“Okay, yeah,” she said.“That’s worse.”
“So, we’re stuck this way?”Lu said.“Our bodies and souls changed by a monster that’s dead and transformed by a lost god’s power which shouldn’t even exist anymore?”She shrugged.“At least this time we chose why we were changed.”
“And Headwaters is dead,” I noted.
Lu flashed a smile that was mostly fang.“Headwaters is very dead.”
“But Atë is still out there kicking,” Raven said.“So is Mithra, the ass.”
“Apep?”Josie asked.
“Big boy over there took care of him.”Raven pointed at Cupid.“My hero.”He sighed and batted his eyelashes.
Cupid scratched his cheek with his middle finger.
“Back to what you said earlier,” I said to Cupid.“We have a choice that will change our lives and deaths?”
“Yes.I can try to separate your souls.To take apart the piece of your soul which was sewn into Lula’s and the piece of hers which was sewn into yours.It would be…a delicate procedure.There is no guarantee one or both of you would survive it.But…”
“There’s always a but,” Raven said.
“But,” Cupid went on, ignoring him, “if you wanted me to, I would do so.”
“What would even be the advantage to that now?”Lula asked.“It’s been so long.”
“Atë, right?”Raven asked.
Cupid nodded.“Atë.If I separated your souls, you would no longer be able to use the spells in the book.You would no longer be the hands to hold it and the voice to wield the spells of the gods.You could no longer be used as her tools.”
“If we can’t be used, she’ll just want to kill us,” I said.
“She wants to kill you now,” Raven agreed, “but won’t.Not so long as she can use you to access the magic .”
“Headwaters is dead,” Cupid said.“The monster that changed you is dead.But the monster’s master remains.”
“We can’t kill her using the book.You told us that,” I said.
Lu stiffened, then relaxed.
We had tried to use two spells in the book to kill a monster, and it had nearly killed us.How much bigger a spell, how much stronger a magic, would we need to try and kill a god?
“It is not easy to kill a god,” Cupid said quietly.“I do not know if you would survive any attempt to do so.”
“And there’s no guarantee there’s a spell in the book that can kill a god,” Raven said.
“So, what you’re saying, is we can’t use the book again?Shouldn’t try?”I didn’t know if I was relieved or annoyed.The idea that Lu and I alone could wield the power, yes, to kill Headwaters, but also to protect us and those we loved, was a heady thing.
“I’m saying,” Raven noted, “that doing it comes with a pretty damn high cost.And I’ve grown fond of you.Both of you.I’d rather see us find a way to permanently remove Atë from your lives, than see your deaths.The first step for doing that would be to get the book to Ordinary, Oregon, as quickly as possible.”
“Breakfast for you,” Pamela placed a plate with a generous helping in front of me.“And for you.”She settled a plate in front of Lu.“What did I miss?”
“The gods are doing a poor job of talking the Gauges into giving up wanting to fight Atë and running instead to Oregon as fast as they can,” Elmer said.
“I like the sound of that,” Pamela said.“Run to fight another day.Or just run to live your lives how you want.What makes Oregon so special?”
“There’s a town there,” Raven said.
“The gods vacation there,” Abbi said.“And there’s a magic library that will hide the book.”
