For the Birds

by Angela Roquet

  “Your involvement with the current events in the city has not gone unnoticed. I had theories of my own before Grim declined you as his new lieutenant, and I was not entirely surprised to find you in the thick of things after the fact.”

  I did my best to keep a neutral face and maintained eye contact with her, even when she paused to take a breath. She hadn’t asked any questions, so I didn’t feel inclined to answer any for her. She watched me carefully, like a cat watches a mouse, waiting for it to move.

  “I am not typically a creature of deception or political strategy. I’m sure you know where my strengths lie. I am new in this life, and I wish to do my part in maintaining the peace. I will not deny that a sliver of me is seduced by the threat of a new war, but a larger more maternal voice commands my being now. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  I nodded slowly. “I think so.”

  “Then take my words for what they are. No more, no less. I know the future of this world will rely on you in some way. I don’t know how, and I don’t need to know. The warrior in my heart recognizes the warrior in yours. The only question I ask is, are you prepared?”

  I clutched the cup of tea so tightly that I thought the brittle china might crack. Anything I could say felt like it would be an admission to something that I wasn’t sure I believed myself. I didn’t want to think about the things that the future might hold. I wanted one day at a time. I wanted to fill my head with thoughts of John Wayne pajama parties and Athena’s new spring line of shoes and accessories. I didn’t want to think about whose path I might find myself in if Eternity decided to fall apart again.

  I stared back at Parvati’s passive gaze, feeling the sting of tears creep into my vision. “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  Parvati nodded solemnly. I’m not sure when the thought slipped inside my head, but I realized that the real reason I found her so unsettling was because she reminded me of Khadija. She was softer on the outside, and much harder on the inside, but it was still right there. She had the wounded spirit of a woman who had paid the ultimate price to save Eternity, and I knew if she had it to do all over again, she would without a second thought.

  She reached across the distance and rested a hand on my trembling knee. “That’s good enough for me, child. Finish your drink.”

  I swallowed down the rest of the tea. It had gone cold, but I found it soothing nonetheless. The limo stopped in front of Holly House. I thanked Parvati for the tea as I stepped out onto the sidewalk.

  “We’ll talk again soon,” she said, slipping me a business card and a polite nod before I closed the door.

  Chapter 19

  “Friendship is a single soul

  dwelling in two bodies.”

  -Aristotle

  My nerves were humming a tired tune when I stepped off the elevator on the tenth floor. I felt exhausted and rejuvenated, doomed and fortunate. I wanted to dance, and I wanted to cry. I felt like I had my own little Kali goddess living in my head, and she wanted to throw everything to the wind and go eat a steak and start a brawl at Purgatory.

  Josie was sitting up at the breakfast bar when I came through the front door. Her yellow terrycloth robe was split open at the thigh, and her legs were folded up under her chin. Her raccoon eyes looked up from the pair of tea mugs waiting on the counter. The evening was full of tea it seemed.

  “Lana, I thought maybe you were staying with Bub.”

  “No, I, uh.” I swallowed. “I was abducted by Caim and Loki at the harbor after you and Kevin left. I’ve been at the factory, tied up with the Fates for most of the night.”

  “What?” Josie had to grab the counter to keep from falling off her barstool. “What?” She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to rattle the words around until they made better sense.

  I laid my duffle bag on the dining room table and pulled out a chair, dropping into it with a sigh. “They had Atropos’ shears and the Helm of Hades and Ammit’s headdress.”

  Josie looked horrified. “What the hell were they trying to pull off with all that? How did you escape? Were they captured? Are you okay?”

  I held up a hand. “Slow down. I’m getting there. They escaped. We got the shears back, but they still have the helm and headdress. Caim was after the soul we harvested last fall, but when he realized… I couldn’t help him, he killed one of Clotho’s birds and sucked the souls out of it with Ammit’s headdress. It didn’t go over well. Fortunately, that’s when Bub and Asmodeus dropped in. Bub realized something was wrong when I didn’t answer my phone after he called several times. Apparently, my phone has one of those fancy GPS devices. So he and Asmodeus launched a little rescue mission.”

  Josie abandoned her barstool to join me at the table. She let everything I’d just told her settle for a minute. I could tell she had the hard questions that I’d been dodging on her mind again, but she looked too tired to pry tonight. So I saved her the trouble.

  “That soul we harvested last fall controls Eternity.” It came out easy, all in one breath. I was too defeated to even notice my conscious resisting.

  Josie nodded stiffly. “I wondered as much. I imagine Grim would terminate anyone who tries to say it out loud though.” She rubbed her hands up over her face and brought them to rest on the back of her neck, staring off into the depths of the hardwood table, but I wasn’t finished yet. I was on a roll. Why stop now?

  “The soul who ran the joint before him gave me something extra when she made me so that I could help find her replacement. I’m able to see the potency of a soul. Grim didn’t know about it until last fall, and neither did I.”

  Josie sat back in her chair and looked at me with new eyes. I watched her chest rise and fall like a tide while the news washed over her. “That makes sense, I guess,” she finally said, nodding her head some more.

  For my finale, I dropped the mother lode on her. “I also killed Wosyet.”

  Josie stared at me for a long minute without blinking or even breathing. Then she stood up and looked around the room like she had forgotten where we were. “Coffee. We need coffee.”

  “She was the nurse at the hospital—”

  “Coffee first. I’m sleep deprived. I think I’m hearing things that you’re not actually saying,” she said, heading for the kitchen.

  “Why are you still up anyway? I mean, not that I mind dumping all my deepest and darkest on you at two in the morning, but still. Here I am, hogging the conversation with my burdens. What is it you’ve got weighing on your mind these days?”

  I slipped off my boots while Josie fumbled with the coffeepot, sloshing water across the counter. She snatched up a dishtowel and wiped at the spill compulsively, not looking up at me. “Jenni. I was waiting up for Jenni, but she’s probably not coming home again. She stood me up today. We were supposed to meet for lunch. We’d planned the get-together over a week ago. I watched her pencil it into her day planner.”

  “New boyfriend?” I wouldn’t drop that secret on her tonight. There was enough startling news in the air.

  Josie laughed, but she still wouldn’t look at me. “Right. This is Jenni we’re talking about.”

  “Well, Grim has her working a lot of hours, I’m sure.”

  Josie sighed and leaned over the kitchen sink, squeezing both hands on the ledge of the counter. “I’m worried about her. She’s been distant, and—” she looked up at me, “and you’ve been distant, and Gabriel doesn’t come around lately since you’re feuding. Kevin’s a doll, but all he does is talk about how exciting the harvests are that you take him on. I’m about to strangle him.”

  I recoiled at her list of burdens, not liking how so many of them revolved around me. Josie eyes watered. She swallowed hard and threw the dishtowel in the sink. “Well, there you have it. I’m a miserable wretch with petty problems that don’t hold a candle to the shit you’ve been marinating in for the past year. How do you sleep so well?”

  I shrugged and stared across the condo and out the darkened living room windows. “I reall
y don’t know.” I laughed, hearing myself echo the answer to Parvati’s question. “I’m not sure I know anything anymore.”

  Josie brought me a cup of coffee, all decked out the way I take it. She set her cup of straight black down next to mine and curled herself up in a dining room chair across from me, resting her chin on her knees again. “So, you’re a freak of nature that can kill gods and spot special souls able to keep Grim in the business of playing the man behind the curtain? How’s that working out for you?”

  I smiled at her. “It totally sucks, but thanks for asking.”

  Chapter 20

  “Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced,

  and the inconvenience is often considerable.”

  -Jane Austen

  I hadn’t counted on wearing my coffee Monday morning. I also hadn’t counted on seeing Loki in my kitchen. I almost pinched myself to be sure that I wasn’t stuck in another nightmare.

  “Are you alright?” he asked, filling a mug full of coffee.

  “I’m not awake yet,” I said, more to myself than him.

  A soft growl stirred from under the table. Saul was curled around my feet. He was a perceptive little beast, and he always stuck close by when he knew I was feeling fragile. Loki eyed Saul, sizing him up before he turned back to the coffee pot.

  “Well,” he went on, adding sugar to his mug, “I have a busy day planned at the office. I better get going before Grim sends an escort.”

  “Jenni?” The surreal moment was fading.

  “Yeah?” Loki turned back to me, and a hazy aura that resembled my roommate floated around him.

  “Would you mind telling Grim that I’m going to be taking the day off? I had a rough night.”

  “I heard. Thank goodness you didn’t tell them where Grim’s hiding that soul.” Loki might have been exceptional at chameleoning himself into other people, but he was a lousy spy.

  I was quick to shrug. “Like Grim would tell me where he hides anything.”

  Loki’s frown was deeper than the one he pasted on Jenni’s face. I could see them overlapping, her glossy pout superimposed over his bulldog underbite.

  “Right. You’re sure about skipping work? Looked like you had quite the harvest list for today.”

  “The team can handle it without me. I really need to get some sleep.”

  He seemed disappointed. There was probably another ambush planned. “Whatever,” he said, giving Saul another sour look.

  I waited until he left and I heard the elevators ping at the end of the hall before making my way over the kitchen sink and vomiting up all the coffee and bile swirling around in my stomach. My head throbbed. I slid down to the tile floor and pressed my back into the corner of the cabinets. One day. That’s all I wanted. Just one day where everything was blissfully mundane, and I didn’t have to wonder if I’d still be breathing when night fell.

  I had to dial Grim’s private number four times before I got it right. My fingers didn’t want to work. My hands were shaking so hard that the phone rattled against my hoop earring.

  Grim answered on the second ring. “I really can’t handle much more bad news, Harvey.”

  “How sure are you that this line is secure?”

  “One hundred percent.” His tone shifted. “What’s this about?”

  “Loki is posing as Jenni. You can’t let on until we get her back, but we’re going to need to get him out of the way in the meantime.”

  Grim was silent for a minute. “You’re absolutely sure?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  “Split your harvest list. Give out half to Arden, Alex, and Kate. Be here with the others by nine. I’ll put together the rest of the team. Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone else.” He hung up without saying goodbye.

  I swallowed and looked around the condo, wondering how long I had been living with a psychotic god. Then I wondered what had become of Jenni, and how we were going to find her. Rain splattered across the living room windows. It was a sudden downpour, and it hadn’t been announced. My first thought was Winston, and my heart seized up. I thought of the coin Loki had gotten his hands on.

  “No, no, no,” I sighed, clutching the phone to my chest. It couldn’t be Winston. My heart sank even lower when I realized that there was no way for me to check in on him. I stared helplessly at the numbers on my phone’s keypad, trying to pull it together before dialing Josie’s number.

  “Captain?” Josie was out of breath. She and Kevin had been taking full advantage of the gym at Holly House. She sounded chipper, despite our late night confessional. It felt good to have the secrets out in the open between us, even if they did bring all kinds of new and terrifying possibilities with them.

  I hated to drop another nasty surprise on her so soon, but some things just can’t wait. “I need you and Kevin to cut your workout short this morning. We have a crisis. I need you both up here now.” I wondered if Loki was still in the building and added, “Don’t stop to talk to anyone. Not even Jenni if you happen to see her.”

  “You mean Jenni finally showed up?”

  “I’ll explain everything when you get here.” I hung up before she could ask any more questions. I had enough of my own to tend to. I had five minutes tops before they would make it back up to the tenth floor, so I made one more phone call.

  “Greetings, reaper,” Parvati answered.

  “What was in that tea?”

  I could feel her smile through the phone. “Already proving useful? It’s good to know that my timing is still impeccable.”

  “Well?”

  “It’s called Divya Drishti, or divine perception. The effects won’t last forever, but I thought you might benefit from the increased focus it generates. I have always found it helpful in troubled times. It can light the true path through many a delicate circumstances.”

  I thought of Loki and then of mine and Josie’s conversation the night before. I nodded to myself. “Thank you,” I said, wondering if there was going to be a political catch to the gift, though I was so grateful that I almost didn’t care.

  “You are very welcome. Farewell, reaper.” It felt too easy, like any second she might call back and request that I go pick up her dry-cleaning or assassinate someone.

  Josie and Kevin clamored through the front door, right past the protective Latin prayers engraved in the framework. That was the other big question weighing on me. How had Loki gotten into the condo in the first place? The prayers didn’t prevent demons from entering Holly House, but they were meant to keep those with foul intentions at bay. If Loki had only dropped by to snoop for information, the spells might not have been strong enough to detect him. Grim had demanded my silence, so I couldn’t very well dial up Holly and tell her that her security measures were lacking.

  “What’s the deal? Did Jenni show or not?” Josie asked, rubbing a towel over her face.

  “Not exactly.” There was really no delicate way to put it. “I think I know why she’s been acting so off though. Loki’s taken her place. I’m guessing she was grabbed by rebels.”

  Josie swallowed, clutching the towel in front of her. “How long ago?”

  I shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I just found out this morning.” It was hard to think about too. It could have been days, or it could have been weeks. If Jenni was still alive, it was hard telling the condition we’d find her in.

  Josie and Kevin were still standing in the dining room, frozen in place.

  I cleared my throat. “Josie, I’ll need you to deliver the rest of the team’s dockets today. Kevin can go with you and take the hounds down to the ship. Don’t tell the others that we’re not going to be harvesting with them. Meet me in Grim’s office at nine. Bring all the firepower you can carry. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”

  Chapter 21

  “If all the world’s a stage,

  I want to operate the trap door.”

  -Paul Beatty

  I didn’t ask Grim what he had done to get L
oki out of the way. It skipped my mind when I entered his office with Josie and Kevin and found a familiar pair of silvery white wings nestled into one of the office chairs.

  I didn’t want to see Maalik, and I could tell he wasn’t exactly thrilled to be in the same room with me either. He didn’t turn around to greet me. He didn’t look at me when I took the seat next to him. His brow was set in a firm line, and his jaw tightened, looking foreign against the soft, dark curls cascading over his shoulders.

  A moment later, Beelzebub entered the room, dressed in a black ops getup like the one he had worn the night before. He looked tired, but he’d found time to shave and clean up before the meeting. He gave me a small smile that quickly vanished when he noticed Maalik.

  My recent choice in lovers had shifted about as drastically as my job titles had in the last year. The choice really hadn’t been mine to make though, on both accounts. I suppose I could have refused the men. The career change would have been more difficult though. I liked breathing.

  Maalik was definitely the safer of the two men. He was also the more archaic and old-fashioned. When he had first moved to the city, he hadn’t had much cultural knowledge of the modern world, but he gave it a fair shot. He wore jeans and went out to Purgatory Lounge a few times with Apollo. He’d even taken an interest in modern cuisine and rock music.

  The one thing he did have trouble shaking was his inane protector complex. In addition to giving me the hellhounds, he had also set me up at Holly House, and then tried to micromanage my career in order to keep me out of harm’s way. After our split, he’d drifted back into his old ways, avoiding the social circles and wearing his standard issue black robe.

  It was hard not to feel a little responsible for his lack of luster, but I just wasn’t prepared to become his Rapunzel playmate that he seemed to have less and less time for. Even if I had been okay with that, circumstances wouldn’t have allowed it. Horus was blackmailing me, and as much as I hated to admit it, Winston was depending on me too.