Page 10 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“We can make them take us back!” Dharma ground out.
I was so confused. Nani had hidden my mark for years, which meant she hadn’t wanted this Rathor guy and his scary little minions to find me. But then tonight she’d revealed it, making it easy for him to find me. But why? It had to be related to the shadow monster somehow.
Nani’s demeanor had changed when I told her about my dream. A dream that came true and killed her. I didn’t understand it all, but I knew one thing: Nani hadwantedRathor to find me. The shadow monster, however, was an outlier I needed to learn more about.
Priti and Dharma were still arguing when I dropped out of my thoughts.
“We can’t simply comply,” Dharma said. “We have no idea what they plan to do to us.”
“And you think we can go up against this Rathor guy with his supernatural abilities?” Priti snapped back. “All he has to do is breathe on us to knock us out.”
Dharma made a sound of exasperation.
Silence reigned for a moment before Priti broke it.
“Leela, did your family not tell you anything at all?” she asked.
Dharma answered for me. “Maybe her family didn’t know. Dadi said that the gods have been sowing their divine seed in our world foreons, so some bloodlines might have fractured. The knowledge lost. Remi had no clue either.”
But Nani had known. She’d just chosen not to tell me.
“Whatever this is, we need to survive it,” Priti said.
“Or escape it,” Dharma added.
“I want to get back to my life,” Remi said. “I have a fiancé. I have a wedding planned.”
“You said your grandmother was…killed?” Priti’s gaze was probing, searching for answers. “Tell us about the shadow monster.”
When I spoke, my voice was flat and almost emotionless because if I connected with the words too much, then I’d fall apart. “A shadow monster killed her. She knew about all of this but never told me. I think she was protecting me. Hiding me. Whether from Rathor or the shadow monster thing, I’m not sure. But I think she knew that the monster was coming and chose to reveal my mark and have Rathor save me, although at the time I thought he was the bad guy. I mean, he still could be, but the evidence… I don’t know.”
“Maybe the monster thing camebecauseshe was hiding you?” Remi said.
A bubble of panic swelled in my chest at the thought that protecting me was the reason Nani had died, but logic asserted itself. “No, she’s been hiding me for years. I think that mynotbeing hidden is whatdrew it to us.” My amulet…it must have been more than an heirloom…
Dharma shuffled out of the gloom. “The shadow monster might not have anything to do with what’s happening to us right now. Dadi never mentioned such a creature.”
“Maybe we’ll get answers on the other side.” Priti patted my shoulder. “Wherever that is.”
“Or we attack now, on the ship, and get answers here. If we don’t like the responses, we get Rathor to take us back. He can’t breathe on us all at the same time to knock us all out, right? A blow to the head to stun him would give us time to tie him up. We can question him down here.” She crawled into the shadows and returned with a coil of thick rope. “We can use this.”
“We have no idea how many minions he has up deck,” Remi pointed out. “What if they come down and attack us?”
“We make sure they can’t get in,” Dharma said. “There is a bolt inside the door too. We lock it.”
“It’s too risky.” Remi wrung her hands. “If we fail, then he could hurt us.”
But Dharma was right. We needed answers before we stepped off this boat, and her plan was a good one. “I don’t think that they’ll hurt us. I mean, we’re valuable, right? We must be if we have divine blood.”
The thump of boots on wood had my pulse spiking.Someone was coming. Remi pressed herself to my side and grabbed my arm.
I shrugged her off, my gaze clashing with Dharma in silent communication. I nodded, and a slow grin spread across her face.
“Fuck,” Priti muttered. “Fine, let’s do this.”
Thud, thud, thud.
“Remi? Are you in?” Dharma whispered.
