* * *
Card shook me awake.We were in the art deco garage.
I stumbled from the truck, up the stairs and down the hall, Lula just ahead of me, on her feet but weaving a bit.
Lorde made concerned whines and barks, walking beside Lula and pushing her head up under her hand, trying to help support her.
People were talking, maybe even talking to me, asking me things.But I couldn’t make out what they were saying, couldn’t understand their questions.
Didn’t care.
Then there was a bed.Hands pulled away the blankets.I tipped into cool sheets, Lula beside me.
Blankets winged softly over us, and I used the last of my energy to roll toward Lula.I wrapped my arm over her, my bare feet—where had my boots gone?—tucked together with hers.
The voices moved away, singing softly, I thought, a song about little stars twinkling.
The lights went out and so did I.
* * *
The hunters were tryingto be casual.I could see it in their body language, the stiff shoulders, the forced smiles.
I paused in the doorway to the control room to locate the object of their discomfort.
Not object.Objects.Plural.
Specifically, Raven and Cupid sitting at the table, one looking like a biker with his bald head, diamond earrings, tattoos, and leather vest, the other looking like a man most comfortable in a hoodie, jeans, and sandals.
Both of them were as relaxed as could be, drinking from mugs.
Lula stopped behind me.Usually she would push ahead, eager to take on the problem before me.But she leaned into me instead, her forehead, her full body pressed against me.
Lorde circled our feet, then sat next to us, waiting.
“Gods,” Lu mumbled.
I nodded and clasped my hands over her arms wrapped around my waist.“Not done with them yet, I suppose.”
She didn’t move, just stayed there, holding me, breathing.
Something had changed in her.I didn’t know if it was the god magic we’d wielded and how it had marked her.I didn’t know if it was the exhaustion from casting the spells and breaking time.
I didn’t know if it was finally, finally killing the monster who had attacked us all those years ago.
But now she touched me constantly, turned her face away from the world as if she were done with its light and noise, a weary soldier finally come home from a lifetime on the front lines.
“Want to go back to bed?”I asked.
“Yes.”She pushed away, dragging her hand along my back as she came to stand next to me.“But I think I want coffee more.”
She strolled into the room, pulling me along with her.
“Morning,” Raven called out.“Or should I say afternoon?”
“Is it that late?”I asked.
“Half past three,” Elmer noted, taking a seat at the table, but not near the gods who sat opposite each other.“Not that any of us have been up for long.”
