Gameboard of the Gods
Numbed, Mae lay down beside him and stared at the ceiling. Such an amazing mind…bogged down by delusion. It was a pity. But then, after what he’d gone through, how could he not be scarred? Which now left her with a problem. What did she do with everything she’d learned? Because she’d learned a lot. There was an unlicensed cult stockpiling weapons in Mazatlán, as well as a priestess with information about other unlicensed groups. There was a servitor who believed he had supernatural creatures living in his mind and who had all but admitted to a belief in gods interfering in mortal lives. Of course, if what he’d said was true, SCI might already know where his beliefs were…but did they realize the extent? Would they care? They would probably care that he wasn’t reporting dangerous factions.
“What are you going to do?” asked Justin quietly, guessing her thoughts.
“I don’t know.”
“Horatio tells me you have a lot of control right now.”
“Who?”
“One of the ravens.”
“That’s his name?” she asked. “Horatio?”
“I didn’t give it to him. The other’s Magnus. But he’s right. You can make or break me, Mae.”
She pondered it for several more moments. “I want you to break this case. And right now, no matter how, um, confused you are, I still think you’re the only one who can do it.”
He turned to her and smiled. “You’ve got a lot of faith in me.”
“Faith in your powers of observation and deduction. I don’t know about the rest.” Some of Callista’s words came back to her. “What did Callista mean when she was asking who’d chosen you? Did she mean the ravens?”
“No.” His smile faded. “According to them, they’re just the messengers—of the god I gave the apple to. I’m supposed to follow him.”
She caught the wording. “Are you saying you don’t?”
“I’m saying I’ve found a few loopholes in the agreement that night that have spared me from officially signing on with this god who’s claimed me.”
“You really believe there’s one?”
“I believe there’s something interfering in my life.” He paused. “And in yours.”
Mae jerked upright. “No. Do not bring that up.”
He sat up as well. “Mae, maybe you can doubt me, but you can’t ignore what happened tonight. Didn’t you feel it? During the fight? I could see it! There was something with you, something spurring you on. You’re one of the elect.”
“Elect?”
“Someone a god has staked out and chosen. You’ve got one following you, and Callista’s right. It’s a hell of a lot more dangerous than my ravens.”
“Nothing’s following me or choosing me or whatever you insane people want to believe,” she exclaimed. No way would she tell him how terrifying that knife fight had been—terrifying and exhilarating to have that tremendous, dark power filling her and driving her, making her invincible. “You saw the implant in action, that’s all. It has that effect in battle sometimes. All the chemicals get churning and—”
“That wasn’t the implant. And I’m pretty sure the implant didn’t protect you from Golden Arrow’s drug either. I think that was your unwelcome patron. Leo said you shouldn’t have been that impervious.”
“Leo can’t figure out that faked video,” she retorted. “He’s not the genius you think.”
Justin was surprisingly calm. “Mae, I know you can feel it. I’ve seen the fear in you afterward—and I’ve seen it. This thing that wants you to serve it. And when we were in the Lady of the Book’s temple, the ravens say another god made a play for you. They say you’re the kind of person that gods want to—”
“No more.” Mae scooted off the bed and stood up. She’d hoped he’d forgotten about the statue, but she should’ve known better. Crazy or not, he didn’t forget anything. “Justin, I’m not going to report you. And I’ll accept without protest that you believe what you’ve seen is real. But don’t drag me into your philosophies. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to convince me of magic powers in the world. There might be…there might be something wrong with me, something biological. But that’s for me and a psychiatrist to work out—not a god. I don’t believe in them. I can’t. I’ve seen too many horrors in this world to think any deity could willingly allow such things. Please don’t bring this up again.”
His dark eyes held her in deep thought, but she couldn’t read him. At last, he sank back into the bed. “Okay.”
“Thank you. And thank you for talking to me.” She glanced at the time and winced in sympathy. Not everyone could forgo sleep. “Get some rest. We’ve got a long trip tomorrow. At least you can sleep on the plane.”
He nodded, looking as though he might fall asleep before she cleared the room. His eyelids started to droop and then blinked open. “Oh, hey. Can you do me a favor? One that has nothing whatsoever to do with…any of this?”
“What is it?” she asked warily.
“You think when we get back home, you could go get your uniform and come over to my place?”
Mae made no effort to hide her surprise at the bizarre topic change. “Why would I do that?”
“Tessa’s got a date today. Er, tomorrow. Whatever. You hang out with me in black while I meet him, scare the hell out of him, and we won’t have anything to worry about.”
A sickening feeling welled up in Mae. “No. Absolutely not.”
“After everything else that’s happened, is it that big a deal?”
“It’s wasteful,” she said, mustering as much scorn as she could to hide her sadness over her ban from wearing the uniform. “I’m not putting on the uniform of the RUNA’s greatest military branch for your own amusement. You should be ashamed for asking.”
He sighed. “You should be ashamed for putting Tessa’s virtue at stake.”
“She’s a good kid. Nothing’s going to happen.”
“I’m not worried about her. Come on, be a team player. Can’t you give me something to work with here?”
Mae considered for several long moments and finally nodded with resignation. “I think I know what I can do.”
CHAPTER 22
THE MISCREANT TERRORIST GIRLS’ REFORM CAMP
Tessa didn’t understand why Mae was around when Dennis came over. Tessa also didn’t understand why Mae chose that particular time to clean her guns.
“So,” Justin said. “Tell me where you guys are going tonight.”
He’d received them in his office, sitting behind the wide oak desk he’d recently acquired. His hands were clasped in front of him, and Dennis stood before him in the way a supplicant might when pleading before a judge. One screen on the desk faced Justin, but a larger one in the wall behind him was viewable to everyone else in the room. It displayed the locked menu for Justin’s work, showing the RUNA’s seal and: Warning: Authorized Personnel Only, Ministry of Internal Security. Maybe other people would’ve found that intimidating, but not Dennis.
That was because he couldn’t take his eyes off Mae. She sat near Justin’s desk, at a round table that had two guns and a knife lying on it. Her legs were folded under her on the chair, and she looked casual in jeans and a pullover. Everything about her was easy and relaxed, except for the fact that she was systematically disassembling each gun, cleaning the parts, and putting them back together. Then she’d repeat the process. Although it was weird, Tessa didn’t find it that alarming, but she reminded herself she was more used to guns than the average Gemman. What she found more disturbing was a bruise and small cut on the side of Mae’s face that were visible whenever she brushed her long hair away.
Mae finished putting together her larger gun for the third time, checking it in such a way that it pointed directly at Dennis. He flinched and backed up, nearly running into Tessa. It took him several moments to realize he’d been addressed and finally turned his wide eyes toward Justin. He gulped.
“Westfield Plaza, sir.”
“Outside or inside?”
“Outside.”
“General seating?”
“Yes.”
“You bringing blankets?”
Mae loaded a cartridge into the other gun with a bit more force than she probably needed. Dennis jumped again.
“Y-yes, sir.”
Justin said nothing right away and simply stared at Dennis in a way that seemed to terrify him more than the guns. Tessa could see lines of fatigue on Justin’s face and was surprised he could be so intimidating. He and Mae had only just gotten back from their recent trip an hour ago, and from the tension between them, things hadn’t gone well.
“How many other people are going?” asked Justin.
“Six.”
“Poppy’s one of them,” said Tessa, feeling a need to help Dennis.
Justin scoffed. “That’s not reassuring. You’re the kid who goes to church, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are they still preaching that cr—stuff about virtue and pure bodies?”
Dennis nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes. They just had a lecture last week.”
Justin subjected him to more dramatic scrutiny. “Okay. You can go…but I did a background check on you. I know where you live. She’s back by eleven, understand?”
Mae finished putting together a handgun and practiced aiming this one as well.
“Absolutely, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Tessa and Dennis hurried away.
“Wow,” he said once they were en route. “It must be pretty brutal living here.”
He sat almost a foot away from her on the train downtown, and Tessa had a feeling she didn’t have to worry about him attempting moves on her virtue tonight. Or ever.