Extinction (The Divine Book 7) Read Free Page B

Ferrari from there once, picking almost at random from the group. I grew up in the city and didn't care that much about cars. Obi was a different story. He pointed each one out to me as we walked the aisles, running down stats that were meaningless in my ears. Torque, horsepower, camshafts, turbo.  
    Whatever.
    I knew he was talking because he was nervous. He felt responsible for Sarah, the same way I did if not more. He had been here with her. Maybe he should have seen the signs? How could he, when he didn't know what to look for? I didn't blame him, but I knew he would be blaming himself, and there was no way to talk him out of that.
    "We'll take that one," I said, pointing at an SUV in the corner. "It looks a lot more comfortable than these racecars."
    "The Bentayga," Obi said, smiling. "Good choice. It's the newest car in the fleet." He paused.  
    "What?" I said.
    "Brian bought that car for Sarah. Did you know it's the only one here that didn't belong to Gervais?"
    "Cars don't have auras. Did she ever drive it?"
    "Once. She was like you." He mimicked her. "Car? What's the point? Obi, I've got wings." He returned to his own posture. "Half of which are razor sharp. Anyway, Brian thought she'd like to have a car that didn't belong to her old man."  
    We reached the car. I circled to the passenger side, while Alyx moved immediately to the back.  
    "I guess that means I'm driving?" Obi said.
    "If we hit any trouble on the way, Alyx and I will need our brains free to take care of it."
    "I can't argue that." He opened the driver's side and got behind the wheel, hitting the starter and getting the engine going. It had a nice sound to it. "And trouble does seem to follow wherever you go."
    "Everybody wants a piece of the diuscrucis," I said. "We mainly have to worry about angels. They'll be able to track Alyx. The good news is that they don't usually want to get involved with her. Too much risk."
    Obi looked into the rear view, checking Alyx out again. "Hard to imagine," he said.  
    She responded by partially changing, her tiny hand elongating out into a massive claw.  
    "That makes it a little easier."
    He got us moving, the door to the garage opening as we neared it, and closing after we were through. I felt a sense of sadness to leave the place behind again. Every time I had ever visited, it had been for the wrong reasons. I should have stopped by more often.
    We were on the road for thirty minutes before anyone spoke. My mind spent the time cycling through every decision I had made since that day in the museum, when I had approached a pretty girl to ask her not to touch the ancient artifacts on display, and she had responded by blowing me to the afterlife. Every decision had so many possibilities, so many outcomes. What would have happened if I had done anything differently?  
    What would have happened if I had never taken up Dante's mantle at all?
    That was where I wound up stuck. What if I had never become the diuscrucis? Charis would have been forced to fight the Beast on her own. True, but would the Beast have ever gotten free in the first place? I had found Sarah, which had wound up leading Gervais back to her, which had led the Beast to her. I had given Rebecca an opening to steal the Holy Grail, which in turn had gotten her involved.  
    Was the world better off without me?  
    I had my chance after the Beast was gone. I could have joined Charis in the universe, but I didn't. I chose to stay because I thought it wouldn't be. That I was standing in the center, holding both good and evil aside so humanity could simply be. Was that truth or arrogance?
    "So, Landon," Obi said, breaking me out of my head. "You said you were in Hell a few days ago? What was that like?"
    I blinked a few times to bring myself back to reality.I looked out the window. We were on a small road in the middle of a green landscape. It felt good to be out in the open. I breathed in deep, taking in the moment. A moment was all the universe would