Page 59 of Harbinger

“Anything?” Tisiphone said stiffly when Atropos opened her eyes.

She met her sisters’ expectant gazes and shook her head, dejected. “Clotho and Lache continue to muddy the waters.Besides, I suspect Ladon is masking his soul core so as to go undetected by Elios’s agents and the otherworldly here, especially if he is in a weakened state.”

“So, how do we find him?” Bitterness underscored Kes’s words. “We don’t even know what kind of reptile he is.”

A flare of light cast stark shadows across the room and sent a singular divine force dancing across Atropos’s skin. Loki had removed the Eternity Key from within his body.

“Could this help?” the imp said doubtfully.

Atropos was about to shake her head when an idea blossomed at the forefront of her mind. She studied the imp’s weapon, her heartbeat quickening once more.

“Not on its own,” she said slowly.

Confusion clouded Loki and the others’ faces.

“Ladon was created not just from the Hesperides’ life forces but also from a rare kind of magic,”Atropos explained, unable to contain the excitement in her voice. Her gut was telling her she was on the right track. “A magic that is dark and dangerous. In fact, one that is identical to the potent magic possessed by the most powerful mage in this realm and her one-of-a-kind weapon.”

“Wait.” Loki’s eyes bulged. “You mean, Eden and the devilwood staff?!”

Theo and Victor shared a dazed look.

Atropos nodded, hope bringing a flush of heat to her cheeks. “I believe if the Eternity Key and the Bloodcursed Devilwood Summoning Staff work together, they might just be able to locate Ladon’s soul core, wherever he may be hiding.”

The front door opened, distracting them.

Eden trudged in with a truculent expression and a couple of takeout bags.

“I swear, I don’t know why mom insists I continue to take lessons when the world is in danger and that bastard Elios could destroy the universe at any given moment,” she was muttering to the pendant nestling against the base of her throat. She paused just inside the living room. “Oh, hey, mom sent lunch.” She showed them the bags and stiffened at their stares. “What?”

27

The busy crowdbustling around the park cast curious looks their way where they stood in front of a glass and brick building. Eden could hardly blame the people slowing down to stare at them.

Out of her, Loki, and Kes, she was the only one dressed for a warm, sunny day.

Though he’d assumed his humanoid form, Loki had elected to wear thick, dark clothes that covered him from the neck down, a beanie hat that hid his horns, and sunglasses to mask his demonic eyes. Add to this his Doc Martens and he looked like he was about to raid a bank.

Kes, on the other hand, gave off the air of a rockstar diva with her enormous sunglasses, high-heel boots, a trench coat that showed tantalizing glimpses of her black dress and long, lithe legs, and a Bulgari scarf that almost swallowed her face.

“I should have brought Theo and Victor along,” Eden mumbled under her breath.

The devilwood pendant quivered in agreement against her throat.

Kes shot a glance at her. “What was that?”

“Nothing.” Eden squinted at the Goddess. “By the way, what made you decide on that outfit?”

Kes beamed like she was the cleverest person in the universe. “I saw someone wearing the same thing on TV yesterday, back at Icarus and Ivmir’s love nest.”

Eden suppressed a grimace.

“Can you please stop calling it a love nest?” Loki snapped. “I live there!”

Kes smirked. “And aren’t you the third wheel?”

A kid stopped and stared as crimson light bloomed briefly around Loki’s glasses. “Mommy, look!”

His parents’ gazes followed the direction he’d indicated. Their faces glazed over when they saw Loki and Kes.

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