by Leia Stone
His box looked like it had been hand carved and crafted from the finest metals. Intricate designs wrapped right around it. I was almost certain the symbols were the language of the gods.
No time to ask though.
The inky Sin blob was expanding at a rapid rate, sending our large ship lurching from side to side. The sky was dark. I couldn’t tell if it was because the sins were amassing to a size that totally eclipsed the sun, or if there was a literal darkness crossing the Earth now.
I swayed with the ship, almost crashing to the deck. Cronus caught me just before I hit.
“How long since you’ve slept?” he murmured, holding me close.
I shook my head, black dots dancing in front of my vision.
“Uh, I can’t remember. But I haven’t eaten much.”
#LackOfSleepFoodAndSexSickness
My tolerance since taking on the sins had risen, but I couldn’t go without sustenance indefinitely. “Not much longer,” he said, setting me back on my feet. “Just hold on a little longer.”
I could do this. I would be Cronus’ equal. #JustThrowMeATwinkie
The Titans and gods moved to the side of the ship, all of them focused on the blob.
“It’s huge,” Rhea said. She sounded rightfully unhappy about it. “How can we possibly fight this and separate the sins again so they can be siphoned by Cronus and Maisey?”
“Do we absolutely have to separate them?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier just to take them in one go?”
Didn’t Okeanos say something about needing to take them in a certain order? #WasntListening
Rhea spared me a withering glance. “You have no idea the power they wield like this. Trying to take them in one go will definitely kill you and everyone you’re standing near.”
Hyperion cleared his throat. “We don’t know that for sure. But last time we had to take them in order. So Famine, Frost, Fire, and then Death. If that doesn’t work, we move on to plan B.”
#OhGoodThereWasAPlanB
Okeanos, who’d first told us about the order, shook his head as he stared at the blob. “I don’t think the order will matter now. They’ve basically formed one entity. The line of manifestation is broken.” He met my gaze. “As long as Death is last, because it ends it all, take the others as you find them.”
The other Titans turned to the blob, doing some introspective energy observation thing, before confirming this with lots of nods and grim faces. “Any order with Death last,” Cronus reiterated. “Okay, let’s get it moving.”
Before we could take a step, there was a shout from someone on deck. “Tsunami!”
I was pretty sure it had been Koios, and I wondered how he could tell there was a wave coming when I could see no obvious signs.
“Protect the ship!” Cronus called. I was tucked under one arm, the box under his other, as he dashed down under the main deck.
“Stay here,” he said gruffly, dropping us both off, disappearing again.
Turning, I blinked at Theia with me in the room as well. “Oh, hey!” I said. “Apparently Cronus thinks we need protecting.”
She chuckled and waved a hand at me. “Oh no, he knows I need protecting from no one. I’m here to keep you safe, my darling.”
I blinked at her. She might be my grandmother, but I barely even knew her. Still, it didn’t feel weird to have her call me darling. I was adapting super fast to this new reality.
“Oh, well, thank you.”
She patted me on the shoulder and it was the oddest thing to have such a grandmotherly persona from this young, beautiful woman. In her eyes though, she was all grammy.
“How did Koios know that a tsunami was coming?” I asked, looking around, hoping there was a window down here. We appeared to be in a large master bedroom, with a king bed, separate bathroom, and a sitting area.
Clearly Okeanos had chosen to go with a billionaire’s boat as our point of contact on the sea near the sins. Normally, I’d be excited about that, but apparently we were about to be drowned by a tsunami, so that dulled some of this ship’s shine.
“He’s got a bit of future sight when he applies himself and isn’t busy chasing women.”
I grinned. A problem all of the Titans had apparently. Still, none beat Zeus and his wandering dick.
Suddenly the floor was pulled out from under me and I flew across the room, smashing into the wall. Pain exploded across my shoulder as a groan escaped. The tsunami had clearly hit.
The sins surged forward within me, darkness coating my fingers as my aches and pains faded with the power. All the lights flickered in our room, and Theia, who was still standing exactly as she had been before, seemed to break out of her trance.
“Sorry, my darling,” she said, sounding horrified as she hurried over to me. “I had to momentarily lend my power to those above. The sins hit us a lot harder than we expected.”
“All good,” I wheezed out, standing on my own. “The sins I carry seem to surge up when I need extra energy.”
“Another wave is coming,” she murmured, her eyes glazing over again. “And another after that. They’re not going to stop until they wipe out everything with their destruction.”
The ship lurched again, not as bad as before, but maybe that was because I was already on the wall and could brace myself against it.
“Are these hitting the humans?” I shouted, over the roar of the ocean that was filling the large cabin. “They’re going to kill millions.”
Theia was pale, her face wreathed in worry. “No. It won’t kill millions.”
Normally I’d sigh with relief, but I knew better.
“Billions?”
She nodded, still grim.
“They’re aiming to wipe out the world in one fell swoop. Humans will not be able to stand against this destruction.”
Pushing myself up on the wall, I tried to get my stomach back under control as I lurched toward the door. “We can’t let that happen,” I shouted. “We need to contain those fuckers right now.”
Cronus couldn’t do it without me. He needed me to funnel the sins through to his necklace.
Theia called after me: “Maisey, you can’t go out there. You’re human!” But I didn’t look back. We hadn’t done all of this to let those fucking sins wipe out the world in a mass of giant waves.
Struggling to support my balance, I trudged outside. When I reached the deck, I slipped and sprawled. Water was everywhere, and as I straightened, the only thing I could see was a five-hundred-foot wall of water heading my way, as black as a raven feather.
The wave hit us, but the Titans must have been doing their magic thing, because it only rocked us side to side. I grasped the railing, keeping myself in place as we seemed to pass directly through the wave. Peering out into the crazy inky water, I saw faces, bones, and shapes moving inside. Chills ran the length of my spine. This was it; this was the end if we didn’t stop it.
“Come on,” Theia said at my side, hand under my arm to help me up. “If you want to help, we need to get closer.”
She wasted no time dragging me over to Cronus.
As he saw me walking over, his face fell. “Get back under—”
Another wave hit but Theia held me in place. This time, the ship groaned with stress and a crack rang throughout the boat. “We need to end this! People are going to die!” I shouted to Cronus.
He looked conflicted, staring up at the darkened sky, and I could have sworn lightning actually flashed through his eyes. In the same instant, everything froze, a huge wave of black water, two hundred feet high included—everyone and everything other than Cronus and me.
“I don’t want to lose you.” He walked toward me. “I only just found the sort of love you destroy worlds for.”
We crashed into each other, my lips pressing to his as I popped up onto my tiptoes. His hands came around my lower back, pulling me harder into him. I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss as tears formed in my eyes. I knew I had my faults. I cared about animals and the environment
yes, but I was also vain and a bit superficial. I never went to college, I was a fucking waitress and amateur model, and here was the most powerful man in the world who loved me despite all of that. He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I’d never had that before, and I’d be damned if I was going to lose it.
Pulling away, I grasped both sides of Cronus’ face. “We’re bringing these fuckers down today and then it’s just you, me, and Bali.”
His blue and gold eyes bore into mine, swirling with so much depth and emotion. A sly grin tugged at his mouth. “Alright, human. Let’s do this. Together.”
Together. #Sobs
He did see me as his equal. That alone meant the world to me.
Everything jolted and started moving again as he released time. Okeanos was at our sides in seconds. “I can get you both in there. We will surround the next wave with power so you can start to pull the sins out.”
Sure, pull four deadly sins out of the fucking ocean, no big deal.
Cronus nodded, tucking me into his side, and I blinked to see that Hephaestus’ box was once again in the middle of the deck. “Hype, watch over the box,” Cronus called. “You’ll know when it’s time for me to use it.” Hyperion, standing across the far side of the deck, covered in black inky water, nodded.
My heart raced as Cronus walked us to the edge of the boat. Okeanos stepped up and threw his arms out. The wall of black water split down the middle a few feet and a staircase made of ocean appeared.
Holy shit. I peered back to see Okeanos, red-faced and grunting in concentration. Following Cronus’ lead, I stepped out onto the water and found a solid platform beneath me. Liquid pooled around my boots, but whatever power Okeanos had was holding us. Cronus and I climbed higher and higher, right into the wave itself.
I quickly sent up a little prayer. #TooYoungToDie
As Cronus and I climbed into the split wave, I felt the sins thrashing about within me. Cronus grimaced and I knew he must have felt them warring inside of him too. When we were directly in the middle of the wave, we turned around and faced the boat. Okeanos was shaking, arms raised as he held the wave at bay. Rhea, Koios and the others fanned out behind him, lending their power.
“Ready?” Cronus asked.
I nodded. This was it, the moment we’d been building to since the first Sin was released. This was my time to right that wrong.
Reaching out, I dug my fingers into the water, gasping when I felt a frigid cold seep into my bones. I knew without needing to be told that it was Death. The sins inside of me thrashed harder as an inky energy poured from my fingertips. It’s like they were … helping me. Or maybe they were trying to escape? It was hard to tell. A thick black tentacle lashed out at my wrist and I grabbed hold of it.
It burned. Like fire.
Gotcha, you fucker.
Luckily, it didn’t matter the order of these three, so I didn’t hesitate to yank it closer. The black Sin energy on my hands protected me from getting burned as I pulled Fire from the water.
“I got you,” Cronus called behind me.
The tentacle snapped out and wrapped around my throat, but just as quickly there was a burst of blue light and it eased, melting onto my arms. My entire body heated, feeling like I had a fever as the Sin seeped into my skin.
“It’s going into the necklace!” Cronus shouted.
#ThankFuck
I burned, my vision blurry, but it only lasted a few more minutes before the heat was gone. Spinning, I looked at Cronus; his face was red, teeth clamped down.
“You o—?” I was cut off by two tentacles wrapping around my waist, yanking me into the black sea.
Icy water surrounded me. I’d barely managed to take a breath, and I held it tightly as my body flopped like a ragdoll, the tentacle dragging me deeper and deeper into the dark depths.
Panic did its best to overwhelm me, even as I tried not to freak out. All around me blue bursts of magic shot down into the water, to no avail. I’m going to die. I’m going to drown and Famine, Frost and Death will encompass the Earth.
Cronus couldn’t do this without me.
Even worse, if I died now, while still housing three sins, they’d be released back into the world. I kicked my feet like crazy, reaching out and grabbing hold of the tentacles. Bending forward, I opened my mouth, releasing what precious oxygen I had left, and chomped down on that black fucker like it was a well-done steak.
It was surprisingly solid and fleshy. A hiss carried through the water as I ripped a piece of the Sin away with my mouth.
Then I was falling.
It had let me go.
I had about two seconds to celebrate that victory until I realized I was sinking with no air left and a chunk of Sin in my mouth. Spitting the disgusting shit out, I kicked with all my might, but the urge to gasp had become overwhelming. Dizziness overtook me as sparkles of light danced across my vision and I knew it was too late for me.
Stupid human. Why couldn’t I breathe underwater?
Just as my eyelids started to close and I felt myself losing consciousness, two strong hands grabbed my shoulders, a pair of warm lips pressing over mine.
Precious oxygen filled my mouth and lungs and I gulped it greedily as Cronus shot us up and out of the water like there was a rocket on his back. We sailed fifty feet into the air and then he landed hard on the boat deck with me in his arms.
“Maisey!” Cronus set me down as I gasped and sputtered.
“I’m okay.” I coughed, horrified at the sight of my blue-tinged skin. How close had I been to dying?
“Another wave!” Okeanos called.
Cronus threw himself over me, bracing my body underneath his so I didn’t go flying off the boat.
“We need to get back out there! There’s three more left,” I screamed over the creaking boat.
Cronus shook his head. “It’s too dangerous! You almost drowned.”
He’d moved back enough that I could reach over and grasp his face in my hands. “They just took me by surprise. We can’t give up now. We’re almost there. We can do this.”
Cronus looked torn, his eyes weary. He glanced around the boat, which had settled its rocking, and then got to his feet, pulling me with him.
Striding across to a small storage cabinet, he opened it, leaning in and emerging with a thick rope.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he hurried back to me, one end of the dark rope in his hands.
“In this together, right?” he said as he started to tie it around my waist.
“Always.”
Okeanos and Hyperion approached us, each holding one half of the box.
“I’m going to make a water raft. It’s going to take all of us to defeat this,” the Titan of the sea said.
Ares, Apollo, and Athena were surprisingly all still here, wet and battle worn, but with faces of determination.
Hepatitis was nowhere to be seen.
#BigShocker
Okeanos, his hair plastered to one side with water, raised his arms and once again the ocean parted. “I’m … my power is drained … this is our last shot.”
Hyperion hefted the huge box over his shoulder and walked out onto a twenty-foot-square platform of solid black water. Cronus and I were next, the rope keeping us tied a few feet together. “It’s like when we had the bond,” I said.
I would have smiled, but we were all about to die so that didn’t seem right.
Cronus grasped my hand. “We still have the bond. One that can’t be broken.”
#Swoon #TakeMeToBali
“I’m going to freeze the fuckers and try to tear them apart,” Rhea called.
Her hands came up and shards of white ice shot into the water. Theia came up behind her, lending her powers, and Cronus clapped his hands, blue streaks of power shooting through as well, doing whatever it was that power did.
It was fucking Armageddon and all I could do was stand there with my pretty hair and black fingertips.
Steam shot up from the water as a tho
usand screams rang out around us.
“Here we go!” Rhea cried as a black blob emerged from the water and landed before me. In seconds, it transformed into a humanoid figure. Without thinking, I slammed my knee up into the general vicinity of where balls would be. It crumpled forward, liquefying onto my legs as I reached out and took hold of the only solid part I could before it disappeared.
A deep gnawing hunger hit my stomach.
Famine.
“I got it!” I groaned, my hands shaking as I fought to contain the Sin that was now pouring into my hands and crawling inside of me. The hunger grew so intense I whimpered, tears running down my face. My stomach felt like it was eating itself, and I struggled to comprehend any human having to feel like this in the twenty-first century, although I knew it happened all over the world.
Cronus grunted as the necklace absorbed the Sin; within me the feeling of hunger began to dissipate. A high scream rose from my left, and I turned just in time to see Rhea swept off her feet and torn in two by a large, black, spiky tentacle.
There was a collective gasp from our group as her blood sprayed over us all.
Death. Death just killed Rhea like she was nothing more than a human.
I stood there in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. It … it was too fast. She was there and then she wasn’t. Cronus stiffened behind me for a second, but that was the only move he made that gave any indication that he cared his ex-wife had just been split in two.
“It’s coming back around!” Ares yelled, lashing into the water with his glowing swords.
How fucking useless were these gods? All of us against the two remaining sins and we were losing?
“Maisey!” Cronus’ voice snapped me out of it. “Death is retreating and merging with Frost. We need to do something now if we want to have a chance.”
I looked out onto the water, which had stilled, and saw a black figure slinking away into the water. The bastard was retreating, only to come back when we least expected it and tear us apart.
The sins stirred within me. I realized that getting Frosty Death to come out was going to be on me. I fumbled with the rope at my waist, using some of my sin power to unravel it. With one final look at Cronus, I swallowed hard.
