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“Sorry, I haven’t had time to place an order at the Deity Superstore,” I quipped.

“Go.” He waved me off. “Get some rest, Leda. Your jokes are even more terrible than usual when you’re tired.”

“Snacks?” Sierra asked hopefully.

Damiel’s gaze panned across the shabby kitchen, drinking in its paltry offerings. “I’ll figure out something.” He sighed, then turned to the girls. “Who wants pancakes?”

“Me!” Sierra and Eira both screamed.

CHAPTER 25

A NEW, OLD WORLD

Nero was right. A few hours of sleep did me a world of good. I had so much energy now, in fact, that after my nap, I decided I’d check out one of the Bubble worlds myself. And I convinced Nero to come along with me.

It was just like the old days, the two of us going off on a mission. Sure, Damiel teased me terribly for putting Nero on my team, but this wasn’t just about wanting to spend time with Nero—though, yeah, who would say no to that? This was about how we worked as a team. We’d accomplished a lot together over the years, and we were going to accomplish this. We were going to find an Immortal gravesite, and with it, a new source of Nectar and Venom.

“This place looks familiar, don’t you think?” I asked Nero.

The magic mirror had brought us to a large forest of snow-kissed evergreens. It smelled of pine needles and something distinctly nutty.

Nero looked around. “We have never been here before,” he declared.

“Are you sure?” I picked up a pinecone. “It kind of looks like Canada.”

“You are kidding,” he said, his voice flat.

“Yes. And no.” I brushed my hand down a fir shoot. Heavy, wet snow slid off the tip and hit the white ground with a muted thump. “Ok, so I know we’ve never actually been here before, but after a while, a lot of these worlds really do start to look the same.”

“The universe, even with its seemingly endless diversity, prefers to fall into patterns,” Nero replied.

“In other words, the universe prefers order to chaos.”

Nero touched my face gently. “There’s room for both order and chaos in the universe, Pandora.”

I smirked at him. “Stop flirting with me, General. We have work to do.”

I looked at the forest around us, sighing. All the trees really did look the same. I’d have to depend on my other senses to find the gravesite. I closed my eyes and reached out with my magic, trying to sense the Nectar and Venom that the map claimed was here. I was drawn to their magic, so if they were here, I should be able to feel them.

And, sure enough, I felt a tiny tug on my magic senses.

I opened my eyes. “This way.” I pointed. “The air tastes sweeter over there.”

Nero didn’t question my conviction or comment on my weird statement. He just trusted me. That was one of the things I loved about him.

“You look nice,” I told him as we trudged through the forest. “Is that a new uniform?”

“No.”

I snorted. Of course not. Nero’s uniforms all looked the same. But they sure looked good on him.

His gaze swept over me. “Is that a new t-shirt?”

“It is, actually.” I pointed at the text printed across the front. It read:Deity of Disorder. “Do you like it?”

His eyes dipped to my chest. “Yes.”

“It looks good on me, don’t you think?”