scowled at her. “Let’s not make it worse. The daggers must be destroyed. They are too dangerous for any of them…” He waved his hand toward all of us. “…to control.”
“That’s always been your strategy, hasn’t it, Jiro?” Eva sheathed her sword and planted her hands on her hips. “To destroy things. You’re just a big wrecking ball. You have no class.”
“I had no idea you two knew each other,” I told them.
“We do.” Jiro grimaced. “Unfortunately.”
Eva shot him a scathing look. “This wrecking ball is my husband.”
“And this conniving trollop is my wife.”
“Your marriage appears to be on the rocks,” Damiel told them.
Jiro shrugged. “We’ve had our differences of opinion.”
That was putting it mildly.
“But our marriage has lasted for over five thousand years, surviving the fall of the Immortals, and the rise of gods and demons,” said Eva. “How many couples can say the same?”
None of this made sense. It’s like a storm had slammed into the universe and shuffled the whole damn thing into complete disarray.
“My immortal daggers are gone!” Asteria charged at Eva, but her wolf planted itself between them. “Where are they?”
Eva clicked her tongue at the demon. “You didn’t look after them very well.”
“Mine are also gone,” my father said.
I checked too, and I didn’t have a single immortal dagger on me. Eva was a prolific thief, not to mention sneaky. I hadn’t even seen her take them. What order of magic was this?
“Magic way out of your league,” she told me.
Great, she could read my thoughts too.
“Only when you’re thinking.” Eva winked at me.
“Stop playing around.” Jiro was clearly not amused. “And just give me the daggers, Eva.”
“So you can destroy them?” Eva laughed. “I think not.”
“Then give them to me,” Asteria said. “With them, I can end this curse.” A very old-looking book was wedged under her arm.
Eva glanced at the book, then at Jiro. “She found the Art of Artifacts.”
Jiro shook his head. “That idiot Saeran just could not resist writing down every magical secret he knew.”
Damiel watched them closely, frowning.
I was less silent. “What the hell is going on here? Who are you two? Really?”
The earth shook again. More monsters popped out of the ground like poisonous mushrooms after a rain. Eva waved her hand and froze them in place too.
“If we’re going to do something, it has to be now,” Eva said to Jiro. “This world won’t be here much longer.” She opened her jacket to reveal sixteen immortal daggers. They were all strapped to the battle vest under her jacket, including the three I’d thought were still hidden away on a remote world.
“How did you find them?” I demanded.
Eva chuckled. “How else, Goldilocks? All the immortal daggers are connected. I used this to find them.” She tapped the dagger she’d stolen from Starfire. “Not that it was easy to retrieve them, mind you.” She swept her hand over the singe marks on her pants, presumably made by the beasts who lived on the world where I’d hidden the three daggers. “You should be proud, Cadence. If I hadn’t possessed the power of revival, I’d never have made it out of there. It does make one wonder how you ever planned to retrieve them.”
“So, you’re a phoenix too?”
Eva looked at Jiro. “You told them you’re a phoenix?”
“They assumed. Based on the fact that I revived after Damiel’s archangel trials.”
Damiel gave him an icy smile. “Just for the record, Jiro, I think you’re full of shit.”
Laughter exploded out of Eva’s mouth. “I almost regret that we never had the chance to get married, Damiel.”
Jiro rolled his eyes. “I’m sure.”
“What are you two really?” I asked them.
Eva and Jiro exchanged a long look. Silence descended on the battlefield, as though the whole world were waiting for the answer to that very question.
“We are the last two Keepers.” Jiro tapped his index finger to his head. “And this is the Library of Knowledge.”
So the Library of Knowledge, everything the Immortals ever knew, wasn’t a physical library of books. The information was inside the Keepers’ minds. Eva’s and Jiro’s minds. No wonder the two of them acted like they knew everything.
“Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t figure out who we are already,” said Eva. “Especially after the Opal Tear led you right to me. Jiro wasn’t here yet. That’s why the dagger offered you more than one location.” She flashed me a grin. “You picked the right one, of course. I’m much better company than Jiro.”
My father gazed upon them with cold disapproval. “Are you