Sell you a Bridge chapter 278 (Patreon)

June 12th 2016 The Nightside 8:00 AM EDT

We  headed home after the job and I went directly to sleep. Discussing  everything we'd learned was important, but it had been almost four AM  London time, even if we were still mostly running on east coast time  zones. We got home and I collapsed into bed and when I woke up the next  morning, I filled everyone in on the information we gathered. As usual,  we turned to Taylor, our resident expert on the Nightside, to give us an  update on what we were dealing with, but to our surprise, John was the  one who picked up the thread of conversation.

"The street  of gods huh?" He said wistfully. "Haven't been there in ages." He looked  to Taylor. "Hope you don't mind mate, but this is more my area of  expertise than yours. After all, you picked me up in the street of gods.  I know you avoid the place when at all possible. Too many things there  take your reputation personally." Taylor gave a casual shrug and John  raised an eyebrow at me. "Now, you said you saw a temple of some sort.  That doesn't narrow it down much. Maybe you can describe it? I know  quite a bit about the street of gods, I might be able to ID it."

I  had no trouble at all conjuring up the image. "It was small and run  down. Not damaged, but just worn. It was made of pitch black stone and  it looked like it was tucked away somewhere dark, literally overshadowed  by bigger buildings. I remember the street of gods listed on the train  platform, does that mean it isn't in the Nightside? The Griffin seemed  to think of it like it was part of the city itself, but you talk about  it like it's a separate thing."

John sighed. "The street  of gods isn't in the Nightside. It also is. It's a nexus of sorts, a  junction of space that technically exists in many places at the same  time. The street of gods is downtown, it's also in Shadow's Fall, and in  other dimensions, and on other planets probably. It's everywhere, and  nowhere. It's kind of hard to give a proper explanation for that place,  but suffice to say we can reach it from here without needing to take the  train, though we CAN'T reach it from London without hitching a ride."

That  sounded complicated. "Ok, but what is it? I assume a place for worship,  based on the whole 'of gods' thing. Is it just some kind of temple  city? I could tell from the Griffin's memories that the building Neron  is in WAS a temple, though not to Neron himself. It appears to be for  some other dark god that people have forgotten. It gave me a deeply  unsettling feeling, and a very old one. Regardless, does being in the  street of gods mean whatever that thing was dedicated to is still  around? Because if so we need to change up our plans."

"No,  not necessarily." He said with a sigh. "Plenty of the temples on the  street of gods are empty. Plenty of them aren't of course. But the  street isn't just for gods themselves, it's for their worshippers. You  can build a temple to anything on the street, and just by believing in  it there's a chance you can make it real. I suspect the Lamentation got  started that way. The saint of suffering is horrendously unpleasant and  incredibly immortal entity that captures the souls fed to it and  subjects them to eternal torment, and it's hardly the worst thing  there."

I subconsciously reached for my twenty two, just  checking that I was packing it because that thing was  going on my 'to  kill' list. John refocused on my earlier description. "Anyway, I do  recognize that description somewhat. I don't know exactly what it is,  but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere need the temple of the Seventh  Savior. I can find it if we get close so there's no worry about not  tracking it down. We won't even need Senior's gift. I can find it on my  own. I used to work the street of gods as a lad. I was a hell of a  pickpocket and general con artist."

Sindella cut in. We'd  all been listening to John talk this over, but the older woman wasn't  having any of this nonsense anymore. "Information we will still have  tomorrow. Last night was a dangerous and extremely difficult task. We  all need to decompress and recover a bit. I can't delay you too long and  I know it, but if you children want to do this without at least a day  of rest it'll be over my once again cold dead body. A single day won't  be enough, but I insist you at least give yourself some time to recover  from the actual exertion."

I think everyone expected me to  argue, because they all looked at me as the defacto leader, but I just  gave a wan smile. "A day is fine. I have some things I wanted to do  before we head out there anyway. Once that's up though, I have to ask.  Is everyone still willing to come with us? Gods and demons are a bit  more than we banked on when we came out here. If anyone wants to back  out I wouldn't blame them in the least."

Wally snorted.  "Please, like you would survive without us. I don't feel like listening  to Arty harangue me for the rest of our lives together because I let her  stupid thug of a brother get himself killed. You're stuck with us, or  with me at least, and I know my lady well enough to expect that she'll  probably punch you in the dick next time you aren't looking for even  daring to ask something like that." He shot her a proud smile. "Assuming  I can speak for both of us on this babe?"

Artemis hurled  herself at Wally, kissing him fiercely before pulling away, leaving her  redheaded boyfriend staring blankly in shocked awe. She shot me a wide  smile. "He DOES speak for both of us, and expect that punch the second  you give me an opening."I stuck my tongue out at her, feeling my heart  warm at the support. I also felt a burst of affirmation from my bond  with the girls, and they both shot me fierce smiles to show that they  were in this too.

John, shockingly, just shrugged and  said. "Well, I might as well. I'll be needed on the street of gods, and  you lot certainly seem like you could use the help." Tommy affirmed his  involvement, Sindella looked like she was on the edge of rolling her  eyes at us for even asking, and Taylor wasn't about to leave her alone.  Even Suzie was onboard, which wasn't surprising since I doubted the tall  blonde would let her boyfriend run off with his gorgeous childhood  crush without trying to cut in.

I smiled at them all  gratefully. "I appreciate that guys. In that case, like Sindella said,  take the day. I have a feeling this isn't going to be anything as simple  as we've managed so far. Moon bases, heists, hell, even the invasion  probably wasn't as bad as this will get. Spend your time together.  Gather your wits and prepare anything you need. Neron is the kind of  threat that we have no guarantee of beating or even surviving. If any of  you change your mind I won't hold it against you." I turned to the  girls. "I want to spend the day together if you're up for it, though  Zee, if you want to spend part of it with Sindella I'd understand.  Before that though, I have to make a call."

They could  sense the trepidation in me through the bond, so both of them just gave  me encouraging smiles. I thanked everyone again, and then got up and  headed to the bedroom we were using at Julian's place. I sat down on the  bed, pulled out my phone, and unlocked it. Instead of opening my email  though, I opened my contacts and picked one of the first numbers. It  rang twice before it picked up. "Morgan? Is that you honey? It's so nice  to hear from you, I've been worried sick. Rana swears you've been ok,  but you haven't called in a week or two. How are things there?"

The  worried voice of my mother flooded out of the phone, and I smiled.  Despite being independent as hell and doing my own thing most of the  time, the thing I regretted most in my life was having hurt my mom. My  disappearance for five years had broken her heart, even though she tried  to hide it, and she was still extra clingy and worried even if she  tried to tamp it down. My aura sight didn't lie, and it killed me  knowing how much the danger I was always in bothered her.

I  pasted a smile on my face even though she wasn't there to see it,  hoping it would come out in my voice. "Hey ma, I'm fine. Was just  checking in. Sorry I haven't called. This place is wild and we got  distracted, but everyone is ok and we're actually having a pretty good  time between the searching. So much had happened since we got here, I  can't wait to tell you all about it. How are things back home? Are Rana  and Tina being good? They haven't dragged poor Cassie into anything too  crazy have they?"

Mom laughed.  "A bit to start with, but I've got them straightened out. Rana is a  sweet girl, and she and Hana get along so well. Tina is quiet most of  the time, but I think she likes being around the baby too. Hana adores  her, and she seems to like the positive attention. The three of them  spend most of their time here when Cassie isn't off doing those nonsense  missions, and the other two are here even then. I think Rana likes  spending time with Hana and I because it reminds her of you." Her voice  turned stern. "You should call your daughter, Morgan. I know it was  dangerous out there, and as a parent yourself I didn't gainsay your  decision to leave her. But she isn't taking it well."

"I  know." I sighed. "I've been meaning to, but I haven't really been able  to find the time. I'll call her after we talk. With that said, I called  to talk to you, so tell me how things have been going. I want to hear  all about how Hana has been. She learn any new words? Catch me up on the  family dish." She chuckled at my absurd phrasing, knowing I was using  the over the top enthusiasm to forcibly change the topic, but willing to  let me do it because she loved me and didn't want to push.

She  started talking about my sister, throwing in more news about my  daughter and her friends as we chatted, and just generally gushing about  life. Apparently she'd talked Gojo into a salsa class, and he was  weirdly gifted at the dancing style. All the other women in the class  were jealous she had such a talented partner, and I grinned widely as I  heard the happiness in her voice as she described her marriage in such  an upbeat way. My mom deserved to be happy, and slightly annoying troll  or not Gojo adored her.

We  talked for an hour before I finally decided to cut things off. "Alright  ma, I've gotta bounce. I just called to check in and see how things  were, I'll try to get in touch again soon." I hesitated. I'd called this  time because I wasn't sure exactly how this next operation would go.  There was a non zero chance I could die, even with the protections and  abilities I had. In the end I couldn't resist saying one last thing to  my mother just in case. "I love you ok? I've always been grateful to  have a mother like you, even if I'm a selfish dick who doesn't show it  because I'm always running around. Take care of the family ok?" She told  me she loved me back, sounding worried by my tone, but I convinced her  it was nothing. I was still getting better at lying every day.