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If nothing else, at least I could say that I was a hit when it came to the gods. So far, every single entity I’d communed with wanted me dead within minutes of meeting me. I massaged my forehead, groaning. Why did this always happen to me? Wasn’t I cute enough? Did I smell bad?
No. If there’s one thing Dustin Graves is, that’s handsome. And if there’s another, it’s resilient. Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic, told me that herself, though in slightly less flattering terms. I was a human cockroach – skittish, and sneaky, but durable – and I wasn’t about to go down easily. This was another of those freak entity challenges, and if I made it through I might just seal the deal. That, or get another painful as fuck magical exchange, like that time Hecate set my brain on fire.
Still, I realized that our success was contingent on how Gil and Carver were performing in whatever challenge Amaterasu had set for them. I looked around the inside of the crystal, wondering where the two of them were.
“Better pull your weight, Dustin,” I said under my breath. I checked my bearings, bending my knees in case I needed to run, securing my backpack straps, ready to deploy Vanitas like a screaming death missile if I had to.
“So this corruption,” I said out loud. “Are you talking about what’s been planted in my heart, or the poison that one of your brothers is using to blackmail me?”
“Perhaps both. If one doesn’t kill you now, the other will. In months, perhaps, years. But why look so far ahead?” She smiled sweetly. “Perhaps the poison will take you. Perhaps you will die after all.”
I sighed. “You’re really not helping.”
“Then I could help in other ways. I could cut the corruption out of you.” Amaterasu’s skin was glowing fiercely now, as bright as the flaming sword in her hand. “Or I could tell you what you already know – that your darkness, the taint inside of you works like a blade. It cuts with two edges. You can choose to use your power to aid those in need, or for personal gain.” She raised her sword to eye level, the hilt clasped in both hands, the fire glinting in her eyes. “Which will it be, shadow boy?”
I should have held my tongue then. Maybe it wouldn’t have aggravated her if I’d said something less inflammatory, but then I wouldn’t have a story to tell you about that time a sun goddess tried to skewer me with a sword that was totally on fire.
Use shadowstepping to help, or for personal gain? I answered with honesty, and okay, maybe a little bit of cheek. “Why not both?”
Amaterasu glowered. “Wrong answer.”
In a flash of sunlight and fire she disappeared from her dais, rushing at me with such speed and slashing the sword in a horrific arc. I tumbled away from her, my heart pounding at the fact that she had very nearly lopped my head off, and oh, how the fire was very, very real. I clutched at my hair and groped at my clothes, checking that I wasn’t on fire, and that I was still in one piece.
I blinked, and Amaterasu slashed again, the searing heat of her blade only inches from my face.
“Lady, seriously, slow down.”
“Show me what makes you so special, shadow boy. Fight back. Show me why your master would risk bringing you into my home.”
I had seconds to think. The scorching brilliance of Amaterasu’s sword burned brighter than even her skin, or the light from the sky itself, casting just enough shadows for me to maneuver. Was that what she wanted? Was this the test? Because I could always fall back on a Sneaky Dustin Special and end this as non-violently as I could: step into the shadow, reappear behind her, then knock her out cold.
But with what? She had braziers set around her dais, conveniently where one of the largest shadows in the chamber was located. Each burned with what looked like magical flames, similar to those in the Lorica’s great library, or the ones hidden in the alcoves of Carver’s hideout. If these fires behaved similarly to those and gave only light, but not heat, then I could use them as blunt weapons. Perfect.
I stepped into Amaterasu’s shadow, the remnants of my body lingering long enough for me to hear her gasp in surprise. Maybe I smiled to myself a little, because any opportunity to impress someone and bask in attention always makes my heart grow that little bit bigger. I shrugged off the mists of the Dark Room as I ran once more into the light of reality – Amaterasu’s reality, that is.
If Sterling was to be believed, attempting to shadowstep right out of her domicile would kill me. Escape wasn’t an option. I emerged right by the dais, only a step behind her, and lunged for one of the braziers. Its metal was warm to the touch, but not enough to burn me. Excellent. I gripped it in both hands like a mallet, then swung my body in a tight semicircle. The brazier sang through the air –
And it burst into flames.
“Holy shit, what the – ” I let the brazier go just in time. I whacked at the sleeve of my jacket to extinguish the bit of it that had caught fire, grateful that the only real casualties were the tiny hairs along my arm.
“So that’s what the shadow boy can do,” the goddess said, a mocking bend in her voice.
“I mean, yeah. I don’t know what you were expecting.” And I don’t know why I still insisted on being a smart-ass knowing that I was constantly minutes away from having the eyeballs melted right out of my skull, but I never said I was very smart. Handsome, yes. Smart? You be the judge.
“A curious trick. But we can’t have you running all day, can we? It wouldn’t do well to tire you out.”
Amaterasu lifted her hand, and a mirror slipped from the folds of her robes. It rose of its own accord into the air above her, spinning slowly. She gestured with her fingers, and the mirror shattered.
“Well that seems like a waste,” I said.
The goddess smiled in a way that told me I was about to regret everything leading up to this point in my life. The fragments of mirror spun faster and faster in midair, catching the light from every source in the chamber – the sky, the sword, the braziers, Amaterasu’s skin itself. Every shard reflected the light back into the chamber, rebounding and building in intensity until everything was awash in a blinding, blazing rainbow of brilliance.
For a moment I panicked. The suffusing, almost suffocating radiance reminded me of how Thea had plunged the city of Valero under a similarly choking mantle of light. Then I started again, understanding that I had an entirely separate reason to panic. The shards of mirror were casting a light so intense that every shadow in the room was gone.
“Goodness,” I said.
“Quite.” Amaterasu raised her flaming blade once more. “No more running, mortal. Defend yourself. Stand and fight.”
