She pressed her lips tight for a moment. “I did what I had to do.”
“No. You did what you thought would bring Victor to you, even if it meant being as evil as Imha.”
Her blue eyes flared. “Don’t compare me to Imha! I’m not like her, and I’ll never be. I know I did horrible things, but I would do them again if it meant we would get us to where we are now. Haven’t you heard of sacrificing a few so that many can live? That was the situation.”
“But his parents? When he was a little kid?”
“Those weren’t his real parents. Like the Fates would say, they just served a purposed. Besides, I had to uproot him, otherwise he wouldn’t let you get close. He wouldn’t transfer to New York, and he wouldn’t need you.”
“I still don’t understand why you simply didn’t walk up to him when he was older and explain everything to him.”
“Besides the fact that gods aren’t supposed to interfere in humans’ lives? He would have freaked out, or thought I was a freak.”
I crossed my arms and stared at her. “You interfered in mine.”
“The only thing I did was give you the Destiny Gift. And, if you actually think about it, it was a gift from the Fates, not me. Being Cheryl didn’t interfere with anything you did. I was just there when you needed to talk. I encouraged you, and I never told to do something you didn’t want to.”
I thought about it for a moment. It was hard to admit, but it was true. She never obligated me to do anything. Like the Fates pointed out to me once, Ceris had told me about the job at Langone, but I was the one who applied for it. She never told me I had to. She was there when I was heartbroken about Victor, and she suggested I go after him. More than once, she had been there for me.
I hated this ambiguous feeling in my chest. I wanted to despise her until the day I died.
Then she spoke words I never thought I would hear. “My only regret over everything I’ve done was not to have taken you more seriously after everything. I should have listened to you at Cathedral Rock. I should have taken you and Mitrus from there and kept you both safe. I should have acted like a friend.”
I stared at her, completely in shock. No, she couldn’t do this to me right now. She couldn’t use Cheryl, couldn’t pretend she cared, or say things to melt my resolve.
First, I hated her, I really did. I wished she would burn at a stake for eternity like the bad witch I thought she was. Then, my hate subsided and I learned to live around her, to deal with her, even to fight beside her. I could do that. I could pretend she was an ally, but nothing more than that. However, having her come to me and tell me she regretted not being a friend to me was too much.
Feeling emotionally exhausted, I took off my gloves, threw them on the floor, and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Anywhere else.” I stopped at the door and looked at her. “I can’t deal with you right now.”
Four agonizing days went by.
Ceris and Izaera were gone, trying to locate the other gods and goddesses and, I hoped, to convince them to join our team. Morgan didn’t stop with his rituals. Victor spent most of his time in a conference room with Zelen, meditating, of all things. Keisha had woken up and was feeling slightly better. According to Victor, she would make it through but she would feel her shoulder for a few weeks. She—and I—was just relieved she was out of risk. Micah was up and better. He spent all of his free time catching up with his friends. Deven, Chael, and Eklan seemed enthusiastic to have Micah, or Mitrus, back, putting Micah’s doubts of their loyalty to rest.
On the fifth day, Ceris and Izaera came back. They hadn’t located any gods or goddesses, but they did some exploring.
“Time is ticking and finding the scepters is now our priority,” Ceris said, standing in front of the table in the conference room. “We have visited every place of power we could think of.” She extended her arm in front of her. A large rolled paper, much like a scroll, appeared in her hand. “Cathedral Rock, the pyramids, Chichen Itza, Stonehenge. Nothing.”
She unrolled the paper in the center of the table of the conference room, revealing a map on yellowed paper with torn edges. We all leaned over to get a better look. The map looked a lot like the one I had seen when Imha had me, but this one didn’t have any magical symbols hovering over it.
“We can’t think of many other places,” Izaera said. “The remaining ones seem improbable locations.”
“Or,” Ceris continued, “there are other places of power we don’t know about.”
Victor shook his head. “That’s not possible.”
“Why not?” Ceris asked. “Until thirty years ago, which is a short amount of time considering how long we’ve been on this Earth, we thought killing gods was impossible.”
“You have a point,” Zelen spoke. “But do you have any leads as to where those places of power could be?”
Ceris sighed. “No.”
Izaera tapped her index finger on the map. “Our idea is to find a well-equipped library, borrow lots of history books, and research locations where important events happened.”
“I like that idea,” Morgan said.
Micah leaned back in his chair, clearly bored with the map. “I thought finding the scepters was time sensitive,” Micah said.
“It is,” Ceris responded.
“Then how do you suggest we research hundreds of books?” he asked.
Ceris glared at him, not afraid of showing how she hated when he interrupted her. “Every one of us will have to help. We’ll have to sleep less, train less, meditate less, and research more. All of us.”
Micah kicked his heels up onto the table. “That sounds boring.”
“It may be,” Ceris said through gritted teeth. “But it’s the only idea we have.”
“And if we find something, it’ll be worth it,” Izaera added.
Ceris rolled up the map. “Then, it’s decided. Izaera and I will search for libraries tomorrow, and we will start our research the next day.”
I stepped out of the conference room and turned toward my bedroom.
“Nadine,” Micah called. I slowed down and let him catch up with me. “You were quiet in there.”
I shrugged, not sure how to answer. It wasn’t as if I made a habit of speaking up.
“How are your days with your buddies?” I asked, hearing the jealousy and irritation in my words.
He smiled. “Do you miss me, darling?”
Shaking my head, I hurried my steps down the corridor.
“I know why you’re walking fast, darling,” Micah said, sounding annoyed. “Point taken. Can you please wait?”
Huffing, I slowed down. “You don’t need to walk with me.”
“I know, but I’ve barely seen you the last five days, and I have two things to talk to you about.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh?”