I sighed. “He wants to mentor me, and I think I’m ready for it. He’s understanding, but he’s disappointed I didn’t send someone else to do my dirty work. He says you and I have to hang back because we’re the leaders. We have roles, I guess. I’m supposed to be giving orders, and you’re supposed to be communing with the goddesses and leading us spiritually.”
“Pft, screw that,” Ava said, trying to lighten the mood. “I’m not going to sit around andprayall day. I have a destiny to fulfill.”
“I agree, but maybe my grandfather is right. I don’t want you to get hurt. Every time we go out there, I’m putting you in harm’s way. At least here in the palace, you’re surrounded by guards.”
Even now, Eldin was stationed just outside the room. The royal family could hardly go anywhere without a guard or two close behind.
“I can’t blow off saving the world,” Ava argued.
“Neither can I. But you need to hear everything he said.”
I went over the entire conversation, and when I finished, I took her hands in mine. “We need to make a decision and stick with it. This is our last chance to walk away from this. I want to follow my grandfather, but you come first. If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to be monarchs. I know it’s my bloodright, but we’re allowed to refuse the throne. You’ve already got a prophecy to fulfill. You don’t have to be their spiritual leader, too. After we find the keys, we can run away from all of this and travel the world, like you wanted. We’ve got the power to do whatever the hell we want. No one is going to have the ability to stop us.”
Silence settled over the room as Ava thought about my suggestion. Finally, she said, “Thisiswhat I want, Charlie. I want to follow where our destiny takes us. I don’t mind being a leader, and I think you were born to be one, too.”
I nodded. “That’s exactly what my grandfather told me. We need to take his advice. We were sloppy with the bank robbery, and it cost us the key. We can’t keep going in guns blazing. We need to be more strategic and fly under the radar. We’re going to increase our demigod training sessions, and the next time we pull off a job, we bring the Elvish Associates on board. If we’re going to live a life of crime, we can’t afford to screw up next time.”
I wanted to make my grandfather proud. Letting him down today had been worse than not getting the key.
He believed in me, so I was going to give him something to believe in.
We met alonein the demigod training room the following week. Marcus was notably missing, but Kallie and Danny were there before Ava and I showed up.
“Marcus got it easy. His mom and dad believe in thegentle parentingthing. My mom chewed my ass out, like any strong Malovian woman would do,” Kallie groaned. “That was in-between my dad trying to give me pointers about how to break into places better.”
“Daddy freaked out and Mama was concerned, but it’s not like that’s anything out of the ordinary for me,” Ava said brightly. “This whole robbery was typical Ava being Ava. They should’ve expected it, really.”
“Awesome for you that your mom didn’t explode,” Kallie grumbled. “To make it worse, my brother heard about it and called to complain. He doesn’t like that I put my diplomat spot at risk for this job.”
“Yeah, Ez didn’t take it very well, either,” Ava said reluctantly. “I was really hoping he wouldn’t hear about it. Thanks, supernatural news!”
Kallie sighed. “Good thing you didn’t come with us, Danny. You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with the ‘rents.”
Danny gave a dark, cold laugh. “Funny you think my Ma and Pops would give a shit.”
Oh,Oberi noted softly.So it’sthatkind of situation.
Danny took a step toward me. “What about you, Charlie? I heard your old man didn’t show.”
“Danny,shut up,” Ava hissed.
I pretended I hadn’t heard either of them. “I want a report on everyone’s powers. I want to know where we’re at, so we can discuss our potential. We need to get more strategic with our magic if we’re going to figure out who took the vampire key from the vault and steal it from them.”
“You don’t have any leads?” Danny asked.
“Max combed through the surveillance footage, and the feed was cut the night before we arrived,” Ava told him. “Whoever took the key from the vault covered their tracks. It could’ve been anyone from a number of supernatural groups that know about the Divinity Keys.”
“So it’s up to us to track them down,” I said. “Kallie, how are things on your end?”
“I’ve been working on my time powers,” she replied. “Back at the Institute, the wards and inferichite messed with my abilities, but here, I’m away from all of that, so my time powers are unbound.”
Then she growled under her breath, “Or, theywould be, if Marcus and I were getting along…”
That was a whole can of worms no one wanted to open.
“What can you do without him?” I asked curiously.
“I can stop time for as long as I want, without affecting other demigods,” Kallie said. “I’ve been able to go back years in time, though I haven’t ever stuck around long. I don’t want to change anything. I can combine my time powers with my portal magic so I can take us anywhere I want in space and time. The only thing I can’t seem to do is go into the future. I can only go back, but I’m hesitant to push too far, because my powers aren’t super reliable at the moment. They come and go, and because my bond with Marcus remains unsealed, I don’t have access to them all the time. If we get into another emergency, there’s no promise I’ll be able to access everything.”
