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"And this new god," I said, glancing up at Zoe’s apartment, "just adds ether A god wants to rise He has his sights set on Athena" I paused "He could be the father of her child"

"She’d anticipate the father coh," Bran said "She’d know about the chatter, about what filters in to the gods who sleep And I can tell you, she wouldn’t od rise and destroy this city to get what he’s after Athena will pick up the pieces in the end and have exactly what she’s wanted"

"If I wake this god and my curse is lifted, Athena loses I won’t be able to resurrect her child"

"Maybe But this god ht want exactly the sa as Athena once he’s awake"

They both come The River Witch’s words echoed in , Bran was right We were screwed

"How does one wake up a god?" Sebastian asked "Why can’t they wake thes to the gods There’s sleep as in rest, and then there’s Sleep as in retiring froodly planes It’s a choice ods, those who are tired and done with life It is a decision that, once made, they cannot reverse themselves They can only be revived from Sleep if they are woken, and the od requires great power and comes with so out loud, "od can help us"

Bran shota god Did you hear what I said? We’re talking old gods here Pris" He parked his hands on his hips and let out a heavy breath "If this god wakes and has it out for Athena, it’s gonna get ods don’t care who they hurt to get what they want"

"Speaking fro of Bran’s descent frorandfather would slice open ot hiht that he chose to Sleep There’s no way you’re waking a god like that, Selkirk"

"A god like what? Who is it?"

He scrubbed a hand down his face "Look, gods can only speak like that through their descendants Otherwise the god would have spoken to you directly Zoe and her fayptian pantheon"

Sebastian let out a lohistle

"Yeah," Bran agreed "Waking an old Egyptian god equals huge fucking mistake You need to find another way to end your curse," he said to me "Because this ill h problery member of the council insane And the neill leak, if it hasn’t already, and then we’ll have even more idiots to worry about"

"I hate to break it to you," Sebastian said, "but all the guards and the lockdown thing kind of waved a flag that so’s up"

"I wasn’t allowed on the third floor of Presby," I added "The offices are off-li around Eventually souards weren’t my idea, but the majority vote won out on that one," Bran said

"What about the library?"

"It’s on lockdown until the council agrees what to do with the Hands Until then, no one goes inside"

"So there was no break-in," I said, relieved "A lockdown only helps if the Hands are actually in the library"

I exchanged a glance with Sebastian We were the only ones, besides the kids, who knew the Hands ht be misplaced Quickly, I filled Bran in on the fact that the Hands were eitheror hidden within the library I told hi inventory to find the theht have toldsooing to be impossible now"

"Yeah," Sebastian said "Already tried that last night In the tiet to the third floor, there were already guards posted"

"That’s e was delivered, I textedthe library before you and the other heirs left the usted by the events unfolding "We should have sent Zaria’s head back to Athena on a platter," he said gruffly, before waving us off and heading back into the aparter