“I don’t have all day, child. Give me a reason not to destroy your mind.”
He was bluffing. He would hurt me, sure, but he wouldn’t break me beyond repair. He still wanted to use me. I was his best bet for finding Zane, so he wouldn’t discard me just yet. He didn’t seem to realize that if I became an angel and found Zane, I would do everything in my power to protect my brother from him.
“You won’t even be able to think ever again. You’ll be a vegetable.”
I could feel the boundaries of my mind splitting against the strain of his attack. I kept telling myself that he wouldn’t shatter my mind, but with each passing moment, it was getting harder to hold on to that conviction. Pain rattled my mind, plucking the stitching that held it together. I could see the way out, the path that promised an end to the pain. The answer was right before me, as clear as day.
I only had to tell Faris what he wanted to know, and the pain would stop.
“Ok, I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Catching my breath, I met his unyielding eyes. “Those boots don’t match at all with your belt.”
Faris blinked.
“And the hilt of your sword is clashing horribly with your amulet,” I added.
Outrage flashed in his eyes. “How dare you!”
“How dare me? No, how dare you come into my dreams uninvited and attack me for no reason.”
“My reasons are none of your concern.”
“Right. Because you torturing me has nothing to do with me,” I said, my voice thick with sarcasm.
“What will Ronan do with you when you become an angel?”
I shrugged. “Use me on the front line to fight demons, I suppose. I’m far too much of a troublemaker to put me in command of anyone. I’m much more useful as an expendable battering ram.”
“You’re not wrong about that. You are trouble.” Faris was frowning. “You’re either the best liar I’ve ever met, or you’re just a clueless pawn.”
“Or maybe there’s really nothing going on.”
“We’ll see.”
I shook, jolting upright in my bed, heaving in deep breaths. Faris would be watching me. And the closer I got to finding Zane, the more his gaze would be turned my way. I would have to be careful.
My bedroom door shook. Someone was banging on it like the building was on fire. That’s what had woken me up, freeing me from Faris’s interrogation. I slid off the bed and walked to the door. I found Jace on the other side, dressed and armed.
“The storm has cleared. We’re heading out.” His gaze flickered to the tank top and boy shorts I’d worn to bed. Then, likely thinking of Nero, his eyes hastily met mine. “Get dressed.”
I yawned. “What time is it?”
“Five in the morning.”
Of course it was. Danger never hit at high noon. It always came knocking in the middle of the night. Because, as I’d told Nero, the universe just didn’t give me a break.
14
Magic Origins
It was still dark outside when Jace, his team, and I boarded the train out of Chicago, loaded down with enough gear for twice our numbers. On our way to the station, I’d texted Calli and Bella, but they’d told me that they had already left on the earlier train and would meet me on the Frontier. I wondered if they’d slept at all. Probably not. I hadn’t slept either. Having a god invade your dreams wasn’t exactly the most restful experience.
The train would bring us as far as the Frontier town of Infernal. From there, we’d drive a Legion truck out onto the Field of Tears, the wilderness that lay beyond the town wall.
“Purgatory. Infernal. Abyss. These Frontier towns have such posh names,” commented the female soldier.
“What did you expect?” said Bodybuilder One. “These backwater lands are hardly more civilized than the plains of monsters.”
“You could say the same about the pedigree of citizens they produce,” added Bodybuilder Two.
They all looked at me.
“You know, Frontier towns have the highest crime rate in the world,” said the nimble knife-wielder.
I’d already heard all of this before. More times than I could count, in fact. They weren’t wrong. Of course there was a lot of crime in poor areas. When people were desperate, survival took a front seat to propriety. People like these soldiers—privileged citizens who’d never had to worry about when their next meal would come, about whether they would have somewhere safe and dry to sleep that night—could not possibly understand. Sometimes you had to live it to get it.
I tuned out their hateful comments. They were just trying to annoy me, to get a reaction out of me, but I wasn’t playing along. I was too tired for that kind of nonsense. And, besides, nothing I could say would change their opinion if they were hellbent on hating me.
Here and now, surrounded by these unwilling allies, I’d never felt so alone. I couldn’t help but feel homesick for New York. Things were different there. I knew the Legion soldiers there. Some of them didn’t like me or my methods, of course, but they didn’t try to provoke me or to mock me. Colonel Fireswift must have been telling tales about me to feed all this hate.
I got up and walked to the empty train car next door, in search of a few moments of peaceful rest. I was just dozing off when something tugged at the edges of my senses. I jerked awake to find a god standing over me.
Zarion, God of Faith and Lord of the Pilgrims, was dressed in long robes. His robes bore some resemblance to the humble clothes worn by the Pilgrims, the preachers of the faith, often referred to as the ‘voice of the gods’. This god’s robes were not plain and humble, however; they shimmered green and blue, as though gemstones had been crushed into the fabric. His sandals were gold, his hair paler than mine, and his nose proud.
“Why did Faris visit you last night?” Zarion demanded.
Zarion and Faris were brothers. To say they didn’t get along would have been a major understatement. I had the feeling the only thing keeping the two gods from engaging in open warfare was their fear of Valora, the Queen Goddess who led the gods’ Council.
“Did you make a deal with Faris?” Zarion continued. “Are you helping him conspire against me?”
My head hurt, and it wasn’t only from the lack of sleep. “Why would I do that?”
“Faris voted in Nero’s favor after the trials,” Zarion pointed out. “Clearly, you are in league with him.”
Oh, yes. Clearly. Because there could be no other reason for Faris to visit me. Like, for instance, trying to crack my mind open and steal all my secrets.
“I demand answers,” Zarion said, unimpressed by my silence. “I am Zarion, the God of Faith, Lord of the Pilgrims, and I will be treated with the respect owed to me.”
I grimaced, my sleep once again disturbed by a paranoid god. The gods and their games were getting ridiculous. Zarion was here because of Faris, who had visited me because of Ronan. I wanted to shout at Zarion.
Instead, I just said, “No disrespect intended, my lord.” I even bowed.
Zarion appeared even more incredulous, as though I’d insulted him. But I wasn’t mocking him. For once, I was behaving myself.
“This isn’t over, Leda Pierce. I will be watching you.”
Then Zarion vanished in a huff, his voice continuing to echo in the empty car long after he was gone.
“Join the club,” I grumbled to the dead space where he’d stood a moment ago.
The gods were watching me closely, just as Ronan had said. Fantastic. That would make it harder to find Zane and the Guardians. It would make it harder to work in secret with Nyx and Ronan and to keep Stash’s demigod status a secret.
Stash was Zarion’s son, and the god didn’t have a clue. A family reunion would not go well. Zarion had already tried to murder Stash in his mother’s womb, and the god thought he’d succeeded.
I pushed thoughts of Stash out of my head. All the gods were telepathic. Life would be a lot easier without all these secrets—and all these gods.
I stood up, now completely awake. My latest godly encounter had left my mind agitated. I couldn’t possibly sleep now. So I walked back to the train car where I’d left Jace and his soldiers. He was alone now.