The boys laughed, and Conri hugged them. Eventually, Thea’s phone rang. She jumped and then answered it, putting it on speakerphone and recording. “Chris?” Thea said. “We’re still following,” Chris said over speakerphone. “We’re about a mile out from that block Chase and Hunter suspect is their h
“At the bottom,” he said. “There’s an entrance to an underground tunnel. That goes down too. It opened up to a big cavernous room with openings to different tunnels. We knocked out the witch, and they’re interrogating the rogue. A few of us went through the tunnels to investigate. I’m going to take
Thea went to one of the openings and felt into it. There wasn’t much she could sense. There didn’t seem to be anything living inside it. “Open all the doors to the surface, all the way to the outside world,” Thea said over Valkyrie link. The Valkyries complied, then she pulled down aeroplankton—m
“I like that idea,” Conri said. Thea nodded. She knew it was the smart thing to do. She and Conri would slow everything down, and that was dangerous. “Here’s more blood,” Thea said, cutting her skin. The Valkyries held their hands out. “Take enough that they can eat some too. If something goes sid
“Lilith?” Thea said. The woman sucked a long breath in through clenched teeth. It sounded like a hiss. “No one ever remembers my real name,” she said in that grating voice. She snapped her jaw a few times. Her teeth looked razor-sharp. The exit she blocked was elevated from the rest of the room,
“Some of your stories say I was the first human female,” Lilith said. “I wasn’t. I was the first to be blessed by the gods, given gifts.” She trailed her fingers over Thea’s marks. “Some say I was the first witch, casting horrible spells on innocent people. I wasn’t a witch and didn’t hurt innocen
A wave of shocked chattering ran through the army of dead things as they all cowered. “That shouldn’t have happened to you,” Thea said. “Everyone should have treated you better, the gods included.” Lilith made a noncommittal grunt. “Have you ever been hugged?” Thea said. Another grunt. “It’s a s
Thea did a double-take. “Can gods be killed?” “I’m going to find out,” Lilith said. “The door is open, and I’m making an army of the strongest beasts. The humans will just be fodder. Then I’m taking the fight to the gods. You could join me—alive.” “Wow. This is a lot to take in. Everything that ha