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Gods, I hated the idea of lying to Olivia, but I understood what Caleb was saying. Olivia would never move on, knowing that, in a way, Caleb was conscious and as alive as he could be in the Underworld. It was like he was there, not reachable, but still there. Knowing that, how could she really move on?
So I agreed. I promised to tell everyone that it had been only Persephone who had found us. Even if Apollo knew the truth, it wouldn’t matter as long as Olivia didn’t. In a way, this was his gift to her.
“Thank you,” Caleb said, and hugged me once more. Part of me wanted to stay in Caleb’s arms, because he’d always had this grounding effect on me. Caleb was my rational side. He was more than that; other than my mother, he was the first person I’d ever truly loved.
Caleb would always be my best friend.
“It’s time,” Persephone said quietly, and when I pulled away and looked at her, there was sympathy in her gaze. A god who could empathize was an abnormality.
Aiden returned to my side, swinging the backpack onto his shoulders before handing me back the weapons that the guards had stripped off me, as well as my yucky cloak. Persephone drifted toward the center of the war room and waved her hand. A black void appeared, completely opaque. “This gate will take you back to the one you came through. ”
“Thank you,” I said to Persephone.
She nodded gracefully.
As I said goodbye and looked over my shoulder one last time, my chest squeezed as I met Caleb’s blue, blue eyes. I knew then that death could stop a lot of things, but it could never cut the bond of friendship.
Caleb smiled, and I returned it with a watery one of my own, and then I turned back to the void waiting for us. Threading my fingers through Aiden’s, we stepped back through the gate, armed with the knowledge we needed, but bearing the burden of needing to accomplish the impossible.
CHAPTER 27
The Hummer was where we’d left it, and according to the clock on the dashboard, only three hours had passed—three hours in the mortal realm, forty-eight hours in the Underworld, and a lifetime for Aiden and me.
I offered to drive back, but Aiden insisted that he was fine and I knew he wanted me to sleep. I knew I should—to avoid Seth using the connection—but it didn’t seem fair. Aiden had to be exhausted.
But it was a battle I wasn’t winning anytime soon, so I snuggled into the passenger seat and tried to get some sleep. The only problem was that my brain would not shut down. Ever since I’d stood in the war room, something had nagged at me. What Persephone had said, the sheared ponytails on the wall—all of it seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place how or why. And it was more than that. Solaris’ parting words were unsettling and they poked around in my head.
What I could never figure out was why Apollo had kept me alive once Seth had gone all crazy-pants on the Council. Or why Artemis had stopped Hades from taking me into the Underworld. The gods—or at least all of them except one—feared the transfer of power, because when that happened there’d be no stopping Seth. Taking me out of the picture before I’d Awakened, or putting me out of commission afterward, made sense.
Keeping me alive didn’t.
But I remembered what Artemis had said in that convenience store as she’d faced down Hades. Prophecies could change, and it didn’t take a leap of logic to know that, if I became the God Killer, the prophecy would change.
Unease blossomed in my chest. Had Apollo and the others known that this was possible? Then I felt dumb for even questioning that. The oracles belonged to Apollo, and even though he didn’t know all of their visions, the portion of what the oracle had told Solaris could’ve been shared with Apollo. Which made sense since Apollo had been oh-so supportive of me going down to see Solaris.
Part of me was naïve enough to hope that wasn’t the case, because that meant Apollo had some explaining to do. The other part was more analytical about it, more reasonable. Apollo had said before that they needed to stop the god who was obviously working with Lucian. And how else would they stop him?
They needed the God Killer.
The real kicker of this whole crappy situation was that Lucian controlled Seth, and this god—whoever it was—controlled Lucian, and therefore he/she controlled Seth and all of those who were following Lucian. So if Seth succeeded and transferred my power to him, this god would then control the God Killer. Risky, because Seth could always turn on him, but in the end, once the god had Seth do what he wanted, I was sure he’d be creative enough to somehow keep him under control. Possibly that meant keeping a member of the Order stowed away, safe and sound.
My muscles tightened in reflex as I worked this out. None of it looked good. And Seth was being manipulated from every which direction and he had no idea. Hell, he refused to even think that was the case.
As the miles between Kansas and Illinois disappeared, I couldn’t shake what Solaris has said about the gods using me, and what it would mean. Neither could I let go of the feeling that, by learning how to transfer the power to me, I had sealed my own fate.
The sudden weight of Aiden’s hand on my knee drew my attention to him. His eyes were on the dark highway. “You’re not sleeping. ”
I smiled as I placed my hand over his. “How did you know?”
“I just do. ” He sent me a brief grin. “What are you thinking about?”
Everything was on the tip of my tongue—my suspicions, my concerns about what Solaris had said, and what I now knew Apollo was hiding—but when Aiden glanced at me again, I found I couldn’t tell him.
He hadn’t heard what Solaris had said, and I didn’t want to burden him with this on top of everything else. If my suspicions were correct, if everything was leading to one thing…
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the white lines parting the darkness. “I was just thinking about how I’m supposed to get close enough to Seth to transfer his power to me. Seems impossible, right?”
“I don’t like it, Alex. I’m going to be honest; I think it’s insane. To me, it’s like sneaking up on a cobra. It’s not going to work. ”
“I know, but what choice do we have? Besides, we don’t just have to figure out how to get close enough to him. There’re all the Sentinels and Guards who are backing him. ”
Aiden squeezed my hand. “We’re going to need an army. ”
Slowly, I looked at him. “And where are we going to dig up one of them?”
“Good question. ” He barked out a short laugh. “What we need to find out is exactly how many Lucian has backing him—”
“I can always ask Dionysus to do some scouting,” Apollo’s voice boomed from the backseat.
Shrieking, I sprang forward, knocking my knees off the dashboard. Aiden’s hand jerked on the steering wheel, swerving the Hummer into the left lane, which was thankfully empty.
Aiden cursed under his breath. “You need a freaking bell. ”
I twisted around in the seat, ready to knock the grin off the god’s face. I was already pretty pissed off at him without him giving us a heart attack. “You could’ve caused an accident!”
Apollo leaned forward, resting his arms on the back of our seats. “But you didn’t. Aiden has the reflexes of a hellhound. ”
Making a face, I shook my head. “How did you just… pop in here?”
He gave me a very un-god-like duh look. “These wards make your power invisible to the gods; they don’t keep us out. You carry my bloodline. I can find you when I want. ”
“Well, that’s not creepy. ”
Aiden glanced in the rearview mirror. “You want to know what we found out?” When Apollo nodded, a scowl appeared on Aiden’s face. “And you couldn’t have waited until we got back to Apple River?”
“Let’s see…” Apollo tapped a finger off his chin. “The whole world is on the verge of a god apocalypse. Should I wait another six hours?”
“Six hours isn’t going to change anything,” Aiden replied, eyes turning a steely gray.
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“I hope not. ” Apollo turned his gaze to me. “What did you learn?”
I debated telling him that I hadn’t learned a damn thing, but that was pointless. “I learned how to transfer the power to me. ”
Apollo showed no reaction, and I really think I hated him right then. “And do you think you can do it?”
I glanced at Aiden. “There’s the tiny problem of getting to Seth. ”
“Like I said, I can have Dionysus do some scouting. See what they have going for them,” he replied.
“We still don’t have an army. ” I flipped in my seat, facing the front and feeling all kinds ofbitchtastic.
“Actually…”
I refused to turn around and take the bait. “What?”
When he didn’t answer, Aiden growled deep in his throat. “What, Apollo?”
“About an hour after you guys left, one of the Sentinels who had been using Solos’ cabin before you not-so-nicely kicked them out showed up. He brought news. ”
Aiden had gone completely motionless, and I wondered how he could still manage to drive like that. “And you trust this Sentinel?”
The god laughed darkly. “Let’s just say I made sure he was playing on our team. ”
Curious, I started to ask how, but Apollo grinned at me. “Use your imagination,” he said, and my imagination went to some really weird places.
“Anyway,” he continued. “Most of the pures are fleeing the Covenants and their communities, heading to the University in South Dakota. So are their Guards. Makes sense—the location of the University is pretty remote and almost certainly cannot be breached. The Sentinels who haven’t fallen in with Lucian have left their duties and are en route to the University. ”
“What about the daimons?” I asked.
“What about them? They will go where the pures are, and the pures will be well-protected. Then there are the daimons that Lucian is feeding the pures to. Nothing we can do about that. ” Apollo sat back, eyeing the roof of the Hummer like he’d never seen one before. He tapped the internal light once and it flicked on, then he turned it off. Shiny things must be distracting for gods, too. He did it again, brows furrowed.
“Apollo,” I snapped.
His gaze settled on me. “There is a good chance that Lucian and the First will overtake the New York Council, so Council members and Sentinels are being secreted out of the Covenant. ”
My heart tipped over. “My—”
“I don’t know if your father is among the ones who have already arrived at the University or is en route or alive. I’m sorry. ”
My shoulders slumped. “So what are they doing? Moving the base of operation to there?”
“Yes. So there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of Sentinels and Guards there. Those who have seen their friends and other Sentinels killed by those who have sided with Lucian. Those who want nothing more than to get a piece of him. ”
Aiden nodded slowly. “An army—our army. ”
“Marcus and Solos are already making plans to travel to the University. The sooner you all get there, the better. ”