“And you think the machine can correct fate?” I asked.
“I've been assured that it can. When the process of transitioning souls runs smoothly again, everything else will fall into place. Transformation is a major part of the soul's journey. Without the proper relic guiding it, the machine misfired, transforming the physical instead of the spiritual. You took theworst possible relic from the machine. Those issues you spoke of are your fault, Vervain.”
“You made the machine. This is allyourfault, Agwusi!” Ty stood up and stormed over to her. He leaned onto the chair's arm and brought his face down to hers. “Tell us how to dismantle it. Now.”
“You cannot.”
“I can, and I will. I'll either do it under your guidance or without. What would you prefer?”
“If you try to dismantle the machine, it will protect itself, Ty. Don't do it.”
“Tell us how to safely dismantle it, or I will take your love for Ty away.” I lifted my chin when she spun her head to face me.
“I'm telling you the truth. You cannot dismantle it. There will be grave repercussions. Vervain, please. Try to understand. This is the best path forward. God gave me the design for the machine. He is infallible.”
“If there is a real god, why would he want a machine? Is he lazy?”
“No, but humans have lived too long with their belief in gods. If he changes things back to the way they were originally, with souls going to the Void to be reborn, it will hurt the souls. This was the best way to remove the influence of fake gods while giving the souls a proper afterlife.”
I frowned, considering it.
“V!” Ty grabbed my wrist and hauled me to my feet. “Remember what you told me. She's tricky. That machine maydo what she says it will, but it's still a machine. It will break down. And every time it breaks down, humans will suffer. It's better to keep things the way they are now.”
“Ty, you don't believe that,” Agwusi said.
“I only said I believed in your vision because I believed in you. You clouded my mind. Now, I see what my family has been trying to tell me. You're a manipulative bitch trying to tear the world apart. Well, you're done, Agwusi. Now, tell me how to dismantle it, or I will drag you in there and pull it apart in front of you. That way, if it blows up, it will take both of us with it.”
“Ty, don't do this!” Agwusi leaned forward as much as she could.
“This is your last chance.”
“You cannot take it apart. I'm telling the truth!” She shrieked when he pulled her to her feet. “A true god designed it. Do you think God makes mistakes?”
“Yes, I do. You are proof of it.” Ty dragged Agwusi down the hall to the machine.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Ty, wait!” I ran after them.
Ty dragged Agwusi into the room with the machine. I got to the doorway right as he shoved her against the wall and let her slide to the floor in a heap of clinking gold.
He circled the machine, peering in the glass cases at the relics. “This looks different. Are there more wires on the relics?”
“I told you,” Agwusi said. “It's too late. The condenser has united the relics and made them a part of the machine. All you can do now is connect the cloak.”
“Not happening,” I said.
“If you don't attach the cloak, as soon as you leave this territory, the machine will destabilize.”
“No, it won't. Because we're destroying the machine right now,” Ty growled.
He bashed a fist against a glass case. I jumped and then hurried over to see him reach past the broken glass to grab a huge iron ring. Several ancient keys hung from the ring. But they weren't just lying in the case. There were wires attached to the keys, each of them, and those wires pulsed as if they were alive. For a second, they looked like umbilical cords. Shivers of warning ran down my spine.
“Wait!” I grabbed Ty's wrist. “What if the keys disintegrate?”
“They probably will, but what else can we do? Isn't it better to lose these relics than to lose the realms? Or should we try to save thesethingsby letting the machine have them? Either way, they are lost.”
I grimaced. He had driven home the fact that objects should never be more important than people. God relics or not, they were just things. I nodded and released his hand.
