A chill seeped down my spine as I thought of Kirby’s last-known set of messages. “Kirby and Ella were headed to meet an Egyptian god when we stopped hearing from them. Who was it? Anubis? Osiris?”
“They were supposed to meet Sekhmet,” Alessia said. “We believe they were intercepted.”
“By who?” Silas asked.
O took a deep, calculating breath, setting the room tingling before she said, “Apep.”
At first, the name meant nothing. I wasn’t sure why a minor underworld deity would be cause for so much trepidation.
The image of a snake nudged its way into my memories. A large, golden serpent slithered its way into years of studies, coiling atop an image of hieroglyphics, atop history books, atop my vision of the world.
I lost my breath. “Apep…no,” I said.
“Yes,” O confirmed.
I knew exactly one piece of information about this powerful being. Arguably, it was the one thing that mattered. Apep was the only god in the Egyptian pantheon who had no shrines. He possessed no worshippers. The only temples that knew his name were ones dedicated to prayers against him. The faithful who spoke of him did so to keep him from rising up and swallowing the sun, as he would in the end days. No other god had been so completely defined by his exile.
“But he’s imprisoned,” I said.
Everyone frowned at me. Silas asked, “Wasn’t Fenririmprisoned?”
“He can’t be free. We still have the sun,” I said.
“That part was more or less metaphorical,” O countered.
“Right, right,” I murmured. “Set free at the end of the world. Good for us, I guess. I didn’t really expect the apocalypse to have so many steps. I sort of thought it would just…happen.”
“Well”—Alessia’s expression was heavy with amusement—“does anything just happen? Isn’t there an anecdote about groups? It’s always the slacker who believes everyone should relax because the project will get done. And it does, because those who aren’t neglectful work around the clock. At the end of the day, he believes himself to have been right all along. And in a way, he was.”
Alessia Clovis, everybody, I bit my lip to keep from smiling. I wondered if the TED Talk champion of the international women’s rights stage ever left an exchange without administering a parable.
“And my friends? Kirby and Ella? That’s where they are?” I asked.
O folded her hands. “We have no further information. It would be a disservice to falsely mislead you in one direction or the other.”
I knew there was more work to be done.
I was aware that I had a larger role in the final war than focusing on my friends.
But the high dial tone of a disconnected signal beeped over their voices with single, monotonous insistence for ten seconds, then fifteen, then thirty.
Silas nudged me.
“Merit?” O prodded.
“What was that? Sorry.”
She looked displeased but repeated herself. “Poppy and Dorian coming forward was the perfect counterbalance to your siren’s display. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing appearances from other pantheons in the next few days. Theothers understand exactly why the Castellanos did what they did. And if they want to assert themselves as viable options after Heaven and Hell have showcased their abilities, the clock is ticking to make a move.”
“Xuân works with Shinto deities,” I said. It was the best I could contribute.
“Kami deities,” O corrected. “Shinto is the religion.”
“Right.” I fidgeted. I would have loved to have passed the baton here and now if only Xuân were present. I recited what I knew of her gods. “One of wisdom, one of fire, and one of fortune.”
“Omoikane, Kagutsuchi, and Kisshoten,” O was quick to respond. “They’ve been going by Yuto, Sota, and Mei, respectively. We’ve been in touch with Mei, and she’s happy to work with us behind the scenes, which is truly all we need. Fortune on our side will go a long way.
“Yuto and I share a gift, more or less. Alessia is fine going on my discernment. But if your practitioner could petition Sota to make a public appearance, I think a fire display could go a long way. We need a substantial presence in the eastern hemisphere if we hope to tip the tides.”
