Hunt of the Gods

by Amy Braun

  When Poseidon slammed a barrage of ice at Hephaestus’s feet and tried to freeze him in place and Zeus cast whips of lightning down to act as a cage, the fire god snapped.

  Flames exploded out of Hephaestus, erasing all semblance of man and leaving only his shape behind. He launched into the sky, dripping lava, and charged his brother gods. They all slammed together and rolled across the beach. Ice, lightning, and fire clashed as the battle rolled along the edge of the sand… and away from us.

  I tore my eyes away from the Olympian battle to look at the remaining gods.

  Hermes was an unconscious heap, gold blood pooled around his ankle… and white bone poking through. Artemis fought against her brother, her strikes vicious but never landing. Apollo suddenly heaved her up and sped across the beach, scooping Hermes up with her. They darted across the ocean, both snared in Apollo’s burning gold light. The god took them out until they were nearly specks on the horizon and dropped them into the sea.

  With a flash of gold light, he was back on the beach.

  Standing in front of us.

  His smile was wicked and bright, his eyes dark and mad.

  “There,” he crooned. “Now we can begin.”

  I DIDN’T WASTE time speaking. I opened my hand and called Ki̱demónas to it. The spear flipped out of its sheath on my back, extending when it hit my palm.

  So fast I barely saw it, Apollo raised his hands in a bowstring motion, and in a shimmer of gold, his bow was back with an arrow nocked. Apollo fired. The bolt blazed over my shoulder and struck Ki̱demónas before it reached my hand. The speed and force of it was incredible. I heard the metal clink as it was knocked away.

  Liam formed a ball of flame in his hand and threw it at the god. Apollo stepped aside and raised his hand. Liam blanched suddenly and hunched forward. He groaned and clutched his stomach, then spat blood on the ground.

  My insides twisted. Apollo was the god of healing. And the plague. It couldn’t affect Olympians, but it could devastate humans.

  I pressed my hand to my brother’s back, trying to force the poison out of him.

  Twang!

  I flicked my hand up, spooling aether out of it. The black smoke spiraled and formed a shield in front of me, which Apollo’s bolt struck. Gold sparks rolled over the edge of the aether shield and singed my forehead. I looked at my brother.

  “Liam, you okay?”

  He coughed and spat blood again. Hesitantly, he nodded.

  He was lying.

  The Berserker Rage kicked at my ribs. I focused my magic into the shield and shoved it toward Apollo. A hook of light caught the edge of the aether and rent it in half. Apollo dragged the hook back, gold light slithering through his hands. He started twirling the light as though preparing to throw a grappling hook. I reached for Ki̱demónas and got the spear in my grip just as Apollo threw the hook into the sand.

  Energy rippled through the grit, getting closer to us.

  I pushed Liam aside and dove away. Giant spikes of light surged up from the sand. Dust swirled, and the spike’s light seared my vision.

  Twang!

  I ducked then felt a burning pain along my ribs. I glanced down, staring at the gash Apollo’s hook had made in my armor. The plating of the armor might absorb blows, but it clearly wasn’t designed to ward off godly attacks.

  A stabbing pain exploded in my middle. I staggered and wrapped a hand around my stomach, feeling my insides roll and burn even though nothing was stuck in me.

  Sour bile and coppery blood rushed up my throat. I gagged it out onto the sand.

  I heard my name shouted, but I didn’t recognize the voice. I wasn’t even sure where I was.

  I pressed my hand to my stomach, thinking only of healing, of getting better, of erasing whatever poison was inside me.

  Flames rushed past me. The surge of power shot toward Apollo. He flipped up a hand, and gold light burst from his fingers and coiled around the flames, snuffing them like fingertips to candlelight.

  The pain in my middle eased just enough so I could breathe and spit the vile fluids out of my mouth. I looked up, found Ki̱demónas, and grabbed it from the sand. I lifted my gaze higher, and found Apollo glaring daggers at Selena.

  “You don’t look surprised to see me,” she taunted.

  “I have Seen you, harlot, and—”

  “Shut up,” growled Selena. “You don’t get to shame me. Not anymore.” She was shaking. With fear or anger, I wasn’t sure. But the challenge had been laid out, and Selena was not going to back down. “I don’t care about you, Apollo. I never did. You’re an arrogant, whiny child, and I have no problem putting you in your place.”

  Selena screamed with fury and pushed huge gouts of flame from her hands. Seven-foot waves rolled through the air toward Apollo. The god simply stood in place. Light emanated from him and folded him into a protective sphere. Selena’s magic bounced off Apollo’s. The flames wrapped around the sphere, seeking a way in.

  Then the light went out, and Apollo was gone.

  Selena twisted to the left and drew her kukri. I followed her movements and launched Ki̱demónas in the same direction.

  Apollo reformed from light, catching Selena’s kukri as it slashed down. He blocked Ki̱demónas with his free hand, and the bronze weapon spun away. I raced for them, calling for the spear again.

  Apollo twisted Selena’s wrist, causing the kukri to drop from her hand. Flames grew there to replace it, and she shoved the blast at the god. He ducked under the blast, caught Selena around the middle, and effortlessly threw her over his back and into the sand.

  He turned to me. I swiped at him with Ki̱demónas, hacking and twisting and jabbing. I Adapted my speed to match his. Aether and fire twisted off the spear and lashed at Apollo while I was attacking. He brought his arms up to cover his head. Gold light wrapped around his forearms like greaves. Their energy burned my eyes and caused me to slip.

  Apollo punched me in the stomach. I launched back three feet and landed hard. My abdomen burned. I glanced down to see that the greaves had burned through the armor and singed me.

  That light was as hot as my own flames. Liam hadn’t been exaggerating about incineration.

  As if sensing my thoughts, my brother surged into the fight next to me. He hurled lances of flame at Apollo, one after the other, high, low, left, right, and center. The god easily dodged all of them. While moving, Apollo pressed his hands together and formed a ball of light. He pushed outward, throwing the ball at Liam. It crashed into my brother and knocked him down, and he screamed. The light faded, and I saw Liam’s entire breastplate was smoking. Layers of skin on his chin had been burned away.

  Furious, I rolled to my feet and rushed Apollo.

  With a snap of his fingers, that wretched, bloody twisting in my stomach started up again. I dragged on Ki̱demónas’s magic and my own to fight it, but the pain kept me doubled over.

  Apollo turned and swept his hand over Selena. Tendrils of light dropped from his fingertips and closed around her torso, binding her to the sand. She screamed as the light melted through her armor.

  Rage swelled in my chest and I stood, throwing Ki̱demónas again.

  Apollo waved his hand. A spool of light wrapped around the spear and yanked it to the sand. The metal heated, illuminating the engravings in molten red, but the spear itself would not burn.

  “Let us stop this now,” he intoned. “Surely you know you cannot defeat me.” He raised his gold eyes. “And neither can they.”

  Forcing myself to move, I turned around and watched Corey, Mason, and Thea appear on the sand behind us. Thea grasped a large bag in her hand.

  A spiral of water appeared next to Thea. Poseidon stepped out of it, his enormous hands gripping the silver Trident. The fury in his eyes gave me chills.

  “You dare,” growled Poseidon. The ground shook with his every step. “You dare attack my sacred festival. You dare attack me.” Ice spiked up from the sand and stabbed at Apollo’s shin. The God of Light stepped back.
/>
  Poseidon stabbed his Trident into the ground. Ice spilled from the pronged weapon and swept across the sand. It was too fast for Apollo. His ankles were snared. The magic crawled up his shins and thighs. It crawled up his body until only his head remained free.

  Poseidon kept marching. I could hear the waves crashing heavily behind us. Violent winds swirled the god’s hair. His eyes burned like blue fire.

  There was no warning. No hesitation. Poseidon lifted his Trident and threw it at Apollo. His aim was true. The Trident speared into the icy cage and pierced Apollo through the middle.

  The God of Light gasped in pain. His head jerked forward and lolled against the icy cage.

  Shock rooted me to the ground, but Poseidon kept walking. He didn’t stop until he was face to face with Apollo.

  “Your actions this day are unforgiveable, nephew,” growled the sea god. “I will personally see to it that you suffer for them after I rip that Eye from your skull.”

  Apollo groaned and lifted his head.

  “No, Uncle.” Apollo sighed and lifted his head. “Not in this future.”

  Gold light exploded from Apollo’s captured body, splintering his ice cage. The light hardened into spikes… and every single one pierced Poseidon.

  The god’s stomach, arms, shoulders, chest, throat, face, eyes… all of them were skewered by Apollo’s light spears. The tips protruded from his back.

  Grunting, Apollo gripped the Trident and ripped it from his chest. Gold blood spilled across his soaked white clothes, but the wounds shimmered and healed over.

  There was little the God of Healing couldn’t recover from.

  He dropped the Trident and dissolved the light spears embedded in Poseidon. The sea god collapsed with a heavy thump, sand kicking up around his body.

  A body that was no longer moving.

  I knew I should be moving, fighting, doing something, but all I could do was stare. Look at the fallen body of a god. An Olympian who had seemed unbreakable.

  Thea dropped to her knees as if shoved by invisible hand. She sat there, defeated, looking at her forefather with wide, terrified aquamarine eyes. She didn’t seem to notice that the bagged gorgon head had slipped from her grasp and lay in the sand.

  “What did you do?” Selena whispered. “What did you do?”

  “I am laying the path to my ideal future,” declared Apollo. “In this future, Poseidon must die.” The galaxies in his eyes swirled. “All of you must die.”

  I turned and brought my hands up again. Aether peeled from my fingers and banded together, quickly meshing into a wall.

  Apollo’s light slammed into the aether wall. The force and heat of it buckled my arms. The edges of the aether shield melted against the corrosive light. I turned my face away and squeezed my eyes shut, but I could still see the magic behind my closed lids.

  Thunder cracked overhead, and the light drew back from my shield. I glanced up to see bolts of lightning spearing the ground where Apollo was standing. He swept an arm over his head. Light rolled out from his curving arm and knocked away the bolts. The light continued to spread through the air, like melting gold dripping over an upturned bowl.

  He was locking us in another dome.

  I glanced around. My friends were backing up, looking at the dome as it spilled down around them. Liam, Mason, and Selena continued to fight Apollo, needing to keep him back. Thea and Corey were trapped in a heated argument by Poseidon’s body.

  I called Ki̱demónas into my hand. It barely touched my fingers before I hurled it at the god. With his free hand, Apollo formed a hook of light. It closed around Ki̱demónas and flung the spear away.

  Under the edge of the dome, right before it closed.

  I reached for the spear. The connection was strained. Ki̱demónas wobbled up from the sand. Its brass blade jabbed against the exterior of the dome, but it couldn’t break through.

  Bolts of lightning and flame shot past me as I reached for it, light swelled in my peripheral vision.

  A heavy weight slammed into me and knocked me into the sand. I rolled away just as a beam of light sliced through where I’d been standing. It snapped up and whipped back toward me.

  I raised my hand and spilled out a shield of aether. The light slammed into the shadow. A current of flames rippled past my side, streaking for the god. I glanced over my shoulder to see Liam kneeling just a little behind me, flames pouring from his palms and his face twisted in grim determination.

  I peeked over the side of the shield, my gaze following Liam’s fire. Apollo was holding back Selena’s flames and Mason’s lightning, and all he did when he saw Liam’s flames was snap his fingers. A spike of light cut through Liam’s flames and flew toward him. Liam jumped directly behind me, using my aether and body as shields. His eyes burned into mine.

  “It’d be great if you could help us,” Liam snarled at me.

  That snapped me back into focus. He was right. Ki̱demónas could wait. It had to wait.

  “Done,” I told him, “if you get the gorgon head.”

  Liam glanced toward the body of Poseidon, where the gorgon head had last been lying. He looked at me again. “Done.”

  And then he was gone. I peered around the shield, watching where Apollo was looking. His head was turned away, but the force of his magic was still eating away at my aether shield.

  The moment Liam was gone, I Adapted my speed, lowered the shield, and let it drop.

  I rolled away, blazing hot light spearing the space where I’d been. I rolled up to a knee and pushed out my flames. A ten-foot wall of fire rolled through the air to the god. The strike ate up my power. The Rage in my chest relished in it, whispering to be set free. I set the temptation aside and reached for the aether ghosting against my ribcage.

  Apollo turned in my direction. I pressed a hand into the sand and loosed the aether beneath it.

  The god raised a hand, slamming a wall of light into my flames.

  I forced the aether up.

  Spikes of black smoke erupted from the sand and pierced Apollo.

  His stomach ribs, and thighs were all skewered by black smoke. Gold blood beaded around the wounds. Apollo didn’t appear to be in pain, and I knew these wounds wouldn’t kill him. Nothing could kill a god.

  Except another god.

  But I didn’t need to kill him. I just needed to hold him in place.

  Quickly, I pressed my second hand into the sand. Aether rippled under the grit like some great snake. The spikes morphed into weaving vines that wrapped around the Olympian. He twisted and snarled but couldn’t break free. I closed the smoke around his chest, squeezing him in place.

  Mason added to the distraction. Twin bolts of lightning burst from his palms and slammed into the Olympian. They didn’t break my aether bonds.

  I felt a punch of guilt hit my stomach, but I told myself the torture was necessary. Apollo had attacked hundreds of innocent people and slain Poseidon for no reason. What we were doing was brutal and cruel, but it had to be done. Just for a few seconds, just until Liam could get the gorgon head, just until we could freeze him in place.

 

 

  A voice started singing.

  With everything else that was happening, that voice was the last thing I expected to hear. But it was the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard, like the sirens…

  No. No, no, no, no, no!

  “It’s a trick!” I shouted to my friends. “Don’t fall for it!”

  Apollo was a god of many things—prophecy, plague, healing, light, and the muses.

  Of course his voice would be stunning and soothing. How many people could claim to have heard it? It was the kind of seductive voice people longed for. Would kill for.

  I wrestled for control, but I was feeling it slip. The song begged me to relax, be at peace.

  A primal scream echoed through the air. It broke into the song. I followed the new, angry voice. As I w
atched, Selena charged Apollo’s form, which was free of Mason’s lightning and held only haphazardly by my aether.

  She ran as fast as she could, her kukri gleaming gold under the light of the dome. There was no falter, no hesitation, no second thoughts when she plunged her kukri into Apollo’s chest.

  The song stopped. A shocked gasp escaped the Olympian instead.

  Or maybe that was me. I was so stunned that my hold on my magic slipped.

  Selena felt no such alarm. Her eyes were hard, colder than I’d ever seen them. Harder and colder than I ever thought them capable of being.

  She took no joy in her actions, but neither was she remorseful. Does she have any idea what she is doing? What the consequences will be?

  I saw myself in her for a moment—reckless, dangerous, not caring about the consequences of my actions because it had to be done and there was no going back.

  “Gia tin Troía,” she snarled at him. For Troy.

  Apollo stared at her with his black, starry eyes.

  And I knew something was wrong.

 

  “Aiming for my heart again, Cassandra?” crooned Apollo, breaking my focus away from Liam. “You could have had it. I would have loved you more than any mortal could have. More even than Ares’s heir does.”

  I saw the first crack in her armor. The blade was still in Apollo’s chest, gold blood spilling around it, but those words had affected her.

  I bolted for her, praying to any other gods that Mason was following me.

  Then Apollo smiled.

  “But you are a harlot of the Fates, and you will have no heart to give him, as you had none to give to me. So let me save us all.”

  Light exploded off Apollo. The force of the blast blinded me. A fierce gust of heat swept me off my feet. I hit the sand hard, then rolled to my feet to find Selena. Where is she?