by Aimee Carter
“You’re infuriating,” I muttered, holding out my hand. With a smug look, James took it. “I don’t know how to bring you along.”
“You’ll figure it out,” he said. “I trust you.”
“Trusting me has nothing to do with what I can and can’t do.”
“Do exactly the same thing you did when you took me to see Milo and Cronus,” he said. “Don’t even think about it.”
Easier said than done. The cacophony of noise around us made it difficult to concentrate, but if I didn’t, then there was no telling what Cronus would do if he thought I’d backed out of our deal. So I had to. No waffling allowed.
I focused on my body, becoming aware of every inch of it, and I extended my reach to James as much as I could. It felt forced, as if I were doing nothing more than imagining it, but James knew the stakes. If he was willing to risk it, then I was willing to try.
The noise of Tokyo funneled around us, a wall of vibrations that sounded like everything and nothing at all. The roar grew louder until finally it overtook me completely, and then—
I was drowning.
Water filled my lungs as I struggled to do the human thing and breathe. I tasted salt and flailed, my hand still clasping James’s, but that didn’t help. He was as much of a rock as I was, and together we sank deeper and deeper into the pitch-black ocean.
We were going to die. Or at least be trapped at the bottom of the sea for the rest of eternity. Seaweed would wrap around our limbs, holding us down until the ocean was ready to pull us farther into her depths. By the time we managed to escape, time would be up, and Cronus would believe I’d abandoned him completely. Millions more would be dead, and nothing I said or did would convince Cronus to stop.
Nothing.
Chapter 12
Drowning
I opened my mouth to cry out for help, but I had no more breath left in me. I couldn’t see the surface. Everything blended together in a nightmare of darkness, and terror seized me so completely that I couldn’t think.
This was it. This was the end.
I really should’ve let Ava teach me how to swim.
“Having trouble?” said a gruff voice beside me, as clear as if we were talking on the surface. I twisted around and nearly fainted with relief.
Phillip, Lord of the Oceans, floated beside us, looking as if he were walking on dry land. I didn’t care that he must have known what we were doing or what I’d planned; I didn’t care that if he knew, Walter must, too. As long as I didn’t spend the rest of eternity at the bottom of the sea, that would all be worth it.
Help us, I mouthed, gesturing to the hand that held James’s. The water was so dark that I couldn’t see him anymore.
“Of course,” said Phillip, and he looked in the direction that must have been up. A strong current caught the three of us, carrying us toward the surface with formidable speed. As soon as the blue sky became visible through the water, the tide dragged us to the side, and I clawed my way toward the surface. Just a few more inches.
“Your stop, I believe,” said Phillip. “Be safe.”
I nodded and mouthed my thanks. I could see James through the water now, and he was grinning at his uncle and giving him a stupid wave. Figured. We’d nearly drowned, and he was smiling.
Finally we broke the surface, and I coughed up an impossible amount of seawater. Somehow my feet found the shifting sand, and I stood shakily, my knees knocking together. But we were out of the ocean and still had a few minutes left before Cronus expected me. That was the important part.
Something flashed at the edge of my vision, and I looked around wildly, my heart pounding. For a split second, I thought I saw a dark-haired figure looming on the cliffs, but I blinked, and it was gone.
Deep breaths. We were out of the ocean, and I had nothing to panic about anymore. Unless an eternal Titan hell-bent on destroying everything I loved counted.
Cool waves lapped at my shins, and James stood beside me, shaking like a leaf. “All right,” he rasped. “I admit that—that asking you to do that without practicing first was a—a mistake.”
“No shit,” I said in a voice that trembled as much as his did. We stood a few yards from the shoreline of Cronus’s island, and the palace loomed above us, a giant shadow against the bright sky. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live,” he said wryly. “At least until we get inside.”
“How are we getting through the barrier?” I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it, thrumming in my bones like a force field. If Cronus couldn’t penetrate it—at least not enough to leave, even though his reach now extended as far as Cairo—then how were we supposed to?
“We walk,” said James. “The barrier’s meant to keep Cronus trapped, not us. Walter even insisted we didn’t modify it to include Calliope. Until we realized she had you, of course.”
“You mean—” I faltered. I should’ve tried harder to escape. Somehow I could’ve found a way. Phillip could’ve picked me up in the ocean and brought me to safety, or—
I steeled myself against the barrage of possibilities that flooded my mind. Playing what-if wouldn’t change anything. I had tried to escape. I’d done everything I could. And right now, all I could focus on was how to make sure things finally went my way.
“I mean what?” said James, and I shook my head.
“Never mind. Let’s go.”
With my hand still in his and the taste of salt on my tongue, I dug my heels into the sand and pushed forward, trudging out of the ocean to meet my fate.
Unnatural silence settled over the island. The cliffs overlooking the shore stood tall and unyielding, but despite their imposing height, James spent one of the few precious minutes we had left trying to find the quickest way up.
“It’s not going to work,” I said, annoyed. We were wasting too much time. “Let’s just go around.”
“That’s miles out of our way,” said James.
“Then give me your arm and I’ll get us there.”
He snorted. “You really think I’m going to put myself through that again?”
“Do you really have a choice?” I wobbled across the beach, the sand giving way with each step I took. “Walk or reappear, James. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m leaving in ten seconds with or without you.”
Muttering something under his breath that I didn’t quite catch, he hurried over to me. “If we wind up in the ocean again, I’m leaving.”
“You’re the one who insisted I had to bring you along in the first place,” I said. “Besides, stop pretending you didn’t like that swim. I saw you grinning.”
“Yeah, sheepishly. Phillip’s never going to let me live that one down.”
If they were both alive at the end of this war. Taking his hand, I closed my eyes. “No water this time,” I promised.
The air around us changed, the warm ocean breeze replaced with the stale scent of ancient rock. I sighed with relief. We were in the bedroom Calliope had kept me in for nine months, and there wasn’t a drop of water in sight.
“Much better,” whispered James.
I reached for the door. It was locked. “Dammit,” I muttered, but before I could complain or suggest another trip through nothingness, James touched the handle, and I heard a faint click.
“Try again.”
This time the door opened without a hitch. I raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Together we sneaked out into the abandoned ha
llway. It wasn’t nearly as decadent as the one outside the nursery, and I glanced around uneasily. I had no idea how to get there from here.
Each end of the hallway looked identical. Left or right, it didn’t matter, but Ava had pulled me right when Henry had attacked the palace. Good enough place to start.
“This way,” I said, creeping through the darkness, and James followed a few steps behind me. Someone had fixed the damage Henry had done to the castle, making the passageway clear.
“Are you sure?” he said dubiously.
“Aren’t you supposed to always know where you’re going?”
“Not in Titan territory. You’re positive it isn’t the other way?”
I ignored him. They had to have some way to move from floor to floor. I tried to mentally picture the parts of the palace I knew, but I couldn’t remember ever seeing a staircase.
“Kate,” said James with a hint of desperation in his voice. “I think you’re going in the wrong—”
A crash of metal against metal ripped through the air, and a man screamed. In an instant, James yanked me back so we were both leaning flat against the wall.
“What—” I started, but he pressed his palm against my mouth. A cold giggle echoed down the hallway, and I turned my head enough to spot Calliope exiting a room at the end of the corridor.
Humming to herself, she stepped through another doorway and disappeared, quickly followed by a stooped figure that couldn’t have been anyone but Ava. Where was Cronus? And who was inside that room?
“Nicholas,” breathed James. “He’s alive.”
My conscience pulled me toward Nicholas, but I’d come here for one reason and one reason only. As much as it killed me to sneak past his cell, if I wanted any real shot at saving my son, I had to.
“We’ll come back for him,” I said, half a promise to myself and half a promise to James. We wouldn’t have the chance to come back for Nicholas though, and we both knew it.
James led the way this time, and despite my hissed protests, he opened the door that Calliope had disappeared through. I held my breath, certain she’d be waiting for us on the other side, fully aware we were there, but instead—
“Guess there really is a stairway to heaven, after all,” said James with a grin, and if I wasn’t already on edge, I would’ve laughed at his stupid joke. We hurried up the stairs in silence. Two levels up, I nodded toward the door, and he pushed it open wide enough for one of us to fit through.
“Me first,” I said. If Cronus was waiting on the other side, he wouldn’t attack me. James, on the other hand, hadn’t exactly been invited. Slipping through the door into the empty peacock-blue-and-gold hallway, I waited the space of three heartbeats before I flagged him to follow. “Which one is Milo’s room?” I hadn’t spent any time outside the nursery, but during my vision, James had left.
“Fourth one down,” he said. “Kate, if anything goes wrong—”
“Hello there.”
Cronus’s voice, frigid and void of compassion, slid down my spine. I turned on my heel, automatically stepping in front of James to shield him, but it was an empty gesture. If Cronus wanted to kill James, he wouldn’t need my permission.
“I told you I was coming,” I said icily, but it was nothing compared to the way Cronus spoke. He could freeze the sun if he wanted to.
“Yes, but I do not recall consenting to a guest.”
“I can’t very well head back to Olympus with Milo. James is going to take him for me.”
“Is that so?” said Cronus, and James nodded. His eyes were too bright and his jaw rigid, but he raised his chin and stared Cronus down.
Terror seized me. Cronus wouldn’t hurt me no matter how insolent I was, not as long as he thought I would be his. But James was expendable—barely anything more to Cronus than the millions of people he had already wiped out with a single thought.
“Yes,” said James. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to do what I came here to do.”
“By all means.” A strange smile twisted across Cronus’s too-perfect lips, and he stepped aside with a flourish.
What was Cronus playing at? James moved forward, and I went with him. If this was some kind of trap, if Cronus had known and was only setting James up—
Cronus didn’t try to stop me, though. James and I hurried toward the nursery, and my heart pounded. Was Milo still here? Had Cronus done something to him? James and I reached for the handle at the same time, but before either of us touched the metal fixture, the door burst open.
Calliope.
At first her blue eyes rounded with shock, but after a beat, she smirked. She looked like she was my mother and Sofia’s age now, much more appropriate for one of the original six, but that did nothing to distract me from the fact that she cradled Milo in her arms.
“Kate,” she purred. “How good of you to join us. Here I was thinking you were smart enough to stay away. Silly me.”
“Kate?” said a small voice behind her, and Ava appeared in the doorway. “Oh, my god, Kate! Cronus said you were alive, but I didn’t think—”
“Silence,” said Calliope. Ava immediately quieted, but her cheeks flushed and her eyes danced with light. For the first time in nearly a year, she looked alive. Calliope cleared her throat and turned to James with a simpering smile. “Darling, it’s been far too long.”
“I’m not your darling. Give me the baby,” said James, holding out his arms.
“Why would I do something like that?” she said with a sniff. “Callum is my son.”
I wanted to sink my nails into that pretty little face of hers and claw her eyes out. “He’s my son, not yours,” I snarled. “Cronus and I made a deal. I’m here, and Milo leaves with James.”
“Oh?” Calliope peered over my shoulder. “Why wasn’t I part of this deal, Father?”
“It was not your deal to make,” said Cronus. “You will do as I say and uphold my word.”
“What word is that?” said Calliope venomously, her grip tightening around my son.
“The baby will be returned to Kate’s family, and she will remain here with me.”
Two red spots appeared on Calliope’s cheeks, and she jolted strangely, as if she were fighting against some kind of compulsion. “And if I don’t?”
“Then I will no longer have any use for you.”
She hissed. “After everything I’ve done for you, after everything I’ve sacrificed—”
Fury rolled off of her in waves, and I had to force myself not to step away. I was so close to Milo that all I had to do was reach out and touch him. I couldn’t leave him again.
“Is this your final decision?” said Cronus. “To part from our allegiance for the sake of keeping a child that is not yours?”
“He should be mine.” Calliope moved back toward the nursery, but Ava blocked her way, a magenta glow emanating from her body. “Don’t make me do this, Father.”
A glint of metal beside Milo caught my eye. Calliope pulled the blanket back and, before any of us could react, she pressed the dagger Nicholas had forged, the only weapon that could kill an immortal, against Milo’s throat.
“I will not let him go,” said Calliope, calmer now as fear filled the air like poison. “You’ve given away something that wasn’t yours to give, Father.”
Behind me, Cronus sighed as if he were dealing with a petulant child. Not a murderer who had no problem killing again. “I will not ask you a second time. Turn over the child or face the wrath of the
King of the Titans.”
“Does the wrath of the Queen of the Gods mean nothing then?” said Calliope. Paralyzed with fear, I couldn’t take my eyes from my son. I didn’t care about a pissing match between them; all I wanted was for Calliope to move that blade away from Milo’s neck.
“Calliope, you don’t want to do that,” said Ava, inching closer. Calliope wheeled around, her teeth bared as she clutched Milo to her chest.
“Don’t you dare use your powers on me,” she growled. Lifting the handle of the dagger, she pressed the point against Milo’s chest. “What will it be, Father? Your deal or my allegiance?”
Milo let out a soft cry, and I lunged forward. But before I reached him, Cronus grabbed my shoulders and pulled me against his chest, and no matter how hard I struggled, he didn’t budge.
“I will not break my word to Kate,” said Cronus without emotion, and I elbowed him hard in the stomach. Nothing. “Do what you must, but make no mistake. Our allegiance hinges on that baby’s life.”
I thought I saw a flash of hurt on Calliope’s face, but it lasted only a fraction of a second. “So you’ve chosen Kate over me,” she said, practically spitting my name. “Then it hardly matters what I do, does it? Your allegiance will never be mine, and no longer will mine be yours.”
She raised the dagger, and a scream ripped through me and echoed through the palace. I couldn’t watch, but I couldn’t look away in the last seconds of Milo’s short life either. I couldn’t abandon him like that.
The world darkened around the edges, and for one beautiful moment I thought I was dying. My body went numb, my mind quieted into silence, and that second hung between us, frozen. I would live with this fear forever if it meant this moment never ended—if Calliope never moved the blade closer, if Milo never died, if we all stayed this way for eternity.
