The Struggle

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Don’t come any closer,” I warned, having no idea if it understood a single thing I said.

  The thing shuffled another step forward.

  “I think it likes you,” commented Alex, from the other side of the room.

  Power built in the center of my chest, right behind the mark of Apollo, reminding me that I didn’t need a dagger to fight. I lifted a hand, hoping that whatever this thing was, it was a friendly and would listen to me. “Stop.”

  Stretching out a gnarly hand in my direction, it opened its mouth in a lipless snarl, revealing ragged, broken teeth.

  Okay.

  Probably not friendly.

  I reacted, tapping into the power—into akasha. Summoning the element of air, I felt the energy whip down my arm. A gust of wind hit the thing in its chest.

  It flew backward.

  Alex let out a strangled sound as she and Aiden dropped to the floor. The thing shot across the chasm, slamming into the opposite wall in a way that reminded me of a fly hitting the windshield of a car going about 100 miles per hour. A gruesome sound burned my ears as it exploded like a tick full of blood.

  “Oh my gosh.” I dropped my hand.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Gable moaned. “Seriously. I might vomit.”

  Alex and Aiden rose, their eyes wide as they looked over the rift at me. Aiden’s dark brows rose halfway up his forehead. “Whoa,” he said.

  “I . . . I didn’t mean to do that,” I said, swallowing hard. “I mean, I meant to stop it but not make it go splat.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t accidentally set one of us on fire,” Luke commented.

  My head snapped in his direction. “I only did that, like, once!”

  Luke grinned.

  “That was kind of impressive.” Alex looked over her shoulder, cringing. “I can control air, but not with that kind of force.”

  “Well, that’s because she’s a real demigod,” Deacon said.

  Alex rolled her eyes. “We’re real demigods—”

  “Guys. I think we’re about to get more visitors.” Luke pointed at the chasm. More hands had appeared. “Let’s argue about being real demigods later.”

  They came out of the rift faster than the lone one, all in the same rotting, decaying shape. Their bare-boned feet clicked off the pieces of tile.

  There were almost a dozen.

  I’d never seen anything like this.

  Their jaws snapped, exposing ragged teeth that could easily tear through skin.

  “Zombies are all fun and games until they’re standing right in front of you,” Deacon said.

  One of them, a tall one, broke free from the pack, lurching toward Alex. She hopped back as she threw out her arm. A second later, the zombie-looking thing skidded backward, falling into the fissure.

  “Deacon,” Aiden said calmly. Smoke drifted off the tips of his fingers. “Get Gable into the kitchen. Keep him there.”

  For once, Deacon obeyed without argument. Whipping around, he grabbed the stunned-into-silence Gable and hauled ass to the kitchen, slamming the door behind them just as one of the so-very-dead-looking things howled a sound of rage and blood, sending a shiver down my spine.

  They attacked.

  There was no time to figure out what was happening, what these things really were, or why they were coming after us. The things could move fast. Half went toward Alex and the guys. The rest raced in my direction, and for a split second, fear punched through my gut. I was immobile with it. I may be a demigod, but these things were terrifying looking, and I was just a mortal girl about to get her flesh torn off her bones.

  But I wasn’t a mortal girl.

  Far from it.

  Instinct took over, forcing my body to move. I darted to the left as I tapped into the powers stirring inside me. Reaching the raised dais, I spun around. A small ball of flames hit one of the creatures in the back. Fire erupted, swallowing its body.

  “Holy crap,” I whispered.

  On the other side of the chasm, ultra-bright flames danced over Aiden’s knuckles. Then he turned, taking out another as Luke brandished a dagger. Apparently he’d been the only one who came out of his bedroom prepared. Overachiever. Jumping forward, he slammed the dagger into one of the eye sockets and jerked his arm back, his lip curling in disgust as maroon-colored blood spurted out at him. The thing shrieked as it fell to the floor, shattering upon impact.

  “That’s so gross,” he muttered, flipping the dagger. He twisted, eyeing another creature. “So freaking gross.”

  Tapping into the fire element, I welcomed the lava now coursing through my veins. My right arm heated, and a bolt of fire shot from my palm, smacking the closest creature to me in the chest. It went down in flames. I spun, hitting another creature. The third zigged and zagged on me, getting close enough that the smell of rot and death turned my stomach. I danced back a step, tapping into fire once more. Flames swamped that creature as it fell forward. I turned, throwing out my arm. Fire crackled over my fingers, and I let it go just as another creature shot forward. The fourth creature took the hit in the shoulder, spinning it around. I turned as the fifth one jumped—jumped like a jackrabbit, landing no more than a foot in front of me. I reared back, but it wrapped a bony, fleshless hand around my forearm.

  Fiery pain erupted, robbing the air out of my lungs. The touch seared my skin, forcing out a hoarse scream. The creature laughed, spewing dirt into the air. Rearing back, I tore my arm free just as a dagger sliced through its face from behind.

  It didn’t jerk or spasm—simply fell to the floor, exploding into a pile of clumpy ash.

  I was standing face to face with Luke.

  “Looked like you could use the help,” he said, twisting at the waist. “Are you okay?”

  Breathing through the pain, I looked down at my arm. Four marks the size of fingers burned my arm. “I’ll be okay.”

  Luke didn’t get a chance to respond, because those on fire were rising from the floor. The flames receded, revealing charred skin and bone.

  “What the hell?” I gasped out, pressing my wounded arm to my stomach as I scanned the atrium.

  Aiden and Alex were backing up, both with the same stunned expressions on their faces. “This isn’t good,” she said. “I thought fire killed zombies.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think these are zombies, babe,” Aiden replied.

  “Head shots seem to work,” Luke called out. “So they’re kind of like zombies.”

  “We don’t have daggers.” Aiden stepped to the left, halfway in front of Alex. It seemed like an unconscious, protective move. “We could push them back into the crevice.”

  As soon as he finished saying that, as if the gods were laughing at us, several more climbed out of the hole in the floor.

  “I don’t think that’s going to work.” Alex sighed.

  My dagger was nowhere to be found among the broken tiles. It could’ve even fallen into the chasm. If fire didn’t kill these things, then . . .

  I only knew of one other thing.

  Instead of pushing away the pain, I used it to fuel me, and I reached deep inside, tapping into the very center of my being. Akasha roared to the surface, and releasing the supreme power was like a flower opening up to the sun. It was a release—a burst of white light powered down my arm like a cyclone.

  I let it go, sending it straight to one of the charred creatures lumbering toward Luke and me. The pale light shrouded the creature for a half-second, and then it exploded into ash.

  “Well, that works, too.” Luke grinned, obviously having way too much fun with this, and I had to wonder how he ever thought he could stop being a Sentinel.

  Following suit, Alex and Aiden summoned akasha, while Luke was more hands-on, using the dagger. We took down nearly a dozen, but they streamed out of the crevice like an unending Night of The Living Dead.

  Exhaustion was already settling into my bones as I released another bolt of akasha. It might’ve been the lack of sleep or the battl
e with Atlas and how Seth had . . . how he had fed off of all of us, but we couldn’t keep this up forever.

  Akasha rippled down my arm as the smell of sulfur deepened. The ground shook once more, tossing me backward. I grunted as I hit the floor on my bad arm and my akasha faded out. Shifting onto my back, I dragged in air between my teeth.

  “Josie!” Aiden shouted.

  One of the creatures was right at my side, reaching out with those painful, super-gross hands. I rolled onto my side and pushed up. My left hand dragged across the floor, slipping over something smooth and cold. I glanced down, spying the dagger. Wrapping my fingers around it, I shot to my feet, screaming as I brought the dagger down. The sharp blade cut through skin and bone, sinking deep into the skull. Wrenching the dagger free, I stumbled back a step as the thing fell to pieces.

  The house trembled as the rift in the floor widened, and through the charred bodies and the fresher ones that now rose, a horse head appeared.

  “Am I seeing things?” I asked just as one of the creatures reached for me. I brought the dagger down and whipped back toward the opening. There was another horse head and then another.

  “What in the world?” Akasha faded from Alex’s arm.

  An undercurrent of power rippled through the room, coasting over my skin. I had no idea what was happening at this point, but three horses rose up out of the ground, dark as night and covered in black armor, and they held riders. The two on the outside were dressed head to toe in black, and the one in the middle wore leathers—leather pants and a leather, sleeveless shirt. A golden band wrapped around his well-muscled upper arm, and an aura of power surrounded him. He had a head full of wavy black hair, and his face was brutal in its beauty, as if his features had been carved out of granite.

  The two men unhooked the silvery lassos attached to their waists. With startling reflexes, their wrists snapped and the lassos shot out like lightning, slicing through the creatures like heated knives through butter.

  My brows shot out as I watched the two men make short work of the creatures. The lasso thingy would’ve been real helpful about five minutes ago, because within seconds, the creatures were all gone. Nothing more than soot and ash on the floor.

  Aiden exhaled heavily. “Nice of you to join us, Hades.”

  Luke stepped back, bumping into me. We exchanged looks.

  Hades?

  The Hades?

  Oh my gods.

  “Sorry, mate.” Hades spoke, his voice accented. “Was in the middle of entertaining Persephone when literally all hell broke loose.”

  “They’re yours?” Alex gestured at the pile of ashes.

  Hades smirked. “Were.”

  “What in the world is going on?” Alex demanded, resting her hands on her hips as she stared up at Hades—the Hades. “The ground split open and these things came crawling out like cockroaches.”

  “You don’t know?” Hades sighed as he forced his horse to turn around. Dismounting, he stood next to the massive beast, and I saw just how tall Hades was. Like, giant kind of tall.

  “Yeah, we’re a little in the dark here,” Aiden replied. “We thought it was an earthquake until they started coming through.”

  The kitchen door cracked open and Deacon stuck his blond head out. “Is it safe . . .” He trailed off, eyes widening when he spotted the horses, the men, and Hades. “Yep, I’ll just keep Gable distracted a little longer.”

  The door shut.

  Hades’s smirk grew as he surveyed the room, his all-white eyes beyond eerie, and I just stood there, arms dangling at my sides. The dagger was forgotten in my hand. There were dead things reduced to ashes on the floor—the floor that was currently split wide open. There were horses—giant warhorses I was pretty sure were not of normal size, and Hades—the god of the Underworld—was standing a mere handful of feet from me.

  “Should we bow or something?” I whispered to Luke.

  Luke slid me a sidelong glance and murmured, “I’m just not going to move or draw any attention to myself.”

  “Too late,” Hades said, turning to us. “A half-blood and Apollo’s daughter. I figured we’d be meeting under different circumstances.”

  I shivered, thinking “different circumstances” probably meant our deaths.

  “What were those things?” Aiden asked.

  Hades nodded up at the men. They hooked their super-special lassos to their waists but did not dismount. They sat upon their horses, eyes straight ahead and as silent as graves. Turning in unison, their heels dug into the sides of their horses and turned to stand sentry by the rift.

  Understanding dawned, and my stomach dropped. I realized who the two men were—Hades’s servants. His men. They were what Seth had pledged himself to become upon his death, to serve under Hades, taking Aiden’s place.

  I suddenly felt sick.

  “Those creatures were held in the pits of Tartarus, deep within the fire caverns,” Hades explained, swiping his booted foot through the pile of ashes. “They were once daimons.”

  I needed to sit down.

  Even Alex paled.

  “Did you believe when daimons die they simply cease to exist?” Hades queried, tone smug. “No matter what they tell you, everything is sorted out in the end.”

  “Kind of like Hogwarts?” Alex asked.

  Hades inclined his head to the side.

  Alex sighed. “Never mind.”

  “The daimons spend eternity being burned alive and then put back together, only to suffer the same fate nearly at once.”

  I really needed to sit down.

  “Sometimes I change it up. Burying them alive in just enough lava to sear the skin away and then let them dig their way out of rock and soil is fun,” Hades continued with a shrug. “The torture drives them insane.” He paused. “Then again, they were daimons. Not much going on between the ears anyway.”

  Oh my.

  “Okay. Could’ve lived forever without knowing all of that,” Alex said slowly. “But what were they doing up here?”

  A fissure of energy rolled through the room, followed by a blinding bright, golden light. Electricity poured in, pure power, lifting the tiny hairs all over my body. The light receded and in its place were two forms.

  Hades sighed. “Always have to make a grand entrance, don’t you?”

  Apollo stood by the staircase, and beside him was Hercules. The sun god—my father—stepped forward, and his all-white eyes sparked. When he spoke, fury sharped his tone. “What have you all done?”

  Chapter 4

  My father looked like he was only a few years older than me, which was as weird as it sounded. He wasn’t dressed like Hades or how I’d ever imagined any god to look.

  Apollo was wearing faded jeans and a tight black shirt.

  I’d first met him when I was a young, lonely girl, and he was just a strange man who went by the name Bob, who gave me candies and dolls. Looking back, I totally got how incredibly creepy that was, but for a short summer, he’d been my only friend.

  And now he was my father—my absentee father who randomly appeared and disappeared within minutes, and I hadn’t been around him long enough to see him like this, truly angry.

  I sucked in an unsteady breath as he stepped forward, the all-white eyes giving way to irises as blue as mine. “Do you all have any idea what you’ve done?” he demanded.

  I opened my mouth, but Alex responded before I had the chance to even figure out what to say. “You’re going to have to be a little more detailed. We’ve done a lot of things.”

  Apollo’s eyes narrowed on what was his great-great-great-great-times-a-thousand granddaughter. “You killed Atlas.”

  “Um, hi Dad . . .” I kept my expression blank as Apollo’s golden head swung in my direction. “And how is that a problem?”