Younger Gods 1: The Younger Gods Read Online Free PDF Page B

than a definite shape. But I felt its presence all the same, looming high above me.
    Antoinette answered, thankfully. I was not sure I could have spoken myself. “No. This is Jacob. He’s here to help. I need your assistance in finding the woman who defiled the store.”
    The shadow-black spirit shifted in place, voice as hollow and vast as an ancient well. “Where is the defiler? I will break them into kindling for the fireplace. Then I will build a shelf out of their bones, and we will have a place to put the extra divination books.”
    “We’re looking for the defiler, Agwe. Jacob here has a way to find her,” Antoinette said, then nodded to me.
    “I do,” I said, trying to sound confident. These were the first spirits I’d met who were not at my family’s beck and call, and from the gooseflesh breaking out across my arms and back, I could tell they were incredibly powerful.
    “My sister and I share the same blood. I give you this offering, so that you might seek restitution for the invasion of your home.”
    I pulled back my sleeve to reveal an arm riddled by scars. We gave deeply to our Gatekeepers, and often. My mother’s arms had been solid white scar tissue as long as I could remember, and my arms were well on their way along that road when I fled from home.
    Using a knife taken from Antoinette’s stores, I drew the point across the back of my forearm, and held the cut over an empty bowl in her arrangement.
    “I give this freely, so that we might all find what we seek.”
    The red spirit drew back then dove through the altar out of sight, while the other spirits floated, unmoving and unspeaking.
    A moment later, the red spirit emerged from the floor, a darker-red thread running from spectral hands through to the center of its ectoplasmic mass.
    “I have the scent.” Its voice was charged, like a hound struggling at its reins. “Come quickly; she is on the move. Agwe and Okayo will remain to guard the store. We will not allow another insult like this.”
    I sheathed my knife, and Laroux snuffed out the candles. She picked up a handful of beads and gems, stuffing them into a pocket.
    She looked to me and said, “Let’s go.”
    I nodded. The red spirit bolted forward like a rock flung by a sling, and we followed.

CHAPTER
    FIVE
    I gbe, the red spirit, was like a wolfhound on a leash, straining constantly against Antoinette’s metaphysical lead. It concealed its physical form, but I could still sense its whipping, darting motions with the wind, a mild scent of turned earth left in its wake.
    The spirit led us through Brooklyn Heights, down Fulton, and then hurried along Flatbush.
    “Do you know where we are heading?” I asked Antoinette as I hustled along, both of us nearly jogging to keep pace with the spirit.
    “Looks like Prospect Park,” Antoinette said.
    I tried to plot a line between Prospect Park and Central Park, running scenarios in my mind to deduce whether this was a ritual site or was in fact the home of the Brooklyn Heart.
    Each city had a Heart, an embodied gem, usually fist-sized, that contained the essence of that city, the key to its metaphysical existence. Some cities had multiple Hearts, like London or Shanghai, all depending on their size.
    New York had five, one for each borough. And Esther would need all of them to open the third circle.
    And once that was open, she could take to the Deeps and wake the fetal god from its gestational slumber.
    Moving through the park, I tried to look nonchalant, like the joggers I’d seen around Manhattan and Brooklyn. I paid no mind to the fact that I was not wearing the traditional jogger uniform of neon-colored skintight fabric and brightly-colored athletic shoes. New York was a city of oddities, and I hoped that oddity would conceal me as well.
    Still, we drew a number of eyes on our way to the park. Fortunately, no pursuers.
    “What would she want in the park?” I asked. “Is the Heart here?”
    “No. It’s with friends. And they can