“Hmph.” Charlie sat back in his chair, and I caught his thoughts as they raced by. He was tired of our lives being interfered with by gods and dead people. He wanted them to leave us alone.
Unlikely. We wouldn’t be left alone until this prophecy was complete.
I glanced at Kallie and Marcus. “Has war broken out everywhere? What about your people?”
“The Miriamic Coven moved to mobilize the witches immediately in defense of the elementals,” Marcus said. “Vampires and angels both have been attacking Octavia Falls for days, but our wards are strong, so they can’t get in. My mom convinced the rest of the priestesses we had to fight back, so that alliance has already been made.”
“And the rest of the races?” I asked warily.
“It’s not looking good. We’re already outnumbered,” Marcus said. “The Atlanteans decided to make an alliance with the Celestials. The seas are no longer safe.”
“What? But the Atlanteans sided with us during the last Great Supernatural War!” I said.
“And were nearly wiped out because of it,” Marcus said. “The merfolk don’t want to risk losing more of their population in a war against angels and vampires. They’ve been at the bottom of the supernatural world’s hierarchy for ages. They think if they can appease the angels by helping them win this war, that they’ll become accepted by the other races and it’ll raise their status.”
“That’s not going to work. The angels and vampires are going to dispose of the merfolk the second the war is over with,” I said.
“As far as the merfolk see it, they don’t want to become the next Elves,” Kallie pointed out. “They think this is their only shot at survival.”
“What about the fae?” I asked Kallie. “They have to be doing something.”
The fae had fought with the angels and the vampires in the last war, but they could change sides in this one. Kallie shrugged. “I don’t know. My brother hasn’t decided who he’s going to ally himself with.”
“Certainly not the Celestial Church,” I said scathingly.
“No, but the elementalsdidattack first,” Kallie said. “If I know my brother, and I do, he’s going to want to keep the fae out of it as long as possible, until he has no other choice. And trust me, he’s not going to be able to hold out much longer. He’s getting pressure from all sides to make an alliance.”
Kallie sighed and slumped in her chair. “Not like he doesn’t have enough to deal with. Our heads have already been spun sideways.”
“What do you mean?” Charlie asked, and he leaned forward.
“Do you guys remember when I was crying on the bleachers the other day?” Kallie asked, as if she hated to bring it up.
“Yeah. You didn’t want to talk about it,” I said.
Kallie scowled, and Marcus reached out to put an arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t, and still don’t,” she said. “But you guys deserve to know. My brother and I… we’re adopted.”
“What?” I gaped. “But— you look so much like your mom!”
“Because we’re still blood related. My mom isn’t really my mom. She’s my aunt,” Kallie explained. “My biological father was my mom’s twin brother. And my biological mother was his mate.”
“Ancestors,” I said. “Are they—?”
“I’ll never get to meet them. Both of them died in the Malovian Revolution, shortly after I was born,” Kallie said sourly.
“Kallie, I’m really sorry,” I said gently.
She didn’t acknowledge my apology. “I don’t really care that I’m adopted. I love both of my parents. They’ll always be my mother and father, no matter what. I’m more pissed that they lied to me and my brother about it.”
Kallie clasped her hands. “But there’s more. My biological mother… she was a goddess incarnate.”
Charlie and I both gasped aloud, but Marcus failed to have any reaction to this news. She must’ve told him everything right away when she found out.
“It must be shocking to you guys, but to me, it wasn’t unbelievable,” she said. “I justknewthere was something different about me. I’m actually the daughter of Neva, the Phantom Doe of Shadow and the fae goddess of time.”
“So that’s where you get your time powers from,” Charlie confirmed.
“Yes. I’m actually asidhefae, a descendent of one of the goddesses of the Arcanean pantheon. That’s why my parents forged my birth certificate, and told everyone we were their children. My birthday isn’t even my real birthday. They had to fabricate it all.”
