Prepotente was wearing the memorial crystal like a necklace inside his robes, and he reverently pulled it free. He hesitantly pulled it over his head, temporarily getting it stuck in a curved horn, and handed it to me. “I am not giving this to you, Carl. But you may observe it.”

I gently grasped it. It was warm to the touch, and it wasa lot heavier than it looked. The small glowing gem occasionally changed color, but right now it gently pulsed amber, just like a regular soul gem. The thing wasn’t even as big as the one that had been turned into Carl’s Doomsday Scenario.

Memorial Crystal. Apito.

This item is 0% charged.

That was it.

The necklace was set in silver and hung from a simple chain that had a few goat hairs stuck to it. “One is supposed to attach it to jewelry or a weapon, and it supposedly charges up when you kill things, similar to your patch,” Prepotente said. “Osvaldo wore it upon his person, but it didn’t work. He then kept it in his inventory, and it did nothing, not working as intended. And then, near the end of Faction Wars, it activated on its own, shining a dangerously bright light into the sky. It still never charged. It is supposed to charge, and when it is full, one can extract the spells and skills and knowledge hidden within it. But charging it does not work. Apito herself is not dead, at least as far as we know, so this crystal should not exist.”

“I remember when it shone up into the sky,” I said. “It had happened right when Yarilo stepped out of the Nothing.”

We had used the Gate of the Feral Gods to teleport to Architect Houston’s castle. We were hoping one of the demons would appear to attack Samantha, but instead, the banished god of lust appeared.

According to the legend, Yarilo—who was the child of Taranis—had been banished to the Nothing by Apito, who was both his grandmother and stepmother. He’d been banished there because he had been the one to break the peace of her Butcher’s Masquerade spell by sexually assaulting the familiar of another guest.

And as we knew all too well, when a feral god was released from the Nothing, there was a good chance another god would appear to deal with it. None of that mattered now with the Nothing destroyed, but there was a chance that Apito herself should have appeared when Yarilo broke out. She hadn’t emerged, but the memorial crystal had activated.

My Scavenger’s Daughter patch had also activated, but much like the moment with Lucia Mar, it hadn’t worked properly.

“So,” I said, turning the item over in my hand, “Osvaldo has a quest from his deity to find out why these things aren’t working. He has a second crystal that’s also not charging.”

“He has two?” Prepotente asked. “Curious. I guess that’s why he rightfully handed this one over to its proper owner.”

“He said you were mean to him when he gave it to you,” Donut said.

Prepotente scoffed. “Would you be kind to a thief just because he has had a change of heart? The crime had still been committed.”

“Remember what we talked about?” Donut asked. “How do you think your mother would’ve acted in that situation? What would she have called you?”

Prepotente looked down at the floor.

“Well?” Donut demanded.

He spoke with a very small voice. “She would’ve said I wasn’t being a good boy. She would’ve called me a little stinky butt.”

I exchanged a look with Imani as Elle raised an eyebrow.

“Anyway,” I said, “what is your quest with this thing? Mine is to find out who murdered Emberus’s son, Geyrun. We know Samantha was there when someone was hired to do it, but her memory is a little spotty. And we know that one of those four sons of Sheol was possibly involved. One of them, Amayon, claims to know who did it.”

I had a sudden strange pang from missing Katia dearly. I was keeping track of all the gods and goddesses in my scratch pad, attempting to create a proper family tree. She would’ve had all this shit figured out already.

I continued. “I do think this mystery is important to solve. Even if I didn’t have the quest, I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is the key to unraveling all of this, including all the stuff Rosetta just explained with the Scavenger. Even the AI itself wants me to figure it out.” I gave an involuntary shudder, remembering that moment when the AI, having taken control of the Emberus priest, had sucked on my toe. “I have a suspicion the AI doesn’t actually know what happened, either. I’m starting to form a very loose theory, but I don’t have nearly enough information.”

I held up the memorial crystal. “When we first heard of this thing, it was in the High Elf Castle. The description said the castle had something that helped protect them against Scolopendra’s attack, and it was required if one wanted to survive the final battle. It’s all tied in. The fact Scolopendra is siblings with Apito, possibly two parts of the same entity, is interesting.”

Prepotente straightened. “My quest arrived just at the beginning of the Butcher’s Masquerade. The Epicure told me it was crucial for me to obtain the crystal. And when it was stolen from me, he sent me multiple sobbing tirades about how I was a terrible adherent.”

“Tell me more about your god. I know nothing about it except the information from the patch.”

The Epicure patch on my jacket protected me from vampires and werewolves.

“The Midnight Epicure protects all prey animals by destroying all existence after unleashing all the consumed back into the galaxy,” he said. “They who were eaten will become the devourers. It is an apocalyptic form. I first learned of the god during a taping of Plenty of Plenty when one of the participants told me about it. It was originally designed as a xenophobic tale to scare non-caprid children, to warn them of the caprid race when they first started integrating into Syndicate culture. It grew into a symbol of hope and comfort for my kind. My sponsors gave me the ability to worship him in a benefactor box, and I obliged.”

“And the quest itself?” I asked.

“It says for me to hold on to the crystal, and I will know when to use it.”

“Is he sponsored this season?”

“No, I do not believe so.”

Prepotente reached out, wanting the necklace back. I handed it to him.

I had not received an update from Emberus while I was holding the crystal. I smiled at Rosetta. “I think you were right. No god updates while we are in here.”

“Nor did I receive a message when I took the necklace off,” Prepotente said. “As long as it’s back on my neck by the time I leave, I believe we are indeed safe.”

She nodded. “Good.”

The door to the stables burst open. It was Samantha. “There you are! Why are you all in here? Is it because of the sexy piggy?” She floated in. “Ohhh, it’s very stinky in here.”

She did not have Grigori with her.

“Samantha, what did you do with the fleshmancer?”

“I don’t like that guy, Carl. I don’t think he’s properly qualified. He didn’t even gasp when he entered Sam Town. You’re supposed to gasp when you see luxury. He’s talking to Jamal about his legs. What are you talking about in here?”

Imani stood. “Time to leave. Florin needs us out there.”

“We’re doing the planning thing,” Donut said. “Come on, Mongo. Say goodbye to your friends.”

Samantha looked about the room suspiciously. “Ooohh, I get it. You’re doing that thing where you’re being all secret about the plan and not telling anybody because if people know about it ahead of time, then it fails, but if you keep it a big secret before it happens, then you know it works. I’m doing that, too.”

“Wait, what are you planning?” I asked. “Samantha, you don’t plan anything.”

“It can’t be stupider than what Carl is doing,” Donut muttered.

“Oooh, now I really want to know,” Samantha said. She floated over to Penelope and grasped the pig’s tail with her mouth and then let it go. “Boing!” she said. Penelope squealed and rushed across the room, causing both Gonk and Simoom to shift and grunt. Samantha turned to Donut. “Show me yours, and I’ll show you mine.”

Donut scoffed. “Carl has a stupid plan where he’s going to leave the party and try this really idiotic thing to get a bunch of immortals who hate each other on a floor where they can’t die at the same time and then get them to kill each other anyway. But what he’s really doing is planning an elaborate suicide that’s probably going to get all of us killed also, and since he’s not going to be in a party with me anymore, he’s going to die sad and alone, wishing I was there with him, because he doesn’t trust my Cockroach skill.”

Samantha brightened. “That’s just like my plan, too!”