Devilish Game (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 4)

Mac nodded. “Yes. But we’re all basically human, even though we might turn into wolves or cast spells. We’re like a different form of human, but the gods . . .”

“They’re weird,” Seraphia said. “They’re all different, of course, but many of them don’t have emotions or morals the way we do.”

“So we just have to hope this goddess isn’t involved, then,” I said.

“It’s unlikely,” Mac said. “If there were a goddess on Earth, we’d know about it. Especially if she was a crazy war goddess who wasn’t lying low.”

“She wasn’t a crazy war goddess,” Seraphia said. “Though she had elements of that. She was also the bringer of peace.”

“So she was balance,” I said.

“That was the idea,” Seraphia said.

“Well, we’re going to go check out her ruined city,” I said. “And pray we don’t find her.”

“I’m coming,” Seraphia said.

“Are you sure?” I frowned. “It’s bound to be really dangerous.” She could hold her own in a fight pretty well, but Seraphia was a librarian first.

“Can you read Cuneiform?” Seraphia asked.

“Right. Of course not.” And there might be clues there. “Please come.”

She nodded. “No problem.”

“Where are we going?” Eve’s breathless voice sounded from behind me, and I turned.

She hurried into the room, her blue dress fluttering as she ran. Today, her hair matched her dress, a brilliant cobalt that gleamed under the lights. Her raven flew behind her, but she paid it no mind.

“We’re going to the ancient city of Ugarit, on the Mediterranean coast of Syria,” I said. Quickly, I laid out what we’d discovered and what we were going to do.

“I’m coming,” she said.

I weighed the pros and cons of more people versus less. If it was just recon, then less was better. If we had a chance at rescuing people, then more was probably better. I just had no idea what we would find when we arrived.

As if she could sense my indecision, Eve said, “You’ll need eyes in the sky. I’ll take an invisibility potion and fly above the city.”

“Do you have any more of those?” I asked. They’d be helpful with recon.

“Unfortunately, I have only one,” she said. “They’re dreadfully difficult to make.”

I nodded. It’d be best if she took it, then. “Air support would be invaluable. Thank you.”

She grinned. “No problem. It’s the four of us, then.”

“I didn’t say I was going.” Mac quirked a brow.

I laughed. “As if you could resist.”

Mac grinned. “So true. But how should we get there? If we don’t know what we’re walking into, we shouldn’t transport right there. We might land right in the middle of something and give ourselves away.”

“We could arrive a little way away,” I said.

“We don’t know what’s there or how far spread out they are,” Seraphia said. “But I have family on Cyprus. Fishermen. Haven’t seen them in years, but they’d take us across the Mediterranean.”

My geography was a bit sketchy. I knew that Cyprus was off the coast of Syria but had no idea how far. “Will that take long?”

She shrugged, then pulled up her phone and consulted something. “Looks like it’s rough sixty miles from Cyprus. That shouldn’t take more than a few hours by boat, and we don’t want to arrive in the daylight anyway.”