“Hey asshole!” Lewis shouted from sixty feet in the air. He threw a rock as Kronos looked up and it struck the Titan in the eye. Kronos shouted and swung his sickle, but Lewis zipped out of the way.
The beating blades of a helicopter approached. Someone was stupid enough to try and film the fight from the sky. Kronos ripped a blue mailbox off of the ground in front of him and threw it at Lewis. Lewis dodged it, but the mailbox struck the helicopter. It spiraled in the air and started to go down. Lewis stopped his assault of the Titan to yank the cameraman out of the crashing wreckage and safely lower him to the ground. He didn't have enough time to grab the pilot, who went down with the smoking vehicle.
Both Astin and Frank jumped out of the hole smashed open by Frank's body just as the helicopter crashed into the building. A fireball erupted, the force and heat sending Minnie and Evan ducking for cover. Evan held a spear in his hand, something he had shaped out of a broke stop sign. He handed it to Minnie and she charged, dodging around Kronos's fists and stabbing the spear into his leg. He screamed and kicked her, sending her back across the street in a crumpled heap.
“The pilot!” Lewis shouted as he lowered the cameraman to the ground and told him to run for his life. “Apollo, the pilot!”
Astin ran back in the building and dragged the pilot of the helicopter, bleeding and burning, from the wreckage. Frank scooped him up in one arm and ran down the street to get the innocent civilian away from the fray.
“Minnie,” Jason shouted, afraid to leave his cover to check on her. She lay face down on the pavement, but her hand moved and then the rest of her body stirred. She placed her palm flat on the black top and pushed herself up. Minnie sat up, coughing and clutching her ribs. Astin came to her side. He looked paler than usual, worn from giving his own energy to heal others. “We need a plan,” she said.
Jason scooted out from behind the car and fired the submachine gun. A stream of bullets sank into Kronos's shoulder, but the Titan reacted as if it were a bee sting, swatting at his arm and continuing his assault on Diana and Lewis. Evan had given another street-sign javelin to each of them, and together they were doing a good job drawing Kronos's attention away from the cluster of plotting Olympians across the street. He dodged and swatted, barely avoiding the points of their weapons. Lewis was growing tired and slowing down, but even still, he was too fast for Kronos to hit.
“The knife,” Jason said, tossing the black cloth bundle across the ground to Zach. Zack had shrunk down to six and a half feet, his face was split and bleeding, and his left arm was turning purple with bruises. “It'll kill him for good. Peter's across the street with Penny. Not sure what their plan is,” he said.
Minnie looked at Kronos's feet. “That's her plan,” she said. Vines were creeping up around his ankles as he stood his ground, trying to strike one of the Olympians pestering him. These were not your garden variety of vines, the kind that crept along latticework and flowered in the spring. These vines were more Evil Dead, thick and glossy black with thorns jutting out at every angle. Diana narrowly dodged away from his blade. She dodged behind a lamp post and the sickle caught the metal post with a deafening clunk. The pole ripped out of the ground and the light burned out. Diana crawled away in the dark, her night vision helping her to see. Now the battle ground was only lit by the moon and the red and green glow of traffic lights. Sirens sounded down the block. Police were coming.
“We need to move now,” Minnie said. “Lewis can't hold up much longer.”
“Someone needs to direct Kronos’s attention while I run in,” Zach said.
Kronos was noticing the vines around his ankles and started flailing, trying to rip his feet from the chords of plant that held him to the ground. The vines, once slack, contracted suddenly, the thorns biting into the Titan's legs. Jason stood up and ran out from behind his cover. He ran far to the left, rushing out into the open street before raising his gun and firing. The bullet caught Kronos in the same eye that Lewis had thrown the rock at. He shouted and covered his face with his elbow. Blood poured out. Kronos spotted Jason with his one good eye and swung his open hand.
“Jason!” Zach screamed. Kronos scooped Jason up by his foot. Jason dropped his gun as he was yanked upside-down into the air.
“I have your human,” Kronos said with a smile, the blood from his eye dripping into his mouth. “What should I do with him?”
“Let him go,” Zach shouted.
“Did you remember, Zeus, when you got your memories back? Did you remember how Prometheus betrayed you?”
Zach changed his form, slipping into the mortal-safe image of Zeus, complete with beard and palla. Lightning crackled from his fingers.
“Did you remember how one of your own sold you out?”
“I remembered that you were never supposed to be in charge.”
“Would you like me to tell you who it was?”
“We already know!” Lewis shouted. “It was Hestia. You're not gonna shake us, you moron.”
Kronos sneered, his fun spoiled. He looked at Jason, dangling upside down, trying to shake free. He looked back at Zach, keeping eye contact as he whipped Jason hard into the concrete.
A horrible crack was followed by silence. Jason was dead. They all knew it. Nobody could survive that. Kronos dropped the mortal's body, bloody and broken, and wiped his hand on his suit. Even Lewis was silent.
Then someone screamed.
Nick had picked up the black bundle of cloth from the underworld and charged, screaming, into the open street. “Hey Kronos!” he shouted. “Yeah, Pop!” He held the bundle high in the air as he transformed, taking on the wild, bearded form of Poseidon. They all followed suit, shifting to forms that represented their god selves. “You know what I have right here?”
Kronos swung at Poseidon, but the earth fractured and the Olympian rode a concrete wave to dodge the falling sickle. “This is a blade dipped in the styx, just like yours.”
Zach—Zeus looked down at his own hand. He was gripping the dagger. Whatever Nick had bundled up in that black cloth was a bluff. Zach tucked the dagger behind his back and sidestepped away, letting Nick draw focus.
“And I'm gonna stick it so far up your backside that you choke on it,” Poseidon shouted.
“You think you can kill me?” Kronos asked.
“Oh, I know it.”
“What are you going to do, ask some fish to hold me down?” Kronos asked, taunting Poseidon.
“Har har. Telling jokes instead of taking action. What are you,” Poseidon asked, “Craven?”
Kronos ripped his feet loose from the entangling vines and rushed forward. He swung his fist. Poseidon dodged. He swung his sickle. This time the Olympian wasn't quick enough. The tip of the curved blade went into side and sliced straight up to his armpit.
“Weak!” Kronos shouted as his blade ripped Poseidon apart. It was a final death, one that not even a god could return from. It was just the distraction Zeus needed to run up beneath Kronos and surge to twenty feet tall, planting the dagger between his ribs.
Zeus tugged the blade, tearing a deeper wound. The rest of The Pantheon charged, knocking the sickle from Kronos's hand and descending on him. The Titan thrashed about, but dark red blood, almost black, blossomed from the hole in his suit and spread. They held him down as he died from his wound and shrank to the size of a mortal man.
Blue lights splashed across the war-torn street. Ahead of the police, a white van raced down the street. June was driving, and the others were inside. Devon had kissed the original driver and told him to give her the keys.
“Get in!” June shouted. Teddy threw open the door and helped usher them in. The van shook as they crossed the broken street and then sped off.
“Where are Nick and Jason?” Celene asked.
Zeus had shifted back to the form of Zach Jacobs, and he shook his head. Tears cut a clean path through the dirt and blood on his face. “I'm sorry,” he said. Thunder rolled overhead. “I'm so sorry.”
“Even a wolf w
ill not stay - Where sounds no bleat to offer hope of prey.”
-Greek Proverb
XVI.
They left the bodies in the street. They felt terrible about it, but there was nothing else to be done. Their faces were on the news; for every pawn of Kronos there had been witnesses, and enough people had recognized the faces of The Pantheon from the traffic cameras overhead and the little bit of footage that survived the chopper crash. A few of the fleeing citizens had even stopped to take video on their camera phones, putting their addiction to social media above their own safety. The secret was out. Authorities were looking to question them, and the collateral damage was enough to create a public outcry.
“We need to split up,” Zach said, pacing the floor of an empty warehouse. They had been camped out for three days, taking different forms to go out for supplies and keeping watch. They didn't have to worry about Kronos anymore. After that battle, they didn't expect a fuss from another Titan anytime soon. This time it was the military they feared. They had seen what Kronos could do with the minds of a few innocent civilians. They knew they could still be threatened by an well-organized, highly-trained, yet mortal force. “It's only a matter of time before someone finds us, and they know we can change shape.” Lewis had seen the video on the news at the gas station the day before.
The door opened. On high alert, everyone whipped around, ready for a fight. Peter had returned with the wine skin from Jason's house.
“How was it?” Celene asked.
“The place is crawling with cops. They almost walked right into me a few times.”
“His kids?”
Peter shook his head. “His dad was there talking with police. I assume they're with his aunt.”
Peter tossed the wine skin to Minnie. “Drink up, but leave enough for June.”
June and Minnie took turns drinking. As Minnie lowered the skin from her lips, her eyes glowed white and she froze. After a minute she smiled. “Oh yeah,” she said. “All of that.”
“Woah, that was freaky,” June said, hesitantly reaching to take the drink. “I'm not too sure I want to know.”
“Well you need to unlock your memories to shift. We can't hide very well with you looking like that,” Zach said.
Minnie rubbed her temples. “I have access to everything,” she said.
“It'll take a while to all fall back into order,” Peter explained. “And the shifting takes practice.”
Minnie shifted on the spot, taking on her true form, a glowing white goddess, armed and armored in shining articulated plate.
“Right. Forgot. Perfect memory.”
“Zach's right,” Lewis said absently, watching June's eyes glow white as she drank.
“I know,” Penny said. “Our lives in Olympia Heights are over. I can never be Penny Davis again.”
“We were brought back for a reason,” Zach said. “And though we may never know for certain, I think it was because Gaia hoped we had learned something.”
“Learned what?” Teddy asked from his seat on a pile of packing foam. He felt dirty and miserable. Shapeshifting didn't relieve his need to take a nice hot shower. It had been days since he'd brushed his teeth or bathed.
“Humanity.” Minnie stepped forward. She took the center of the room. “We each had a domain before we were taken,” she said. “We were supposed to be guardians, governors. We were supposed to help people, but instead we became tyrants. Maybe this is our chance to make up for all of that.”
“So we just split up and help people?” Astin asked.
“Exactly. We go our separate ways. We assume new identities and we try to use our powers for good. No superheros, just…an example. A helping hand. Leaders in our field.”
“And how exactly do we take on new identities in this world of social security and DNA?” Diana asked.
“I can take care of that,” Evan said. “All I need is a computer with internet access. I can do that from the public library.”
Zach reached for June's hand and held it tight. “Then it's decided. Anyone got some paper?”
Minnie brought Zach the pad of stationary they had found in the glovebox of the stolen van. Lewis had ditched the vehicle miles away before flying back to the warehouse. The pad of paper was mostly used-up; it had been very helpful in writing lists for grocery runs. Now Zach put a pen to paper and wrote down a name. He added more details before passing it to June.
“Evan invents our records, and once it's done, we go. Zach Jacobs is dead. I am Zeus. I am whoever I want to be. You can stay in pairs if you'd like,” he said, looking at Devon, Frank, and baby Xander. “Once a year Lewis will find us and we'll meet. This isn't goodbye forever, just for now.
June scribbled a few notes on the paper and passed it to Minnie. “We'll have to be careful,” she added. “If any of you blow your cover, I'll turn you to a cow and leave you at a slaughterhouse.”
“Mmmm,” Lewis said, “A delicious quarter-pound Apollo burger.”
“Oh right, if anyone gets busted, it's gonna be you, speedy,” Astin snapped.
They passed the pad around, each quietly waiting for their turn to come up with a whole new identity. After this, their lives as mortals were over and a new chapter would begin. The light of the setting sun shone in through the cracked and dusty warehouse windows, casting an orange glow on their last evening together.
“Tomorrow morning,” Zach said, “I'll take Evan to the library. When we get back, it's done.”
Teddy stood up and raised a hand as if asking a question in class. “Uh, is anyone gonna address the fact that Valerie was the one who stabbed us all in the back, or are we just going to forget that like we forget everything else about her?”
Valerie looked wounded by Teddy's joke. They did always forget her. Every time.
Zach looked at Valerie, locking eyes with her. Her eyes were kind and warm, but they were also sad. Zach shook his head. “Thousands of years ago,” he said. “Water under the bridge.”
“Oh come on,” Lewis said. “If it was Nick you would totally ki—”
“Kill him?” Zach asked.
Lewis looked down at his feet.
“I think tonight would be a good night to visit your friends and say what you need to say.” Zach gave June's hand a squeeze. “And then get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow.”
Valerie drew a circle with her finger and started a fire within it. The fire burned without fuel, never spreading. They used it to roast hot dogs and light the deserted warehouse. Someone found some boxes and packing tape and covered the window that could be seen from the street so that the flickering firelight wouldn't attract police.
Penny and Celene were trying to decide if they should stay together or split apart. Even Diana and Astin had decided to split; they would never be as close as they were before Ryan's death. Peter kept his distance, letting mother and daughter talk. He held onto no hope that Penny would return to the Underworld with him. It would be nice if she visited, though, he thought.
Zach sat down next to Peter and handed him a hot dog on a skewer. “Eat,” he said. “It's a long trip back to New Orleans.”
Peter thanked Zach and took a bite out of the hot dog. “What is this?”
“Turkey,” Zach said. “The only thing in that gas station that wasn't expired. Lewis bought a pack of donuts only to find green mold growing in the bag.”
Peter looked hesitantly at the hot dog.
“Cooking kills germs, right?”
Peter nodded. “Sure.”
“So…I came to you for a reason,” Zach said.
“Not just worried about my girlish figure?”
Zach smiled. “No. I've seen your other form. You make Arnold look like a sissy.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Nick,” Zach said. “Poseidon. He's dead, right? Like, dead forever?”
Peter nodded. “He's in the underworld, but he can't leave. He could be a ghost, but his spirit can never attach to a corporeal body.”
Zach frowned. “We never got along as humans.”
“If I remember correctly, you had plenty of rivalry as gods, too.”
“We're brothers,” Zach said, as if that explained everything. Hades was his brother, too.
“I'm sorry,” Peter said. “Nothing I can do.”
Zach stared into the fire for a while. “Can you…can you give him a job?” Zach asked.
“I can find something.”
“Good. I mean, don't let him get lost down there. Make him feel useful. Maybe put him in charge of some people.”
“You know we have a problem with crazed Titans dipping weapons into the Styx,” Peter said. “Maybe we need another guard. I think he would get along great with Charon.”
“Good,” Zach said. He pushed himself to his feet. “Oh,” he said, stopping and looking down at Peter. “Jason?”
“His body is destroyed.”
“But he wasn't killed with the blade from the Styx. Right?”
Peter nodded. “I'll see what I can do.”
“Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.”
-Epicurus
XVII.
The first thing that Hades did upon returning to the underworld was call over a guard and send them to find Poseidon. “He'll need a trident,” he said, taking up his own two-pronged weapon and shifting back into his commanding, bearded form. “Post him by the bank at the entrance from above. No one is to touch the water save Charon. Especially not with any weapons.”
He answered a few questions and made judgement for the spirits who had been waiting for days, and then excused himself from the throne room. Ahead, as he left the great black doors of his palace, was the Stygian Marsh. To his right was the Styx, to his left the Mnemosyne. Hades walked along the shimmering waters of the Mnemosyne, looking out across the Blessed Elysian Fields and the groves next to them. He hiked alone, passing by wandering spirits, past cattle, both living and dead, and towards the misty banks of the Lethe. A line of spirits connected his palace to the shores of the far river, but their path was crowded, rocky, and cold, and Hades preferred to walk the path along the riverbanks.
The Cult of Kronos Page 11
