by Amy Braun
I had no idea where I was nor who I was with, and I couldn’t move. Even if I could move, my captor was smart enough to lock us up with anti-magic cuffs and chains. All my weapons had been taken, and the cuffs were too tight to squeeze my hands through.
Not sure what else to do, I sent a thought to Derek.
No response. Which was both a bad and a good thing. Bad, because we were prisoners until our captors decided they were finished with us, but good, because that meant my brother was far away from danger for once.
I hoped.
The gag and blindfold were suddenly yanked from my mouth and head. I blinked and looked around, surprised to see only Hades and Ares here. No subordinates or extra guards.
But these were gods of death and war. Their powers were enough to replace an army.
Glancing around the simple concrete room, I spotted Thea and Selena. The Farseer groaned, slowly rising to her knees once her gag and blindfold were removed. She glanced around, bleary eyed and confused, but more familiar that the electric veined woman who’d tried to murder us.
Maybe that would have been better than walking right into a god’s plan and getting betrayed.
Setting that unhelpful voice aside, I quickly noticed Mason and Corey were with us. They both looked rough—Corey’s hair was a tangled mess and blood streamed from a cut at his eyebrow. Mason’s nose had been broken and his left eye swelled over.
“You have it?” Ares asked Hades.
In response, Hades handed over the Omega Knife, complete with its sheath. Ares took it carefully, prying the blade out and turning it in the dim light. It shimmered whitish blue and pulsed with energy. Ares smiled.
“I trust you were able to move the Heart?”
“Of course,” replied Hades, his lips tight. “Do not take me for an amateur.”
Ares had the decency to look humbled by that. Well, as humbled as an egomaniacal war god could look.
“Then all that remains are the Sickle and the Helm,” replied Ares, sheathing the Knife. His eyes dragged to Thea. “Should be easy since we shall be taking the Trident very shortly, and Zeus will bring the Thunderbolt to us.”
From the callous way he said it, it was clear Zeus wasn’t in on this plan.
“Then we ought to begin,” Hades said. “It will not be long before they arrive, and when they do, I imagine things will become quite chaotic.”
Ares snickered. “The Furies have never failed. They will not fail today.” He looked at us. “We have collected the perfect bait for my heir.” He flipped the Omega Knife in his hand. “Derek Areios has been a thorn rooted too deep in my side for too long. I am eager to be free of him.”
My heart twisted. Derek was coming here. He’d found out something happened to us, and he was going to try and stop it.
By walking straight into a trap.
“All of this for Apollo then?” Mason accused. “You want to finally kill Derek for killing your brother?”
“A small piece of it, yes,” he said. “But I came out the victor of that day. I even managed to collect a souvenir.”
He lifted his hands. White light flared from his eyes and a flash of fire burst from his palm. The flames faded, and he hefted the stone-covered, severed head of Apollo.
A distant glow burned in the eyes, as if a flashlight were being shone through the stony skull.
“Killing a god is not so simple as you hope. But your brother did quite the work. Apollo’s physical form is destroyed, yet he is far from dead.” Ares grinned. “His spirit has communicated with Hades in the Underworld, told us how to move and how to act. He knew this future would come. It is why he did not fight his death.”
I remembered the insane look in Apollo’s eyes. A god gone insane from looking into millions of futures.
“So, he knows how we will find the Sickle of Cronus.” Ares eyes sparkled madly. He set the Omega Knife down with the stone-head of Apollo while Hades put the box holding the Heart beside them.
Both gods faced us and walked closer.
“So, this is what you want?” I shot at them, “You want to end the world? Bring the Titans back so they can destroy everything? You realize that if you kill everyone, you die too. Kind of hard to worship and feed you power when you’re dead.”
Hades smiled at me, and I suddenly felt cold. “You would be surprised, Liam Areios.”
“And you assume death is what we want,” added Ares. “There are other ways to ensure belief and power. Terror is one of them. If we release the Titans, they shall be indebted to us. And we shall control them.”
I nearly laughed in his face. “You think you can control the Titans?”
“They have been imprisoned for thousands of years. By now, they are little more than dumb animals. And animals can be tamed.”
“The Titans ruled over you before you overthrew them,” Thea reminded, “and since you put them in that prison, you think they’ll just take shackles with a smile and a thank you?”
“They will not have a choice,” barked Ares. “Not once we have the Sickle in our control. A blade that can fell even a Titan is one to be feared.”
“You know, in the movies, this is how the bad guy loses,” I snarked. “Tell us your whole plan and watch it collapse around you.”
Hades remained impassive, but Ares smiled.
“You are assuming we can possibly fail now. As though Hades hasn’t always known where his Helm was.”
The god of death looked at Selena. “You hid it well, girl. But I am neither as weak nor as lazy as my kin. I hold onto things that belong to me. And I do not appreciate them being stolen.”
Aether drifted from the sleeves of his robe and unfurled at his sides and formed a dark pool at his feet. He peered at Selena with pale, unblinking eyes.
“Tell us where the Sickle is hidden. I will not ask twice.”
She stared at him, and I knew she was trying to think of a way to get us out of this. As if there would be a solution where we all made it out alive. As if we could actually stop the Olympians from doing what they wanted.
She swallowed a breath. “You can’t find it.”
The words were spoken earnestly, without any condescension or spite. I’d heard this tone from her countless times, when she spoke kindly to either me or Derek. She was telling the truth.
But it wasn’t the truth Hades and Ares wanted to hear.
The black pool at Hades’ feet suddenly rippled, no longer becoming a perfect circle, but elongating and curling into a winding shape. It reared back, drops of aether slipping from the new shape. It opened its mouth, four fangs dripping with oily venom.
Dread spiked through me at seeing the aether-snake, a monster the size of a python.
And it moved at horrific speed.
One second, it hissed and curled in front of Hades. The next, it shot forward and wrapped around us. The smokey creature twined and coiled through Corey, Mason, Thea, and me. Magic stretched its body, and soon my torso was entirely encased in freezing black smoke. Then it began to squeeze.
My ribs pressed inward as my stomach twisted. Every breath filled my chest with pressure. I couldn’t even let out a pained cry or gulp in breath. The aether-snake wound tighter around me, causing pinpricks of icy aether to jab into my body and slide deeper into my lungs.
Hissing filled my ear. I turned and looked into the aether-snake’s tar black face. Smoke and oil rippled, and the mouth opened wide. And wider and wider, until my entire head would fit in its mouth. Those fangs would plunge into my throat, and I would literally get my head bitten off by the snake.
I fought to gather my magic, to move, or do something, but every thrash or pull encouraged the aether-snake to curl tighter. Pained gasps broke out from my friends. Smoke brushed my throat, and the snake set its mouth over my head––
“Wait!” Selena’s scream echoed off the walls. “You misunderstand.”
The snake hovered. Venom
dripped onto my shoulders. I twitched at the burn.
Acid. Great.
“Then tell us what we must know,” drawled Hades, “unless you wish to see your friends crushed to death.”
“The Sickle can’t be found,” she reiterated, “because it was never hidden. It has to be forged again.”
She suddenly gasped. Darting my eyes past the aether-snake, I watched helplessly as Ares clamped his hand around Selena’s neck and lifted her off her feet. He dragged his face closer, their noses almost colliding.
“Speak quick and plain. Apollo may be a spirit, but his Sight is still stronger than yours.”
“Trinity,” she garbled out from his grasp. “Trinity forms Sickle.”
Ares dropped her onto the ground. Selena gasped in air and pushed herself upright. The aether-snake relaxed its grip, just enough for us to take in shallow breaths.
“Zeus worked with the Sickle’s creators, the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires,” explained Selena. “They all knew the damage the Sickle could do, so they worked together to craft a spell on it. A failsafe.”
I could see the resistance in her eyes. She didn’t want to tell them what it was. She wanted to lie to protect the world from Ares and Hades’s madness a little while longer.
Then she looked at us, bound by the aether-snake and me sitting helpless under its jaws and twitching every time its acid dripped onto my shoulder. I watched her resolve unravel.
“If the Trinity Weapons are given to you, Zeus, and Poseidon are brought together in a circle and your blood is spilled onto each of them, the Scythe will reform.”
I listened to her speak such a simple spell, terrified at what it would bring if completed.
But it can’t be, I knew. The Helm is missing, Poseidon is dead, and Zeus isn’t even here.
If this crossed the minds of the two Olympians, they paid no notice.
Ares moved away from Selena and walked to stand in front of Thea. “The Trident. Now.”
Thea’s eyes widened. “The… the snake and the cuffs, I can’t…”
The creature relaxed its hold on her. Just enough for Ares to grab her neck and pull her away from the smoking monster. I tensed and fought my bonds, but the snake dripped acid on me once more. I winced at the stabbing pain, the smell of blood and hint of burning skin.
Ares wrenched Thea around and ripped the cuffs from her wrists like they were papier-mâché. She didn’t hesitate or toy with the two gods. She closed her eyes and held out her hand.
Ares stalked behind her, pulling a sword from the sheath on his back and pressing it into her spine.
Water spilled from Thea’s fingertips and formed a tall, gold Trident.
Hades seemed amused––and surprised––that she’d relented so easily.
He reached out and took the weapon from her, seemingly unaffected by it, despite the Weapon being solely attuned to Thea. Satisfied, he flicked his gaze to Selena. “You seem to know much about the spell. You shall guide us.”
She carefully shook her head. “Zeus and the Helm must be here, and I don’t even know if the Trident will accept Thea’s blood.”
“She has made her Shift into goddess form. It will accept her.”
Selena’s eyes widened and darted to her friend. This was the first she’d heard of it. Thea lowered her gaze as if ashamed.
“As for Zeus, his heir is with us.”
All eyes turned to Mason. My friend went still, his bruised gaze darting between Hades and Ares.
“I’m many things,” he said, each word slow and measured, “but I’m not a replacement for Zeus. And I guarantee he won’t come looking for me.”
“You are mistaken in the first assumption,” Hades remarked, taking quick paces toward him, loosening the aether-snake’s grip. New strands of aether trailed behind him, folding over his shoulders and coating the Underworld King in a dark haze. “You have touched the Thunderbolt.” His eyes went to Mason’s gloved hands. “Been burned by him. Enough for his power to reside within you.”
The aether stretched from Hades to curl around Mason. Sharp spikes morphed from the smoke at his back, prodding him away from the aether-snake and toward the god.
“You have never achieved your highest potential,” remarked the god, “and that truly is a pity. For you could be the strongest of your friends.”
“I’m not. And I don’t want to be.”
Hades tilted his head. “Do not assume you have a choice.”
The wall of aether spikes shot forward and punched into Mason’s back.
We all screamed, none as loud as Corey.
Mason arched with pain, his eyes wide, his body paralyzed and stunned while Hades spoke in a tongue too old for me to understand. I watched blood pool around Mason’s spine, cold fear knotting in my stomach.
No, no no no no, I have to do something––
Thea, unbound from her shackles and infuriated, balled her fists together. Water slipped from her skin and formed a whirlwind around her. The water turned into shards of ice, and with a tortured scream, she unleashed them––
Ares held up his hand, a wall of fire spooling from his palm and melting the ice. She pushed the flames further, backing Thea into the wall, forcing her to draw up more ice to shield herself.
I twisted and squirmed, fighting the aether-snake’s hold. It hissed, but I had to do something. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines for this.
I slid my thumb around the edges of my handcuffs, working to find a give in the metal. Just the smallest resistance––
If I dislocated my thumb, maybe I could––
The aether-snake hissed over my head, fangs bearing down. Daring me to move.
Hades casually position the Trident and Mason’s paralyzed, pierced body next to it. Drops of blood splattered the ground behind him. Too much blood. If he lost more, he would die.
I can’t let that happen. The snake crushed me. It didn’t want me to break free.
Holding Mason in place with one hand, Hades opened his free palm. Smoke spiraled up from his hand, flattening, pulling, curving, and reshaping into a helmet.
Styled like a Spartan helmet and comprised of black steel, the Helm’s face plates covered all but strips of the eyes, nose, and mouth. Three snarling hounds were engraved on the plates covering the cheeks and scalp.
Hades stared at the Helm with reverence that bordered on lust. For a man who had troves on troves of treasure, that helmet remained his prized possession.
All of this—paid for with the blood of my friends.
Anger grew in my chest. A sensation I kept at bay.
The Berserker Rage. The piece of me I fought, because I didn’t want it to overtake me.
I could fucking make an exception now.
Setting his hand on top of the Helm, Hades filtered his smoking magic into the metal. The eyes of the hounds seared red, and the glow rapidly spread through the engraving. The outlined creatures burned against the black metal. Hades tilted his head back, his eyes fading from grey to solid red.
Speaking old Greek, he clenched the hand closest to Mason. My friend’s body twitched and jerked... then spat sparks.
Electricity jumped from Mason’s body, curving around him like ropes caught in wind.
He was using the Helm to draw Mason’s magic out of his body.
The Rage burned hotter inside me as I watched the torture. I twisted and wrenched, but the snake compressed around me, bending my ribs.
The magic he dragged from my friend threaded together, morphing into an erratic streak of lightning.
The bolt stretched toward the circle, fighting the pull of Hades’ magic. Blood dripped out of Mason’s pores, splattering on the concrete floor.
I wrenched against the aether-snake, fighting for breath.
Think, think! There has to be a way, I have to do something—
The snake bashed its head into mine. The force felt as strong as a fist, and I saw stars.
Magical creatures always packed a hell of a punch.
&n
bsp; “The sea goddess,” Hades intoned, his voice echoing, as if three of him spoke at once, “bring her to me.”
The Rage faltered, fear replacing it. No, Thea!
Fighting the stars and the pounding in my head, I pulled up my legs and pushed against the bottom of the aether-snake, fighting for room. It finally tired of me and snapped its head down toward my neck.
I wrenched my head to the side, grimacing at the cold brush of smoke and snakeskin across my neck. Once I twisted my upper body as much as I could, the snake bit itself. Its body jolted reflexively, and it loosened its grip on me. I pushed my elbows out and pushed up from the floor, using my leg muscles to free myself to hip-height––
The aether-snake raised its head and snapped another bite toward me. I ducked under its jaw and slammed my shoulder upward. My acid-burned shoulder screamed with pain, but the force knocked the aether-snake back just for a second.
I flexed my knees, fighting the hold of the snake, breaking the grip just enough to topple over its scaly body and faceplant into the concrete.
Not graceful, but I was free.
Free and fucking furious.
Angry hissing filled the air behind me. I flipped onto my back and kicked my boots up. Both heels impacted with the aether-snake’s face. I rolled to my feet and jumped through my bands before shifting the cuffs from my back to my front.
Thea screamed, stopping my heart. I whirled around, watching Ares drag her to the circle and push her down. He pulled a sword from the sheath at his back and punched it through the back of Thea’s shoulder.
Her face twisted in agony, blood spraying into the circle. Mason had slumped against the spikes jabbing into his back, his body twitched outside his control as the lightning pulled from him.
Red filled my vision. I looked between Ares and Hades, saw what they were doing to my friends.
I would make them bleed for this.
Hades actually was bleeding, drops of gold blood spilling from a cut on his palm into the center of the circle. Good. I’ll start with him––
“Liam!”
I twisted at hearing Selena’s call, and found myself staring into the angry face of a serpent. I jumped aside, missing the venomous fangs, still leaping while it jumped for me. It slithered after me, smoke rippling off its heavy body, while snapping and lunging at me.
