Three weeks, two days, eight hours, and forty-seven minutes.

That was how long Micah had been gone. But who was counting? Not me. Because I didn’t care. Not anymore.

Or so I told myself.

Instead of obsessing about why he left with no explanation, I immersed myself in training with Keisha, planning with Ceris, and learning more about the creed with Victor—though he warned me that not even he remembered all the stories and legends. Meanwhile, Ceris had found four deities to work as scouts—Rihan, Tuzin, Nyria, and Letos, who would spy on Imha’s and Omi’s activities. Izaera and Zelen spent several days at a time away looking for more forest protectors, nymphs, or any kind of nature-related deities to join our group. Ceris called it an army, but we were only seven so far. Seven wasn’t an army.

I tried to focus on each step I took, but it never worked. Instead, my mind always got away from me when I was running. It was hard to believe all that had happened in the last six months. I had found Victor, the guy I had been having visions of for ten months, and Micah, a guy I didn’t see coming but who rocked my world. Then, I found out they were actually gods—Micah was Mitrus, the god of death and the dead and the underworld, and Victor was Levi, the god of balance, life, and spirit. Even worse was to find out a good friend of mine, Cheryl, was actually a goddess in disguise and had manipulated my life for almost a year. She had even manipulated my feelings for Victor, making me crazy about him, just to snatch him from me in the end. And there was so much more … we found Morgan, a high priest, and Keisha, a freaking hero. We encountered Imha and Omi more times than I dared to admit, and they even captured and tortured me … and killed my family. We had been betrayed and hurt and broken apart one too many times. But we were still here, fighting against the darkness Imha and Omi had unleashed upon our world.

I had been running on the treadmill for seventy-three minutes when an idea popped in my head. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? Ceris wanted an army? Maybe I could give her one.

I stopped the treadmill and jumped off it.

“What is it?” Keisha asked, mildly out of breath from running on the treadmill beside mine. Her dark skin glistened with sweat, and her long black ponytail bounced side to side.

“Just … need to see something.” I grabbed the towel from the treadmill and dabbed my damp face.

I walked into the living room, still finding it odd not seeing Zelen seated on the floor, praying. The air here smelled faintly of lavender. Ceris had made it her mission to prevent the foul air outside from entering the apartment, so she kept scented candles lit all the time in all the rooms.

After I quickly washed my hands and face in the half-bath adjacent to the apartment’s foyer, I went back to the living room. Where would Ceris have put it? I searched the TV stand, the shelves, under the coffee table. I moved on to the dining room, our usual meeting room, and searched the buffet cabinet and inside the many books Ceris had brought from all over the world that were crowding the dining room. The walls were lined with books—sans-shelves—sorted in piles as high as my chest. Nothing in here either.

I considered the kitchen, but Ceris wouldn’t have hidden it in the kitchen. Where else then? I wouldn’t search her bedroom.

“What are you looking for?” Ceris asked from behind me.

I turned to her. As usual, her sight made me self-conscious. She was a goddess—the goddess of love, family, home, and beauty—and she was stunning. Her long white hair fell down her back like a cascade of silver, her clear blue eyes shone with power, her skin was smooth, unblemished, and her figure … well, she was a goddess.

“The map,” I answered.

She extended her hand between us and the rolled map appeared in her outstretched palm. “Here.” I took it from her, sat on the couch, and unrolled the yellowed map with torn edges on the coffee table. Ceris sat beside me. “What are you looking for?”

The bright symbols came to life on the paper, sprouting all around the map. They didn’t rush around like the first time I had seen them. This time most of them were still in their places, some shining brighter than the others.

“What are the other gods’ symbols?” I asked.

“You’re going to try to find them?” Victor asked, entering the living room.

I looked up and nodded. His beauty didn’t have the same effect on me as it had when we first met, but I couldn’t deny he was handsome. Gorgeous even. With honey-colored hair, sea-green eyes, fair skin, a chiseled face, and a tall, strong figure, who wouldn’t think he was gorgeous? Moreover, he was a god. His power was as tangible and suffocating as Ceris’s.

“That’s a good idea,” Ceris said.

She produced a book with a worn leather cover out of thin air. The Gods and Goddess of the Everlasting Circle. Ugh, I knew this book. I had skimmed through it less than two months ago. It belonged to Morgan, a high priest. He was now in the underworld, and I had put him there.

The hurt snaked its way into my chest. It hit fast and hard, and it became difficult to breathe. Just like every night when I woke up from the same nightmare.

“Nadine?” Victor asked. He sat on the arm of the sofa beside Ceris.

I shook that feeling aside—just aside, because it never left me—took the book from Ceris and opened to the chapters about the other gods and goddesses—Sol, god of the sun and day; Lua, goddess of the moon and night; Ronen, goddess of entertainment and arts; and Maho, god of magic—and tried to memorize their symbols. All of the major gods and goddess symbols were encased in a circle, so it was easy to distinguish from the rest. I couldn’t find Sol’s symbol, Lua’s and Ronen’s kept flashing all over the map, but Maho’s was strong and on a little island in Thailand.

I pressed the tip of my index finger on the map. “This is Maho. He must be there.”

“The Phi Phi Islands, of course,” Victor said, leaning over the map. “We should go there.”

“Now?” Ceris asked. “But Izaera and Zelen aren’t here. It would be only the four of us, and …” She paused, looking at me.

“And I count for almost nothing?” I replied, being careful not to show how much her comments hurt sometimes. “I know, but that’s what you got.”

“We can go scout the place,” Victor said, trying to appease Ceris. “If we see it’s clear, we proceed. If there are demons or trouble, we fall back and summon Izaera and Zelen.”

I sighed. If Micah were here, we would have three full gods instead of two. But he wasn’t, and I had to accept that. Why was it so hard, damn it?

Ceris sighed. “All right. Let’s go.”

I stood and inhaled deeply. One more step toward the end.

The end. Soon it would be the end of the war. We would win—I had to believe that—and end thirty years of darkness, or we would lose, leaving Imha and Omi to reign over the world, spreading chaos and terror.

Regardless of the outcome, my end would come. That was, of course, if Micah returned to finish our deal.