Chapter 24 Attack
ATTACK
MONA
Her heart was breaking, but Mona continued to work.
Ignoring the shattered remains of her soul, she busied herself by making preparations with the fire witches.
They had hoped to wait for the Gorgon sisters to return before tracking down the Titans, but there had been no word from them.
Farah hadn’t admitted her concerns, but it was clear in the tight draw of her eyebrows and the dip of her frown as she worked.
She was worried.
Mona didn’t know the Gorgon sisters as well as Farah did, but she was worried, too. Together, their powers were supposed to be unparalleled. Unmatched. Unrivaled. Mona had heard the tale of how the Gorgons had defeated Neptune, one of the strongest deities of all.
If something had happened to the Gorgons, then Mona feared the realm had no chance at all.
Her fingers trembled as she tied off poultices and prepared vials of elixir. She filled canteens and wrapped bedrolls for the journey.
But in her mind, all she saw was Evander’s broken expression when she told him she would not be coming with him.
Mona paused before corking another vial, her fingers shaking so violently that she couldn’t continue. Her chest shuddered with a rattling breath, and her eyes burned hot.
What if I’ve made a terrible mistake? she wondered.
What if Evander died… because she hadn’t been there to help him?
She shook her head roughly and took a slow, steadying breath. She had made the right decision. If she had gone with him, she would have been fretting over Prue and Cyrus and the battle with the Titans. She would have worried over the fate of the fire witches.
If she had returned to the Underworld, she would have been abandoning her fellow witches. And she never would have been able to live with herself.
“Where do you suppose they are?” a voice asked.
Mona looked up to find Wren sitting a few paces away, grinding willow leaves for a healing elixir.
“Who?” Mona asked, distracted. She had to set the cork down to wipe the sweat from her palms before trying again.
“The Titans. Where do you think they are hiding?”
Mona considered this. When she wasn’t thinking of Evander, her mind was whirring with possibilities. Where would the remaining Titans go? From what she had read, they were exceptionally powerful—even more powerful than Apollo and the kings who had come before him.
Hiding didn’t seem like something they would do.
“I think they are planning something,” Mona said softly. “Something big. And if we don’t find them soon, they will strike us with a blow powerful enough to destroy everything we’ve ever known.”
Wren was silent for a moment. Then, she chuckled. “Wow. You’re so good at keeping my spirits up, Mona.”
Mona sighed. “I’m sorry. My mind is scrambled right now.”
Wren nodded sympathetically. “Evander will be all right. He’s endured far worse.”
“I know,” Mona said, although she wasn’t reassured. She caught Wren glancing toward the entrance tunnel, her eyes full of worry.
Mona wanted to say something to comfort her, but the words were lost to her. How could Mona offer hope when it seemed there was none?
Wren suddenly uttered a sharp gasp and jumped to her feet. Her hand pressed to her chest, her eyes wide as she murmured, “By the Goddess!”
Several other witches were on their feet as well. Mona followed suit, frowning as she glanced around the cavern. “What’s going on?”
Without responding, Wren took off toward the entrance tunnel.
That was when Mona sensed it. A swell of heat coiled around her, tickling her skin and awakening her magic. She drew in a breath, inhaling the familiar scent of ashes and woodsmoke.
Only once had she smelled this before: in the Voiceless Jungle when she had met the Gorgon sisters.
Relief spread through her, warming her body and numbing the pain of Evander’s departure. The Gorgons were here. This was exactly the joyous news she needed right now.
A scream pierced the air, echoing in the cavern and bouncing off the walls. Mona froze at that sound, her blood chilling. A crowd of witches stood by the entrance tunnel. One of them was on her knees, sobbing.
Mona’s heart dropped to her stomach.
Hurried footsteps sounded behind her. Mona turned to find Prue gasping for breath as she made her way toward the crowd, her tunic rumpled and her hair disheveled. “What’s happened? I sensed something powerful nearby. Is everyone okay?”
Mona’s mouth was so dry she couldn’t respond. Her eyes were pinned to the commotion at the entrance. She couldn’t bring herself to move closer to see what had happened.
She dreaded what she would find.
“Mona?” Prue asked, her voice tinged with worry. She grasped Mona’s wrist.
A tense moment passed. Mona’s eyes were glued to the witches, who were murmuring to one another in hushed voices. Several of them were weeping openly.
Prue laced her fingers through Mona’s. “Come on.” She tugged on Mona’s arm, drawing her forward. Mona’s feet shuffled of their own accord, bringing some awareness into her cold body.
A rush of appreciation filled her as Prue guided her forward. Mona wasn’t sure what she would do without her sister. Prue seemed to sense Mona was in no state to make decisions or give explanations. She needed action to snap her out of her haze.
Prue always knew exactly what she needed.
As they approached the crowd, Mona made out words that made her shiver.
Killed.
Dead.
Slaughtered.
“This means war,” whispered a witch.
“What can we do?” said another. “She is dead. The Gorgons cannot help us now.”
Slowly, Prue and Mona weaved through the crowd, making their way to the mouth of the cave. There sat four figures, bruised and blood-stained. Mona immediately recognized them: the three Gorgon sisters and Romanos, Evander’s brother.
Except… something was wrong. One of the sisters—Lilith, if Mona could recall correctly—was lying on Marina’s lap, her eyes closed. Her chest wasn’t moving, and her face was deathly pale.
Oh no, Mona thought, feeling sick with dread. No, no, no.
Marina was sobbing, hunched over as she smoothed Lilith’s hair away from her face. On one side was Romanos, his arm around Marina and his head on her shoulder. He was bleeding from a deep gash above his eyebrow.
On Marina’s other side was the third sister, Vivian.
She was staring with wide eyes at the ground, unseeing and unresponsive.
Wren moved toward her and sank to her knees.
Without a word, the two women embraced one another.
Wren’s arms wrapped around her, holding her close.
She stroked her hair, whispering, “I’ve got you, my darling.
I’ve got you.” Vivian’s shoulders shook as she, too, began to sob.
That’s who Wren was so worried about, Mona realized, her chest aching at the sight of the two witches.
Prue’s fingers tightened around Mona’s as she, too, took in the scene before them. Neither of them said a word. The air was potent with grief and despair.
Nothing could be said. Because it was clear that Lilith, a Gorgon sister, someone who was meant to be powerful and unstoppable, was dead.
Romanos’s eyes fixed on Mona, and he straightened. “Mona,” he said.
She went to his side, taking Prue with her. Together, they crouched next to him, and Mona took his free hand in hers and squeezed it. “What happened?” she asked gently. Marina and Vivian were too consumed with grief to speak, but perhaps Romanos could explain.
The death god’s silver-streaked hair was matted with blood and dirt. His eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed as if he, too, had been crying. He blinked several times before he spoke.
“We were meeting with the Thanassian delegation,” he said quietly.
“Things were going well. We were set to return the following day. But… there was a massive earthquake. The ground split in two. And from below emerged this… horrible creature.” He inhaled a shuddering breath, his expression so haunted that it stirred something in Mona’s soul.
This was a god who had worked in Tartarus for eons. He had witnessed the vilest of souls and the darkest of prisons.
If something had spooked him, Mona knew it had to have been something utterly horrifying.
“It was a Cyclops,” Marina said suddenly.
Tears still streamed down her face, but her eyebrows were lowered, and the set of her jaw betrayed her fury.
“But it was something else. It was coated in death magic that we could not penetrate. It was massive.” She shook her head slowly.
“In all my years, I have never seen anything like it. It was wholly unnatural.”
Unnatural. That could only mean one thing…
“The Titans,” Mona whispered. “They must have created it.”
Romanos nodded grimly. “It destroyed the Thanassian castle and the entire delegation. We held it off as long as we could to get the people out of the city. But… it was too big. Too powerful.” He closed his eyes, his face turning ashen.
“Never before have I encountered magic like that in this realm. Cyclopes are creatures of death magic. Creatures of Tartarus. They shouldn’t even be allowed here. ”
“No, they shouldn’t,” said another voice.
Mona looked up to find Cyrus standing behind Prue, his arms crossed and his face full of fury. “The Titans drew from a power that was not theirs to take.” His gaze shifted to Prue, and sorrow filled his blue eyes. “It was Lagos.”
Prue stiffened beside Mona. “What are you talking about?” Her voice shook.
“Besides my brothers and me, Lagos was the only other one here who held the keys to Tartarus. Unless the Titans returned to the Underworld themselves, that’s the only explanation for how they accessed such magic and created these beings.”
“But… Lagos died,” Mona whispered. Prue was trembling so violently that Mona wrapped her arms around her, trying to keep her calm.
“His soul hadn’t passed on yet,” Cyrus said. “Magic is tethered to the soul, and the Titans are powerful enough to pull on that essence before it reaches the Underworld.”
Mona’s chest felt hollow. Goddess above, he was right. She of all people knew how sacred the bond between a soul and a person’s magic was. She felt sick at the thought of the Titans using Lagos’s fallen body like that.
Prue groaned, her body caving inward as her eyes closed. Her brows pulled together, and her mouth twisted in a horrified grimace. “Goddess, this can’t be true. How can they—I can’t—”
Mona tightened her embrace, clutching her sister to her chest. Cyrus’s face crumpled, and he looked as if he yearned to carry Prue away from here. Mona nodded at him, indicating she understood.
Both of them would do anything to shield Prue from this.
But there was no hiding from this. Not anymore.
The Titans had made their move. This was a declaration of war.