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I could have guessed Sage was Irish in her first life because of the pull I felt to her. I didn’t really have time to dwell on it because I needed to keep her safe. There were people out here more dangerous than my family and that was actually terrifying. Like, my Da could order someone killed from the loo and it would be done before he was finished wiping his arse.

The supernaturals were all plotting. Yeah, they needed to get their friends and a good grade. I got it. They had a lot more rules than we did. Headmaster Mykene didn’t even tell me I couldn’t kill anyone during the trials. She took Doris like it was suggested, but you really needed to be specific with some people.

I pulled my team aside because I needed more information.

“You got a bad dose when Mazen said he was Set, but it’s Radames who sets me on edge. Why?”

“Set was always portrayed as an evil god in my reading. He had magic no one else could control and the teachings are that he used it to hurt people. He also murdered one of the gods. There’s also an alternate theory that Set was a bit of a nihilist and only killed his brother because he fucked his wife, but that he wasn’t evil and only started getting portrayed that way as the years passed and people changed. Honestly, it was so long ago, I couldn’t tell you which version was true.”

“I refuse to get married unless I meet the right woman and if any of my brothers did that, I wouldn’t kill them, but I’d use my computer to take everything they had and possibly get them arrested,” Lucian said.

I held up my fist for a bump and Lucian looked at it like it was covered in feces. I just shrugged and dropped it. I could get down with that.

“I mean, I’d ask my wife why she fucked my brother. If she wanted to fuck him, I’d dump her on his doorstep and they could have each other. If she didn’t, then I’d kill him. I’m not going to go over there and ask, but I get vibes Mazen is like that, too. Radames is the one who acts like his shit doesn’t stink and I think he’s got the stinkiest poops of all of us,” I said.

“It’s hard to get reads on Mazen or Radames anymore because they stayed so close to Lola. That could either be because the men she named as her attackers were here or Mazen had figured out it would be difficult for all of us in her presence,” Sage said.

“There were several gods associated with the moon, but none of them were evil. Thoth in particular represented balance and he opposed Set. They are paired up for a reason.”

“We don’t know he’s a moon god,” I said. “He got shady when you asked him to clarify what he saw. I know he got shady because I do that any time the cops bring me in for questioning. The more you blab, the more they can nail you with.”

“I can hear heartbeats,” Lucian said. “I think eventually I might be able to tell if someone is lying with the right training. Want to bet these seniors already have that training?”

Probably.

“They probably would have said something if he lied about seeing the night sky,” Sage pointed out.

“Obviously, a lot of what my Nana told me about the fair folk was shite, but she said they can’t lie. She said they got around that by omitting things to suit what they needed. We all didn’t see just one thing. He wasn’t lying that he saw the sky, but that probably wasn’t all he saw. If he revealed the rest when you asked, you would have guessed and if he lied, someone might know.”

“No, I believe him that he wouldn’t know what he saw. He’s got a Coptic cross around his neck. He would have been wearing it when he was kidnapped. If he went to one of their private schools, he would have been given a Christian education and his history wouldn’t have really gone into depth about the old gods.

“We used to have a lot of gods. There were several gods associated with the moon, but we had some that were just gods of night or gods of the night sky. He very well could have just seen a night sky.”

“Maybe,” Lucian said. “But weren’t all Egyptian gods associated with an animal? Like, they were depicted with that animal for a head? You saw a jackal and knew. I’m guessing Mazen knew he was Set because he saw an animal with something else. It makes sense Radames would have seen one, too, so why doesn’t he want to tell anyone?”

Sage shrugged.

“This is probably a lot for him. I went to Christian private school, too. Growing up a pastor’s kid did the exact opposite of what they intended and I got kicked out at eighteen for having an opinion. It wasn’t like that for some of the kids I grew up with. Some of them wanted to go to seminary school or marry a man of the church. They wanted that and good for them, but I didn’t.

“I don’t know about Coptic Christianity, but mine teaches all of this is demonic. Like, other gods don’t exist and if you worship them, you’re worshipping Satan in disguise. My parents even thought yoga was satanic. I can accept all this because that life kicked me out with nothing but my babysitting money and I have no intention of going back. His life was probably completely different from mine and what you’re picking up on is him being completely uncomfortable with all of this.”

“She’s not wrong. My family are pretty devout Muslims. I’m easily able to accept this because history fascinates me, as does studying other religions,” I said.

“They are both sticking to Lola like glue,” Lucian said. “Their scent is harder to pick up when they are near her.”

“I was thinking about that,” Sage said. “I think it’s her magic protecting her and I guess them by extension because they took charge when she got hurt. She’s a magical blind spot. I’d be suspicious she was the one hurting people with that power, but we all saw how badly she was beaten.”

“It’s a trick the mafia uses,” I said. “You want it to look real, but you don’t want to get totally fucked up. One of the lieutenants sees this woman who beats the crap out of him and then makes him clean her loo with his toothbrush. I don’t kink shame, but the man is a total pain slut. He had paddle marks all over his arse every time he hung out at our pool. If someone needs to take a beating, he always volunteers. He’d safe word before it got to the point someone hit Lola.”

Everyone just stared at me. What? That was helpful. No one would let themselves get beaten that badly if they were doing it for show. You wanted it to look real, but you didn’t want it to look like that.

That was extreme. Like, I’d been in the room when we needed someone to take a beating and Paulie volunteered as tribute because he was into that. He tapped out before anything got broken and Lola’s ribs, nose, and probably her cheekbone were broken.

She didn’t do that on purpose. Someone did that to her.