“Okay, rude.” Avesh glared. “I don’t remember exactly where it is.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ezra groaned as he turned away from Avesh. He rubbed his hands over his face and then turned back to him and pointed. “You'd better start remembering, or I’ll…,” he looked around, “rip apart your books.”
Avesh stumbled back like he had been slapped. His mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, dare I would.” Ezra glared at him.
Thea and Cassius were laughing out loud at this point. I shook my head and looked at Avesh, covering the grin on my face with my hand.
“300-ish years ago is when she came? Did she say anything else?”
Avesh seemed to be thinking as he walked around. He looked at the fireplace and frowned.
“The fire upset her, so I had to put it out.” He looked at me. “She kept her back to the fireplace the entire visit. She told me a god would come, blonde hair, stormy eyes, and that it was important that he get this book. Della made it seem like maybe someone else might want it, but she never said it outright. I do remember that it was so old I thought it might break if I touched it.
“She said it would help you understand why she became a star on purpose. Which I didn’t understand at first, but now I do. Every curse has a key; that is what she said.”
“She’s cursed?”
“Well, I don’t fucking know; that is what she said.” Avesh threw his hands up in the air like he couldn’t believe that we thought he would know something.
“You are the God of Knowledge; shouldn’t you remember where you put a damn book?” Ezra stepped forward.
Avesh nodded. “Yes, that’s why I think it's odd that I can’t remember where I put it.” He turned back to the shelves and stared at them.
“You asked me if I remembered coming with Della that day, but I don’t remember ever being here with her.”
Avesh turned to me and frowned. “It was you, and I didn’t say you came with her. I said you saw her.
I glanced around, but nothing about this specific room felt familiar. My mind was racing through the memories, but nothing surfaced.
“You have to be mistaken,” I said.
Avesh smiled and looked me in the eyes. “I am not mistaken. You were asking about the God of Fate; do you not remember that either?”
What the fuck was this man talking about?
“I’m starting to think the God of Fate is a delusion.” Thea cocked her head to the side. “That would be a god with a ridiculous amount of power.”
Avesh nodded. “You found out something that day when I let you rummage through my library, but you didn’t tell me. Della walked in and saw you; she seemed concerned and tried to hide from you, but then you saw her. She followed you outside, and a few minutes later she came in by herself with that damn book.”
Cassius looked at me oddly. “I can tell by your face that you don’t remember that,” he said.
“I don’t.” I looked around the room again, hoping something would stand out. “300 years ago had to be close to when I died.”
“It was the day before.” Avesh looked at me. “I know that because Della came and woke me up the night you died. She was looking for theBook of the Dead. She woke me up at an ungodly hour to find it, but it was missing.”
I didn’t know she did that.
“Isn’t that the book your siblings were using?” Thea whispered.
“No, that was theBook of Dark Magic. TheBook of the Deadis what she used to bring Remiah back.”
“What was she going to do with the book?” I asked.
“She refused to tell me, but she was asking if she could bring someone back from the dead, just as they were. I told her no, that it had never been done before. She became irate and lost her fucking mind at me. Della thought I was lying to her. I wasn’t. No one comes back from the dead exactly like they were.”
“But I did.” I looked at Avesh and felt my heart racing.
