Releasing the Gods

by Leia Stone

Maybe he just forgot the hundred part. Yep. I was going with that theory.

  At this stage, the black swirl closest to me had started to form some real distinct features: a tall man, with burnt orange skin, black hair, and glowing green eyes. His face was handsome and strong. That jaw could probably knock down a brick wall, and his nose was defined and flawless. If he wasn’t some crazy sin ready to break my favorite world, I might have checked him out harder. As it was, I barely had time to see any of the others before Cronus latched on to my arm, dragging me out of the room. We went back the same way we had come, away from the black curtain, and I got the sense that no one could just god their way behind that curtain.

  “Move faster,” he said with a huff, and I started to pump my legs as hard as I could.

  “Do you know the signs of a collapsed lung?” I wheezed a minute later as we left the entrance.

  I really couldn’t breathe. I mean, this was why I didn't run. #NotRocketScience

  Thankfully, the moment we were free of the volcano cave of horrors, Cronus snatched me up, and then the almost familiar darkness wrapped around us, and I was yanked out of New Zealand.

  Within minutes, we were back in Thanatos’s realm. “Your powers are returning fast,” I said breathlessly.

  Cronus, so grim-faced that I barely recognized him, didn’t even look at me.

  “Thanatos!” he roared, the ground shaking in the wake of his anger.

  Within seconds, the sex on legs god appeared, his brow wrinkled. “What’s with the yelling?” he asked cheerily. “This is a place of rest.”

  Cronus was beyond reason. His eyes were shimmering with godly power, his hands clenched in front of him. “Why did you not tell me that Pandora’s Box had been moved there? To Zeus’ cave?”

  For the first time since I’d seen the god of the underworld, he looked … uneasy. “It’s common knowledge. Zeus spent eight hundred years tracking the box. It was his greatest achievement to have it as part of his collection.”

  Cronus roared, and Thanatos actually flinched, before he fell into a defensive stance.

  “I have been locked away,” Cronus finally said. “There was no way for me to know. And you sent me there with Selene’s lineage. They’re drawn to the fucking sins. They always have been.”

  Thanatos lurched forward, and apparently he wasn’t as scared of me as he was of Cronus, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and jerking me closer. “What is this necklace?” he asked, shaking me a little, eyes wide. “You were not supposed to touch anything.”

  I tried to wrench myself free, but I had as much strength as a fly against him.

  Turned out I didn't have to worry about it though, as Thanatos went flying a moment later, and another set of huge hands closed around my biceps, these ones gentler.

  “Don’t touch my human,” the Titan bit out, pulling me back into his chest.

  I tried really hard not to let my heart beat out of my chest, even though it felt like it wanted to. What a shame the world was ending. I might never have a chance to tick this off my list, but damn … I wanted one night with Cronus.

  I could probably die happy then. Screw Instagram likes, I’d much rather screw a god … Titan ... whatever—he was a god to me. And I was the chick who freed the god. Surely that entitled me to one night with him.

  “Focus, human,” Thanatos roared, and I pulled my brain back from sex fantasyland. “Tell us exactly what happened.”

  Swallowing hard, I breathed in a few deep breaths, hoping my hands would stop shaking. “So, I was waiting for Cronus to get your elixir, and he was taking a really long time—”

  “Two minutes,” he muttered. “I was gone for two minutes.”

  “Really long time,” I repeated, “and I started to get worried, so I crept forward, being very careful not to touch anything.”

  Twin scoffs, that I ignored.

  “Then it called my name.”

  They both stilled. I definitely had their attention now. All of it. Laser focus that was a little disconcerting when it came from a pair of powerful gods. “You think the box said your name?”

  “Yep. Definitely.”

  Right? Everything was a little fuzzy, and it seemed kind of far-fetched now that I’d said it out loud, but then again ... so did a two-thousand-year-old god stepping out of a portal.

  “I leaned over to look closer and a strand of my hair escaped and fell on the lid.”

  Both gods groaned at that.

  I hurried on to describe the rest, including the darkness, and Cronus picked up from there.

  “The darkness wanted Maisey,” he said, sounding serious. “I managed to break its hold, but I couldn’t return it to the box. Not without a box to return it to, and not without my brothers and sisters.”

  “You said something about the world’s sins to me a while ago,” I interjected. “The box is what you were talking about, right?”

  A single nod. “The deadly sins, nine gods, locked away to protect the world. The Titans were the guardians of the sins and the box.” His head jerked up to nail Thanatos with a glare. “They have been locked away in many ways, but the box was our last attempt to make it permanent. It weakened us more than we expected though, and Zeus took advantage.”

  I gasped. “Are you trying to tell me that you were protecting the world, trying to keep shit balanced, and Zeus attacked you?”

  Majorly fucked up.

  Thanatos made a dark, derisive sound. “Don’t sound so surprised, human. Zeus is without care or mercy. He is only interested in one thing: power.”

  I turned to Cronus, and maybe it was that with everything going on I hadn’t actually looked at him properly until now, but he was furious. His skin was glimmering copper, his eyes almost piercing blue with trails of gold, his jaw so hard and unyielding that it looked like it was made of stone. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. This was all my fucking fault. Shit. I was such a screw up.

  Cronus’ eyes shuttered, and there was no way for me to tell what he was thinking.

  “Are you … mad at me?” I pushed.

  It bothered me that he was mad or disappointed in me. Why, I couldn’t say, because he’d been a disparaging prick from the first second I saw him. That included tossing me off a cliff. But I sort of felt like we’d moved past a lot of that and had been ... maybe ... friends. Or maybe frenemies? But definitely something.

  “What do we do now?” Thanatos interrupted the stare-off I had going on with Cronus when he didn’t answer me. “The sins haven’t been released like this in centuries. You said all nine figures formed?”

  “Yep,” I said, because Cronus was beyond words apparently. “And why are there nine? I thought there were seven deadly sins?”

  Thanatos snorted. “Seven is just the most sins that have ever been released before. It almost ended the world. If all nine manifest fully…”

  He trailed off, but I understood.

  Nine meant we were totally and completely fucked.

  Chapter 10

  Cronus took about an hour before he was calm enough to talk properly. My heart ached a little at the way he was avoiding my gaze now, instead choosing to talk directly to Thanatos.

  “We have only one shot at stopping them,” he said, staring out across the stunning fields of the underworld. “It will take time for the sins to fully manifest, and each of them have an order that they operate in. The final two sins, fire and death, they’re the ones the world will not be able to come back from. If we can lock them all away before they reach eight and nine, then we can save the world.”

  I was barely following. I really wished there was Google in the underworld, because I didn’t even know exactly what the other seven sins were.

  “How do you lock them away again?” I asked.

  Cronus’ jaw twitched and I didn’t think he was going to answer. “I need to return my brothers and sisters to life. The Titans are the only ones who can return the sins.”

  Thanatos sat straighter. “They were destroyed. There are no b
odies left to resurrect them to.”

  Resurrect? Were they talking about...?

  Cronus eyed his powerful new ally. “Yes, but their souls are here, correct?”

  Thanatos nodded. “Correct, but no vessel will contain their power, and if they are not in their corporeal forms, with their powers intact, they will be of no help to you.”

  Cronus didn’t look as worried as I felt he should be looking. #NoTimeToBeCalm

  “If their souls are here, why don’t we just chat with them and figure something out?” I peered behind me at a beautiful waterfall, wondering why I had yet to see one soul in the underworld.

  Thanatos looked offended. “Obviously that’s not allowed. What kind of underworld do you think I’m running?”

  I winced. “Sorry.”

  “We planned for this,” Cronus said softly, “that one day Zeus and his assholes would take it too far and the world would fall to chaos. We all left behind a sliver of DNA somewhere, enough that I can resurrect their bodies using the oldest magic alive.”

  Again, I was in the dark, but Thanatos appeared to understand, if his smile and nod was anything to go by.

  “But I need Zeus and his minions off my back,” Cronus growled. “I have no time to be looking over my shoulder or killing those fuckers.”

  I grinned at his use of the word fuckers. He totally got that from me. #Proud #TaughtHimEverythingHeKnows

  Thanatos considered this. “As you know, I wasn’t part of the original attacks on you and your brethren,” he said. “As the keeper of the dead, I do not interfere in such matters. But I will step in now. I will speak to the gods and explain what the situation is, asking them to back off.”

  “They have no fucking choice anyway,” Cronus growled. “If this world ends, then so do they. Their power is so tied to the humans, to the energy of this world. Unlike mine. They would waste away in a decade without the humans worshiping them.”

  What?

  “Why did they try and kill you, then?” I asked. “If you’re protecting humanity and they need humans?”

  Cronus laughed, a dark sound. “They thought we’d locked the sins away permanently with the last box. They didn’t fear them any longer, and because we were weak…”

  “It was the perfect time to attack,” I whispered.

  Cronus gave a single nod.

  “What is your power tied to?” I asked, leaning closer.

  He finally looked at me again, properly. “Something beyond your understanding, human.”

  And we were back to the old human thing.

  Thanatos nodded, respect shining in his eyes. “I’ll contact you when I’ve spoken to Zeus and the Greeks.”

  Cronos reached in his pocket and produced a small glittering vial of liquid. “For your human lover.”

  Holy shit, he’d gotten the elixir. Sneaky bastard.

  Thanatos’ eyes grew wide as he reached for it, but Cronus pulled back at the last second. “If you vow to see this through with me to the end. A full alliance.”

  Thanatos paused for a moment before nodding. “I will help you lock away the nine deadly sins in any way that I am able, and I will help you imprison Zeus.”

  They shook on it, a faint white glow emitting when their palms touched, and I knew Thanatos had just given more than his word.

  Cronus dropped the elixir in his palm and then reached out and pulled me into him again before everything went black.

  A moment later, my feet slammed on the ground and I looked around trying to determine where we were. This whole flashing thing was weird and cool as fuck at the same time.

  “The cave?” I asked the god attached to me.

  We were back in the cave that I’d freed him from, back in Santa Barbara. The desolate scene that had appeared when I touched the wall was gone, and once again the circular engraving was back.

  “Just a quick stop,” he muttered and walked over to the wall, which no longer held my bloody handprint.

  Cronus placed his hand in the exact spot—I was pretty sure—that I’d placed my bloody palm and muttered a few words in another language. The stone wall then went transparent, showing that dark, deserted landscape of the prison world.

  “Umm … we’re not going in there, right?” I backed up a little. I’d forgotten how freaking scary it had looked, probably because I’d been just short of wasted that night. #NeedAnotherDrink

  This guy was crazy if he thought I was going into his thousand-year-old prison.

  He shook his head and held his fingers to his lips, giving a loud and shrill whistle. He looked into the empty space for what seemed like forever, the slightest tinge of worry marring his features. “I didn’t know if I could trust you when I first met you, or if this world would be safe for him, so I left him there…” His voice sounded hollow and I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about, until that expression faded from his face, and I stared into the abyss again to find … a beast ... off in the distance. A gigantic black bear-dog was running at us, a twelve-inch string of drool dripping from his face.

  “What. Is. That?” I backed up as much as our bond would allow.

  Cronus’ lips twitched as if he wanted to smile but didn’t know how. “That’s Hound. He will scent my siblings’ remains and help us resurrect them,”

  Hound was the size of a small bear and, if not for his massive wagging tail, looked like he’d eat me for a light snack. The bear dog burst through the portal and into the cave, throwing himself at Cronus’ feet and flipping upside down for a belly rub.

  “Good boy,” Cronus told him, rubbing his chest.

  “You have a pet?”

  How was it possible this god cared for anyone but himself?

  Cronus stood, towering over me and the beast.

  “A hellhound is hardly a pet, but we have an understanding.”

  Hellhound.

  My eyes went wide as I scrutinized the beast’s features, looking for red eyes or two heads. Instead I just saw black fur, drool, and sharp teeth.

  “Was … he … locked away too?” My voice shook as Hound pinned me with a glare.

  “Yes,” was all Cronus said before grabbing me, then reaching out to grab the scruff of Hound’s neck.

  Blackness.

  When the room materialized itself, I realized we were in my apartment. Nausea churned in my belly from all the zipping and zapping. But I was lucid enough to notice that the blue wards he’d left up before were broken down, as was my front door.

  “Shit!” I shrieked and turned in a full circle, expecting my TV and laptop to be gone. They weren’t.

  Cronus waved his hand at the damage. “Zeus’s lackeys. Looking for us.”

  Bastards. I stomped over and slammed the door, but it just bounced against the broken lock and swung wide again.

  Fuck, my landlord was NOT going to be happy with that…

  “Okay, what’s the game plan?” I pulled out my phone and shot a text to Shauna telling her I’d met the love of my life and needed her to cover for me at the Crab Shack for a few more days. Then I added that my apartment had been broken into and asked her to see if Matt could fix the door. Hopefully she bought the story, I didn’t have time for friend drama, but if I didn’t keep in touch she’d call the police and report me missing.

  Tucking away my phone, I met the god face to face. Cronus sighed. “We need to get some cash, food, and I need a shower. Then we will go looking for the Titans’ remnants.”

  My stomach heated a little at his mention of showering. “Weird coincidence. I need a shower too.”

  Maybe I could convince him to be environmentally friendly and save water…

  Because if the world was ending, I was not going out on a dry spell, and who better to break the drought than a fucking god.

  Ignoring me, he started to undress while walking to the bathroom. His shirt was tossed to the ground, giving me an ample view of his muscular back.

  Yum.

  I swallowed hard.

  “Order three pizzas. Extra
meat for Hound and me.”

  His pants dropped next.

  Meat. He’d said meat.

  Focus.

  I shook myself, ready to slap my own face if that’s what it took to get out of this trance.

  “Are you sure you don’t want a nice vegetarian pizza?” I tried to keep him talking in the hopes he would drop his boxers and give me a glimpse of that tight ass.

  He glanced over his shoulder, glaring at me with the fire of a thousand burning suns. “Extra meat or I’ll cut off your hair.”

  My mouth popped open and he walked into the bathroom and shut the door, breaking the spell he had over me. I noticed that we had a little more room in our bond now than that first night when I showered. That would make life a little easier with my naked god wandering around.

  My eyes flew to Hound.

  “So you want me to order you a pizza with dead animal flesh on it? You have zero conscience about that?”

  Was he smirking at me?

  Fucker.

  “No meat for you unless you’re nice,” I whispered to Hound.

  The beast growled low in his throat and I winced.

  “Just kidding.”

  Picking up my phone, I ordered three pizzas. Extra meat for the boys.

  After Cronus and I had showered, separately, we dug into the pizza. I ate a whopping three slices of kale and pineapple pizza before feeling stuffed while Cronus and Hound inhaled their entire pizza each plus mine. He painstakingly took the time to peel off the kale, calling it an abomination. Now we stood over a crudely drawn map Cronus had made.

  “Alright, first stop, we need to awaken Rhea. She’s tied to the first sin.”

  My eyes bugged out of my head. “Rhea ... your wife?”

  Cronus gave me a look. “Ex-cheating-lying-wife. Yes.”

  Oh my God, there was enough drama with this guy for him to have his own daytime TV show.

  “Okay … so tell me, what are the odds I will make my shift at the Crab Shack tonight?”

  #GirlNeedsToPayRent

  Cronus looked at the hellhound as if they were having a joke at my expense and then back at me.

  “You will not return to that job until all nine sins are back in their box.”