Page 57 of G.O.D.S Omnibus
“He isn’t wrong. That, and Laughn seems to listen to me,” I reply, looking at them all. Summer sits on Khale’s lap, which appears to placate him for the time being. “Look, let’s get to the point. You’re all clearly afraid that Laughn will come after you.”
Leland scoffs. “Come after us? Honey, he will slaughter us in the most painful way and send pieces of us to our families. Laughn isn’t someone you mess with.”
“I need information because I’ve been dropped into all this headfirst. I have zero knowledge of what’s happening, but I do have some suspicions. Put yourself in my shoes—my best friend leaves me in foster care because it’s not safe for us to be together. Right when I think he is finally coming back for me,I’m kidnapped, chased through the bush by people in weird skull masks, then all this Gods stuff happens.”
“So . . . you legit know nothing?”
“Of course, she knows nothing, Nolan. Everything is a head fuck to them,” Summer says.
Shivers run down my spine. Is “them” Boston and the guys? The same ones Trace was running from, but why?
“What do you know?” I snap, completely over everyone talking around the situation.
“If we tell her, we could be killed,” Atti states.
“If we don’t, that freak is going to kill us anyway,” Khale scoffs.
Summer stands from Khale’s lap and comes to sit by me. “If I tell you, can you promise to talk Laughn out of harming my guys?”
“I promise,” I say truthfully.
Khale leans back in his seat, stretching his arms above his head. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
“What do you know about Trace?” I ask.
“We don’t know much,” Summer starts. “Since our team isn’t like them, we aren’t given as much information. But there is no way Trace is the guy you think he is,” she confesses, shifting in her seat.
“Why not?” I ask, clearly confused.
“Do you even know who you are or who they think you are?” Khale questions.
I shake my head, and he takes up the explanation where Summer left off.
“Let’s start with the basics, then. G.O.D.S was created by a guy—Mr Z—who basically trains us from when we are young to be weapons. We all have special skills. Within your team, you have Davis, the human lie detector, Laughn speaks for himself,though try electrocuting the bastard and he will just laugh at you?—”
“This is shit she can find out for herself,” Nolan snaps, interrupting Khale.
Khale shoots him a look and grumbles something under his breath, but lets him take over.
Nolan fixes a hard gaze on me, then finally reveals the information I have been chasing. “We are a private organisation, and all members of a team have special skills. Five guys, one girl per team, with one handler for the guys and one for the girl until you complete your training. Team Hades is your team, except yours is special. You were all genetically made in test tubes or some shit. We don’t know details, but whispers say that the guys were genetically programmed to love Zircon, a.k.a. you. When you were around thirteen, you werekilled,” he says, using his fingers to make air quotes. “Trace was your handler the day you died. Unlike most teams, Zircon had multiple handlers. Anyway, now you’re back, and everyone wants to know why. No one can ask because it’s top secret, but none of us forgot the day you died. Your death turned Team Hades into monsters. This mask of civility they put on for you is not the real them, and if I were you, I would be careful. Ask yourself, was Trace running from them or for them? A handler wouldn’t betray the organisation over something small. Unless there was a reason... or it was an order from the big guy himself,” Nolan finishes with a shrug.
Khale laughs as my face pales. Someone runs to get me a bucket, returning just in time as I throw up the contents of my stomach.
What. The. Fuck. I don’t know how to grasp any of this.
“For everyone’s safety, please don’t tell them we told you,” Summer begs once I have finished. “There is a reason you’re back—there has to be.”
“I won’t say anything. They are away for a couple days anyway,” I say, wiping my mouth. “I need to go.”
“Just watch your back and stay safe. Trust me when I say if you are her, they won’t hurt you. Zircon was the centre of their universe, but having her reappear is dangerous for everyone else. In death, she created monsters, and now that their heart has returned, they will protect it like Cerberus protects the entrance to the underworld,” she says, walking me to the door. “If I were to guess, I would assume that Mr Z did this to create the ultimate team. With you around, it made the guys softer than he expected, and after you were gone, he could mould them with greater ease. But that is just my opinion.”
“Thank you,” I say, walking back to the car, my head spinning with everything they have just told me.
I need to know how much of what they are saying is true, but I can’t just ask the guys straight up. Would they even tell me the truth? Especially since they haven’t been very truthful with me yet. If all the guys have some special skill set, I wonder if I do as well. That is, if I am who Summer and her guys think I am.
I make a U-turn and head back towards the Myers house. Two days with them away should give me enough time to come up with a plan. If they know where Trace is, I want that information too. I want to see him and ask him what he knows. He is the only person in this world I trust to tell me the truth.
“You shouldn’t turn your phone off.”
