Murmurs envelop the entire area, and while I can't make out what everyone is saying, I'm willing to guess they are all exhibiting some sort of life-changing healing.

Thea is watching raptly, a wide smile on her lips. Her brother, on the other hand, looks entirely bored. Resting his chin on the back of his hand, he releases an annoyed sigh.

"What is this, Thea? What is happening?"

Panic swells in my breast, yet at the same time, I'm physically perfectly fine. How is this possible? Am I dreaming? Am I in an alternate reality? Or, worse, am I still in a coma? That must be it because otherwise how can this be real? How can someone be healed with the snap of a finger? How can ambrosia grow a leg?

I'm either going crazy or something seriously messed up is afoot here.

"Sometimes it takes seeing with your own eyes to believe something, doesn't it?" Thea smiles at me. "Inu and Inara are minor deities of mischief and gossip, respectively. Together, they have a bit more power, hence the hand holding. But they're not that powerful. The ambrosia healed you. They merely activated its effects," she notes glibly.

"What? You... Deities? You're messing with me."

I stare at her, my mouth hanging open in shock.

"Please tell me you're joking," I whisper.

"I'm not and you know it. You can feel it," she says as she grabs my left hand. "How else would this be real, Luce?"

"I'm going crazy," I mutter to myself. A mixture of calm and restlessness fights for supremacy within me. One side of me wants to accept this as truth—the evidence is right in front of me. But the other side—the skeptical one—would rather believe I'm going crazy than admit that this could be real.

I lived most of my childhood believing that a god controlled our homeland, only to find out it was a charlatan who only wanted to take advantage of people's worship. Back then, too, I believed the so-called miracles and his divine intervention. So how can I believe this now when I've been burned before? Yet the evidence...

There's no pain. That's all I can think about. There's absolutely no pain.

"You're not going crazy, Luce." Thea pats my thigh. "Just open your mind to the impossible."

The impossible... That there are gods among us. Gods who have the power to stop pain, heal wounds, and grow limbs.

There are gods among us. And I have never in my life been more confused.

Because if there are gods among us; if there are beings with powers—true powers—then nothing is impossible.

Not even death.

"This is our welcoming gift to you," Inara says. "But as we mentioned before, this is only for the duration of the game."

"Shall we explain more about the game, Ina?"

She nods.