Connor and I didn’t talk as we moved slowly—it felt a little like we were walking in quicksand. Each step was harder and harder to take.
“Do you have any Atlantean marks?” I asked Connor, the gold still on my mind.
“Yes. Asher gave me one before our friendship blew up.”
I turned to see him lifting his shirt to reveal a very gold shimmery symbol across his chest. “Has it changed color?”
Connor blinked down at it. “Uh, yeah. Shit, it has. It was kinda bronze before, but—”
“Is gold a god color?” I interrupted.
He nodded. “Yeah, actually it is. Their blood is not like ours.” His face lit up because he was excited to see a physical change. Meanwhile, I was freaking out.
We’d reached the fountain now, barely. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be in here,” I said. “It’s almost like a force is trying to stop us going any further.”
Connor nodded. “Yes.” He gritted his teeth. “Like walking through a wall of energy. It’s so strong.”
I tried to take another step, but I couldn’t push any further. Just as I decided to back away, a band wrapped around my waist and I was jerked up into the air. It was the same movement as when I was dragged into the ocean by the dickhead gods, and sure enough, when I stopped zooming into the sky, I found myself face-to-face with Lotus.
“Why hello there, daughter. You look much more like a being I would claim now.”
I opened my mouth to insult her but paused as what she said registered.Is it more than the tattoo? Do I actually look different?
From what I could see, my hair was still purple and my body looked the same. Maybe my skin was slightly more golden, but that could be the sun I’d gotten today. I also might be a little more toned, but I hadn’t really been eating much since Asher...
Were there any other changes?
Lotus cleared her throat, a decided look of annoyance on her stunning face as she brought my attention back to her.
“What do you want?” I snapped at her, and it was nice to see she looked even more affronted. “Wasn’t killing me enough for your day? How about you fuck off and take a break from being a megalomaniac psychopath for a few hours.”
She blinked and then blinked some more. “You’re not afraid of me,” she finally said, head tilted as her eyebrows drew up tight across her face. “I don’t … understand.”
A snort laugh escaped. “You’ve already killed me. What more can you do?”
I probably shouldn’t have challenged her like that.
Lotus shook her head. “I didn’t kill you. I freed you of your mortal shell. A shell that was weak and useless and couldn’t even contain the energy inside of you. I did you a favor.”
Whatever laughter I had died off. “Please don’t do me any more ‘favors’ in the future.”
I looked down again, wondering how we were just floating up here. I could see the city of Atlantis, but it was so far below that nothing was particularly clear. “How high can you fly us?” I was curious. More curious than I should be about this shit, but … seriously, it wasn’t every day one was just floating among the clouds.
“I can go indefinitely,” she said simply. “We do not require oxygen. I could go to the end of this universe and into the next. I have crossed many universes in my long life.”
“How old are you?”
She smiled. It was smug. “I am eternal. I was there at the beginning and I will be there at the end.”
Okay, then. I guess her smugness made sense.
I tried to move my limbs, but everything except my head was locked down. I waited for the panic to hit me, only it never came. There was not an ounce of freaking out happening, and that in itself almost caused me to lose it.
I have changed.
I was different now, and it had happened long before she destroyed my “shell,” as she so eloquently put it.
“Where’s Connor?” I asked.
