I felt smaller and smaller, very much like I was being lectured by my own mother, in fact. “I understand,” I echoed, in a tiny voice.
Maharani blew out one last stream of smoke, then stubbed out the finished cigarette under the heel of a jeweled sandal. “Excellent. Then we have come to an understanding. We will work together to find and eliminate the source of these killings. But no more foolish feats of derring-do, Mr. Albrecht. Now or ever.”
I nodded firmly. “Understood. And thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” She sighed, rubbing at the center of her forehead, then waving a hand towards Royce. “I still need to defuse this bomb. You may go now.”
I looked around us, at the endless void of the interrogation – sorry, diplomacy room – and I chuckled. “Sorry, go where, exactly?”
Rani said a single word, then snapped her fingers. “Home.”
My chair disintegrated, and the floor fell out from under me. I tumbled into the black abyss, screaming.
15
I landed heavily on the ground, ass first, but fortunately on a patch of grass. My tailbone ached sharply, my skull a little jarred from the landing. I rubbed at my lower back, groaning, blinking as I let my eyes adjust to the light, wherever Rani had sent me. It was still night. Shapes gathered around me in the darkness. I scrambled away, kicking at the earth, one hand prepared to conjure a weapon, when I recognized the silhouettes.
“And where the hell have you been all night, young man?”
I was back in Paradise, but I might as well have been in hell.
Artemis’s nostrils flared as she barked at me. Her arms were folded in expectant anger, as were Samyaza’s. Even Priscilla was there, scowling. Florian lingered just behind them, looking more worried than angry, and nearby, Apollo watched, curious, but silent. And all the while a swell of shame and regret grew inside my chest.
“I was out looking for – I mean, I was talking to – look, it’s complicated, okay?”
Artemis fished out her phone, showing me the screen, not that I could see anything from that distance. “Asher texted me, because Royce texted him, very angrily, I might add, about some crazy shit you pulled tonight. And the other night, too.” She swept her finger in an arc as she pointed accusingly at Samyaza, then at Florian. “You two helped. I didn’t forget.”
Samyaza raised his chin and puffed his chest out in defiance. “We had our reasons.” Florian twiddled his thumbs, pretending to be interested in a nearby banana tree.
“Narc,” I mumbled under my breath, already mentally composing an angry text message to send off to Asher later.
“Ook,” Priscilla said, shaking her huge fists above her head. “Ook ook, ook? Ook.”
I could never be sure about what she was trying to say, but that last “ook” sounded a lot like it could have meant “ridiculous,” or “pathetic.” My head hung lower.
“She’s right,” Artemis said, waving her hand across my body. “And where the hell is your shirt, anyway? Are you strutting around in the city with your top off?”
The clap of skin on skin was Samyaza slapping his palm onto his forehead. My ears started burning even hotter, as if that were possible.
“He used his wings,” Samyaza grumbled. “He tried to escape the Lorica.”
A collective groan went up from the mob gathered around me. I didn’t even have a foot to stand on. I was totally in the wrong on this one. The rants and lectures started blending together so much that I half expected Raziel to show up just to join in on the fun. And you know what? He’d be justified, too.
“This isn’t how we do things,” Samyaza said. “This isn’t right, Mason, and you know that.”
“You have no room to talk,” Artemis said, jabbing a finger against his shoulder before turning her anger on me once again. “What’s wrong with you, Mason? You know better than this. We can’t just accost normals in dark alleys like – like muggers and thugs. You’re never this stupid. Hotheaded, sure, but this isn’t like you. You better check yourself.”
I looked down at my hands, my glyphs and sigils faded and dull to match my mood. She had a point. I’d never been this aggressive. But it was justified, wasn’t it? They were killing my brethren. They were killing us.
Artemis stomped off, Priscilla following along after her, but not before pointing two fingers at her eyes, then at me. “I’m watching you,” the gesture said, one made doubly more menacing because it came from a glowering gorilla.
Samyaza shook his head, his anger faded, replaced by something worse. “I’m very disappointed in you, son.” Then he left, off to his hut. It shouldn’t have hurt so much to hear that, but it did.
Florian patted me on the back, kneeling to mutter. “I get the feeling you want to be alone right now. I’m here if you wanna talk, okay? My hut’s always open.”
He slunk off, giving me a sheepish smile. Florian was a good friend, but he was right. After being roundly scolded by the Scions, and then my proxy parents, and then an actual parent, I just wanted to hide under the covers for a month. It was silly how very much I felt like I’d been reduced to a moping teenager. Sometimes even I forgot that I was technically just some dumb kid who liked to play with weapons. I pulled my thighs up to my chest, resting my chin on my knees, hugging my shins, wanting to be a little ball, alone for a moment.
Apollo, though, didn’t seem to get the message. He sighed, slumping down into the grass to sit with me. “I’m not close enough to you to add to the pile, but I will say, that wasn’t the smartest thing to do.”
I mumbled into my forearm, feeling smaller than ever. “I know.”
He leaned back onto his hands, raising
