It might just be a long night.
It seems as though North wants to deal with this situation just about as much as the rest of us do, which is not at all. I recognize all of the papers that Nox puts down in front of everyone from our soul-connection, all of the information already in my head if I should need it, so when he doesn't hand any of it to me, I am not bothered at all.
Atlas is very bothered on my behalf.
“Shouldn't we be giving this toeveryoneso that we can all have a look at it, including Oli and her bond?”
Nox gestures down to the empty piece of table in front of himself. ”Oli and I know everything that’s in it. There's no point in us staring at the pages when we can get a fresh set of eyes on it instead.”
I reach under the table and squeeze Atlas’ leg as a small thank-you for jumping in but also a reassurance that I don't actually need it. Nox and I haven't just found neutral ground, we’ve found a space for just the two of us that I might even call love. I mean, I know thatIlove him. And I know that, as much as he's capable of that feeling, he has it for me, and that's enough. It’s more than I ever hoped for, more than I ever thought I would get to share with him.
“A Pain god, a Neuro god, and an Elemental god. Fucking hell, that's like the worst types of Gifted from the Resistance all over again,” Gabe says with a groan, and Atlas shoots a wry grin his way.
“This is the final boss level. We've worked our way up to dealing with the biggest and baddest assholes.”
I shake my head at their antics, swearing that I won't let either of them go and play video games with Sawyer ever again if this is what we have to deal with, but North is ignoring most of the chatter at the table as he stares at the list of names.
“How did you come up with this?” North asks before lifting a glass of whiskey to his lips and downing the whole lot in one go.
I didn't think the list was that serious, at least, not the type of serious that we have to drown in the bottom of a whiskey bottle.
“There are markers for the gods, clues that a person is a vessel, and I had already started compiling a list before we spoke to the gods.”
North nods and glances at Atlas. “You haven't seen the list yet, have you?”
Atlas scowls back and squints in his direction before it hits me.
Athena Bassinger is on the list.
Atlas groans and shoves his face in his hands. “Is there ever going to be a time when my family isn't fucking us over?”
I desperately,desperatelywant to fuss over him, to hold him and reassure him that it's okay, that none of us blame him or think differently of him for all of these connections that he has. However, I don't think he would take it very well with the rest of the Bonded Group watching.
The fact of the matter is that he's already copped a fair amount of grief for his relation to that woman. It was always the first thing anyone brought up, though I've never questioned it before.
Nox doesn't need to be able to read my mind to know where my thoughts have gone. “Athena Bassinger is the face of the East Coast Gifted. She pretends that they're not all just Resistance supporters. Whenever something happens that requires liaising, she’s the one they send.”
“Her Gift is Manipulation,” Atlas says, grinding the palms of his hands into his eyes as though he can wipe all of this away if he presses hard enough.
“She's a Neuro, but it's different from what Gryphon can do. It's closer to what Emmeline could do,” North says very carefully, and my blood runs cold at the mention of that woman's name.
I very pointedly do not look at Nox, because North and Gryphon might be completely aware of the situation but Gabe and Atlas are not. I've already sworn to myself that I will not be the person who breaks Nox's trust in this way. I do, however, open up the mind connection to him.
I don't send him any feelings or reassurances. I just open it up so he knows that I'm with him no matter what comes from this conversation. It doesn't surprise me when he shuts down, but it's not the way that he used to. He doesn't start slinging vitriol and viciousness at everyone, but instead, he immediately becomes a blank slate.
Atlas glances around, noticing the shift in the mood, and he speaks with care. “I don't know who that is, but Athena is not someone that I want to be dealing with without backup. If those markers are things that you think implies she has a god-bond as well, I woulddefinitelynot be dealing with her without the entire Bonded Group present.”
The part that he fails to tack onto the end there is that we’ll also need to be whole enough to deal with her, which Nox does not look like right now, even to the untrained eye. I can feel some tension beginning to build in him. I can feel the way that he's pulling himself together and preparing to face an echo of the monster from his past.
My bond does not like the way that he is acting.
My bond wants to hunt Athena down and eat her alive for causing this pain.
My bond might just not take no for an answer.
CHAPTERNINE
Atlas
