The Prophecy

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “What have you done?” he asked, that pitch-black gaze burning mine. “What has he done?”

  The shades threw their heads back and howled. Their screams sent chills down my spine.

  “That’s not creepy or anything.” Alex shuddered. “When are those—?”

  The shades charged.

  Alex and Aiden shot forward, catching the first wave of shades. Alex slammed the hilt of a Covenant dagger deep into the chest of the first shade. Aiden spun like a graceful dancer, releasing his sickle blade. It caught the shade under the chin. With one clean strike, the head went in one direction and the body went in another. Luke started unloading, striking one shade after another, in the centers of their foreheads.

  One blew past Alex, gunning straight for me. Newly honed instinct took over. I lifted my hand and tapped into akasha. Every cell in my body sparked alive as power flowed from my core. A bolt of charged energy arced from my palm, smacking into the center of the shade’s chest. It flew backward, past Oceanus.

  It started as a tremor, like a train was running nearby, but the tremor grew until it became hard to stand. The shades stopped attacking, their screams fading as they stared at the ground. Unbalanced, I threw my arms out as I looked at Apollo.

  “Please tell me this is supposed to happen.”

  Apollo nodded.

  The street swelled as if some great pressure was pushing it up. We stumbled back as the street collapsed, settling. The road was cracked, and all I could hear was Luke’s ragged breathing.

  Chunks of asphalt spewed into the air, mowing down the shades who hadn’t been wise enough to back away. Dust blanketed the sky, and out of the floating dirt came a hand.

  A hand that was about the size of my torso.

  Aiden threw an arm out, shielding Alex. “Holy…”

  “Daimon balls,” Alex whispered.

  Another hand smacked down on the ground, rattling the buildings. A large, soot-covered head appeared. It came out of the torn street, a massive creature that had to be more than twenty feet tall.

  I really hoped there weren’t any helicopters flying nearby because there’d be no hiding this guy.

  My eyes nearly popped out of my head as my gaze drifted down, and I immediately wished I hadn’t.

  “Whoa,” Alex murmured.

  The giant was buck-ass naked.

  Another set of hands came out of the torn ground. A second giant joined the first and then a third appeared.

  Aaand all of them were naked.

  “I guess they don’t make clothing big enough for them?” she asked, and a small, hysterical-sounding giggle escaped me.

  Oceanus shouted something and then turned. The shades rushed forward, toward the giants. Some fell into the hole in the street. Others were smarter, going around the rift. They swarmed the giants, attacking their legs and climbing up.

  Apollo cocked his head to the side and then sighed. “He always has to make a fashionable late entrance.”

  A fissure of pure energy shot down the road. Static crackled, and my heart nearly stopped in my chest. Behind Cronus, a column of shimmering blue light appeared. When it faded, Zeus stood there.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” He smiled as lightning crackled from his palms and wind blew the strands of his hair.

  Cronus drew up short. “Not again.”

  “History does have a habit of repeating itself.” Zeus smiled.

  “Look!” Aiden shouted.

  Black dots appeared in the sky above us, circling and swirling, coming closer and closer to the ground with each cycle. They weren’t dots. They were large winged creatures.

  “Furies.” Luke cursed.

  Before we had a chance to run for cover, they carpet-bombed the shades trying to slow down the giants, snatching them up with their clawed feet and throwing them into the air. Oily blood arced out, dotting the broken ground. A shadow passed over me and the ground shook as a furie landed directly in front of me.

  I gasped. “Erin?”

  The furie winked. I barely recognized her features, but it was her in her true form. “Be right back.”

  Using powerful legs, she launched into the sky. Within seconds, she had a shade in her grip. I stared at her, shocked that she was, in fact, very much alive.

  My father hadn’t lied about that, at least.

  The first giant broke free from the shades and rushed forward, each step jarring the earth. It was heading straight for Tethys.

  A burst of white light shot from Apollo, striking Tethys in the back. She stumbled. She didn’t fall, but Apollo had cornered her. Zeus was doing the same, hitting Cronus over and over with lightning.

  Apollo and Zeus weren’t killing the Titans. They were trapping them, not allowing them to escape.

  Alex walked past me and picked up an overturned bench. She sat down, plopping her cheek on her fist.

  “Getting comfortable?” Aiden asked.

  She lifted a shoulder. “Not like they need our help.”

  “For once.” A rare grin appeared on Luke’s face as he watched one of the giants snatch up Tethys in a meaty hand. The female Titan shrieked and flailed, but she was not getting free. “It’s about time.”

  The four of us were actually on the sidelines as Apollo and Zeus, along with the furies, took over. I couldn’t help but think if Seth were here, he would’ve passed out from seeing this.

  A sad smile tugged at my lips. He wouldn’t even believe what he was seeing. That finally, after all this time, after all the deaths and the sacrifices, Zeus was down here, fighting.

  And all it took was Seth…sacrificing himself.

  The knot of raw emotion expanded in my chest as I lowered my hand to my stomach.

  The final battle lasted maybe minutes. Corralled into one area, it took nothing for the giants to capture each of the Titans. They held them in their hands, and from where I stood, the Titans looked like screaming children as they were taken back into the tear in the road. Cronus was the last to go, his screams of rage overshadowed by the screams of the shades as the furies took them out, sucking them down their throats as they tried to escape the bodies they’d possessed.

  “Do you think they get indigestion from that?” Alex asked.

  I thought that was a valid question.

  The ground trembled once more as Zeus walked forward. As he neared the rift, he waved his hand over it. Shimmery blue light settled over the tear like a million fireflies. The road…repaired itself. Stone and cement churned, spreading over the tear, and within seconds it was like giants had not just crawled out from there. Even the yellow paint marking the lanes was flawless.

  “That could come in handy,” Luke murmured under this breath, and then he quieted as Zeus approached us. Even Alex sat up straight and then rose to her feet.

  “They will take the Titans back to their tombs, where Hades is awaiting their return,” Zeus explained, and then looked over his shoulder. “The furies will hunt down the rest of the shades. A few have escaped, but they have no place to run.”

  Alex opened her mouth, but for once, nothing came out of it.

  Zeus looked at me. “It is over, Josie.”

  It was.

  I don’t know what I was expecting to feel. A sense of completion? Relief? Righteousness? As if knowing Seth’s sacrifice wasn’t for nothing was suddenly going to lessen the burden of facing a…a possible eternity without him?

  But I felt…I felt nothing.

  I looked over Zeus’s shoulder, and I didn’t see any of the furies. I saw my father. He was staring back at me.

  “This was because of him,” Zeus said quietly, drawing my attention. “He made this possible, and you will understand one day why this had to be this way.”

  “I will never understand.” Tearing my gaze away from Zeus, I shuddered as I faced my father. “I want to go…home.”

  Chapter 29

  Josie ~ Two months later

  “Kyría, is there anything I can do for you?”

  Sitti
ng in the sand, I lifted my gaze from the frothy waves and squinted. Basil stood beside me. “What did I tell you, Basil?”

  His brows pinched. “To stop…waiting on you?”

  “Yes.” I nodded for extra emphasis. “You’re not my servant. None of you here are my servants.”

  Since Apollo brought me here after the showdown with the Titans, Basil and every person—er, priest and priestess—who lived here treated me like a queen who had finally come home.

  Which was a good thing in the beginning, especially when I first walked into the bedroom that I’d shared with Seth and had an utter breakdown. If it hadn’t been for Basil and the priestess named Karina, I don’t think I would’ve made it to the bed. And as much as it shamed me to admit it, if it hadn’t been for them making sure I ate during those first dark days here, I would’ve just stayed in that bed, wasting away.

  And if it weren’t for the child I carried inside me that was what I would’ve done. Withered up and died when the pain of losing Seth was fresh, like it happened yesterday.

  Except, with the help of those who lived here and my friends, I did get out of that bed, and even though there were days when I wanted nothing more than to give up, I didn’t.

  I was still here.

  I was going to be here.

  “But we wish to serve you,” Basil said, and he’d only said that about a million times.

  “I know, but it’s…weird.”

  Basil stared at me like he couldn’t process how that was weird. He then changed the subject. Like he always did when we had this conversation. “We stocked the pantry and fridge this morning. We did not forget those cheese snacks this time.”

  A grin pulled at my lips. He was talking about Cheetos. “Erin is sure to appreciate that.”

  He smiled brightly. “I am pleased to hear that. Does Erin plan to stay long this time?”

  “I’m not sure. I guess it depends on her being…summoned.”

  Basil nodded with understanding. Erin had been here since the moment Apollo had brought me here. Besides the happiness of being able to reconnect with her, her presence came in handy. She also had the nifty ability of easy transportation, able to take me wherever I needed to go.

  That was how I got to my first appointment with the OBGYN in New York. The appointment had been equally amazing and depressing, and Erin had been there through it all.

  Just like Basil and Karina.

  Sometimes I wondered why they were still here.

  I bit down on my lip as I looked out at the ocean. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything, Kyría.”

  “Why are you all still here?” I asked, wincing at how bad the question sounded. “I mean, I’m happy that everyone is here. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you all, but Seth is… He’s gone, and you all were here because of him.”

  Basil knelt beside me, and when I looked at him, his gaze held mine. “Just because he is not here with us does not mean he is gone. He is the God of Life and he is the God of Death. This is just a moment in that cycle.”

  What he said was confusing as hell, but none of the staff here, or the priests and priestesses behaved as if Seth was…dead. They acted as if he was just on vacation or something. Like he was coming back.

  But Seth wasn’t coming back.

  I knew this, because if Seth was coming back, he would’ve done it by now. He wouldn’t be out there and not be with me. He wouldn’t have missed the first real doctor’s visit. He wouldn’t have left me like this.

  Knowing all of that, there was a still a part of me that was just like everyone here.

  Waiting for Seth to return. Like he was simply gone and not dead.

  Basil lightly touched my arm, and I blinked, refocusing on him. I realized that he’d been talking. “I’m sorry. I kind of zoned out there.”

  “It’s okay, Kyría.” The man was the definition of patience. “We’re also here because of you. We want you to know that. We are your family, not by blood but what exists in here.” He thumped his fist off his chest. “And family of the heart and soul does not leave. No matter what.”

  ~

  “Tacos or wings? This is an important decision, so don’t say I don’t care.” Erin stood in the massive kitchen, holding a package of soft taco shells in one hand and uncooked chicken wings in the other. “Wait. Can pregnant ladies eat chicken wings and tacos?”

  I laughed as I poured myself a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. “As long as it’s cooked properly, yes, I can eat it.”

  She lowered the taco shells as she eyed the bag of chicken. “I think chicken is probably a healthier choice.”

  Closing the door, I walked over to the island and hopped on the bar stool. “Not sure chicken wings ever constitute a healthy choice.”

  “If it’s baked, it’s healthy.”

  “I don’t think that’s how that works.”

  She frowned as she put the chicken into the fridge. “Why not?”

  “Because there’s a lot of stuff that’s baked that is terrible for you.”

  “Name one.”

  “Cookies. Pies. Cake. Lasagna—”

  “You’re a life-ruiner,” she interrupted, grinning. “We’ll do chicken wings and a salad.”

  I took a sip of my juice as she came over to the island and sat beside me. “How was everything at the University?”

  Erin had popped over there earlier to scope things out. “Still no fighting, even with all the students back in class.”

  “No incidents?”

  “None.” She crossed one leg over the other. “Maybe Deacon and Luke are onto something. They think it has to do with my sisters making an appearance. Many of the pures have never seen a furie before. Could’ve been a wake-up call to get their life right.”

  It was hard to think of those entombed furies as Erin’s sisters, because of what they had done to Colin. Erin was nothing like them.

  The last time Erin had swung by the campus, Marcus had let her know that he’d heard back from one of his contacts and had gotten the profile of the pures who’d be likely involved in the crimes against the halfs. Several interviews had gone down, but there hadn’t been any breakthroughs.

  “This is good news, though.” I ran my finger along the rim of the glass. “At least it seems safe for the students there.”

  “It does, but…” Erin sighed when I glanced over at her. “I don’t know. I feel like we’re missing something, and I’m not taking about your friend’s body, either.”

  I shifted my gaze from her. Every square inch of that campus had been searched for Colin’s body and nothing had been found. I feared what happened to him was going to be one of those mysteries that were never solved.

  “Anyway,” Erin said, nudging me with her arm. “Cora and Gable are a thing now.”

  “Really? That’s good.”

  “Yep.”

  Come to think of it, I wasn’t entirely surprised. Gable was always staring at her when they were around each other. “How’s Erik doing?”

  Erin rolled her eyes. “Good, I guess? I can’t stand his arrogant ass longer than five minutes at a time to really know how he’s doing, but the three of them seem to be fitting in at the University.”

  I arched my brow at her, thinking her reaction to Erik was a little strong. I was happy to hear that they were doing well there. Even though there was no threat to them, they needed to learn about their heritage and what abilities they did have.

  “Alex and Aiden’s time is almost up,” she continued. “They’re having a going-away party and they really, really want to see you before they go.”

  I nodded, unsure of how to answer. Talking about visiting everyone was about as fun as talking about my father, who I hadn’t seen since he brought me here.

  Erin was quiet for a long moment. “Everyone misses you.”

  Uncomfortable with where this conversation was going, I looked away. “I miss them too.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes.”
And I did miss everyone.

  “Then why haven’t you’ve gone to see them? Or had me bring them over here again?”

  I opened my mouth, but anything I was about to say died on the tip of my tongue. Erin knew why. The last time I’d seen Alex and Aiden, they’d been here, along with Luke and Deacon, and they wanted to talk about a funeral for Seth.

  We’d had one for Colin even though there’d been no body, about two weeks after the Titans were entombed. Then about a week later, Alex had broached the topic of doing one for Seth.

  “I know it’s not something any of us wants to think about,” Aiden had said. “But it will help give closure. Not just to you, but to everyone else.”

  I’d shut down.

  “They’re not going to push the whole funeral thing.” The fact she knew what I was thinking about was evidence of how well she knew me. “You know that, right?”

  “I know.” Picking up my juice, I took a long drink. It was time to be honest. “I just feel bad.”

  Her dark brows knitted together. “For what?”

  “Being selfish, for starters.” I dropped my elbow onto the island and planted my forehead into my palm. “I know they need to say goodbye to him, and a funeral is closure. They need it, and I’m holding them back.”

  Which was proof that I hadn’t entirely accepted that Seth was gone.

  “You’re not holding anyone back. Having a funeral isn’t necessary,” Erin argued.

  “I know that, but doesn’t Seth deserve that? The remembrance? The recognition?”

  “What do you think Seth would’ve wanted?”

  “Not a funeral.” I shoved my fingers through my hair as I squeezed my eyes shut and coughed out a harsh laugh. “He’d rather have people have a massive fight in his honor.”

  Erin snorted. “Sounds like him.”

  “I just don’t know.” I dragged my hand down my face. Guilt and unease churned inside me. Thank God I still hadn’t gotten any of the typical pregnancy symptoms other than feeling tired. I was already causing my stomach to be upset enough without hurling every morning. “I just…I miss him.”

  Erin leaned into me, resting her chin on my shoulder. “It’s okay to miss him. You’re going to for a long time.”