“GET UP, SIK.” THAT SOUNDED LIKE BELET. “IT’S NOT OVER.”

A boot nudged my ribs. Definitely Belet.

“Leave me alone. This cold, wet pavement is sooo cozy. I am just going to lie here for a while longer.”

“Sik…”

“Okay, fine. I’m getting up.” I groaned as I slowly moved into a sitting position. “But this had better be worth it.”

Rain poured down, my clothes were in shreds, and my flesh was one big purple bruise, clear signs that I was still in the real world. I winced as I got up. “How far did I fall?”

“About six thousand feet.” Then she pointed to the adjacent tower. “But you did bounce off that a couple of times on the way down.”

That explained the big crack in the asphalt under me and why my skeletal structure felt…rearranged.

“Well, you know what they say,” I said. “Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”

She helped me up, but Belet looked grim, cradling the arm she’d torn when we’d crashed through the windows. “Get ready to fight.”

I looked around. “Everybody?”

Poxies filled Seventh Avenue as far as the eye could see, and more were spilling out from the side streets. They were beyond monstrous now, some unable to retain a single shape but melting and re-forming with every step. Through sheets of rain, I saw the suffering in their pain-crazed eyes.

Yes, it was clear now: Mo’s Promise hadn’t worked. Daoud had diluted it too much. So much for all my hopes.

I stepped next to Belet, wishing I had my wok. “What are they waiting for?”

The reply came from above. “Me.”

Nergal beat his wings to land on the roof of a parked van. It sagged as he settled his weight on it.

Now that he was closer, I could see that his wings smoldered. One was torn, and the feathers were singed. Parts of his body smoked, too, the skin black and peeling under his molten golden armor. But none of that mattered. He still topped ten feet and radiated supernatural strength. The poxies were not here to fight but to witness his ultimate victory.

Belet readied Kasusu.

“Be joyful, Niece,” he said. “I am about to send you to your mother.”

“Those you kill with words live longest,” said Belet.

Nergal shrugged. He spread out his wings and stepped off the van.

Only to fall flat on his face. Hard.

Even I winced. “God or not, that had to hurt.”

He stood up and wiped his bleeding nose. “That’s impossible. Gods cannot bleed.”

His feathers wilted and started to molt. They dropped in sodden clumps as he flapped his wings, trying to rise. Nergal beat his metal breastplate. “I ate the flower of immortality! Why am I not healing?” He gasped as he gazed at his hands.

The skin began wrinkling. It was weird to watch his smooth, muscular flesh age, turn a jaundiced yellow, and start shriveling on the bone. His muscle faded, and Nergal bowed as his bones weakened. He sank to his knees as the last of his feathers fell and the wing structures sagged.

The poxies changed before our eyes, too. Their deformities shrank away. The boils, the sores, the putrid growths just melted back into healthy full flesh. Crooked bones straightened. Yellow fangs retreated into gums, leaving straight, normal-size white teeth. The monsters growing out of their bodies were washed away by the rain.

We both turned at the loud clang. Nergal sat in a puddle, breathing weakly, his breastplate discarded in front of him. His chest was concave, and mere skin sagged over a bony rib cage. “I’m…I’m dying. But how?”

I realized the truth as I said it. “Immortality is a sickness.” I gazed up at the clouds, and the raindrops infused with Mo’s Promise. “You’ve been cured.”

Belet walked up to Nergal and pressed the tip of Kasusu under his chin. The withered god looked up at her with pleading eyes. “Help me, Niece. Help me, and together we’ll rescue Ishtar.”

“No, Uncle. I can do that by myself.”

He laughed. It wasn’t much of a noise, just a brittle croaking. “Please, sweet girl. Let me have just one more minute. A few seconds more.”

All those thousands upon thousands of years he’d had, and it still wasn’t enough. He’d never had to contemplate death before, and fear was overwhelming him.

Belet drew back Kasusu, but she didn’t strike. She didn’t have to.

Nergal opened his mouth and sighed. A fly crept out from the depths of his throat as his eyes glazed over. Another fly buzzed out. And another, and more. The swarm enveloped the body of the plague god in an opaque cloud, its buzzing reaching an ear-piercing whine. Then it flew away, dispersing over the crowd and into the sky. No trace of Nergal remained except for a few scattered feathers.