Page 113 of Hijack the Seas: Tsunami

“Who then?You?”Bodil challenged Æsubrand.

“No.Although...I would prefer to live.”But the silver prince wasn’t looking at me when he said it.He was looking at Enid.

“As would we all.But our survival isn’t required.Is it?”she asked Alphonse, who was scowling.

“You know we already settled this,” he said, surprising me.“As long as I get to kill that rat fink Tony first—”

“Then is it you?”she demanded of the witches, who stared back at her impatiently, all five of them.

“You know why we’re here,” Zara said.

“Yes, or I would not have permitted you to come,” Bodil replied with the casual authority of a queen.

“Cassie must survive,” Pritkin said.“We all understand this.”

“Do we?”Bodil asked Mircea.

“You know perfectly well we do—”

“Then who chooses?”

“Chooses what?”Alphonse asked.

Then Bodil shocked everybody by sending them a precis of our unspoken conversation, all at once, like a download straight to the brain.I saw several shudder, heard one of the witches hiss, and Alphonse staggered back a step as if slugged and then cursed.“Don’t do that!”he snarled.And then he realized what had been sent, and his eyes focused on me.“You only noticed thisnow?”

“It only just happened,” I began, but Bodil cut me off.

“Who chooses whether we continue or not?”she asked again.

Everybody looked at me.

“Wait.When was this decided?”I said.“Because we don’t know that I can use the Pythian power if Rhea is now Pythia.Or that it’s still able to come to either of us at this point.And if it isn’t, I’m not any more important than anybody else—”

“We discussed it last night while you were talking to dead people,” Bodil said.“And your ability to use the Pythian power is irrelevant.If you can’t, you will find another way home.”

“What other way?”I asked, looking at her like she was crazy because she might be.“Do you think I would be risking all this if I had another way?”

“I didn’t say that you had one; I said you will find one.The rest of us won’t.”

“And you know thishow?”

Bodil gave me another look I didn’t understand.“I have been in your head for days now,” she finally said.“And it is a strange place.You summoned gods in Stratford, not to use them for power or to help yourself, but to allow you to rescue your friend.You afterward fought the Silver Circle to defend the lives of witches who had recently tried to kill you and took on a trio of gods, only to give away the power you obtained in a bid to save us all.

“And right now, this task might be easier for you alone, but you brought us with you without so much as a moment’s question, for you will not leave us behind.People you only met a few days ago, and in my case, who immediately imprisoned you!”

“What is this?”I said, frowning.

“Even now, right now, you could abandon the mission, take power from one of those creatures out there, and return to your time as the only god standing.You could complete your mother’s fondest wish of ruling all and ruling alone, seated above the world on a golden throne!Nimue would have taken that chance in a heartbeat; Aeslinn risked everything for less; Caedmon has spent the whole war maneuvering to expand his influence and his lands, setting himself up to rule all once the fighting is done.But you...

“The very idea appalls and distresses you so much that your entire soul shudders away from it.Instead, you took time in the midst of unimaginable trauma to help encourage another enemy,” she nodded at Æsubrand, “when he was at his lowest—”

“He isn’t my enemy,” I said, staring at her.“None of you—”

Bodil laughed.With bombs going off in all directions now and a panicked crowd of people piling their belongings onto their backs or running past without them, she stood there and laughed.Shewasmad, I thought, goosebumps breaking out on my skin.

“Not mad, just surprised,” she said, shaking her head.“As I have been since I met you.And no, you don’t have any enemies, do you?The dark mages follow you as well as the light, although you killed some of both recently.You bring zombies and demons, witches and mages together, along with a host of spirits, and think nothing of it.And they follow you equally without thought—”

“They follow me because they’re desperate!”

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