Page 123 of Vengeance of the Gods

Vega knew Arlet’s tricks, knew where to look to catch a flicker of her power fading at the edges. Arlet’s ability must have fixed its weaknesses without the curse to keep it contained, because there were no flaws.

Arlet was truly invisible.

Vega blinked, and the field she’d been standing in had changed. They were no longer surrounded by late winter blooms and the colors of rising dawn. Vega and Marlena were the only two in the middle of a rotten field, everything the color of tar and soot. Appearing beside Vega were two identical copies of herself. When she twisted to look at them, they turned too, like she was looking into a mirror.

Vega lifted her hand, and her twins followed.

Fucking creepy.

Anyone who had ever claimed Arlet wasn’t frightening should consider themselves lucky to have not fallen victim to the visions she could make you believe were real. Arlet hid herself from view, tucking inside whatever crevice of her mind she could.

When the three Vegas turned to face Marlena, the real Vega snickered, and the sound echoed from their mouths too. “Let’s play a game?” she said, lips pulling into a slow smile. “You find the real Vega, and I’ll let you keep your lightning,” Vega cooed. “For now.”

39

None of this is real. None of this is real. None of this is real.

Marlena repeated the words to herself as the gods chattered in the background.

She was beginning to question if Vega’s soulless black eyes and spidering veins were part of the illusion too.

Arlet.

“Get out of my fucking head!” she screamed, spinning in circles as she caught one of the Vegas in the side of her head with a green fireball. “You fucking bitch!”

It hardly faltered, continuing to come at her.

“She’s not in your head,” another of the mirrored said, her voice echoing an unnatural hiss.

“But they are, aren’t they?” Arlet’s voice… Where is she?

Arlet knew about the gods. Marlena had let her inside her head for only a moment, and now she knew what was going on in there.

“A mistake. A mistake.”

“You’re a mistake.”

She didn’t know where the voices were coming from. It was too loud in her head.

“Can’t fight your own battles, Vega? Have to bring your friends into everything you do?” Marlena spat, her voice cracking at the end.

This time it was actually Vega’s voice. “You had to bring the gods to help you because you had no friends. I don’t see a difference.” The real Vega appeared like she had an affinity for invisibility… but Marlena knew better.

This was all Arlet—forcing an image that wasn’t actually there.

If Marlena were still the complimenting type, she’d tell Arlet what a magnificent power she was. But she wasn’t, and she could never be that version of herself again.

She’d given her up for this. For power.

“The difference is it makes me stronger.” Marlena threw a dagger, the blade nicking Vega’s cheek. “You rely on them. Use them as a crutch. You’ve never had it in you to beat me fair and square.”

A gust of her wind swelled from behind, like Jupiter himself watched her back at the same time she took hold of the fire burning in her core. Tendrils of her emerald flames crawled over the ground, turning to steam as the rain from Vega’s storm fell in fat, heavy drops.

“You’re wrong, sister.” The voice came from directly behind Marlena, the staccato rhythm giving away the fake’s identity.

Spinning with her leg, Marlena kicked through the illusion’s calf, but since it was nothing more than a mirage, it dwindled away for a breath and reappeared before the next.

Lightning lit the fake landscape around her. Skulls without eyes stared up from the ground, skin stuck to their hollowed cheeks. The snap of crunching bones under her boots sounded so real. How was Arlet doing this?