ELEMENTALS
THE HANDS OF TIME
Book Five in the Elementals Series
Michelle Madow
CHAPTER ONE
I stepped into the swirling time portal and screamed.
My soul felt like it was being torn from my body. It was like someone had reached inside of me, grabbed onto my soul, and was peeling it out of every inch of my skin. I was floating through nothingness, unable to see anything around me, unable to feel anything but the excruciating pain.
I’d traveled through many portals before—ones that had taken me to the cave in Kinsley, to Greece, to Antarctica, to LA, and even to the prison dimension of Kerberos.
None of them had felt like they were tearing me to shreds. Was this portal killing me? Chronos had told us that traveling through the time portal would take away one year of our natural lives. Did I not have one year left? Was this pain happening because I was dying? Was this what death felt like?
Then, as quickly as the pain began, it stopped. Solid ground formed under my feet, and I found myself back in Kerberos, standing next to Danielle, staring at the backs of Ethan and Blake’s heads as they waited next to the portal that had taken them to the prison world. Ethan’s grip was tight around Blake’s body, his knife pressed to his neck.
But despite the danger, all I cared about was that Blake was here. Alive. Happiness flooded through me at the sight of him, making all the pain from the time portal disappear at once.
A shadow glided ahead and floated off to the side—Erebus. As promised, he’d shifted into shadow form immediately after coming through the time portal, and was off to distract the dragons.
Then Ethan’s knife vanished from his hand.
“Hey!” He flexed his hand and stared at it, as if that might make it appear again. “What happened to my knife?”
Taking advantage of the moment of surprise, Blake elbowed Ethan in the stomach, head-butted him in the chin, and escaped his grasp. He spun around, slamming his fist into Ethan’s face over and over again. They were so involved in fighting that they didn’t even see Danielle and me standing to the side.
I raised my bow, an arrow already strung through and ready to shoot. But I had no more magic arrows left, and the guys were so close to each other as they fought that I couldn’t risk aiming for Ethan and accidentally shooting Blake instead. So I stood ready, waiting for my perfect opportunity to strike.
Ethan spun around and aimed a punch at Blake, but he must have been dizzy from the blows to the head, because he missed. Blake ripped the bag with Medusa’s head in it off Ethan’s back, tossed it to the side, and got another punch in to his cheek. Danielle hurried to the bag and grabbed it. I followed behind her, my arrow still poised and ready to shoot.
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—after all, 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 same knife 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 demigod 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 a compromise we can agree on.” He wiped sweat off his forehead and glanced at the cloudy, amber 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 do you know that…?” he asked, taking a step toward her and looking around. “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 those dragons won’t be coming.”
“You’re wrong,” Ethan said, although his voice wavered, his confidence waning.
Blake joined Danielle and me and removed his knife from his boot. “We should bring Ethan 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 all of this and figure out what he knows.”
“No.” I shook my head, not looking away from Ethan. An image passed through my mind—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.”
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 alive.
Everything that had happened the first time we were in Kerberos was one long nightmare. And with Ethan 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, needing to reassure myself that this was actually happening. “I love you, Blake,” I said, unable to stop the words from pouring out of my mouth. “I love you so much.”
I’d waited too long to say it 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 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 a week. But it was the most awful week 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 understand what a nightmare it had been without experiencing it for themselves?
“Now’s not the time to get into that,” Danielle broke into our conversation. “We need to get out of Kerberos. 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.”
“Okay,” I said, since as always, Danielle had a solid point.
“Your ‘past selves?’” Blake repeated, his eyes wide as he looked back and forth between Danielle and me. “And you’ve met Apollo?”
“It’s a long story.” I reached for his hand and squeezed 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—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 shoulder, refocusing on me. “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.
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.
CHAPTER THREE
Unlike the first time I’d stepped through the portal to Kerberos, this time I was prepared for the loss of my senses—for the feeling of floating through nothingness. The first time I’d traveled through this portal, I’d panicked. But compared to the portal that had taken me back in time, it was an absolute breeze.
I landed on the ground of the cave, Blake and Danielle’s hands still in mine. Apollo stood ahead of us, his back toward us as he presented the Golden Sword to Danielle. The past versions of Chris and myself stood next to her.
But then the past versions of Danielle and me were gone. Vanished into thin air, as if they’d never existed at all. The only thing that remained was the Golden Sword of Athena, which clattered to the ground.
“Whoa.” Chris stared at the three of us, then at the empty spots next to him, and then back at us. “How…? When…?” He continued to stare at us, his eyes wide, clearly at a loss for words. “Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on here?”
Apollo turned around, his lips curving into a small smile. “Welcome back, Blake,” he said. “And Nicole and Danielle… I see you’ve received help from Chronos.”
“Yes.” I nodded and glanced at the bag by Apollo’s feet. Since I held the Golden Bow in my hand, the version that he’d brought to give to me would be gone. But I hadn’t brought the crystal arrows back with me. Were they still in that bag?
“Chronos rarely changes the past himself, let alone allow others to travel through a time portal on their own.” Apollo pressed his lips together, studying us. “I can only imagine that whatever happened to you in Kerberos was very grave.”
“You have no idea.” Danielle walked to the Golden Sword and picked it up, holding it in the air and smiling. “I’m glad to have this back, though.” She sheathed the sword, and then she held her palms up to the ceiling, rain showering all around her. She lifted her face to the rain, her expression one of pure bliss. “I’m glad to be able to do that again too,” she said once the rain shower stopped.
I gathered white energy, healing all the bug bites, stings, scratches, and every other injury that I’d gotten during my time in Kerberos. “I can use my power again, too.” I reached for Blake to heal him—he’d gotten pretty banged up in his fight with Ethan—and walked over to do the same for Danielle. It felt amazing to access the white energy again—as if a part of myself had been restored.
“What’s going on here?” Chris asked. “You were both standing next to me, and then suddenly you were gone and coming through the portal with Blake. You’re all dirty and look like you’ve been through hell. Where did you go? And why am I the only one left here?”
“They received help from Chronos—the primordial deity of time itself,” Apollo explained. “How far in the future are you from?”
“Not long,” I told him. “We were only in Kerberos for a few days.”
“Except for me,” Blake added. “I was there for minutes, at the most.”
“True,” I said. “It was Danielle and I who were there for a few days. Then we came back, saved Blake and Medusa’s head, and came back through the portal.”
“What happened during those few days when you were in Kerberos?” Apollo asked.
“A lot.” I shuddered at the memories, not wanting to think about them any more than necessary. “Maybe we should explain starting from this moment, when you gave us the gifts the first time around?”
“Yes.” Apollo nodded. “Please do.”
“I’ll summarize as fast as I can, since we only have a week before Typhon rises, and we need to figure out how to stop him,” I said. “After you gave us our gifts, we—me, Danielle, and Chris—entered the portal to Kerberos. When we got there, Blake and Ethan were being flown up the mountain by Helios’s solar dragons. We tried to climb directly up the mountain to get to them, but it was too dangerous, so we had to find another way.”
“There were tons of wildlife on the mountain trying to kill us,” Danielle added. “Including the Nemean lion. Even with our weapons, we wouldn’t have made it up the mountain alive.”
“Did we even try to fight them?” Chris asked. “I can’t imagine that we would give up without trying.”
“Yes,” I told him. “We killed a bunch of huge foxes. But you got bit on the shoulder in the process. We didn’t know it at the time, but the venom was poisonous. And since we didn’t have access to our elemental powers while we were in Kerberos, I couldn’t heal you.”
“So… I died?” His eyes widened, his expression serious. “That’s why I didn’t come back through the time portal with you?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “The venom would have taken weeks to make its way through your system. It is why you’re not here, but I want to tell this story in order, so I’ll get back to that part later.”
“Okay.” Chris nodded. “Go ahead.”
“After seeing the lions, we turned back to find another way up the mountain,” I said. “That was when Erebus found us.”
“Of course Erebus gets his kicks out of wandering the hell dimension.” Apollo rolled his eyes. “Hopefully he didn’t give you much trouble. Since you’re still alive, I’m guessing he didn’t.”
“He was there to help us.” Danielle raised her chin, matching Apollo’s gaze. “We wouldn’t have made it out of Kerberos alive without Erebus there as our guide. We owe him our lives.”
“Sorry.” Apollo held his hands out in apology, although his voice dripped with sarcasm. “I didn’t realize the two of you were so close.”
Danielle glared at
him and said nothing.
“Anyway,” I said, wanting to break the tension between them. “Erebus led us along another, more meandering path that led us to a safer way up the mountain. We faced a lot of trials along the journey—every realm in Kerberos was designed to torture us or kill us—but eventually we made it to the Lair of the Dragons. Since the mountain becomes too steep to climb past that point, we made a deal with the dragons to fly us up the mountain.”
“Dragons are notoriously difficult to bargain with,” Apollo said. “What did you offer them to get them to agree?”
“The Golden Sword of Athena.” Danielle ran her fingers along the handle of the sword, and I knew she was glad to have it back.
“Ah.” Apollo nodded. “An offer they couldn’t refuse.”
“By that point, the Golden Lyre was out of tune, and I only had one crystal arrow left,” I explained. “The Golden Sword was all we had that they wanted. So they took it, and they flew us up the mountain. There was a frozen lake at the peak, with the Titans trapped inside. They couldn’t do anything to harm us—I don’t think they were even aware that we were there—but the ice was starting to crack. Once it cracks, they’ll be able to break free.”
“You need to close the portal before that happens,” Apollo said, his eyes more intense than I’d seen them yet.
“Yes,” I agreed. “We know.”
“Where was I through all of this?” Blake asked. “You said that those dragons had flown Ethan and me up that same mountain, right? Were we still there when you got there?”
I met his eyes and opened my mouth to tell him, but I couldn’t. How did you tell someone that they’d been murdered? Even though it had happened in another timeline, I didn’t think I could speak the words without breaking down from the memory of finding his bloodied corpse in the center of that cottage. Just remembering it now was enough to make me re-live the grief all over again.
He watched me closely, resolve crossing over his features. “I didn’t make it,” he said, his voice strangely calm for such a strong revelation. “Did I?”
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