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“Er, thanks. I guess. What’s your name?”
“Oh! I’m Leonie, one of the Kakodaimonistai. Please, allow me to prepare your breakfast.”
“That’s really okay,” I assured her. Grace had told me that the Kakodaimonistai were diehard daimon fans or whatever, who drank some kind of hallucinogenic so that they could see and know about us. I’d believed her, but actually seeing the fawning in action wassoweird. “I don’t really eat breakfast, I was just going to make some tea—”
“Right this way,” she replied immediately, ushering me toward a corner of the kitchen they’d converted into a beverage station. Ignoring my protests, she shouldered past an agathos already waiting for their turn, and I watched, slightly bewildered, as she made me a cup of tea and honey exactly the way I liked it.
I vaguely remembered sipping tea at one point when Riot had woken me up, and I guessed he’d told them how I took it. Still, it was kind of surreal that these total strangers seemed to know so much about me. That sense of weirdness continued as I headed outside with my drink, through the covered porch area toward where Grace and her bonded were sitting in the shade. People shouted greetings at me like they’d known me my whole life, parting for me to create a path to Grace. Clearly, being one of her soul bonds came with some prestige, which was cool and all, but I definitely didn’t feel as though I’d earned it.
If I thought it was weird coming from the Kakodaimonistai, it was even more bizarre when it came from agathos. Logically, I knew that the agathos here were the disenfranchised, cast-aside ones and that they had every reason to set themselves apart from the others, but it was still strange to have agathos look at me with something other than contempt.
They nodded to me like they respected me, when there was a very good chance I’d been beating up their teenage relatives back in Milton.
Riot immediately shifted over on the bench where he was sitting next to Grace to make room for me. Bullet was on her other side, with Wild next to him. Like,rightnext to him.
Riot had been my cuddle buddy for years when my Philotes instincts were acting up, I knew better than anyone that platonic friends could cuddle, but it seemed odd forthem. Wild had a pretty notorious reputation in Milton as a loner, and Bullet had isolated himself at the Oneiroi property for years. Even when he’d shown up in my studio to get the tarot cards he’d dreamed about inked on his skin, he hadn’t been overly keen on me actually touching him.
Was there something more to their relationship? Grace hadn’t mentioned it when she was catching me up on their escapades yesterday, but maybe she felt like it wasn’t her information to share. She seemed respectful that way.
“Hey, you doing okay?” Riot asked, clapping me on the back lightly so I didn’t spill my tea. “It’s unlike you to sleep for more than a few hours. I was worried you’d died.”
I snorted. “These are pretty exceptional circumstances. I’m feeling a lot better, though.”
A line ofAncient Greek warriors—cool, cool, just a normal day—filed in from the far corner of the property, equipped with spears and swords and shields, the feathers on the top of their helmets swaying as they walked.
“So, uh, what’s going on?” I asked when no one offered any explanation for the sudden influx of armed soldiers, sipping my tea.
“Training time,” Riot replied. “They usually come eat breakfast with everyone, then return to the barn to put on all their gear, then spar for a bit.”
Wild stood, brushing his hand over Bullet’s shoulder—interesting—before leaning down to kiss the top of Grace’s head, signing something at her before he jogged down to join the merry band of warriors assembling next to the pool.
“Wild trains with them,” Riot explained. “They seem to be picking up sign language faster than spoken English.”
I watched as Wild and what may have been the leader of the Spartoi signed slowly at each other. Riot listed off the names of the Spartoi he’d learned, as well as pointing out the agathos, daimons, and humans milling around. I thought I had a decent memory but there must have been a hundred and twenty people here.
It felt like more than that. This place definitely wasn’t equipped to house so many. Aside from the lack of accommodation, we weresoexposed at the top of this cliff—a winding driveway on one side and a steep drop to the ocean on the other.
“That’s Theras,” Riot said, nodding at the guy opposite Wild as they both dropped into a fighting stance. “I guess he’s like the Spartoi commander? He seemed like he wanted to take orders from Grace, but she directed him to Wild.”
“And they eat and sleep and stuff? Like regular humans?” I asked, eyeing them warily. Wild was a big, shredded dude, and next to anyone else, he looked like an absolute unit. Next to the Spartoi, he appeared average-sized, at best. Each one of them had an unnatural level of cut muscle.
“They definitely eat and sleep,” Riot confirmed while Grace nodded silently next to him. “How much theyfeel—emotion-wise—is up for debate.”
“I don’t feel the urge to make them horny, so I’m guessing they’re not entirely human, but they don’t have agathos or daimon eyes so who knows?” I shrugged.
Grace leaned past Riot, giving me a wide-eyed look. “Why didn’t I think of that? Not making them, well, you know. But I haven’t felt the urge to give any of them luck.”
“He’s not just a pretty face,” Riot replied, clapping me on the back. I snorted, remembering him tellingmethat on the phone when he was stuck running errands for Viper not that long ago. Except I’d been a lot prettier in those days, before all the scars and the broken noses. I couldn’t envision Riot saying that to me now.
“Oh, I meant to say that your friend is welcome to come inside,” Grace said suddenly. “Jack, is it?”
“I did tell him that. He seemed a little skittish,” Riot added with a smirk. I scoffed, doubting Riot had been particularly hospitable.
My lips twitched. “I don’t know him very well. I’m guessing by what you guys have told me that the voice telling me where to go after the crash was Sophia the Wise, and she said Jack’s was a safe place for me to stay, but that’s about the extent of it. I did try to get him to come in, but he’s content to hide out in the van for now,” I replied, opting not to tell Grace he thought she was going to sacrifice me and grow a replacement.
I wasn’t sure we were at that level in our relationship yet.
Before she could respond, two young agathos women appeared in front of us, one sheepish, the other determined.
