Still, we could use a few more provisions for ourselves. I didn't exactly like the idea of the half breed getting anything, but I knew Arsenio would insist if we stopped. He'd been good to listen to me, but his patience was wearing. He didn't understand why I hated the thing behind us so much and it was trying our friendship. I'd felt more like his commander than his brother ever since we took it from the city.
"There's a little village up ahead," I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "We can stop there and get what we need."
Arsenio nodded, a slight sigh of relief softening his features for a moment.
"Thank you."
Its voice was still shaky and small, quiet like a mouse.
It made me sick.
We walked through the snow and trees in silence until the tiny town started to materialize, a slight fog encasing it.
"Don't take too long," I said to Arsenio. "I want to keep our trail cold."
"We'll only stay as long as necessary," he agreed, looking around us cautiously. "Do you think they've been following us?"
"I'm sure of it."
We stepped out of the woods and onto an old, pothole filled road, finishing our trek into the town in minutes. The fog swirled around us, giving the homes the appearance of abandon. Quiet seemed to suffocate us, not even birds chirping above.
"Where is everyone?" It asked, fear in its voice now.
"It looks like they just up and left," Arsenio said softly. "Hopefully they've left something we can use.”
Walking over to one of the houses, he knocked on the door, the sound echoing through the space loudly.
Nothing answered.
Pulling a knife from his pocket, he picked the lock and swung the door open, entering cautiously, only to return a moment later and motion for us to follow.
Yanking on the chain, I dragged It behind me, smiling as I heard it stumble, not expecting the sudden movement.
"Keep up," I said gruffly, goading it.
"Yeah, because I'm going to fall behind in the next three feet," It said sarcastically.
Without even realizing I was doing it, I chuckled, turning back and smiling at her. The expression slid off my face as I watched her, my head snapping back to the front.
No more smiling at It. It, not her. It.
Arsenio moved out of the doorway so I could enter, motioning to the cold food on the table.
"I figured we could eat while we were here," he said, closing the door behind It.
"Avalon," he said, and I flinched as he addressed the prisoner.
"If you want, there's a shower upstairs you can warm up in. I'll make sure you get some food after."
I glared at him, matching the angry look in his eyes, knowing he was finally going to start pushing harder to have It treated well.
It looked at me as well, eyes hesitant as it waited for me to decide.
"Leave those handcuffs on it," I finally said, sitting at the table and picking up what appeared to be soup.
A noise of relief came from It, followed by the undoing of the chain by Arsenio and scurrying up the stairs.
"She's not going to attack us from the shower, you know," Arsenio said, sitting next to me and picking up a piece of bread.
Ignoring him, I looked around the brick cottage, taking in the old, musty furniture and rug covered floor. The wooden table we sat at was just off from the kitchen, which still had dishes in the sink and pots on the stove. Everything here looked like it had just been up and left, without another thought.
"Did you lay this food out?" I asked Arsenio.
"Some of it. Why?"
"Something isn't right," I said slowly.
Standing, I walked to the window and looked out into the foggy road, seeing nothing but the other matching houses.
"They probably got hit by militants or something. You know there's been a lot of fighting going on lately."
"Maybe," I said, not convinced.
Closing the curtains, I turned back around and looked up the stairs. I could hear the water running in the shower and frowned, not happy that It was probably feeling well.
"You need to get It out," I said, nodding in the same direction. "Find some clothes, since you insisted on helping out."
"Gladly," he said impishly, getting up to do as I asked. "I'll grab whatever else we need along the way."
He disappeared up the stairs and I sat back down, grabbing some more to eat. Something still didn't feel right. The impression wouldn't go away, no matter how I tried to shake it.
Grumbling, I got up to check on It, sure that the feeling had something to do with an attempted escape. It would have been wise for one of us to sit up there and make sure that didn't happen.
As I traveled up the stairs, I heard Arsenio sorting through drawers, the water in the bathroom already turned off.
"I've got some clothes for you," he called across the hall. "I'll set them on the counter."
"Thank you."
I stopped at the top of the steps, content with just waiting for them to finish. It was obviously still here.
"Sorry you had to rip your shirt to get it off," Arsenio said, appearing from one of the doorways, clothes in hand.
"It's okay, I wasn't that attached to it," It laughed, opening the door.
Steam billowed from the entryway, a testament to how hot the water had been. Standing in the doorway was It, a towel wrapped around its body, hair already combed and in a braid.
She was beautiful, in every way imaginable at that moment. Her soft, white skin had reddened from the heat, her wet hair laying over her bare shoulder in a simple grace I'd never seen before. The towel she'd wrapped around herself left little to the imagination, laying perfectly over her breasts, hugging against her hips, and falling just past her bottom, the hem touching her thighs.
Above all that in beauty was her face. Her eyes glowed with kindness and thankfulness, framed by perfect eyebrows and a small, petite nose. Her red lips were smiling, a perfect bow of cherry goodness.
"Sorry," Arsenio said, blushing slightly as he saw her. "Uh, this was all I could find. Unfortunately, I don't know what size of, um, underthings you need."
"That's okay," she said graciously, taking what he had offered. "I managed to get mine off and put them in the dryer right there."
She motioned to the room next to her and, sure enough, I could hear the dryer running.
"Oh, I'll get them for you then," Arsenio said, turning that direction. "If that's okay with you?"
"It doesn't bother me," she laughed.
I couldn't stop staring at her. I was seeing it, the human side I'd been ignoring. It was no wonder Arsenio wanted to help her.
Because her other side was a Titan.
She turned, eyes meeting mine and I broke the spell quickly, looking over at the wall, the floor, anything but her.
It. Not her.
"Here you go," Arsenio said, emerging from the laundry room with her panties and bra, a slight blush on his face as he handed them over. "Do you need help? That didn't come out right, of course you don't, I—you know what? I'm just going to go back downstairs and wait. In shame."
"Thanks," she laughed, looking away from me and going back into the bathroom.
"Nice," I said as he passed by me.
"How is she going to get that bra on with those handcuffs?" he asked pointedly. "At least I was trying to help."
"And looking like a moron," I called after him, watching him disappear back into the kitchen.
The bathroom door didn't open again for a while, a good indicator that It was indeed having a hard time getting dressed on its own. Finally, It emerged, wearing jeans and a long sleeve, brown, cotton shirt. As it pulled the sleeves down, I could see the handcuffs had been rubbing It's wrists raw, angry red rings covering the skin there.
It looked at me, nervousness in the eyes, waiting for me to say or do something.
"There's food on the table," I said, swallowing hard as I looked at her again, her braid now twisted into a
bun on the back of her head.
Dammit. It's head. This would have been much easier if It was an ugly boy and not a beautiful woman.
"Something is wrong," It said in a sudden panic, moving towards me as fast as it could.
I felt it too, the impression I'd had earlier suddenly hitting me full force and screaming an alarm in my head.
The window at the end of the hall started to crack, ice forming on it much quicker than should have been able.
"Look out!" It screamed, shoving my chest and causing me to topple down the stairs.
As I tumbled to the floor, I heard the explosion on the second floor and caught sight of It falling down behind me.
Landing with a thud at the foot of the staircase, I felt the air leave my chest, just as It fell on top of me, her head hitting the floor next to mine.
"We need to go," I said, frozen as she lifted her head and looked into my eyes.
She was lying on top of me, arms and cuffed hands trapped between us, and I'd wrapped my arms around her without even realizing.
"You saved me," I added in surprise.
"Yeah," she said, breathless.
"Cristos," Arsenio's voice called from the window. "We have a problem."
Sliding out from under her and helping her to her feet, I hurried over to the curtains he was looking through.
Several Titans were standing in the street, facing the house. Scurrying footsteps above us alerted me to their presence upstairs as well.
"We have a problem," I repeated, looking back at It.
Chapter Nine
"Get behind me!" I yelled, grabbing my bag off the floor and unsheathing the sword inside, brandishing it as the first Titan came down the stairs.
It scrambled to obey, terror in her expression. It wasn't clear to me why I was surprised by it. Perhaps I really had thought she was in league with the Titans all along.
"Arsenio!" I yelled as I jumped forward, engaging in combat with the ice beast.
"I've got her," he yelled back.
An arrow whistled past my ear, striking the beast in the face, allowing me to run it through, the lightning eating away at its insides. The monster wouldn’t be down for long—we didn’t have the right weapon to kill it with.
"How are we going to get out?" Arsenio asked, coming up beside me. "If we go out the front, they'll be waiting. I'm sure it's the same in the back."
I looked around the room again, hoping for something, anything that would help us.
There was nothing.
"You're the son of Zeus, aren't you?" It asked timidly. "Can't you just call in a cover storm or something?"
"It doesn't work that way for me," I said, moving to the kitchen to look through the cupboards. "I'm not a half god. I was born into my own powers."
"What are they?"
"Cristos is responsible for hunting those who disobey the gods. That's why the Titans call him Adrastia; it was the name of the goddess who was responsible for that before she died."
"I'm really good at tracking and exacting punishment," I said, slamming one of the cupboards shut as more footsteps sounded on the second floor. "Sometimes there's lightning involved."
"But my powers do work that way," Arsenio said, pulling water from the faucet and slamming it into the Titan coming down the stairs.
"Son of Poseidon," It said in surprise. "Good to know."
"Yeah. You know your mythology," Arsenio said appreciatively, raising his bow and arrow once more, focused on the stairs.
"Ye-"
Her answer was cut off, turning into a scream as the window she stood next to broke and an arm reached through, grabbing her shoulder.
"Let me go!" she yelled forcefully, trying to pull away.
Then, like she'd known how to do it her whole life, one of her hands started morphing, fingers turning into snakes, bodies wrapping down around her arm, which slipped right out of the cuffs. Before I could even blink, the snakes had attacked the offending arm, biting it repeatedly until the Titan withdrew. As soon as the threat was gone, her hand and arm returned to normal.
In shock, It stared at the arm and hand, mouth hanging open, fear and pain flooding It's face.
It was just as much a monster as Its father was.
"Grab it," I said to Arsenio, whose mouth was also hanging open in surprise. "Ice the stairs and get ready to go out the front. I remembered something that might work."
He did as I asked, thankfully, grabbing It by the arm and shoving it towards the door.
"Just like Rio?" he questioned, a grin on his face.
"You got it," I laughed back.
Kicking the door open, I slammed my sword into the ground, the lighting reaching out and grabbing all those who stood waiting. At the same time, Arsenio pulled the water from the fog and latched it onto them, adding to the electrocution.
"Run!" I yelled at It, nodding back to the way we'd come from originally.
To its credit, It did just as I asked.
A few of the Titans broke out of our trap, following after It and I did the same, pulling the sword from the ground. Arsenio followed behind, firing off arrows like there was no tomorrow.
I could see It, almost at the tree line, when a Titan grabbed her ankle, laying her out flat.
"Get away from her!" I yelled, urging myself to go faster.
There was no way I was going to let them take it and have my fate come true.
Suddenly, one of the trees moved, a branch swinging down and punting the Titan back towards me. It did the same to the others trying to get to It, allowing her to escape into the safety of the woods.
As I came to the tree, I didn't hesitate, wondering if it would hit me as well. Instead, I caught a glimpse of a man's face in the bark, nodding at me as he grabbed up another Titan and threw it into the air.
Arsenio passed by quickly after, out of arrows and running for his life. Once we were all through, the trees leaned in, blocking anyone from following after, even though the Titans were trying to hack through the branches.
"Nymphs," Arsenio said breathlessly, jogging beside me. "Unexpected."
"I agree. Something tells me our prisoner might know a little more about it."
"She is long gone, from the look of it," he said, bringing attention to the fact we could only see her footprints in the snow.
"She doesn't have any shoes on," I said. "She'll stop eventually."
"She has the fire and the snakes," he said thoughtfully. "Do you think she's inherited any of the other traits?"
"I guess time will tell," I said, annoyed that It had discovered another power. "Unless It dies first."
"Cristos, wait."
Arsenio slowed to a stop, putting his hands on his hips as he caught his breath.
"What exactly are you planning on doing with her? You can't kill her without destroying her mortal side, which would only be a help to the Titans."
"If I leave it alive it will be a help to them as well," I said harshly.
"You can't kill a mortal," he reminded me softly. "Not now. Not when we need them so much."
"I know," I argued. "Without their belief in us we will fade away. I remember."
"Then what are we doing?"
"It’s going back to the fire her father came from."
He looked at me carefully, trying to understand something.
"That’s why we were hunting her? I've been thinking about it a lot since we left Moscow and I'm pretty sure she is exactly who you were looking for all that time. How did you even know she existed?"
"I don't want to talk about it," I spat, turning and following her trail again.
"You're going to have to tell me sometime," he called after me.
"Don't bet on it," I yelled back.
Fuming, I followed the steps in the snow, upset at the points he'd brought up. I'd thought of them myself many times, just as angry then as I was now.
"Did we lose them?"
I looked up in surprise, not realizing I'd caught It so soon. That didn't mak
e sense.
"Did you stop to wait for us?"
"Well, yeah. What was I supposed to do? I may be forced to wear handcuffs and almost die when I'm with you, but I don't want the bad guys to get me."
"The bad guys?" I scoffed. "You mean the exact thing that you are?"
"That's not fair," she said, grinding her teeth together. "I didn't ask to be one of them. It wasn't some club I signed up for."
"It makes no difference to me," I said cruelly. "Either way you are one. A monster. A beast, not even worthy of the life that was given to you. If you ask me, or anyone of my family, the world would have been better off without you."
Tears gathered in Its eyes and I smiled triumphantly, pleased I'd hit a nerve.
"You know, someone told me once that a person chooses to be good or evil on their own, that no matter our situation we still have choice in what path we take. I think I'm starting to believe that. I know I'm not a bad Titan and I've got plenty of evidence that not all Olympians are good."
She looked at me with a cold, hateful look, very different from the smile I'd seen her wearing only moments before. Her words were surprisingly hurtful for some reason. I'd never been called out by anyone but Arsenio and my parents. The way her lips had formed a straight line was remarkably like my own mother's when she disapproved of something.
Turning on her heel, she stormed away from me, journeying deeper into the woods without even looking back to see if I was following. Feelings of regret began to fill me as I watched her, the desire to call out and apologize growing in my chest.
In a sudden flurry of movement, her feet caught on fire, melting the snow around her and drying the wetness from her jeans.
"It's not a ‘her,’" I mumbled to myself, not quite convinced. "It's an It. No feelings, no commitment, just proving the Graeae wrong. Soon, It will be dead, and Its kind with it."
Slowly, I followed after It, waiting for either It to calm down or Arsenio to pick up his feet and catch up with me. Approaching It while on fire didn't seem like a good idea at the time, not unless I was ready to fight back and take care of the issue.
Adrastia (The God Chronicles Book 4) Page 7
