The Prophecy

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  Now I was questioning my hearing. I had to have heard him wrong. Zeus? Like the Zeus? And a hydra? The several-headed snake thing?

  Colin’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything.

  “What?” Alex shrieked, snapping forward. She smacked Aiden’s arm. Hard, too. The sound reverberated through the room, causing my eyes to widen. “You saw a hydra, and you left me here? I am so mad at you. So mad.”

  “Sorry,” Aiden chuckled, catching Alex’s hand and holding it to his chest. “Heading out to deal with the daimons in L.A. was a spur of the moment thing.”

  Alex tugged her hand, but Aiden didn’t let go. “You had time to get me. So much time. I’ve never seen a hydra!”

  “A hydra?” Luke was frozen on the edge of the couch, his eyes wide. “How in the world did you see a hydra?”

  “It crawled right out of the ground, just like the daimons had, but it wasn’t burnt up or anything like that, and it was definitely not a friendly hydra.” Pulling Alex to his chest, he wrapped his arms around her. Probably to stop her from hitting him again. “We learned pretty quickly that not even Seth could kill it with a god bolt. We had to chop that sucker up.”

  My stomach dipped. What couldn’t be killed with a god bolt? I guess a hydra couldn’t.

  “Well, that’s kind of sad,” Alex muttered, her arms still pinned to her sides.

  “It was trying to eat us for dinner.” Aiden grinned down at the top of her head. “So, don’t be too sad.”

  “Hold on a second,” I interrupted. “You said you saw Zeus?”

  Aiden looked over Alex’s head at me. “Yeah. He showed up afterwards. Was not expecting that. He…he looked younger than I thought he would.”

  “Were you expecting to see a hydra today?” Alex asked.

  I rose. “Where is Seth?”

  Aiden shook his head. “I’m guessing he’s still with Zeus.”

  Unease exploded like buckshot in my gut, causing my breath to catch. “What do you mean?”

  “Zeus showed up and pretty much sent me back here. I have no idea what he was doing there or what he wanted. Surprised the hell out of me.”

  My heart turned over heavily as the unease turned into full-fledged dread. Zeus and Seth? Alone? “That can’t be good.”

  Wiggling free from Aiden, Alex turned to me. “I’m sure Seth is okay.”

  “Zeus can kill Seth.” Setting the water aside, I started for the door, but stopped, realizing there was nowhere for me to go. I wasn’t like Seth; I couldn’t just pop myself to wherever I wanted to go. I stopped and turned back to them. “How long ago was this?”

  “Five minutes? Maybe ten? When Zeus sent me back here, I ended up at the wall, just outside the Covenant.”

  A lot of things could happen in ten minutes. Like them having a major fight and destroying an entire city. Antsy energy buzzed through my veins. I had the sudden urge to turn on the TV to see if there were any more earthquakes or erupting volcanos.

  Alex started toward me. “I’m sure Seth is fine. It would be so stupid of Zeus to try to kill him. The Olympians know they need the demigods, namely you, to entomb the Titans. Trying to kill your boyfriend would jeopardize that.”

  That made sense, but based on everything that I knew about Olympians, they didn’t always make decisions that made sense. Like, they usually did the exact opposite. My heart sped up.

  “Alex is most likely right,” Luke said, and Colin nodded from where he sat. “It would be incredibly stupid for them to go after Seth.”

  Starting to pace just as Alex had been doing hours before, I nodded absently. “Why else would Zeus seek out Seth, though?”

  Alex and Aiden exchanged looks. There was no missing that. I stopped in front of them. “What?”

  “If I had to wager a guess to why Zeus would want to talk to Seth, it would have to do with the Titans,” Aiden explained, folding his arms. “Namely what happened with Hyperion.”

  My spine stiffened. I knew that Seth shouldn’t have killed Hyperion, and I knew that a part of him realized that too, but if Zeus showed up to lecture him, it would probably end badly for everyone involved.

  Because while I knew that Hyperion had needed to be entombed, not for one second did I blame Seth for killing him.

  In fact, I was glad.

  Hyperion could’ve killed our child. He got what he deserved.

  “Seth did what he had to do,” I said, knocking my ponytail over my shoulder. “End of discussion.”

  Surprise widened Aiden’s eyes, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but he wisely changed his mind.

  Turning from him, I blew out an exaggerated breath as I started pacing once more. Frustration pulled at me. There was nothing I could do but sit around and wait while hoping something horrible hadn’t happened to Seth.

  Or hoping he hadn’t started an all-out war with the Olympians.

  “We-ell,” Aiden drawled the word out. “Did I miss anything?”

  “Kind of,” Alex answered as I turned to them.

  Luke sat on the edge of the couch. “We think we may know who the final demigod is. Or who his—”

  A sudden scream from outside the room cut Luke off. My heart launched into my throat as I turned, because that wasn’t a playful scream. That was one of horror.

  Aiden reached the door first and Alex was quickly behind him. Exchanging a look with Colin, we followed them out into the hall with Luke trailing behind us.

  Since it was summer break, there were not a lot of students in the dorm. Probably half the normal amount. Only a few doors were open, with students sticking their heads out.

  “What’s going on?” Aiden demanded, slipping into the role of Sentinel like it was a second skin.

  “I don’t know.” The girl clutched the door, eyeing us with wide eyes. Most of the students were getting used to having demigods and a god on campus, but you could still see their awed shock. “I think it came from the lobby.”

  We picked up our pace, and I was grateful that no one suggested I should stay back due to my situation. The lobby came into view and there was a small crowd. A guy was standing back, his arms folded and his jaw hard, next to a blonde with her hand over her mouth. My heart jumped when I realized they were standing in front of the entombed furies. The crowd parted as Aiden and Alex neared, stepping aside.

  “No,” whispered Alex, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

  Colin stopped directly in front of me, his back stiffening. The lobby doors opened, and Guards came in as I stepped around Colin.

  “Gods,” I whispered.

  Lying on the floor at the feet of the entombed furies was a girl. One who couldn’t have been older than eighteen. Her reddish-brown hair was spread out across the white floor. Her skin was a ghastly shade of gray and it was clear that she was…she was dead.

  And resting beside her was some kind of bronze mask. The cheeks overly round, eyes just thin slits, and a closed, wide smile. There was a symbol in the middle of the mask’s forehead, a circle with an off-center arrow striking through it.

  Alex gasped, taking a step back.

  “Ares,” growled Aiden.

  Chapter 7

  Seth

  The fact that Zeus knew about Josie being pregnant unsettled the hell out of me. No joke. He was one of the last beings on this earth, and in Olympus, that I would want to know, but…

  Hell.

  As shocking as this was to even admit, I didn’t sense a threat to Josie or our child from him. I wasn’t worried about Zeus when it came to my child.

  That was something I never thought I’d believe. Then again, there was a whole lot of shit that had changed in a matter of minutes.

  I stayed after Zeus left, helping where I could. It wasn’t out of a sense of reluctant obligation. Not that I didn’t feel responsible.

  I did.

  I stayed to help, because I should. Because I had caused this—this destruction and loss of life. I didn’t hurt these people with my own hands or by my
own will, but I had set the domino in motion.

  Killing Hyperion had caused a ripple effect, one that had ended so many innocent lives. And damn, I’d been here…I’d been here before, with Ares. I thought I’d learned then that every choice I made triggered a chain reaction, good or bad.

  Obviously, I hadn’t learned.

  I was faced with that reality.

  And it burned through my skin, knocked my ass down a peg or two that it took Zeus of all damn people to drive that point home. Fucking Zeus. But what he’d said to me was true. All of it. Especially how I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes they had.

  I didn’t want to become them, making decisions that ruthlessly slaughtered others.

  And I was starting right then. I had no idea how many people I helped pull out of the rubble, but I knew exactly how many of them were beyond help.

  Fifty-six.

  Fifty-six of them were dead and four of them… Gods, four of them couldn’t have been out of elementary school. Their faces were forever imprinted in my mind.

  By the time I was done in what used to be Long Beach, I was covered in dirt, sand, and a healthy amount of dried blood. My skin and clothes were streaked with the mixture, and all I wanted to do was get back to Josie, to just…hold her and talk to her.

  I should’ve popped my dirty ass right to the bathroom to shower first, but I closed my eyes and focused on Josie’s face, letting myself slip into the void. I found her, and I felt the strange tingle of my cells scattering and fusing back together.

  I heard her startled gasp before I saw her. “Seth.”

  Josie came into view a heartbeat before she threw herself on me. Folding my arms around her as I stumbled back a second, I buried my face in the crook of her neck and breathed deeply. Her smell. It was the lotion she used. Winterberries? Whatever it was, I loved it and right then I needed it to erase the scent of death. A shudder rolled through me.

  “Hey,” she whispered, curling her hands through my hair. “You okay?”

  Tightening my hold on her, I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I’m perfect now.”

  She kissed the space just below my ear as she pulled back. Gently, she guided my head up. Then her eyes widened. “Why are you covered in dirt—wait, is that blood?” She leaned back. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, babe. I’m not hurt. I’m—what the hell?” The rest of the room came into view. We weren’t alone. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

  Colin whatever the hell his last name was sat on the couch in our room. Had to give it to the guy. He didn’t run out of the room in response. There was only a slight widening of his nostrils.

  But man, I didn’t like that guy.

  “Something happened while you were gone,” Josie answered, guiding my gaze back to hers. “A girl—a half—was killed. We were all together when she was found in the lobby.”

  “Her neck was broken,” Colin added. “Alex and Aiden are with Marcus and some of the Guards. You just missed Luke.”

  “He left to go find Deacon.” Josie stepped to the side, threading her arm around mine. “Deacon’s giving Cora a tour.”

  “Cora came out of her room?”

  Josie nodded.

  Shit, what else happened while I was gone? “I’m guessing it was a pure who did it?”

  Colin exhaled roughly. “Looks to be.”

  Shit. Shoving the hair that had escaped the leather tie back from my face, I shook my head. These fucking pure-bloods. “Did you know her?”

  “No. She was a new student. Started summer classes,” Colin answered, a muscle flexing along his jaw. “Completely screwed up. Gains her freedom. Comes here where she should be safe, and then she’s fucking murdered because she has less aether in her blood? Gods.”

  There were a lot of things wrong in our world, but this was one of the worst. “No idea who did it?”

  “I don’t think so. Apparently the cameras in the lobby were destroyed and no one noticed it, so there’s no video to check.” Josie glanced at my torn shirt and pressed her lips together. “She was just…dumped there, right by the furies. At their feet, actually.”

  My brows lifted. That sounded almost like someone was taunting the gods.

  “But there was something with her body,” Colin spoke up. “There was a mask—a bronze one. Typical Greek mask, but there was a symbol carved into it.”

  Josie’s arm tightened around mine, and I had a bad feeling about this. “What kind of symbol?”

  Colin took a deep breath, and I prepared for whatever fuckery was about to come out of his mouth. “It was Ares’s symbol.”

  Josie

  I really had no idea how Seth would take the news of Ares’s symbol being carved on a mask left with the body of a dead half-blood. And we hadn’t even told him what Deacon and Luke suspected about the yet to be retrieved demigod.

  And I still had no idea why he was covered in dirt…and blood, but I could only focus on one issue at a time.

  Seth stared at Colin with such intensity that for a second I feared he might cause the poor guy to spontaneously combust.

  “Are you sure?” Seth asked, finally speaking in a voice that was unnervingly flat.

  Colin nodded. “I know what the symbols look like. That was definitely Ares.”

  A muscle along Seth’s jaw thrummed. “Ares is dead.”

  “I know—we know that.” I squeezed his arm. “What we don’t know is why his symbol would be on this mask.”

  Seth slipped free from my grasp. Walking to the small fridge in the dinette area, he grabbed a water. The back of him didn’t look any cleaner than the front. “Do you know why Ares’s symbol would be on that mask?” Colin asked, and I whipped toward him. “You spent time with him. I figure…”

  Colin trailed off as I shot him a look of warning. He sat back, propping one ankle on his knee as he lifted his hands.

  With his back to us, Seth took a long drink, finishing the bottle of water off in record time. “I did spend time with him. Not a lot, but enough.”

  I tensed. Part of me wanted to tell him he didn’t have to go into this. His time spent with Ares was a dark shadow on Seth. It wasn’t a place I wanted him to go to, but I stayed quiet, because if Seth possibly knew why Ares’s symbol was on this creepy as hell mask, he needed to talk.

  “Ares wanted…destruction. It wasn’t something I realized at first. To be honest, back then, I’m not sure if I would’ve cared or not. He wanted to see the mortal world burn, thinking by causing men to kill one another, it would be easier for him to take over Olympus.” Seth turned and leaned against the counter. “It was a shit plan, obviously, but we already know that.”

  My fingers found their way to the ends of my hair. I started twisting the strands.

  Seth tipped his head back. “In the beginning, I fell for Ares’s bullshit. That he wanted equality when it came to the halfs and pures. After all, that was how he got some of the halfs to side with him, but once he set things in motion, it became clear he viewed them the same way he did mortals. Less than. The pures who got close to him saw that. Many of the old-school leaders agreed. Council members. Some of them agreed so they wouldn’t be killed and others, well, they agreed because of decades of their own prejudices.”

  He stretched his neck from left to right. “If Ares had won, he wouldn’t have just stopped with the mortals. He would’ve slaughtered the halfs, even those who helped him achieve victory. Those deaths would’ve given him the greatest pleasure, to watch their faith and trust turn to fear and hopelessness.”

  Sickened, I sat on the couch. I had no idea what to say. Seth didn’t talk a lot about Ares, and I knew this couldn’t be easy. I wanted to go to him, but I sensed that right now he needed his space.

  On the other hand, Colin knew what to say. “What a twisted fuck.”

  I thought that summed things up quite nicely.

  A smirk twisted Seth’s perfect lips as he met Colin’s gaze. “You don’t even know th
e half of it.”

  Colin swallowed. “So, you think that whoever left that mask supported Ares?”

  “I took out a lot of people who sided with Ares,” he replied dispassionately, and my heart squeezed. “Obviously, I wasn’t able to get all of them. Some of them are still out there.”

  “So, it’s possible? That whoever is doing this could’ve been a supporter of Ares?” I asked.

  Seth folded his arms. “Could be.”

  “This isn’t an isolated event,” I pointed out, letting go of my hair as I twisted toward Colin. “Right? There have been multiple attacks.”

  “There have.” Colin nodded. “A lot of them are resistant to change. Shit. Many of their families have lost all their servants and have to do their own shit now. No more free labor, so a lot of them are angry. But angry enough to kill? I don’t know. There could be more behind this.”

  Seth was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “It’s entirely possible that one of his supporters is somehow goading these younger pures into this, or that some pissed off pure-blood is cherry-picking Ares’s beliefs to back what they’re doing.”

  “Either way, we need to find out who is responsible here and stop them.” I saw the girl’s face in my head and I remembered everything else that had happened. “This has to stop. It’s not okay. It’s not something we can look away from and pretend it doesn’t involve us.”

  Seth was still for a moment and then he nodded in agreement.

  “Shit,” Colin repeated, and then he stood. “I need to find Marcus and fill him in. I’ll see you guys later.” Colin nodded at me and then Seth, who had no response other than to open the door before Colin had reached it.

  Colin halted for a minute, glancing over at Seth.

  Seth winked.

  “Thanks,” Colin murmured, and then skedaddled out of the room.

  I sighed. “You love messing with him, don’t you?”

  “Is answering that question honestly going to get me in trouble?”

  I stared at him.

  Seth grinned, but it quickly faded. “I’m sorry you had to see that girl.”

  “I’m sorry it happened to her. She was young, Seth. She just started going here and…this is how it ends for her. Why? Because she was a half-blood?” Disgust rolled through me. “It isn’t right.”