by Jaymin Eve
“You just gonna prowl the streets and hope to bump into her?” I said sarcastically, not even bothering to fight him because I was conserving my energy for our major argument about the sins.
#ItWasImportantToPlanFights #WinnersAreGrinners
“No,” he said, not even remotely out of breath. “I can sense her. She recently stopped blocking her energy, thinking we were done.”
“Are you blocking yours?”
Cronus chuckled, his shoulder moving under my stomach. “Yes. This is going to be another nice surprise visit.”
Resigning myself to seeing the stupid bitch again, I settled in for the ride, people watching as a half-naked group of women strolled past. They whistled and catcalled Cronus, before giving me thumbs-up at my lucky find. If only they knew.
Boy was packing an anaconda, but he was also a stubborn asshole that was gonna try and die to save the world.
I mean, no one was perfect, but still.
When we neared the front entrance to Planet Hollywood, Cronus ran inside and headed to the long row of shops. He didn’t stop, moving with confidence until he reached a designer store. I didn’t recognize the brand, but I knew high quality when I saw it.
Jessell was clearly visible inside, browsing through the rack of sequined dresses. I took a second look at some of the gowns too. I mean, this was Vegas … one could never have too much sparkle.
When we entered the store, a twenty-year old, bleached blond woman behind the counter let out a gasp, blinking rapidly at Cronus.
He waved his hand, freezing her in place. She was the only human in the shop thankfully, and Jessell didn’t try to run, turning with a resigned look on her face.
#Damn #MyManHadPowers
“What do you want, Cronus?” she said with a sigh.
He dropped me to my feet, and I was surprised to see her blink at me, like she definitely hadn’t expected me to be with him. The sins swirled in my center so hard and fast that I had no chance to stop them before darkness sprang from my fingers and I launched myself across the room at the woman who had opened her big mouth and caused me so much heartache.
Not to mention, she’d been Cronus’ lover a long time ago, and right now, with Jealousy filling me, all I could think about was that.
“He’s mine, bitch,” I snarled, hands out as I attempted to strangle her.
#YouCantHandleTheAnaconda.
Cronus actually laughed, and for some reason this overrode the rage of Jealousy, giving me a second of clarity before I actually strangled her to death. Jessell hadn’t fought back. It was like the moment I touched her, she couldn’t fight back. Cronus scooped me up, but I was already backing off myself, taking my dark magic with me.
“I need to find Narida,” he said shortly, arm wrapped around me. He didn’t chastise me about attacking the seer.
Jessell glared at me as Cronus stroked my arm. I turned a confused expression on him, wondering why he wasn’t ripping me a new one for attacking the chick we needed help from.
“Got your back, baby,” he murmured.
My heart soared, while sorrow also ripped through me. He did have my back. He had my fucking heart too. And one of us was going to have to die to save the world.
#JustMyLuck #MustBeTheMirrorIBrokeLastYear #OrWasItThatFuckingChainLetter
Jessell smoothed her hair, shooting some squinty, pissed-off expressions my way. “What do you need Narida for?”
Cronus stared her down, not uttering a word; he was in scary Titan mode. “Not your concern to worry about.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed hard. “I’ll see what I can do. It might take me a couple of days. If Narida doesn’t want to be found, you know there’s no one in existence who will find her. She’d been at this for a long time.”
Cronus nodded. “I know. Just do what you can.”
Jessell nodded, her hands rubbing at the black marks on her neck. I mean, I hadn’t even squeezed that tightly … maybe that was darkness from the sins. The way my fingers and hair were now … could I have leached some of the darkness into her? Or was I super, super strong now?
#SuperMaisey #NoCapes
“You can call me at this number for updates,” Jessell said, distracting me as she handed Cronus a business card. “No need to track me down like this again.”
She was still eyeballing the shit out of me, and I actually felt really bad for attacking her.
I cleared my throat. “So, yeah, I mean … Jealousy made me do it. But I’m still sorr—”
My apology was cut off as Hyperion zapped into the room, right between Cronus and Jessell. He looked frantic, hair standing up in messy disarray, eyes blazing with power, face covered in what looked like blood and dirt.
Cronus lurched forward, reaching for his old friend. “What happened?” he snapped.
Hyperion breathed deeply, and considering I never saw the Titans act tired or winded, this was a huge red flag.
“War,” he choked out. “He’s going to kill everyone. We have to move. Now.”
Cronus’ face went super still, expression unreadable, but his eyes were blazing. I’d never seen anything like that before, not on any person or god, and even though I knew and loved him, and trusted he would never hurt me, my body reacted to the vibes with goose bumps and raised hair on my arms.
“I will not risk her,” he bit out, finally, the words strangled. “Narida is missing. We have to wait and find her so I can take the sins from Maisey. Then, and only then, can we contain War.”
Hyperion exploded into action, shoving Cronus back like he was beyond giving a fuck. “We have no more time. We cannot wait. I love Maisey too, but she doesn’t trump the entire fucking world!”
“She does for me,” Cronus said, and power exploded from him, shattering the store windows. The woman behind the counter was thankfully still frozen, so she didn’t react, but screams rang out through the rest of the Hollywood mile of shops.
Hyperion’s head snapped toward me, and in that single look I saw a billion deaths. I saw the deaths that had already happened because we hadn’t contained War as soon as we could have.
Deaths on my conscience.
Tears sprang to my eyes and I choked down a sob.
I could do this. I was strong enough. Everyone had underestimated me my entire life, but I would be enough this time. I’d been searching for my purpose all along and I’d finally found it.
Shooting one last look at my love, I let the tears fall. “I love you,” I said, already diving toward Hyperion.
Cronus’ roar was the last thing I heard before I was blinked away.
Chapter 10
“I can only block him for a few minutes; he will be right behind us,” Hyperion said. “Do not stop. Do not stay in one place.”
We were running, but I recognized the city straight away. I mean, there wouldn’t be many Americans who wouldn’t know the White House. Wanting a closer look, I peered up and gasped. Dark black clouds hung over the block, inky threads dripping onto the buildings below.
“Oh fuck.” My jogging slowed but Hyperion spurred me on.
“Come on. We are on the brink of the next world war,” he warned. Holy shit, this was the most serious it had been since the sins started. I couldn’t let humanity down.
Rhea popped in, running next to us. “How can I help?” She jogged with ease while I was sweating like a pig and ready to fall over. Whatever weakness had been plaguing me for the last day or so seemed to be getting worse.
The sins were just too much for me. But I refused to give up that easily.
Hyperion pointed to the far end of the gates at the start of the White House lawn. “Freeze the right side of it and try to coax it over to us.”
She nodded and zipped off. Up ahead, I saw Crius and Koios standing with their arms out, white and blue swirls of magic wrapping around the black war tentacles, trying to keep them from going into the building. Despite Koios being injured, he held his ground.
Okeanos’ voice came from beside me.
“I can flood the building and cause an evacuation?”
#TitansAssemble #CaptainPlanetMyAss
Hyperion nodded. “Might be too late, but worth a try.”
All around us, filling the street, people had stopped to look at the darkening sky, whispering, camera phones held aloft as they tried to capture the insanity.
“We aren’t going to keep this one off the news, huh?” I looked at Hyperion as we finally slowed, reaching the main gates.
He shook his head. “But Cronus can minimize the damage.”
Crazy. How many things like this had happened before when Cronus fucked with time or memories or whatever and we didn’t know?
“Alright, here we go, Maisey. Are you ready?” Hyperion’s face was full of compassion. I knew he cared for me, but his duty was to Earth and all humans, and I appreciated that.
I nodded. “I can do it. I want to do this.” If I died containing War, I wanted him to know I was okay with that.
Hyperion held his arms out. “Okay, you might want to shield your eyes.”
Trusting him, I did as he asked, catching only a glimpse of a bright orange light, like sunlight, that flew from his palms and shot up into the black mass hovering over the White House. Even though we were some distance away, I noticed that water had started to seep under the doors and windows of the massive building. People were already evacuating, running out screaming.
Okeanos had begun the flooding.
Each of the Titans had their own skills and specialties, and I was grateful that the world had beings like this to give them a shot at a future. Turning from the building, the light burned my eyes. Hyperion was still doing his thing and I remembered something from my googling fest. “You’re the Titan of light.”
He nodded, face strained as columns of sunlight flowed from his palms and wrapped what looked like a lasso around the black mass in the sky. Once it was secured completely around it, he pulled hard, turning the light into a taut rope.
“Need help?” Crius asked as he came up behind Hyperion with Koios. They grabbed his forearms, helping him pull the black mass closer.
As I peered at the giant blob that was War, I saw … faces … and heard screaming coming from the inky black surface.
Fuck. That thing is going to go inside of me?
I’d need to shower off immediately afterward, and by shower off I meant remove my skin, send it out for dry cleaning, and then hopefully get it back in tiptop shape.
Rhea popped in front of us onto the White House lawn, blowing icy frigid air at the mass, assisting in her way to get it closer to us. War was shrinking, hissing, screaming, and fucking terrifying. In that same instant, Cronus appeared, wearing an expression like nothing I’d ever seen before. The storms above, the black War tentacles … they had nothing on the Titan storming his way toward us.
“Maisey, now!” Hyperion yelled, distracting me. Shit, if I let Cronus get his hands on me, we were all fucked. I’d be whisked away to the end of the universe.
“Don’t do it, Maisey,” Cronus shouted, blinking again, no doubt ready to land on top of me this time.
I wasted not another moment, slamming my hand onto the wispy black end of a War tentacle that danced before me. Hyperion had almost gotten me close enough. Almost.
#BeBrave #IsThereTacoBellInTheUnderworld
I jumped forward as Hyperion's hand smashed into my chest, taking the tip of the tentacle and forcing it into the necklace just as Cronus appeared, power shooting from him, freezing everything around us.
Except me.
Hyperion stopped moving, as did Rhea, a blast of icy air half way out of her fingertips.
It was too late to stop me though. War was coming home. Cronus didn’t have the power to stop that.
I gasped as frigid cold hit my bones. The rest of the massive ball of Sin screeched, trying to pull away. I was thrown forward as War flopped me around like I was on the back of a bucking horse. Cronus was attempting to get to me, but the energy of the Sin must have held him back. With a frustrated curse, he released his hold on time itself, and all of the Titans lurched into action again like they’d never stopped.
“Maisey!” Hyperion roared, pushing forward. He couldn’t get to me either though, and looked thoroughly confused about how I’d gotten so far from him.
I didn’t see what else happened next, because I was once again flying through the sky. This time I was determined not to let this bastard go. Come on, you motherfucker. Come to mama.
Using my powers, I wrapped my arms around the thick black cord that was hanging out of my necklace. So far, only a small section was trapped. I needed to make sure the rest followed.
Sick dread filled my stomach as I pulled War into the necklace inch by inch. The blob hissed and smoked; the tips of it burned red hot, small flames flickering to life.
When War lowered me close to the ground, I could see Rhea shooting ice blasts at the fiery parts to cool them. Koios and Crius still used their powers to help usher War my way. Hyperion and Cronus were locked in some sort of murderous conversation, each of them looking more furious by the second.
Finally, with a battle cry, I yanked the most of the remaining chunk of War into my chest and was dropped from five feet into the air. I slammed my ass down on the green lawn, a three-foot tentacle still hanging out of the necklace.
“Maisey,” Cronus shouted, swinging away from his friend. With one blast of his hand, he tore a twenty-foot strip of the tall iron fence away to get to me. “Don’t move. I’m coming to help, love.”
My head felt heavy as I tried to answer; words seemed to be beyond me. I tried to stand but my legs collapsed under me.
Everything was so cold that my teeth chattered, but the sky … I looked up and smiled at the sky because the sun was peeking through the blue clouds and the blackness was retreating. We were winning.
“I’m fine,” I whispered, a smile on my face. I felt so light and free.
A blur to my right caught my attention. I was shocked to see Thanatos standing there. He was wearing a black cloak, looking at me sadly.
My mind was going hazy. #WhyIsTheGodOfDeathHere #ISaidTitansAssemble #YouCantSitWithUs
Another blur to my left and my stuttering heartbeat picked up when I spotted Cronus at Thanatos’ side.
“No!” he was shouting, the force of his roar shaking the windows of the White House and ripping cracks in the cement. Suddenly, a green puff of smoke flared onto the lawn. What the...? Another very important being had found her way to the Titan’s party.
Narida, standing tall even with a face tight with worry, held a potion bottle in her hand with green smoke swirling out of it. Cronus glanced at the crone, said something short, and she nodded once.
I was too far gone to worry about what they’d said though. This was my swan song. My final moment. “I love y—” I tried to choke out, knowing this might be the last thing I said to him. A surge of frustrated annoyance rose up inside of me. I’d been so sure I was strong enough, but I only got fucking halfway through the nine. I was going to die, release the fucking sins, and they’d be back to square one.
I was a waste.
The last of War slammed into my chest, and pain like I’d never felt before ripped into my body. I was being blown to pieces, burned alive, sliced in half. Horrifying screams assaulted my ears and it took me a second to realize they were mine.
Cronus got to me as I collapsed, my head ending up in his lap as he stroked my hair. Thanatos walked toward us as a cough racked my body. When I pulled my hand away from my mouth, it was speckled black.
“Are you here for her?” Cronus asked Thanatos, his voice as cold as the death that was chasing me down. Before the god could answer, Cronus handed me to Hyperion, standing to face Thanatos down.
Thanatos sighed, and it might have been the hazy quality to my brain, but I thought he looked tired. “I thought it would be nice if she had a familiar face to take her downstairs.”
Cronus exploded, energy and blue lightning sh
ooting from his body, knocking Thanatos thirty feet backward.
“You will NEVER take her. Understand me?”
As fierce as he looked, when he knelt down next to me again, his eyes were shiny. I’d never seen him so distraught. As he picked me up, blackness started to creep at the edges of my vision. I felt out of my body, so light and free.
Cronus looked Hyperion dead in the eyes. “Don’t ever talk to me again. I’m done with you.”
I wanted to say something, to stick up for Hyperion and tell Cronus I’d wanted this. I chose it. But I couldn’t speak … the blackness at the edges of my vision grew until I lost my fight.
How long I was out I didn’t know, but when I came to, everything hurt. My body, my fingers, my eyelids. Everything. Even the sound of gentle lapping waves was causing my brain to flinch.
Was this what it felt like to be dead?
My eyelids snapped open. There was a fight going on. “Save her or I’ll take your head!” Cronus snapped, thunder following his voice as blue light flared in long arcs across the ceiling.
I moaned, rolling over onto my side to see we were in some beach hut, waves crashing outside. Cronus had a blade to Narida’s throat while she took vials of what looked like blood and dripped them into a cup. “Stand down, Titan.”
Cronus’ hand shook as he lowered his blade.
“Cro—” I coughed. More black oily blood coming up.
Cronus left Narida to her tincture and slid onto his knees before me. “Mais.”
He brushed my hair from my face and I could see that it was completely black now. No blond in sight. “Don’t … be … mad at Hype.” I coughed. “We … saved the … world from the next world war.”
Cronus’ jaw ticked. “Shh, save your strength. Narida gave you a healing potion but it won’t last for long, and Thanatos is looking for you.”
Oh yeah, the god of death was going to take me to the underworld. Would it be so bad? That garden where my mom was? The waterfall. I mean, we hadn’t gotten all of the sins yet, but maybe if I could like … drop these ones off somewhere, the necklace could be reused.