Ripley nods in agreement. "Yes. This new threat predates our arrival here and he has no interest in anything apart from destroying the world he created."
I blink. "Who? Is this Biblical stories again? Are you talking about God?"
"No, we're talking about Chaos. He's an old god, not yours. He didn't just create the world, he is the world. This entity is the explosive chaos that began everything in the universe. Compared to him, your God is a toddler."
"I don't have a God," I reply.
"Of course you don't." Ripley smiles sweetly.
I glance at Heath as he pulls out a chair and sits. "Are you saying something is in this world who wants to end it? Like an—"
"Apocalypse?" interrupts Logan.
"How?"
"By opening every portal at once and allowing each race living in the realms behind them to enter this world. Chaos will unleash one hell of a war. The human population will be destroyed, cities razed, the whole planet polluted and decimated to suit the victor’s needs. Then, Chaos will take hold and reign. There will be no portals, no universe, nothing, just his dark power looking over the devastation left."
I shake my head at Logan's words, despite the growing anxiety gripping my chest. "Bullshit."
"I think you believe us. You have to admit what you've fought recently is harder than anything I've been able to throw at you." He taps his fingers on the table. "Unfortunately."
“You’re not responsible for what happened to Ewan? Joss?” I ask.
Ripley smiles. “No. If I was, I would’ve used that to my advantage long before now. You know that.”
"Where is Chaos?” asks Heath. "How do we fight him?"
I stare at Heath. "You don't believe them do you? This is a trick. Is this because you want Vee? Is it all to do with her?"
"I think this is why she's here. Without her, we don't stand a chance. If she reaches full power, Chaos doesn’t stand a chance,” Ripley replies.
“We hope,” adds Logan.
"How?"
“My friend Breanna has a gift for translating old texts.” Ripley gestures at her. “The problem is, the Collector has many of them, including the book with the runes and descriptions of what they do and how they operate. We need all the information and we only have half. Brianna could translate them for us.”
"And the Collector won't let you close?" asks Heath.
"No."
"Have you spoken to him about Chaos? About what it means for the world?"
"Not yet. He would never speak to me, but Logan tried. The Collector refuses to speak to the other fae. He's tired of being badgered,” says Ripley.
"Plus an email, 'by the way did you know an Old God intends to destroy the world' probably wouldn't get much response either," puts in Breanna with a smile.
"So what do you want? For us and Vee to find this Chaos and kill him? Is this why you’ve created this ridiculous situation, thinking you have us trapped? And why Nova Pharm? Why are you connecting yourself to them?”
"Because Chaos is tracking me, and I wanted to bring him out into the open. So far, we have little idea who he is, but I involved myself in Nova Pharm and left clues. When somebody began digging around, and we realised it wasn’t you, we watched and waited."
“And?”
“Nothing concrete yet.”
I snort. "And did you kill the humans while looking for ‘something concrete’?"
"No, we think he did. This god is well hidden, and he can disguise himself as anyone or anything, undetected. But his nature prevents him keeping the chaos under wraps for long. We think he maintains a strict control over his daily human life, to cage his chaos if that make sense.”
“He also enjoys creating the chaos he represents,” puts in Logan. “Another of his downfalls but to our advantage because it slows his plans down.”
“Yes, he’s taking his time. Having fun. He’s left false trails for the Horsemen, leading them to us. Chaos built distrust amongst the fae and broke down alliances."
"And now you want us to ally with you?" I scoff a laugh. "No way."
"Are you listening? This god can devastate the world. He's already started. It’s insidious right now, as he corrupts the humans and their society better than I ever could. Next he'll start revealing to the humans the other races amongst them, and you can imagine the uh... chaos that will cause."
“We say ‘he’ but this god could equally disguise himself as a woman.” Logan raps his fingers on the table. “I’ve told Ripley we need to consider that possibility.”
I look at Heath whose confusion matches mine. Chaos. The word has appeared everywhere for us in the last few weeks, and hit around the same time Vee did.
"Are you going to tell us Vee is really Chaos?" I ask in a hoarse voice, "Because there's no way I can believe that. Yes, we're agents of chaos in some respects, but this is crazy."
"Oh no, we think you're the solution, or I wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Ripley says. “You can stop him. Or at least we hope you’re powerful enough together. We’re hoping somebody put Truth here to help with this, but we need to find out how."
I look to Heath for an answer, what to say, but he's staring into space. "You tricked us into coming here, didn't you?" he asks in a low voice.
"Tricked? No, we needed you to bring one of the humans we believe is connected to Chaos. We've had trouble watching Seth, thanks to you." Ripley leans forwards, elbows on the table. "Since he joined the Horsemen, we've been unable to study or track him or to find out what happened to his friends. Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that Seth's the only one alive from the group we were watching? The ones we didn’t kill, by the way.”
Yes. Fuck.
“We needed to have this conversation too, and I doubt an invitation to meet would’ve helped. Now you’ve brought Seth to us; we can persuade him to tell us what the hell he knows and who he’s working for. He’s not leaving until he does. Alive or dead."
Heath shakes his head. "No. No.”
I frown at my brother’s response. Isn’t he suspicious of Seth too? Hell, this is exactly what Ewan’s been saying all along. Seth is working with someone else. Seth is not who he says.
“I think you have this all wrong,” Heath continues. “Everything you've said about Chaos and how he operates, and how well hidden he is. It makes sense, Xander."
My heart rate skyrockets as Heath looks at me, and I already know what he’s about to say. "I think Seth is Chaos."
Ripley chuckles. "I don't think so. Chaos is too powerful to be contained in a human that weak. He’d need somebody stronger."
"How do you know that? If he's a god, surely he can be what he wants and do what he wants. You said he created the universe; disguising himself and hiding from us isn't a big deal," Heath replies.
I drag a hand through my hair. Powerful.
How fucking powerful?
Why the fuck didn't anybody pick up that Seth isn’t human?
"Heath. We need to find the others."
"And do what?" he replies.