“Cyrus and Emmy will station the Original Gods at the remaining rings,” Coen reminded me.
“But the Original Gods don’t actuallycareabout the dwellers.” I sighed, admitting the small fact that I had been deliberately ignoring in our entire plan. “They’re only helping because of us. Because of Staviti. We might have won their allegiance to me, but they have no allegiance to the dwellers. They have no allegiance to the sols, either. These people are being torn from their homes and sent into unfamiliar lands, only to join hundreds more who are uprooted and sent onwards. They need someone to guide them who actually cares about them.”
“How do you still surprise me, Willa-toy?” Yael asked from behind me, and I spun away from Coen, running into his arms.
He caught me up, lifting my feet from the ground as his lips pressed against mine.
“I want to hide out here and be a god with you,” I muttered against his lips. “But I can’t, because I’m not just a god. I’m a dweller, too, and these are my people. These are Emmy’s people. My … father’s people.”
“And we’re your family,” Aros added, extracting me from Yael and pulling me into his arms, stealing my lips in a warm, soft kiss. “So that makes them our people, too.”
“We have separated ourselves a lot,” Coen admitted. “From the sols in Blesswood, and at the Peak. From the gods in Topia. But the dwellers aren’t a danger to us, so maybe it’s a bad habit in this situation.”
“We don’t need to separate ourselves from them,” I agreed, turning slightly in Aros’s arms. “We can join them on their level.Helpthem evacuate instead of just ordering them to. We can show them that they aren’t just dirt beneath the shoes of the gods. They’re just as important as we are.”
“Call Strength and Trickery,” Coen suggested. “I think it’s time we made our way to the sixth ring.”
I grinned, closing my eyes as I reached for Yael’s hand, remaining within the comforting circle of Aros’s arms.
Rome. Siret. Come back to me.
They were there within a matter of clicks, their faces washed in alertness.
“What’s happening?” Siret demanded, just as Coen had.
“Rocks has decided that she can’t leave the dwellers and the gods alone with each other,” Yael replied, his lips twisting up into a grin. “She wants to head to the sixth ring and help evacuate them. She’s convinced the gods are being mean to them.”
“They are.” Rome shrugged. “They’re gods. They don’t have an identity unless they’re being mean to dwellers and sols.”
Siret chuckled. “Well then I guess that’s decided. No bathing. No sleep. It’s time to supervise the big people and the little people so that we still have people left when all of this is over.”
My heart swelled, and I looked upon the five amazing beings that I was in love with, marvelling at how they had switched gears so suddenly. We had fallen into a routine of fighting the forces of the world and then hiding away together, disappearing into our own little bubble where we loved each other, took from each other, and replenished our energy together. We needed it, to soothe the soul-bond and to soothe ourselves. It was important to us, but helping the dwellers was important tome—and they were willing to break our pattern to do what I needed.
“I love you all so much,” I blurted, tearing up as I broke away from Aros and spun to stare at them all.
“We love you too,” Coen answered for all of them, but there was a spark of mischief in his eyes as he began to walk away, taking the road that would lead us out of town and back toward Blesswood. “But I heard what was in your mind when Yael and Aros called me over. So … you owe us.”
I flushed, ducking my head down and hurrying to follow him. Behind me, two of the guys chuckled, and I was pretty sure it was Yael and Aros. I was surprised that Yael hadn’t rebelled against the idea, considering his unwillingness to share. Maybe I had underestimated their need to have me alone, to re-establish our bond in this brief quiet time that we had before the servers descended. And still … they had given it up for me.
I fell back a little, waiting until Yael reached my side, and then I reached out and captured his hand with mine, twisting our fingers together. He smiled at me, and we took off at a run, disregarding how it would drain our energy further, because we had more important things to think about.
We ran hard and fast all the way back to the sixth ring, and as we were nearing their main settlement, it became clear that we had been right to come. The gods hadn’t arrived yet—Cyrus and Emmy must have been having trouble convincing them to come to Minatsol, where they would be weakened. The dwellers were in chaos, scrambling amongst the huts and spilling onto the roads, yelling at each other. Several of them were simply stopped in their tracks, crying. There wasn’t any order, or any single point of calm for them to gather. I couldn’t see any sign of the leaders from the previous three rings.
At first as we approached, the people didn’t take much notice of us, but after a few clicks they began to quieten and track our progress. Maybe it was the mania that seemed to be spreading through them, or maybe news of our arrival in each ring had spread, because there were no repeats of what had occurred in the other rings. There were no screaming girls running to the Abcurses, and nobody stepped forward to challenge our authority. They looked upon us with awe and fear. As with the other rings, many of these people had never thought to set eyes on a god, and now six of us were striding right between their houses.
At one point, a woman ran out to our group, and we halted, only a few paces from the centre of the town. She held out a basket, and I could tell that she had packed it in preparation of her evacuation inward. She lifted back the cloth on top, showing breads, cheeses, fruits, and cakes. When I didn’t immediately take it, she thrust it forward a little more adamantly, and Siret, who was the closest to her, stepped forward with a smile. Instead of taking the basket, he took several of the cakes and broke them apart, dividing up the food between all six of us before thanking her. She smiled, tears running down her face, and I realised that she still hadn’t said a word.
I was suddenly uncomfortable with the realisation that this woman, who was a dweller just the same as I had been, was crying over the simple fact that we had eaten her food. A child rushed forward, stopping beside the woman and holding up a jug of water; a cup arrived soon after, carried by another child. The woman put her arms around them; they were hers. I reached out and took the cup, filling it and drinking before passing it to the guys. They all did the same.
“Thank you,” I said, including each of them in the sentiment before I settled my gaze on the woman again. “Where are the leaders?”
“They’re holding counsel in Leader Yennek’s hut,” she replied. “I will show you the way.”
She replaced the cloth over her basket and muttered to her children to go back to the house with it before she turned and began to hurry down the road.
The chaos had almost completely died down by that time, and everyone had gathered around the centre of the town. They kept their distance, but watched us keenly, waiting for news of what was coming, or orders on what they should do.
“Everyone needs to remain calm,” I announced, raising my voice. An eerie hush immediately fell over them. “What you’ve heard is true: the Creator has raised an army of the dead, and they are marching toward the ninth ring. They will reach it by morning, and then they will continue to move inwards. This army has one purpose alone. They have been created to wipe this world clean.”
