My parents began running around the house, gathering a few things. Holden stood up and frowned at me.
“Isn’t Della dead?”
“It is a long story. But if she tells me to protect you because something bad is coming, I will listen to her.”
Sara stood up and gripped Holden. They all looked terrified, and I wished I could comfort them, but I had no fucking clue what was happening.
“Are you ready?” I asked when they all stood in front of me. They nodded, and I used my magic to take them to Crimson Castle. When we got there, Cassius immediately brought us to his father to talk about what was happening.
“They need a random home in Crimson City. No one can see them when they go, and everything they need is to be provided.” Cassius looked at his father, who immediately agreed.
“We will take care of everything.” The king looked at me and nodded.
“You guys will not leave the house until I, Della, Thea, Cassius, or Ezra tell you it’s safe.” I looked at them. “I’m sorry this isscaring you, but I do not even know what is happening right now.”
I tugged my mother to me and hugged her when she started crying.
“I am scared for you,” she whispered. “I do not want to lose you again.”
“Remember that I cannot die easily.” I frowned. “Della knows what she is doing, and I have to believe that she will save us. But we cannot worry that anyone will hurt our family. We need to know you are safe. So please stay at the house and do not go outside of it. Do not even look out of the windows. Stay hidden and out of sight.”
“We promise.” My father stepped forward and pulled me in for a hug before Holden and Sara hugged me too.
“We have to go.” I looked at all of them. “You might see stars fall from the sky; do not go outside to see what it is.”
They looked confused, but before they could ask any more questions, I took the four of us to Brim’s shed. The woods were silent as we headed inside. When we walked in, Brim was staring at us oddly from the kitchen. He was clearly about to eat but set his plate down. His eyes immediately filled with concern when he saw us. I doubted that he had visions we would be coming because he looked caught off guard. He walked out of the kitchen and stopped in front of me.
“Children, what do I owe this surprise visit to?”
I looked Brim in the eyes and sighed. “Bring forth the forgotten truth.”
Brim blinked slowly, once, twice, three—
His eyes widened as if he were seeing something amazing, then they began to glow, and he turned away from us. All of a sudden, he whipped back around and was beaming with emotion. Was it excitement or happiness? It was hard to tell.
Brim looked at all of us. “It is just as I envisioned. All four of you came.”
“Brim, what the fuck is going on?” I asked.
“Gods be saved, it is time.” He smiled. “Della is about to destroy the stars.”
Chapter 25
Della
Godsdamn Avesh. He was in the meeting room, blabbering on about the gods' book being wrong. I wasn't able to scrub his memories quickly enough when he got here, but I got rid of enough that he didn’t remember all my little clues for Haden.
But Avesh being here meant that Haden had gone to him. All my visions were coming true, and it was such a strange experience to know that I had seen this all happening 500 years ago and could not stop it before it happened. This was the fate of the gods. No matter the decisions I made with Haden, it did not change this destiny. No matter what choices I made, I was always meant to die and be in the stars. I was always meant to make sure they all fell.
My purpose was to save the gods, for good. When I watched Avesh, I couldn’t help but notice how different he was from the first time I had seen him. I had thought my memory was wrong, but as Avesh talked with Malamay, I watched howcalmhe was.
“Why were you looking at the book to begin with?” Malamay glared.
Avesh looked confused as he scratched his head. His eyebrows furrowed as he opened his mouth and closed it a few times.
“I don’t remember. I think I was just keeping up to date on new knowledge,” he finally said.
Diath was watching me, but I gave absolutely nothing away.
