Free Hour of Mischief by Aimee Hyndman Page B

twelve.
That
is why we rarely make pacts with humans.” She nodded to me. “As long as he remains connected to you, he retains his powers. But he needs you now more than he cares to admit.”
    I stared at her. “He’s actually . . . risking his status as a god to seek my help?”
    “Yes.” Laetatia glared at Itazura. “Which is an especially stupid decision considering our position. If he loses his power, we lose one of the twelve. Without one of the twelve, the clock cannot function properly. It means only fifty-five seconds in a minute, fifty-five minutes in an hour and twenty-two hours in a day. Complete chaos. Without the balance of the twelve we will be weakened and the elder gods are all the more likely to seize control of Memoria.”
    “Wow, he sounds incredibly stupid when you put it that way,” I said through gritted teeth. Itazura started whistling and wandered toward the private bar.
    “He does,” Laetatia agreed. “And I forgot to mention that if our enemies get wind of this pact, they will focus all of their energy on one thing.” She looked back at me. “Trying to kill you. Because you are now the key to crippling the gods.”
    I blinked, opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it again. My tongue had gone suddenly very dry as Laetatia’s words cycled through my head like a broken clock that wouldn’t stop chiming. I had known this would be dangerous. But not this dangerous. Not suicidal dangerous. That miserable bastard!
    After several long moments of silence, I held up a finger. “Can you give me one moment please?”
    Laetatia nodded. I stood, strode over to Itazura, who actually had the gall to pour himself a drink during this revelation, and punched him as hard as I could. With my left arm of course.
    His glass shattered as it hit the floor and he stumbled away from me. “Ow! Damn it all, little thief. Stop doing that!” he said.
    “No, I think she has every right,” Laetatia said. “You’ve made her the most wanted girl in the eight realms of Memoria.”
    “You son of a bitch,” I said. “You don’t think you could have warned me about that little detail before you made a pact with me? I already knew my life was in danger but
this
. This is . . . this is. . . .” I swayed on the spot as the alcohol started to take hold again. “Damn you,” I mumbled.
    Itazura caught me before I could face plant, but that didn’t make me loathe him any less. I continued to curse him as he dragged me back over to the couch and draped me over the soft, velvety surface. But the cushion beneath my cheek made sleep sound more inviting than any amount of damning.
    “You have to understand why I did this,” Itazura said in a low voice to Laetatia. “The human said it herself. Both of us need humans. We can’t just let this happen. And this whole ‘standing our ground’ plan might not work. I would have argued the point myself, but after Father and Mother forbid me from speaking about the apocalypse, I didn’t have a lot of choices”
    “Yes, clearly seeking the help of a human
child
was the next logical option.”
    “She’s more than a child Laetatia. Trust me. I think. . . .” Itazura paused. “I think she has a better chance of surviving the elder gods than others.”
    I wanted to ask what he meant but I didn’t have the energy. My head was about as clear as the tap water of the slums.
    “I don’t care how smart or talented you think she is. She’s still a human.”
    “Just get on my side, Lae. That’s all I need,” Itazura pleaded. “If a few of us spread the word then–”
    “One of us or several of us, it doesn’t matter. Mother and Father won’t be any less angry. And the uppity ones like Amontillado and Cheveyo won’t be pleased either.”
    “Does it matter what they think? The clock is ticking Laetatia. Even if what I said isn’t true, which it is, we have to think about our own domains. They aren’t affected like we are if the human realms are sent straight to