Chapter Five
The four gods and I head back to Eros' cabin to discuss our findings, and I'm only the slightest bit surprised when I hear Erma making a call to have Chinese takeout delivered.
We gather in the living room to wait, and when my god takes the armchair, I can only be thankful he's still invisible as he immediately pulls me to sit on his lap.
"So..." Anteros is the first one to break the silence. "Cen told you that she only found out about your relationship with Eros when she came here to Vermont."
"That's what she said," I confirm.
Do you think she could be lying about that?
I slowly shake my head. "She was practically hysterical at that time. She could still be lying of course, but I wouldn't bet on it."
Anteros rubs his jaw pensively. "I figured it would be so."
"You're on to something," Erma guesses.
"People have been known to spend years in search for any kind of information about our Order," Anteros reminds us, "but none of them has ever succeeded. Are we supposed to believe that Cen has miraculously succeeded where all else failed in a matter of days?"
"I've looked into Cen's background and even those of her parents," Himeros says after a moment. "Neither shows even the smallest link to Rosethorne or Sub Rosa."
Anteros nods. "Exactly. Cen finding that one person who's willing to divulge secrets about Sub Rosa is no coincidence..."
Because it was the other way around, I realize. Whoever that person was had deliberately sought Cen out to use her as a tool...to kill me.
Anteros turns to my direction, but when he speaks again, I realize it's his invisible brother he's actually addressing. "There was one thing we've never figured out about the night Cen killed all those people."
Eros tenses under me at his brother's words, and I'm already placing a calming hand on his unseen chest before I realize how I'm presumptuous I'm being.
The missing link from that night...
I move to take my hand away as my god speaks, but he counters this by covering it with his and keeping my hand in place.
You think it's the same link we're missing right now?
"It's the only thing that makes sense—-"
I'm already shaking my head before Anteros even finishes his words. "Not to me it doesn't, so can any one of you please fill me in? What missing link are we talking about?"
"The first missing link," Himeros explains grimly, "is how Cen, a young girl with no prior criminal history or experience, managed to abduct thirteen people without leaving a trace of evidence."
While it's not that difficult to follow the dotted lines from there, the conclusion I end up drawing has me sucking my breath in. "If I'm reading you guys correctly, then what you're saying is that whoever it is who helped Cen abduct those people she murdered...it's the same person who told her about Eros and me?"
A tense silence emerges among us, only to be broken moments later by the sound of a quasi knocking on our door to deliver two large paper bags full of Chinese takeout. We relocate to the dining table, and the next few minutes that follow are almost hilariously surreal. Words like 'divine' and 'fast food' don't normally go together, but they somehow always do where these four primordial gods are concerned.
My lips twitch as I watch my rice box open on its own while a glass pot floats up in the air to pour tea into my cup. It looks all magic and fun, but of course I know it's just my invisible god playing the gentleman.
The discussion takes a different turn as we dig into our box of fried rice, dim sum, and beef and broccoli, and I can't help listening a bit more avidly when they start talking about Gelar. The guy is one of Sub Rosa's four Heads of State, a position that's only second to the Grand Master. More importantly, Gelar was the one who had called for an emergency meeting without any of the Erotes' approval...as well as being Isabella's fifty-something human father.
"Are any of you buying his excuse?" Erma questions after a sip of his wonton noodle soup.
I shoot a curious look at Eros' youngest brother. "What excuse?"
"For calling an emergency meeting," Erma answers with a disdainful sniff, "which he says he did to ensure Sub Rosa wasn't infiltrated or taken over by another god."
"Is that even possible?" I ask in surprise. "A god taking over another god's order?"
"It is," Erma acknowledges with seeming reluctance. "Contrary to popular opinion, Sub Rosa is not the only order that answers to an unseen god. But while we've always been close by, the other orders have been completely abandoned."
"Abandoned?" The very idea makes my hackles rise, and it has me speaking between clenched teeth. "How can a god just abandon his order?"