by Kate O'Hearn
When they approached the throne room, Emily saw the same area she had seen in Urania’s pool. Nothing had changed. She hesitated and felt a flutter of fear as she neared the entrance.
“This way,” Hyperion said. His voice wasn’t harsh, but it was commanding and left no room for debate or argument.
Emily took a deep breath and followed him into the room.
Saturn was there, seated on a throne at the front. Emily realized it hadn’t been that long since their last encounter in the skies over Honolulu. Saturn and his Titan warriors had arrived in their flying chariots to fight the Olympians. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of the Xan, the outcome would have been much worse.
“Come closer . . . ,” Saturn’s deep voice commanded. “Come to me, Flame of Olympus.”
Emily did as she was told and walked up to Saturn. She had expected to find him alone, as he had been in the vision. But instead the room was filled with senior Titans.
Several women stood at the front of the gathering, and Emily immediately recognized one of them—though she looked very different with her golden blond hair piled high on her head and wearing a stunning silken gown. The first time Emily had seen her was in Lorin’s mind. Her name was Phoebe and she’d been in Tartarus with the rest.
Phoebe frowned at Emily and then looked beyond her, as though she expected to see someone else enter. Her disappointment when no one else came was obvious.
Another thing Emily noticed about the gathering was the expressions on the faces of Saturn’s council. They were not hostile, but curious, with perhaps a trace of fear.
“Closer,” Saturn commanded.
Emily walked up to the leader of the Titans. Seated on his raised throne, he was an imposing sight. He was similar in looks to Jupiter, though his eyes were much harder and his expression unreadable. With Jupiter, Emily could always tell what he was thinking—but not with Saturn.
There was only one thing Emily could think of to do. She knelt down on one knee and lowered her head. “Great Saturn, I come to you begging for your help.”
There was a collective gasp from everyone in the room.
“Silence!” Saturn boomed. He leaned forward on his throne. “Rise, Flame.”
Emily stood and gazed up into Saturn’s unreadable eyes.
“You have changed, Emily,” he said. “You are the image of Diana.”
Emily nodded. “I know, sir. The Xan gave me a new body, and Diana offered part of herself for them to do it.”
“You are Olympian now?”
Emily shook her head. “To be honest, I’m not sure what I am anymore. There is Olympian in me, but also Xan and some of my human father.”
“Not a lot,” Saturn said. “I sense no trace of human in you at all.”
“I guess not,” Emily said sadly.
From behind her, Emily heard a soft woman’s voice. “Saturn, please. Ask her. Where is Lorin?”
Emily turned back to Phoebe and saw the begging in her eyes. “How is my girl?”
Emily lowered her head. “I am so sorry, Phoebe, but Lorin has died.”
“What?” Phoebe gasped. “No. You lie. I still feel her.”
“I’m not lying. You still feel her because her powers have been absorbed by two monsters, and they are using it. She gave her life saving others.”
Phoebe was shaking her head and started to weep, while Saturn eyed Emily suspiciously. “No one other than you or a full Xan had the power to defeat Lorin.”
“I swear it wasn’t me or the Xan,” Emily said. “That is why we came here.”
“Ah, yes, monsters are devouring Olympus,” Saturn said. “Hyperion has told me what you said.”
“It’s true. They are destroying Olympus even as we speak.”
“What care have I should Olympus fall?”
“You don’t understand,” Emily said. “Those creatures are gaining power and size with each Olympian they consume. Their plan is to come here and devour you next. I’m certain by the time they’ve finished with Olympus, no one here will be strong enough to stand against them.”
“You called them ‘mutant Titans,’ ” Hyperion said. “Explain yourself.”
Emily looked at both Hyperion and Saturn. “Do you remember when we fought in Tartarus? I wounded some of you, but there were three who vanished.”
“Yes,” Saturn said slowly. “You killed them, though you could not defeat me. I hold too much power, even for you, Flame of Olympus.”
“It doesn’t matter who won!” Emily cried. “Don’t you get it? I didn’t kill those Titans. I wounded them. After that, they fled to Earth and hid deep under the ground. They’ve been feeding off anything they could catch for thousands of years, absorbing their prey’s energy and power. They are the ones who created the Olympian clones, so that they could consume their power.”
“This is impossible!” a voice from the gathering said. “Stories designed to frighten us.” Three large Titans came forward. Emily recognized them from the fight in Tartarus. They were Saturn’s other brothers, Iapetus, Crius, and Coeus. The family resemblance was astounding. They looked just like their nephews, Pluto and Neptune.
“She is spinning lies to confuse us,” Crius exclaimed. “A distraction so that Jupiter can start his invasion of Titus.”
“Yes,” Coeus agreed. “The Flame of Olympus seeks only to destroy us now that Lorin is gone.”
“No!” Emily insisted. “I came here to beg for your help. They are killing the Olympians. If we don’t stop them now, they will come here and destroy all of you.”
Saturn looked at Emily. “That is impossible. Olympus has its Big Three. They will stop them.”
“They’ve tried!” Emily said. “But it didn’t work. The mutants are stronger. With each minute we delay, their power grows. Please, believe me. I came here with a message from Jupiter. He and his brothers will surrender to you if you save Olympus.”
“Lies!” Saturn cried.
Beside her, Pegasus started to whinny. Never before had it been so critically important that she understand what he was saying. But for all their time together, and despite her Olympian body, his language was still a mystery to her. But the Titans understood.
“Who were the three Titans?” Saturn asked, in answer to Pegasus. “They were Dictate and the siblings Pern and Pearth.”
“Are those the three Titans who vanished?” Emily asked.
Saturn nodded. “Dictate was a weak-willed Titan but very powerful. He could read minds and control wills.”
“And the other two?” Emily asked. “Were they brother and sister?”
“Yes,” Hyperion answered. “They were not particularly loyal to us. But they possessed great power and could be convinced to serve.”
It suddenly all made sense. Dictate had used his mind powers to control humans into serving them and creating the CRU. The others used their powers to build the pit beneath Charing Cross. Now that she knew who they were, it was even more critical that the Titans joined the fight.
“Saturn, Hyperion.” She looked back to everyone else in the room. “If you’ve ever believed anything in your life, I beg you to believe me now. Dictate is the Titan who killed and absorbed Lorin. When he did, Pern and Pearth attacked and devoured him so they could steal his power as well as hers. I swear on the lives of everyone I love, those two are now destroying Olympus. They will come here next, and when they do, you won’t be able to stop them.”
There were murmurs from the gathering. Emily could feel fear rising among the Titans. Whether they believed everything or not, they’d started to believe some of what she’d said.
Pegasus whinnied again and pawed the ground. He faced every member of Saturn’s family and nodded.
“But would Emily allow it?” Hyperion demanded.
“Allow what?”
Pegasus turned to Emily and invited her to peer into his eyes. When she did, she saw the vision of Saturn and his brothers touching her head and reading her mind as Jupiter had done thousands of
years ago, when they’d first faced him in the past.
She knew what he was proposing. But letting the Titan leadership into her mind to see the mutants also meant letting them see other parts of her life—private parts that were meant only for her.
“Well,” Saturn demanded. “If you truly wish for us to believe you, you should not hesitate in showing us the creatures you claim are destroying Olympus.”
Emily looked at Pegasus again. “Should I?”
He nodded and nickered softly.
Emily looked at Saturn and then his four brothers. “I’ll do anything to save Olympus and you. Please, come and read my mind—read both our minds and see what those monsters are doing.”
Saturn appeared stunned by her quick agreement. “If this is some kind of trap for us . . .”
“It’s not!” Emily said. “But each moment you delay means more Olympians die. Please, hurry.”
Saturn rose and walked toward her. With each step, Emily felt the danger she was putting herself in. But she had no choice. They had to see it for themselves. Hyperion was the first to reach her side, followed by the others. The last to arrive was Saturn.
“You know that you cannot alter what is in your mind. Once we enter, we will see only the truth.”
“And the truth will terrify you,” Emily said.
Soon she was completely encircled by the most powerful Titans. She tried to look brave as Saturn and his brothers each reached forward and laid their hands on her head.
Unlike the first time Jupiter had done this in the ancient past, the Titan approach was brutal as they tore through her mind like lightning. There wasn’t a single piece of thought or memory that didn’t have a Titan prying through it.
Emily fought to hold back the one bit of information that was precious to her—the message from Yird telling her about the final metamorphosis she faced. But as she tried to keep them away from that small piece of her mind, she felt Saturn’s incalculable power forcing its way through her barriers.
Saturn and his brothers accessed the final piece of information that was in Emily. When they finished, they broke contact and staggered back. Saturn shook his head and looked at her in stunned recognition.
“So, tell me, Emily,” he demanded. “What will you be? Olympian or Xan?”
21
PAELEN STOOD AT THE BARS of the cell, shaking his head. “They have been gone too long. I do not like this.”
“Em will convince them,” Joel said. “She has to. Without them, Olympus is lost. We just have to give her more time.”
“How much more?” Agent B said. “Paelen is right. Each moment we waste here, more of Olympus will fall. We’ve got to get out of here and back there.”
Paelen started to push against the bars, but they didn’t even move. Joel joined him, but even with Agent B and Chrysaor shoving the door, nothing happened.
“It will not work,” the satyr in the next cell said. “Titan steel is far too strong for you. You need magic to open the doors.”
“Magic?” Joel repeated. “Oh great, we’re toast.”
“I could do it,” Jai-me said.
“If you could, why are you still imprisoned?”
“Because they have me in chains. Were it not for them, I could easily open the door. I would release you as well.”
“If you can open the doors, why can you not open the chains on you?” Paelen asked.
“It is different metal. These chains are silver. I cannot command silver because it burns me.”
“Who is this kid?” Joel said.
Paelen shrugged. “I think he may be a satyr. They burn if touched by silver. Wait here. I will see.” He lowered himself to the floor. “Keep an eye open for the guards and warn me if anyone comes in.”
“What are you going to do?” Agent B asked.
Paelen grinned up at him. “Hurt myself.”
He fed his arms through the bars, and they all heard the cracking and popping of bones as his body extended. Longer and longer, thinner and thinner he became, until he was like a snake.
Paelen slid out of the cell and into the one next door. When his full body was through the bars, he winced as he pulled himself back into his normal size.
The young satyr stared in amazement. “I wish I could do that.”
“I would not, if I were you,” Paelen said as he stiffly climbed to his feet. “It really pinches. Now, let me take a look at you.”
The satyr was young, not overly tall, and, at best, came up to Paelen’s chest. He had pointed ears and an elfin face with wild brown hair and golden eyes. There was a chain that went around his waist and was fastened to a ring on the wall. Without a shirt between him and the chain, the silver was burning his skin raw. The other chain around his wrists was doing the same, and where the manacles closed on his hooves, the silver was burning the coarse brown hair off.
“They really did not want you to get away, did they?”
Jai-me shook his head. “I think Saturn wants to execute me slowly with the silver.”
“For what?” Joel said. “Just because you stole some jewels?”
“They belonged to his wife. He cares deeply for her.”
Paelen leaned in closer and whispered in his ear, “From one thief to another, you must never steal from the leaders. It will only bring you disaster. I know. I have tried it myself.”
Jai-me nodded and held up his hands to show the burn welts on his wrists. “I have learned my lesson.”
“I hope so,” Paelen said. There was so much about this young thief that reminded him of himself when he was younger. “Now, let us see about getting these chains off of you.”
The silver of the chains was strong, but Paelen was stronger. With a bit of effort, he broke the chains around the satyr’s waist and from his wrists and hooves.
In gratitude, Jai-me threw his arms around Paelen and hugged him tightly. “Thank you!”
Uncomfortable at first, Paelen finally sighed and patted the satyr’s back. “You are very welcome. But in exchange for freeing you, you said you could open the cell doors.”
“I can!” Jai-me said excitedly. He clopped forward and stopped before the cell door. He smiled brightly at Paelen. “It is simple. I put my hand on the lock and say ‘open.’ ”
They all heard a click, and then the door swung open.
“That is very clever,” Paelen said. “I wish I could do that.”
Jai-me grinned as though Paelen had given him a gold coin. “I still wish I could stretch my body like you can. Then no one could ever catch hold of me.”
Paelen grinned. “It does help. So, will you free my friends?”
Jai-me nodded and quickly opened the other door. He looked at Agent B and Joel. “Are you truly humans?”
Joel nodded.
“I have never seen humans before,” the satyr said. “You really stink.”
“Hey,” Joel said. “I don’t go around insulting you for having the legs of a goat!”
Jai-me looked down at his legs. “That is because they are beautiful. I keep my hooves very well polished.”
“Ignore him,” Agent B said. He gazed around the large cell block. “Now, we’ve got to find out where Hyperion hid our gemstone for the Solar Stream. Then we can locate Emily and Pegasus and get out of here.”
“I know where he put your things,” Jai-me said.
“How?” Joel challenged. “You were here when he brought us in. You couldn’t have seen.”
“I know because I have seen him take other prisoners’ possessions and lock them away.” He held up his hand to show a large ring on the middle finger. “See this? It belonged to a centaur that Hyperion locked away. I freed it for him.”
“Did you free the centaur?” Joel asked.
The boy shook his head.
“And will you give him the ring back?”
“Maybe.”
Joel looked at Paelen. “I can’t believe it. You’re worlds apart, but you two are exactly the same.”
Chrysaor
squealed and approached the satyr.
“There is no need to yell at me,” Jai-me said. “Of course I will show you where Hyperion keeps the items. It is this way.”
The young satyr led them down the long corridor and paused before the door at the end. He pressed his ear to it and nodded. “There is no one out there.” He carefully pushed the door open and poked his head out. “Hurry. Follow me.”
They ran across an open corridor and then through another door. This led to more holding cells. As they made their way along the corridor, they saw some of the cells contained prisoners.
Jai-me touched each door he passed and commanded the lock to open. “We might need a distraction,” he said as the Titans were freed from their cells.
Most of the prisoners ran in the opposite direction. But a group of around ten started to follow Paelen and the others.
“What crimes have they committed?” Agent B asked.
Jai-me shrugged. “I do not know. But sometimes Saturn gets angry and locks away people who displease him—and who have never committed a crime.”
“Like me,” a lovely woman with black and white wings said. She was around fifty, and her solid black eyes never stopped darting around. Instead of hair, her head was covered in fine black feathers. With her large dark eyes, she looked more bird than a woman with wings. Her voice was high-pitched and sang like a mourning dove. “All I did was design a cloak that Saturn did not like. So he locked me away until I come up with a better design.”
“How long have you been in here?” Paelen asked.
The woman shrugged. “I do not know anymore. I lost count after one hundred and fifty-two days. I think he has forgotten about me.”
“What?” Joel cried. “Just because you made something he didn’t like?”
When the woman nodded, Agent B said, “So Saturn is still bad-tempered.”
“He is getting better,” she said. “In the past, he would have had someone who displeased him executed. Now he just locks us away.”
Paelen looked back at the other prisoners who were following them. “Did you all displease him?”
Everyone nodded.
