Ethan spat blood to the ground and looked up, finally catching sight of Danielle and me.
“Nicole?” He rubbed his head and glanced at the portal that led back to Earth. “Danielle? But you didn’t come through the portal. I would have seen it…I was watching. How did you get here…?”
Blake dropped his fists the moment Ethan said my name, turning to look at me. He looked just as confused to see me as Ethan. I didn’t blame him, since Danielle and I had just literally appeared out of thin air.
Danielle twirled a knife in her hand—the knife she’d taken from Ethan’s cottage before we stepped through the time portal. As Chronos had explained to us, nothing could exist in two places at once. Anything taken through time would replace the version of it that existed in the past—which was why Ethan’s knife had vanished from his hand after we’d stepped through the portal with the version of it from the future.
“Looking for this?” Danielle asked, giving the knife a dramatic swish.
“My knife.” Ethan ran for her, but then he stopped. Apparently he realized that despite his strength, he would be at a huge disadvantage in a fight against the three of us without a weapon.
Blake took the opportunity to jump on him from behind, landing in a few more punches and capturing Ethan in a hold. But Ethan—a demi-god son of Zeus—was stronger than Blake, and it didn’t take him long to fight his way free. He ran out of the hold, turning around and breathing heavily to get his bearings. He looked at Blake, and then Danielle, and then at me, defeat crossing his eyes.
“You beat me.” He held his hands up, glancing at the top of the mountain. “Put your weapons down, and we’ll talk this out. There has to be some kind of compromise we can agree on.” He wiped sweat off his forehead and glanced at the sky again, squinting his eyes as if he were searching for something.
“Looking for Helios’s Solar Dragons?” Danielle asked him.
Ethan whipped his head back to look at her, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “How did you know that…?” he asked her. “Where exactly did you come from?”
“How I know that doesn’t matter,” she answered. “What matters is that we have it on good authority that they won’t be coming.”
“You’re wrong,” Ethan said, although his voice wavered, his confidence waning.
Blake joined me and Danielle, removed his knife from his boot, and held it up. “We should bring him back to Kinsley and lock him in the holding room where we kept the siren,” he said. “Then we can get to the bottom of why he did what he did and figure out what he knows.”
“No.” I shook my head, not looking away from Ethan. An image passed through my head—that of Blake in a puddle of his own blood, dead, at Ethan’s hands. “He’s too much of a risk to have around. There’s only one way to make sure he doesn’t interfere in our mission or hurt any of us ever again.”
With that, I pulled back on the string of my bow and shot the arrow straight through Ethan’s heart.
CHAPTER TWO
Ethan’s eyes glazed over, and he fell to the ground, dead.
I slung my bow around my back and turned to Blake, wrapping him in a hug and crushing my lips against his.
“Blake,” I said his name, so happy that he was here, alive. I kissed him again, needing to remind myself that this was real. He kissed me back, but more hesitant, as if he were confused about my sudden enthusiasm. I supposed I couldn’t blame him. It had been only minutes since he’d seen me last. It had been days since I’d seen him. And only recently, I didn’t think I would ever be able to see him again. The image of him dead would never stop haunting my mind, but he was here. He was okay.
Everything that had happened the first time we were in Kerberos was one long nightmare. And with Ethan now dead, it would never become our reality.
After knowing what he did to Blake—or what he would do to Blake—I didn’t even feel bad about killing Ethan. I was just happy that Blake was here and Ethan was gone.
I pulled back to look into Blake’s eyes, still needing to reassure myself that this was actually happening. “I love you, Blake,” I said, unable to stop the words from flooding out of my mouth. “I love you so much.”
I’d waited too long to say it last time because I was afraid he might not say it back. If my original timeline had stayed the way it was, I never would have gotten the chance to tell him how I felt. Which was why I’d done it now. I didn’t know what would happen in the future, but I knew one thing—I didn’t want to have any regrets.
He smiled at me, his familiar brown eyes looking down at me as he traced his finger across my cheek. “I love you, too,” he said, and I pulled him closer, relief rushing through my veins at the confirmation that he returned my feelings. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you, but you beat me to it.”
“I couldn’t wait any longer,” I told him. “What if that moment in the cave was the last time we ever saw each other? I couldn’t live with that. And now that we’re finally with each other again… I just didn’t want to waste any time. We never know what moment might be our last.”
“What’s gotten into you?” he asked, smiling. “You’re acting like you haven’t seen me in a month.”
“Not quite a month,” I said. “More like one week. But it was the most awful week that you could ever imagine…” Memories of my time in Kerberos passed through my mind so quickly that I didn’t know where to begin. How could anyone truly understand what a nightmare it had been without experiencing it themselves?
“Now’s not the time to get into that,” Danielle broke into our conversation. “We should get out of Kerberos as quickly as possible. Plus, Chris and Apollo are back on Earth right now with our past selves. Wait until we’re there to explain what happened, so you don't have to tell the story more times than necessary.”
As always, Danielle had a solid point.
“Your ‘past selves?’” Blake repeated, looking back and forth between Danielle and me. “And you’ve met Apollo?”
“It’s a long story,” I told him, reaching for his hand and squeezing it. He squeezed back, although he still looked confused. “But yes, Apollo’s on the other side of the portal right now, gifting us with items that will help us on our journey through Kerberos. I’ll explain everything soon. For now, let’s get back to Earth, okay?”
“I’m getting the feeling that whatever happened to the two of you is crazier than anything I could imagine,” he said.
“Your feeling’s right.” Danielle marched to the portal, but she turned around, looking wistfully up at the mountain. I knew she wasn’t going to miss it here in Kerberos, so there was only one person she could be thinking about right now—Erebus.
“He’ll be fine,” I told her. “Remember how easily he pulverized that dragon?”
“I wasn’t worried about him,” Danielle said. “Of course he’ll be fine. He’s a primordial deity. I just…” She took a deep breath and tossed her hair over her shoulders, refocusing on me. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Are we going back through that portal or what?”
“This story is sounding crazier by the second,” Blake muttered.
“You have no idea,” I agreed, and we walked to Danielle’s side, Blake’s hand not leaving mine.
I reached for Danielle’s hand with my free one, and together, the three of us stepped through the portal.
* * *
Get Elementals 4: The Portal to Kerberos delivered to your Kindle on release day by going to Amazon and pre-ordering it NOW! Click here to pre-order
ALSO BY MICHELLE MADOW
The Elementals Series
The Prophecy of Shadows
The Blood of the Hydra
The Head of Medusa
The Portal to Kerberos
The Hands of Time (coming November 2016)
The Transcend Time Saga
Remembrance
Vengeance
Timeless
The Secret Diamond Sisters Trilogy
The Secret Diamo
nd Sisters
Diamonds in the Rough
Diamonds are Forever
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Madow writes fast-paced YA (young adult) fiction that will leave you turning the pages wanting more!
She grew up in Baltimore, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida, where she writes books for young adults. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle went on a cross-country road trip from Florida to California and back to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.
To get free books, exclusive content, and instant updates from Michelle, visit www.michellemadow.com/subscribe and subscribe to her newsletter!
ELEMENTALS
THE PORTAL TO KERBEROS
Published by Dreamscape Publishing
Copyright © 2016 Michelle Madow
This book is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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