Releasing the Gods

by Leia Stone

The god nodded. “Shame I missed those battles stuck in my prison.”

  Right. Such a shame. #Not

  “Let’s do it.”

  Hound had been digging the entire time and now Cronus reached in and came back out with pieces of bone and hair.

  God… Bile rose in my throat at the sight of the decayed bodies.

  “We’ll be quick. Then we can awaken Hyperion. After that, it should be smooth sailing.”

  I nodded. Of course. Easy-peasy.

  Cronus got down closer to the pieces of his family and started doing his god thing. I rubbed at my stomach because the wild mushroom soup wasn’t sitting that well in my gut. I didn’t usually get queasy, not from food or even drinking all night. Mild hangover was the most I suffered. I’d thought it was my great metabolism, but maybe it was the minor god genetics I was apparently sporting.

  So … this was not something I was used to dealing with. My stomach churned and rumbled. God, please don’t let me vomit on Cronus, or even worse… #StomachFlu #GetTheLysol

  “I need your assistance again,” he said, distracting me from my stomach issues.

  Shaking it off, striding closer, I attempted to smile. I didn’t look at the bits of Titan. I just stared at Cronus, and that perfect bone structure that should have tipped anyone off to this dude being a god.

  “Just touch you again?” I asked, wanting to help him. I’d grown quite fond of the big man. Part of me wondered how I’d cope when our bond was broken. Whenever that happened.

  He nodded, sparing me a quick glance from whatever he was doing.

  The moment my hand landed on his arm, the necklace burned at my throat and my chest went tight like someone was squeezing it. Ouch.

  Heat rushed through me, and I was starting to see that power felt like heat … good to know. The rumbling of my stomach increased, and I forgot about the heat and worried again about the vomiting.

  Lifting my free hand, I pressed it to my mouth—Cronus didn’t notice, focused on the resurrection.

  “Ah, shit,” I said as the heat and dizziness increased. There was a small explosion from the Titan pieces, knocking me back to land on the ground a few feet away. Coughing and heaving to try to get breath back, I managed to roll over in time to vomit up whatever was in my stomach, followed by yellowish-green bile. Cool hands brushed my hair back and rubbed across my forehead as I heaved and gagged.

  “Are you okay?” Cronus asked, leaning in closer, concern etched into his features.

  I jerked my face away. “Ugh, gods, don’t get too close. I’m a hot mess.” I did not want this sexy god smelling my vomit breath.

  His lips twitched and I wasn’t sure if I should be pissed or happy that I amused him. “I’ll get you a toothbrush,” he said softly, his hands cradling my face. When they vanished a second later, a deep-seated sadness took root in my chest and I pushed it away. Locked it down.

  I had always been alone. I could not get attached. Everyone in my life left eventually, and Cronus—a freaking god—would be no different. In fact, there was probably a chance he’d leave sooner than I thought. A sharp pain started in my chest, and at first I thought it was my melancholy, but pretty quickly I realized it was the bond. Shit! He left me and I was about to be hit with a shit storm of pain.

  But then he was back so fast, literally only a few seconds, and the pain settled right back to nothing. In his hands he had bottled water, some toiletries, and a backpack for me to keep them all in. “I got money while I was there as well,” he said, and my eyes automatically went to his crotch. #DickBars should be worth more.

  “Thank you. The bond was just starting to hurt when you returned.” Concern etched across his face and I hurried on. “Actually, how are you able to leave me at all without getting yanked back?”

  I started brushing my teeth.

  “When I go to the past, it’s before we had the bond, so I’m able to leave you for a short time without getting pulled back.”

  My heart wrenched. He’s able to leave me … for some reason that pulled at my chest.

  “When I dropped Zeus in the underworld, I couldn’t be gone more than a second or it would have seriously injured us both.”

  I sighed, spitting out the toothpaste and looking behind him at a swirl of blue magic.

  “Did we resurrect Crius and Koios?” I whispered, pulling myself to stand. My head and stomach were both still complaining, but the vomiting had stopped, so I was grateful. I wasn’t sure how many more bodies I could help him awaken if this is what happened to me when I did.

  Cronus nodded. “Yeah, they’re still forming.”

  I looked around him and the blue magic that illuminated two frozen, giant gods. Like, twenty feet tall giants.

  “They’re … big,” I choked out.

  Cronus snorted. “They take that size as an intimidation technique. It rarely works on anyone other than humans, and for the most part, humans are ants compared to us and it’s not needed.”

  I wanted to punch him for that, but I was too sick to bother. No one was unaware that he was a hubristic asshole; by now it was almost a walking joke, so I ignored him. Moving a little away, I began to freshen up, amazed that he’d thought to include some wipes, tissues, and a few other items. I blew my nose, shock rushing through me at the sight of the red-spotted tissue. I blinked at it, before scrunching it up and shoving it in the bag. Bad mushrooms. Bad, bad mushrooms. Clearly it was not reacting well to my body. I was about to become a victim of mushroom-related murder.

  Rhea probably poisoned me to get me away from Cronus. Only, if I died from poison, he would as well, right? So it couldn’t be Rhea. I could already tell that she still had feelings for her ex-husband.

  “Maisey.”

  I turned at his call. He hadn’t called me human. Maybe we were making progress after my accidental “ending the world” incident.

  I walked over, feeling unsteady, but not as bad as before. Crius and Koios stood in front of him, no longer giant size. The blue light had melted away and they were now fully resurrected and stood eye to eye with Cronus, both hot as fuck, and both pissed off, judging by their scowls and crossed arms.

  “We were right in the middle of a god orgy, Cronus,” one of them snapped. “Your timing, as always, is the worst.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes. The world was ending and he was worried about an orgy? Probably his fifth this week. I wasn’t that far away from Cronus; the bond was keeping us reasonably close, but apparently no one had noticed me until right that minute.

  Two sets of dark eyes locked on me.

  The brothers were similar looking, with dark hair slicked back off their handsome faces, dark skin, ripped bodies, and bucketloads of sex appeal. The one closest to me raked his gaze across my body. “And who do we have here?” he asked, his hand lifting toward me.

  Cronus stood between us. “My human. Don’t touch her, Koios.”

  Ah, so now I knew which one was Koios. He was slightly prettier, finer-boned than his brother, but definitely masculine as hell. He was also the one complaining about his orgy. #ManWhore

  Cronus moved out of the way and I found the eyes on me were more curious, assessing me, trying to figure out why the powerful, scary Titan was protecting me.

  “We have a life debt between us,” I explained. “There’s nothing special about me. No need to try and figure me out. I’ve got nothing to figure out.”

  #OpenBook #NothingToSeeHere

  This time, Crius was the one to step forward; his smile was far less predatory than his brother’s. “We’ll be the judge of that,” he said softly, starting to circle me. Cronus, at this point, looked resigned, but I noticed he was pressed to my right side, not giving an inch when Crius tried to step closer.

  I was too tired and sick for this shit. “Can we fucking focus,” I snapped. “Right now the sins are out there slowly killing the world. We don’t have time for...” I waved my hands. “Whatever this is.”

  Crius and Koios both jerked to a stop; their eyes blaze
d with dark light as they turned to Cronus. “The sins?” they said together, softly.

  “They’re free,” Cronus confirmed. “All nine of them.”

  The brothers cursed and then started to pull weapons from behind their backs. Each held a heavy sickle in one hand and a dagger in the other.

  “Has Sickness manifested?” one of the brothers asked.

  Cronus nodded. “Rhea has awoken and is handling him.”

  “Strife and Turmoil will be next. Do we have the box?” the other brother asked.

  Cronus cleared his throat and pointed to me. “She is the box. For now. I’m going to wake Hyperion. He’ll know what to do.”

  Crius and Koios nodded, “You always favored Hyperion,” Crius said with a bit of a smirk.

  Cronus shrugged. “He’s the only sane one out of you all.”

  The two brothers shared a look that said that maybe they thought Cronus was the insane one, but they wisely kept it to themselves. “Good to be back. Once we catch Strife and Turmoil, I’ll find a nice human to bed.”

  “Ugh.” I was feeling nauseous again and his talk of sex was grossing me out for some reason.

  Koios stepped closer, eyes alight. “Please tell me you’re a virgin.”

  “Fuck off,” I shouted. I hated manwhores, and I hadn’t been a virgin since I was seventeen.

  Cronus’ hand shot out lightning-quick and reached around the back of his brother’s neck, forcing him to bow on his knees. “You will apologize to the daughter of Selene.”

  At the mention of my lineage, the Titan’s eyes widened. “My apologies, daughter of Selene.”

  Cronus released him. “Try to only get a few dozen women pregnant this round, okay, boys?”

  They both shared devilish grins.

  The cemetery started to sway then and I had to hold on to Cronus’ shoulder to keep from falling.

  “I’m tired.”

  He frowned. “Okay, I’ll tell you what. We’ll go wake Hyperion, then I’ll get us a nice four-star hotel. Hyperion is second to me in regard to power. We need him awake in order to take any rest.”

  I just nodded. Too tired to argue. How I was going to help him wake one more god without dying, I had no idea.

  “Don’t fuck up,” he snapped at his brothers before grabbing Hound and me, and then everything went black for a moment.

  We landed on a beautiful cliff top overlooking the ocean. “Where are we?” My stomach was cramping now, and I was really hoping it wasn’t going to turn into diarrhea. #Please #NotSexy

  “Positano, Italy. Hyperion is just inside this cave.” He grabbed hold of me and turned me around to the opening of a large, dark cave.

  “I have bad luck with caves,” I told the giant god.

  He looked at me, brows turned down. “Are you still sick? You don’t look well. Maybe we shouldn’t wake Hyperion just yet ... give you a chance to recover from the last.”

  I shook myself. “No, if he’s powerful, let’s wake him. Then I’ll rest.”

  Cronus nodded, reaching out to grasp my fingers. He frowned. “You’re warm.”

  “I’m fine. I think Rhea just poisoned my mushrooms,” I confessed. Joking. Or not.

  His eyes widened a little as if he wondered if Rhea was capable of such a thing. I was half human, and even with the bond, I would probably die first and he might not even get ill until well after me, if at all.

  “No … she wouldn’t.” But there was some alarm on his face.

  I was about to retort when Hound started barking like crazy.

  Pulling me along, fingers interlaced, we entered the cave, crossing to the dog.

  “No!” Cronus let my hand go and made a fist, punching it right into the recently upturned earth.

  “What is it?” It looked like someone had already been here.

  Cronus fell to his knees, digging through the rocks. “Jealousy … he must have known where Hyperion was laid to rest. The sins are faster and smarter this time.”

  Shit, that didn’t sound good, I really wanted to help but my brain wasn’t thinking right. I was burning up. “Umm, Cronus … can you go back in time and get me some Tylenol?”

  Maybe I should hit up urgent care, make sure Rhea hadn’t poisoned me. #NotJokingNow

  When the god of time looked up at me, his eyes went wide.

  “No,” he bit out. “No! Fuck!”

  He was staring at my chest, so I looked down. Skin that used to be pale and flawless was now covered in a red speckly rash. The visible veins below were black, spanning out across my body like a fancy new tattoo.

  “I don’t think this is poison,” I said faintly. Poison didn’t give you rashes and black blood, right?

  Cronus stood, very carefully, and walked over to me. He cupped my face and forced me to look up at him. With his thumbs, he pulled my eyelids up and the dizziness got worse.

  “Fuck.” He swore. “Maisey … did Sickness … touch you?”

  My mind jolted. I mean, technically ... I think his fingers brushed my arm back in Egypt, but it was only very light, for a second.

  “Barely,” I squeaked.

  Cronus let my face go and started to pace the cave. I just stood there, hot, sick, and dizzy, watching him wear footprints into the dirt.

  “What is it?” I begged.

  “I’m a Titan, so it doesn’t affect me, but you’re half human.”

  “WHAT is it?” I asked again, with as much force as my feverish body could manage.

  He stopped and faced me. “The plague. Sickness gave you the plague.”

  Oh fuck.

  #ThisWasNotGoingOnInsta

  Chapter 14

  Like it had been waiting for the acknowledgement of its ferocity, the plague suddenly sent me into a massive coughing fit, and by the time I wheezed for air, I wasn’t sure my lungs were even functioning.

  “The plague! As in the same one that killed millions?”

  Cronus had been holding me while I coughed up a lung, and he didn’t release me, but he did move back a little to see my face again. “Sickness loved the plague … so that’s his first line of attack. He’s probably modified it a bit, had some fun with this strain.”

  Fun. Right. Everything hurt so badly I wanted to sob, but I was too parched to spare the tears. “How are they so strong?” I whispered. “How do they have the power to do this?”

  Cronus’ face shuttered as his lips thinned. He opened his mouth and shut it, before shaking his head. “I’ve mentioned that the sins were gods. Originally.”

  I nodded. That I did already know, but I hadn’t learned anything else about how they turned from gods to sins.

  Cronus propped me up as I started to slide to the ground—my legs were weak bastards.

  “The nine gods were lesser deities who discovered that evil was more powerful to them than whatever they were before. Sickness … he used to be vitality, the god of vitality, but he figured out how to reverse his gifts, and in doing so it powered him to astronomical levels. All of the other sins were the same, and eventually they grew so strong that the human race was on the brink of extinction, so the Titans had to combine our powers and lock them away. We did this over and over until eventually, with the help of Selene and some others, we formed the final box. They should never have seen the light of day again.”

  #PossiblyMyFault

  I was opening my mouth to apologize, and suggest maybe this plague was karma, when three beings popped into existence right in front of us, lighting up the entire cave.

  Cronus reacted in an instant, placing me back against the rough rocky wall and standing protectively in front of me. Propping myself against the rocks, I used one hand to push myself forward so I could see who had Cronus so riled up.

  “Moirai!” he rumbled. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  I finally managed to peek around his broad shoulders, and squinted at the three old women there. I mean, old old—like, one step out of the grave, skin wrinkled with life and experience, eyes still sharp and spitting
as they huddled close. At first I thought they were too old to stand straight, but as one rose in the center, I realized it was more that they liked to stay close to each other.

  The center one walked forward with ease, displaying none of the frailty someone her age should.

  “Hello, Uncle,” she said softly, her voice sending tingles down my spine and panic through my chest. Somehow I knew that these three were powerful, dangerous, and scary. More so than most of the gods we’d encountered.

  What had Cronus called them…? Something moiey? She called him uncle, which was odd considering they looked a hundred years old.

  “No one has seen you for years, Clotho,” Cronus said, not moving out of his defensive position. Hound was at his side, but he didn’t attack the old woman. “I thought maybe you'd all died.” I could tell he would not be sad if they had passed on while he was in the prison.

  She didn’t react; the other two hurried closer to her. “You never could stay on your path, could you, Cronus? Always weaving different strands, keeping us busy. Fate cannot be circumvented.”

  Fate. This couldn’t be … the Fates … could it?

  I tapped Cronus on the shoulder, almost falling down as I lost contact with the wall for a second. “Who are they?” I whispered, hoping their hearing was as old as their faces.

  “The Fates,” he confirmed my suspicions, apparently not worried about being overheard. “The three who weave the fates of the world, sisters, born of Zeus, and absolute pains in my ass.”

  Jesus. Insult them right to their faces, why don’t you. “Uh, shouldn’t we be nice to them?” I said quickly. “Not only are they old as fuck, they can also like … cut our fate strings and shit, right?”

  I was pretty sure that was right. Why the hell didn’t I pay closer attention to my Greek mythology classes?

  The one Cronus called Clotho locked her gaze on me. “We are not so weak as to be insulted by this one. There is a path for all, and we do not interfere.”

  Cronus snorted, and I was sure there was a story there about when they’d screwed up.

  “We also choose how we look,” one of the other two added. “Don’t judge the inside on what you see on the outside. That’s the first lesson today.”