Page 9 of Crimson Skies

“A demigod told us we needed you,” Adrianne said.

Yuan stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “Yeah, like I’d believe that. Come on, spill the beans. You’re here for the money, aren’t you?”

Adrianne’s eyes shrank to slits at his sneer. “Can I taser him?”

Julia sighed. “No.” She leaned down and offered Yuan a hand. “Come on, we need to leave before the cops get here.”

Yuan hesitated before taking her hand.

“And go where, exactly?” he asked suspiciously as she pulled him to his feet.

“San Francisco.”

Yuan froze. “Wait.” The color slowly drained from his face. “Isn’t that where those Goddesses came to Earth?!” His gaze swung between them. “You weren’t kidding, were you?! You really are with those people!”

“We don’t kid about the end of the world,” Adrianne said irritably.

Yuan studied them blindly for a moment. Julia sensed the magic building inside him a second before he let it loose to try and make his escape.

Adrianne tasered the mage mid-spell. Yuan grunted and dropped to the ground.

“What?” The sorceress shrugged at Julia and Bailey’s stares. “This asshole was going to try and run away again.” She frowned at the twitching man at their feet and toed him with her boot. “You’re coming with us whether you like it or not, you little toad.”

5

Tenebra tookhold of the closet door handles and yanked them open. They came off in her hands.

“Dammit,” the Goddess muttered.

Being awakened by Cassius in the Seventh Purgatory meant she now had to pay extra attention to anything she did; with the limit on the inhuman strength afforded to her by her divinity lifted, she could wipe out an entire city with a sneeze. The eldest Black Fate sighed and set the broken doors carefully against the wall.

There were no signs of her mark in the closet. She looked around the room. A muffled giggle drew her gaze to the bed. She crossed the floor and looked underneath it.

A pair of bright eyes gleamed at her from the shadows.

Tenebra smiled fearsomely. “Found you.”

Phebei laughed wildly and wriggled away.

“Not so fast, little mouse.”

The Goddess levitated the bed off the floor with a twitch of a finger.

Phebei’s mouth rounded where she lay on her front with her stuffed, purple unicorn Lola hugged to her chest. She stared from the floating bed to Tenebra, her eyes sparkling with awe and delight.

“Tenten strong!”

“What are you doing?”

Tenebra stiffened guiltily and looked over her shoulder. Her younger sister Orena stood in the doorway of the bedroom, her hands on her hips. Her narrow-eyed gaze swung between the Black Fate and the little girl on the floor.

“Playing hide-and-seek.”

Orena stared at the closet. “Did you break the doors again?”

“It was an accident,”Tenebra protested.

Phebei bolted across the room and latched onto Orena’s leg. She beamed at the Goddess. “Bibi hungry!”