“Despite the fact that he had nothing to do with it rising,” Karni growled. “All Kris ever did was try to help people. He was one of the most honorable men I've ever known. He wanted the best for humans. Kris tried to share our advances with them, and when he saw that they couldn't use our technology wisely, he hid it from them. Krishna even hid himself so that the other gods couldn't use him to get to the city.”
“And they found it anyway,” Blue said sadly. “Sometimes, even the best of intentions results in tragedy. All we can do is manage the mess.”
“Like the mess there's going to be when the humans start talking about what happened here,” I said. “How are we going to manage that?”
“As you said, V; never underestimate the human ability to explain away what they don't want to believe in,” Hekate said. “I bet if we just let this lie, the humans will handle it for us.”
“What if there are videos?” Torrent asked. “They could even now be uploading them onto the Internet.”
“Are they?” I asked him.
Torrent frowned and then his bright green eyes started to jump around as if he were reading. After a few minutes, he shook his head. “Not yet.”
“We'll deal with that if it arises,” Odin said. He shifted into a weredragon form. “But even a video could be explained away as special effects.”
“I can influence the local government to squash any stories that emerge,” Brahma offered.
“I can't believe that something of this magnitude can just be swept under the rug,” Torrent huffed.
“It's been happening since the beginning,” Teharon said as he stroked Karni's arm tenderly. “Humans will believe what they want to; it's how we came into power in the first place.”
“Amazing,” Torrent whispered.
Then I saw Abaddon. He was standing near the shore; staring forlornly at the water. I went over to him and laid a hand gently on his shoulder.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
Abaddon turned his sad stare my way. “I ordered them to stay,” he whispered.
I blinked in shock. “The locusts?”
He nodded. “I couldn't put them back in that hole, and yet, I couldn't set them free.”
“You gave them another type of freedom,” I said softly.
“Did I do it for them or for me?” He asked.
“Does it matter?” I countered. “They aren't suffering anymore; nor did they suffer when they died. That blast was nearly instantaneous.”
“And they died valiantly,” Trevor added as he joined us. “You gave them honor that they could never have achieved on their own.”
Abaddon took a deep breath and nodded. “I think I need some time to mourn. They weren't my friends, but they were my soldiers.”
“I understand,” I whispered.
“Goodbye, Vervain.” Abaddon bowed to me, then nodded to Trevor. “And it was nice to meet you, Wolf Prince. Please convey my farewells to the others. I don't think I'm ready to celebrate.”
I nodded, and Abaddon leapt into the sky. As I watched him fly away, Arach strode over to us in his weredragon form. He took my hand and kissed it.
“That was a fantastic battle, A Thaisce. But now I must return to our sons,” Arach declared.
“Thank you for coming to help us, Arach.” I hugged him tightly.
Arach hugged me back warmly before releasing me and turning to Odin. He held out his hand and said, “It was an honor to fly with you today, Odin.”
“And with you, King Arach.” Odin shook Arach's hand. “Thank you for showing me the ropes.”
“Which ropes?” Arach's crimson brows lifted.
“It's an expression,” I said. “He means that you taught him some dragon techniques.”
“Ah!” Arach declared. “Excellent. Perhaps you can use those lessons to take look after our wife while she's away from Faerie.”
“She doesn't need me to look after her, but I will anyway.” Odin smirked.
“Good answer,” I muttered.
“I'll see you in a second, A Thaisce,” Arach said before he disappeared.
Chapter Fifty-Five
There was a bit more clean-up with Dvārakā than we had anticipated. Brahma had to make good on his offer to influence the Indian Government, and Torrent had to erase a few Internet videos before they got noticed. Then there was the issue of hundreds of bodies floating around in the sea off Dwarka; the gods who were killed before the city was destroyed. A mass angel/demon/god ocean clean-up took place, and the bodies were incinerated.
During the aftermath of Dvārakā's destruction, we finally unraveled the mystery of the events preceding it. Yama had once been friends with Krishna and had lived in Dvārakā. He knew the power it held as well as the lost technology, and he knew how to get past most of the wards Krishna had set. Yama had come up with the plot to raise Dvārakā and then coerced the other death deities to join him. The God Squad and I didn't land on Yama's radar until Macaria had joined his team. It was she who had warned Yama that we'd be trouble. Macaria had heard stories from Hades about his exploits with us, and she knew that if we found out about Yama's plans, we would interfere. So, they came up with another plan—one far more complicated than the original; a plan to distract the God Squad.
It started with Azrael. Yama had heard of Azrael's retirement through Mot—another death god Yama had drawn into his cause. Mot offered to manipulate the Angelic Host and trick them into attacking Azrael. But that wasn't going to be enough; they knew that Az could simply hide in the God Realm until it was safe to show his face again. So, Macaria went undercover. She went to visit her father, and then got Hades to bring her to a God Squad meeting. She even inserted herself into Azrael's life
