Аполлион

Aiden moved lightning fast. The kills were clean and quick. They hadn’t felt it. Their bodies slumped forward, separated from their heads.

No matter how quick and painless Aiden had made it, I knew that he would feel this in the dark corners of his soul for a long time to come.

CHAPTER 31

Back on the highway, I tried not to let the chilly wind blowing in my face get on my nerves. Things could be worse. People I care about could have ended up dead. They could’ve been like those unfortunate souls we’d put down like rabid dogs.

Right now, we all had it pretty good, with the exception of that creeptastic warning the Sentinel had given us—or me.

Glancing at Aiden for like the hundredth time since we’d gotten back into the car, I chewed on my lower lip.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.

I took a deep breath. “So, we know that the god is a ‘he’, and apparently I don’t know what I’m stepping in.”

“Do any of us know what we’re stepping in?” Luke commented dryly.

“I don’t think we do,” I said, staring at the dark stretch of highway. “Was it just me, or did it sound like they were loyal to the god, and not Lucian or Seth?”

“That’s the way it sounded to me,” Aiden said.

“Unless even their loyalty came from a compulsion.” Marcus sounded bone-weary. “But it doesn’t matter. Loyalty is just as bad as a compulsion. The end result is the same.”

I nodded. “I wonder if Lucian or Seth know. I mean, I know it doesn’t matter, but Seth and Lucian both have egos the size of a god’s. If they think they have complete control over their army or whatever, but they really don’t? That isn’t going to be pretty.”

“Who knows how much they really know?” Aiden gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles bleached. “This god could be promising Lucian the head of the Council or gods know what else. And Seth, well he… he will have everything he wants.”

Hot and uncomfortable knots twisted my insides. Seth had said the same thing, but what he wanted—love and acceptance—he’d never get this way. It would be a caricature of the real thing. One day he might realize that, and it would be too late… for all of us.

And gods, he did deserve better than this. I knew I shouldn’t think that, but I did.

Letting out a low breath, I tipped my head toward the passenger window and watched the blur of dark trees. Most of South Dakota was prairie land, but the Black Hills were something else entirely. Trees clustered together, so thick that no one could see what rested beyond. Somewhere up ahead, the University was spread across one of the largest mountain meadows.

“Do you think Apollo is telling you guys everything that he and the other gods know?” Deacon’s voice broke the silence.

I snorted. “I think Apollo tells us what he thinks we need to know when he wants to.”

“Gods are such douche bags,” Deacon muttered, sitting back.

Marcus actually laughed, and I thought the world was coming to an end. “They are arrogant,” he said. “That’s the problem. With arrogance comes great blindness.”

It was kind of funny hearing that, because I thought of three blind mice, but it was true. All of the parties involved were pretty arrogant. Gods know I had a healthy dose of it myself.

“None of them think anyone will truly step up against them, not even one of their own.” Marcus sighed. “Their arrogance led to this.”

Everyone fell quiet after that, lost in their own thoughts. I was doing a mental rundown of all the gods, trying to figure out who won for Most Arrogant. Seriously, it could be any of the male gods: Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Ares, and even Apollo. It might not even be one of the core, but a lesser deity tired of being pushed around. It was like looking for an especially drunk guy at a party full of drunk guys—impossible. Good news was that we at least knew it was a “he,” unless the Sentinel was messing with us.

Closing my eyes, I breathed out slowly and winced. My temples throbbed something fierce. It was like having a toothache in my entire face and I had no idea how long I’d last before it was time to have another chat with Seth.

I stared. “Holy…”

“Crap,” Deacon whispered over my shoulder.

Silence fell, thick and heavy as we all sat in the car and stared. I knew the same thing was happening behind us in the other Hummer. None of us knew what to say.

Horror engulfed me. This… none of this had been expected.

About an hour earlier, Aiden had found the narrow lane that looked like a fire access road, but was really the five-mile long entrance to the University. We’d made it up the rocky road about a half a mile when the scenery had changed from clusters of juniper trees to… a scene straight out of Red Dawn.

The headlights from our cars cast light on a gruesome scene. Burnt-out Hummers crowded the sides of the road, resting against equally-charred trees and scorched ground. There were so many—half a dozen crispy car skeletons. I couldn’t tell if there were bodies in them, not from this distance.

I swallowed. “Aiden…”