I didn’t think it was possible, but I woke up before Keisha. Trying not to make any loud noises, I tiptoed out of my bedroom and went to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and changed from my pajamas to working out clothes—black pants and black tank top. Because I was in the mood for black. Or was it because black matched my mood?

As I walked to the kitchen, I saw Ceris, Victor, Maho, and Micah in the dining room, having what looked like an important meeting. A tiny pang sliced through my chest. They were having a meeting without Keisha and me. It was okay, I told myself, and I entered the kitchen. They were all mighty gods. They were supposed to have ultra-secret meetings.

I found fresh coffee, prepared two slices of toast, and sat down at the kitchen island. I tried focusing on each bite and sip I took; instead, my mind went to the dream and the pain from last night. I shuddered. What a crazy thing.

A crazy thing, which maybe could help with my research. It was one, or two, more items we could look for—crazy dreams and magical pain. I snorted. Yeah, right, because that would be easy to find.

I went to the sink and washed my plate, then poured more coffee in my mug. I usually avoided looking out the window, but a shadow caught my eye and I saw Rok flying by. I followed him with my eyes and observed as he landed on the broken window of the building across the street. He squawked once, and I could swear the raven was looking at me.

“Hello to you too,” I whispered, remembering how Micah had asked it to keep an eye on me before. God, it had been only a couple of months ago, but it felt like years had gone by.

Turning around, I leaned back on the counter and smelled the delicious scent of pure black coffee. I hadn’t had a mochaccino since Ceris took Victor from Cathedral Rock, and honestly, I didn’t miss it. One more point to confirm my theory I had never actually loved him, not for real.

Not like I loved someone else inside this apartment.

I sighed.

The devil walked in the kitchen.

Micah looked gorgeous, as always. A little longer, his hair was even messier than before, but the new style suited him. The strands framed his face, accentuating the sharp lines—his chiseled jaw and chin, as well as his high cheekbones. His black eyes shone like two dark pools, and his lips … I sighed. His lips had a permanent pout, as if they wanted to be kissed. His black T-shirt hugged his broad shoulders and ripped arms, and his dark jeans were fitted around his legs and hips. Before this craziness of gods and demons and magic, I would have said—to Raisa or Olivia or even Cheryl—that he had been sculpted by the gods. Ha! How ignorant of me since he was a goddamn god!

“Morning,” Micah said, his eyes meeting mine.

Realizing I had been staring, I lowered my gaze to my coffee. “Morning.”

He grabbed a mug from a cabinet and came to my side, where the coffee machine was. “No more dreams or pain?” he asked as he poured coffee in his mug.

“Nope.”

“Good.” He turned around and his elbow brushed my arm.

A cold shock ran up my arm and an image flashed in my mind.

In what looked like those old taverns from old movies, the young girl from my dream—my sister—stood several feet in front of me. She leaned over the wooden bar counter, talking to the barmaid who was cleaning glasses. The handsome man we had seen before came over to her side and leaned his back on the counter. At first, he stood there, looking out at the crowd taking up the tables at the tavern. Then, slowly, he turned around, his elbow brushing her arm, and she looked at him, and he looked at her. Time froze. They stared at each other, a smile forming on their lips as if no one else existed in the world.

I gasped as the image faded.

Micah turned to me, his body looming over me. “What it is?”

I shook my head, clearing the fog from my mind. “I … I just saw the girl from my dream again. A quick scene, but it felt like … a memory.” A knot appeared between his brows and his black eyes stared at me with concern. I couldn’t take it. I averted my eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“And the pain?” he asked, his voice low and firm as if he was ready for battle.

I took a step to the side, needing more space from his powerful figure. “No pain this time.”

Micah took a deep breath, puffing out his chest and growing taller—making me feel smaller, weaker, and unimportant—and leaned against the counter. “You should start taking notes of these dreams,” he suggested. “Perhaps we can make sense of them together.” I glanced at him. “All of us,” he added quickly. “Ceris and Levi are good with these things.” He cleared his throat. “You’re sure you’re okay? No pain?”

“I’m okay,” I said, my voice low, faint.

Micah nodded. “Good.” He sipped from his mug, and then turned his body toward me. “I …” Anticipation took hold of me and I held my breath. A long, tense moment passed before he simply pursed his lips and shook his head once. “That’s good.”

With hooded eyes, Micah nodded again. Then, without another word or glance back, he walked out of the kitchen.

That was it? After all the weeks he had been gone, after kissing me and leaving, that was all he was going to say to me? He wasn’t even going to apologize for being a jerk?

I let out a long breath, as if now that he was gone I could breathe easier. But that wasn’t true. It was hard to admit, even to myself, but I felt safer when he was around. Yes, I felt small and weak when beside him, when confronting him, but that was only because he was so tall, broad, and powerful. Otherwise, he had been a safe harbor through it all—except when he was leaving me behind. I missed the way we were before, when we talked more, when we helped each other, when he still needed me to heal him. Now that he was a full god, he didn’t need me anymore. Who needed a simple mortal?

I turned to the sink and washed my mug, wishing it were that simple. If only I could wash all my problems and frustrations away.

* * *

I didn’t let go of the map anymore. I kept searching it, looking for any symbol that might stop long enough for us to go after it. Two days passed and I must have checked the map at least a hundred times between training with Keisha and avoiding Micah.

Finally, on the morning of the third day, I found one.

“Here,” I said, my tone chipper. “This is …” I looked at the book for the right symbol. “This is Sol, god of the sun and day.”

Ceris leaned over the couch where I was seated to look at it. “That looks like a place he would hide.”

“Isn’t Lua with him?” Maho asked. He was seated in an armchair across the room.

“No,” I said, looking at the book to check on Lua’s symbol. Then I went back to the map. “Her symbol is all over. It doesn’t stop for long.”

“That’s okay. At least we can reach Sol,” Ceris said. “He might know where Lua is and then we’ll have another one on our side.”

“Great,” Victor said. “Let’s get ready, and this time we’ll be more careful.”

Thirty minutes later, we were in our armor, carrying our weapons, and popping in and out of places so our energy would be harder to follow. One of these spots was the edge of a lake from where we could see a village on the other side. A village that was under attack. People ran around, screaming and crying, fire engulfed houses, and demons swept through the place, killing everyone who crossed their paths.

“Wait,” I yelled before Ceris could take us out of there. “The village. We have to help them.”

Ceris gave me a hard look. “We can’t help everyone.”

I glared at her. “But we have to try. Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? Save the world? This is part of the world. Demons are attacking innocent people. We have to help.”

Micah stood beside me, towering over me. “We’ll help them.” He unsheathed his sword and turned his back to us, marching toward the village.

Victor followed Micah. “Let’s go.”

Ceris groaned and I stifled a grin.

We rushed around the edge of the lake and charged into the village.

Adrenaline shot through me. Fighting was dangerous and messy and bloody, but it was also exhilarating. It could be beautiful in a deadly way, with the long, precise movements and twists and jumps.

“Nadine, Keisha,” Victor called out. “Help the people. Get them out of the village. We’ll take care of the demons.” He opened his arms and white bolts sparkled to life in his palms.

The women and children yelped at the sight, but when he walked by them and threw the bolts at the demons, they sighed in relief.

“This way,” I shouted, gesturing to the edge of the lake.

Demons followed us, but Keisha and I were prepared. We used our swords to defend the townspeople, killing the demons after a few blows. A few men joined in the battle with their personal guns and some even carried kitchen knives. My mind wanted to take a moment and ponder the dangers of having untrained men handling guns, but there was no time. If they could help us, even if it was by distracting the demons, I would take it.

A few yards from me, Micah jumped from a bench, sending a black energy wave out from his body. It hit several demons in their chests. The demons flew back and Micah advanced on them, a determined shine in his dark eyes. The way he danced around the innocents and struck the demons was mesmerizing.

It hit me once more how out of my league he was. He was a god—they all were gods—and I was a mere mortal who tried to bargain her way into helping. I had no idea why they put up with me. Why they just didn’t leave me behind, abandoned me in a safe town and be done with me. I was glad they hadn’t, though. I couldn’t bear the thought of waiting for this war to end and doing nothing. Especially now that my family was gone. If the creed left me, I would be truly alone.

Most of the people from this side of town seemed to have made it to the lake.

“We should go to the other side,” I told Keisha.

She sliced the throat of a demon before nodding.

As we turned to leave, a young woman came running in our direction. Her blond curls were mated with blood, as were her sweater and jeans. She screamed as demons trudged behind her.

Keisha and I acted. We ran to the girl, our swords raised to stop the demons. In less than twenty seconds, Keisha and I had killed them all.

I turned to the girl. “Are you okay?”

She stood there, her wide eyes shifting between the demons at our feet and the swords in our hands.

“Hey,” Keisha called. “Are you okay?”

The girl blinked and tears filled her eyes. “Y-yes.” Then she shook her head. “No. They killed my family.” A sob shook her body.

My heart squeezed. I knew all too well how it was to lose your loved ones.

She raised her hands and hid behind her palms as another sob raked through her. Two gashes on her lower arm trickled blood down to her elbow—probably from demons’ claws.

“You should have that looked at.” I pointed at her arm. She peeked through her hands and followed my finger.

“Oh,” she said, lowering her hands. “I hadn’t even noticed it.”

I reached for her, cupping her wound. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t too deep. Just as I touched her, a shock ran through us and she jumped back.

Her mouth closed, her eyes hardened, her slumped shoulders straightened.

“I need a weapon,” she said.

“W-what?” Keisha asked.

The girl looked around. A few feet from us, a gun lay beside a dead body. The girl picked it up, opened the magazine, and checked for bullets, and then she snapped it close again.

“Only eight rounds,” she said. “Better make them count.”

She raised her arms and pointed the gun at the demons. Her eight bullets hit four demons—in the heart and in the head. The demons fell to the ground.

Keisha and I stared at each other.

“I need another weapon,” the girl said, flinging the gun aside as if it was a used piece of paper. Her eyes locked on Keisha’s waist, where a spare one-hand sword dangled. “Give me that.”

Keisha didn’t move.

A demon rushed to us. In our stupor, the girl stole my sword from my hands and twirled around, raising the sword and slicing the demon’s head off.

She whirled the sword and handed it back to me by the hilt. “Here. Now, if you could please give me that one.” She pointed to the extra sword at Keisha’s waist.

Keisha looked at me, unsure what to do. Stunned, I nodded and Keisha handed the sword to the girl.

Her blue eyes sparkled as her hands closed around the hilt. “Let’s kick some demon ass.” She let out a loud battle cry and charged the demons, fighting like Keisha and me, fighting like she had done it her entire life. “What are you two waiting for?” she yelled.

I shook the shock from my body and joined her in battle.