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“We see your death.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh my gods, I get it. I get it. Terrible things are coming for me. I’m destined for a violent death. Whatever. Could you idiots shut up for two seconds?”
“Insolent.”
“Rude.”
This last made me laugh because it sounded like
something I would say. Sometimes I was blown away by how similar the gods could be to us mere mortals, whether they wanted to admit it or not.
I turned a corner and walked straight into Leo, who had come in when I wasn’t paying attention. “What are you looking for?” he asked.
“The last shreds of my sanity.”
“Good luck with that.”
I huffed and moved back in the direction of the kitchen, managing to tune out the spirits as they continued to yammer away about my doom. What had begun as something truly terrifying was now more like white noise. Once the element of surprise was gone, they weren’t all that scary.
Going for the knife block on the counter, I retrieved the largest butcher knife, something with a big, sharp blade.
Spirits didn’t bleed, but meddling gods sure did.
“Seriously, Tallulah.” Leo grabbed my arm, a bold move considering I was holding a giant knife. “What are you looking for?”
“Mormo.”
And like his name served as a summons, the smell of sulfur suddenly wafted into the room. In the heat of the summer evening the smell was almost unbearable. It felt heavy, like it might actually sink into my blood through my pores. My nose wrinkled instinctively out of disgust, and Leo mirrored the gesture, gagging.
“Fuck me.” He let go of my arm so he could cover his nose. “That’s the worst fucking thing I’ve ever smelled.”
It was like a sewer backup, if the sewer was backing up a corpse made of shit.
“Mormo,” I growled again.
I was glad I’d gotten all the puking out of my system earlier that night, because if I hadn’t, I’d sure want to right now.
“Who’s Mormo?” Leo’s voice was muffled by his arm, but I had no trouble making out the question.
“Mormo’s a backstabbing traitor who is going to meet the pointy end of Mr. Knifey here.” I waved the butcher knife and pushed past Leo, back into the hallway.
“Where are you?” I rounded the corner and whipped open a closet door. The smell wafted out, smacking me in the face and I winced. I closed my stinging eyes, tears dripping down my cheek.
The knife between my ribs came as an unexpected shock.
Chapter Twenty-One
I stared down at the blade in my stomach, a few inches below my breast, and let out a burbled “Uh” of surprise.
Mormo emerged from the closet like a monster out of a dream, his size too large to properly fit in the small space. He loomed tall and imposing, towering over me in the way a shadow climbing a wall might. I touched the place he had stabbed me, thinking, Shouldn’t it hurt more?
“He’s here!” The spirit voices chanted in unison, before falling silent.
“Sssstupid girl.”
My fingers came away covered in blood, and that was when the pain hit me, like ripping off a Band-Aid. First didn’t feel anything, and in an instant it was as though I was being shredded from the inside. It was just a knife, but it felt like a million tiny claws and teeth were cutting me apart.
I let out an anguished wail, gripping the blade. I needed this thing out of me now.
