Page 89 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse

“I’ll see you guys at lunch,” I said, encouraging them to go.

They left, dragging their feet. When the door closed, Grant stood, sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. “What a day? We were called to three different sites to quell troublesome demons. And our exorcism team has the next few weeks cut out for themselves.”

Possessions weren’t very common. To have several weeks scheduled ahead of time was saying something.

“And it’s only going to get worse,” Grant said. “How are things going with the Sloth Subject?”

I relaxed a little. I thought he had asked me to stay to give me a second ear-full, but it seemed he just wanted an update.

“As you know, our initial attempts to get to Solar Hudson were unsuccessful since his sister was found.”

Grants nodded, encouraging me to keep going.

“Drevan said he’s working on setting things up to attempt a different angle. We will try to precipitate things to get Solar out of his comfort zone. We hope the pressure and fear will drive him to see the error of his ways.”

“And when will this happen?”

“I’m not sure. Drevan said he’ll be in touch.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “Not that it matters. Even after Solar Hudson, there will be five more idiots to take care of.”

I lowered my head, embarrassment washing over me. I was one of those idiots.

“Ms. Sunder, I didn’t mean. I just—”

“It’s okay. No need to apologize. Solar is an idiot, just like me.”

Grant shook his head. “No, you’re a very smart young lady, and we will owe you the world. Literally. You will be an unsung heroine, but a heroine nonetheless.”

Please, a heroine? Pfft!

“That’s if I succeed,” I said.

“You will. You’re not alone in this. Drevan has made sure of that.”

I blinked up and stared at him in surprise. Was that what Drevan had been doing when he enlisted my friends to help me? Ensuring that I wasn’t alone in this quest? No wonder he hadn’t bitten Sage’s head off. A knot formed in my throat. There was also Grant. He was here for me. Had Drevan kept him in the loop after they redeemed me so I would have the director’s support?

“But I didn’t ask you to stay to complain or stick my foot in my mouth,” Grant said. “I asked you here to show you something.”

He walked from behind his desk toward the far right corner of the office, where there was a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf full of thick tomes on various demon-hunting topics.

“Come close,” he said. “We wanted to make this available to you earlier, but we needed to make sure you would remain at the league and were committed to your mission. Drevan said that despite the rules, Jophiel grows more threatening.”

Drevan was worried that Jophiel might disregard the rules and hurt me? He had always made it sound as if these rules were written in stone, utterly unbreakable, but what if they weren’t?

“What day of the week is today?” he asked.

“Saturday,” I answered, feeling foolish because what did that have to do with anything?

“So the 7thday of the week.”

I nodded. What was this? Kindergarten?

He reached a hand toward the second shelf from the top, which contained seven books. Noticing the titles for the first time, I frowned.

Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Lust, Wrath.

Pointing with his index finger, he counted from left to right. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.” He pulled the book titleWrathfrom the shelf. “From here we go to chapter seven, then the seventh sentence.” He leafed through the book, then pointed at the middle of the page. “Read it out loud.”