon.
“Go,” I said, putting my hand on Abbi’s shoulder and urging her forward. “Get in the truck with Lorde and Hado.”
“How far?” Lula asked Elmer.
We were all moving now, the wind heaving at the walls of the house, windows rattling.
Eunice shoved a canvas bag at Pamela as she passed by, and another bag, that looked like it held food, at Josie.
“It’s out aways. New Mexico. Seven, eight hours if we drive fast,” Elmer said.
“Then let’s drive fast,” I said.
Elmer stopped in front of Eunice. “Ma’am. Thank you so much for your hospitality. That pie was the best I’ve had in years. If you ever need a thing me or my family can assist with, you let us know.”
She grinned, and it made her look years younger. “Thank you, Elmer. I appreciate you being here. This was…good timing.”
Another flash of light and boom of thunder drowned out his reply. He glanced my way and pointed at the living room, indicating we should follow him.
“Eunice,” I said.
“No time, Brogan Gauge. You need to run. And run now!”
Her voice carried the power of song, of fate, of realities strung together to make a chord, a symphony which thrummed down my spine and pushed me to move, to hurry, to run.
Lula took hold of my hand.
We ran.
Through the house, through the open door.
The sky was wide and wild, a mountainous wall of storm clouds churning on the horizon and swallowing the land.
Lightning licked blue and green, thunder exploded.
A spatter of rain, driven by the whipping wind struck my face, my arms, my head like sharpened nails.
We ran.
Elmer ducked into the back of Pamela’s SUV, slamming the door just as the rain picked up.
Our truck, Silver, was close enough I could see Abbi sitting up on her knees in the cab, Lorde on one side, Hado on the other. But it felt like it was miles away.
The sky cracked open, and rain came down with a vengeance.
We ran.
I couldn’t see the truck. Rain stung my eyes, blinding me, battering every inch of exposed skin.
It was cold—far too cold for Oklahoma—a blizzard of icy teeth biting and bruising. I held on to Lu and barged forward, my other hand stretched out, like I was going to tackle an oncoming football player.
My hand slapped the window of the truck. The driver’s side.
Lula pulled away and wrested the door open, slipping inside.
I dragged my hand across the hood and staggered to the other side.
The wind howled—the sound of a wounded animal baring its fangs, ready to attack.
I yanked on the door, but it wouldn’t open. Abbi lunged for the handle, pushing as I pulled.
The howling was closer, the wind made of wolves, of teeth—cold, alien, and hungry.
I yelled and pulled with everything I had.
The door swung.
I stumbled back and fell, knocking my head on the hard ground. I swore, dazed, and rolled onto hands and knees as the world swung and rocked. I pushed up to my feet.
The truck was just ahead, the door still open. I had to get into it.
I grabbed the frame of the door and swung myself up into the cab.
Abbi was there, Lula was there, both of them warm and alive against my frozen body, reaching across me to shut the door.
“Go,” I said to Lula, my teeth chattering. “Drive!”
She put the truck in gear and hit the gas.
She cranked on the wheel, aiming us away from the house and back down the long gravel road.
I couldn’t even see the road, had no idea how she could, other than she was not quite human. Her eyes were far better than mine.
A flash of taillights swam into view ahead of us. The hunters, leading us to a place to hide.
If we made it through this unholy storm.
Abbi hugged Lorde in a bear grip and whispered to Hado tucked into the crook of her other arm.
Hado’s eyes flashed red, then he stretched and liquified, becoming nothing but black smoke, a shadow that seeped through the wall of the cab, and back to the book hidden in the witch’s box.
I didn’t know if Hado could hide it from whatever was riding wild in the storm, but we needed every bit of help we could get to keep the book hidden.
“You’re bleeding,” Lu said, maybe had said more than once. She hadn’t looked away from the road, away from the taillights fading in and out of sight, jostling and jerking in the gusting wind.
I didn’t know how Pamela was keeping her vehicle on the road, or if she could see where she was going, but they’d said to follow them and there was no way in hell Lu was going to break that promise.
The storm was all around us now, the rain so loud on the roof, I couldn’t hear the engine revving, couldn’t hear Lorde, who was barking, her teeth bared.
She knew there were monsters in that storm—
—power—
—she knew something very bad was out there.
Lightning hissed, striking the ground beside us and exploding, the blast of thunder unbearable. I threw myself in front of Abbi, and reached for Lula, trying to keep them both safe from a threat I couldn’t even name.
Was this Apep? Was the storm sent by Mithra? By Ate?
Or was there something else, something made of pure violence gunning for us?
Abbi screamed and pointed.
Lu slammed on the brakes.
The truck fish-tailed, rocking up on two wheels. I relived the crash we’d been in weeks ago, a crash I wasn’t sure we would survive.
But Lu wrestled the wheel and held the truck to the road through sheer will alone.
The hunters had stopped ahead of us.
Not because of the rain.
But because there was a man standing there. No, not a man, a god.
He wore plain clothing, but his blond hair shone. As did the massive hammer in his hand.
The wind whipped around him, but he was a monolith, a mountain, a force against the storm that did not dare touch him.
“Is that?” Lula asked.
“I don’t think…” I said.
“Thor,” Abbi nodded. “The god of thunder.”
“The storm. He’s sent the storm to kill us,” I said.
Abbi shook her head. “He’s the god of protection too. And he’s good. I know him. He’s here to protect us.” She pushed against my arm, straining forward. “Thor!” she yelled. “It’s me! Moon Rabbit.”
“Don’t!” I said.
But it was too late. He lowered his head. The storm was rage, torment, impossible to penetrate. But he looked at her. Straight at her.
“Oh, shit.” Lula put the truck into reverse, twisting to look over her shoulder.
“Go,” I said. “Go.”
Thor took a step. The sky roared with thunder. Another step. The next explosion nearly blew my ear drums. I ducked my head to my shoulder. Abbi screamed and covered both of her ears.
The god took another step, as unrelenting as the storm. His stride was supernaturally long, a pace no man could achieve. Fast, and growing faster.
“Thor?” Abbi said confused.
“Fuck,” I breathed. “Drive, Lula, drive!”
But even with the truck at full throttle, we weren’t gaining ground.
The god didn’t pause, didn’t slow. He grew larger, huge, his head lost in the churning sky, his power breaking the physics of this reality.
He was going to crash into us, step on us, smash us flat.
But moments before he was on us, moments before I knew he was going to run right into our truck or through it, he pulled back his arm.
His hand disappeared in the distance, and then whipped forward, his hammer flying straight at us.