Alice and Keisha fought without weapons while I waited my turn. I observed them, taking note of things they could have done better or moves they had missed.

Alice had come with us after we found Sol. When Ceris told her who she was, what the Everlasting Circle was, and who they all were, Alice took everything like a champ. It was like she had been waiting for this to happen. She didn’t question anything—at least she didn’t voice any doubts out loud.

The only part that hurt came right after Ceris made proper introductions. Alice turned to me and asked, “But what are you, Nadine?”

The golden question.

I shook my head and walked into the kitchen while Ceris explained how I had helped them and about my newfound abilities.

To make matters worse, I had another dream about the young woman. She, my twin sister, and I needed to hide something, something big and powerful, something that emanated with power, but each time I tried to look at it, it vanished as if by magic. Although I knew it could have been only the dream. My dreams were always dubious, with things disappearing and floating around. To hide this mysterious object, my twin and I pulled daggers with the hilts encrusted with precious gems from our waistbands near our backs, and we didn’t even flinch as we slashed our palms open. Blood oozed from the new cuts and dripped on a large rock atop of a hill. The rock shone bright, and then the thing was gone. Fire exploded from the trees around the hill, and I could hear my family’s screams, accusing me of killing them. I woke up breathing hard and trembling from head to toe as the intense pain slithered through my chest. But I pressed my lips tightly and swallowed my screams. I didn’t want anyone coming to babysit me.

The next morning, Alice was already in the gym when Keisha and I entered in the early morning.

We started with stretching, followed by a little bit of cardio and weight lifting, and then we went on to fighting practice.

So far, Alice could hold her own against Keisha.

Then it was my turn with Alice. We started by circling each other, taking in our space and our reactions. Alice feigned a few times, trying to trick me. But I didn’t fall for anything. When she actually came at me, I was prepared. I met her move for move, until she used her superior strength to her advantage. As tall as Keisha but as lean as me, Alice surprised me by hitting like a truck. The girl could pack a punch!

I twisted at the last second, and instead of hitting my chin, her fist connected with my shoulder, throwing me off balance. I stumbled two steps, but recovered, ready to plant a roundhouse kick to her chest.

Then two of our scouts walked by the door and I let my guard down.

“What happened?” Alice asked.

“The scouts are here,” I said, already walking toward the door.

Keisha and Alice followed me to the living room where Ceris, Victor, Maho, Sol, and Micah waited for the scouts’ report. Rok was seated on the windowsill, watching everything with interest.

“As expected, things are getting worse and worse,” the blond scout said. I knew he was some deity Ceris had found, but I didn’t remember his name, or what he was and what exactly he was doing for us. “Per Imha’s orders, several of her demon battalions are supposed to go from town to town and destroy everything and kill everyone.”

“Which explains what we encountered yesterday,” Ceris said.

“Our spy told us Imha is doing that because she knows you won’t stand for it and will try to help as many people as you can, which will, in turn, deviate from your plan of assembling an army to attack her.”

“I see,” Ceris said, her voice strained.

“Also,” the tall one with brown hair started. “She knows you’re after the other gods, Lua and Ronen, and apparently that’s her main mission right now. To get to them before you do.”

“She mentioned killing them if they don’t join her cause,” the blond scout said.

Ceris glanced at me, a sense of urgency in her blue eyes. I sighed, knowing that finding Ronen and Lua depended solely on me. No pressure.

“All right,” Levi said. “Thanks for the update. You should keep doing the same. Monitoring Imha’s and Omi’s moves. See if your spy can find out anything more about what they plan next, other than finding Ronen and Lua.”

“Unfortunately, our spy isn’t too high ranked in her army, my lord,” the tall scout said. “So he might not be able to find out anything more interesting.”

“That’s okay,” Levi said. “Anything he can tell us is of great help. Thank you.”

Both scouts bowed and then hurried from the apartment.

Before I could move or even think, Ceris turned to me, the map in her hand. “You know what to do.”

With a sigh, I grabbed the map and plopped down on the couch to search for the goddesses.