“Here in Hawaii, we're used to odd weather,” the woman said. “But this is bizarre.”
The camera panned up to show a brilliant blue sky on the right and a storm on the left, complete with pelting rain and thunder. There was a distinct line between them, with the cloudy side as dark as night, lit only by the occasional lightning bolt. It reminded me of the Land of Dreams in the Greek Underworld. Except there, the darkness was peaceful.
The camera moved back to the woman. “We often see rain coming in great sheets, traveling slowly and creating a clear division. But this phenomenon isn't moving. There is a storm hovering on the mauka side of the street.” Again, the camera moved. This time, it went sideways to show rain pouring down just four feet away. The camera returned to the reporter. It looks as if the sky has split in two. Our local weather experts cannot explain this. Several groups are blaming the Fey for this and demanding that the Faerie God provide an explanation.”
We looked at Azrael.
“Damn it all!” Azrael stood up and headed for the tracing room. “I'd better make a statement.”
“Religious groups believe this is a sign of the end of times. Many say the man who claimed to be King Arthur was not a fraud, and they should have heeded his words. She glanced up at the sky. “For now, Hawaii stands still with our sky, breath held as we wait for whatever will come next.”
I turned the phone around and stopped the video to text Sommer back. I didn't have an answer for her, but at least I could tell her it was likely god-related, and I was on it.
“It's the machine,” Finn said with his slight Irish accent. With his black hair flopping forward and his green eyes flashing, he looked like a movie star. You'd never guess it to look at him, but his only god talent was shifting into a swan.
Transformation. I could have smacked myself on the forehead.
“You think the machine is affecting the weather in Hawaii?” Pan asked.
Before I could answer, Horus did, speaking slowly, as if Pan were a moron, “It's a transformation—one kind of weather changing into another. Thetransformationwas halted. Finn's right; it's the machine.”
“But the machine affects souls, not the weather,” Pan said.
Odin leaned forward. “If it is malfunctioning, it could affect other things, especially if it's crossing the Aether to send its influence over the world.” He looked around at our friends. “We haven't considered the scale of this. Agwusi built this machine to collect souls from Earth. If it's already affecting the weather, what is it doing to the souls of the dead?”
Hades stood up. “I need to check on my territory.”
“I should text Jesus too.” I typed out a text and just as I hit send, Re and Torrent returned.
Hades paused halfway to the door.
I saw why—Torr looked worried, and Re looked furious.
“What happened?” Thor stood up.
“Nothing. It's gone,” Re growled. “They moved the machine.”
“And without the mirror in it, we can't track it,” Torr added.
“Maybe we should make an announcement,” Pan said. “My father could herald it.”
“What do you wanna say?” Viper motioned at Pan. “Should we tell all the gods that Agwusi has built a machine to replace them, and it's malfunctioning?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Thor leaned on the table. “You know exactly what that would accomplish,Pan. It would cause a panic.”
Horus shook his head at Pan.
Thor wasn't making a play on Pan's name. Pan held the magic of Panic. He was the source of the word. But panic wasn't always a bad thing.
“It would cause a panic, but the gods would direct their fear at Agwusi. We wouldn't be the only ones hunting her.” I looked at my husbands as Re and Torrent sat down, and Hades leaned against the wall. “We'd have thousands of gods after Agwusi. If we have Hermes add a number for them to text if they see her, they'd do all the work for us.”
“She's never visible anyway,” Finn reminded me. “I don't think this will help.”
“Having a thousand minds on the issue is better than twenty,” Odin said. “Even if they don't find her, they may think of a way for us to catch her.”
Pan grinned at Horus. “Who's the idiot now?”
