“That would be fine with a normal machine, but this machine sorts souls. Every tweak you make can destroy a person's immortal essence. Do you understand that? When you break a soul, you've destroyed a life. You can't just say you're sorry and fix it. You are being reckless with the lives of everyone in existence.”
“It's not reckless if I know the outcome, and I do. God has assured me of my success.”
“TryggulfR, this person is insane. You need to come home.” Fenrir held out his hand. “Please, Son.”
Ty stared at his father's hand.
“I'm as sane as you are.” Agwusi lifted her chin.
“You stared into the Aether, didn't you?” I asked. “How long did you look? Long enough to find the secrets of gods?”
Everyone went still, all eyes on Agwusi.
She blinked, her mouth opening, and looked from me to Ty and back.
“Agwusi?” Ty asked. “Did you look into the Aether? Is that how you know where gods hide their treasures?”
“There's no harm in it,” she said to Ty. “The memories are right there for anyone to see. I was taught how to linger and look.”
“Taught?” I asked. “By whom?”
Agwusi lifted her chin and grinned at me. “You know who.”
“No, I don't. Who taught you?”
“You have felt their touch upon your life, Godhunter,” she insisted. “You know who taught me.”
“Who, Agwusi?” Ty demanded.
Agwusi's smile turned serene as she looked at Ty. “God. The one true God.”
It was silent for five seconds. Then Fenrir burst into laughter.
Odin grimaced. “You have lost your wits to the Aether. I don't know how you learned to linger, but you should have known better. The Aether is a living realm. It takes pieces of the mind—memories usually. But if you linger too long, staring into its hoard, it will take your sanity as payment for its secrets. That is a fact, Agwusi. You are not the first to think you could withstand the Aether.”
“If I'm crazy, it was worth it.” She chuckled. “But I did not imagine God. He came to me before I looked and showed mehow.” She looked around at us and shook her head. “You are not gods. I'm not a god. But that doesn't mean there is no God. Have you never considered that?”
A shiver ran down my spine.
“Starlight?” Viper whispered.
“Faerie and Al have both noticed a presence beyond their own,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
“They've noticed something powerful watching, possibly doing more than watching,” I went on. “It's been a while since we spoke of it.” I looked at Odin. “Agwusi is right. Just because we claim to be gods, it doesn't mean there isn't a real one.”
Odin scowled. “Yes, I agree. But it also doesn't make the words of an insane person true.”
“Could there really be a god?” Trevor asked his father.
“The one you should ask is Re,” Agwusi said.
Again, she was right. Re was one of the twenty council members who ruled Atlantis. His name was Reandar, and along with the other members of the High Council of Atlantis, he destroyed Mars. The planet had once been as bountiful as Earth. Then the High Twenty conducted an experiment meant to harness the solar winds and the electromagnetic field of Mars. Instead of harnessing power, they destroyed the electromagnetic field, and solar winds destroyed the planet. Despite the failure, the High Twenty were the most powerful, adept magic-users of Atlantis. If anyone could verify the existence of God, they could.
I looked at Re. “Did the council know about a real god?”
“No, we never saw proof of any such being, even when we killed a planet. Nothing punished us or tried to stop us,” Re said. “Of course, that doesn't mean God doesn't exist. But I will say this: if there is a god,he is either stupid, apathetic, or cruel. We do more for humans than thisimaginarygod does.”
