Chapter 6
We had barely finished discussing the newest approach to our perimeter when the alarms started screaming.
Someone was on the property. Mom called Murtagh to tell him and get more shifters out there.
The sound clawed at my eardrums and sent the triplets into an agitated frenzy of kicks and magical sparks.
"More of Lyra's creatures?" Nina asked, jumping to her feet with defensive magic already crackling around her fingers.
I lifted a shoulder as I tried to heave myself out of my chair while Aidon moved toward the window.
His power was sharp as it spread outward to assess the threat.
I almost fell back into my seat when he stopped mid-stride.
His expression shifted from battle-ready to confused.
"It's a woman. She’s alone. And she's..." He paused, his brow furrowing. "She's terrified."
"Could be a trap," Hades said as he manifested beside his son, making my heart skip a beat.
I seriously hated it when he and Persephone did that.
Tendrils of liquid midnight coiled around his forearms like living serpents.
They hardened into jagged obsidian blades that gleamed with an oily, iridescent sheen.
"Lyra's proven she's creative with her attacks. "
Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the living room window. Through it, I caught sight of a figure stumbling up our driveway. Even from this distance, I could see she was injured. Her clothes were torn, and she moved with the uneven gait of someone running on pure adrenaline.
"She's not attacking," Mom observed, as she too studied the approaching woman. "Look at her body language. She's seeking help, not delivering threats."
The woman reached our front porch and collapsed against the door, her fist barely managing weak knocks.
They sounded more like pleas than demands.
Aidon was making his way to the door when a wave of emotion hit me so hard I nearly began bawling.
Terror, exhaustion, and desperate hope flooded through me with such intensity that I gasped aloud.
"Phoebe?" Aidon shifted direction and was beside me instantly. His hands closed on my shoulders. "What's wrong?"
"It’s not me. I can feel her," I whispered, pressing one hand to my chest where the emotions churned. "She’s terrified and in pain."
The woman's voice carried through the door. "Please. I know you're the ones fighting Lyra. I escaped from her laboratory. I have information you need." It was weak but clear.
Clio was moving toward the door when Hades blocked her path. His arm shot out in front of her. "We verify her story before anyone goes near her."
"She could be dying," Clio protested.
"She could be a weapon," Hades countered grimly. "Lyra's proven she can corrupt living beings. This could be an infiltration attempt."
Aidon cocked his head to the side like a dog listening to something. "She's not corrupted. Her magic feels clean. And old." He paused, something shifting in his expression. "There's divine essence in her bloodline. It’s faint, but there."
"Let her in," I said as I tried to move forward. The emotional connection was getting stronger. Underneath the terror and exhaustion, I sensed a bone-deep hatred that burned with the intensity of a star going supernova. It wasn't directed at us. It was focused entirely on Lyra.
"Absolutely not," Aidon said firmly. "You're not getting anywhere near a potential threat."
"She's not a threat," I insisted, though I couldn't explain how I knew. The emotional feedback was unlike anything I'd experienced before. It felt as real as my own feelings, but distinctly separate. "I can sense things about her. She wants to help us destroy Lyra."
Vera stepped forward with a thoughtful expression. "You’re not an empath. That shouldn’t be possible, even for Pleiades witches. Unless..." She trailed off, her eyes widening. "Unless she's of the bloodline."
My jaw dropped to my chest as I gaped at her. "You think she's got Pleiades blood?" I asked when I recovered.
"I don’t like this," Mom said slowly. “This could be a trick, but we should check her out. It’s the only way we will know.”
“I can’t believe two powerful gods of the Underworld are afraid to open the door to a frightened woman,” Nana observed as she headed for the door.
Another weak knock came from the door. "My name is Thalia. I was Lyra's prisoner for years. I know how she plans to break your children's defenses during the eclipse. Please." Her voice was stronger now, but edged with desperation.
Hades and Aidon exchanged a look that held entire conversations. Finally, Hades moved around Nana. "I will let her in, but she stays in the room with Aidon and me."
Hades opened the door with his obsidian weapons.
The woman stumbled inside and practically fell into him.
She was striking despite her obvious ordeal.
She had the kind of bone structure that suggested aristocratic bloodlines.
She had high cheekbones and eyes the color of storm clouds.
Her dark hair was matted with dirt and what looked like dried blood.
"Thank you," she gasped, sagging against the doorframe. "I wasn't sure I'd make it." Her relief was so profound it brought tears to my eyes. It was followed immediately by a wave of shame so intense I had to grip Mom’s arm to stay upright.
"Clio, she needs medical attention," I said, fighting through the borrowed emotions. "Something's wrong. She's ashamed of something, and it's eating her alive."
“She’s probably ashamed of being turned into a Trojan Horse,” Hades spat.
Thalia's head snapped up. She ignored the God of the Underworld, and her storm-gray eyes locked onto mine. "You can feel what I feel." The statement was directed at me.
"Apparently," I replied carefully. "Care to explain why?"
"I have no idea. I was Hattie's closest friend," she said simply. Her voice cracked as she spoke. "My parents sent me here to train with her. We learned the old ways side by side. She was like the sister I never had."
The room went silent except for the crackling of the fireplace. I felt like someone had just been told that up was actually sideways. "Hattie never mentioned having a friend named Thalia."
"Because she thought I was dead," Thalia said, accepting the chair Aidon grudgingly offered while keeping his shadows ready to strike.
"Lyra took me in 1987 because she thought I would inherit the power instead of my sister. She was disappointed when that didn’t happen, but she's been using me as a test subject ever since. She’s been perfecting the techniques she plans to use on your children. "
The shame I'd been feeling through our connection suddenly made sense. Survivor's guilt, mixed with the horror of what she'd endured. The emotional feedback was almost unbearable. I had to consciously block it out to think clearly.
"What did she do to you?" Mom asked in a gentle but firm voice.
Thalia's laugh was bitter. "Everything. She's been experimenting on captured magical beings for decades." She looked directly at me with haunted eyes.
Mom’s hand grabbed mine. “I’m familiar with Lyra's fondness for magical experimentation."
I nodded, my jaw clenching so hard I thought my teeth might crack.
"She tortured my mom before turning her from a witch into a tri-bred.
Shifter, vampire, and witch all mashed together.
She was trying to make some fucked-up supernatural smoothie.
Trust me, we know exactly what that psychotic bitch is capable of. "
"Then you understand the stakes," Thalia said, leaning closer. Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "She knows your children will be walking nuclear weapons in tiny human packages. And she's had decades to perfect her power-sucking techniques on prisoners like me."
Jean-Marc's expression darkened. "Power extraction methods," he repeated with a snarl.
His revulsion was written all over his face.
"You're talking about systematic torture, aren't you? Of babies. We’re talking physical pain, psychological manipulation, and emotional devastation of tiny beings that haven’t even taken their first breaths yet. "
"Give the man a gold star," Thalia said bitterly, her emotional signature flaring with waves of remembered agony that made my skin crawl. "She’s disgusting. But here's the thing. Spending all that time as her lab rat taught me her methods. I learned her weaknesses. I know how to stop the bitch."
Hades moved forward, and holy shit—the air itself seemed to compress around us like we'd been shoved into a trash compactor. My ears popped from the sudden pressure. Every instinct I had screamed that continuing to breathe was a privilege he could revoke at any second.
"And why the fuck should we trust you?" His voice carried the kind of cold authority that made hardened demons wet themselves.
"For all we know, you're another one of her pet projects. How do we know you aren’t some brainwashed sleeper agent programmed to cozy up to us before ripping our throats out? "
"Because of this," Thalia said, lifting her hand like she was about to conduct an orchestra.
Power poured from her fingertips in streams of silver-white light that spoke to the power in me.
The magic felt ancient. It was refined through the millennia.
It reminded me of a fine wine that had been aging since before humans figured out fire.
This was pure Pleiades magic. And it made everything I'd learned feel like finger painting in comparison.
The spell hit our existing wards. Instantly, we got a software upgrade.
Where her magic touched our protective barriers, they got stronger and smarter.
They became more complex. I watched in fascination as layers of defense wove themselves together.
It created something that would make even the cockiest supernatural asshole think twice about fucking with us.