Don’t try lying to a Pisces. They may act like they believe you, but they don’t.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, I stare at the beach and, for the hundredth time, watch Natia dance with the elements in the glittering sunshine. The image is so vivid in my mind because of the sheer beauty and strength she demonstrated. I know it’s one hundred times, because it’s been one hundred days since they took her light from this world, and this has been my ritual every day since.
“Where’s Duncan?” Zee hollers from inside the cave.
“Outside,” Aaden rumbles.
“Again?” Zee mumbles, coming around the waterfall.
His footsteps grow closer until he halts next to me. I side eye him as he tilts his head up and sniffs the sea air. It’s something I’ve caught him doing several times. I don’t think he understands he’s scenting Natia on the rolling sea.
“Why do you come out here?” he asks.
“To remember, to clear my head, to meditate, to replace anger with understanding.”
“Does it work?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
He shoves his hands in his front pockets. “If you find something that does, let me know.”
“I’m not sure anything will ever make me fully understand her decisions. But they were her choices.”
“Yeah, and we must continue her fight, not let her sacrifice be in vain, blah, blah, fucking blah,” he sighs. “Did she stop for one second to think what her sacrifice might do to us? How it might tear us apart? She was the heart of us all. She held us together, made us fit like an impossible jigsaw. Now we have a scattering of gods, the devil, warlocks, and whatever the fuck I am, just barely communicating in order to thwart whatever evil shit Lawrence has up his sleeve. We should operate as the army she pulled us together to be. Instead, we communicate tidbits of info and then avoid each other to wallow in our own pain.”
I turn to look at him. “I agree. It’s time we behave like the powerful beings we are and turn our combined power against the enemy.”
“We should meet with Archan and see where he’s focusing his search.”
I fold my arms and glance out to the glittering sea. “From what Jed says, he’s completely detached from the threats circling us. They are trying to get him involved, but grief affects us all in different ways, on different levels and for different lengths of time. The man has been around eons, his grief for the first person he gave his heart to may take years. In fact, he may never recover.”
“He doesn’t have to recover, he just has to channel that emotion into destroying Lawrence and his supporters before he’s able to open Tartarus.”
“Guys,” Aaden says. We both turn to face him as he steps around the waterfall, obscuring the entrance to the cave. “We have Zac on the phone.”
“No time like the present,” I mutter, following Aaden and Zee into the main cave.
Emi looks up from her perch on the dining table. I frown at her. She’s hiding something. I don’t know what, but centuries of reading people has made me adept at knowing when someone is concealing secrets. It’s also the reason she disappears when Jed visits. He would see straight through her. Whatever it is, it can’t bring back the woman whose soul is scattered to the four winds. She can’t rewind time. So for now, I will wait and let her keep her secrets.
“Zac, we are all here,” I call out.
“We have intel that Lawrence is seeking the most powerful sorcerer on Earth. Do you have any idea who that could be?”
I pull out the chair at the head of the table and slide into it, my thoughts whirling with possibilities. The answer depends on one major factor. “What does he want this sorcerer for?” I ask.
Silence stretches like an elastic band in the room. I glance at Emi, whose face has gone tight. But she doesn’t offer any information.
A loud sigh breaks the silence before Zac’s irritated voice comes through the phone. “The last seal from Tartarus requires someone to perform a powerful spell. It’s a reversal of the one that originally sealed the doors.”
I run my hand through my hair. I know exactly who Lawrence is looking for. The problem is, I no longer know where she is.
“Marsha,” I state.
“The sorceress we went to see in the bayou?” Jed interjects.
“Yes, but she’s no longer there.”
“How do you know?” Jed asks.
