Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sky was still on fire. I could see the reflection of red and shadow swirling across the ground.
The wind fluxed hot, then cold, and a spatter of rain rattled briefly like bullets peppering the dust.
It didn’t feel like time had stopped—I knew all too well what that was like. But there was a stillness to the world, an otherness that sent ice through my veins.
“What are you?” The voice behind us moved forward.
Lula was on my left, and the voice, the lost god, appeared next to her.
Gods could wear any form they wanted. I knew that. But this was a thing I had never seen in my life.
Its head was an ivory mask, rounded at the chin and rising into two points at the top, which floated above a body formed of light, stone, scales, ink. Its arms and legs didn’t seem attached but moved fluidly, changing from bone to wing to tentacle to claw.
In the seams and cracks of it was a blackness so deep, it was like staring into the void of space.
“I am the god, Mithra,” Mithra answered. “And you are not welcome in this reality, lost god. Leave. Now.”
“You mean nothing to me,” the lost god mused. “I am that which existed before, I will be that which exists after you have burned to dust.”
Mithra laughed. “Return to your hole. This reality refutes you. Nothing holds you here. You are forgotten.”
The ivory mask tipped precariously to one side. “I have been remembered, God Mithra. I have been summoned by my spell, locked, and power, latent.”
“You have no hold here.”
“I do now. These small creatures have gnawed through my chains, chains now consigned to oblivion.”
“Those creatures are mine.”
“You tire me.” There was a huge sound, like an ocean pouring off a cliff.
Mithra threw up his hands as if to ward off an attack.
And disappeared.
I reached for Lula, and she scrabbled backward to me, the book clutched against her chest.
The lost god drifted forward away from us, filling the space Mithra had just occupied.
“Small creatures,” the lost god said. “You have called upon my power. You have dared wield my magic.” It turned, the mask unreadable.
“Shall I reward you? Or shall I punish you?”
“You will do neither, Ryt.” Cupid strode out of the sky. He was still in god form, a warrior in golden armor with huge white wings. “These souls are under my protection.”
“Connection, destruction,” Ryt said. “You still walk this realm?”
“Longer than you, lost one. There is a war.”
“There is always a war.”
“You are not a part of this war,” Cupid said. “You are not needed here.”
The mask tipped as every part of it flowed from one form to another: wind, water, fire, stars.
“The small creatures called me. Stole my fire.”
“They cast the spell you wove into the spell book of the gods. As is their right.”
Before, I hadn’t been able to see eyes in the mask, but now those eyes—large and yellow and alien—focused on me and Lula with painful intensity.
I could not look away, even though it felt like every nerve in my brain was being plucked one by one.
“What are they?” Ryt asked.
A raven winged down from the roiling sky, then Raven, the god, stepped out of its form.
I’d never seen Raven in his god power, not really, not fully. But now, oh, now, he was magnificent.
A warrior, a king, a hunter, a wise man, a fool, black feathers etched with galaxies flowing from his arms and his hair, the light of the sun burning in one hand.
“They are the only thing that will assure your power and magic will never be used without your blessing again,” Raven said. “Time has shattered and opened many doors, Ryt. But this path is closed to you. Closed by me.”
More movement behind us, then Abbi was at my side, her hand on my shoulder.
Cardamom stood next to Lula, and the hunters were behind him.
They were alive! But they wouldn’t be if they stayed here. Not while gods decided if they were going to end reality.
“These souls are under my protection,” Cupid said. “Each and all. Go on your way, lost one. Go on your way.”
The lost god drifted slowly toward us, disengaged from the Earth, from gravity itself.
Lula’s hand reached out for mine. I took it.
We stood, needing to stand when facing a creature of such immense power.
“You chose a flower,” Ryt said, the odd voice different now, more curious than before. “Of all the things in the universes, a flower. Why?”
I supposed I could lie but didn’t see why I should.
“Love,” I said. “I created flowers because I wanted to make Lula smile.”
“My power is burned into you now,” Ryt said. “Into both of you. My magic. That spell.”
“We don’t want it,” Lula said.
Ryk made a clicking sound. “Shall I remove it, then? Tear it from you? You will explode.”
“No.” Cupid’s voice boomed. “You do not touch them. You do nothing in this realm. It is not for you.”
Ryk drifted to a stop in front of Cupid. “I know you, old one. I remember you.”
It was a chant, a call demanding a response.
“I know you, old one. I remember you,” Cupid replied.
“Are they so valuable? These small creatures. Their pitifully short lives?”
“Yes.” The word, the conviction, was heavy as lead, worthy as gold. “Return to your rest, your curiosities, the reality in which you dwell. You are not forgotten.”
Cupid didn’t waver, his presence solid as the world, the tick of time.
“I do not favor this existence…this old folly…” Ryt grew faint, all of the shifting limbs, body, and mask going transparent, “…but now I will remember it…”
It was a threat. It was a promise.
Then the god was gone.
The sky rumbled, thunder in the distance. A flash of lighting brightened the clouds, then rain, cool cleansing rain, fell.
I shivered, even though I couldn’t feel the cold.
“Mithra?” Lu asked. “Apep?”
“Gone,” Cupid said. “For now.” He was still in golden armor, but was shedding his god power, becoming more human. “I’ll make sure they stay that way. Go back with the hunters. Rest. I’ll call on you soon.”
He took a step and was gone.
“Show off.” Raven was just Raven again, wearing a burnt sienna hoodie, jeans, and boots. The only thing different about him was the amulet around his neck that glowed gold like a small sun.
“Let’s get out of the weather,” he suggested. “Where’s that bolt hole of yours?”
“Not sure I want to welcome a god onto my property,” Elmer said. “Especially a trickster god, Raven.”
Pamela placed her hand on his arm.
“Do you trust him?” she asked Lula and me.
“Enough,” I said.
“Mostly,” she said.
“Hey!” Raven said. “We’re all friends here. Tell them I’m a friend, Bun Bun.”
“I like him,” Abbi said. “But sometimes he lies.”
“Well, now I’m not going to share my cookies with you.”
“You have cookies?”
“I always have cookies. Trickster god, right? Sometimes I lie, but sometimes I steal.” He waggled his eyebrows and pulled a plate with a dozen cookies on it from behind his back.
I had no idea where he had gotten them.
Cardamom chuckled. “Ricky’s gonna kill you. If the Crossroads doesn’t first.”
Raven picked up a cookie and took a big bite. “Damn, these are good.”
Abbi squeezed my hand and leaned around me to Pamela. “He’s a good god. He’s living in Ordinary and shouldn’t be here though.”
“Shouldn’t is such a strong word,” he said. “So are 'good’ and 'here.’ But I’d love to get out of the rain.”
Pamela and her grandfather exchanged looks, then Josie nodded.
“Let’s go,” Pamela said. “If we want him to leave, I’m sure we can make him leave.”
“I love this plan!” Raven said.
He strode to the back of our truck and hopped up into it. “Coming, Bun Bun?”
Abbi leaned in and gave me a big hug. “You’re okay,” she said fiercely. “All of us are okay. And we can sleep soon. I promise.”
Then she released me and jogged back to join Raven.
Elmer gave us a stern look. “I think someone else should drive.”
I expected Lula to argue. She didn’t like other people touching Silver. But she nodded. “I think so too.”
Card raised his hand. “I’ll drive. That okay?”
“Yes.” Lula pulled me toward the truck. “That’s okay.”
We piled into the cab. It was a tight fit with the three of us, but Lu tucked herself into my side, her head on my shoulder.
I wrapped my arm around her, holding tight.
The road wasn’t smooth, but it didn’t stop Lu from closing her eyes. She shivered once, her hand clutching my arm too tightly, and then she relaxed, breathing deeply.
I was fighting to keep my eyes open.
“I got you,” Card said. “You can rest, Brogan. I got you.”
I fought it still, because I was a stubborn man, but finally the wave of exhaustion was too much. I tumbled and sank down and down.
* * *
Card shook me awake. We were in the art deco garage.
I stumbled from the truck, up the stairs and down the hall, Lula just ahead of me, on her feet but weaving a bit.
Lorde made concerned whines and barks, walking beside Lula and pushing her head up under her hand, trying to help support her.
People were talking, maybe even talking to me, asking me things. But I couldn’t make out what they were saying, couldn’t understand their questions.
Didn’t care.
Then there was a bed. Hands pulled away the blankets. I tipped into cool sheets, Lula beside me.
Blankets winged softly over us, and I used the last of my energy to roll toward Lula. I wrapped my arm over her, my bare feet—where had my boots gone?—tucked together with hers.
The voices moved away, singing softly, I thought, a song about little stars twinkling.
The lights went out and so did I.
* * *
The hunters were trying to be casual. I could see it in their body language, the stiff shoulders, the forced smiles.
I paused in the doorway to the control room to locate the object of their discomfort.
Not object. Objects. Plural.
Specifically, Raven and Cupid sitting at the table, one looking like a biker with his bald head, diamond earrings, tattoos, and leather vest, the other looking like a man most comfortable in a hoodie, jeans, and sandals.
Both of them were as relaxed as could be, drinking from mugs.
Lula stopped behind me. Usually she would push ahead, eager to take on the problem before me. But she leaned into me instead, her forehead, her full body pressed against me.
Lorde circled our feet, then sat next to us, waiting.
“Gods,” Lu mumbled.
I nodded and clasped my hands over her arms wrapped around my waist. “Not done with them yet, I suppose.”
She didn’t move, just stayed there, holding me, breathing.
Something had changed in her. I didn’t know if it was the god magic we’d wielded and how it had marked her. I didn’t know if it was the exhaustion from casting the spells and breaking time.
I didn’t know if it was finally, finally killing the monster who had attacked us all those years ago.
But now she touched me constantly, turned her face away from the world as if she were done with its light and noise, a weary soldier finally come home from a lifetime on the front lines.
“Want to go back to bed?” I asked.
“Yes.” She pushed away, dragging her hand along my back as she came to stand next to me. “But I think I want coffee more.”
She strolled into the room, pulling me along with her.
“Morning,” Raven called out. “Or should I say afternoon?”
“Is it that late?” I asked.
“Half past three,” Elmer noted, taking a seat at the table, but not near the gods who sat opposite each other. “Not that any of us have been up for long.”
“I have,” Abbi said. “Me and Raven were up all night.”
“We all took shifts.” Pamela brought a pot of coffee over and set it on a trivet.
“Did you sleep?” Josie carried a tea kettle and a basket with several tea options. She placed those closest to a chair in front of Lula.
Lu sat, and Cardamom came in with mugs and a pile of muffins.
“We did.” I sat next to Lu and poured coffee. I offered it to Lu, but she had chosen a black tea.
“Hungry?” Pamela asked. “I have breakfast at the ready, but if you’d rather a lunch I can do that too.”
“Breakfast sounds great.” My stomach growled and Pamela grinned.
“It’ll be out quick. Lu? Anything?”
“Eggs, toast, and fruit, if you have it.”
“I do. Be right back. Don’t any of you talk about interesting important stuff without me.”
Josie dropped down and helped herself to a muffin. “So, what’s next?” she asked. “Do we just wait here for another god to attack?”
“We don’t,” Cupid said pointing between himself and Raven. “It is very kind of you to have us here, but we do not want to stay long.”
“Speak for yourself,” Raven said. “These muffins are amazing.”
“Not sure our welcome is going to hold out much longer,” Elmer said. “The longer you’re here, the higher the chance all those other gods and monsters and whatever else you’re mixed up with will come knocking on our door.”
“Agreed.” Cupid turned to us. “So, let’s get straight to the interesting important stuff. Lula, Brogan, the next choice you make will change everything. Including your lives and your deaths.”