“How have I tricked you?”
“You are too complicated to judge. This is impossible. Every attempt I make injures me! You are trying to destroy me.”
“You should be able to judgeanysoul!” I pointed at him. “If my soul is hurting you, then you are not fit for this job. Admit defeat.”
The golden man vanished, and the walls drew in around me. I screamed as I huddled on the floor, trapped in a metal box.
“You will not win!” A.D.'s roar echoed into nothing.
Chapter Forty
I don't think anyone would blame me for despairing, but I refused to give in. I reminded myself that this was a mental game. It was a lot like being in the Internet, tortured by Iktomi. Except there, the Spider God had all the power. Here, the machinethoughtit had all the power, but it had made a critical mistake.
It told me I was its master.
As strong as A.D. was, it was only a machine. Machines must obey their operators. This wasn'tThe Terminator. The machines weren't rising against us, and being inside one convinced me they couldn't. Not without magical intervention. But the magic in this machine was God Magic, made by stealing energy from humans. The human in me owned God Magic more than the Gods. As a witch, I could steal it back. So, if I could take magic out of a god, why not out of a relic?
I mentally pushed on the surrounding walls, and they vanished. Poof! Gone. The dark metal room was back, but I knew I wasn't really in the machine. Not physically. I was pure consciousness, a ghost in the machine—similar to traveling the Aether. And when I wanted to get somewhere via the Aether, I focused on my destination.
But before I could do that, I needed to know where to go. I pushed my awareness out through the machine. There were six god relics and one fey relic housed within the machine. Three god relics and the magic condenser were disconnected. Three to go. With the magic condenser freed, it would be easier to release the remaining three god relics—Shango's axe, Freya's cloak, and Hephaestus's core.
But how to free them? Yes, I could take magic from a god, and therefore, I could probably take it from a relic. That being said, I was pure consciousness without a body to hold magic. And I was certain my body housed my magic because I didn't have access to it in the machine. I wasn't even sure if I could take the magic of three relics. Without the emerald pendant Odin had given me, I'd have to store the magic inside me, and I already had all the magic I could safely contain.
In short, my original plan was a dud.
I tried to reach for my star, just for guidance, but she too, was lost to me. Of course she was. She was made of magic and my physical aspects. It's strange to think that magic needed something physical to contain it before you could wield it, but that was the truth. All magic begins within oneself. Perhaps the soul summoned it, but it was the flesh that gave magic a home. Only with a body could you cast a spell. Sure, the magic left the body to do its work, but it was the physical that made the spiritual manifest. Flesh anchors magic, and I lacked flesh.
The Trinity Star said I had to outwit the machine. I didn't need magic for that. I had already escaped my cell with only the power of my mind. I could do this. I was halfway there. My plan had been working. All I had to do was force the machine to continue.
“I control the machine.” The full realization of what that meant hit me.
If I were in control, I could shut down the connections myself. I didn't need to take the magic from the relics or baffle A.D. until everything failed. I just had to command the machine to release them. Not the consciousness of the machine—the machine itself. At least, that was my theory.
I focused on Shango's axe. It contained the magic of Punishment, and I wanted that gone as soon as possible. Just like in the Aether, focusing on a location took me there. As soon as my thoughts settled on the axe, I was there, standing before it.
“Release the axe!” I commanded.
Nothing happened.
I concentrated on the axe, picturing it free of the many wires attached to it. Still, nothing happened. Then I looked down at myself and realized that my form was symbolic—as everything was when you were pure consciousness. I held my hands before me and knew they were extensions of my consciousness. Tools, just as they were in physical form.
With a thought, I transported myself to a wire and grabbed it. “Release the axe!”
The wire dropped away, bowing to the power of my applied will.
“Yes!” I thought myself over to the next wire.
I was freeing the third wire when A.D. showed up. He was that golden man again, and his image wrapped its arms around me, holding me still.
“Cease!” A.D. shouted, the sound vibrating through me. “You cannot do this!”
“I just did!” I fought A.D., but it was too strong.
No, itseemedtoo strong. It was all a trick. I was in control. As it was with all control, it could be taken if you allowed it to be. I was done allowing it.
I flashed out of its grasp to stand just out of reach.
A.D. gaped at me. “How did you do that?”
