I came to with Brad and Shadow kneeling in front of me. Mercy had disappeared.

“What happened?”

“You were stupid,” Brad scowled. Shadow nodded his agreement.

“What?”

“You accused us of not taking the training seriously but you, Godkiller, just got whooped by three humans.”

“I was taking--”

Shadow put his hand on my mouth, shaking his head.

He made motions with his hands, Brad translated, “You didn’t use your full speed. You didn’t believe that we would kill you, even though you were afraid when we trained our guns on you.”

“I-I,” the defense mechanism hadn’t kicked in. I tried to think what the difference was. “I hadn’t felt threatened.” The thought led to another, “You know how people have a fight or flight reflex--I don’t think Worshippers have a flight reflex.”

Brad and Shadow exchanged looks, “Well that makes sense, Worshippers are designed to fight for the gods, it would make sense to suppress fear.”

Suppress fear? I didn’t think that was right; I certainly didn’t feel fearless.

Shadow signed and Brad translated, “He says you need to learn to control it. It can only be an asset if you can control it.”

That night, Toni made the announcement that we were heading to Orlando in the morning.

Which we did, piling into a van like a start-up band going on tour. Going to Miami, we had talked and laughed, even if it was strained with the possibility of dying soon. Now Toni’s comments from the other night kept everyone’s mouths shut.

I could only be grateful that the drive was less than three hours.

Orlando wasn’t as obviously affected as Miami. Cars still filled the roads. The mini-mall parking lots that seemed to be on every corner were full; people consoling themselves with retail therapy and buyer’s remorse. I watched them with envy; has it really been that long since I enjoyed a stroll through the mall, bought some shirt or dress I didn’t need. Shoes! I really loved shoes. I used to wear heels every time I went out. With Nathan. The Prince.

“Hey, Earth to Emma,” Heala poked me, “We’re almost there.”

"There" being downtown Orlando. Downtowns were the same everywhere; tall skyscrapers, nothing but windows going all the way up, reflecting daylight like a thousand little suns.

Toni decided that the reason Miami’s plan didn’t work was because gods could smell a Worshipper. Better have the humans make the surprise attack. There were plenty of people around so Brad, Shadow and Mercy could easily blend in.

The rest of us parked. Heala had the brilliant idea to ask if anyone had seen Jester, the Clown’s Worshipper.

“That’s what all the traffic detours are, he’s probably at his usual coffee shop,” a woman in a tight pencil skirt and blouse said.

“Dunkin Donuts on South Orange, he likes the girls behind the counter, poor girls,” her companion shook his head.

We exchanged looks and thanked them. Heala texted the information to Brad; we continued on foot. Unfortunately this gave us a lot of unwanted attention. For one, Toni had to wear a trench coat to look normal--in the Florida heat. Second, even with the trench coat she looked…off.

Once we were in the abandoned streets, Toni took off the trench coat. Of course abandoned streets also killed Brad, Shadow and Mercy’s covers. The businesses were still open though. We saw shopkeepers waiting behind registers, hoping Jester didn’t decide to go shopping.

People were still in the Dunkin Donuts, like hostages in a bank robbery they kept their heads down and eyes averted. The Jester was easy to spot, sitting by a window talking to one of the employees. She smiled, though I could see her fear from here.

“So how do we do this without killing them?” Lightning asked thrusting his chin to indicate the people in the shop.

“We call him out,” Toni walked to the door.

Lightning and Heala exchanged glances. Whether real or just bravado, Toni walked without hesitation into the coffee shop. Seeing she was another Worshipper, people plastered themselves even closer to the windows. Jester looked up and smiled at her, then looked out the window and tipped one of his bells to us.

“We should go in too,” Lightning moved forward.

“No, we don’t want to start any more of a panic than we already have, let Toni bring him out here,” I said.

The Jester looked like a man in a clown costume, his clothes patches of dark green, blue and white. His face white with black ringed eyes and rosy cheeks. I wanted to believe it was paint but I knew it wasn’t .

As Toni talked the smile left his face. He rose and the jingle from the bells on his curled shoes could be heard outside. Suddenly I knew what he was about to do. I didn’t question my instinct, didn’t wonder how I knew; I just ran.

He did a little tap step and the ringing from the bells, so loud that it broke over us in waves, shattered glass and most of the people’s eardrums. I stopped in my tracks from the sound blast.

Screams filled the air. Toni lay unmoving on the ground, the sound couldn’t have reacted well with her metal body. The Jester laughed, continuing his little jig though the sound produced wasn’t as lethal.

I looked behind me, Lightning was down but Heala remained rigid, her face a mask of rage. Good, maybe she’ll be some help this time.

Lights flickered, I could feel the electricity through the power lines beneath my feet. Uh oh, she wasn’t going to…

I turned directions, she was about to electrocute everyone inside the coffee shop. “Stop, Heala, stop.”

Maybe some god was looking out for us. Jester walked out of the Dunkin Donuts and Heala electrocuted him and him alone.

He screamed, but it turned into laughter, “You can’t kill me. The joke’s on you.” He threw back his head and stomped his feet, all five bells, three on his hat and one on each foot, rang. I heard my ears pop but I didn’t feel the pain nor the blood start flowing. As fast as I healed, my ears burst again.

Yet I didn’t feel pain only a pressure on my body to move backwards. Was this really what it meant to have no pain?

I moved, trying to achieve my full speed. I managed to move forward. People were passed out; Heala had given in too. If I didn’t move quicker they would all die.

Suddenly I was behind him.

“Huh,” was all he said before I ripped his hat off his head. But it wasn’t his hat, it was his head.

I saw the blood and brains my action revealed and screamed. Oh God, what did I do? The noise stopped, his eyes rolled up in his head and slowly, so slowly, he sank to the ground. I stared at his corpse, seeing nothing but red. I couldn’t breathe.

“Emma? Emma.” I don’t know who took me by my shoulders, who took the scalp out of my hands, who led me away from what I’ve done.

“Oh for the love of…snap out of it,” my head whipped to the side as someone slapped me.

I slowly focused on Toni standing in front of me.

“Finally! Everyone’s down, if the Clown shows up, we’re dead, we have to get everyone back to the car and get out of here.”

It took a long time for her words to sink in. She didn't wait, she walked away. I watched as she lifted Heala on one shoulder and Lightning on the other. Ambulances drove past me, swerving to miss me. Toni walked past me, “They’ll take care of the others,” she indicated the paramedics getting out of the ambulances, “I mean the others.” I finally understood she meant Brad, Shadow and Mercy. The humans won’t rat them out for having weapons, and they weren’t seen with us. They’ll be safest with the paramedics. “But you have to move your butt. Move” She yelled at me.

Obey, I could do that.

We didn’t get very far. A clown got in our way. Bright colored, red nosed and big shoed; he looked like the evil clown from Twisted Metal.

“The Prince’s traitor!”

Toni dropped her luggage, “We’re screwed.”

The Clown didn’t waste his breath on talking; he sprang at me. I mean literally, he had springs on his feet. Toni pierced him with ten spikes, well she would have if he didn’t spring over my head and they missed.

My mind was still mostly mush. I couldn’t think straight long enough to evade him as he landed behind me.

“Stop.”

The voice could have frozen rushing rapids. It froze me in terror.