Gameboard of the Gods

“What jaguar?” he asked innocently.

“Oh, stop,” she hissed. “I know you saw it! She turned into a fucking jaguar.”

“Of course I saw it. But I’m also a delusional zealot, remember?”

Mae looked away. “It couldn’t have been real.”

“Mae,” he said patiently. “If you have another explanation, I’m all ears. Believe me, it would make my life easier.”

She had none, and she knew he knew that. “There are no gods. There can’t be. It’s all make-believe.” But her voice trembled as she spoke. She’d seen what she’d seen. It was real life, not a movie. And although she believed in the wonders technology could create, even she knew that transformation was beyond the workings of mankind. She also hadn’t forgotten the sense of the dark power swirling within her—and its hesitation in the face of the jaguar woman.

“Gods are following us,” he said. “Gods who may be responsible for murder and genetic work. Gods who put ravens in my head.”

“Oh, yeah. I saw one.”

He turned to her in surprise. “A god?”

“No…one of your ravens, I think. It flew at me upstairs and somehow showed me how to find you.”

His jaw nearly hit the floor. “You saw Magnus?”

“I don’t know which one it was.”

“He left me briefly. That’s why my head hurts so much.” Justin actually looked delighted. “No one’s ever seen him. Or them. Do you know what that’s like? To finally not be the only one to see them?”

“You said you believed in them, though.”

“Yeah. Mostly. But it’s still a relief.”

“I don’t know how to handle what’s happening,” she said bluntly. “This. What my mom said. In one day, everything I’ve accepted about my life is gone. I kind of wish I was crazy.”

“Yeah, I’ve wished that a lot too.”

“How do you handle it?”

“One moment at a time.”

“You told me your dream…but what do you really know about all of this? The bigger picture?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been trying to figure that out for almost five years. Cope. Lead a normal life. Learn as much as possible. Unfortunately, there’s no real authority to go to for this. Callista’s helped a little, but there are still so many questions.”

Slightly calmer, Mae was able to focus more on him and noticed his shoulder, where long bloody lines cut through the shirt. “She…she scratched you with her, um, claws.”

“Got my back too,” he said with a wince. “And she did that even before the transformation.”

“You should see a doctor.”

He scoffed. “No way. I’m glad you and I had this breakthrough, but there’s no way I’m talking to a professional. It’s not that deep. You can do a field-medic job on me back in the room.” The mention of his room brought back the memories of their brief moment of passion. “Mae—” he began.

She didn’t want to hear whatever was coming and quickly pushed another topic. “That…thing that seizes me had a weird reaction to the jaguar. Almost as though they didn’t want to fight each other.”

Justin wisely followed her lead, though he looked reluctant. “Competing gods, maybe. I want to know what the police get on her. I want to know who sent her.”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? The group behind the murders.”

“I don’t know…jaguars and obsidian. That’s not their style. Why didn’t she use a silver dagger on you?”

“Maybe they only save them for special occasions.”

He gave her a long, level look. “You do realize now that this is all tied together? You, the victims, your goddess. You’re connected, no matter what Leo’s tests say.”

Mae started to protest when she noticed Tessa coming toward them. The girl caught the tail end. “Are you talking about goddesses?”

“SCI talk,” Justin said quickly.

Tessa looked skeptical, but she put that aside as concern seized her. “Are you guys okay? I saw what happened from the roof…in the park….” She looked more surprised than appalled, probably because of the common nature of Panamanian shootings. “I heard a policeman saying that woman attacked Justin.”

“Kind of,” said Mae. “It’s a long story.” Suddenly, she remembered the beginning of her earlier conversation with Tessa. “What happened to you? And being accosted?”

Justin’s head jerked up. “Accosted?”

“Bad word choice,” said Tessa. No one was nearby, but she still looked around nervously. “I think we should go upstairs. I’ve got something kind of important to show you.”

CHAPTER 32

DESPERATE TIMES AND ALL THAT

“Something important” was kind of an understatement.

Justin never would’ve believed Mae’s genetic past and subsequent fight with a shape-shifting woman could be trumped by anything. Apparently, it was one of the rare times he was wrong. Equally incredible was listening to Tessa put together facts in the interview with the old man. Justin had known she was smart, but even he was amazed at her ability to ask the right questions. She’d had no idea how it all worked together, but her gut had told her to just keep gathering information.

Even prodigies needed sleep, however, and in the middle of her video’s third viewing, he saw that Tessa was exhausted. He sent her off to bed while he and Mae held a war council in his room, both of them pointedly not sitting on the bed. Exerzol had given Justin a second wind, though he was so wired by the flood of data tonight that he couldn’t have slept anyway. Mae, although not technically tired, had a weary look on her face, the expression of someone who was mentally drained.

Justin paced the room. “It’s here, Mae. There’s always a pattern, and we’ve almost got it.”

“I feel like we just kind of have a mess.”

“That too. But look. There are genetically superior patricians being engineered—magically or otherwise—with the assistance of some religious group. Said group sacrifices a plebeian to do it and demands a hefty price tag, as well as devotion from the designer baby.” He thought back to his conversation with Callista and how she’d mused that a god might like “perfect” followers, though she hadn’t understood why that god would kill said creations off. Now he knew. “But if they aren’t loyal, they’re sacrificed too and ‘returned’ to their goddess. Ilias Sandberg openly refused. None of the other victims mentioned being approached, but they were all antireligion, which suggests they weren’t on board with some war or death goddess—hence they had to be dealt with.”

“The video is real, then,” she said. He could tell it took her a lot of effort to admit that. “We were seeing some supernatural assassin.”

“It would appear so. Mae…” For a few moments, he couldn’t go forward. Studying her and all those lovely features, he desperately wished he didn’t have to bring up a subject that would only worsen their troubled relationship. But too much was on the line. “Please hear me out. Let me finish what I’m about to say.”

The wary look on her face said she knew what was coming. “Okay.”

“We know now that you were engineered too. You’re the right age and have the right score. You have some ‘dark’ goddess following and possessing you, one that usually shows up when you’re fighting. I’m not exactly saying that’s a direct link to war and death, but it’s pretty close. You have to see that.”

To his relief, she didn’t blow up at him. She simply clung to her safety blanket. “I’m not a match.”

“I know, but is there anything else you can tell me about this goddess that seizes you? The ravens only get impressions off her. They aren’t all-knowing, no matter how much they like to put on airs. You’re the most direct connection we have. Please. Is there any other attribute you can think of to help us find these people before the next murder?”

Part of him wanted to go back and interrogate Astrid Koskinen. She had to know more about this cult than she’d let on. And yet…she’d been so convincing when she denied any knowledge.

She could just be better than you, Horatio said.

I know. I could easily bring her in as a person of interest, but that’d unearth a lot about Mae, not to mention implicate her mother in illegal activity.

They didn’t really seem to get along, the raven reminded him.

It was true, but if there was some other way he could get what he needed to know, he’d try that first—if there was enough time. An internal struggle obviously raged through Mae. She was probably starting to accept that there were too many coincidences surrounding her life, but getting on board with this still had to be a shock to her system. She swallowed.

“There might be. There’s this man who—”

Justin’s ego rang. Irritated at the interruption, he started to silence the call when he saw the display showing a blocked number in Mexico. “Send call to the screen,” he told it. He answered and found Callista Xie glaring at Mae and him.

“Where,” she demanded, “did you get it?”

“Get what?” asked Mae. Seeing Callista snapped her out of her malaise and put her back in tough prætorian mode.

Justin already knew what Callista was referring to. Before his ill-fated trip to the casino, he’d sent the picture of Mae’s necklace off to the authorities in the respective castes. On impulse, he’d also sent a copy to Callista.

“A couple of my genetically perfect castals had it,” he said, leaving Mae’s name out of this for now. “Does it mean anything to you?”

“It’s the symbol of the servants of the Morrigan.”

Immediately, Justin sifted through his mental files of gods and mythology. “Celtic,” he said. He felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. “She fights with warriors in battle and appears to people before death….”