The Iron Queen

by Kaitlin Bevis

  “I promise.”

  Poseidon looked between the two of us. “There’s a rumor you two have hit equilibrium.”

  “That’s not your business,” I said.

  Poseidon grinned. “That sympathetic bond’s a bitch, huh?” Before I could blink, a trident appeared in his hand, and he shoved it through my gut in a swift motion.

  Persephone cried out behind me. I grunted and grabbed his hand, forcing his flesh and bone to wither at my touch. Grimacing, Poseidon pulled the trident free. Persephone gasped, crumbling to the ground, clutching at her stomach.

  “Threaten my son again,” he said, “and I’ll find a way to put you down for good.”

  He vanished.

  Chapter XXXIII

  Persephone

  A HAND CLAPPED over my mouth, and my eyes flew open. My throat felt raw from screaming, and my stomach blazed with pain.

  Triton’s worried face hovered above mine. He searched my eyes for a minute then removed his hand from my mouth. “What happened?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what happened but stopped. What would I accomplish by telling Triton his dad was a jerk who went around stabbing people with tridents? Plus, he was under the impression Poseidon trusted me. What if he left me in the circle? There was no way I could navigate this place on my own.

  My stomach twisted with guilt. I was using him. He was just a cute, friendly kid, and I was using him to get through the circle and to get Poseidon’s help. Triton seemed to relish the adventure, but putting him in danger made me sick. We’d only been in the circle for a few days, and I’d already met more frightening creatures than I ever cared to encounter again.

  Guess I really am a goddess now, I thought. Manipulating people like pawns.

  And what other choice did you have? Hades asked.

  Shaking my head, I refused to even consider that line of logic. I couldn’t think like that. If I put enough thought into it, I could justify anything, but that wouldn’t make it right. Triton didn’t deserve this.

  A woman’s scream echoed in the distance, and Triton winced. “Get ready to move.”

  I got up, dusting the dirt off my dingy gray skirt. The skirt was in tatters, not exactly ideal for running through the forest.

  Another scream. This one closer.

  “Who is that? Is someone in trouble?”

  Triton shushed me and stared up at the sky, finger to his lips. A black shadow burst through the canopy of leaves above us with a shriek. I caught a glimpse of wings, claws, and a flash of red hair before Triton grabbed my hand. We ran, tripping over branches.

  “Harpies!” Triton yelled. “They eat—”

  “People?” I guessed. Most things in the circle seemed to. “Your realm sucks!”

  “My realm?” He grinned at me. “You have bears, lions, and dinosaurs, and my realm sucks?”

  I started to explain that dinosaurs weren’t really a thing anymore, but the harpy dove again. Oh gods, instead of the claws of a bird it had hands with razor sharp nails. Catching hold of my hair, it yanked me toward the tree line. Quick as a thought, Triton grabbed a branch and swung it at the harpy. It shrieked and flew backward, and I was running again.

  “This wa—WHOA!” Triton yelped, dropping out of sight.

  Suddenly the ground dropped from below my feet. The harpy shrieked. I slid over Triton, and together we tumbled to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

  For a second neither one of us moved, just lay there catching our breath, then Triton lifted his head, looking down at me with an impish grin on his face.

  “That’s one way to lose a harpy.”

  I laughed despite myself and swatted at him. “Get off!”

  Triton looked down, realized he was sprawled out on top of me, and turned bright red. “Sorry!”

  He looked at me for a moment, gaze dropping to my mouth.

  “Triton—” I shifted underneath him and tried to wriggle free. “Move.”

  “Right, right, sorry!” He got up and looked up the hill. “Looks like we lost her.”

  Nodding, I climbed to my feet with a mental groan. I’d seen that look before.

  He liked me. That made this whole thing even more complicated. Not only was I using him, but in his mind I was probably stringing him along. I needed a nice way to say, “not happening, kid.” Even without Hades in the picture, Triton was way too young.

  Oh, I don’t know, Hades teased. I keep hearing age isn’t that important.

  Shut up. I glanced at Triton, and he looked away. The tips of his ears turned red.

  Feels awkward, huh?

  This isn’t funny, Hades.

  Not to you, he agreed.

  I ignored him. “You okay?” I asked Triton.

  He nodded. “Just trying to get my bearings. I think if we walk west we should hit the end of the circle soon.”

  “Let’s find a place to sleep and get back to walking tomorrow,” I suggested. Poseidon would find us soon, and then this whole ordeal would be over, but Triton didn’t have to know his dad was looking for us yet. Backup, just in case Poseidon found a way to weasel out of the deal.

  I closed my eyes against the wave of guilt that washed over me. I was just as bad as the rest of the gods.

  Chapter XXXIV

  Aphrodite

  “THAT COULD HAVE gone better.” I squeezed the ocean water, slimy with seaweed, out of my hair, letting it puddle onto the wooden floor in Persephone’s room.

  “How were we supposed to know Persephone already got him on board,” Melissa grumbled. She kicked off her shoes and poured water out of them. “I need a shower.”

  “We’re lucky he didn’t do worse than drench us. I heard she really pissed him off.” I stepped in front of the mirror, closed my eyes, and concentrated. When I opened them, I was in a new outfit with perfect hair. “Much better.”

  “That’s so unfair.”

  I tapped her shoulder. When she turned around she wore a designer outfit and makeup. “Better,” I decided. “But not your color.” I tapped her again, changing her shirt to a deep purple.

  “Thanks,” she said grudgingly.

  “Knock, knock,” Adonis called, rapping on the door as it opened.

  “What is wrong with you? We could have been changing!” Melissa snapped. Her cheeks pinked when she saw Adonis though, and she didn’t sound all that angry.

  “Sorry.” He started to close the door, but Ares caught it.

  “Hey ladies.”

  Hephaestus and Apollo came in on Ares’ heels.

  “What is this? Central station?” Melissa grumbled.

  Hephaestus shrugged. “I need to avoid Hades for a while.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “We can’t get into that here.” Ares gave me an apologetic look. “But for the record, I agree with you, man.” He glanced over his shoulder to Hephaestus and flashed him a grin. “It would make sure there wasn’t another Zeus anyway, and would get everyone’s powers back.”

  “No one should hold that many realms,” Apollo agreed.

  Melissa started to say something, so I elbowed her. She whirled on me, brown eyes flashing. I gave her a look that said, “Shut up and let them tell us everything.”

  At least that’s what I hoped it said. Whatever message she got from it, she kept her mouth shut.

  “I just needed to get away from Demeter.” Adonis glanced between Melissa and me. “She keeps watching me like I’m a science experiment that needs to be dissected.”

  “I’m bored,” Ares said. “You two seem to be having all the adventures.”

  “Yeah.” Apollo grinned at me and gave me a slow once-over. “I’d rather be where the action is.”

  I tossed my hair behind my shoulder. “Oh, as if.” I pursed my lips and
looked around the room. So many hot guys, so little time.

  My gaze snagged on Hephaestus, and my throat went dry. I think it was the side of his face that wasn’t scarred that threw me for a loop. What he should have looked like.

  Could Zeus do that to me? Would he? Or would he just make me swear over all my powers until I died? What if we did win, but Persephone died? Demeter hated me, Hades would go nuts with grief, and neither one of them would forget my part in Persephone’s capture.

  I cleared my throat. “But you’re right. The less time we spend around all of them—” I motioned toward the door “—the better.”

  Chapter XXXV

  Hades

  DEATH WOULD BE too good for Poseidon. It had been almost twenty-four hours since he stabbed me with that asinine trident, and I was still seeing red. The wound healed immediately, but the message had been sent. Nearly every god who was left knew how to hurt me now.

  They could use her.

  I rounded the corner of the staircase and ran straight into Demeter. She held a finger to her lips and pointed to the kitchen.

  “... expecting her to be that powerful,” Athena murmured.

  “She’s stronger than I am,” Apollo said.

  “She’s stronger than all of us combined, except for maybe Aphrodite,” Ares interjected.

  “Leave me out of this. All I can do is charm, remember?”

  Ares laughed. “Baby, with the level of charm you’ve got, that’s enough.”

  “How much power did Demeter give her?” Artemis wondered.

  Hephaestus snorted. “Forget Demeter. Hades... “

  “... heard she killed Boreas and Thanatos.” That was from a voice too soft for me to recognize.

  “... fealty first.”

  “... two realms...” Artemis’ voice floated down the hall.

  “Three if she could get Zeus to swear,” Athena added.

  Aphrodite’s voice rang out, pitched higher than the rest like she wanted me to hear. “She couldn’t survive any of our fealty. She hasn’t come into her powers yet. That’s why we’re using someone else. Right?”

  In the silence that followed, I heard the refrigerator door open and close. A glass clinked against the countertop.

  “We can’t really go into that with you.” Ares sounded apologetic.

  “We should use her.” Athena again. A chair squeaked as it slid across the wooden floor.

  “Don’t let Hades hear you say that,” Hephaestus warned.

  “She’d die,” Ares said at the same time.

  “Good,” Athena said. “Don’t look at me like that. You were all thinking it. When Zeus took down Cronus, he became almost as bad as they were. When Cronus killed Uranus, it was the same thing. Ditto for Uranus killing Chaos. We’re stuck in this cycle of sending our youngest most promising fighter after a brutal tyrant and we keep being surprised when he wins and takes over. She’s strong enough to become the next Zeus if we let her, and I for one don’t want that to happen. If she dies killing Zeus, it breaks the cycle.”

  I clenched my jaw and stepped toward the kitchen, but Demeter shook her head, stopping me.

  “If we want to break the cycle, shouldn’t we not send our youngest most promising fighter this round? Why don’t we do something different? Athena, you’re the oldest. Why don’t you give it a whirl?” Laughter was evident in Ares’ voice.

  “Sending Persephone only solves our problem because she can’t possibly survive the fight.”

  “I shouldn’t be hearing this,” Aphrodite said. “Besides, I’m bored. Surely there are more demigods to rescue or something.”

  “I need to check on my people,” Apollo said.

  “Hey Demeter! Hades!” Aphrodite raised her voice. “Has anyone seen them?”

  “Not since the trident incident.” That soft voice again, so low I had trouble hearing it. Who was that?

  I waited a beat before calling “Yeah?” and walking into the kitchen. There was nothing in their faces to suggest they’d just been talking about sacrificing a seventeen-year-old girl so they could all continue to live freely. It was an effort to keep my voice even, but I managed. Aphrodite met my gaze with a knowing glance, and I suspected I had her to thank for the conversation happening unshielded in the kitchen. Charm could be subtle.

  “I’m so bored.” She gave me a flirtatious smile. “Are there any other gods or demigods or anything for me to track down?”

  “Want to track a prophet?” Zeus kept manipulating us like chess pieces on a board, but his moves were too good. No mortal prophet would have enough experience to predict anything useful, but an immortal prophet would do the trick. I knew of one, but couldn’t for the life of me remember his name.

  Demeter walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pitcher of water from the refrigerator. “Did someone call for me?”

  “Can you teleport me home?” Apollo asked. “I keep getting calls from my people—” He broke off at Demeter’s withering stare, then seemed to find the courage to continue. “I just need to explain that I’ll be gone for a bit. They get antsy when they don’t know where I am.”

  “Tiresias.” I remembered. “Zeus gave him immortality, right?”

  “That old pervert?” Athena demanded. “He’s immortal?”

  “Wait, the cross dresser?” Ares asked at the same time.

  “He’s completely insane. There’s no way Zeus would be able to get anything useful out of him,” Apollo said.

  “Beats sitting around here doing nothing.” Aphrodite tossed her red hair over her shoulder with a grin. “I’ll find him.”

  “I’m going,” Melissa announced.

  I turned, surprised. I hadn’t noticed her sitting at the table.

  “Me too,” Ares, Adonis, and Hephaestus said at the same time.

  “He’s not far from my church,” Apollo added.

  I’d forgotten Apollo was Tiresias’ patron. Demeter and I exchanged glances. He hadn’t always treated his prophets well. It would be easier to talk to Tiresias without him, and if Apollo planned to return to his church with any kind of fanfare, maybe Tiresias wouldn’t see Aphrodite coming for him. Because the gift of prophecy came from Apollo, the visions were biased. Cassandra told me once she hadn’t even seen the Trojan War coming because she kept having visions of Apollo crashing his new chariot.

  “You should have a service,” Demeter suggested.

  “Really?” Apollo sounded surprised.

  “Oh yeah, that’s a great idea,” I agreed. “Tell them what’s going on. We need worship now more than ever if we’re going to overpower Zeus.” I spoke without a trace of sarcasm. We did need the worship. Orpheus had been writing blogs and doing interviews and concerts all over the place to try to bring our levels up. Apollo’s followers would only help.

  “Then shouldn’t they be praying to me?” Ares asked. “Since, you know, I’ll be the one fighting him.”

  “If they pray to Apollo, and he swears his powers over to you, it shouldn’t make a difference.” Artemis’ voice was low, and she looked at me with laughter sparkling in her eyes. I knew how she felt. Apollo having his own cult of drugged-out hippies was never going to stop being funny.

  “Hey, yeah!” Apollo enthused. “We’ll have, like, a really big service. Let me go get it all set up.”

  Demeter smiled. “There’s safety in numbers. I’ll come with you. Hades?”

  “We can come,” Artemis volunteered, grabbing Ryan’s hand. “I’d love to see your—” she snickered “—church.”

  Ryan shrugged. “Um, sure.”

  I studied him for a minute. He’d taken the news of Artemis’ divinity pretty well. Most humans needed more time to process our existence than he did. I shoved my hair out of my face. “I need to swing by the Underworld and check in. But I’ll catch up
with you guys then.”

  Demeter nodded, then turned her attention to Melissa. “I’m granting you travel rights for one trip. Take Ares, Hephaestus, Adonis, and Aphrodite. Find him, and come straight back, no detours. Don’t let anyone wander off. Anything happens, contact me.”

  “Okay,” Melissa agreed.

  Demeter motioned for them to hold hands, tapped Melissa’s shoulder, and they vanished. Then she took hold of Artemis, Ryan, and Apollo, and they teleported to the church.

  Once everyone else was gone, I studied Athena for a long minute, letting all the anger I’d felt during the overheard conversation heat my gaze.

  Athena shifted under my gaze and cleared her throat. “She’s brave, your wife.”

  I didn’t so much as blink. “She’s stronger than she looks.”

  Athena nodded. “With Poseidon on our side, we have a shot. Zeus may actually die by the end of this.”

  “Everyone dies eventually.” I inclined my head toward her. “And if they’re really, really lucky, they haven’t done anything to piss me off.”

  Chapter XXXVI

  Aphrodite

  “HE’S NOT HERE.” I ran down the stairs to the lobby of the massive house the prophet resided in with a pair of his red heels in my hand. What? It wasn’t like he was coming back, and they were just my size.

  “Gee, you think maybe the prophet saw us coming?” Melissa said dryly.

  Ares barked a surprised sounding laugh. “You’re kind of funny for a human.”

  I had a bad feeling. We didn’t mean the prophet any harm, so why flee? Glancing around, I took in the signs of the prophet’s hurry—a half-eaten lunch still warm on the kitchen table, a smattering of hangers covering the floor of the closet like he’d snatched clothes at random, and the unlocked door when we entered. What had he seen?

  And why had he run?

  “And you’re way too easily impressed,” Hephaestus muttered. Adonis nodded in agreement.

  “Aw, come on!” Ares said, still laughing. “Saw us coming, because he’s a prophet, it’s—”