“Is he OK?” I ask Hannah. “Is it done?”
She brushes strands of black hair from her face and wipes the sweat from her brow. “Your friend is fine,” she says, panting. “It’s Ares we need to be concerned about.”
“Why? Didn’t the ritual work?”
She doesn’t answer, just breathes heavily.
“Hannah?”
“Just… Look, we’ll know in a minute. Sorry, a ritual of this magnitude takes a lot out of me.”
“But you did it, right?”
Hannah gives a weary nod, then collapses, back pressed to the boulder. “Yeah, I did it.” She reaches into her belt pouch and pulls out a vial, some kind of magic potion—or alcohol, I’m not sure which. She uncorks it and pours the liquid down her throat. When she sees me staring at her, she downs the last of it, then wipes her wrist across her lips. “Don’t judge. It’s to help me recover.”
“I don’t care about that. What about Mark? Does he need some? Do you have more?”
“No.”
“But look at him! He’s not moving.”
“That’s normal.”
“Normal? You call that ‘normal’? Nothing’s normal anymore!”
Hannah sighs. “Nothing ever was. You just didn’t know it until now.”
I open my mouth to say something, but she’s right of course. Up until a few days ago, my life has been a beautiful lie, a sheltering cocoon. Now the truth is out, and it’s eating me alive.
“Look, I get it. It’s a lot. But it’s real, and it’s happening.”
“And us?”
Hannah shrugs. “We just have to roll with the punches, that’s all.”
“No, I don’t mean that. I don’t mean the ritual or the quest, or…” I wave my hand around to indicate Tartarus. “I mean, us.”
“What about us?”
“Are we cool?”
“What, you mean me and you?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re fine, cool, whatever.”
“OK, but are we friends?”
She frowns. “Andrus, there’s something you should know about me. I don’t… I don’t make friends easily. When you’re hunted by Cronus, it’s hard to make friends, even harder to keep them. Things happen to the people I care about. Bad things.”
“And you think something bad going to happen to me?”
Hannah’s eyes narrow, then she snorts and looks away. “Only if you let it.”
“I don’t mean an accident or losing in battle. Do you think I could turn bad? Evil? Because of my father?” My real father, I remind myself. Cronus.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. We’re all shadows of our parents: their hopes and dreams as much as their hates and fears. It’s up to us what we do with them.”
“Yeah, I get that, but Cronus is evil, so I feel like I’m starting at a disadvantage.”
A long sigh escapes her. “Andrus, even Cronus didn’t start life evil. He may have had inclinations, but he didn’t have to make the choices he did. OK, maybe some of them… His own father, Ouranos, wanted him dead, and to murder all his brothers and sisters too. So Cronus made hard choices, and if he’d stopped there, maybe he would have been all right. But he didn’t. He just kept making hard choices until they were easy, and better than easy. He made them until he liked them, and then they weren’t choices anymore, because he was always going to pick the wrong one, the evil one. And who knows? To Cronus, the things he does make sense. They must, but only to him. He’s protecting himself, his empire, his brothers and sisters. Avenging them. But to everyone else, he’s a monster.”
“Like those things in the Garden?”
“No, not like them. Harpies and centaurs may be nasty, but they’re monsters with a small ‘m.’ Cronus is a Monster with a capital ‘M,’ and he’s got to be stopped! It’s up to us to stop him.”
“By freeing your father.”
“Yes. Hades will fix everything. He has to. I know he will. I know it…” The strain in her voice is obvious, the tears in her eyes are real. This is what Hannah’s been fighting for her whole life. All these years, she’s been racing toward her destiny, while I’ve been running from mine.
I give her a minute, then ask, “What happens after?”
She looks up, confused. “What do you mean? The world gets set right.”
“I don’t mean the world.”
“You mean to you?”
“Yes, to me.”
She shrugs. “Not my decision.”
“But if it was?”
She smiles. “Seriously? Relax.”
“Tell me.”
“Ok, fine… I’d keep you around. Probably.”
“Why probably?”
“Because you might do something to piss me off between now and then.” She ratchets her smile up a notch, turns it into a playful grin.
I try to read past the expression, past the even white teeth and flashing dark eyes. Does Hannah mean it? I’m not sure. She sounds sincere, as sincere as any witch I’ve ever heard—the only one.
Behind her, Mark stirs. Or rather, something inside him stirs. Under the skin. Stretching it.
“What is it?” I cry in alarm, going to Mark’s side. “What have you done to him?”
“It’s Ares settling in. It’s normal… I think.”
“You think? I thought you’d done this ritual before?”
“I never said that.”
“Mark?” I say, shaking him. “Wake up, Mark!”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Hannah warns.
“Why not?”
Mark’s hands shoot up and grab my wrists, and in a voice that’s deep and his yet not his, he growls, “Because I don’t like it.”
11
A WEAPON AS SHARP AS ANY
“Ares? Is that you?” I ask.
“It is.” The God of War releases his grip on my wrist and sits up slowly, grunting. “Ugh! You two did well to get me out of that last vessel.”
“Mark helped.”
Ares looks down at his skinny new teenage body. “So he did. Although this vessel is not one I would have chosen, it is appreciated nonetheless—as is his sacrifice.” The God gets up and stretches, joints popping. Settling into his new skin.
“Can Mark still hear me?” I ask. “Does he know what’s going on?”
“Your friend is safe,” Ares replies. “There are few places safer than inside a God, even a God of War.”
“But is he aware?” I persist.
Ares shrugs. “To a limited degree. I can call him forth if you wish to ascertain he is well.”
“Would you?”
Ares looks from me to Hannah, who nods. “Very well, but only for a moment. It is unwise to interfere with my control, especially this early in the process.” The God’s body goes stiff, his eyes roll up, and when they roll back down, the gaze feels different, the posture shifts from ramrod straight to Mark’s comfortable slouch.
“Mark?”
“Yeah, man. It’s me.”
“You OK?”
He nods. “It’s weird! Not bad, though. Like being asleep…”
“Can you hear what’s going on? Can you see through your eyes? You know, when Ares in control?”
“A little, not much.”
“See?” Hannah says. “Didn’t I tell you? Everything’s fine.”
“Ares wants to come back now,” Mark says. His eyes start to roll back, his body tense.
“Wait!” I shout.
Mark’s eyes snap back, then start going all dreamy.
“Thanks, buddy. Thanks for this.”
Mark smiles, then his face goes slack. The eyes do their thing again, and then it’s Ares standing before me. “I trust you are satisfied?”
“Yeah.”
“I know it’s hard,” Hannah says, “but Mark is safer now. He can defend himself, and more than that, he can be useful in a fight. We needed his brains before, but now… well, we need the God of War.”
There’s no arguing with that. “What about Mr
. Cross?” I ask. “Isn’t there anything we can do for him?”
As if on cue, my gym teacher’s screams echo across the field.
“To cease his agony, we must free Hades.”
“But isn’t there something we can do now?”
“No, Andrus. To charge into battle without a plan might win us glory, but it will not save your teacher, nor will it further our cause. There is too much at stake. Far too much, but rest assured, those creatures will pay.”
“So I assume we’re going to sneak into the Garden, that’s one problem, but how are we going to get away? Cerberus is as big as a truck! How are we supposed to sneak him out, much less travel with him? We’ll draw too much attention! The monsters can follow us easily. Even if we give them the slip through magic or whatever, it’s not like they won’t know where we’re going. All they have to do is head us off at Hades’ prison.”
Ares nods in approval. “You make good points, Titan. Brute force cannot win this battle, nor can pure stealth. A different strategy is called for.”
“Like what? Diplomacy?”
Ares laughs. “No, though words are a weapon as sharp as any—or so my brother, Apollo, always insisted. Of course, he’s dead, so maybe his advice wasn’t the best. Sometimes the sharpest weapon is still a sword—it’s certainly the quickest, and the most certain.”
“I think you’re right. So are you going to tell me what this strategy is?”
The War God shakes his head. “No, Andrus, I’m waiting for you to tell me.”
“Me? But you’re the expert!”
“I am, but I’m also curious to see if you have your father’s devious mind. Think, Andrus! Strategize.”
“You’re wasting time! We could be going down there, we could be saving Mr. Cross…”
“No, you’re wasting time. Think!”
“Do it,” Hannah says. “I know it doesn’t seem important, but it is.”
“Oh, it seems important, but I don’t get why you’re leaving it up to me.”
Hannah rests a hand on my shoulder. “Think.”
I wrack my brain, fighting past the anger, the desperation, the fear. What if I get it wrong? A God will laugh at me. Hannah will laugh at me. What if I come up with something that sounds good, but gets us all captured? Or worse? What if my next thoughts blow the whole quest?
“Ares said to think,” Hannah says, “not overthink.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder. If you were Cronus, what would you do?”
“But I’m not! Why would you even ask that?”
Hannah exchanges a look with Ares. “Forget it. Let’s not push it.”
“Hannah? What is this? What are you and Ares up to?”
She turns around and slaps me. Hard. My anger flares, but that’s the end of her violence. She doesn’t even seem upset. She just steps back, a curious look on her face. It’s similar to the look Ares has. It infuriates me, like I’m some kind of science project.
My rage builds, molten-hot, and I feel myself losing control… losing myself into something bigger than me. Something older and infinitely more powerful. I hear the voice of Cronus… no, not the voice, the thoughts. Only they are my thoughts. Jumbled, broken, yet growing clearer. If I can just focus…
If I can just think!
There’s a darkness looming, pitch-black. Eternal. The kind that can cover the world. My world. My mind. I fall into it, a vast sea of nothing.
12
SOMEONE ELSE’S DREAM
Another slap jolts me out of my trance. I open my eyes. For a moment, I feel myself far away—in Cronus, as Cronus. And then I’m not. I’m just me. I’m on the ground. Hannah’s on top, hand raised, ready to give me another slap.
“I’m up,” I mumble. There’s still strong emotion flowing through me, but now it’s not hate, it’s confused. I’m not sure what it is… I look at Hannah, feel her on top of me, and then I’m not confused anymore. I know exactly what I’m feeling, and she does too.
The witch gets off me in a hurry. “You’re up, all right.”
I sit up, feeling weird and more than a little embarrassed. “Um, so I had this dream…”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll bet! See, Ares? I told you it wouldn’t work. Andrus just isn’t strong enough.”
Ares steps forward. “Let’s not be hasty. Go on, Andrus, tell me about your dream.”
I rub my forehead, running my fingers through my hair. “It was… it was like I was Cronus, like I was inside him…” I don’t mention it felt strangely safe and familiar.
Ares smiles. “Go on.”
“We had this connection, and…”
Ares kneels beside me. “And what?”
I feel the answer on the tip of my tongue, but then a darkness settles in and it starts to slip away. I chase after it in my mind. I chase after it and grab it, rend it, tear it wide open. “I’ve got it,” I say. “I know what we need to do.”
“Good!” Ares says, clapping me on the shoulder. “Good, Andrus! I knew you could do it.”
“What did I do?”
“First, tell us what you saw in Cronus’ mind. Then the answers.”
“All right. It’s hard to describe, like I was in someone else’s dream. A dream I could shape…”
Ares’ smile widens and even Hannah seems interested now.
“So what I saw was… Cronus wants Cerberus kept out in the open like this.”
“As a show of strength,” Ares says. “He wants the symbol of Hades’ power on display as his prisoner, and a warning to anyone who might resist.”
“That, and also as a trap. The Garden of Bone is well-defended, sure, but why assign only one Lesser Titan to the job?”
“Gyges’ brothers are guarding the main gate,” Hannah says. “I’ve seen them there.”
“Yes, but there are plenty of other Lesser Titans who could join him. Or why not assign one of the Major Titans?”
“They’re not great at taking orders,” Hannah says. “That’s one of the reasons they lost to the Gods in the past.”
“Actually,” Ares adds, “we aren’t that great at it either. Obedience to others isn’t high on any God’s priority list, or any Titans’. When you have our kind of power, it takes a lot to bring us together, and even more to hold us there.”
“The Gods are better at it than the Titans,” Hannah says haughtily. “We Olympians are a tighter knit family.”
Ares snorts. “I suppose, at least for the first generation like Zeus and your father. Spending time imprisoned in Cronus’ stomach must be good for family bonding… but you know that, don’t you, Andrus?”
He says it without malice, so I don’t take offense. “Actually, I was alone back then, or not alive enough to know if I wasn’t… Anyway, back to what I was saying: The Garden of Bone is a trap.”
“You mean besides the obvious horde of monsters?” Hannah asks.
“Yeah, because that’s not really Cerberus.”
Hannah does a double-take. “It’s not? What is it then?”
“An illusion.”
Hannah curses and stomps her foot. “What the hell? We went to a lot of trouble to get here, and now you tell me it was all for nothing?”
“Not for nothing. When I was inside Cronus’ mind, I saw where the real Cerberus is being kept.”
“I knew it!” Ares says. “I knew you could do it, Andrus. So where is he?”
“Not far,” I say with a grin.
“This is no time for fooling around,” the witch complains.
“So who’s fooling? He’s underneath the cage with the illusion, in some kind of stone cell, though I suppose you could call it a tomb. And he’s alive, in some kind of magic stasis so he doesn’t need air—or whatever passes for it in Tartarus.”
“So tell us how we get to him,” Ares says, and I can tell it’s not a question. He actually expects me to know the answer.
“Well?” Hannah demands.
“Give him a moment,” Ares says.
“Look, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I really don’t…” I stop before I finish the sentence, because I realize that’s not true. I do know how to free Cerberus, I’m just not sure I can.
13
BELIEVE
My plan is to use my earth magic to tunnel to Cerberus and sneak him out that way. The only problem is I’ve never used my powers to dig a tunnel before. Sure, I’ve caved some in, but that was quick and easy. Digging requires a sustained effort.
“You’re the son of Cronus and Gaia,” Ares reminds me, “the two most powerful wielders of earth magic. Of course you can do it.”
“It’s a good plan,” Hannah says. “Mark would be proud.”
I shrug off the compliment. “What if something goes wrong? What if I can’t do it?”
“Believe,” Ares says. “Believe in yourself. Believe in your power! That’s half the battle, right there.”
“And the other half?”
Hannah steps in. “Getting others to believe in your power. It’s a God thing… and a Titan thing.”
“Makes sense. Doesn’t make me feel any better, but it makes sense.”
“You can do this, Andrus,” Hannah says.
“Is that why you slapped me? To get me angry? To get me to tap into my rage? Is that how I was able to get into Cronus’ mind?”
Hannah nods. “Ares and I weren’t sure you could do it, but we had to try. If we’d warned you ahead of time, you might have resisted. You might have overthought it or doubted your ability, or just plain tried too hard. Any one of those would have prevented you from establishing the telepathic connection, and we don’t have time for that.”
I scowl at them both. “We need to trust each other, and secrets don’t help.”
“Except when they do,” Ares says. “This one did.”
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