I turn towards the shop that houses the Order. My magical boots feel heavy, and it’s not just the mud. For the first time in my life, walking through these doors feels like walking into a trap of my own making. I’m carrying secrets that could get me killed, and the worst part is, I’m not even sure whose side I’m on anymore.
Pushing open the door to the shop, I make my way to the back and below to where the Order hides out.
Cormac greets me first, his expression sour enough to curdle milk.
“You’re alive,” he notes, sounding almost disappointed. “Taye said the sea was trying to eat the docks.”
“It had a go,” I say. “I persuaded it otherwise.”
“Persuaded it?” Cormac raises an eyebrow, looking at me over the rim of his spectacles. He’s standing behind a desk that looks like it’s been hit by a paper tornado.
“The energy readings were catastrophic,” Taye pipes up as Finnian glowers at me. “It was like a sentient tsunami.”
“It was fine. It’s gone now,” I say, casually. “You know your visions aren’t always completely accurate.”
The dig is something I would never have attempted before, despite thinking it. She purses her thin lips primly and sits back.
“And you did this alone?” Finnian asks.
“Who else is there?” I reply lightly.
“Hmm,” Cormac says. “And you are sure you got rid of it?”
“As sure as I can be for a sea thing. It didn’t gopooflike the land creatures.”
“That tracks,” Finnian says. “Sea creatures are a different breed. We don’t usually get them around here.” He frowns.
Probably because that Tidewraith eats them before they make it to shore.
“Hmm?” Taye asks, her eyes fixing on me.
“I didn’t say anything,” I say, my blood running cold. Can she sense thoughts now? Since when?
She holds my gaze for a second too long, her pupils dilated.
If the veil is thinning enough to let gods through, maybe it’s thinning enough to let a seer poke around inside my head. I force my mind blank, picturing a brick wall. A very boring, very sturdy brick wall.
“Just tired,” I add, aiming for casual and landing somewhere near defensive. “Fighting water demons takes it out of a girl.”
“You should rest,” Cormac says. “But stay close. If that thing reforms, we need you.”
“You know where to find me.” I turn on my heel and beat a hasty retreat before Taye decides to dig a little deeper. Climbing the stairs back to the shop feels like escaping a prison cell. The air outside is sunny and freezing, but compared to the stifling suspicion downstairs, it tastes like freedom.
Or, at least, the illusion of it.
I start walking towards the hill and the haunted mansion where three gods are waiting. I told them I want answers. I just hope the price of those answers isn’t my soul—or my sanity.
By the time Marrow House comes into view, my mood has plummeted. I’ve gone rogue. Officially. Even if the Order doesn’t know it yet, I’ve drawn a line in the sand, and I’m standing on the side with the gods and monsters.
The house looms against the blue sky, ruining the view. It looks exactly like the kind of place where bad decisions go to die, which feels entirely appropriate given my current trajectory.
The front door swings open before I even reach the top step. Dreven stands in the threshold, filling the space with that imposing, dark magnetism that makes my breath hitch despite my annoyance. He’s ditched the wet leathers for dry ones that cling in all the right places, looking unfairly composed while I feel like a walking disaster zone.
“You returned,” he states, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through the soles of my boots.
“I said I would.” I brush past him, the temperature dropping ten degrees as I step into his personal space. “Don’t look so smug. I’m here for the answers you promised. And food. If there isn’t a sandwich in myimmediate future, I’m reopening the fissure and throwing you all back in.”
“Threats, threats,” Dastian says and waves his hand.
