“You moved the island!” I shouted. “What did you think would happen?! We’d just float along, untethered to anything and everything would be just fine? There’s a reason we don’t move frickin’ land masses when the mood suits us. It’s dangerous!”
Shielding the island had probably helped hold it together this long, but it was a half measure. The island wasn’t just breaking apart from the sides, but from beneath.
“But Jason said—”
“Jason barely knows anything about powers!” None of them did. I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Being angry instead of afraid might make me feel better, but yelling at Medea wasn’t going to solve anything.
“Wait, this is my fault?” Medea crawled over the muddied dirt road, drawing closer to me. Her dark hair was plastered to her face.
I chose not to answer that. The rolling ground settled, and I counted to ten, then twenty, before daring to move. “Are you okay?” I rose to my feet, my ankle throbbing from slamming against the road.
“I’m fine, but—”
I hissed when I put weight on my ankle then waved off her alarmed look. The air was filled with dust, despite the water that should have been weighing the loose dirt down. A pungent odor accompanied the grime. Like rotten eggs. “Then let’s get to higher ground.”
Waves could be a major problem after a quake like that, and I had no intention of drowning here.
“But—but, someone could be hurt!” The screaming from the dining hall had given way to an occasional panicked cry, barely audible over the rumble of thunder from the storm.
“So?” These people weren’t my friends. They wanted me dead. They’d poisoned me, one of them had stabbed me, and now every one of them hated me just because they suspected I might be sympathetic to the gods.
The island quaked beneath us in a violent lunge. Another loud crack sounded as the ground split open with a spray of salt water.
Oh shit.
Dropping to all fours, I racked my mind for a way out of this before we crumbled into the ocean. “Can you ‘port us all off the island?”
Medea turned to me, her violet eyes blazing in panic. “Where?”
“Anywhere!”
Medea closed her eyes, but another rumble from beneath broke her concentration. “I can’t! It’s—I’m tapped out.”
Of course she was. “Then can you just ‘port us away? Otrera too?”
She closed her eyes, her pale face pinched in concentration. “I can’t. The shield isn’t that strong, but—”
It was strong enough.
“Okay.” I drew in a deep breath and tuned out the chaos so I could focus on drawing my powers but found nothing. Only an achingly empty void.
“Adonis.” My eyes popped open. He had my powers. True, he couldn’t always access them, but surely something was better than nothing. “We have to get to Adonis. He can—”
A violent lurch yanked my arms out from under me. I yelped as my chin hit the ground, my teeth clipping at my tongue. Metallic-tasting blood filled my mouth. There was no time to get to the hospital and figure out how to break through that shield.
Frigid mud splashed my back as the water and soil beneath me churned. The island was already being partially held together by a shield. If Medea could stabilize the island from beneath, give it a foundation, then we’d have a chance. “I need you to cast a shield.”
“I can’t do shield work!”
“Every god can cast shields. It’s a base power. If you can heal, you can shield.” Most gods inherited an additional ability like charm, but the base powers—healing, shielding, and the ability, if not permission, to teleport—were always there.
“But—But—I’m not a god. I can’t heal with intention! It just happens! What if I don’t—?”
“We will literally all die,” I snapped, thoroughly out of patience. “So, like, I don’t know. Maybe try!”
“How?”
I drew in a sharp breath between my teeth, searching for words to explain something that came as naturally to me as breathing. “It’s just like teleportation. Focus. Picture what you want, then push.”
Panicked tears glittered in her eyes. “What do I want?”
Oh my gods. We were going to die.
I fought back panic, forcing my breathing to steady as my mind groped for imagery she might be able to use. A bubble? No, any water beneath us would just give us something to drown in. “A snow globe! Flat bottom, domed top. Picture a snow globe encircling the island, sticking to the ground underneath the water like—like one of those protective films you put on your phone. Okay? Focus on making it completely impervious to everything. You can build on the existing shield so it won’t take much in the way of power.”
She nodded, bottom lip trembling. “I’ll try.”
Well thank Chaos for that.
Darkness fell over the island. I couldn’t sense powers thanks to Adonis’s poison, but I could feel the land still as the new layer of shielding clicked into place.
“Okay.” I rose to my feet, my trembling hands automatically going to my hair. When I found rain-soaked locks spackled with mud, I grimaced. “Now, let’s just make a few adjustments. We need water to stay out, but air and light to go through. Focus on wind and sunlight.”
Medea’s voice shook. “What if—?”
“Stop asking what if and just do it!” Oh, that wasn’t going to help. I drew in a deep breath in an attempt to quell my panic. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. You’re right. I just need to try. It’s just . . .” Medea’s voice cracked. “Nothing good has ever come from using my powers.”
I swallowed hard. That, I got. Moments later, the sun, weak through the storm clouds, flickered on.
Oh thank gods. I scrubbed at my face with my hands, all the tension in my body draining in a single exhale that left me dizzy.
Medea’s head was tilted back, her eyes closed. Gods. She looked so young, so vulnerable, so afraid.
“Hey.” I touched her shoulder. “You did it.”
She let out a long shuddering breath and opened her eyes. “I did?”
I nodded, glancing up when the sunlight wavered, refracting like it was beaming through a swimming pool. Rainwater plinked against the shield above us.
“Oh, thank goodness.” The split second of relief in her eyes was doused under a new layer of worry as Medea followed my gaze. “But we’re going to need water,” Medea protested. The island had freshwater sources, but it wasn’t likely they’d survived the teleportation and subsequent shakes without becoming contaminated. “Without it, everything on the island will die. Us, the plants, the—”
“The island died the moment it teleported.” There was no help for that. Only a handful of gods had ever held the powers of creation, and I wasn’t one of them. I drew in another long breath to steady my shattered nerves. “But you can’t keep this up for long. We need to get rid of the Steele, and we need to do it fast.”
Chapter XVII
Medea
I APPROACHED THE dining hall on shaking legs, Aphrodite trailing on my heels. I’d never felt so thoroughly drained in all my life. Chilled mud squished inside my shoes. The taste of blood from a long-healed wound lingered in my mouth, and the beginnings of a migraine throbbed behind my eyes.
But I forgot about all of that when I saw the damage the shaking island had caused. I might taste blood, but the smell of it was thick in the air. A giant chasm had rent the dining hall in half, reducing the building to a pile of rubble. Demigods littered the ruins in a sprawl of golden limbs. Screams, cries, and panicked voices filled the air.
Otrera’s name tore from my throat in a volley of ever-panicked screams as I rushed toward the wrecked building. She was on breakfast duty. If she died . . .
Aphrodite must have be
en yelling after me the whole time, but I didn’t catch her words until she tried to pull me away from the dining hall. “—not stable!”
“I can heal!” Healing is a base power, I realized. Aphrodite had said as much during the quake. If I could learn how to cast a shield while the very ground I stood on broke beneath me, surely I could master healing to save one of my only remaining friends. I refused to lose another person I cared about on this island.
“Medea!” Otrera’s voice brought me to a halt.
I went still, relief nearly knocking me to my knees when I turned to see the athletic demigoddess running toward me.
When she reached me, she threw her arms around me. Otrera smelled of sweat and fear, but she felt solid and real and alive, and that was all that mattered. “Thank the gods you’re okay.” She looked over my head at Aphrodite. “Both of you.”
“I heal,” I reminded her. “But you. You were in there!” I motioned toward the ruined building before throwing my arms around her again, all but sobbing in relief.
“Whoa.” She rocked backward when I leaned on her too heavily.
“Sorry,” I apologized, though I didn’t feel sorry at all. She was okay. We were all okay. My heart thudded in my chest as adrenaline pumped through my veins, spinning my mind between disbelief that we’d actually survived the island’s near destruction and a desperate need to do something.
Otrera drew back, keeping a steadying arm on my shoulder, her gold eyes flickering in concern. “You okay?”
“Just shaken.” A hysterical laugh bubbled from my throat, and Otrera’s grip on my shoulders tightened. Hah! Shaken, like the ground. I’d made a joke. An earthquake joke.
“More than shaken,” Aphrodite interrupted, sweeping her golden hair into a messy bun. “Exhausted. She’s the only thing holding this island together.”
Otrera narrowed her eyes at that. “What do you mean?”
While Aphrodite filled her in, I took in the destruction, squinting against salt-tinged wind so frigid it threatened to freeze my eyeballs. I did this, I realized. Beyond the dining hall, where I could usually see a long stretch of pristine beach, was nothing but thoroughly disturbed ocean.
More disturbing than the missing landscape and the crushed buildings were the people wailing. People I’d been trying to get out of harm’s way. It didn’t seem right that they should be hurt for my mistake.
“Well, guess there’s no time to waste then,” Otrera declared. “Jason had protocols in place for an evacuation. But before we can start that, we need to make sure everyone is accounted for and the people who need medical attention most get it. You two just left the hospital; is it still standing?”
My throat went dry. I’d been in such a hurry to get here, I hadn’t bothered looking back.
“The hospital didn’t even seem to shift.” Aphrodite had to shout to be heard over the sounds of chaos. “It’s pretty central and nearly the highest point above sea level on the entire island. I think it’s about as stable a building as we can hope for.”
“Good.” Otrera reached back to tighten a ponytail full of mud-splattered box braids. “Then it’s safe to bring the injured there. We’ll do that, regroup, and figure out what our next steps are. Medea, do you know where Jason keeps the roster?”
Jason kept a list of everyone who was on the island and everyone who was off on assignment. Part of my job had been making sure it was kept up to date. “Yes. It’s in Jason’s desk.”
“That’s close to the hospital. I’ll grab it after I get help. You two—” she gave me another quick hug “—stay together. If you see anyone hurt, don’t help anyone move until you get approval from one of the nurses. For now, just do basic first aid and assessments.” Otrera lowered her voice when she glanced at Aphrodite. “I’m assuming you know all there is to know about that?”
Aphrodite nodded, her face grim. “In theory, if not practice.”
“Great. You two get started.” She set off toward the hospital at a run, heedless of the mud splashing at her feet.
I hastened to follow her instructions, but Aphrodite grabbed my arm before I could get too far. Her grip felt iron-hard, but it didn’t hold a candle to the steel in her voice. “Don’t go near the rubble. It can shift at any time. And if things start shaking again, stop what you’re doing and try to find cover.”
“I can—”
“Heal?” Her fingers dug into my arm. “If you get hurt, your powers divert to healing you, no matter what else is going on. You’re not experienced enough to stop them. What do you think will happen if your powers divert from the shield holding the island together?” She cocked an eyebrow at me.
Glancing around, I saw the shattered rubble that had once been our dining hall in a whole new, dangerous light. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” Her voice softened in sympathy, and I could hear the undercurrent of worry behind it. “Be. Careful.”
I nodded, then leapt into helping, glad to get my mind off the fact that all the cries and injuries were my fault. My blood could heal, and we had a ton of it on hand. We’d get these people patched up in no time.
My shield had put a stop to the rain, but the ground was still soaked, making the rubble slick and dangerous. Dust was heavy in the air, coating my tongue and throat, and a chilly, wet wind numbed my fingers as I moved from person to person, applying pressure and tying off tourniquets under Aphrodite’s shouted directions.
Otrera didn’t take long to return with a good chunk of the island’s medical staff. She ordered everyone around like it was second nature. The other demigods, men who’d been snarling at her yesterday for daring to stand up for Elise, obeyed her commands without question. By the time Narcissus deigned to join us, Otrera had a system in place for searching the island, assessing injuries, transporting the injured to the hospital, and checking the structural integrity of the buildings we needed to search.
A faint groan from one of the downed walls of the dining hall caught my attention. I called for help, and with the assistance of a large group of demigods, managed to leverage the slick wall enough to get at the person trapped beneath. One of the nurses guided our movements as we pulled him free. Then mid-instruction, she went silent.
“What do we do next?” I demanded, grunting. Leveraging the wall was hard work, and adrenaline only went so far.
“He’s—He’s—”
I was afraid she was about to say he was dead, but a groan from him dismissed my concern. The nurse shook herself out of shock and returned to her instructions. My muscles burned as we worked the demigod free, but I refused to give up. It’s not as though I’d do much damage if I over-exerted myself. I’d heal. Once he emerged into the light, I saw what had shocked the nurse so much.
His chest was crushed. Fragments of bones stuck out here and there, but overall, he looked like a large, meaty balloon that had popped.
“Oh my gods!” I dropped to the blood-slicked ground beside him, glancing at the nurse for some instruction on how to stop the bleeding. Something. But she just stared at his caved-in chest with utter disbelief.
“What do we do?” I demanded, snapping her out of her stupor.
“N—nothing. He’s not—This isn’t—”
The demigod groaned again, so instead of trying to answer me, the nurse just grabbed my hand.
I snatched it back, but she was persistent. When she pressed my hand against his neck, I stopped struggling, thinking maybe she was having me apply pressure or something. Only, he didn’t seem to be bleeding from his neck.
And then I suddenly realized what she wanted me to feel.
He had no pulse.
“How—” I broke off, jerking away from the mangled, whimpering demigod.
Nestor. My mind filled with a dozen instances of the young, enthusiastic demigod holding doors for me and offering to carry my boxes
when island shipments came in.
He didn’t have a pulse.
But his chest, crushed though it was, still rose and fell with a horrifying creaking sound.
“Let’s get him to the hospital,” the nurse said decisively a few minutes later. She waved her arms, signaling one of the demigods carrying stretchers, and Nestor was whisked away.
Ten minutes later, we found another pulseless body with a bar of metal protruding from his neck. His eyes fluttered open when I knelt beside him, and I jerked back in surprise. He grabbed me by the front of my shirt, yanking me so close I could smell the blood on his breath. Vocal cords grating in a way that made his voice unrecognizable, he growled, “Let me die.”
Across the quad, I heard his cry echoed by another pained voice. “Please! Just let me die!”
More demigods added frightened wails to the cacophony, begging for the release of death. Horrified, I stumbled to my feet, backing up and away from the living corpse. My eyes darted around, searching for some logic to this madness and landed on Aphrodite. She stood in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by death and pain. The horror on her face eclipsed my own. Only hers was the horror of awareness, not confusion. Drawing in a sharp breath, I realized she knew exactly what was happening.
I’ll stop allowing you to die, the memory of Persephone’s voice echoed through my mind. No matter what befalls you, your bodies would continue to function, to feel pain. Demigods would remain sentient as their bodies rotted around them. Passage to the Underworld is a luxury I will not grant without my terms met.
Bile stung my throat. I’d never thought of death as a luxury before, but as the wails and screams around me crescendoed into a horrified panic, I finally understood the full scale of what Persephone had promised us. There were things worse than death. A law of nature had been broken. What these people were going through was only the beginning of the horrors we’d see.
But why? She’d promised to revoke our right to death if we didn’t meet her terms. But I’d met her terms by leaving Jason.
Venus Rising: Book 3 Aphrodite Trilogy (The Daughters of Zeus 6) Page 11