The Prophecy

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  But I wouldn’t.

  It would be like going against my nature, but I would keep my promise to Josie.

  Aiden and I arrived just inside the gates of the community, and immediately, a cold chill powered down my spine that had nothing to do with the wind whipping the leaves on the tree-lined streets into a frenzy.

  Something wasn’t right.

  Beyond the ten-foot stone fencing, I could hear blaring horns and the screech of sirens, along with the distant hum of conversation. But inside these walls?

  “It’s quiet,” Aiden said, noting the same thing I did as he scanned the empty park we stood in front of. “It’s way too quiet.”

  Not only that, but the wind carried the scent of burnt plastic and metal, and there was a faint smell of something else under it. A heavy metallic scent.

  “Banks got the call from here,” I said, walking toward the end of the park, past the empty playground. “Couldn’t have been more than twenty, thirty minutes ago.”

  Aiden didn’t respond as he kept a sharp eye out for any movement. We made our way to the Main Street.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Aiden murmured, eyes narrowing on a silent, dark-windowed coffee shop.

  I stepped off the sidewalk and into the middle of the street. “Look at this.”

  Aiden followed. Down at the intersection, there were cars stopped. Doors opened. “What in the hell?”

  I started forward, passing several brick row homes that appeared to be devoid of life. Reaching the driver’s side of the last car, I walked around and peered inside. “It’s empty.”

  “Like the damn Rapture took place.” Aiden stalked up to the other side, one hand on the dagger at his thigh. He went to the next car and bent at the waist. He stumbled back. “Shit.”

  “What?” I looked up.

  “Got a body.”

  Joining him, I looked inside and sucked in a sharp breath. There was a pure-blood male slumped over in the passenger seat, throat torn open, exposing tissue and congealed blood.

  Part of me had already suspected what had happened here from the moment we arrived. There was no doubt now.

  The Titans had been here.

  I straightened, looking over my shoulder. Up ahead, at the next intersection, I saw a dark shape on the sidewalk, half-hidden by empty tables and chairs. “What about the other cars?”

  Aiden moved ahead. “Nothing. The rest are empty.”

  Skirting around an abandoned SUV, I passed a toppled-over motorcycle. Unease formed in my gut as that heavy scent of blood increased.

  The dark shape on the sidewalk was as I feared. A body. Another male, lying on his back, one arm outstretched like he was reaching for something or someone. This man’s stomach was ripped apart, as if a wild animal had gotten hold of him.

  Pale and jaw tight, Aiden continued forward, rounding the corner. Aiden came to a complete standstill, his hands falling to his sides, closing into fists. “Gods.”

  Instinct told me what I was going to see before I even laid eyes on the absolute destruction of life.

  Aiden was struck silent as he stared at the bodies littering the street and sidewalks, his mouth moving as if he were trying to find the words.

  I’d seen this before.

  Bodies scattered and strewn about as if their lives had meant nothing and as if their bodies didn’t deserve the most basic level of respect.

  Except the last time I’d seen something like this, I had been responsible for it. While I’d been carrying out the Remediations, I’d left those who’d sided with Ares in such a state. And what had Apollo asked me that night he sent me to find Josie?

  Do you always have to be so messy?

  I didn’t have to be. I shouldn’t have been.

  Muscle flexing along my jaw, I lifted my gaze to a body of a young woman. She hung from the side of a townhouse, her arms outstretched. Spikes were driven through her palms. The entire front of her body was covered in blood. Written under her body, scrawled in what I assumed was her blood, was a message in Greek.

  Η μετακίνησή σας στη συνέχεια

  Your move then.

  I doubted it was a coincidence that the woman’s long hair was blonde.

  Red-hot rage burned through my veins as I dragged my eyes from the woman and turned back to the street. There was so much death.

  The Titans hadn’t just come here to feed.

  “They came here to kill,” I said. “That’s what they did. They came here to kill and send us a message.”

  Chapter 11

  Seth

  Aiden stared up at the body of the woman. “How…how can they do this to someone?”

  Sickened, I stepped forward and lifted my arm. I couldn’t leave her up there like that. “We need to get her down.”

  “Agreed,” he growled.

  “I’ll get the stakes out. She’ll fall once it happens,” I warned.

  Shoulders tense, Aiden nodded. “Ready when you are.”

  I summoned the air element, pulling the stakes free. Her body immediately fell forward, but I slowed her descent. Aiden caught her limp body and then laid her carefully on the ground. I could see her face better.

  Gods, she was young—younger than Josie.

  Aiden folded her arms over her chest and then rose. “There’s at least fifty bodies out here, and these communities have several hundred residents, if not more.”

  Scanning all the homes, I feared what lay beyond those closed doors was going to be just as bad as what is in the streets. “They probably took some when they—”

  A musky, heavy, damp smell suddenly permeated the air. Aiden and I turned at the same time.

  Two Sentinels stood in the center of the street, among the dead bodies.

  Well, they used to be Sentinels.

  Based on the inky blackness seeping into the whites of their eyes, whoever those Sentinels used to be, they were dead now.

  “Shades,” Aiden growled, unleashing the titanium daggers at his thighs.

  “Why do they smell so badly?” I asked.

  Aiden smirked. “That’s a question I probably never want an answer to.”

  “True.” A slow grin tugged at my lips.

  One of the shades smiled. “Didn’t like our handiwork? I don’t think she liked it either.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Oh, you’re going to be a talkative one? Great.”

  Aiden shot forward, slamming into the shade. He shoved his blades deep into its midsection. The shade roared, knocking Aiden to the side. He hit the wall of a bookstore with a grunt. Chunks of cement gave way under his impact.

  I arched a brow as he slowly picked himself up. “That didn’t work out well, did it?”

  Rising to his feet, Aiden flipped me off.

  I grinned as I unhooked the daggers I hadn’t forgotten to bring. Needing to work out the violent anger whirling inside me, I started toward the chatty shade. Adrenaline kicked my senses alive as it whirled on me. It cocked its head to the side, sniffing the air. I saw the moment the shade recognized who and what I was.

  “You aren’t going to throw me around, buddy,” I said.

  Charging the shade, I came up short with a curse when it simply vanished and then reappeared behind me. I spun around. Blood bled through two puncture holes in the Sentinel’s shirt.

  “What the hell?” I’d never seen a shade do that before. Then again, I knew the older the shade, the more powerful they were when it came to manipulating the body it possessed and the environment around it.

  I swung on the shade. It popped out of existence, reappearing a few steps to my left. Dropping down, I went for the legs of the creature, but before my kick could connect, the shade vanished.

  The sound of its deep, throaty chuckle alerted me to where the shade now stood. Jumping to my feet, I aimed the blade for the midsection again. Over his shoulder, I saw Aiden rushing toward us.

  Moving disturbingly fast, it spun and caught Aiden’s blade, breaking it off. Then
it had its hand around Aiden’s throat, lifting him off the ground. Its body vibrated as it eyed Aiden. “Do you know what we’d do to boys like you in the pits? Spread those—”

  Gripping the meaty wrists, Aiden pulled his legs up and used the shade’s chest as a springboard. The action broke the creature’s hold, and Aiden rolled into the fall, springing back to his feet.

  I shot forward, jumping over a bike rack. I hit the stunned shade in the back, knocking it down. We both hit the hard cement sidewalk and rolled, coming close to the edge of a drop-off and the small creek below.

  I could have easily tapped into akasha and ended this, but I wanted—no, I needed to feel the brutal savagery of a fight. I needed to get my hands dirty after seeing what they’d done to this place, to these people.

  Flipping the shade onto its back, I slammed my fist into the shade’s jaw, knocking its head to the side. I swung my other hand, the one holding the dagger, prepared to wedge the dagger deep in the fucker’s skull.

  The shade popped out, and I hit the ground, catching myself at the last minute. “That is getting really annoying.”

  Reappearing above me, the shade grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, lifting my heavy ass clear off the ground in a surprising display of strength.

  This shade thought it was a badass.

  Arching my back, I swung my legs back, locking them around the shade’s waist as I used both arms to break the shade’s hold. I swung down, planting both hands on the dirtied floor. Using momentum and the shade’s weight, I flipped the dumb son of a bitch head over heels.

  Popping up, I saw Aiden engage the other shade that must’ve gotten tired of standing around.

  I turned around, focusing on the hyped-up shade. “How about you stand still for about five seconds?”

  “You’re a god,” it said, its voice deep and guttural. “Why don’t you just take me out?”

  “Good point.” Snapping forward, I ducked under the shade’s arm and wrapped my arm around its neck. “I guess I’m enjoying it.” I squeezed as a horn blasted off in the distance.

  The shade laughed. “You know what I enjoyed?”

  “No,” I grunted as it struggled in my hold. “And I don’t really care.”

  “Oh, but I think you will.” It laughed again. “I watched Hyperion drag your bitch across a field of bodies. How’s that for enjoyment?”

  What he said caught me off-guard.

  The shade swooped down, tossing my ass right over his shoulder. “Dumbass,” it hissed.

  I hit the edge of a low brick wall hip first. Pain exploded through me, momentarily stunning me. In an instant, the shade was standing above me. Its hoofed foot landed a direct hit to my midsection, and before I could catch myself, I toppled over the edge.

  The fall was only about four feet, but the landing still hurt like hell. For a moment I didn’t move. Apparently I had been relying way too much on my godly abilities, because I was letting this shade get the upper hand.

  Not anymore.

  Springing to my feet, I ignored the pain and pushed up. Flying through the air, I landed on the retaining wall.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” The shade was heading for Aiden. “I thought we were going to play.”

  I briefly caught sight of Aiden moving behind the other shade, shoving his blade into its back. Dark, oily blood gushed from the shade’s chest as a hole formed where the heart was.

  The shade’s roar of agony told me that blow had hurt.

  Aiden yanked the dagger out and the Sentinel threw its head back. Its mouth dropped open as black smoke poured out of it. The Sentinel’s body collapsed to the ground in a heap of useless muscles and bones, leaving only the scent of damp earth behind.

  Where in the hell was a furie when you needed one? They liked to eat those things.

  Aiden lifted his head, seeing me. “Are you still messing with that one?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged, jumping off the brick wall. “We’re working a few things out.”

  The shade looked between us. “I was just telling him how Hyperion used to beat the shit out of his bitch of a girlfriend.”

  Clutching the dagger, I stalked toward it. “You really do not know when to keep your mouth shut.”

  “You know what’s going to happen?” The shade turned its back on Aiden. “You’re going to lose this war and Cronus is going to make sure you’re alive long enough to watch as he rips the intestines from her body.”

  The shade then disappeared.

  “Behind you!” Aiden shouted as it reappeared.

  I whirled around and swung, so damn done with this bastard and its taunts. Rage, potent and lethal, rolled through me in poisonous waves. “Fuck you.”

  I stopped thinking.

  Launching forward, I gripped the shade’s shoulder. I bent at the waist, pulling the shade close as I kicked out, my boot catching the creature just below the chin. Its neck snapped back with a sickening crunch. I spun around, feeling my face twist in a mask of rage as I slammed the blade through the neck first, just to hear its guttural scream, and then through the chest.

  It, too, opened its mouth, but this one was not escaping to climb down the throat of some other innocent. Fuck no. Tapping into akasha, I hit the black cloud with the deadliest energy out there, utterly obliterating it.

  “Fucker,” I muttered, stepping back.

  “Do you think there’s—” Aiden’s words were cut off by a grunt.

  Spinning around, I caught sight of Aiden flying backward as if the Hulk had just punched him. He flew into the windshield of a SUV and then through it.

  Shit.

  I spun back, scanning the street. I didn’t see anything and I didn’t wait. Darting over to the SUV, I yanked the passenger door open, finding Aiden sprawled across the front seats.

  He wasn’t moving.

  Double shit.

  Grabbing Aiden under his arms, I hauled his heavy-ass body out of the SUV and into the street. I was about to get the hell out of there when a surge of power rippled along my skin. Glyphs appeared on my skin, and my head jerked around.

  Air warped in front of me, and someone suddenly appeared in a crackle of spitting energy. A tall, lean son of a bitch, rocking a blue Mohawk and leather pants. Nothing else.

  I dropped Aiden.

  He’d be okay.

  Eventually.

  The Titan stood staring at me, saying nothing as I straightened. Our gazes connected over the distance. I knew who this was based on the way he looked. Oceanus. He hadn’t fed on Josie, but he’d done worse to the other demigod they had.

  Much, much worse.

  I tamped down my anger. “Nice hair.”

  Oceanus smirked. “I didn’t think you’d come, but Cronus was right when he said you would.”

  “Now why would you think I wouldn’t?”

  The Titan’s pitch-black eyes glimmered. “Do you know how long it took the Olympians to get the balls to face us?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

  His head tilted to the side. “You’re going to care.”

  “Is that so?”

  He nodded. “You’re not going to win this war.”

  “You sound confident in this,” I said, catching movement out of the corner of my eye. A black mist crept between the buildings, coming from both sides of the street. It curled over the sidewalk, thin and wispy as tendrils flowed off the curb.

  Shades.

  Lots of shades.

  “The Olympians are weakened,” Oceanus said. “Without Ares, they have no hope.”

  “We don’t need them.”

  Oceanus chuckled darkly. “The young demigods will stand no chance against us.”

  The shades were up to something.

  They licked at the bodies, slipping over them. It was like a fog of shadows rolling over the still bodies, and that fog seeped into their bodies through the open mouths still frozen in horror.

  “Like I said, you will not win this war. Not again.”

  “
Are you trying to convince me or yourself of this?” I saw the finger on the nearest body twitch. A leg spasmed on another body.

  “I’m not trying to convince you of anything.” The freaky bastard didn’t blink, not once. “I am here to make a deal.”

  Chapter 12

  Seth

  One by one, the fallen bodies of the pures rose, shuffling to their feet, a bloody and ghastly mess. They faced me in unison, an army of resurrected pures standing between the Titan and me.

  I’d seen some shit in my day, but this—yeah, this was creepy as hell.

  I went on high alert. “A deal?”

  Oceanus dipped his chin in what I could only assume was a nod. “Bring us Zeus’s head and you will have nothing to fear from us.”

  “You’re serious?” A harsh laugh burst out of me.

  Dark brows furrowed. “Do I sound like I’m joking? You bring us Zeus’s head, and we will leave you in peace.”

  Behind me, I could hear Aiden waking up. My brain whirled to click everything he was saying into place. “And why would killing Zeus be enough?”

  A smile crept across the Titan’s face. “Do you know nothing?”

  “Well, that was a rude statement.”

  “If Zeus dies, Cronus ascends to Olympus. We rule once more, as we should.”

  “And then you release the rest of the Titans and kill the rest of the gods?”

  “We will give them a choice,” he replied. “And they will choose their own fate.”

  “Why doesn’t Cronus go after Zeus himself? Or is he scared?”

  The ground trembled slightly under my feet, and I had a feeling Cronus was nearby. He’d heard that and hadn’t liked it.

  I smirked.

  “Because we want you to choose your own fate, Seth. Side with us. You cannot defeat Cronus,” Oceanus replied coolly.

  Yeah, this wasn’t adding up. “You know what I’m thinking? There’s a reason why you want me to do this. Cronus doesn’t want to face off with me. Is it because I killed Perses?”

  His nostrils flared as the shades shifted restlessly.

  “Or is it because of how easily I killed Hyperion?” I asked, letting some of my power slip through to the skin. My vision tinted white. “And he’s afraid that I’ll kill him?”