Page 40 of Kuaket

“Is that it?” Abrax asked.

“No idea, Seth didn’t give me very detailed instructions, this isn’t the most elaborately thought out plan in existence.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Get out of here and hope for the best,” I responded.

An alarm blared through the room, making us both jump. Lights flashed and a siren blared, making it impossible to ignore.

“What’s the quickest way out of the building?” I asked him.

“The front door.”

“Then let’s go.” I turned to leave the room, knowing that every minute was going to matter right now.

“We can’t just walk out of the front door.”

I shrugged. “Why not? The alarms going off and that should be enough to distract anyone. No one will be paying us any attention.”

“There are cameras.”

“And by the time they check those, if they even do, we’ll be in Purgatory and they won’t be able to do anything to us.” If we hadn’t destroyed the god’s soul properly then there could still be issues because of that, but we should be safe once we were properly through the portals and at my flat in Purgatory. Hopefully, Kuk had done what I asked and gotten it ready for us while I was here.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea...”

“If someone tries to catch us, I’ll turn into a cobra and start spitting venom everywhere,” I promised.

He gave me a look that I wasn’t entirely sure meant he believed me. Or that he did, but he was mildly horrified by the idea.

Thankfully, he didn’t waste more time on that and headed for the door. I followed him, only pausing to look back at the god’s soul. Parts of it had turned black where the powder had touched it, and I didn’t need to wait to know what was happening. It was dying. Though I wasn’t sure whether that was even possible considering the god the soul belonged to was already dead, but the sentiment was still the same. The soul was collapsing in on itself.

So long as this was the only soul the Sons of Seth had, our problems would be solved.

If it wasn’t...

“Kua.” The mild panic in Abrax’s voice cut through my thoughts and I turned away, leaving the soul to its final fate.

As much as I felt for whoever it was who had ended up like this, I knew I couldn’t focus on it too much. Not until we were far away from here and safely in Purgatory where the Sons of Seth wouldn’t be able to follow.

“Which way?” I asked Abrax.

He gestured to the left just as shouts started from deeper into the building. The alarm continued to blare, and I was hopeful that the ensuing panic would help mask us getting out of here. We really should have come up with a better plan for that.

Abrax grabbed my arm and tugged hard, pulling me into a small alcove.

I frowned. “Wh-”

He cut me off with a hand over my mouth just as a handful of warlocks rushed past. I hadn’t even noticed they were there.

“What’s happening, sir?” a voice I didn’t know asked.

“Not sure.” I recognised the second voice as belonging to the man who had been talking to Abrax outside the van. “Did Abrax arrive at the first floor?”

“Not according to reports.”

The man groaned. “This is all his doing. No doubt the goddess he brought in is on the loose too.”

“We haven’t sent anyone to check on her,” the first man responded.