Chapter Fifteen
Grass tickled me with a hundred fingers. I lay out in the cool night, gazing out at the stars, and shivering under every lick, kiss, and touch. Alex had already made love to me three times until I was a hoarse, sweaty mess. I loved that all of me wasn’t enough for him. He wanted more, more, more.
“Whatever that Hades spawn did to shut out my voice, you’re not to go near him again!”
Selene had been ranting and raving since Alex tore off my dress and flung it somewhere in the forest. Whatever that impossible dress was, it granted more than beauty and mesmerization. It also smothered Selene’s voice.
Made sense. It was an object of Elysium Fields where all one’s desires are granted. It was hardly my desire to listen to that witch’s screeching during the most important moment in my relationship with Alex.
I paused with my fingers in his hair. Was it the dress? My true desire was to be with Alex. When he touched my dress, did it fill him with the courage to stand up to his father?
I tossed my head. I didn’t want to know. I wouldn’t question it. In that moment, I was happy. I didn’t need to know how or why.
“What’s wrong?” Alex kissed the valley between my breasts.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I replied, smiling down at him. “How could anything be wrong? I was just thinking, I don’t want there to be any secrets between us.”
He halted in his worshipping of my nipples—lips mid-pucker. “Are there secrets between us?”
“One,” I admitted.
Selene growled. “Don’t you dare—”
“I know what my power is,” I rushed, getting it out before she finished her threat. “I’m a child of fate, Alex. I can go back in time.”
“Wow. Aella, that’s... wow.” He fell quiet.
I sensed his mind racing with the new information, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Please, say something.” I stroked his cheek. “Are you mad at me for keeping it secret?”
“What? No.” A smile broke out on his lips. “Course I’m not mad. If there’s any power you should keep secret, it’s that one. History is littered with the tragedies that befell children of the Fates.” He kissed me sweet. “But that won’t be you. I’ll protect you, Aella. Your secret and you. No one will hurt you. No one will use you. I promise.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, eyes filling. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He cocked his head. “Were you really worried about telling me this?”
“Worried for nothing obviously. Every time I think you couldn’t be any more the best guy I know, you prove me wrong.”
“I’m so happy you feel that way, because I just landed us in trouble I can’t name.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “I don’t know what possessed me to speak to my father like that in front of those people, but his retribution will be swift.”
I shivered. That wasn’t a word someone should use in reference to their own father. “Do you regret—?”
“No,” he said softly, smile still on his mouth. “I don’t regret a word.”
I relaxed. “What can we do? What will he do? Sirena was a willing participant. She ripped that contract to shreds. Your father can’t put this all on you, since neither of you wanted this marriage.”
“True, but both families have wanted this marriage for a long time. Blaming one or both of us doesn’t matter. It only matters that I have not heard the last of this.” He flipped over onto the grass, stretching out next to me.
We were basking in a spot not far from the lake—inhaling the scent of lotuses, and listening to lapping waves and giggling dryads. Despite the heavy turn of our conversation, nothing made this less perfect.
“I have to give you credit for knowing your best friend,” I spoke up. “You said she wasn’t in love with you, and that wasn’t regular guy cluelessness. Forgive me for thinking no one could be that crazily possessive without love.”
He chuckled. “That was never about me. I’ve no doubt Lia made it clear Sirena must marry me and no one else. She fears her mother. She doesn’t question her orders.”
“Oh no. Was her mother...? Is she abusive?”
“Depends,” Alex said, tone measured. “Would you call murdering her father in front of her abusive?”
My jaw cracked. I couldn’t speak a word if I tried.
“Lia has the ability to reduce her enemies to sea-foam. It’s how she became the Aphrodite councilwoman. It’s rare for children of Aphrodite to get Titan-level powers, but even so, hers is more fearsome than most. With a single thought, she can reduce you to nothing but popping bubbles on the lawn.
“Which is exactly what she did when she discovered her husband and Sirena’s father was sleeping with another woman. Three other women. Telling her he wasn’t going to stop and there wasn’t a fucking thing she could do about it, was the last thing he ever said.”
“My gods,” I breathed. “But Sirena can’t think her mom would do that to her too. Not an excuse, but it sounds like the old man provoked her in the extreme. This is her daughter. She wouldn’t kill her for marrying who she truly loves.”
His expression didn’t change. “I honestly don’t know what Lia would do, but I do know I haven’t seen what Sirena has, or experienced what she experienced. If she’s afraid, it’s because Lia has given her reason.”
My hand flew to my mouth, then I groaned. “Dammit, Alex. You’ve got me concerned for Sirena—Sirena—of all people.”
“You don’t have to be concerned for her, me, or yourself. I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to live on my own fucking terms. I’m not giving that up. I’m not giving you up.” His nose bumped mine. “We’ll figure it all out, Vanda. I told you, that’s what people in love do. Take the tough stuff as it comes.”
“Hmm. How did you figure this one out?” I heard myself ask. “You told me the case was magicked to be unbreakable, then you smashed it to smithereens. How?”
“Ahh.” He rolled to face me, eyes shining. “Do you promise you’ll never tell?”
“Yes.”
He waved his hand over his arm. I blinked and something appeared on his— No, embedded in his skin.
I squinted, leaning in. “What is that? A charm?”
“A curse.”
My brows blew. “Did you just say curse?”
“Yes. When I was five, my mother brought me to a son of Arae, and had him brand this into my skin. At the time, someone was kidnapping noble children, holding them for ransom, and killing them if the parents didn’t pay in full.”
“Fucking hell,” I cried, stomach churning.
He nodded. “It was awful. Whoever it was must’ve had a power to walk through walls or be invisible, because they were getting in and out without being seen. Over one hundred children were taken. My parents were terrified for me. My father’s reaction was to increase the number of guards following me tenfold. Mother took me to Arae’s son.”
“What does the curse do?”
“It’s hard to explain, but it’s like an infection. One touch and it weakens, corrodes, dismantles whatever is in its path.” He saw my face. “Oh, don’t worry. It doesn’t work on people. Mom just needed to know if I was ever taken and locked up, I always had the means to get out.” He brushed the silver lion’s-head charm. “Now it’s the only thing I have left of her. Even though there’s no one alive who can kidnap or cage me, I keep it because... because it came from her.”
“That’s so sweet, baby.” I kissed the charm, knowing it was safe. “But why don’t you want anyone to know about it?”
“Because it’s incredibly illegal.” Another wave and it was gone. “This thing could bring down the barrier between our worlds. It would take years to dismantle magic that complex, but eventually, it’ll succeed.” He shook his head. “Being in possession of something like this is a mandatory life sentence. Anything else I wouldn’t risk it, but it’s the last gift my mother gave me.”
I whistled. “And it can do that because it’s a curse? But, then, why isn’t everyone using curses, illegal or not? How do we know the monsters who took my mom didn’t use one too? Maybe that’s how they got through the barrier in the first place.”
He was shaking his head before I finished. “Curses aren’t like magic. They can’t be stopped, reversed, or controlled. If the barrier was cursed, there would be no hiding it. Plus, Arae was the goddess of curses. Her children are rare, because she rarely inhabits humans. She prefers animals, plants, even dead things. One day you prick your finger on a rose, and fall into a deep sleep that lasts fifty years—stuff like that.
“Seeing as not even a monster can barter with a crow to get their hands on a curse, curses aren’t something the average demigod has to fear,” he said. “No one has to fear that son of Arae either, because he was murdered shortly after working with my mother.”
“Wow,” I said, blowing out a breath. “This world is so unpredictable. You never know what you could face next.” I dropped my chin on his chest, smiling. “But how off-the-walls amazing and brave was your mom. She knew, Alex. She knew one day you would be trapped and forced into something you didn’t want, and she made sure you’d have a choice. A way out.”
“She was off-the-walls amazing and brave.” His fingers glided down my cheek. “I wish you could’ve known her. She’d have loved you.”
“I already love her. I mean, look at her work.” I waved my hand, gesturing to him. “Masterpiece.”
He laughed. “Come here, beautiful. It’s been too long since I’ve made love to you.”
“It’s been ten minutes,” I squealed, falling over with an armful of Alexander.
“Exactly.”
THE SUN CRESTED OVERthe horizon, lighting up the fingers doing my borrowed tunic.
Alex went searching for my dress, but it was gone. Gone gone. It vanished from the realm it didn’t belong in.
“What will you wear?” I asked.
He jerked a chin up. “The dryads will fashion me a covering made of leaves if I ask nicely.”
“—dare ignore me. I know you hear me, insolent girl!”
“What’s going to happen now?” I forced myself to ignore her. Right then, all that mattered was Alex. “Won’t your father be waiting for you? Ready to pounce the minute you step inside.”
He squared his shoulders. “If he is, I’ll be ready for him. It’s all clear to me now. My father didn’t respect me because I was asking for what I want, instead of taking it. No more. He will accept that I am my own man. I choose who I love and marry”—he pecked the tip of my nose—“no one else.”
“Should we talk to him together?”
“—you hear me? Do it. Do it now!”
“Not for this conversation.” Alexander helped me to my feet. He was naked as the day he was born while I stood there swimming in his clothes. “There’s a lot I need to say about more than last night. A conversation between father and son. Completely different from the one I want to have when I introduce him to the love of my life.”
“I love you.”
After trading more kisses and gushy confessions, we broke apart. I headed inside with Selene’s voice trumpeting in my ear.
“The son of Zeus will break the chains,” she shouted, repeating the phrase she’d been saying all night. “Are you too stupid to see that this is the answer? This is what the prophecy was referring to all along. That curse will destroy the barrier. You must take it from him now.”
“If I was too stupid to realize it, I’d have gotten the message the first one hundred times you bellowed it in my ear,” I snapped. “I’m not taking the charm from him. It’s his mother’s last gift to him. I could never steal it. And even if I was as heartless as you, it’s embedded in his skin. I can’t take it from him.”
“Cut it out.”
My lips curled. “Shut up. Just shut the fuck up. I know what I have to do, and I know there’s no choice. I will save my mom, but I’m not doing it your way! I’m not hurting and using people like you do without a second thought.
“You think I don’t listen or understand anything, but I do.” I began the long climb up to the palace doors. “I heard Healer Helena yesterday. She said only a witch can bring down the barrier they erected, and what a terrible tragedy it would be if there was danger and we were trapped on the wrong side.
“That must mean there’s a plan B. An evacuation plan. If we need to get out of Deucalion Academy quickly, no one wants to waste time tracking her down and getting her to undo the barriers.
“There has to be a stash of barrier-jumping potions somewhere in the castle,” I stated. “All I have to do is find it.”
“There will be no potion, girl. You will find nothing. Fate has revealed to you the answer to the prophecy, and your lover’s part in it. You can argue, fight, and waste the little precious time your mother has left, but the outcome will be the same. Fate will not be denied.
“You should know that better than anyone.”
Her words knocked around in my head all morning, although her voice didn’t. She was strangely silent, letting me stew in uncertainty.
I was only guessing that Healer Helena had a stash of that nasty potion on hand. Alex said the barriers around Deucalion were the strongest in Olympia. Maybe they didn’t have a plan B because plan A had been working for them just fine.
I could just ask Alex to curse the barrier for me. I know he would—no question.
You also know Selene won’t let you,another voice said. She hurt Mom because she paranoid deluded herself into thinking I spilled the beans to Daciana. What would Selene do if I came right out and told him everything?
I didn’t need an answer to that question. No, I wasn’t stupid. I saw through to what Selene was doing. She knew that if Alex and I worked together, we’d be working together to keep the bitch right where she was. The plan was always to free my mom, and only my mom. With a strong powerful ally like Alex by my side, we might succeed, and she couldn’t have that.
It was the same reason she turned into a vicious, screeching harridan the last few days. She wanted me stressed, exhausted, weak, and isolated. The wretched mess I’ve been wouldn’t be in any state to fight her when I finally got inside the prison.
Selene was not going to let me talk to Alex, but cutting curses out of his fucking arm was not going to happen. What could I do?
“Did you hear what happened last night?”
I snapped out of it, focus returning to my friends and my breakfast.
“Alexander told off his father, then Sirena destroyed the contact, flooded the room with feathers, and both of them disappeared in the chaos,” Theron continued. “Mother thought it was hilarious. She could barely get out a goodbye this morning, she was laughing so hard, she couldn’t breathe.”
That pricked my interest. “Your mom thought it was funny? Did everyone think that? Is everyone laughing about it?”
Nitsa snorted. “I doubt Lia Cirillo and Maximos Damien are laughing. The only reason Theron’s mom is is because she openly despises those two. Watching those two be humiliated by their children was the highlight of her year.”
Theron dipped his head. “Exactly.”
“But it wasn’t really humiliating, was it?” Daciana asked. “From all the whispers I’m hearing, it wasn’t personal or anything, and they didn’t spit in their faces or curse them out. They just don’t want an arranged marriage.”
“In Olympia, the council tells us what we want,” Tycho said. “They tell us how to think, when to fight, and who we’re allowed to love.” His fist balled around his fork. “Their own children rebelling against them in a room full of everyone in Olympia who matters...?” He whistled, shaking his head. “I’m only sad I missed such a historic event.”
I shrunk back, hiding behind Daciana as much as her slender figure would let me. Alex passed it off like it was no big deal, and he and his father would have a chat and it would all be fine. Did he just say that to reassure me? What would his father do to him?
I looked in that man’s eyes and it was as clear as the chill that pierced my soul... Maximos Damien was capable of anything.
“What do you think is going to happen to them?” My small voice turned the table toward me. “Will they be punished?”
Theron shook his head, reigniting my hope. “They won’t be punished, Aella, they’ll be married.”
My smile dimmed.
“No matter how much they kick, scream, fight, beg, or rebel. Their names will be on a new marriage contract someday sooner rather than later,” he said. “I’m sorry. I really am, but the council’s word is absolute. Their decisions are final. If they say Alexander and Sirena are to be married, they will be married.
“The only question is how brutally their parents will punish their secret lovers before they’re forced to give in.” He gave me a look. “A much more effective tactic than punishing their children.”
“But—”
Tycho, Nitsa, and Ionna nodded along with him. They agreed with every word.
“It’s a good thing no one knows who you are,” Theron finished, dropping his voice. “As romantic as it is to have the person you love blow up their world to run away with you, you’re the last person I’d want to be right now.”
I forced a laugh. “Let’s talk about something else. Ionna, what is—?”
Ionna’s head snapped up. “Guys, look.”
The mess hall was put back the way it was. Titans eating in a culinary paradise, imperial heirs lording it from on high, and us Sisypheans eating our cold, buffet food in our bland, sunken eating area. We all had our place again... which was why Alex had no business descending the stairs, and walking right toward me.
My breath caught. My love looked perfectly fine. Whole and wonderful even though I knew he’d had the conversation with his father that morning. Did it go well? Did Maximos give his blessing?
Planting his feet before our table, Alex beamed into my friends’ wide eyes and gaping mouths. “May I join you?”
“What?” Tycho rasped. “Oh—oh, yes, of course.”
Alex plopped down right next to me, throwing his arm around my shoulder. Turning my chin, he planted one right on my lips—capturing my gasp.
We broke apart to complete and total silence in the mess hall. Every eye was on us. Half the Titans got out of their seats to stare.
“Are you okay?” I whispered. “What happened with your dad?”
“Nothing. He wasn’t waiting for me like I thought. Turns out he left the castle last night.” Alex straightened. “So,” he said brightly, speaking to the group. “What are we talking about?”
“The dominions,” I blurted. “And how they’re different. Right, Daciana?”
“Huh? Oh, yes.” She caught on quickly. “Olympia is night and day compared to my home, but one thing I can’t complain about is the baths. Soaking in bubbling, scented water is the only fix after long days of training.”
“What do you do in your dominion?” Theron asked.
Nitsa nudged his shoulder. “Are you asking her how she bathes herself? Want to know if she starts with the front or back?”
“What— I wasn’t—! Shut up, Nitsa!”
Daciana and I muffled snorts. It broke a little bit of the tension, then I noticed the entire mess hall was still staring, and the prickle going up my neck came back.
“It’s okay,” Daciana said. “I know what he meant. In my wolf form, I bathe in freezing cold lakes and streams. I don’t feel the cold, but I know I’m not in a hot spring. In our natural form, we need shelter but the need to move and run free is ingrained in us. That means trailers—” She noted their blank looks. “Moveable homes. Homes on wheels.”
“On wheels?” Theron repeated. “How do you put them on wheels?”
“Well, they’re these rectangular, metal... uh... boxes,” she said, motioning with her hands. “Beds, food, and bathrooms are inside, so we have everything we need.”
“But you live in metal boxes,” Ionna said, alarmed. “No wonder you want to be free.”
“No, I—I’m not explaining this right.” She blew out a breath. “Honestly, they’re quite comfortable. The point is we can take our shelter everywhere we go, and when the wolf needs to run free, all we have to do is open the door. What we don’t have are swimming pool–sized baths fed from an underground hot spring.”
“What’s a swimming pool?”
Daciana laughed. “You guys all have to visit me one day. I have a feeling it will be a mind-blowing trip.”
“I wish we could,” Nitsa said. “Olympians aren’t allowed to do the interdominion program. We’re only allowed to receive the guests, not be one of them. Nothing’s more important than our training, and then we’re bound for army service after that. Only the council and council representatives are allowed to leave Olympia without a death sentence. They’re the ones sent to foster relations with other dominions.”
“What about after you leave the army? Even when we are old and gray, my friends.” She hooked her arm through mine. “You’ll be welcome among my people.”
“I really wish we could.” Ionna grasped her other arm, dropping her head on her shoulder. “Even out of service, we have our powers. Powers that are always needed to defend our homes and family, no matter how old we are. No one leaves Olympia, Daciana. That’s the way it must be.”
“Doesn’t that... bother you?” she asked carefully. “I mean, to not be able to leave even with the promise of coming back.”
“Anyone could say they just want to leave for a short visit and then never come back,” Alex spoke up. “This is our home. This is where we belong. It is our duty. None of that bothers me.”
Nitsa, Ionna, Tycho, and Theron nodded sharply.
My eyes glazed, staring off over Theron’s head. Hold on. How was my father able to leave Olympia all those times to meet my mother?
Mom said he was always on time for every date. His power was growing everlasting flowers, not slipping through barriers. Was Crisanto Vanda the answer? My father obviously discovered a way to get in and out of Olympia under cover without tripping a single alarm. Did it enough times to carry on the world’s most difficult long-distance relationship with ease.
I leaned over, brows furrowing as my mind raced. Did the monsters discover his path or method out of Olympia and use it to track me and Mom down all those years later? Was my dad the key to understanding how Selene’s allies have been moving around unnoticed? How they got to Mom. How they carried her through the gates of the most heavily guarded location in Olympia without a single person knowing.
“She’s right,” I rasped. “Fate. The threads of fate are connecting all of us—Mom, Dad, me, Selene, Alex, and Daciana—together.”
My head was stuffed with questions, but there were only two people who could answer them for me. Selene—never going to happen. And—
My eyes traveled up to where a rock wall and the four boys eating behind it would be. Sebastian could help me talk to my dad. He and his ghostly informants could help me with a lot of things. Like finding out where in the castle they keep the barrier-jumping potion. And now that the Lethe water wiped away that self-serving, utter bastard, I can ask him without giving up a pound of flesh.
I shot to my feet. “I’ll be right back. I need to talk to someone.”
“Talk to someone?” Nitsa looked around. “But we’re all right here?”
“It’ll only take a—”
“Don’t rush off on our account.” A familiar voice stopped me in my tracks.
Calix loped over with Ajax and a crowd of imperial heirs right behind him. To my astonishment, he dropped his plate down and claimed the seat next to a wide-eyed Theron.
“Hey, Cal,” Tycho said, voice shaking.
Cal didn’t even glance in his direction. Nothing new, but it did take on a new meaning considering what I walked in on the night before.
“What are we talking about?” Calix gritted, flicking from me to Alex. “Not gossiping or telling lies about people, are you, Aella Vanda?”
I blinked. “You know my name?”
He showed me his teeth. “I know all about you.”
And I know a threat when I hear one.
“Course I do,” Calix continued, clapping. “You’re the girl who stole Alexander Damien’s heart. In the five minutes he’s been sitting with his arm around you, you became the most talked about girl in Deucalion history.”
Alex laughed. “Nothing so intense as that. But what are you guys doing down here?”
“There is no down here or up there,” Ajax breathed, plopping down next to Nitsa. “Isn’t that what you’re always saying? We sit together, and if you’re sitting here, we’re sitting here. Besides...” Grinning, he winked at Nitsa. “The view down here is leagues better. Morning, lovely, where have I seen you before?”
“We uh— I uh— I was— I was— I lived—”
Tycho smothered a laugh. For all the times Nitsa made fun of him for being a stuttering mess around Calix, he had to be loving this.
Tycho glanced at a glaring Calix and dropped his grin immediately.
Elisavet came over and shoved between Nitsa and Ajax, putting an end to that conversation. “Are we seriously sitting here?” she snapped. “It’s disgusting over here. It stinks and— What the fuck is that?” she asked, wrinkling her nose at Nitsa’s food.
“It’s what they deign to serve us Sisypheans,” Ionna replied. “You know what? I’m glad you guys are sitting with us. You all think you’re fit to become the next rulers of Olympia? If so, you should learn about the struggles of all your people. Not just the nobles.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said again, stepping away from the table.
Calix was up and by my side in a blink. “I’ll walk with you.”
I lurched back. “There’s no need.”
“Please.” His expression softened. “It’s important, and you know why. Just hear me out.”
I flicked to Alex, who was looking at us. Calix was one of Alex’s best friends. Hearing him out, and reassuring him that I wouldn’t tell a soul, was the least I could do.
“Okay.” Calix fell in step with me. “Listen, right off, I want to say I would never tell anyone anything.”
“Why is that?” His tone was light, belying the tension in his shoulders. “You have information that can bring an imperial heir under your thumb indefinitely. Why wouldn’t you use that to your advantage? Anyone in your position would.”
“Only if the anyone you’re talking about is a shit-stain piece of garbage.”
He skipped a step on the stairs, brows furrowing at me.
“I would never ever, ever, ever out someone,” I said. “I damn fucking sure wouldn’t blackmail or threaten anyone with what I saw.”
“What’s blackmail?”
“Never mind,” I said, stopping just short of the Hades eating area. “All I’m trying to say is that you can trust me. I know what it’s like to be surrounded by people who lie, trick, use, and cause others pain just because they can. I don’t want much in this life except to not be one of them.”
Calix studied me for a long time, expressionless. I couldn’t begin to guess what was going on in that handsome head of his, but I hoped he believed me. Ruining things between him and Tycho was the last thing I wanted to do.
“All right,” he said, so low I almost didn’t hear over the roar of the mess hall. “Thank you, Vanda, I... Thank you.”
Nodding, I gave him a little half-smile and turned to go. My thoughts immediately shifted to what I would say to Sebastian. It had to be enough to enlist his help without giving so much away that Selene freaked out and caused another full-scale riot just to throw some water in this face.
I entered the dark tunnel, catching the soft murmurs of the guys eating inside.
What if I say there’s a family emergency and I need to leave the school but—?
“Vanda.” Calix’s voice broke in. “One more thing.”
I turned back, and got a blast of pink-and-silver smoke right in the face. A sweet, cotton-candy-like scent hit my nose before I could shout.
Rocking back, a goofy giggle burst from my lips. “Calix? Oh, Calix, my love.” I ran into his arms.
He caught and spun me, laughing back. “Hello, darling, how are you?”
“I’m wonderful. I’m amazing,” I cried, “because I’m with you.” I kissed him all over—cheek, nose, lips, eyes. I couldn’t get enough of him. My heart filled to bursting to finally be in his arms. How long I’d waited for a love like this.
It was Calix all along.
“My love, would you do something for me—?”
“Anything,” I said. “I’ll do any and everything you ask.”
Setting me back on my feet, he removed something from his pocket. I squinted at the vial.
“Drink this for me, would you, darling? It would make me so happy.”
I downed it so fast, I choked on it. A thick, cottony cloud enveloped my mind, or that’s what it felt like. I clutched my head, swaying on my feet. What’s wrong with me? I don’t have time to be sick. I need to be here for... for... for someone?
“Vanda.”
I blinked at the figure before me. I wasn’t sure who he was, but I loved him more than air.
“You will forget everything you saw and heard last night,” he stated. “You’ll forget everything you know or think you know about Calix Lambros, Tycho Sagona, and Tycho’s friends, Nitsa, Theron, Ionna, and that wolf girl. You don’t know them. You don’t go anywhere near them.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Can’t have you running to those sons of Hades to undo this, so you’ll forget about Sebastian, Jason, Castor, and Dimitri too.”
“Yes, I will forget.”
“Most importantly...” His eyes narrowed. “You will forget Alexander Damien completely. I don’t know what the fuck he sees in some random Sisyphean, but I’m not letting my best friend throw his life away over a nobody. You’re not in love with him. You don’t know him. You don’t give a shit about Alexander at all. Understood?”
My lips parted. “Understood.”
I CAME TO, SHAKINGmy head. Gazing around, I noted I was standing in the hall near the infirmary.
When did I come out here?I frowned at the glow of reds, oranges, and golds streaming through the windowpanes. It’s almost nighttime. When did that happen? What did I do all day?
“Selene,” I croaked. “What is this? Is this you? Did you do something to me?”
“I did nothing, girl,” she replied. “You foolishly slipped in the mess hall and hit your head. You were brought to the infirmary to recover. Now you are well.”
I blinked. “Oh. Okay then.” I turned to leave, then paused. “Wait. I think I... I think I was coming here anyway. That’s why I was leaving the mess hall. I need to look for the barrier-jumping potion. Healer Helena must have a stash somewhere. Likely in the same place she brews all her potions.”
“Oh, dear, you hit your head quite hard.” She tsked. “You don’t remember that we abandoned that foolish plan.”
“Did we?”
“Yes, child. We agreed that if such a stash exists, it would naturally be heavily protected and guarded. The protections of a powerful daughter of Hecate could not possibly be undone in a few days, leaving your mother in a terrible position.”
My shoulders slumped. “You’re right. Of course they’re not going to be lying around. I should’ve thought of that.”
“It is no matter. That is why I sit upon your wrist, Aella. So I may be here to help and guide you.”
Eyes narrowing, I glared at said wrist. “Why are you being all nice to me all of a sudden? Normally you’d have called me stupid or insolent twenty times by now.”
“This is true,” she replied, sighing. “I have not been at my best, or displayed the most even temper. I regret that now. You have been working tirelessly to free me.”
To free my mother, I wanted to correct.
“There is no need for me to treat you like an enemy. We are, for now at least, on the same side.”
“Huh.” Slowly, I nodded. “I am shocked to say I agree with you. That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time.”
“Well then, in honor of our commitment to camaraderie, I’ve decided to find the solution for you. I know how to bring down the barrier.”
I stood up straighter. “You do? How?”
“The answer was quite obvious. It revealed itself to me immediately when I decided to turn my thoughts to the task. All you need is a curse.”
“A curse? Like a hex? Do children of Hecate sell those too?”
“No, child.” Her tone was light—pleasant even. “Children of Hecate don’t deal in curses and hexes for this very reason. Curses can undo their magic. But it is no matter, there is someone within this very castle who has a corroding curse on his wrist like I rest on yours,” she said. “All you need to do is take it.”
“How do I do that?” I frowned. “It won’t hurt him, will it? I’m not hurting anyone.”
“And I would never ask you to. All you need to do is return to your room, rest your head on your pillow, and drift off to sleep. I shall wake you when it’s time.”
Shrugging, I set off for the dorm wing. “Okay.”
I got lost on the way to my room. Selene eventually helped me find Sisyphean Dorm Thirty. I stepped into the dark and cold.
“There’s no one here.” I flicked around the bare, bland space. “Don’t I have roommates? I thought I did—”
“No, you don’t. You never did. You’ve always had this room to yourself.”
“But, then, where’s my stuff?”
“You have no stuff, girl. You crossed the barrier alone. No clothes. No supplies.”
I tossed my head. “Right, of course. I crossed alone. I’ve always been alone. It’s just me and Mom.” My fists balled. “I will get her back.”
“Of course you will. Now off to bed. You need your rest, for tonight is the night you free me.”
Once again I wanted to correct her and say my mom, but I didn’t bother. Selene was finally acting like a decent hum— I mean, goddess. She was letting me rest instead of berating me and screeching in my ear all night.
The question of how I would keep her in and only get me and Mom out hadn’t been answered, but I’d face the problem after a decent sleep. I felt tired and achy all over. I barely got any sleep the night before but... why?
“Oh, well.” Choosing an alcove at random, I toed off my boots, climbed in, and drifted off.
“—up. Wake up, girl.”
I cracked an eyelid.
“It’s time.”
“Time for what?” I pushed myself up, blinking blearily at my nightstand. There was something on it, but I could barely make it out through the gloom. “To get the curse?”
“Precisely. I had my ally get you all that you’ll require.”
My vision cleared... on the dagger.
“A knife! Why do I require a knife?”
“The curse is embedded in his skin. You will have to cut it out.”
“Are you insane?” I shrieked. “I’m not doing that.”
“Calm yourself,” she snapped. “I’m well aware of your squeamishness when it comes time to make the necessary sacrifices. That is why my ally also acquired a healing potion.”
I glanced at the vial beside it.
“That healer woman is much less strict about those. She hands them out freely. You will have to hurt the boy, yes, but the pain will be short-lived. One swallow of that potion, and he’ll be healed.”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right.”
“There is no other way to bring down the barrier. Your mother has suffered for two years. Will you truly delay her freedom because you refuse to let some boy you don’t know suffer for two minutes?”
I hesitated. Selene had a point. A terrible, heartless point, but still, a valid one. It would hurt, but then I’d heal him immediately. I’d also be as gentle as possible. If I could tell him I was doing this to save my mom, he’d probably give it to me himself.
“If it helps you decide, you should know curses are illegal. His possession of it puts everyone in danger, and risks his imprisonment, or even his execution, if caught. You are taking something from him that he should not have in the first place.”
“That’s true,” I whispered, reaching for the dagger. “I mean, if he’s not supposed to have it, what difference does it make if I take it to save my mom? He shouldn’t be carting around curses if he knows it’s dangerous to everyone around him. Doesn’t sound like he’s a good guy.”
“He’s not. He’s awful. Rude, superior, and bullying to every lowly Sisyphean that crosses his path. He’s not above lying, cheating, or blackmail if it gets him what he wants.”
“Ugh,” I cried. “What a bastard.”
“Shall we? You’ve waited long enough.”
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the vial, then the dagger.
I was silent slipping through the hallway. Selene’s voice in my ear led me to the end of the corridor, and then up the staircase into a hall much more decorated and decadent than the one I left behind.
Wow. This must be where the Titans sleep.
“Is this guy a Titan?” I hissed. “What do I do if he wakes up and turns me into a pigeon?”
“He will not hurt you.”
“How do you know that? Did one of your allies do something? Do you have Vasili in your pocket too, and he made sure this guy stays asleep?”
“This is the door,” she said, pulling me up short. “Get it done.”
Her voice faded, and my rapid-fire questions did not bring her back. She was done being helpful for the night.
Body tense, I tried the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked. I slipped inside and paused on the rug, letting my eyes adjust. If I could whistle in appreciation, I would’ve.
This dorm room was like nothing that existed in the mundane dominion. No college or military college or equivalent school in my world spent tens of thousands on a space rowdy young men and women would be using. Actually, I’m pretty sure they deliberately bought cheap crap because they figured we break, puke, and have sex on everything.
Not that anything in here looks broken, puked on, or covered in bodily fluids.I padded deeper inside. He’s quite clean for a douchebag.
The douchebag in question spread out on the bed, hands on either side of his head and resting on the pillows. Bit of an awkward, unnatural way to sleep, but more convenient for me. His wrist, and the glinting charm, were clearly visible in the moonlight.
Quieter than quiet, I moved to the left side of the bed.
“He’s going to wake up,” I whispered.
“I told you. He will not harm you. Now, enough with your delays. Get on with it!”
I winced. Her impatience was obvious. She believed her three-thousand-year imprisonment ended tonight, and she wasn’t about to let me delay another second, which made me believe she wouldn’t have brought me all this way just to be murdered by a Titan.
For once, I had to trust the evil, duplicitous witch.
I pulled the stopper out of the potion and set it on the nightstand. I wanted to have it ready to pour down his throat the second the charm was out. He may be a terrible guy, but he hadn’t done anything to me. I’d never seen him before, and damn, I would remember if I did.
He was gorgeous.
I shook myself. No time for that. Just do it and leave. Get it over with.
Steeling myself, I touched the tip of the dagger to the charm. All I had to do was slip it under and gently pry—
Rusty brown cracks spiraled up the hilt. I didn’t have a chance to react. The dagger crumbled into dust. Gone.
I gaped at my empty hand. If that’s what this thing could do to a silver dagger, what would it do to the barrier keeping me from my mom?
“Do not let this slow you, girl. You will have to use your nails. Do not fear, the corroding curse does not work on humans.”
“Do you know this, or are you guessing?”
The guys stirred, tossing his head across the pillow. I was across the room so fast, his briefly cracked eyelids saw no one.
He dropped his head back down and went to sleep.
“Make haste, girl. He should not have been able to move his head. Already the sticking effect is wearing off.”
Sticking? I glanced at my wrist, understanding dawning. Selene’s ally stuck this guy to the bed like he permanently stuck the bracelet on my wrist.
Why the hell didn’t she say that before?
Bounding across the floor, I jumped on the bed, seizing his wrist.
“What the—? What’s going on!”
I didn’t pay him any mind. I couldn’t. I had to get that charm.
“Wait— Aella?”
My surprise at him knowing my name fled at my cringing horror as I pressed my nails to his skin, and dug in.
“Ahh! Aella, what are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. Blood coated my nails, making me heave. “I don’t want to hurt you. I just need this charm.”
“The charm?” He thrashed, or he tried to. He could move nothing but his head. “Why can’t I move? Did— Did you do this to me? Why?”
My nails got under the charm. I felt it give the slightest bit.
“Why!” he bellowed, blowing out my ears. “Why would you do this to me? I love you.”
I screwed up my face, surprise making me halt. “What? No, you don’t. You—”
“Cease your chatting. Someone will have heard his shouts and come to investigate. I assure you, girl, they will hurt you.”
I redoubled my efforts—digging deeper, pulling harder, and trying not to throw up the louder he shouted.
“—don’t do this. You don’t have to do this,” he cried. “You could’ve just asked for it. I would’ve given it to you. I love you, Aella. Don’t throw away what we—”
The charm came free. I almost shoved it in my pocket, then thought better of it. It burned through a dagger in seconds. It’d make short work of pocket lint and linen.
Clutching it tight, I snatched up the vial and tipped it into his open mouth. “There. No harm done,” I rasped, heart yammering against my rib cage. I clambered off. “I’ll even bring it back, okay. As soon as I’m done with it, so you don’t have to report me to—”
His hand snapped up and grasped my wrist, tearing out a scream. “Why?” His brilliant green eyes beseeched me, dragging me into a well of pain that froze me in my tracks.
What’s wrong with him? His wrist is already starting to heal. He can’t be in that much pain, so why... why does it look like he’s...
Crying.
“After everything,” he rasped. “After last night. Why would you throw us away? We love each other. I’d have given you everything—anything. I’d have—”
“Enough, you freak!” I ripped away. “There is no us. You don’t love me, and I don’t love you. I’ll give you your stupid curse back as soon as I’m done with it. Fuck’s sake.”
I ran out of the room and into the hall as doors opened, and curious heads stuck out. His shouts followed me.
“Wait,” he called. “Come back! Please, don’t do this. Don’t—”
The noise of the Titan wing faded as I hit the bottom step and raced off. I wasn’t stopping, and I wasn’t going back. This was it. I was finally going to save Mom.
I ran all the way to the atrium. Lungs burning, I skidded across the floor, coming to a stop. I listened—nearly impossible to do with my heart thumping in my ears, but after a beat, I knew no one was following me.
“Go on, child. Say the passphrase. Free me. FREE ME!”
“No need to shout,” I barked back, but made my way to the foot of Zeus’s statue anyway. “Lyre, hammer, diadem.”
The world opened up beneath my feet, revealing the entrance to the prison. I stepped up to the mouth of the well, and stopped.
“Well?” Selene waited. “What are you doing? Touch the curse to the barrier. Go on.”
“I—I—I can’t d-do this...”
“Of course you can. Put the curse on the barrier.”
“No, I...” Tears spilled over my lids. “I can’t... save her. I couldn’t save her that night, what the fuck has changed now! I’m ranked bottom of the useless class. Do you understand that? I’m the most useless of all the useless! I can’t fight. I can’t answer the basic questions about this world. How am I supposed to get through traps put there by actual, all-powerful gods?
“I’m going to fail, and Mom’s going to be stuck down there forever, and I can’t—”
“Aella, stop.”
It was the use of my first name that stopped me. Not girl or child, but Aella.
“I will tell you a truth now, and you will be thankful of my graciousness,” she said, tone as imperious as ever. “I will tell you... that I am a mother.”
“You are?”
“Yes. To many children, as it is. But when I was taken and imprisoned, there was still time before the scatter for my children to come for me. To save me. They did not.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you are indeed all the things that are going through your head right now. Weak, ignorant, cowardly—”
My lips trembled with each arrow of an insult, my head sinking lower as they pierced my heart.
“But,” she hissed, forcing the word out of her. “You’re here. You’ve crossed worlds. You’ve gone farther for your mother than my own children ever thought to do for me. Yes, you are weak, and you’re stupid, and you know you will likely fail... and none of that got in your way.
“You don’t give up, child of fate, and that counts for far more than you think.”
I was silent for a stretch. “I’m pretty sure that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Did it work? Will you now stop wasting time?”
I chuckled at the snap. Selene was most definitely not the goddess of kind, cuddly things, but she was right. I hadn’t given up. I wasn’t going to do it now.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and let it out slow. “I can do this. This isn’t even the hard part. I haven’t gotten to the Lethe bath yet. That’s where it gets serious.”
Dropping to my knees, I held the bloody charm out in front of me. It was difficult to think of it as anything else, even though I’d seen it in action. It looked like a cute keepsake given by a friend or someone you loved.
And now it’s going to do some good for someone I love.
Carefully, I placed the charm on the barrier.
Nothing happened.
“How long is this supposed to take? Are we totally sure this will work?” I asked. “All the books said only the witch who created the barrier—”
Craaack.
The barrier was nothing. No more than hardened air. Before my eyes, something thick, shiny, and glass-like appeared over the hole, and then it broke.
Quickly, I plucked up the charm and watched transfixed as spiderwebbing cracks snaked across the surface, and then disappeared.
Slowly, tentatively, I reached into the hole, and nothing pushed back.
The barrier was gone.
“Incredible. Once more I’m jealous and thankful stuff like this doesn’t exist in the mortal dominion. We would horrifically abuse these powers.”
“Jump.”
“What about the Lethe water?”
“We’ve discussed this,” she replied. “Lethe water should have no effect on you. You have mastery over the past, child of fate, nothing shall take it from you.”
“I wish there was a way to test it.”
“The waters of the River Lethe run through Hades. Such a thing cannot be found in some paltry little academy. You know the prophecy, girl. You succeed where all others fail. Trust, Aella Vanda, this is your destiny. Will you truly let some water get in your way?”
“No.” I swung my legs over the rim, letting them dangle. “Too long this nightmare has gone on. It ends tonight.”
I pressed off the rim, leaning forward, and—
“Aaaaghhhhh!”
I clapped my hands over my ears, my eyes popping under ear-piercing wails that tore through my eardrums.
“Look out!”
Wrenching to the side, I rolled out of the way as the sword struck the spot I was sitting in.
Ares roared. His stone face twisted in rage, he tore his feet off the plinth and towered over me, lifting his sword for another strike.
I screamed.
“—girl! Run away!”
Her shouts penetrated. Scrambling up, I shot toward the door.
Boom!
The sword struck the stone floor, and ripped through the mortar. They popped apart beneath my boots—launching me off my feet. Something flashed out of the corner of my eye. I crashed screaming onto stone, but it wasn’t the floor.
The statue’s hand closed around me, lifting me into the air. I huffed, puffed, wheezed, and shook as Aphrodite brought me eye to sightless eye.
“Please, don’t k-kill me,” I cried. “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
Raising her head, she locked on to something over mine. She raised her other hand, throwing up the sign for stop. I craned to see, and muffled a scream at the sword halted directly over my head.
Snarling, Ares dropped his sword and fell back, obeying the command of his legendary lover.
Disbelief rocked me to my core and shattered what was left of my belief in logic and reality. One after the other, the statues came to life, tore from their pedestals, and wielded what looked to be artistic additions, as weapons.
Zeus raised his lightning bolt. Hephaestus hefted his hammer. Hestia her pot. Ares cocked his sword. Apollo lifted his lyre. Hermes thrust forth his caduceus. Aphrodite presented her mirror. Artemis notched her bow and arrow. Athena raised her spear. Demeter her cornucopia, and finally Hera, queen of the heavens, raised her scepter, pointing it at the doors.
Ares turned, and slashed his sword through the wall, bringing it crumbling down.
“Aghh!”
The atrium collapsed in on itself, folding like a house of cards. Deadly debris rained from the sky, falling all around me. What saved me from being struck and killed?
Absolutely nothing. Luck itself spared my life as Ares tore apart the walls erected around them, letting in the bracing night air.
The Olympian gods bypassed the massive staircase with a simple step down, emerging into the night.
I trembled so hard, my teeth chattered. What had I done? What were they going to do? There was no coming back from this for me.
“Selene?” I shrieked. “What’s happening?”
No reply came.
I whipped my head this way and that, which was why I saw them the moment they appeared from the shadows.
A typhon emerged from the trees, stopping just short of the gate.
My mind retreated to a small, quiet place. A creature as tall as the eucalyptuses crushed the brush beneath its serpent’s body. Half a dozen tentacles sprouted from his torso, each tipped with three razor-sharp claws. Free of the trees, he spread his batlike wings—their span longer than ten of me lined head to feet.
I looked into his boarish face; yellow, slitted eyes; rows of brown fangs, and spider legs sprouting from his head like hair, then pitched forward and vomited. I couldn’t help it.
Everything from their hideous patchwork bodies to the raging storms that followed them like puppies nipping at their masters’ heels, was meant to instill fear in all who saw them.
Typhons were not merely monsters, they were gods. All of them sons of the first Typhon—offspring of the goddess Gaia and god Tartarus. From Typhon, all monsters were born, granting him the title: father of monsters. But only the sons grown from pieces of his own body became beings as fierce and terrifying as him. According to my textbook, of all the monsters of Olympia, typhons were the most dangerous.
I hoped with all that was in me that I would never meet one in this lifetime or the next. That hope mocked me as two—four—seven more burst through the trees, joining their brother.
“What’s this?” a clear, intelligent voice spoke from one of the typhon’s heads. “Something’s different, brothers, can you tell? I have an inkling that”—he rolled over the gate, crumpling the metal like tissue—“all their pesky protections have gone.”
Raucous laughter swept through the monsters as they one after the other, passed through the barriers that weren’t there.
“No,” I croaked. “No, no, no. What have I done?”
The corroding curse. It didn’t just destroy one barrier. It destroyed them all.
“Summon the others,” the typhon ordered. “Summon them all! Tonight, we feast on demigod flesh.”
“No!”
My shout was a twig before a hurricane. Not protection at all. One of the typhons put its tentacle to its snake head and blew, sounding a spine-chilling, eerie whistle. The forest surrounding the castle came alive.
Winged beasts took to the sky. Moonlight illuminated their tangled hair, feminine torsos, and talons where feet should be. Strangely moving black shadows skittered across the forest path, making for the ruined gate with impossible speed. I nearly threw up again to see they were half woman, half spider.
Arachnes.
Bounding up behind them were a pack of cerberi, and behind them were more echidnas than I wanted to exist in this world or any.
Lamias, empousas, sphinxes, manticores, griffins, boars, gorgons. The depictions in my textbooks came to life, and descended on Deucalion Academy in a terrible, unstoppable wave.
Kazran said the monsters moved out of the area when they accepted the castle was impenetrable. But it wasn’t true. They never left. All this time—
—they’ve been waiting.
Roaring, they poured onto the grounds—their eyes glinting with rage, and intelligence.
The gods came to life.
Zeus struck the ground with his bolt. Electricity ripped through the dirt, surging into the many legs of the arachnes. They stopped dead in their tracks—bodies seizing. Mouths open in silent screams. Zeus tore the bolt free, and they crumpled onto their backs—their legs reaching for the air like every dead, disgusting insect.
The only other god quicker off the mark was Ares. His weapon slashed the air, loping the head typhon’s head off in one smooth move.
“Brother!” Half a dozen tentacles pointed in every direction. “The statues,” a typhon bellowed. “Destroy them!”
The monsters changed course immediately, racing toward the statues, and me.
I thrashed in Aphrodite’s grip, near losing my mind fighting to get free. Harpies zipped across the sky, coming for me and the love goddess fast.
Aphrodite glanced at them, then turned away.
“What are you doing! You have to fight. You have to do something.”
She gave no sign that she heard me. How the hell was I supposed to know if she could?
“At least put me down!”
Aphrodite raised her mirror and pointed it at... nothing. Not the monsters, not the oncoming harpies. The useless lump of stone stood there, presenting her mirrorless mirror to a whole bunch of nothing.
I screamed in frustration— No, fear. The gust of the harpies’ wings blew my hair back. This was it. I was dead.
The ground rumbled. My head snapped around, jaw cracking but nothing coming out.
Gnarled limbs, wood faces, stumpy legs, and razor-sharp twig teeth. The dryads grew before my eyes, rising to as tall as the statues. Taller than their trees.
The screeching tree rat swung her fist, and smashed the harpy out of the air—stopping it just inches from my skull. A boulder soared over my head, taking out another one.
The dryads joined the fight. Crushing, punching, tearing, and destroying all that dare invade their home.
I gaped at Aphrodite. “Of course,” I whispered. “Love doesn’t fight. Love gives others the strength and courage to fight. Is it you?” My voice trembled. “Are you truly the gods of Olympus? I thought you scattered.”
No reply was forthcoming, but my eyes were seeing what my ears didn’t need to comprehend.
Hephaestus caved in cerberus skulls with his hammer. Seemed just because you have a head that sees the future, doesn’t mean you can escape it.
Apollo played his stone lyre, and before him monsters fell—clutching their ears and screaming torment. I couldn’t hear what they did, and all the more thankful I was.
Hera swept her scepter, cutting down swathes of the beast. They hit the air as monsters, and struck the ground as rabbits, squirrels, peacocks, and other harmless creatures.
Hestia, goddess of the home and hearth, tipped over her pot and steaming, burning lava poured out—immolating the typhon who dared to charge her.
Ares had lost his scowl. He beamed with pure wicked glee as he cut, sliced, and hacked every monster in his sight—even the ones who turned to flee, he chased them down.
The gods were amazing. They were wonderful. They were powerful, but they were outnumbered.
Monsters kept coming—streaming everywhere all at once.
A swarm of arachnes shot unending streams of webs at Apollo, lashing his arms, legs, face, torso, and lyre. He went down with a boom that shook the earth.
Lamias tore trees from the earth with their bare hands, and with every fallen tree, a dryad crumpled and died. A murder of echidnas ripped Athena’s spear from her grip, and impaled her with it. They slithered over her fallen form and rushed the part of the stairs still standing.
Demeter unleashed her cornucopia. Lashing, twisting, stalks of wheat snaked around their necks, and squeezed.
I looked away as they choked to death.
“There’s too many of them! If they get to the castle—” My mind rebelled, not letting myself imagine the carnage that would ensue. “I have to do something. I have to go back, and never use that fucking charm!
“Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos,” I called. “I don’t know if you can hear me, or if I just tell myself you can so all of this feels a little less impossible! Crutch or not, I need your help. Let me into the thread space, please. I have to undo this. I have to go back.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, body tense and brows trembling. With all my might I thought, wished, and manifested where I wanted to be. I scrunched my face so hard, I gave myself a headache, but no matter how many times I opened, closed, opened, closed, and opened my eyes, the abyss outside of time did not appear.
Hermes’s feet tangled in webs and down he went. Two typhons ripped out their tentacles, and launched them over Hermes’s flailing caduceus. They flopped on at the foot of the stairs—writhing, oozing... and growing.
Two full-grown typhons sprouted from the torn-off limbs and charged the stairs, not in the least bit slowed by the fact they came into existence seconds before.
“They’re on the stairs,” I screamed into the melee. “We have to do something. If they get inside—”
All of those innocent people will wake up one day, and find monsters in the one place they’re supposed to feel safe. Those lucky to survive will never be the same.
And it’ll be all my fault.
“Zeus! Hestia!” I screamed. “You have to turn around. You have to stop them.”
Even as I pleaded with them, I knew it was hopeless. The statues and dryads were overwhelmed. They were barely staying on their feet as wave after wave of monsters attacked and ripped trees out by the roots.
Typhons reached the top of the stairs.
“Clotho!” Calling their names wasn’t working. Maybe screaming them would. “Help me. I have to undo this. Help!”
The typhons halted at the threshold. Suddenly, they seized up, their horrific mishmash bodies shaking, and bellows pouring from their throats.
They exploded.
My brain fritzed out, unable to comprehend what I was seeing. What happened to them? Who did that?
Emerging from the entrance was the small, but unmistakable figure of that weird freak. It wasn’t possible for me to forget the guy who shouted his love for me while I clawed a curse out of his arm.
Did he do this?
“Titans, spread out,” he ordered. “Battle formation alpha. Fliers, in the sky. Archers, the arachnes. Children of Demeter, protect the dryads. Children of Ares, hold this line! No monsters cross!”
“Yes, kiri!”
His words were absolute. Demigods poured out of the academy—fearless like I’d never seen. Flying demigods shot into the air, attacking the harpies. A silver streak cut through them, flying faster than all.
Steel-tipped wings flashed in the moonlight, illuminating the rage of the harpies. I didn’t know what kind of flying beast Sirena was. I simply knew the harpies were no match for her. Her wings sliced through theirs, dropping them out of the sky. They clawed, snapped, and converged on her, and their strikes all glanced off her impenetrable skin.
The trees themselves came to life. They were like liquid rubber—bending and moving with impossible dexterity. Their branches snaked down, claimed the lamias trying to rip them from the ground, and struck their heads, threw them away, or ripped their claws loose.
Beaten away from the trees, vines shot from the ground, lashed them down, and Hyacinth went to work. She ran along, brushing her hand over each trapped monster. Emaciated husks were left in her wake.
Ajax was right behind her. Roaring, he punched his fists together and floating spheres of water, too many to count, appeared over his head. He threw out his arms and they flew—splashing over typhons, engulfing echidnas, and claiming all the heads of a cerberus. Right there on dry land, they flailed and slashed uselessly at the orbs—drowning.
This was the power of the Titans.
I’d never understand why this world had to be so horrible to the Sisypheans, but it was then I understood why they needed the Titans. The monster scourge was every nightmare come to life and bursting through your door, but the Titans...
They were the monsters’ nightmare.
I hung there, a transfixed captive as children of Ares blew up—exploding any monster that tried to climb the stairs. Children of Hephaestus summoned fire and weapons, burning and plunging them into the hearts of their attackers. Monsters staggered and stumbled away from a child of Dionysus—losing all control of their faculties. They kept tripping over themselves until they fell into a trap.
It was brutal. Mayhem. The horrors of blood and battle.
And then he came.
“RISE!”
Drakos’s bellow echoed through the academy. All around him, dead, mangled, burned, and mutilated monsters rose on the limbs they had left, and attacked.
Typhon against typhon. Lamias tearing echidnas apart. Arachnes shot their webs at the harpies, taking them out of the sky. Cerberi ripped the heads off empousas.
In what felt like minutes, but was likely hours, Headmaster Drakos and his army of the dead slaughtered every monster still fighting, and chased away any monster who valued their life.
Sunlight peeked over the horizon, bathing the scene in brilliant bands of amber and gold. Such beauty in contrast to horror.
Chest heaving, Drakos snapped his head up, looking to Zeus. His hair was wild, a fitting match for his torn, ripped clothes. “The barrier is down. How? Who is responsible for this!”
Aphrodite turned and brought me shrieking to the ground, dropping me right in front of Headmaster Drakos.
He snarled, lips peeling back from his teeth. “You.”
Drakos concluded at the same time I did, why Aphrodite refused to let me go. She couldn’t let the culprit get away.
“Come with me, Miss Vanda. We have much to discuss.”
He stalked off, knowing I would follow. His dead minions already had hold of me.