Lost Gods by A.M. Yates

Author:A.M. Yates [Yates, A.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A.M. Yates
Published: 2016-02-29T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

July 19th

Nine Days Later

CLASHING WINDS BUFFETED HER.

At times, she had the sense of falling. Then she’d be whipped upwards again, as if she’d hit a trampoline and had bounced effortlessly into the air. As often as it was dark, it was light. The pathways of the air gods shifted from pitch black to cloudy white to robin’s egg blue to blush pink streaked with purple and orange—all the hues of the sky. Sometimes the clouds swirled close around her and she was assaulted by panic-filled memories of Fog God stealing her away.

But then he came to her.

Death.

For the last ten days, she’d travelled the pathways. Air, water, earth. Every time, Death had been waiting for her. Each time he was more solid than the last, transforming from a voice, to a phantom-wisp of darkness, to a full-fledged figure, broad-shouldered and lean.

This time, he looked like one of those street performers in a full-body sock. Contours of a muscled physique—and a face and a mouth—hidden under a thin layer of black. She expected that by the time she was finished fixing the tribe’s masks, he’d have a fully visible body with eyes she could look into. What would Death’s face look like? The question both terrified and thrilled her.

“So much pain,” he said sympathetically. “You should not be in such pain.”

Clutched in her hands was the mask of an air god. All around her, the wind swirled and nipped. The pathways were mute and gray.

“You must face your fear,” he said. “You must be honest with yourself. You, the Triune’s daughter, the daughter of Death, my daughter, you should not feel this misery.”

His voice tugged at her, soothing the ache inside of her. As much as she hated him, as much as she wanted to run back to mortality, she wanted to stay and let his reassurances spread like icy balm over that pain.

“Why do you keep meeting me here?” she asked. “Why are you being so nice? What do you really want from me?”

“Why should I want anything but for you to be happy?” he asked. “Why should you want anything but that as well?”

“I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I think you do. Allow me to give you a bit of advice, dearest. Follow your heart, wherever it leads, even if it is to my door.”

She shifted back. “You want me dead? Is that what this is about? Maybe you think if I’m dead, the Covenant will be destroyed and you’ll be free. Is that it?”

Death’s shadow hands went up in protest. “You could not be more wrong. I want you to live, Josie. I want you to live fully, not this half-life. Why do you deny yourself? Why do you deny your feelings? Why do you deny your own happiness?”

“I’m not denying—”

“You can lie to yourself, but you cannot lie to me. I know your life, Josie, from beginning to end. I’ve seen it in all of its infinite possibilities. I’ve sifted those possibilities through my fingers. You are so close, so close to realizing your full potential.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.