Page 81 of The Hunger
“For the love of the gods, are you fucking serious right now?” she asked. “A god has awoken, and you’re both sitting here, bitching about the love lives of only two of the thousands of lives this Council is responsible for? You all need perspective. And some damn focus.”
She reached out, set a hand on Fenris’s shoulder, and disappeared in an explosion of flames. I wasn’t the only one stunned by the pair’s disappearance.
“Try arguing with her,” Oanen said under his breath. Then he moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.”
“He better be,” Raiden said.
Megan reappeared a moment later. “Now that I’ve gotten rid of the distraction, let’s talk about the earthquakes. You know, the real reason we’re here tonight.”
“Of course, Fury,” Adira said with a warning look at Raiden. “We understand that you believe the Oracle told you that a god has awoken. Please tell us exactly what she said, and we’ll help you interpret it.”
Megan crossed her arms and gave Adira a cold look. “There’s nothing to interpret. Her exact words were ‘A god has awoken. His wrath will continue to tremble the world until he’s appeased.’”
The adults looked shocked, and Megan shrugged.
“This isn’t my first visit to the Oracle, and it probably won’t be my last.”
“Yes, it will,” Oanen said softly. Megan continued as if she hadn’t heard him.
“She knows I won’t put up with her evasive, riddly answer bullshit and spoke straight, so I’d leave faster. After she told me that bit about the god, I asked how to appease him and where to find him. She said that the gods were the first of us and that a creature just as old would have the answers I seek.”
Mrs. Quill looked pale, and I wasn’t the only one to notice.
“What?” Megan asked.
“I worry about the price you paid for so much information.”
“I don’t know what kind of arrangement you have worked out with the Oracle, but I don’t pay anything. I only set my hand on her fancy carved table and told her to start talking.”
“Did she tell you which god it was?” Adira asked.
“No. As soon as she understood what I was doing, she ran from her cave yelling her answers back to me. I had to chase her to hear everything. The last bit, about the creature, she said just before diving into the water.”
“So you have no idea which god?”
I could feel Megan’s mounting anger.
“Do you have a list of what appeases each god or something? Because if you don’t, knowing the god isn’t going to matter, is it?”
Adira inclined her head at Megan before the frost giant’s gaze flicked to me.
“I’m not calming her down,” I said. “Ask annoying questions, get an annoyed fury.”
However, my words did help calm Megan.
“I’ve done more than this Council or any other stronghold Council has managed to do. We know what’s causing the earthquakes. Yay me. Now, do you know of a creature old enough to remember the gods so we can find out how to appease whoever it is? And it better not be a human sacrifice because I’m not okay with that.”
“There may be a creature as old as the gods still living,” Adira said.
“Good. Where can I find this creature?”
“At the bottom of the ocean, hidden in the deepest canyon.”
“The Kraken,” Oanen said before looking at Megan. “You’re not going.”
“You can’t—”
“He’s right,” I said. “Think of how old that creature is and how the gods used it to destroy whatever they wanted. It would be safe to say that it’s killed more humans in its life than any other creatures you’ve ever encountered. If we want answers from it, it can’t be you who goes.”
