While Davyn gathered his things, Urian pulled a small box out of his backpack and handed it to Wulf. “I got that for you the other day.”
Wulf opened the antique box to find an old medallion that glowed a peculiar shade of burgundy. “What is this?”
“Your soul medallion.”
He gaped. “What?”
“Since you didn’t have yours, I did a little horse-trading with Loki and got it back for you.”
“Horse-trading, how?”
“Don’t worry about it.” When he started to leave, Wulf grabbed his wrist to hold him there. “Why did you—”
“For the kids. I didn’t want anyone else owning a piece of you.” And seeing the god mark on Styxx’s back and some of the stories he knew about it had gotten his mind going into dangerous places. So long as Loki held that soul …
This was safer for everyone. Especially with what was coming for them.
No one needed their souls in the wrong hands. First rule of life.Be careful with your soul. It’s the only one you have. And once you sell it, it’s hard to get it back.
“I feel like a thank-you is so inadequate. What can I do for you in return?”
Urian snorted. “Don’t lose it again. And remember that Helios is on the move. I don’t know what he’s planning, but keep Cassandra and the kids on lockdown.”
“I always do.”
That was true.
Inclining his head, Urian and Davyn left. But Urian still couldn’t shake the bad feeling in his stomach. The gods were stirring for war again.
And they were in the center of it.
December 21, 2012
“Simi … are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Absolutely!” Simi grinned at her sister Xirena as they entered the basement of her akri’s temple on Katateros. “Now where’s a light switch?”
“There’s not one.” Xirena breathed fire onto an old spiderweb-covered torch. As soon as one lit, it spread light to all the others in the dark marble room. The flames danced along the wall, adding creepy shadows to the already creepy environment.
Simi stepped back at the number of statues that were housed here. While she’d known her akri had putted them here centuries and centuries ago, she’d never actually visited them, especially since they made her akri very unhappy. “The Simi didn’t remember there being so many … Akra had broked bad on all these nonquality peoples.”
“I remember.” Xirena’s tone was low and breathless. “It was not a pretty day.”
Simi arched a brow. “You were there, Big sissy?”
Xirena nodded. “Xedrix, too.” Xedrix was their brother who’d been Apollymi’s most favored Charonte after their mother’s death. But Xed had deflected … no, defected when akri-Styxx opened the portal in New Orleans and let him out. Now he owned a club in New Orleans where the Simi got to eats lots of good seafood.
“Ooo, so what happened, Big sissy?”
“The bitch-goddess Apollymi was furious. They all died screaming. Excepted for two.”
“Who two?”
“Dikastis and Bet’anya. She tried to keep the bitch-goddess from killing her baby, but the bitch-goddess didn’t listen. She yanked it right out of her belly, and then turned her into one of these.”
Simi touched her own stomach in sympathetic pain. “Why was Akra so mean?”
Xirena shrugged. “The bitch-goddess was always mean. She only likes you and her son … and Kat and Mia.”
