Page 47 of The Death God
Thanatos waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter now. Himeros, can you tell us about the facility? What does it look like, how many live there, do you meet the clients before you go out into the field, does everyone on your wing work in the field?”
“Wing? There’s five of us, and we move from house to house.”
“There’s five? You’ve never seen anyone else?” Five. Shit, how many groups of five were there? An underground facility with maybe forty people plus staff was hard to hide, but a group of five could be moved around on a whim. Hidden away forever.
“Other than the superintendent and the guards?”
“Yeah, other psychics.”
He shook his head. “It’s always only been Moneta, Penthus, Aletheia, Arawn, and me in our group. We’re not always together. Some are out on missions, and Moneta and Aletheia are away for periods of time now and then. Arawn wasn’t with us from the beginning, he came maybe seven or eight years ago.”
“What the fuck is up with the names?” Amell’s snarl made Thanatos jump. Having lived most of his life around people with those kinds of names, he didn’t reflect much on it.
He’d always believed it was the warden naming them, that he was obsessed with Greek mythology or something, but Himeros most likely wasn’t named by the warden. Were their names decided elsewhere?
“It’s usually a clue to their skill.”
“Moneta? She makes money?”
Himeros shook his head. “No, Moneta as in memory. She can erase memories, but she needs to touch you when she does.”
Alaric nodded. “The next, Penthus. What do they do?”
“He. Penthus, according to myths, is the personification of grief. If he’s close to someone, they can be crippled by sadness and won’t make the best business decisions…or other decisions, but he’s mostly sent out to work in the business world.”
“Oh, fuck.” Gregory rubbed his neck. “Babe, these people are dangerous. They aren’t like the rest of you.”
Thanatos huffed. “You’re dangerous. Rufus is dangerous, but you got him out of the coffin anyway. We’re not leaving them.” He was fully aware of not having a real say in the matter. If Alaric, Amell, Rufus, and Gregory didn’t want to rescue the psychics, then there would be no rescuing.
Gregory grimaced. “The others, what do they do?”
Himeros looked as if he was about to fall off the bench, and Thanatos feared they were closer to the crashing point than he’d first believed.
“Aletheia is the spirit of truth. When she is in the room, you can’t lie. You can keep quiet, but you can’t lie.”
Thanatos nodded. “And the last one.”
“Arawn.”
“That’s not a Greek or Roman name. No god, goddess, or personification or whatever.” No one Thanatos could remember at least.
Himeros gave a slow shrug. “He sees the dead.”
“What?” Thanatos straightened. “He’s a medium?”
“Talks to ghosts. But I think the superintendent will get rid of him. He doesn’t accomplish much.”
Without thinking, Thanatos grabbed Gregory’s hand under the table and squeezed hard. Get rid of in the house of horrors meant never to be seen again.
“I’m sorry, but I’m gonna…” Himeros swayed where he sat.
“Come with me.” Minerva jumped up from the seat on the other side of Prophecy. “We’ll find you a bed.”
Himeros struggled to climb off the bench but soon followed Minerva out of the room.
* * * *
Thanatos and Jaki cleared the table, the rest of them sat in silence, and Gregory wished they’d never set eyes on Himeros. They were a good little group. Now Thanatos and the others would want to rescue the psychics, but they were no ordinary psychics. These people were dangerous. He didn’t want to have his memories erased or feel crippling sadness, he didn’t want to think he was in love with someone he wasn’t, and everyone needed to be able to lie now and then. He didn’t mind the medium much, at least not as long as he didn’t send ghosts to mess with him in some way.
