Page 169 of Grave Situation

Leicht and I fly over my home estate again on our way south, but there’s no new information to gather. It seems that despite my father’s defection and their new dragon watchdogs, Domys and his temple cronies are sitting tight with their zombies—almost as though they’re waiting for something. What, though? Information from the spy at the academy, who I’m convinced is the mastermind behind all this?

There has to be something I’m missing. Maybe the reason for the delay is connected to why the temples got involved. But what could it be?

I fret over it for most of the morning, until Leicht’s finally had enough.“Stop thinking so loudly, and you might be able to hear the answers you seek.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,”I point out.“Anyway, nobody said you had to listen.”

He ignores that, because apparently my every thought is his property now.“You should use this time wisely. Speak to your master and have him begin searching for the traitor.”

It really bothers me that he’s right, and I’m tempted to ignore the suggestion purely out of spite, but we’re too close to our goal now for me to be petty.

After, though, I’ll be unleashing all my stored-up pettiness.

Leicht’s snort tells me what he thinks of that, but it’s my turn to ignore him as I reach out and politely knock on Master’s mind.

“Talon? I’ve been waiting to hear from you. Kathion contacted me last night and said you were in Harfarin.”

“We left this morning, but yes. I wanted to talk to my father and see if I could discover anything he hadn’t said yet. It was late when I finished, and I… needed time to process.”It surprised me a great deal how much the conversation—the last one I ever expect to have with the man who fathered me—bothered me. During, I didn’t think twice about it, but after… well, knowing how little he truly cares about anyone else, including his own children, upset me more than I expected.

“I understand. Frankly, if I were in your shoes with everything that’s happened lately, I’d probably have run away and joined a circus by now.”

That’s not as reassuring as I think he intended it to be.“Please don’t give me ideas.”Although a circus probablywouldn’t take me, given my inability to juggle worth a damn.“Father said some things that I’d like you to look into.”I give him a quick summary of the conversation.

“Someone here at the academy who is about a decade older than your uncle,”Master repeats.“That narrows it considerably. I’ll head back down to the archives immediately.”He hesitates.“Has the stone given any insight?”

“No. It’s been remarkably silent since Jaimin healed my mind—but then, it usually is when we need information.”

The stone half-heartedly chastises me but fails to add anything else.

“Hopefully this will give us some answers. I’d like a few moments alone with whoever’s behind everything we’ve been dealing with.”

“As long as you remember they’re mine to deal with.”I’m not giving up the right for vengeance.

“What do you plan to do now? Do we have any idea of the next steps, other than to go to your birthplace?”

Frustrated helplessness rises to choke me. Leicht hisses and banks slightly, jolting me out of my self-pity as I lurch to maintain my balance. I’ve noticed he does that—uses flight to distract me from my thoughts. I pet his neck lightly in acknowledgment, something I never would have dared to do before but know that he’s somewhat missing since he and Coryn haven’t been in the same place for a while.

“We don’t. I’m going to be mature and sensible and spend today digging through some of Wasianth’s memories. If I needed access to this part of myself to be the champion, then the answers have to be there somewhere.”I pause.“How are we going to explain this to the councils? And the world?”

“You being a god?”Even telepathically, Master’s voice is bone dry delivering that sentence.“I don’t know. If we tell themthe truth, it would dramatically change your life here after all this is over.”

Gratitude swamps me. It’s nice to know Master is thinking about the impact it would have on me, personally. It’s nice to be cared about.

Leicht snorts.“A great many beings care about you, idiot.”

So much love there. But he’s right, and that’s something else I need to consider. My new friends and family will also be affected if the world knows I’m Wasianth.

“We’ll have to think of something to tell them. I’ll add it to my list of priorities… along with avenging my sister and saving the world.”

“You do that,”Master agrees.“Keep me up-to-date with your decision. People are starting to become concerned that you haven’t located the champion yet, and I can’t fob them off for too much longer.”

We end the conversation on that delightful note, and I turn my attention to rifling through the immense archive that is Wasianth’s consciousness.

Hours later, I’ve had no luck. Sadly, there’s no index to a god’s brain, no easy way to search—that I know of. I’m sure there has to be a trick to it. Some of his knowledge came to me at appropriate moments before, so why not now? Why can’t I just think, “How do I kill the zombies?” and have the answer pop fully-fledged into my head?

“Maybe you’re asking the wrong questions,”Leicht suggests.

“I don’t know many ways to ask how to kill a zombie army.”It seems like it should be a straightforward sentence.

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