I pictured the soil loosening and giving way under my fingertips. The ground trembled slightly and my confidence bloomed. I created an image of the ground cracking open, deep—deep enough for a decent burial. In my head, the soil was darker—a rich brown—the deeper I went. Inhaling, I caught the damp, earthy scent of disturbed soil.
When I opened my eyes, the ground really was split open. Mounds of fresh dirt lay on either side of the circular six-foot hole. Seeing that it was deep enough, I sat back and wiped my shaking hands along my thighs. I felt dry inside and a little brittle. And I was definitely not going to stand anytime soon.
Everyone started doing their own part. Someone found a blanket in one of our backpacks and Lea was wrapped in it. When her body was lowered into the grave, Marcus helped me up. He handed me a bottle of water, along with the daggers I’d dropped.
“Thanks,” I murmured, gulping the water down before sheathing the daggers. And then something struck me. “Wait. Does anyone have any coins?”
Aiden patted his pockets, as did the rest of the guys. They came up empty and my stomach sank. “Burying her doesn’t really make a difference,” I said. “That’s for us. But she needs passage for Charon or she’ll be stuck there.”
“We can bring back coins,” Solos suggested.
“No.” Panic bubbled. “We have to have something. Trust me, she needs the coins now.”
Laadan stepped forward, reaching behind her neck. “I have this,” she said, unclasping a necklace and pulling it from underneath her shirt. “The embellishments are gold coins, ancient ones. They will be worth more than enough.”
My muscles relaxed, full of relief. “Thank you.”
She smiled as she handed the necklace to Marcus, who then snapped off two of the gold coins. Parting the blanket, he placed them in Lea’s hands.
I took a breath, trying to ease the burning and the ever-increasing knot in my throat. Aiden came to my side, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. I turned into him, resting my cheek against his chest. The steady rise and fall of his breathing soothed my frayed edges.
Solos had found two thick branches, and shoved them into the ground above the disturbed earth after Laaden and Marcus had used air to push the dirt back into the grave. Deacon and Luke had gathered up a few rocks, which they placed around the branches. It wasn’t much of a tombstone, but it would have to do for now.
We stood around Lea’s makeshift grave as Laadan murmured a prayer in the old language. I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt Aiden’s thumb brushing the tears away. I couldn’t help but wonder how many more times we would be doing this before it was over—and who would brush Aiden’s tears away if it were my grave they ended up standing over.
The sun had begun to rise by the time we reached the outer wall of the University campus, casting a sliver of orangey light that stretched across the mountain meadow. We’d spent the last mile of the trip in solemn silence. There was no conversation, no joking or laughter. Talking seemed inappropriate after the loss we’d all suffered. I knew I wasn’t alone in convincing myself that Lea was, or would be, in a much better place—a place where the fighting could no longer reach her, where the future was no longer precarious, and where she was reunited with her loved ones.
It helped a little.
But when the outer stone wall came into view, we pretty much knew things were going to suck daimon butt.
Entire sections of the marble-encased outer structure were either gone completely or in the process of crumbling down. It looked like someone had brought in a wrecking ball and played yo-yo with it.
“Gods,” Marcus muttered. “This could be a problem.”
I arched a brow at my uncle. “Really?”
The eeriest part of it all was the hundreds of trees just inside the outer wall. They were all tipped over at the trunks, the limbs reaching the ground, roots exposed and ash-white, like they had succumbed to a powerful wind.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Laadan said, her head moving slowly from side to side. “It’s like a great unseen hand forced them all to the ground.”
I walked up to one, placing my hand on it. I half-expected the tree to fall over, but it was stable. “So weird.” I turned to Aiden. “Any idea what could’ve done this?”
“No clue.” He frowned at the rising sun. “But hopefully we’ll get an answer to this. We need to move on.”
We continued on, the eight of us weary and desperately hoping that the University was safe and in one piece. It almost seemed like too much to ask for.
The second wall looked better. Damage showed in places, but the gate was still standing and locked. Kind of good news, I guessed. But how in the hell were we supposed to get over a twenty-foot wall?
I folded my aching arms. “Before anyone gets any ideas, I am so not knocking a hole through this.”
Aiden sent a wry grin over his shoulder as he joined Marcus and Solos approaching the titanium gates. The sharp spikes along the top caught my eye, and my imagination placed decapitated heads on the things.
I shuddered.
Luke dropped an arm over my shoulders. “You hanging in there?”
“Of course.”
His brows rose. “You’ve been running like the little Apollyon Energizer Bunny.”
I almost laughed. “Hopefully, we’ll all get to recharge soon. How’s your arm?”
“Not as bad as I initially thought.” Luke squeezed my shoulders and let go. “I think Deacon’s getting blisters on his feet.”
At the sound of his name, Deacon scowled over his shoulder. “My feet are covered in blisters.”
“Your poor precious feet,” Luke teased.
From the gate, Solos raised his hand, silencing us. My heart sped up as I grabbed the daggers strapped to my thighs. Luke moved Laadan and Deacon behind us as I inched forward.
“What’s going on?” I asked in a low voice.
Dawn had yet to crack the darkness beyond the gate, and all I could see were the shadows of more twisted trees.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Hello!” he called out, and his voice echoed on for what seemed like forever. “We… we come in peace.”
I rolled my eyes and muttered, “Wow.”
My uncle shot me a dark look and then continued. “I am Marcus Andros, the Dean of the Deity Island Covenant. I have Sentinels with me and the—”
The sound of guns being locked into place was a rat-a-tat-tat that shut Marcus up and probably stopped everyone’s hearts. Not a single shadow had moved beyond the gate.
“Turn around and lower your weapons now,” came a dark voice from behind us.
Oh, crap on a cracker.
My eyes flicked up, meeting Aiden’s for a brief second, and then, because I really didn’t want to be pumped full of titanium, I turned and hoped I hadn’t tapped that well of power inside me completely dry.
Two Sentinels stood behind Deacon and Laadan, guns pressed against their pale cheeks. But there were more than two Sentinels. Over a dozen surrounded us, forming a half-circle. They all held Glocks and looked more than ready to use them.
We were surrounded.
CHAPTER 34
“Lower your weapons,” the one Sentinel said again. He was tall and older, maybe in his forties, and apparently was used to being listened to.
Gods, it was truly possible for a crappy situation to get even crappier.
Aiden was the first to lower his daggers, placing them on the ground beside his feet. Then he rose slowly, lifting his hands. I knew he carried more weapons on him, and I hoped the other men didn’t realize that. Following suit, I got rid of my daggers, but left the gun shoved in the back of my waistband just in case.
The Sentinel in charge stalked forward, keeping his gun leveled on Solos, which I thought was kind of funny. Out of the four of us, he really should’ve had that gun pointed on me.
Then I realized he didn’t know who I was. Part of me relaxed, because if they were playing for Team Evil, I was sure they would have had pictures of my face plastered across their bedroom walls.
Marcus prepared to speak again, but the Sentinel’s eyes narrowed in warning. “I heard where you said you were from and that you mean no harm, but please tell me how we’re supposed to believe that.”
Good question. I glanced at my uncle, brows raised.
“We were a part of the group that escaped Deity Island,” Marcus said.
“Well, obviously,” replied the Sentinel.
I sort of liked this dude, gun pointed in our faces notwithstanding. A muscle flexed in Marcus’ jaw. “We are not working with Lucian or the First. I am not sure how to prove that to your standards, but we have traveled far to come here and have lost one of our own, courtesy of the automatons guarding this place. We are not your enemy here. We want the same thing, to stop Lucian and the First. Sentinel Mathias was on his way here. He should’ve arrived with news of our travels.”
“If this Sentinel was set to reach here within the last twenty-four hours, then he’s among the poor souls beyond the wall.” The leader’s gaze drifted over us. “No one has made it past them for over a day, which makes me curious how your group has.”
I hadn’t met the Sentinel who’d arrived while Aiden and I had been in the Underworld, but it sucked to hear that he was now among the dead.
“They turned on you then?” Aiden asked calmly. “They weren’t guarding the campus?”
At first I didn’t think the half-blood was going to answer, but he did. “The automatons were guarding the campus up until about a day ago, and then they started firing upon those seeking sanctuary here. We tried to stop them, and we ended losing half of the first wall and many lives. So again, I am curious to how a group consisting of teenagers and two untrained pure-bloods could’ve made it past them.”
“I’m the Apollyon,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “That might have something to do with it.”
Every damn gun went straight to me, and I wondered if that’d been the best thing to say. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aiden start to move toward me.
“It’s okay,” I added quickly, keeping my hands out in front of me. “I’m the good Apollyon, as in the one who doesn’t want to take out the Council and kill the gods.”
The Sentinel in charge didn’t look relieved or awed. Instead, he appeared ticked off and like he really wanted to put a bullet between my eyes. Which wasn’t good, because I was pretty sure Aiden was already calculating the time it would take for him to pull his gun and take out this Sentinel.
Bullets were about to fly—just as the sun started to crest, too, and wouldn’t that really gore up a beautiful sunrise?
“Half of the Sentinels and Guards who have sided with the First are looking for you, and you came here?” Anger flashed in the Sentinel’s eyes. “Do you have a death wish?”
Good thing I hadn’t mentioned that Seth and I were still sort of connected. “Actually, I don’t have a death wish. And you can shoot me if it makes you feel better, but it’s not going to kill me.”