They all laughed, and the sound shook through the room as Bradley returned to speaking in tongues.

  His face jerked forward, and I shifted mine out of the way just in time before he could head-butt me. His eyes started to dart from left-to-right, his tongue whipping back and forth as he spoke with the most garbled, strangled words.

  I straightened and loomed over him, my grip on my sword now as tight as the links in the chain that still held him in place. The chain would not fail. I wouldn’t let it. Now I had inherited Vali’s power, I could force my own considerable and unsurpassed Drift magic into the chains. Sure enough, their color had switched from a reassuring green, to a vibrant, impossibly bright blue. A few runes escaped up them too, and they were exactly the same runes as those that danced over my body when I called on my full abilities.

  Bradley shoved forward, either trying to break the chains, or simply incapable of stopping the violent movements of his body. “There’s no going back now. The invasion cannot be stopped. We are an unstoppable force. Drift witch, an unstoppable force. Together? We are Legion. There is nothing you can do. Our spies will stop you, for they are everywhere. Enjoy these days, the last days of your life. Enjoy them, for soon, it will all end.”

  My mouth stiffened into a hard line that could cut diamonds.

  Though Bradley’s revelation was hardly surprising, it gave words to a suspicion I’d already started to form – that this city and possibly even Vali’s forces were already studded with fake gods, meaning I could have potential spies in this building, let alone moving through the city streets, getting ready to undermine my forces.

  I placed one hand on my knee and leaned right into his face. “I know where you’re going to open the final gate.”

  Bradley’s gaze fixed on me, and this time, there was a completely different quality to them. I swore I saw past the flesh, past the eyeballs – all the way past to the true intelligence behind the gods.

  I took a breath. “Here.” I stabbed a finger right at the floor. “You’re going to use Bradley to open a gate right here.”

  That intelligence behind Bradley’s eyes locked on me as the gods appeared to lose all control of his lips. They fell slack and lurched with a wet slap over his bottom teeth. “Well done. But it won’t matter.”

  I rose, crossing my arms. “We’ll see about that. Maybe I don’t have the resources to stop you from opening the final gate. Maybe I won’t be able to prevent your forces from spilling into the building, but I can guarantee you this,” my voice dropped, reaching a pitch of determination I’d never heard myself use. It was the same authoritative pitch Vali had managed to achieve on so many occasions. No, wait, it was more powerful. It was the authority of someone who didn’t speak from pure strength alone, but rather spoke from the center of their determination. “You may be able to push through, and your forces may fill this building – but trust me, we’ll be ready for them, and they will go no further. You can have your war here, but it won’t spill out into the streets. And mark my words,” I brought my face close to Bradley’s again, staring with all my might into the intelligence behind his gaze, “they will go no further. We will stop this.” I stood up, letting the Drift sword come perilously close to Bradley’s face as I took a step back.

  To be honest, I could have just tried to end it right now – tried to slice him through and kill him here on this cold stone floor. But I knew that wouldn’t work. He wasn’t human anymore – not completely. Even if I did behead him, this point in space would remain. The gods had chosen this to be the final gate into our realm, and I was determined to stop them.

  I whirled on my foot, realizing there was precious little more I’d be able to get from Bradley, and I nodded at Megan as I headed for the door. I didn’t reach it.

  I heard a gasping wheeze. It was different enough to lock me to the spot as I turned my head over my shoulder.

  “Don’t you have one more question to ask?” a single god said.

  I didn’t recognize his voice, but even if I’d never heard him before, there was one thing I could tell about him – he was powerful. Truly, truly powerful. The kind of power that sent itching nerves escaping up my back and crawling through the rest of my skin as if they’d let spiders deep into my flesh.

  “Isn’t there one thing you have forgotten to ask, Drift witch? Where has that little part of your soul gone?”

  Every muscle in my back could have twanged as they became as rigid as possible. “What?” I made the mistake of saying, even though I knew any word from me would be uncontrolled as a wave of fear slammed hard into my gut.

  I knew what he was talking about – that scrap of my heart I’d given up to Vali when I’d fallen for him.

  “Don’t you want to know where he is? Don’t you want to know about that realm – that in-between layer of space that sits between the Drift, the realm of the gods, and this petty place of fools?”

  Though I’d come in here with that question on my mind, I’d been distracted, and a tingle of certainty darted over my back as I curled a hand into a fist and turned.

  I still had hold of my Drift sword, though my grip was a heck of a lot harder than it needed to be. Even if all the gods got together and brought an enormous crowbar, they wouldn’t be shifting my hand from my sword.

  Just as all the other weapons I had retrieved from Vali’s storeroom had been destined for a single person, this sword had always been mine – as such, it was an extension of myself. It would never be removed, not even from my cold dead grip.

  “He still exists, still remains – for you were foolish in giving him a part of your soul. It can be used against you. You understand that, don’t you? Just as you understand that you have more obstacles than us.”

  A new pulse of nerves blasted over my back, this one strong enough that it made me clench my jaw.

  I didn’t need to know who he was talking about. Only one thought slammed into my mind: the White Witch.

  She hadn’t made contact with me yet, but that didn’t mean a great deal. I knew she’d let me stew for the next few days until my love for Vali and this world grew too much.

  “With the right tools, with the right door into your power, that scrap of your soul can be used to end everything,” the gods hissed, more of them joining in as their voices once again leaped up into a powerful crescendo far louder and more poignant than a city full of orchestras hitting their climactic note.

  I was pale all over, but by god, I was still standing. “Why are you telling me this?” I cut straight to the chase, knowing this information wouldn’t be for free –it was either meant to manipulate or distract me.

  “For we too can make a deal,” all the gods said at once. “We can spare a chosen few – you choose. Including him.”

  On the word him, I heard their anger and collective hatred.

  “You’re lying. Any deal with you would simply distract me into looking the other way until you destroy this world and everyone I love in the process.”

  “Incorrect. We can sanctify his pact; we can prove to you that we are honest. And we can save him before it’s too late for you.”

  A different kind of fear plunged through me. One I wasn’t prepared for. It stole my balance, my courage, and the determination I’d spent the last six weeks building.

  “You’re lying,” Megan said, interrupting for the first time since we’d entered this room.

  Bradley’s gaze swiveled toward her, and he chucked his head back. “We are not. We simply know more – and always will – than this wretched little child. And we can tell you.” He strained against his chains. The sound of them grating over the floor was like listening to a rasp over metal. “We can reveal to you the true nature of reality, of the fundamental existence of magic, of the ones you call the Drift gods, of everything. In return, you will help us to destroy her.”

  My brow clunked down. “The White Witch?”

  I heard a hiss. “Call her what you will, but she is nothing more than a means for Armageddon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That from the beginning she has had one purpose,” the gods began. They didn’t get the chance to finish.

  A blaring alarm split the air, so powerful it shook through the floor.

  I jerked my gaze over to Megan. “What’s going on?” Even as I asked, a part of me pulsed with the certainty that someone had just pushed past the defenses in this building.

  “The walls have been breached,” Megan screamed as she thrust forward.

  I followed.

  There was no way I couldn’t. Yet, as I ran from the room, I swore I felt something – the gaze of a god on the back of my neck. A god like no other. The most powerful god there was. He watched, and he waited.

  4

  Pandemonium. Chaos. Alarms blared in every which direction as I felt the magic seeping out of this building. Which was far more serious than it sounded – this building had been altered in so many ways by Vali that it was completely dependent on a steady supply of magic to exist. If the magic was removed, rooms would no longer be connected to each other, whole floors would fall, and half the tower would melt away. Everyone within would die, twisted up by tortured space.

  As I ran, sweat trickling off my brow, I pumped magic into the floor. I let it spread out from me as runes danced across the carpet and into the walls.

  “You need to get somewhere safe,” Megan began, for the first time grabbing her whip and flicking it experimentally. Power erupted from her move, zinging into the air.

  “There’s no way I’m sitting this one out. Do you have any idea who’s attacking?” I began.

  That would be when I felt something shift in front of me. It was an unmistakable feeling. It put me in mind of a rose losing all its petals or a pair of hands unfurling to snatch me.

  I jerked back just in time, raising my Drift sword up to throat level.

  The White Witch appeared.

  She was in the same pencil suit and stilettos she’d worn the last time I’d seen her in the museum.

  Megan sprang forward, cracking her whip high, but there was no chance it could work against the White Witch. She simply ticked her head to the side, half smiled, and transported 20 m back long before Megan’s whip could hit home.

  Megan stared, dumbfounded, but it didn’t last. She snapped forward again.

  The White Witch raised one of her manicured hands. Though she was ostensibly in human clothes and was obviously trying to fit in, there was still an underlying power to her every move that simply wasn’t human. She was going through all of the right motions, but beneath was such raw potential that it couldn’t be ignored.

  “I am here to speak, here to talk, here to offer you a way out before it is too late,” the White Witch said, her voice dropping down low and shaking through the hallway.

  The alarms that had blared through the building cut out. The threat hadn’t ended. Hello, she was still standing right in front of me. But I felt this insidious force seep from her and push into the stone and metal, wood and concrete.

  “What is she doing?” Megan demanded.

  I narrowed my eyes at the White Witch. “I won’t let you take this building. I won’t let you harm a single soul under my command.”

  The White Witch pressed her hands into her tailored pockets and slowly arched an eyebrow. “People under your command? These are nothing but humans, Drift goddess. And though you, in part, are one of them, do not forget your true, essential side. You belong to the Drift.” Her voice hit such a peculiar note on the word belong.

  I couldn’t forget that the White Witch wanted me for one purpose – as a weapon against the gods. I had no idea how she intended to use me to achieve that task, but I swore I could see violent greed growing in her eyes as she took a step toward me.

  “You must not waste time,” the White Witch said, her lips splitting hard around every word. “Nor must you give them power. Do that, and the days to your reckoning will dwindle.”

  “What?” I demanded.

  “You know not your power, child. Nor do you know how others can use it against you. You have already attended to them, shown them that you are soft and stupid, and given them the desire to push forward sooner.”

  “What are you talking about?” I never let the anger disappear from my voice. I now knew exactly where this woman stood.

  “You faced them, didn’t you?” The White Witch inclined her head to the side, showing the full length of her neck.

  If you asked an ordinary person, they would tell you she was undoubtedly elegant – the embodiment of subtle, regal beauty. But I could see through the illusion to what was underneath. Her body was nothing more than a shape – nothing more than the image of a vessel that was covering a dark pit of desire. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it earlier.

  I took a step forward, my hand clutched around the Drift sword as tightly as I could manage. “Yes, I faced the gods,” I said, having no reason to hide it. “But I gave them nothing.”

  She faced me, one hand in her pocket, and she tipped her head back and laughed. It was a mirthless, truly cruel move. “You are powerful, child, that cannot be doubted. But you are also powerfully ignorant. And that will be everyone’s undoing. You faced the gods, and in doing so, you ignited their intelligence, calling to he who is in charge.”

  Though I wanted to pretend I had no idea what she was talking about, part of me did. She meant the intelligence I’d seen behind Bradley’s eyes. More than that, the powerful voice I’d heard – the only time a single god had spoken without that Legion of voices.

  She watched me carefully, obviously reading my micro-expressions as she nodded. “You faced him. Worse, you told him you know his plans, didn’t you?”

  I didn’t respond this time, not vocally, at least. I clenched my teeth together. That was answer enough.

  She shook her head from side to side. Though it brought attention to her apparently long neck, it also showed off how tight and unnatural the move was.

  The White Witch reached a hand down, clapped it on her hip, tapped her perfectly white manicured nails on the tailored fabric of her pants, and ticked her head to the side. Her hair was clasped behind her neck, arranged in the neatest bun I’d seen, and yet, a few strands had come loose, and they trailed over her neck as she continued to shake it. “He kept you like this for a reason, you know?” she revealed.

  “What are you talking about?” I said, still clasping the sword as hard as I could.

  “Your dear Vali.” She pulled her hand from her hip and gestured wide with it. “He kept you ignorant for a reason. It was to stop you from doing the right thing.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. All you need to know is that you have reduced the days before the reckoning. And every time you face the fake gods – every time you reveal what you understand – they will simply come sooner.”

  I shook my head. “I thought you said it would take six days until they had the power to push through, to open another gate?” I said through clenched teeth.

  She shrugged. “I did. That assumption was made based on the relative energy input they have used thus far. But you,” she spread a hand toward me, and there was a truly stiff quality to it that brought my attention to her slender yet fiendishly strong wrists, “foolishly chose to face the gods. You revealed to them that you knew where they would open their final gate. You honestly think they are going to stand there and wait for the next six days to give you a chance to barricade this position?”

  I opened my mouth but didn’t get there in time.

  “Of course they aren’t, foolish child. Look at you, you are nothing more than a feeble infant playing an adults’ game. Now,” she took a step up to me, and her heels clicked against the concrete floor, sounding like armor against stone, “finally do what is right. Join me, claim your destiny, and end this before it can start. Do not be a fool – do not allow the fake gods to gain any more ground. You cannot wait until the last moment to call to me, child. You will sacrifice too much.” She ticked her gaze toward Megan for half a second, and it was obvious what she meant.

  If I waited until the last moment, the White Witch wouldn’t save my friends and the people under Vali’s command. Heck, she could even sacrifice this city.

  Everyone’s lives were on my shoulders.

  I swallowed. I didn’t stride forward and accept her hand, though. “Get out,” I said, my voice bottoming low.

  She arched an eyebrow. “You do not have the power to remove me. Nor should you try. You need somebody of my power, experience, and knowledge to stop the virus from spreading.” She pointed over my shoulder, indicating the way back to Bradley’s prison.

  As I turned and looked, I felt something in the pit of my stomach. This… sense that something wasn’t right, that space itself had turned against me. Sure enough, as my eyes opened wide and I stared behind me, I saw that the corridor was twisting. It was elongating and contracting like someone’s muscles as they ran. It was at once one of the most violent things I’d ever seen yet one of the most primal. I could have clamped a hand over my mouth and gagged.

  “What the hell is that?” Megan said, her usually strong, clipped tone twisting with surprise.

  “That, my child, is the gods laying down defenses. They will not allow you to disrupt their final gate. Now, join me so that we can end this,” the White Witch said as she took another step forward and yet again reached a hand out toward me.

  … This time I considered it. I forgot my grandmother’s advice when I’d met her in the Drift. I forgot Vali’s advice, too. I forgot everything as I realized the White Witch was right – I truly was in over my head. I simply didn’t have any clue what was actually happening. All those facts I’d amassed – all the truths I’d painstakingly learned – they weren’t worth anything. I’d only scratched the surface of the mystery of the fake gods and the other realms.