“The woman?” Aiden asks.
“Who is she? And why did she try to kill us?” Reid sounds as confused as I feel.
He pauses rather than answering.
She looked so much like Izzy. I turn toward her, trying to make sense of what happened today.
Izzy is pale, and her hand trembles as she pushes a strand of hair back behind her ear. I want to wrap my arms around her and protect her, but I can’t protect her from the truth.
“She looked so much like me,” Izzy whispers, as if she can’t speak the words aloud. “Like my...twin…”
Mr. Time meets her gaze sadly. “I’m so sorry, Izzy.”
Izzy’s eyes widen, and the truth hits her in the same moment it hits us. A second later, she drops to her knees in the grass. “But she’s…an enemy?”
She had the same face, and the same eyes. How did we miss that? I’d known there was something familiar about her. But in the chaos, I hadn’t given it much thought.
My heart aches for Izzy as I stare down at the misery in her face, and it takes everything inside of me not to pull her into my arms. But in this moment, I don’t think she’s ready for that. So, I curl my hands into fists and stare at her, feeling helpless.
Even though my parents weren’t exactly lovable, at least I had them, and all the wonderful members of my household. All Izzy ever had was foster parents who couldn’t care less about her. And now…now that she finally found some real family, it was a fucking mess.
Her sister wasn’t just another god. But one that had tried to kill her.
“She looked at me like she hated me.” Izzy wipes her eyes with the heel of her hand, letting out a shuddering breath before her eyes lock angrily on Mr. Time’s. “You said I had to help her!”
Help her? My stomach clenches. The only way we could help her was by making sure she could never attack us again.
I look at Mr. Time, waiting for him to speak. To explain whatever the hell had just happened.
“That was Izzy’s sister. And, I’m afraid, she’s one of a collection of gods that are everything we feared. People who want to rule. Who want to destroy this world.” And then, he finally looks back at us. “The godslayers were born to kill you. But these gods? They were born to kill everything. And, unfortunately, only you can stop them.”
“My sister.” Izzy sounds shocked. “She’s…she’s evil.”
I look from him to her. Any normal person would be more concerned with the gods who plan to destroy the world, but all I care about is Izzy.
I kneel beside her, feeling helpless as she cries. I don’t know what to say, so I ask, “Are you okay?”
The wind whistles around us, carrying with it the scents of blood, rain, and burned earth. But, I swear, there’s something else too. A foreboding sense that this is the beginning of something bad, of something that will change us forever.
I slip my hand in Izzy’s, but she’s looking at the golden shards of the box on the ground.
“Izzy?” I repeat.
A tear rolls down her cheek. “No. No, I’m not okay.”