I couldn’t deal with their lovers’ tiff right now. I turned to Fallon, who’d found a nice wall to rest against. “You can’t stop Galina and you can’t stop Sekhmet.”
He shook his head. “Like I said, I am too new to this power. Learning to wield the power of souls is far more complicated and painstaking than you can imagine. Grim had millennia to hone it, and I don’t know how he took down Sekhmet all those years ago.” Fallon raked a hand over his face. “I’ve had the power for barely two days. I’m still learning how to judge a soul without either slicing them in two or sending them to the wrong place. I’ve no time for this war when all my attention must go to sorting the dead.”
“Then we agree,” I said. “We need Grim.”
He looked up at me, surprise on his bruised face.
Our group went silent. I’d give them a minute. I’d give them two. But not three. It was the only way.
“We need Grim,” I repeated. “He’s the only one who can stop Galina and Sekhmet.”
“We need Grim,” Fallon finally agreed, his shoulders sagging.
Timothy started, “But Bianca said if we try to bring him back, it could mean upsetting the balance of the world.”
“They took Bianca.” Anger rang in Fallon’s voice as it whipped about in his eyes. Standing with renewed strength, he said, “If her foresight was as good as she believes it to be, she would have seen that coming. But now she needs to be saved too. And I can’t storm into Galina and Sekhmet’s territory and get her back.” His hands curled into fists.
“And I’m pretty sure the balance is backflipping already,” I said.
“It’s forbidden,” Timothy said more quietly, as if contemplating what we were about to do. “Osiris would send us to the pits of hell.”
“Fuck that,” I said. “If we don’t do something now, it’s going to turn into hell on earth. I’m not asking permission anymore. I only need you to point me in the right direction.”
16
Vivien
Fallon and Timothy crowded in next to me in the elevator. A bleak determination set about both gods’ shoulders.
Aaron stayed behind, and I didn’t know if he’d be there when we got back. I hoped he would be but finding Grim mattered more. Not just to me, but to the world. If I were being honest, Grim was my world, so it was one and the same.
I expected Timothy to hit the black button leading down to the antechamber where they judged souls. Instead, he waved his hand over the panel and a new button surfaced as if magic had hidden it.
“Are we sure about this?” Timothy asked Fallon.
Fallon pressed the button by way of answer. The elevator glided down.
“So you’re telling me there is something below the hotel other than a secret chamber for judging and sorting souls?” A dry laugh escaped my throat. “What would you keep below that?”
The men exchanged a look that did nothing to calm the nervous ponies galloping in my guts.
The air was heavy with secrets and danger. If a couple of gods were acting like this, I should be peeing myself in fear.
Seriously, what could make them so jumpy? With Galina and Sekhmet out and about, whatever we were about to face couldn’t be worse than them.
Though I didn’t need to breathe, tension clouded the small space until I gasped for the fresh air when the doors slid open. Both Timothy and Fallon paused. I waited for them to go first.
We entered a narrow section of concrete floor and walls that gave us the perfect view of the massive barred cage. I immediately flashed back to my school trips to the zoo. It reminded me of the enclosure for big cats.
Cold permeated through my bones. Or maybe I needed to feed. A couple of beat-up steel chairs were nearby so someone could more comfortably sit and chat with whatever animal lay behind the bars. Except the lights were off inside the wall-to-ceiling cage, making it impossible to tell how deep the enclosure was.
“What the hell is this?” I whispered. And what the hell would Grim and Timothy keep below the antechamber holding a soul-eating crocodile? A shiver zipped down my spine as I realized I didn’t really want to know.
“Don’t get too close,” Timothy murmured.
“Roger that,” I said, my arm too stiff to salute.
Timothy crossed over to a control panel against the side wall and pressed some buttons. The lights turned red for a moment before turning back to soft white.
