Light in Dark Places

Chapter Fifty-One

Joan once again finds herself facing the Three Kings, knowing that she has disappointed her sister.

"Nabi, why would you do this?" Seung-ri demands, and she sounds so utterly grief-stricken that Joan's guilt intensifies by a thousand.

The guilt is overwhelming, but she doesn't feel regret.

"Release her," Seung-ri demands, staring at Halcyon, ready to battle gods.

"I cannot," Halcyon says with a smile.

"If you need a sacrifice, I will take her place," Seung-ri says.

"No," Jisu says, at the same time Hernandez says, "Absolutely not, Seung-ri."

"It cannot be done," Halcyon says.

"Seung-ri, I did this for you," Joan cries, suddenly frightened at the idea that this could be one more sacrifice for Seung-ri to make for her. Seung-ri is not expendable, and it would be too much to bear if Seung-ri took this upon herself as well. "I did this so I can help."

"You broke the First Taboo," Hernandez says harshly, and the air positively hums with his rage. "You and Cadet Quale were on very thin ice already—do you really not understand the enormity of what you have just done? You should be executed."

"Clemente!" Seung-ri exclaims.

"Enough, Seung-ri. She cannot get a pass on everything she does." He gestures to Halcyon. "It has already escalated to unimaginable levels. How much more is she going to get away with before you put your foot down?"

Ashes, Joan thinks, feeling new levels of horrible. That was...really hard to hear. Hello, self-loathing, she thinks, as the new achingly familiar washes over her—you're back, and stronger than ever.

I can never do anything right.

"As I understand it, you are facing an immeasurable threat."

No one, not even Joan, was expecting Halcyon to talk in this situation. His voice was very soothing, even as he pronounced danger, and everyone turns to look at him with renewed suspicion. In this situation, Joan would have cowered, but Halcyon only continues to smile.

"And what is it exactly that you understand?" Jisu asks, sounding remarkably calm given the circumstances.

"There is a man who has learned how to control Misery, and you are justifiably frightened of his power."

"And how exactly do you know about Creosote?" Hernandez asks sharply.

"I know many things," the god replies, and in another person he might have come across as sounding smug.

"Oh?" Jisu asks. "And what kind of things do you know?"

"I know he is going to attack the Academy in about ten minutes, and many people are going to die, unless we return there now."

The words are met first with horror, then disbelief.

"You cannot possibly know that," Jisu says. "Mathiessen told us gods were not omniscient."

"We are not," the god agrees. "Nor are we omnipotent. There are many things I do not know and cannot do. But I do know this. Do you really want to risk it if I am wrong?"

The Kings shift then—Joan watches them shift into the powerful rulers and protectors that they are, instead of concerned and exasperated older siblings.

"We won't be able to make it back to Sahuaro in ten minutes," Jisu says, his eyes fixed shrewdly on the gods.

"And the three of us have left the city defenseless," Hernandez says, his anger once again fixed on Joan.