Nobody had ever had my heart, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to give it to anybody.
I wasn’t sure that I even wanted everything that Cyrus had to offer. I definitely wanted his protection, and whatever influence his power could afford me: a dweller-turned-god navigating blindly through Topia. I was unsure of my place, and that uncertainty became so much more as I watched Willa with her Abcurses. I had poured blood, sweat and tears into advocating for the dwellers, into fighting for a better dweller lifestyle. I had died for my dweller cause, only to be brought back as a god.
What kind of twisted fate was that?
I tried to pull myself from my head, to listen as everyone filled Willa in on what had happened after we had both blacked out. Most of it I already knew, or had pieced together myself. Staviti was in love with Pica, Pica was obsessed with … everything—Rau andWillyespecially. Staviti stopped his attack because he was outnumbered, and because Pica turned up. And now we were here, stuck with the Goddess of Insanity while Willa tried to swindle her way into a separate residence on the other side of the platform.
I followed along after them as we left the room and exited into one of Pica’s chaotic gardens, listening in near-admiration as Willa carefully navigated the goddess’s craziness. I supposed that Willa’s own mother had prepared her quite adequately for dealing with the crazy mood-swings of an unbalanced woman. In no time at all, she had managed to convince Pica that it would be evenmorelovely if she lived separately, as far away from Pica’s own residence as she could manage, without actually leaving the platform. As soon as Pica agreed, it was as though her craziness caught a whole new wind. She started planning right there on the spot.
“Youmustpick a colour-scheme, Willy,” she announced. “I will fetch the best builder in Topia and he will build you something incredible, but you must pick your colours first.”
Willa was nodding and the rest of us were grinning as Pica finally ran off in the direction that Willa had managed to convince her would be the perfect place to live.
“Do you think you will be safer with us, or with Cyrus?” Willa was serious now, turning her attention to me.
“Cyrus,” I replied, before snapping my mouth shut.What? What the hell!I hadn’t meant to say that.
“You’re probably right,” she replied, her forehead creasing as she tapped at her chin, apparently deep in thought. “We need to keep you hidden as much as possible …”
She trailed off as Pica returned, striding out of her house with several waves of material flowing out behind her in a cascade of colours.
“How about lilac?” she asked, fanning out one of the sections of material, displaying the light purple colour.
“What is the lilac going to be for?” Willa asked, sounding a bit afraid.
“Everything!” Pica announced, glowing. “Once you pick a colour, youmustcommit! Loyalty is love, my dear. How about magenta? Orange? Topaz?”
I tried to mask my snort, but Willa heard it anyway, shooting me a narrow-eyed glare. I could tell that she was trying to figure out how to escape from Pica’s decorating obsession, but I already knew that she had lost the battle.
