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The two gods looked at each other, then back at me in silence A few uncoain

“We’ll take this into consideration, ”

I glared back into Zeus’s eyes How could I ever forget?

In another flash of lightning, the gods vanished There was a rush of activity from the others It felt as if we could finally breathe, like everyone atching a bo defused by an idiot, until the bomb itself decided to walk away

I turned to Sterling and clapped him on the back “So You do care about me, after all”

He shrugged my hand off, and I flinched as if I’d been struck He sheathed his katana, staring at me out of the corner of his eye as he walked away

“You’re not going to die under rowled “But if it comes down to a ritual and a sacrifice, then that’s your call” Then I heard, as he brought a cigarette to his lips, one last word: “Idiot”

Herald bu’s direction “What the hell was that all about?”

I shook ,” I said “Nothing at all”

Chapter 19

“You totally lucked out,” Herald said “I don’t think Sterling even knew that Susanoo’s katana could absorb lightning”

I sat on his couch, thoroughly exhausted fro the both of us home – after Royce teleported us back to Californian soil, of course Herald’s apartment felt so fah yet coray couch

“So youelse, but it od-bullet that much more important

“Sood can lose its power, the longer it stays away from the deity in question,” Herald said “You remember how Vanitas fell dormant after we separated him from you the first time? It’s the way attunement works with artifacts, whether their owners are hu else, really”

I chewed on od’s sword for the ritual as well I thought – well, I guess I thought that we could count on Susanoo’s katana for that bit”