Corson

The humans moved through the dwindling line as they gathered their food. The people were unusually reserved tonight, their faces strained and their eyes haunted. Their gazes darted nervously between the man handing out the food and the shadows of the building we’d taken refuge in for the night. Learning of the horsemen had left them unsettled.

After leaving the gateway behind, and disposing of the bodies, Wren had led us to this abandoned school. It was too large for my liking, too difficult to defend, but it was big enough to house everyone. Right now, being outside and exposed wasn’t an option, especially with the fallen angels and horsemen having been so close. They could be miles away by now, but I wasn’t willing to take the chance they were still nearby, not with Wren’s life.

She’s mortal, and the horsemen are some of the worst things to ever evolve in Hell.

My hands fisted as I stared at the night pressing against the windows high up on two of the concrete walls. It would be difficult for anything to scamper up the outside of the building and into the small, rectangle openings, but not impossible. However, we should be able to kill anything that tried before it got too far inside. Above the windows, spider webs hung from the metal, dust-coated beams running across the ceiling. The air held the musty odor of mildew, decay, and something I couldn’t quite identify.

We’d first entered the school through the large room attached to this one. The numerous, rusted metal doors within that room had kept me close to Wren as I waited for something to spring out of one and attack us.

“It’s a locker room,” Wren said before I could ask.

“It has too many hiding spots,” I’d replied.

She’d stopped at a sink and used some of the water from her bag to scrub the demon blood from her hands, before washing her face and rinsing her hair. I’d cleaned myself too, but my attention remained more focused on her as she scrubbed her flesh until it was raw. Setting my jug of water down, I’d clasped her hands in mine. She’d allowed me to hold her for a moment before she’d removed her hands from mine and walked away without another word.

After entering the gym, we’d chained the door to the locker room shut. Two other doors led out of the gym; four demons guarded each of them, two inside and two outside.

“I have a riddle for you, my dear,” Lix said from behind me. I turned to watch as he settled onto the ground beside Erin.

“Let’s hear it,” she replied as she pulled apart her small piece of bread.

“I am the one true horseman of the apocalypse. I destroy more than war, as I continue without life. I am more patient than famine, as I have eternity to ride. I silence more than death, as all will be still. And I spread farther than pestilence, as I act across the universe. What am I?” Lix inquired.

Erin rolled a piece of bread between her fingers as she contemplated his words. “Entropy,” she said and popped the small ball of food into her mouth.

Lix didn’t cheer with his usual enthusiasm when she answered one right. Instead, he patted her leg before rising. “Very good, dear. Very good indeed. One of these days, one of us will stump you.”

Erin smiled sadly at him. “I look forward to it.”

Lix’s bony feet clicked against the floor as he walked over to stand beside me. “The fucking horsemen,” I muttered and ran a hand through my hair to tug at the ends of it.

“And I bet you thought your biggest problem today was going to be a mortal Chosen who goes out of her way to avoid you,” Magnus purred from behind me.

I shot him a quelling look over my shoulder, and Bale’s hand tightened on the handle of her sword. I’d happily knock Magnus out, but Bale would take immense joy in severing his head from his shoulders. The two of them hadn’t gotten along before Magnus retreated from the war in Hell to work on strengthening his ability to weave illusions, hundreds of years ago. Their animosity had only increased since Magnus rejoined us to fight Lucifer.

Most of the time, I barely noticed their antagonism toward each other. Now, I was not in the mood to deal with their bullshit.

It didn’t help that Magnus was right.

I looked at Wren on the other side of the school gymnasium. She sat near the bottom of the wooden stairs that unfolded from the wall. Her damp hair tumbled around her shoulders as she idly tapped her blade against the bottom of her boot while watching the humans moving through the food line. She had to be hungry, yet she waited.

For the first time, I became acutely aware of the passing of time. One more day had passed, which meant there was one less day Wren had to live.

How do humans deal with this constant knowledge of time slipping away? I wanted to stick Wren in a protective bubble where nothing could ever shorten her time further, or better yet, make her an immortal.

While both options were tempting, Wren would hate me for doing either to her. Worse than the knowledge of her death was the possibility of her coming to despise me.

“I don’t like this place,” I stated as people and demons started placing their blankets on the dirt-streaked, tile floor.

“Try having to attend a place like this on a daily basis,” Hawk said from beside me. “I never made it to high school, but middle school sucked, especially with my first name.”

Hawk’s entire name was Sue Hawkson. From what I’d gathered from Hawk and the other humans, Sue wasn’t such a great name for a man to have in the mortal realm, but Hawk’s mother had named him after a song. She’d believed the name would make him stronger.

“That really would have sucked.” Vargas bit into a piece of jerky and chewed it.

“I’d rather face the horsemen than come to a place like this every day,” Shax said.

“So would I,” Hawk replied.

“There are too many openings, too many ways in,” I said as my gaze ran over the large room once more.

“This is the best place for us in this building. It would be too easy for something to see inside the classrooms. They have more windows and only one door,” Hawk said. “The locker rooms—”

“Have too many places to hide,” I said.

The horsemen are close to Wren. My fingers tore into the flesh of my palms. The familiar, prodding sensation of my talons looking to break free started beneath my skin. I kept them restrained as my gaze settled on Wren again.

“There are a couple of interior rooms with no windows,” Vargas said. “But there aren’t enough ways out of them.”

“This is the best we’re going to get right now,” I muttered.

Wren’s friend, Jolie, walked over and sat beside her. Jolie drew her legs up and plopped her elbows on her knees as she said something to Wren. Wren turned toward her before focusing on the dwindling line of people receiving their share of the meal.

Jolie said something that drew Wren’s gaze sharply back to her. Grabbing her bag, Wren pulled it closer to her and dug into it. All the Wilders had some bag or backpack they carried with them while they traveled. They stashed it somewhere whenever they hunted or fought and as far as I could tell, everything they owned fit into their bag.

This treacherous, sparse existence was all Wren had known for most of her life. She knew the peril she lived in, but I wanted better for her for however many days she had left.

“She’s mortal.”

“She is,” Bale said.

I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud until Bale agreed with me.

“I think that might be the least of your problems when it comes to her,” Magnus stated.

I hated to admit it, but Magnus was right. Wren’s mortality was a battle for another day. For now, I had to get my Chosen not to want to kick my nuts into my throat most of the time. I’d probably have a better chance of getting a manticore to agree not to eat everything they could skewer with their scorpion tails.

“You claim to know me so well, yet you don’t even know my real name.”

Her words replayed in my mind, as did everything else she’d revealed to me in the ouroboros’s tunnels.