The front door was gone.

  Two people covered in red armor with white visors were standing on either side of it as I slid down the ladder to the ground floor.

  Fray was awake and had her katana out, but at least she hadn’t attacked anyone yet. Oz and Ren were on either side of the tent door and I didn’t see Ether.

  I was able to take two steps before I was frozen in place like else. I could tell that it had worked on Gesai as well, because I could see her out of the corner of my eye struggling to move.

  “Don’t wear yourselves out!” The ivory Goddess walked in. She certainly wasn’t dressed like a Goddess though. Her jeans had holes in them, she was wearing heavy black boots and she had on a pink t-shirt with a rainbow on it. I had a feeling there was a hidden meaning to it, but I had no clue what it was. “You’ll be able to move again as soon as I’ve verified your story.” There was a glint in her eyes as her smile revealed very sharp teeth.

  “I already talked to Whisper and the Priestess…” Her eyes lazed about the room. My face must have been able to move, because she zeroed in on me. “Oh yes. She couldn’t reveal any details, nasty little spell there. Nothing I couldn’t break, but it reeked of Tres even if he didn’t do it…”

  My heart sank. She knew exactly what I was.

  “How do you..?” I hadn’t expected my voice to work. “How do you know that?”

  “Easy…” She looked around the room. “Nod if you were one of the ones who the Six knocked unconscious.”

  I could see all four of the women nod.

  “Annnd, all of you are just normal Adventurers.” She snapped her fingers and they went limp.

  “What did you do to them?!” I struggled to make my body do something other than speak.

  “They’re just asleep, don’t start panicking on me…” The Goddess strutted over to me and began to trace on my cheek with the nail of her pointer finger, but it could have been called a claw for how thick and sharp it was.

  I felt her draw blood and she licked the black liquid off of her finger. Her eyes lit up.

  “A full fledged God-in-the-Making!” She clapped her hands and leaned in close and smelled me. “You even smell a little like him…” Her voice trailed off, then her nose wrinkled. “And HER. Oh Harror is going to hate this.” She clapped her hands as she giggled.

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  “Please don’t!” I swallowed. “I don’t want…” I processed what she’d said. “You know who my mother is.”

  There was a little bit of surprise on her face. “And you don’t..?” She shook her head. “Trent is more devious than I gave him credit.” She stepped back towards me and wrapped her hands around my throat. “It would be justice to snuff you out after he turned me down, then went off with HER.” She let go of my throat. “BUT! I need him, so…” She looked me over. “You get to live.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. She was crazy and it terrified me. But it seemed like for now, she was on our side.

  “Here’s what I’ve been able to gather, little Godling. Fare was able to channel enough magic to open the Fox's Bequeathal Chamber and somehow the Six were able to drag everyone in the room inside. The Six then tried to harm you, but you, the rebel, and the priestess were able to beat them back, then once your priestess closed the Chamber, this one…” Klix reached over and touched Gesai’s sleeping face. “Finished off the Six.” She moved back in front of me. “Any details you can add?”

  She didn’t know that Ether or Rix had been in there, which meant that Rix was staying far away from her. I was actually a little surprised by that. Usually Rix had a lot more bloodlust when she first met someone. Especially someone this powerful. But that meant that I wasn’t going to sell either of them out. With any luck, she’d skip interrogating Ether, who was still in the tent.

  “They called themselves demons.” I swallowed. “And they were possessing the Six and Fare. As well as two others.” I tried to point at the tent, but my body still wasn’t working. “Mive told Justia how to close the Chamber and asked me to get his body out of there. There is some sort of seal on him that’s keeping him unconscious.”

  “I’d like to believe you, I really would, but…” She traced her finger over my temple and I got a splitting headache. “All of you are sealed against intrusion. And I doubt Trent would be happy if I fried any of you just to take a peek.”

  My mind instantly went to Ether and my heart started racing. I was terrified that she would consider Ether an acceptable loss, just to see what had happened. Then I had an idea.

  “I can get in Mive’s mind!” I smiled. “He could show you and tell you himself!”

  Klix started laughing. “The Fox has a lock on his head to trap him. Do you really think I’m going to go in there and be able to come out again? That's how Trent got himself caught!” She rubbed her chin. “But if you can do that and he plays along then that could work.”

  The ivory Goddess moved around Oz and Ren and threw the flap to the tent open. The smile on her face vanished and was replaced by shock as she stared inside the tent. At first I thought it was because of the condition of Mive and Trent. Then she croaked a single word in a whisper.

  “Ether?”

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