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“If only I still had my training with Vipunen,” I lament.

His brows come together. “You will. This isn’t over.”

“Maybe not, but I need the training now, for this moment, so there can be a next moment.”

“You’ve learned more than you think. Vipunen saw this in you. He sees all. Knowing him, he probably found a way to train your subconscious. You’ve got to give yourself more credit.”

I don’t feel any better, no matter how much Tuoni seems to believe in my abilities. I don’t have my selenite knife or my sword. I feel completely ill-prepared for anything that may comemy way. If some situation calls for me to grow wings again and fly, I have a hard time believing I’ll be able to make that happen on command.

Hell, there’s a chance it might not ever happen again. I may be the daughter of a Goddess, but there’s no telling how much my mother passed down to me.

My. Mother.

Myrealmother.

Fuck, it still doesn’t seem real. How could I, a former social media marketing manager sharing a tiny house in North Hollywood, be a fucking Goddess? I mean, it would be a little more fitting if I had come from the “live, laugh, love”, sea moss-glugging yoga hippies in Ojai or something.

“So, if we get out of here—” I say as Death buttons up his shirt.

“Whenwe get out of here,” he says.

“Are we going to head straight to…the sun? Or where does my mother live?”

Why am I picturing her like the creepy sun from theTeletubbiesbut with a woman’s face?

“No,” Death says gruffly as he slips on his leather vest. “She doesn’t quite live on the sun. It’s somewhere in the ether in between, but I’ve never been there. Her territory and Kuutar’s territory have always been outside of my jurisdiction, and I have no idea how we would get there. We will find her, but a reunion with your birth mother will have to wait. First, we have to find out what your evil twin wants.”

I stare at him. “You don’t know what she wants?”

“I didn’t have a lot of time between figuring out it wasn’t you and then her stabbing me with a shadow knife. I still have no idea how she fucking did it. I shouldn’t be that easy to kill.” His brows come together. “And yet, she threw you in here, didn’t she? You fought her?”

“I did,” I tell him. “And she was impossibly strong, even more so than Louhi was while operating your body.”

His eyes widen, mouth parting slightly.

“I have to admit, it’s a strange feeling knowing I know more than you do for once,” I say. “What do you think happened to me before all of this?”

“I don’t know; I was too busy coming back to life and touching my wife for the first time,” he says with a grunt.

I ignore the warmth that spreads through me every time he saysmy wife.

“Oh boy,” I say, sucking in a breath as I try to figure out how explain all that went down. “Well, let’s see. I was upstairs watching the Bone Match with you, and then suddenly, you ceased to be you. I could tell right away. By then, it was too late, and you were leading me away from the crowd. That’s when I realized Louhi had booted you out of your Shadow Self.”

He nods grimly. “That must have been the moment your twin stabbed me. I lost connection in every way possible.” His mouth twists as he stares at me, his gaze turning soft. “I’m so sorry, Hanna. I should have been there to protect you—to protect you from her, from myself.”

“Same,” I tell him. “I guess both of us were attacked by each other in disguise. I managed to fight off your Shadow Self, enough that some disgusting spider creature started eating him, but then Salainen showed up and told me everything.”

“Such as?”

“Family history. How my father discarded her in Tuonela, how she was raised in secret by Louhi instead. How much hate she has for me. And then her plans, of course. They always tell you their plans. She will impersonate me, Louhi will somehow wrangle up another Shadow Self or resurrect the one I thought died to impersonate you, and together, they will fool the Underworld and let it run right intoKaaosagain.”

He worries his lip between his teeth. “They’re going to raise the Old Gods. They’re going to start a war.”

“They’re going to kill your family,” I press.

Death looks like, well, death. His face pales, making the black around his eyes stand-out. “They won’t,” he says with a growl. “They can’t. Tuonen, Loviatar, they’re Louhi’s children. She wouldn’t harm a hair on their heads.”

Despite everything, I think Death has a little too much faith in his demon ex.