Mithra showed no emotion, but something about him changed.His power grew darker, heavier.
The panic was back, telling me to run,now.
I pulled Lula closer, bracing for the explosion.
Then…
…we were in the truck, canted onto the shoulder of the road, the black clouds of an old storm rumbling away across the distant New Mexico horizon.
“Brogan?”Lula reached for me as I reached for her, our hands (always) finding each other.
“I’m fine.You?”
She nodded.“Abbi?”
“I’m right here,” Abbi said from outside my door.“I called him.I could see him, so I called him because we needed help.We needed a lot of help.”
“Who?”Lula asked.“Who did you call, Abbi?”
“Me,” Raven, the trickster god said, leaning into Lula’s open window.“She called me.”
CHAPTERFOUR
Raven had copper skin and short, spiky dark hair.He wore a forest-green T-shirt that saidBlow Your Balls—Crow’s Nestacross the front with faded jeans that had holes in the thigh.
A glint of trouble in his eyes matched his sly smile.
“We really have to stop meeting like this,” he said.
“What are you doing here?”I demanded.
A god.Another damn god.How many did we have to deal with in one day?
“I called him,” Abbi said.“I told you, I called him.We were in trouble.And Raven likes me.”
Raven shrugged.“I do like her.”
“The hell?”The shock of Atë hunting us, of Mithra trapping us, of Cupid saving us, rolled through me, adrenalin and relief spiking.“Whydid you call him?”
“Because he knew where I was.”Cupid came into view and stood behind Abbi.He still wore his warrior god trappings—armor and wings and weapons and power.
“We don’t need any more gods,” I half-shouted.
Lu’s hand landed on my arm.“These are better than some.”
“Most,” Raven said.“Better than most.”
“We need to talk,” Cupid said, all business.“Brogan, Lula, I’m going to take us somewhere safe where we won’t be overheard.”
“A real place?”Abbi asked.“On Earth?Near Route 66?”
“Yes,” Cupid said.“Real and on Earth.”
“If you want my opinion…” Raven said.
“I don’t,” Cupid said.
“The beach is beautiful this time of year,” Raven went on, undeterred.“Oregon beaches in particular.”
