Of course, there was no telling when the gods would start up again, or who would fire first. I leaned against the edge of the desk, finishing off my M&M’s.
Holly eyed me, as if she knew what I was thinking. “The colonel has us stocking up on everything.”
“Good.” We’d kept our heads on our shoulders this long by being prepared, fast, and more than a little lucky.
Unfortunately, luck can only get you so far.
Once Medusa had made her way out, with her vitamins and all of her questions answered, I signed out of the clinic. Technically, I’d been coming off duty when I’d grabbed her chart. Still, it seemed like the Gorgon had needed a friendly female ear. Or at the very least, someone who wasn’t squeamish around snakes.
I banged out the door and into the heart of the MASH 3063rd. I’d gotten into medicine to make a difference, to treat the creatures that others couldn’t—or wouldn’t.
Then representatives from the New God Army had shown up at my door. I’d been drafted, forced to leave my practice in New Orleans, for this.
It was hard to believe sometimes that it had been only seven years ago. Most days, it seemed like a lifetime.
The suns set low over the Limbo landscape, throwing off brilliant oranges and purples. A wide desert stretched beyond our MASH unit.
Underfoot, and as far as the eye could see, rock littered the barren red landscape.
It was how I’d pictured Mars as a kid.
The entire place was flat save for the cemetery. We had a hard time digging into the Limbo rock, so it was more efficient to make a dirt hill for the bodies.
“Hold up!” I heard from two buildings down. Shirley was stubbing out a cigarette in front of Colonel Kosta’s office. She worked as the commander’s private secretary. “Have you heard?” she asked, red hair sticking every which way out of her bun as she jogged toward me.
“What? That the USO is sending us a Sycion lyre quartet?” I’d heard. “I wish the gods would appoint somebody new to the entertainment committee.” I’d settle for anybody whose idea of a good time went beyond lutes, fire eating, and ancient plays. My life was already a Greek tragedy.
“No.” She stopped in front of me, her eyes swimming with sympathy. “Galen just got called back.”
Cold apprehension seized me. I knew this was coming someday, but that didn’t stop my stomach from turning to lead. Galen of Delphi was the commander of the Green Hawk Special Forces team and, well, let’s just say we’d been enjoying the break in the fighting a little more than most. He was on leave from his unit, due to a paperwork mistake that I’d hoped it would take the army a long, long time to rectify.
My throat felt tight. “Where is he?”
She glanced toward the shadows past the cemetery. “I think he went out to Father McArio’s.”
Father McArio was our unit chaplain. “Okay, thanks.” I headed straight across the common area. Father lived past the graveyard and through the junk depot, in a little hutch on the very outskirts of camp. He claimed to enjoy the solitude. I suspected he was secretly ministering to the lost souls of Limbo.
I scrambled up the rise toward the cemetery, almost thankful for the energy burn. My mind raced. It was too soon to lose Galen. We’d barely dated. I didn’t know where this was going.
Wooden grave markers of all shapes and sizes stood at attention. These were the doctors and the nurses, the mechanics and the clerks. People like me, who would never make it out of Limbo. Not unless the war ended for good.
“Petra,” Galen called, emerging from behind a tangle of burned-out Jeeps. He strode toward me, and I took off in a run.
He wore black combat fatigues with a Ken rune etched in red on his left shoulder. It was the symbol of flame, action, and heroism, and the man had it all in spades.
“I just heard,” I said, dodging graves, rushing into his arms. He held me tight and squeezed. God, I was going to miss him. I closed my eyes. “When do you leave?”
“In an hour.”
My eyes flew open. “What?”
That was ridiculous. He had to pack, prepare. We had to say goodbye.
He stood in front of me, all brute force and power. He was built for combat, but he couldn’t fight this. “You know the army.”
Did I ever. I understood it the moment I’d sat in my little paranormal clinic in New Orleans and opened the New God Army draft notice.
My dad couldn’t even see me off as they led me out into the depths of the bayou to a portal that hung like a misty cloud amid a tangle of cypress trees. Before I could say bad idea, I was in the flat red wastelands of Limbo.
Still, Galen should have been different. He was with an elite unit that took on the most important, and deadly, missions. In the past, he’d been given special consideration. He was one of them—the immortals—until a risk he took for me drew the ire of the gods.
They’d stripped him of his immortality. Now the demigod was as good as human, and he was leaving to fight immortals.
I might never see him again.
“It’s too soon,” I said, running my hands down his uniform. I wished there was something I could do to stop this, to buy more time.
He lowered his mouth to mine for a sweet, soulful kiss that was like coming home. I needed this. I needed more time.
He was set up in the VIP tent, which was a slice of heaven. We’d spent most of my off-hours laughing and talking and feeding each other fruit from the incredible daily ration they gave him. He had to keep up his strength, after all.
He drew a breath. “Gods, you’re beautiful.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I could stay here for eternity and still never get enough of you.”
“I like the staying-for-eternity part.”
“I know.”
We rested for a moment. There were no right words. Nothing either of us could say would make this better.
He drew me close and stared out over the darkening cemetery.
I traced my fingers along his bicep, a few inches below his unit patch. There was a scar there, crisscrossing over to his chest. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there. I knew every inch of him. “It’s going to be okay,” I said.
“No, it’s not,” he said into my hair. His posture was stiff. As he pulled back, his face was a mask of pain and regret. “Petra.” The agony was clear in his voice. “We can’t see each other anymore.”
For a split second, I didn’t understand what he said. “What?” He hesitated for a moment, and I knew. I knew. My ears buzzed and my brain threatened to explode. “You’re breaking up with me?”
He winced as if I’d slapped him. “I don’t want to.” He took me by the shoulders, as if he could somehow will me to understand. “I received my orders this morning. What I’m going to do—” He stopped and shook his head. “What I must do could expose you and your secret. I’m not going to take that chance.”
Expose me? “What’s going on?”
He stiffened and dropped his hands. “It’s classified.”
“Oh, no. Do not pull that on me.” He could at least give me the facts so that we could argue about them.
His jaw was tight, his expression guarded, and I realized I was talking to Galen the warrior instead of Galen the man. “If there was another way, I’d find it. You know I’d fight for you. I’d do anything to be with you. But I’m not going to lose you. I’m not going to be the one who unleashes the gods on you.” He spoke as if he were in physical pain. “We have to cut it off. Now.”