“Not a what,” he admitted, managing to sound both sheepish and smug at the same time. “More like a who.”
“Okay …” Yael dragged out the word, clearly suspicious of Cyrus’s motives. “Who then?”
“My server. Steve.”
I blinked, and tried to contain my laughter, but it seemed as though I was the only one who found it funny. The others were all staring at Cyrus with sudden understanding on their faces. Coen and Rome exchanged a look, while Aros’s grip on me relaxed a little bit. Yael’s grip remained tight.
“I thought the gods didn’t care about their servers and that’s why there’s a whole damn cave of them outside this super-secret hideout of yours,” I said.
“Rau stole her, and she holds a lot of valuable information in her head.” Cyrus scowled, directing the look at me until I almost wanted to flinch back. “I don’t want him getting his hands on that information.”
“I almost thought you had a heart just then,” I grumbled. “Thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding.”
“That’s my job, doll. I clear up miscommunications. Miscommunications like you.”
“That’s enough,” Yael snarled, releasing my arm and taking a step forward.
Rome dropped a hand onto his shoulder, and both of them paused, staring at Cyrus, before Aros spoke through a deep breath.
“You might want to clarify what that meant, Neutral.”
“She’s a blip.” He switched his attention from one Abcurse to another, before settling his eyes back on me. “You haven’t figured it out yet, Willa Knight? You’re a mistake. Your very existence is an error. You’re not a dweller. There’s hidden power in you. But you’re not a sol, either, because you can’t access that power. You’re just … a miscommunication between races.”
“That’s fucked up.” Coen jerked forward, as though he might hit the Neutral god, but Cyrus held up a hand to stop him. It was probably the calm of the movement that had an effect. He didn’t look as though he was going to fight back.
Coen paused, on the edge of movement. “How do you know that?” he finally demanded.
“We all know it,” Cyrus replied dryly. “You five have been inside her mind just as I’ve been inside her mind. I’m not the only one who knows it.”
I could tell that a fight was going to break out, so I quickly spoke before anyone else could. “Do you know … what I am?” I asked hesitantly. “I mean, other than a mistake and stuff. Do you know specifically what I am?”
“No.” Cyrus shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. I caught a glimpse of the blood that marked his temple before he moved to one of the white couches and fell into it. “I just told you everything I know. Maybe your father was a sol. It has been known to happen, the sols and the dwellers coming together. It’s rare—and illegal, if I’m correct. Those sols change their damn laws every fifty or so life-cycles and it’s too tiring to keep up with them all, but, it has happened. Their offspring, for the most part, are considered dwellers. Maybe all of this time they’ve been mistaken.”
“I have no idea who my father was,” I heard myself saying. It seemed like a strangely intimate thing to be admitting. Even in front of the Abcurses, let alone Cyrus. “But I guess that doesn’t matter right now. We’ll steal back Steve. Right, guys?”
I glanced at the others, catching several sharp nods. Coen didn’t seem to agree. He had narrowed his eyes on Cyrus, the gem-green colour flashing darkly.
“She needs to be linked to us again,” he demanded. “Now. Before we leave. Not after.”
I expected Cyrus to argue, but he only motioned me over to the couch. I brushed past Aros, approaching the Neutral god and sitting down beside him. For some reason, that made his lips twitch in an almost-smile. He reached out, his hand landing on my shoulder, slipping closer to my neck. Somewhere behind me, I heard a sound. It was almost a growl. That made Cyrus’s lips twitch again.
He closed his eyes, his fingers tightened, and his power ripped through me. I cried out, my body arching up off the couch as agony spread through me with vicious speed. I knew, now, that my soul wasn’t actually separating into six different pieces, but that was exactly what it felt like. It felt like Cyrus had pushed his way inside my body and was now carefully and meticulously tearing it up from the inside out.
“Promise me,” I heard a voice grind out. Cyrus. “Promise you will collect my server and bring her back to the entrance of the cave.”
I opened my mouth to try, but the only sound that came out was a pained moan. I was falling back, my body going limp, but Cyrus’s grip only tightened, holding my body upright, forcing me to stay.
“Promise,” he demanded.
“I promise,” I croaked.
He released me, then, and I collapsed off the side of the couch. Hands scooped me up, and I curled myself around the warm body. It smelled like Aros. Like sunshine. Like heat. I shuddered, trying to press closer, trying to sooth the aftermath of pain that rocked through me.
“What the hell was that?” I heard Yael storm past us. He was almost shouting.
I wasn’t sure what the big deal was—we had all wanted the link to be re-formed.
“That was a god’s oath,” Cyrus sighed out. “But I think you know that already. If she disobeys, she dies. I can’t kill the five of you, but she is protected by none. She is your weak link. Bring me back the server, and you will be allowed to return to Minatsol.”
“You’re wrong,” Yael said without an ounce of inflection, just this twisted, dead voice. “She is protected by us, and I don’t care what the consequences are, if you hurt her, if she receives so much as a single scratch—” My gulp cut him off, and with a twitch of his lips, he clarified, “A scratch which is somehow connected to you, then Staviti is going to need to create a new Neutral.”
Cyrus took that very unveiled threat with grace, simply nodding like he expected no less from them, and then with a flick of his hand, a gust of wind knocked into us. I swung my arm out, pushing his lamp over again, and I would swear I heard a burst of deep laughter before everything went up in a swirl of white wind. Actually, more than wind, much more in fact. It was like we were swept up in something cyclonic—it swirled and tore through us, lifting our feet from the ground, and then in almost the same click, we were back in Topia.
I practically jumped and shrieked for joy to see the five Abcurses around me, to feel the straining in my chest as our soul-link tried to force us together.