Page 73 of The Demigod

Her relief was palpable, even if she was playing it down. I couldn’t imagine what she’d been through for so long under the gods’ thumbs.

After meeting Arick, and now Aggy, I was left to wonder what the future held for witches and warlocks in this world. If they were so sought after by the gods—even ones as powerful as Zeus himself—how could they all possibly hide and protect themselves?

“I can practically hear your thoughts,” Aggy said, making me stiffen. “Relax,” she said, smiling at me. “I actually can’t. But you’re doing a lot of thinking.”

“I am.”

“About your guy?”

“About you, actually. And those like you. I met a warlock recently who was fighting off Zeus himself.”

“He must be a powerful warlock.”

“That’s what I hear,” I agreed. “How do you plan to protect yourself now that you’re free?”

“I’ve had nothing to do for a year but think,” Aggy said.

“And what did you come up with?”

“I want to start a coven. Or maybe a school. A school coven?” she said, rolling her eyes at herself. “I just think… if I can round us up and get us all in one place, we would be so powerful. Too powerful to fuck with. I mean, also a huge target, of course. But it seems safer than for us all to be out in the wild, fending for ourselves.”

“I actually think that’s a really good plan. With the way the world is going, you could probably have your pick of school or college campuses soon.”

“It’s been bad, huh?”

“Every day is another new ‘natural disaster.’ But now, the government isn’t really helping anymore. So everyone is fending for themselves. It’s about to get really violent soon. And then, of course, there are the demons and beasts.”

“Because things aren’t fun enough,” Aggy said with a head shake.

“Right?” I agreed, sighing.

“What’s your plan, long-term?” she asked.

“Honestly? I haven’t given it much thought. I was so focused on freeing Nemesis, hoping she would balance the scales. After that… I had no plan.”

“But you have a guy.”

“Yes. Sort of. Maybe.”

“Oh, the old ‘Yes, sort of, maybe.’”

“We haven’t had a lot of time to discuss things. We’ve been hard at work and… not working.”

“Oh, goddess; I missnot working. Well, when we find him, you two can have a nice little chat. You know the old ‘Are we going to hunker down through the apocalypse together or not?’ chat.”

“That old one,” I agreed, smiling. “It really does feel like the end of the world, doesn’t it?”

“Or, at least, the end of the world as we’ve always known it,” Aggy agreed, finally finished with her vending machine dinner and sliding down under the covers, already looking half-asleep.

Within two minutes, she was out cold.

I carefully climbed out of the bed, took a shower, changed, and started to clean up the room a bit.

Sure, the chances of anyone renting the place again when things were falling apart so quickly were slim, but that didn’t mean I had to become discourteous. Plus, it allowed me to channel my anxiety.

There was no stopping my swirling thoughts, the way my stomach was clenching at the idea of what Daemon might be enduring.

It was just a day.

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