Page 65 (1/2)

"I am," I said dryly Mom hadn’t exactly been on her best behavior in there Or maybe she had

At least she didn’t kill anybody this time

"She didn’t seereed "But while not, perhaps, polite, the term was not an insult Adramelech is a title, not a personal name He functions as the speaker or president of the council"

Daht you said the council doesn’t have a head"

"It doesn’t, if you mean someone with more power than anyone else He is mainly there to ot around to e a coanizes matters to be discussed and attempts to keep the debate on topic He doesn’t usually propose topics hiht of the region in question"

"And who has oversight of earth?" I asked, because Pritkin was sounding gri of the Asakku"

Great "So, what reason does this Asag guy have for just ignoring the return of one god and the kids of another?"

Pritkin shook his head "I don’t know And I’ the basics on your mother No one wants to talk about the ancient wars--or how they ended Most go about trying to pretend they didn’t happen"

"So they’re about to let theain?" I asked, in disbelief "They can’t be that blind!"

"It’s not abeer "It’sfear, terror even You have to understand, Cassie, the deods oncethey were ancient compared to the ones you saerful beyond belief, and bloodthirsty to a fault They gloried in battle, lived for it, reveled in it And yet they fell, as one of the feould talk tostars Those who survived believe they cannot fight--"

"They can’t if they won’t even try! Would they prefer to be slaughtered?"

"They’d prefer not to think about it at all The ones who lived--remember, they were those who didn’t interest your h to be pursued, or who survived by hunkering down, by playing it safe, by being cautious--"

"You can be too cautious You can die hiding under a bed or whatever the de"

Pritkin sent me an odd look

"What?"

"When IYou told me several times it hat you were best at"

"Yes, but it made sense then, when all I had to worry about was Tony But it won’t help us now Like it won’t help the, it would help our enemies, if the council decided to hide its collective head in the sand until a hungry god ca and ripped it off No wonder Moroup and wondered what had happened to the kind she’d fought Or maybe she’d wished she’d left a few of the scarier ones alive

"You look furious," Pritkin said, watchingfor your life-- for what you want Just giving up--"

A corner of his mouth quirked "No You would not understand that You never stop trying, do you?"

"What else is there?"

"Despair Hopelessness Anger Depression"

"But those don’t get you anywhere"

He huffed out soh, only it didn’t sound happy "No They don’t"

I drank beer and didn’t say anything Because I got the i about the council anymore But I wasn’t sure, since I couldn’t see his expression

The proprietor had apparently not trusted scent to druhts around the front of the shop As a result, darkness shaded Pritkin’s eyes, which were above the lights, but under the shade of the awning But cheerful, incongruous colors splashed everywhere else--green over a cheekbone, a a toned ar in rainboater

He ducked his head slightly, and his eyes caught the light when hebrilliant emerald "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Stay sohopeful Optirew up around some of the most cynical creatures outside of dery, always sche their position in some way--"

"They’d say that it also improves their families’ position, and their allies’," I reminded him "Vampires aren’t selfless in the human sense, maybe, but they take care of their own Sometimes better than humans, since it hurts their power base if they don’t"

"Which is rew up in that, were steeped in it, and yetyou came for me"

"Yeah, well, you know That wasn’t entirely"