Imani sighs and bows her head, telling me that she’s not happy about this but does understand why I hid it from everyone. I think she also realizes that she’d have done the exact same thing. “I’m glad you finally told us; I understand why this would be hard to talk about.”
“Oh, he ain’t done,” Mickey says as Joy and Tommy patiently wait behind him. “This was just like a sampler.”
Lt. Lindsey, Vinny, and Imani all snap their attention to me while they visibly question how this could be a “sampler.”
“Proceed,” Lt. Lindsey says, speaking for the first time since I blurted everything out.
Such a delightful conversation. “Okay, so we know that the god who was involved with the horseman is either using, working with, or controlling the four horsemen of the apocalypse, right?”
Imani nods. “Yep, skip the parts we already know.”
“Well… uhh, so we met Conquest.”
“Sure did,” Imani says as she tries to wave me along. “I’m quite eager for this main dish.”
“So… the horseman that Torin killed… is still alive. I guess it makes sense that you can’t actually kill a being of the apocalypse.”
“So you’re saying we can’t kill them… that is quite concerning. I wonder if we can imprison him,” Imani muses, clearly hoping this is the “main dish.”
“Maybe. That’s all.”
Torin and Mickey give me looks which I shield Kit’s eyes from. She simply takes her paw and sets it on my hand so she can peek over it.
Imani, realizing that I’m not done, gives me a pointed look, but no look compares to the one that Lt. Lindsey is giving me.
“Spit it out,” Lt. Lindsey orders.
“Well, that horseman… possibly reincarnated,” I choke out.
“So we still have four to deal with. But we’ll take care of them all,” Imani assures us.
“Even… if one of them is me?” I ask, cringing a little.
Imani laughs before hesitating. “What?”
“I think it’s hilarious too,” Mickey says, so I throw a pen at him. He would have dodged it, but Joy chooses that moment to hold Mickey’s head still so the pen smacks him on the forehead. “Dammit, Joy!”
“Sorry, I was trying to help you,” she lies.
“Help me, my ass,” he grumbles.
“Are you joking?” Imani asks me.
“Nope… surprise. How delightful, right? Well, this was fun. Glad we had this talk.”
“So… do you remember anything?” Vinny asks.
“No. I had no idea until Conquest told me, and Torin basically confirmed it by saying that the magic which is growing inside me is the same magic Death used on his realm. Oh… and these souls… kind of follow me everywhere. We’re thinking that the stain is caused by being away from my wretched horse… which I do not want because I don’t like horses.”
“How can a horseman of the apocalypse not like horses? Like that’s your whole jam,” Vinny says.
He must see my “not impressed” face because he doesn’t ask me more about that. Instead, he goes, “So… where is your horse? If you find it, will it stop the stain from hurting you more?”
“Probably… but the horse is in the god’s world,” Torin replies.
“Can you go get it?” Vinny asks.
“Depends,” Torin says. “We have no idea what we’ll face in that realm. We also have to consider finding the realm that the god will target next.”
