Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
When I follow him I can’t help myself. I do the same thing. I reach out and press my hand against it. There’s nothing specifically special about it but when I press my hand against it, my breath catches. For a few short seconds I feel a sense of peace and belonging, like maybe Jakes disappearing led me here for a purpose.
I don’t dare hope, and yet when I walk through that door.
I do.
CHAPTER 7
CYRUS
“Empty words are evil.” -Homer, The Odyssey
I’m annoyed.
Well, irritated is more like it. The very fact that Bast just clung to her when he hasn’t so much as looked at me in the last decade—don’t even get me started on Rat and his inability to hand over any sort of food to anyone he deems unworthy.
I don’t see Cleo for the next hour—that is until I’m getting ready to go feed the animals that refuse to leave the alleyway.
They may not be the same as they used to be, but they’re still living breathing beings that need familiarity, which means I try as damn hard as possible to make sure I visit each and every one of them, even if they don’t recognize me anymore or know what I am, what they are. It’s been years since any of them have been called on, so there they sit. If I think about it too much it makes me feel like even more of a failure than I already am. The gods gave me time and what did that do? Nearly ruin the help they gave me in order to get my task done. I went through so many immortals, using their help along the way that they even forgot what their purpose was below the mountain.
It’s hopeless anyway, and to return them to whatever state they started in without just cause would pretty much be the biggest party fail. After all, even if they could still help it’s almost over.
It’s unfortunate that when I look into their eyes it’s so very different from before.
The air even tastes different now. I wonder if it’s me, if it’s the universe knowing that I’m done, or if it’s just boredom and sorrow.
One last sacrifice.
One day at a time.
I can do this one more time.
All I need to do is focus on the next step and focus on the end.
Naturally, Enki chooses the worst moment to send me a text when I’m headed outside to see a visual reminder of all my failures.
Enki
So I heard she’s pretty.
Me
Let me guess, word of my fun weekly dinner party got out and dick face Daggon opened his mouth again.
Enki
To be fair he never really closes it.
Me
I loathe him.
Enki
And yet you feed him.
Me
I have to feed everyone. It’s kind of in my nature and it’s not like I sacrifice an animal anymore. I let the cook do that.
Enki
You do realize that’s why Rat refuses to make eye contact—he thinks he’s next.
I mentally roll my eyes.
Me
I don’t eat squirrel.
Enki
And yet, they would.
Me
Because they’ve lost their grip on reality and only want one thing from me, the same thing everyone wants, even you. Did you have a point to this text other than to tell me she’s pretty? I mean they all are. It means nothing.
Enki
Feels different.
Me
You haven’t met her.
Enki
Has Cow?
I literally want to crush my phone in my hand and then toss it into the ocean to get fed on. Of course he’d bring that up.
Me
Cow hates everyone, even you and you know there’s a certain type of magic with her, she exists in the shadows and no, she hasn’t met the cow, the cow doesn’t like strangers.
Enki
Interesting. Should I stop by and say “hi”?
The idea of Enki trying to seduce Cleo has my blood boiling for the first time in a very long time—the guy doesn’t know when to stop and has zero self-control when he sees something pretty—it doesn’t matter if it’s food, a guy, a girl, a random tree branch—he’ll seduce the shit out of it, trick it, then cry foul when bad things happen because he’s using his powers for evil. The guy’s a hot mess.
I type back finally.
Me
Do you want to die?
Enki
You can’t kill me, it’s against your weird moral compass.
Me
What’s weird is you think I have one…
Enki
Even weirder—she believes you do.
I don’t respond to that; I don’t really want to go there. Instead, I ignore his next text. After failing his challenge as a god, he lives to annoy the shit out of me. Every god that fails is trapped for their entire immortal existence, they’ll never ascend to Olympus; they’ll simply wither away, and become a human that never dies with minimal power.
All I have is today, then tomorrow, then the next day, and the one after that until she’s gone.
How pathetically depressing for both of us.
Enki is one of the worst of them, kind of like the friend your parents warn you about, the one that tells you just one sip, just one shot, just one time. And every time you hear “just” fall from their lips you throw caution to the wind and enjoy it, but only until you reap the consequences.