Sin & Surrender (Demigod of San Francisco #6)(39)

“When we have to be carried.” Donovan rolled his neck. “Have you noticed the majority of these teams only have magic from one god?”

“Wow. Look at you, professor. Good work.” Thane clapped Donovan on the back.

“Shut up, dead weight.”

“Dead weight? No, I prefer the term audience. Better yet, peanut gallery.”

“That’s always been the way.” Dylan rubbed a large lump on his head. If he didn’t have accelerated healing, he’d be in a hospital with a concussion. “Demigods—actually, most of the leaders—tend to look for talent like their own. That seemed perfectly natural to me before I met you guys. I felt like a traitor for not choosing Zeus over Poseidon. But we are ten times stronger with a mixed crew. Maybe more. We have something for everyone. The team we just battled was the hardest yet, and it wasn’t because of their magic or ability. It was because they had a bunch of different types of magic, too. Mark my words, people will take notice. Other Demigods—the smarter Demigods—will start to break tradition after this. They’ll look for the diversity Kieran—sorry, Demigod Kieran has.”

“Ew, really? You can’t just call him Kieran at this point?” Daisy rolled her eyes, her silken complexion marred with a streak of blood.

“We have a teenage Chester taking down experienced magical people.” Dylan laughed, and a lot of us stopped and gaped for a moment. The guy didn’t laugh often. “What a circus. Yes, we’ll be noticed. Zander doesn’t like to lose. I bet he’ll be the first to make changes. He almost lost someone today, though he probably won’t hear about that.”

“He won’t have to. He’ll see it.” Henry’s mouth formed a grim line. “Daisy was right about the cameras. They’re all over this place. New tech—tiny, well-hidden cameras, and a firewall that is hard to crack. They have an excellent team behind that firewall, too. The second Amber is in, they kick her out.”

“Well, boy genius?” Boman held his hands out in a what the hell gesture. “What are you waiting for? You don’t need her to figure this out.”

Henry gave him a scowl.

“Yes,” I said, feeling a soul blip onto my radar, stealing my focus from the conversation. It made me a bit blunter than usual. “You aren’t as useful magically as you are doing your infiltrating thing—”

“Sure felt useful when I was banging my head against the wall,” Dylan muttered.

“Go find a way to get some intel, or mess with them, or whatever it is you do,” I told Henry.

“She’s got a point, brother,” Donovan said as that one soul turned into a group.

I sighed. “We got another one, just about to turn the corner.”

“Okay. Good luck!” Henry gave me a thumbs-up and took off in the other direction.

“Well, he didn’t need much convincing,” Jerry murmured.

“Not Zeus,” Dylan said, straightening his shirt for some reason.

The first person came around the bend, a woman with a grim expression and strange hat with a little tassel on it. She stopped and held up her hands. “We have heavily wounded. We are on our way out, but we would offer you our Necromancers, if you’d like to duel them.”

“Lexi, don’t you dare.” Bria dropped the handle of her cart and marched up to the front. “This is mine, do you hear me? I’ve got some new tricks up my sleeve I want to try out.”

“She said Necromancerzzz, plural,” I said.

“Yeah, I heard. Bring me the bodies, Jerry. Just carry them on up here, one by one. Hold them really close while you do.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind, woman,” Jerry said.

“You disappoint me, Jerry.” Bria grinned and motioned for Donovan and Thane, who obliged with smirks and long glances at Jerry.

“I accept the challenge,” Bria called, unslinging her backpack and dropping it to the ground. She hovered over it. “You call it out.”

“What does that—”

“Shh!” She waved her hand at me.

I felt Boman’s hand on my shoulder, pulling me back. “It’s a Necromancer thing. They don’t usually get as much fighting time as Bria does. She’s a bit crazy for her faction. Just let her work.”

“Okay, but…I’m here if you need me,” I said to Bria. “Because they have more than one.”

She waved me away again.

Two men came forward, one pulling a cart like Bria’s. The woman fell back around the corner with the other souls, most of them lowering to the ground, probably sitting or lying down. After the men had laid the bodies out, they set up little trays for their supplies.

“Really, guys? Mobile stations?” Bria called down.

They didn’t respond, organizing their bells and whistles and stinky incense with quick, practiced movements. Bria took that opportunity to pull out her similar supplies, placing them in loose clusters that lacked the organization of the setup across the hall.

“This is how they do it?” Dylan leaned against the wall. “A chat as they set up to battle with dead bodies?”

“Didn’t the Demigod you served come here?” I asked him. “Why don’t you know more about how this place works?”

He gave me a tight-eyed glance. “She didn’t bring me to the Summit.”