Halo Goodbye by Nazri Noor

Author:Nazri Noor [Noor, Nazri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-23T22:00:00+00:00

18

“You are trespassing here, my criminal friends and brethren.” Dionysus glared at each of us, his hands lowered, but his fingers curled into talons, like he was ready to launch an attack at any given moment. The wreath tattooed to his temples wasn’t moving anymore, the magical wind in its ink gone perfectly still. “And need I mention the fact that you, Mason, personally stalked and threatened someone who is very important to my business?”

“That’s been sorted out,” I said. “It was a misunderstanding, okay?”

He narrowed his eyes at me, still distrustful, until Samyaza spoke up.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Sam said. “We followed the trail of the Hunger and it led us here. There’s a nephilim on the premises, and they’re in serious danger.”

Dionysus’s eyes went huge. “What? Preposterous. How is that possible?”

Apollo stepped forward imposingly. He looked taller, all of a sudden, his muscles bigger than before. I wondered if it was a trick of the light, or if this came naturally to him. Dionysus shuffled back a couple of steps, apparently intimidated.

“Do you mean to say that you own this place, and have no idea of what goes on in the back?” Apollo said, his voice much quieter and far more serious than I’d ever heard. “I thought you took pride in running your businesses, Dionysus.”

“But I do,” Dionysus said. “And it’s as you said. I only truly concern myself with the pretty things up front.” I couldn’t be sure if he was referring to his floor staff or the pricy food and beverages that Cornucopia had on display. “Do you really think I would pay such close attention to all these frosty things in storage? Pah. I hire people for that.”

I folded my arms, stepping closer. Dionysus looked so uncertain now, almost flighty. How the tables had turned. “Do you vet your employees? How long ago were they hired? And do you know if any of your people are adherents of the Hunger?”

Dionysus looked down at his hands. “I’d never considered it. I thought – human loyalty. I trusted these people enough not to squawk about the pocket dimension I turned into our freezer, so I trusted them enough to – oh no.” He dropped his hands, making a quick U-turn as he marched out of the freezer. “I need to go.”

“No,” Artemis cried out. “You need to stay here and help us, Dionysus. You have to see that your negligence is part of this, right?”

Dionysus turned back to us with a glare. “If the Lorica catches wind of this, I am finished. You understand? Finished. I wash my hands of this place. Burn it to the ground if you must. In fact, I would prefer it that way.”

He waved at the floor, the fingers of both his hands going through a series of intricate gestures. The ground trembled, then the tile burst apart, making way for thorny vines and brambles that snaked out of the soil deep beneath Cornucopia. They coiled themselves around the prone bodies of Dionysus’s employees, dragging them into the earth.

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