“We can't stay holed up here forever,” Nick said.
“Right, well, no offense, Nick, but you breathe under water and talk to horses. Your best bet is sticking with someone who can deal damage,” Evan countered.
“Evan can melt metal with his hands. It might not be practical for direct contact,” Devon explained, “But I'm sure having a ball of molten metal thrown at you can't feel too nice.”
“I can be invisible. It's good for something,” Peter added.
“I... I think I'm setting off adrenaline,” Teddy shrugged. “Think.”
Penny made eye contact with him and nodded, “Or something like it.”
“Well, if we're in a fight we'll already have enough adrenaline. So Teddy, we're going to put you in the non-combat category,” Minnie decided. “Astin can do the blinding sunlight, but I think he's best reserved for recovery. Frank is obvious. I can plan but I don't have much to offer once the fighting has begun.”
“So without Zach and Lewis we've got Frank and Evan. Great. We're hosed.” Nick scowled, “Whoever makes it out alive can thank Zach for leaving us stranded.”
“We're in rough shape, it's true,” Minnie admitted. “I say we take turns keeping watch. Has anyone gotten hold of Dr. Livingstone?”
“He was driving out to his father's house to pick up his kids tonight,” Celene explained as she handed a mug of herbal tea to Devon. “He should be safe out of town. His kids will be safe. The rest of you should call your parents, let them know you're sleeping over a friend's house. There's no guarantee he'll attack tonight. Once we make it through the night, we'll come up with a long-term plan in the morning.”
“What about Adam?” Devon asked. “If he's one of us, shouldn't he be here? We've left him alone.”
Celene hesitated. Devon had told Adam everything, right? What was the harm in bringing him here to keep him safe?
“Okay,” she said. “Call him. Tell him to get here as soon as he can. It's not safe for anyone to be alone.”
Devon sat up, watching her cell phone, waiting for Adam to return her call. Frank's head lay in her lap. It had been over two hours since they had settled down for the night. The rest of the house was silent.
The shift change had come fifteen minutes ago. Teddy and Astin had woken Peter and Nick to keep an eye out. Peter used his invisibility to wait out on the lawn while Nick watched through the back door.
Peter heard it before he saw it. There was a loud thud behind him, followed by a softer impact yards away. He whirled around to see a male lion, roughly the size of a Jeep, standing on Teddy's lawn. A serpent as long as Peter was tall, lay coiled nearby. It raised its head and slithered towards the front door.
Peter was terrified. How did he alert the people inside without drawing an attack on himself? He backed away until he was inching out onto the driveway and reached into his pocket. Peter didn't have to see the buttons on his phone to know that Penny was the first number on speed dial. He watched, eyes wide, as the lion sniffed the air and turned to face him. It could smell him, but it couldn't see him.
From inside the house came the faint sound of a default ringtone. A light turned on. The lion turned its attention back to the house. The snake was already slithering around the back of the house.
The lion approached the front door and dragged a paw down the hard wood. Peter turned and ran up the drive, yanking his phone out of his pocket. “There's a lion at the front door,” he told Penny as he high-tailed it away from the monsters. “A giant lion and a snake going around the back.”
Penny closed her phone. “Peter took off,” she told everyone. Devon was sitting up in her sleeping bag next to Penny and Frank was already on his feet. “Get Nick inside, there's a snake out there.”
“What is that at the door?” Evan asked. Another loud scrape tore at the wood.
“A lion,” Penny explained. “A very big lion.”
The scratching stopped. It was quiet for a moment.
“Where did it go?” someone asked.
Heavy paws padded louder and louder as they approached the house. There was a thud and a crack of splitting wood and the lion burst paws-first through the door. Its wide shoulders got stuck in the door frame and its head thrashed wildly about.
June screamed.
Minnie ran to the back door and yanked Nick inside. She slammed the door and locked it just as the serpent crashed into the safety-glass panel.
“What the heck is that?” Nick asked.
“I'm going to guess Serpens and Leo,” Minnie said.
“Leo?”
“The lion Hercules defeated. His flesh is impervious to arrows. And he's in the front door.”
Serpens vanished from the back door and reappeared in the high window over the kitchen sink. His body was coiled up the large shrub planted under the window. The monster pulled its head back and snapped forward, striking the glass with its nose. This window was not reinforced and it cracked. Another blow sent shards of glass scattering across the kitchen floor and the snake entered the house.
“It's inside!” Nick shouted. He looked around, hoping to spot the knife block, but grabbed a marble pepper mill instead. He swung the stone mill, striking the head of the snake and causing it to recoil for a minute. Minnie grabbed Nick's wrist and yanked him out of the kitchen and back to the living room.
Leo, the lion, was struggling to break through the doorway. The structure of the doorframe could not hold out. The echoes of splitting wood rang through the house as it forced its way in. Frank was there to meet it.
Frank and Leo tumbled across the floor in a grapple. Frank's large hands struggled to hold the beast's mouth open so that it could not bite down on him. Massive paws with razor claws swiped at him and tore open a row of deep wounds in his shoulder.
Frank shouted from the pain but held on tight. Evan grabbed the nearest metal object, a metal bowl for holding keys on the end table by the door, and ran at the lion. The bowl became a puddle of metal in his hand and then was a puddle of metal burning the lion's face. Leo roared and swung a paw at Evan. It caught him in the chest and sent him sprawling to the floor.
“Frank!” Devon screamed as she watched the lion, wounded and angry, gnashing its teeth at the war god. Frank couldn't hold off its jaws and its paws. Another swipe sliced open his side along his ribs. Blood poured out across the tile as Frank struggled to remain conscious.
The others watched in horror, unable to think of anything to do. Nick, Minnie and Astin were the only ones active, at the back of the room fighting off Serpens with broken chairs and table lamps.
Frank's head fell back and hit the floor. The lion reared up, ready for the death strike. A voice from the doorway said its name, however, and the lion froze.
“Sit,” said Adam as he strolled through the door. “Good boy. He's no Hercules, is he?”
He stroked the lion's mane and made a disappointed clicking with his tongue as he examined the burn on its face.
“Serpens,” he called. “Steady.”
“You son of a bitch!” Devon shouted. She moved to charge at him, fists clenched, but Astin and Nick caught her around the shoulders and held her back.
The fighting stopped. Adam took his time measuring the faces in the room. “Cut off the head and watch the body squirm,” he said with a smile. “You're really nothing without Zeus, are you? Just a bunch of panicked monkeys with a few magic tricks. Hades had the right idea, running away... as usual.”
“Adam, is it?” Minnie asked. She had not met him yet, but his voice rang familiar in her mind. “What should we really call you?”
“I really expected better of you, Athena,” he said. “It's been in the news, the quake in Morocco. The peak of the tallest mountain of the Atlas range cracked and fell off, meaning that it's no longer the tallest. I would think that, given your history, you would pay more attention to what happens back at home.”
“Morocco isn't Greece,” Nick said.
; Adam laughed. “It was, once upon a time. Don't they teach you anything in school?”
“Atlas,” Minnie said. “You were charged to hold up the sky.”
“I was. Technically I was holding up the heavens. A little different. But your champion, Perseus, encased me in stone to strengthen my back, and then Harakles set up pillars-- those mountains-- around me to bear the weight of the heavens. My brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus sent word that you were back. I'm sorry it took me a few months to get here.” Adam did a little dance with his shoulders, “It's kind of hard to wiggle your way out of a mountain top, but not even stone could stop me from seeing the looks on your faces. Good ol' Prometheus used to be on your side, but I've always said the Olympians would bring the world to ruin. It's good to be back. I was getting rather bored in Morocco.”
“I trusted you,” Devon hissed.
“So you planned this?” June asked, “Moving in next to Devon? Getting rid of Zach and Lewis, pitting them against each other?”
“You all made it a little too easy,” he said with a laugh. “I got Hades to almost kill Dionysus and I did get Apollo to kill his sister's boyfriend!”
“What?” Diana said. She had hardly spoken since the funeral that afternoon.
“He knew about the peanut butter,” Adam-- Atlas explained. “I was there when one of your comrades brought it up over dinner. 'Ryan Bear's that kid who’s allergic to peanuts. He's the reason we can't have peanuts at school.' Who made you that PB&J, Artemis? Was it your brother?”
Diana stared at Astin, too hurt and surprised to speak. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Well,” Atlas said, clapping his hands, “At least you can stop blaming yourself!” He wiggled his fingers. “Now let's see, which one of you should I kill first. Finish off Ares?”
“Wait, Adam,” Devon said, standing up. “Atlas...”
He cocked his head and looked at her curiously.
“I thought you were my friend,” she said. “Those talks, those late night snacks, did they mean nothing?”
“I'm not here to make friends,” he said.
Devon took a step closer. The air around her became heavy. Adam put his hands down, listening to what she had to say.
“I could join you,” she said quietly as she continued her approach. “You could have what every man wants, the companionship of Aphrodite. Finish them, take me with you.”
He hesitated. Devon was close enough to touch him now. “I...”
“I love you,” she whispered before touching his face and pulling him down into a searing, steamy kiss. Adam wrapped his arms around Devon, letting their tongues dance together. It was fortunate for Frank that he wasn't awake to see it.
Devon pulled back, breaking the kiss and leaving Adam dazed. “Now, Atlas,” she commanded. “Send those beasts back into the sky.”
He had no choice. The kiss of Aphrodite had him under her spell. He waved his hand. Serpens and Leo twinkled and then shrank into pinpoints of light before zipping out through the open doors and windows.
“That's better,” Devon said.
“You've enchanted me,” Atlas said, his voice falling with disappointment.
Devon smirked.
Adam had to follow explicit orders. He didn't have any other restraints. He struck Devon on the side of the head, knocking her to the ground and out of consciousness. “If that's the best trick you have,” he said, looking around the room, “It will be no time before the Titans have risen again.”
Atlas grabbed Devon by the hair and dragged her through the back door into the garden. “Come out and fight me if you have the courage,” he shouted. “You can face me and an army of stars.”
“Astin,” Diana snapped, “Save Frank.”
“His wounds are too big. It'll take me out.”
“Save Frank,” she hissed. “For once in your life do the right thing.”
Astin nodded. He rushed to kneel at Frank's side, placing one hand over his shoulder and the other across his side.
“To hell with that, I'll take him,” Nick said.
“No,” Minnie put her hand out to stop Nick from leaving the house. “He's got all of the heavens to call down. Fight another day.”
“We're all going to die in a minute if we don't stop him.”
Astin's hands glowed. The glow bloomed into a burst of sunlight that filled the room and lit up the whole house. In less than a second it was gone and Astin took a few breaths before falling back. Valerie knelt behind him and lowered him gently to the ground.
Frank opened his eyes. “Where's Devon?” he asked.
“Outside with Atlas. It's Adam,” Minnie explained, “And he's about to bring down more monsters than we can name in one breath. You better get out there. You're all we've got.”
“I'll go, too,” Evan said, gasping and clutching bruised ribs on the floor. He had a small cut on his chest, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the wounds that had nearly killed Frank.
“No,” Frank said. “I've got this.”
Frank stood up. He stepped out through the back door and marched into the garden to face Atlas.
“Oh, you're feeling better. Fantastic. I was getting bored,” Atlas taunted. He left Devon lying in the street and raised his hands to the sky. He curled his fingers and pulled his hands apart. Atlas seemed to tear a hole in the clouds above them. His fingers curled into tight fists and the stars above flashed in time like twinkling christmas tree lights. With each flash, the lights swelled to greater sizes. Something was coming.
Frank looked up, full of dread at the thought of what might come next. He didn't know much about the stars, but he knew that there were at least a scorpion and a hydra up there and none of those sounded fun.
The twinkling suddenly ceased at the sound of a dull thwack and Frank looked back at Atlas to see him staggering forward. His hand gripped the back of his head, and when he pulled it away, his palm was smeared with bright red blood. Peter's form shimmered into visibility behind him, clutching a brick.
Atlas wasn't going to be taken down so easily. His eyes darted from his bloody hand to Peter and anger flashed across his face. Atlas grabbed Peter by the collar and lifted him off the ground. He might not have been Pan, but he wasn't kidding about the strength.
Frank took the distraction as his chance to rush in. He tackled Atlas, sending all three immortals rolling across the brick walkway. Peter scrambled to his feet and moved away as Frank and Atlas, in a reenactment of the fight with the lion, tumbled and rolled, each trying to gain control of the grapple.
Frank manage to take position over Atlas. Atlas swung his fist, but Frank caught it in his palm. He squeezed down as hard as he could, finding a challenge in it as he slowly crushed the bones in Atlas' fingers. Atlas' other hand grabbed at Frank's face. Frank grabbed Atlas' jaw in turn. Atlas tried in vain to bite Frank's fingers. Frank pressed his thumb into Atlas' jaw and turned his wrist, twisting hard until Atlas' neck snapped and he fell still.
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
-Aristotle
xxiv.
The long winter in the underworld had passed.
Persephone left her cold husband, Hades,
to return to the warm arms of her mother.
The first spring was here.
As she stepped out onto the dead, frozen earth,
the ground beneath her bare feet warmed to her touch.
Green grass sprouted beneath every footprint
and flowers followed.
Her fingers danced on the tips of bare branches
of every naked tree that she did pass,
and from mere skeletons, new life burst forward,
ending the winter.
“When you err, repent.”
-Delphic Maxim
XXIV.
Celene drove Devon, semi-conscious to the hospital. She concocted a cover story with Frank before she had left.
It was decided that the bod
y of Atlas could not be found by the police. Teddy had been involved in the death of the Alvarez brothers in February. He couldn't be found with another corpse within a year.
Not one of them had any experience disposing of a body, but Minnie had some ideas. Frank carried the body out into the woods. In a remote, wooded area well outside town, Penny knelt beside the body and held her hands centimeters above it, fingers spread, palms down. Frank kept silent to allow her to focus.
The grass and plants below the body grew up and around it. Mushrooms and lichen spread across the corpse, breaking it down in a high-speed version of the natural decomposition cycle. It started off slow, but as time went on, Penny's hands began to shake and the process began to speed up. Roots crawled up around the body, twining around fingers and pulling the remains down into the earth. Penny's hands were now moving in a violent tremor as plants sprouted, seeded, flowered, withered and sprouted anew in turn. In minutes the body melted away to dirt, the remaining bones being pulled under the earth by roots. On top of the site a tiny sprout thickened, grew into a sapling, and kept on growing until a thin tree stood as the only marker for Atlas' grave.
Penny opened her eyes and stood up. Frank shook his head as he turned back towards the house. As powerful as he was, even he knew to be terrified of what Penny could do.
In the house, Valerie knelt next to the puddle of blood on the tile floor. “You know the police can find blood, no matter how well we clean it,” Teddy said, “I saw it on CSI.”
“Most real police labs can't afford the equipment from CSI,” Minnie said.
“They can always send evidence out if the case is big enough,” Teddy said. “I can't go to prison. I have soft hair.”
“It's fine,” Valerie said. “I'll take care of it.” Nick shouted in horror as she placed her hands directly into the puddle of blood. She moved her palms in circles on the floor. As she scrubbed, the blood seemed to vanish until the floor was spotless. She stood up and flexed her likewise spotless fingers.
The Weight of the World Page 17
