Free Blood Finale (God Wars #5) by Connie Suttle

together?"
    "That is none of your concern. Come, let me help you up. I will accompany you to the dining hall."
    "Kifirin's gone."
    "I know. Nefrigar holds his Thifilathi in the Archives. With the Three."
    * * *
    Fresno—past
    Trajan's journal
    Hank told me to stay put. I'd stayed put while Lissa, Kiarra, Adam and Merrill were almost destroyed. I now saw the complete wisdom in selecting Karzac as Ko'Ahmari. He'd reconstructed what had nearly been obliterated by the General. A lot of power had been collected on the edge of Baetrah, but the General had swept it away with little effort. That terrified me.
    How could we combat something that powerful? What the hell was the General, anyway? I had a feeling Breanne had seen what he was; she'd just never explained it. Perhaps it was too frightening for any of us to know.
    Hank? I called out.
    Trajan?
    When you feel up to it, I'd like to talk.
    I'll be there in a few days , he promised.
    Good enough , I replied.
    "Traje?" Bill set a sheet of paper in front of me. I'd chosen to do my ruminations during a coffee break on a warm Fresno morning at the compound.
    "What's this?" I lifted the paper to study it while I sipped coffee. Keeping it hot was child's play, nowadays. All I had to do was think it hot.
    "The list of dates for the arena and convention center rentals," Bill replied. "They're hitting twenty out of the fifty states, and Joey is wondering if maybe this isn't the end of it—that they might go global with this before it's over."
    "You think they've abandoned the church idea in favor of larger venues?" I asked, handing the sheet back to Bill. I'd already committed the information to memory. I didn't need a physical reminder, now.
    "I don't know. What if this is just a ruse? Maybe they want us to find this, so we'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Bill shook his head and crumpled the paper in his fist. "Face it, money means nothing to those in charge, but that's our first gut reaction—to follow the money. Speaking of money, we're supposed to meet with the Romes' lawyer tomorrow. Do you think Lissa will make it back?"
    "She'll be here, even if she has to bend time," I said. "The others, too. Karzac says they're just weak—their bodies are fine."
    I didn't say what I was thinking, though. That the General had shown up once already. What if he decided to visit a lawyer's office in Los Angeles, too?
    * * *
    Campiaa—present
    Tybus' Journal
    "Reah, please don't make yourself ill with worry." I took the lounge chair beside hers on the patio behind San Gerxon Palace. The pool was a transparent blue before us, and I heard clearly as a stray leaf dropped with a tiny plip onto the water's surface.
    "Have you ever noticed how we ignore the breeze most of the time—as it blows through the trees or ruffles the grass?" Reah turned lovely, green eyes to me and blinked.
    "True," I agreed. "Generally we are focused on other things, so the winds are of no consequence."
    "Until they become strong enough to destroy buildings," she said. "How strong do you think the General is?"
    That question concerned me—just as it did all the others who'd received power recently. None of us knew. I imagined that Li'Neruh Rath, whom Breanne referred to as Hank, didn't know either.
    "I cannot answer that, as I cannot make even an educated estimate," I replied as evenly as I could. "We cannot focus our worries there—we must focus on what we can accomplish instead. I feel Rezil Foculis has been sent already, and if my guess is correct, he may be accompanied by at least one Sirenali."
    "I think that as well, since we can't Look to find him anywhere," Reah nodded. "It only takes a day to get here from Du'Ferias, by traditional means. They may not bother to travel that way."
    "Yes, I have considered that," I agreed. "They may already be here, although I have all my forces on alert. With a Sirenali, they may have been seen and obsessions may have been placed to ignore that, or to assist them,