The demigods areon high alert as we hurry through the palace, ready to fight any Asura who come at us. But the corridors are empty. No one sees us as we make our way to the gardens.
The sky is red, always red now because of the wards around the domain, so it’s hard to tell what time of day it is, but my body clock tells me it’s late afternoon.
Pakshiraj lays curled on his side on the grass, his back to us, the green dome bright around his body.
“Oh shit,” Joe says. “I remember this. I remember him shifting to this form. I was here. I didn’t know thunderbirds could do this.”
“They haven’t been able ta since the Deva left.” The knowledge is just there in me head. “Something’s changed since Mizikiel was freed. This ward is keeping Pakshiraj in his human form and weakening him. We gots ta free him.” I stride over to the pillar responsible for keeping him caged.
The symbols are the same as the ones on the nest. I tap in the combination I know will undo the wards. The green sheen shudders and drops.
Pakshiraj is free, but he doesn’t move.
Dharma and Chaya exchange glances.
“Pakshiraj?” Joe calls out softly, taking a tentative step forward.
I sense no breath, Garu says from around Bina’s neck.
“He isn’t breathing,” Bina relays for the group.
Ida sniffs the air. He does not smell dead.
Not dead,Lola echoes.
I scamper along his large frame and stop by his face. His eyes are closed, and yeah, he’s barely breathing. His skin has a sickly green sheen to it. The fucking ward must have affected him in more ways than one.
“Pakshiraj.” I poke his cheek. “Wake up. We gots ta go. Leela needs us.” His eyes shift beneath his lids like dreaming eyes do. “Hey! Stop dreamin’ ’bout killing the fucker and wake up so we can go do it for real!”
“Maybe he’s gone into some kind of coma,” Dharma suggests. “The ward could have done that to him.” She crouches beside him and takes his pulse. “Steady pulse. Strong.”
“We need to think of another plan,” Bina says.
Frustration makes me chest tight. “Thereisno other plan. We need him to get through the wards and rally the unaffected thunderbirds. We need him to fly to Leela and save her.”
“Blue, even if he did get through the wards, we have no way of finding Leela. She has to call him for him to go to her,” Joe reminds me.
My heart sinks because he’s right. The only way for Pakshiraj to go directly to Leela is for her to summon him. I’d thought he’d have time to search for her, but now that Mizikiel knows where she is, now that he’s gone to kill her, we don’t have that luxury.
Panic squeezes the breath from my lungs. Because I have no plan now. “He’s going to kill her. He’s going to kill my Leela.” The thread of hope that I’ve been holding on to frays and snaps. Dark spots fill my vision, and the world begins to tilt. “No…No, no, no.”
The voices of the demigods and anchors are a buzz around me. I fall back against Pakshiraj’s arm, my heart racing.
I can’t lose her. I can’t lose my Leela.
My brain itches, and a voice fills my head.We will not lose her.
I pull away from him, heart hammering at my ribs. “What the?—”
He stands in one fluid motion, and all of us stagger away from him. “The lies are dying. The truth is surfacing. The balance of this world is resetting even as Mizikiel attempts to end it all. It is as it must be. The reset before the end.”
“What are you talking about?” Dharma asks.
He looks down at her, his expression filled with sorrow. “I remember it all now. The wrongness of it. But it is done, and we cannot allow any more atrocity. The way forward must be life.” He looks down at me. “You, little Blue, are a beacon. You are a part of her even though you are separate. Will you fly with me to find her?”
Fly…Motherfucker. I hadn’t thought this through. Fly. On his back. In the sky. High. My breath comes fast and shallow.
Pakshiraj crouches and looks me in the eyes. “You are small, but you have a courageous heart. It would be my honor to carry you to your Leela. Will you help me save her?”
