Chapter 29

It was Gertrude who answered my question. "There are eight of us. You've met me, Inali, and River. Our other sisters are Evie, Indira, Odette, Mallory, and Rosette."

My mind was exploding with this new information. "And you're all identical?"

"Yes," Gertrude said.

Well, the eight chairs suddenly made sense. But the number eight was significant for another reason.

"There are eight passive magic powers." I looked at Gertrude. "The power of the elf, a crafter and magic smith." I turned to Inali. "The changeling or mimic with the power to copycat another's magic and appearance." I thought of River next. "The phantom, with the power to negate magic. Like River. Or the Guardians."

"As well as the teleporting djinn, the spell-breaking mermaid, the wish-granting genie, the rebirthing phoenix, and the magic-tracking unicorn," Bella finished off the list of passive magic types.

"Unicorn. Another of Arina's powers," I said.

"Yes, Arina got her unicorn magic from her mother's side of the family," Gertrude said.

"Eight sisters." I still couldn't believe it. Identical octuplets. "You each possess one of the eight passive powers, don't you?" I asked.

"We do," replied Inali. "In great amounts."

"Then together they are a powerful force of magic," Nyx said.

"Eight identical sisters, each with a different passive magic power. How did this happen?" I was sure their existence had to be by design; there was nothing natural about them.

"We were made with magic and linked to immortal artifacts as well," Gertrude said.

So they'd been created in just the same way as Bella and Arina's twins.

"And you chastised me for doubling the spell!" Arina snapped at her grandmother. "Whoever made you and your sisters multiplied the spell by eight!"

It was Harker who asked the million-dollar question. "Who was it that made you?"

And it was Inali who rebuffed him. "That's a question for another time."

"That's not any better than ‘I cannot say'," I told her.

"River does like to say that," Inali said fondly.

"So what is all of this?" I asked them. "Why lure us out here? What do you want?"

Gertrude was eerily calm. "As I said, we're businesswomen."

"So this is all for profit?" I demanded.

Gertrude and Inali said nothing.

"Great. Just great." I shook my head in disbelief—and disgust. "Maybe I'll just take you prisoner and see if that encourages you to talk."

"What a marvelous idea," Gertrude said.

Inali extended her wrists to me, offering herself to be handcuffed. "Bring us aboard your airship."

"I think that's exactly what you want." I cuffed them both anyway.

"Then it's a win-win scenario. It's truly amazing how well everything is working out for everyone," Gertrude said with a smile.

"She thinks you're up to something," Arina told her grandmother. "And so do I. In all my life, have you ever told me a single shred of truth?"

"Of course. When I said I loved you, dear, that was true."

Arina was unimpressed by her rhetoric. "Am I even your granddaughter?"

"Yes."

"But you're immortal," Arina pointed out.

"I was made that way. You can hardly blame me for how I was made."

"But I can question the truth of your words," Arina shot back. "You are immortal. I am not immortal. Neither is my father, your son."

"Magic isn't always simple, Arina."

"With you, it's never simple. I thought you were the one person in my family who truly understood me, but…" Arina's mouth trembled. "It doesn't mean anything at all."

Gertrude reached toward her. "Arina."

Arina brushed away her hand. "It doesn't matter anymore. You are the past. Done. Gone. All that matters now is that the Guardians have my children. And you are going to help me save them."

"Of course I will."

Arina was unmoved by her words. She marched off to stand under the blue magic shield that covered the hole in the ceiling.

Devlin waved his hand over himself and her, recasting the water-repelling spells. Then he spread his wings and carried her toward the ceiling door.

Theon flashed us a grin. "I love family drama." Then the soap-opera-loving god cast his anti-water spell and left with Octavian and Arabelle.

Bella and Harker went next, followed by Punch and Patch. Stash waited behind with me and Nyx.

"Pandora, you really know how to attract madness," the First Angel said, grabbing Gertrude by the arm.

I took hold of Inali, and together with Stash, we left the underwater sitting room.

Back on the shore, Cadence and the others were waiting for us.

"Who are they?" Leila's eyes flickered from Gertrude to Inali.

"And why do they look identical?" Basanti wondered.

I handed Inali off to Arabelle. "It's a long story."

I walked between Bella and Arina as we headed back to the airship. Both looked shaken, like their worlds had been turned upside down.

"How you were made, Bella, that doesn't make you any less real," I told my sister.

"Leda, I…" Bella looked ready to protest, but then she caught Arina's eye and stopped. She obviously didn't want to offend Arina's children by calling her children not real. Even though Bella seemed to feel that way about herself.

"You have a mother and a father," I told Bella. "Unfortunately, none of us get to choose who our parents are. But I still think you got luckier than I did with Faris and Grace." I winked at her.

Bella laughed. "Thanks, Leda. Thanks for cheering me up."

I looked at Arina.

"I don't need a counselor," she said quickly.

"You won't get any counseling from me, only snark."

Arina didn't laugh. "I don't need snark either."

"What you need is to save your children."

"Yes."

I rubbed my belly. "I get it. I need to save my child too. That's why we're taking the fight to the Guardians."

"So you've figured out how to get into their Sanctuary?" Arina asked, surprised.

"Not entirely," I admitted. "But I will. I always figure things out. I'm pretty damn stubborn, and I refuse to believe anything is impossible."

Arina looked me over, slowly and carefully.

"You're doing that magic thing of yours where you can see who someone truly is deep inside, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"And what do you see?" I asked her.

"That you're pretty damn stubborn and refuse to believe anything is impossible."

Glad we were in agreement.

"Does your magic always work?" I asked.

"I'd always thought so." Arina watched her grandmother. "Until just now. She isn't at all the person she seemed to be."

"That has more to do with her magic than with yours. I bet she was hiding who she is inside, like she was hiding her true face. Inali's magic helped her do that."

Our conversation paused as we went up to the airship. Alec was waiting for me there.

"See?" I said to him as I stepped on board. "I'm back, safe and sound. Nothing to worry about."

Alec snorted. "You've received a petition request from someone who wants an audience with you."

"All the way out here?" I asked, perplexed. "Where is this petitioner?"

"It's not a person," he told me. "It's a message."

Curious, I asked to see the message.

"It isn't that kind of message, Leda. There was this big ball of magic fire that suddenly burst into existence in front of me a few minutes ago. The voice delivered the message that someone would be coming to see you shortly, then the fireball disappeared."

Weird. Really weird.

"Making friends?" Alec asked as Arabelle and Octavian brought the handcuffed Inali and Gertrude aboard. His mouth twitched when his eyes fell upon their bound wrists.

"Always," I said. "Alec, I need you to show these prisoners to a cell."

"You're going to want us there for this," Inali told me.

My eyes narrowed to slits. "You know what's coming?"

Gertrude and Inali gave me matching smiles.

"Are we in danger?" I asked.

"Of course," Gertrude said. "You'll be in danger until the Guardians are dealt with, once and for all."

"They are powerful," Inali added. "They killed the Immortals."

"That's not to say that the danger will pass once the Guardians are gone," Gertrude said. "There are other threats out there, other beings of great power."

"Any chance you'll tell us more about these other threats and other beings?" I asked them, even though I was pretty sure of the answer.

They smiled again.

"Right. I didn't think so." I waved for Alec to follow me with the prisoners.

The entire landing party came too. Along the way, others joined us, including Calli, Zane, Tessa, and Gin.

When our very long procession reached the court chamber, there was no petitioner to be seen.

"Well, that was anti-climatic," Basanti commented, bored.

We all sat down in our chairs. Stash and the other gods took up positions around the room. Alec stayed with the prisoners, and Harker kept close to Bella's side.

"About those rings you two made," I said to Leila and Basanti while we were waiting for…well, actually, I wasn't exactly sure what we were waiting for.

"Yes?" Leila asked.

"They're immortal artifacts."

Leila frowned. "How did you—"

"And, by the way, making the rings is also the reason that you and Basanti are pregnant." I explained to them what we'd learned about creating immortal artifacts. "The question is how you knew how to make immortal artifacts."

"I found a formula in the library," Leila said.

"If the Legion had any book with a recipe to make immortal artifacts, I would know about it," Nyx declared.

"I found the book at Storm Castle," said Leila. "I hadn't seen it before, so I thought—"

"We made sure the book found its way into your possession," Inali told her.

Leila blinked. "Why?"

"So you two would have children." Gertrude smiled. "You're welcome."

Basanti frowned at them. "Why did you really do this?"

This time, Gertrude didn't answer.

The dead silence in the room was broken by the explosive rattle of gunfire and the swoosh of magic.

I hurried over to the windows and looked out. Now, I'd seen a lot since joining the Legion of Angels, but what I saw now shocked even me. An armored female knight rode a black pegasus, carrying a very long scythe, like some kind of grim reaper. And that agent of death was headed straight for the airship.