The Prophecy

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Do you think someone took it?” I winced as Laadan walked ahead. “I mean, took his body?”

  “Someone had to.” He placed his hand on my lower back. His features were drawn. “Why, I have no idea.”

  We were silent as we walked the rest of the way. Marcus was on the phone when we entered his office, his head bowed and his fingers pinching at the skin between his brows. Shortly after we arrived, Alex and Aiden joined us while Laadan lingered near Marcus’s desk, her expression tight with concern.

  “Where’s Erik?” Seth asked as I stood next to him.

  “Luke is with him,” Alex answered, sitting in one of the chairs. “And Deacon is with Cora and Gable, getting them breakfast and sorted for the day.” She paused, glancing at Marcus and then me. “We need to talk about Erik after this.”

  “Understatement of the year,” Seth muttered, and I turned to him, wondering what the hell I had missed after I left the room to have my mini-breakdown.

  Marcus hung up on the phone. He looked at Laadan. “Thank you.” Sitting down, he drew in a deep breath. “That was our campus security. They’re revealing the tapes for us to see who had access to the morgue area.”

  I shivered. Morgue. Ugh. “Why would someone do this?” I asked, not expecting an answer. “I mean, God. Why would anyone take a body?”

  Aiden shifted his weight as he eyed Marcus. “I hate to even think this, but based on what’s been happening here, I can’t imagine this is going to end remotely well.”

  Understanding flickered through me as I stared at him. He meant that one of the pures who were against the halfs might’ve taken Colin’s body? Horror and anger beat at me as I turned to Marcus. What could those pures possibly want with Colin’s body? A hundred gruesome ideas sprung to life.

  “If they do something to his body,” I started, my voice barely recognizable to my own ears. “I swear to the gods, I will lose it.”

  “We don’t know anything yet for sure,” he reasoned, his tone calming. “Right now, we have all the pures who were involved in the attack yesterday in custody. I know that doesn’t mean we have all of them who have been taking part.”

  “Are you sure he was dead?” Alex asked suddenly.

  I wasn’t the only one to turn and look at her.

  “What?” She threw up her hands. “Bodies just don’t get up and walk away! And, you know, stealing a body is pretty extreme.”

  “Thank you for clarifying that for us,” Marcus said dryly.

  “Yes,” I said, folding my arms across my stomach. “He was dead. Your father saw him. There was no way…” I gave a shake of my head as Seth dropped his arm around my shoulders. “He was dead.”

  Seth pulled me in to his side, and I felt his lips brush my temple.

  “Then we need his body,” Alex stated. “And I’m not trying to be Captain Obvious, here. If we don’t…”

  “We will find his body,” Laadan assured us. “We have to.”

  “Wait.” I turned to where Alex sat. “Besides the obvious of not being able to bury him, what will happen if we don’t find his body?”

  She stared at me a moment. “You don’t know?”

  “I’m guessing not.”

  It was Seth who answered. “Remember when we buried Solos?” When I nodded, his gaze then searched mine. “We have traditions that must be followed for our fallen to pass over.”

  My heart lurched into my throat as I remembered them placing coins over Solos’s eyes to ensure he’d have a warrior’s welcome. “What will happen to him if we don’t do that?”

  Aiden turned away.

  Seth’s shoulders tensed. “He will be stuck at the River Styx, unable to cross. He will be in a form of purgatory for eternity.”

  ~

  Seth

  Marcus assured us that he’d let us know as soon as he heard back from security, once they finished reviewing the tapes. I didn’t think we needed to wait to know what happened.

  One of those fucking pures had taken his body to do gods knew what with it. After everything that Josie had been through, this was the last thing that needed to prey on her mind.

  I wanted to pull Josie aside and get her to talk to me, to open up about how she was feeling, but we had another issue to deal with now.

  The four of us sat in one of the smaller common rooms in the dorm. Josie sat on one side of the couch, her legs pulled up to her chest.

  “What’s going on with Erik?” she asked, and I could tell that her mind was still back in Marcus’s office.

  I stood across from her. “Besides the fact he’s arrogant, unpredictable, really doesn’t want to be here, and has the ability to piss off everyone…” I trailed off, realizing everyone, including Josie, was staring at me expectantly. “What?”

  Josie grinned a little as she clasped her hands together in front of her knees. “You’re pretty much describing yourself.”

  “Am not.”

  Alex snorted from where she had plopped down next to Josie. “Yeah, you are.”

  I opened my mouth and then rolled my eyes. “Whatever. My point is he’s really a wild card right now and there’s something about him I don’t trust.”

  “And that has nothing to do with him answering the door almost naked?” Alex piped up, grinning.

  I tilted my head as I stared back at her.

  “Look, it’s a rare day when I agree with anything Seth has to say, but I do,” Aiden chimed in. “There is something off about him.”

  “And that also has nothing to do with him answering the door in a towel?” That was Josie who nearly parroted Alex’s statement.

  Aiden shot her a deadpan look.

  “We’re confident in our sexiness. Thanks,” I shot back, smiling tightly. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was unnecessarily interrupted, I don’t trust this guy.”

  “He relented way too quickly once Apollo showed,” Aiden added. “And I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that Apollo is a god. He agreed, packed up his stuff, and then came here. But he has no interest in learning anything.”

  “Well, maybe he’s just overwhelmed,” Josie suggested, lifting a shoulder. “It’s a lot to handle, even if you know you’re a demigod.”

  “To be honest, it almost like he already knows about the Titans and what’s expected from him,” I said, and when I glanced at Aiden, he nodded. “Hardly anything seems like a surprise to him.”

  Josie frowned as she let go of her knees, letting her legs cross. “What do you mean, he already knows?”

  “It’s just a feeling. Like nothing we say to him comes as any real surprise.” He gestured at Alex. “You’ve had to be thinking the same.”

  Alex reached for her hair. “Yeah, I hate to be a part of the paranoia crew, but I’ve got that feeling too.”

  “Really?” Josie asked, twisting toward her. “What could that mean, though? Ares died before all this stuff happened with the Titans.”

  “Shit, the options are endless,” I said, brows knitting together as I stared at Alex and Josie. Both of them were messing with their hair. “But Ares knew that Perses had been released. He could’ve foreseen something like this happening—Perses going back to free the others.” As much as I hated saying the next part, I had to. “We know Ares had a relationship with Erik. What we don’t know is all that Ares had told him.”

  “That’s a good point.” Alex rocked slightly, from left to right. “But even if Ares filled his head with a ton of nonsense, he has to understand this isn’t going to end well.”

  “You’d be surprised by how effective nonsense can be…” Brows lifting, I watched Alex and Josie twist their hair. I couldn’t get over the fact that both of them were literally doing the same thing. “Okay. You guys are freaking me out.”

  They stopped and looked at one another, not mirror images, but way too damn similar. It was unsettling as fuck.

  Aiden must’ve seen it too, because he blinked as he shook his head.

  “What?” Alex demanded, dropping her hand
s to her lap. “What are we doing? We’re just sitting here, waiting for you two to get to the damn point.”

  Josie’s grin spread.

  “You guys have very similar mannerisms,” I pointed out. “I don’t know how you two haven’t noticed it.”

  Josie lowered her hands as her lips pursed. “Well, now we will.”

  Tipping her head to the side, Alex stared at Josie. “It’s because we’re awesome.”

  “Okay,” I sighed, moving on. “I think we just need to keep an eye on Erik. As Aiden said, there’s something off about him, and it has nothing to do with his burgeoning abilities.”

  “He doesn’t have an effect on any of us, right?” Josie asked. “I wasn’t around him long enough to figure that out.”

  I nodded. “It seems to only affect mortals, but then again, he hasn’t been around a lot of us. We really don’t know.”

  “That’s why we should limit his contact.”

  Alex nodded. “I think that’s a smart idea, but we can’t hold him captive in that room.”

  “Well, Alex and I are only here for a couple more months,” Aiden said, bringing up the fact their time up here was limited. “Alex and I can keep an eye on him until then.”

  Alex murmured an agreement, and while that was all good, I was still very uneasy about Erik being here. Could just have been the fact I thought the guy was an asshole.

  Or something simple—the fact that he was Ares’s son.

  Or it could have been more.

  Either way, I did not trust the guy as far as I could punt kick him.

  “Well, while we’re all here, you might as well tell them what Apollo said earlier.” Josie rested her cheek on her elbow. She wasn’t looking at me as she spoke. Her gaze was focused on a painting of one of the Muses behind me. “They need to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

  “What?” Alex asked, sitting up like steel had just been dropped down her spine.

  Aiden’s gaze sharpened. “Why do I have a feeling whatever you’re about to tell me is just going to irritate me?”

  “Because this is the world we live in,” I replied, smirking. “Apollo confirmed some pretty bad news. The demigods’ abilities cannot be unlocked…organically, at least, since there’s not six of them. Demeter and Poseidon would have to do what Apollo did, which would weaken them. Apollo doesn’t think that will happen.”

  Josie’s nose wrinkled, but she didn’t say anything.

  Alex was quiet for a moment, and then she all but exploded, shooting to her feet. “Then what in the hell are we supposed to do about the Titans? Josie is the only fully charged demigod—”

  “Actually, that’s not true. There’s us,” Aiden pointed out.

  “But we don’t have icons or whatever the hell the others are supposed to find once their abilities are unlocked.” Alex started pacing. “And Erik’s abilities obviously can’t be unlocked because Ares is dead. What in the hell are we supposed to do?”

  Aiden cursed under his breath as he dragged a hand over his head. “It was a long shot in the first place, having only four demigods to face off with the Titans, but now?”

  “It’s not that we don’t think you aren’t badass all on your own,” Alex was quick to say to Josie, who was still focused on the painting. “But this just went from a chance in hell to a snowball’s chance in hell.”

  Josie tilted her head and then she looked at me. “Wait. I have an idea. It’s kind of crazy.” She glanced at Alex and Aiden. “And it’s kind of right in front of our faces. Apollo didn’t say he asked Demeter and Poseidon, right?”

  I thought back to our conversation. “No. He said he spoke to them, but he didn’t say he asked them.”

  “Then I know what we need to do,” she said, meeting my gaze. “We need to ask them ourselves.”

  Chapter 24

  Seth

  “Ask the gods?” I repeated.

  Josie nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, but what if we’re able to convince them?”

  I opened my mouth, but I really had no idea what to say in response to that. Josie sounded like she was suggesting we ask Marcus if it was okay if we redecorated our rooms here. As if it was no big deal.

  “What other option do we have? Look, I would love to find a way to entomb these Titans without fighting them, but so far we’re coming up with nothing.” Josie rose to her feet. “And we have to do something. I know that having three of us fully unlocked is not what we need, but it’s better than nothing and there’s only three Titans left.”

  “And one of them is Cronus,” I reminded her. “You know, the Cronus.”

  “I know,” she said, her gaze meeting mine as she popped her hands on her hips. “But what other choices do we have?”

  “She might be onto something. Maybe you two can convince the gods to unlock their abilities,” Aiden said.

  Alex had stopped pacing. She too stood with her hands on her waist. “The gods have never been all that helpful in the past. You really think we’re going to get two of them to agree to weaken themselves?”

  “But things are different now,” Josie said.

  Things were different now. Hell. Everything was, but would the gods really listen to us? When they never had before? But what had Apollo asked me? What would I do to make sure the world was a better place for my child?

  I said anything.

  Turning, I rubbed the heel of my palm over my chest. The thing was, I didn’t want Josie facing the Titans at all. We’d talked about this.

  “Like I said, facing them is the last thing I want to do,” Josie repeated. “And I also know that only having the three of us is really not looking good, but we wouldn’t be alone. We have you, Seth. We have Alex and Aiden. And we have Luke.” She paused. “We even have Deacon.”

  Aiden sighed. “As much as I hate having Deacon involved in something like that, he has gotten really good with the fire element. If anything, he’d definitely distract the hell out of the Titans.”

  “True,” Alex laughed, but she quickly sobered. “But Cora and Gable are nowhere near ready. Not even remotely.”

  “But do they have to fight the Titans? It’s something I’ve been thinking about. They have to get their icons, and maybe that’s the key.” Excitement thrummed through Josie’s tone, and I knew, once she felt like she was onto something, there was no stopping her. “We don’t know. Apollo sure as hell hasn’t told me or anyone else how exactly we entomb the Titans.”

  “Even if the icons magically send the Titans to their tombs, they’re not going to stand there and let it happen,” I pointed out, my voice harsher than I intended.

  “Gee, really? I thought they would get down on their knees and beg us to send them back.” Josie’s lips thinned. “But if Cora and Gable’s abilities are unlocked, then the only thing we really need to focus on is their ability to use akasha. Hand to hand combat needs to be taught, but it should be the last thing we expect them to use when fighting the Titans.”

  “I hate to be Realistic Rachel, but even if you guys agree to go ask the gods, there’s one problem with that.” Alex lifted her brows as I faced her. “How are you going to get to Olympus?”

  “That is an issue,” Aiden agreed. “I seriously doubt that Apollo will answer our summons and bop us over there.”

  Slowly, I looked over at Aiden. “Did you just say bop?”

  “Shut up,” he replied.

  “I thought it was kind of cute.” Alex made her way over to Aiden’s side. “I like the word.” She threw her arms around Aiden’s waist. “Bop. Bop. Bop.”

  Staring at her, my brows lowered. Sometimes I wondered if Alex was dropped on her head a lot as a small child. I knew she was as a teen. I’d seen it happen. Often. And it probably explained a lot.

  “Guys.” Josie waited until all our attention was on her. “I know where there’s a gateway.”

  ~

  Josie

  “The library?” Alex pulled her arms free from Aiden and visibly shuddered. “I hate libraries.
”

  Aiden looked down at her fondly. “Not always.”

  Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, and I had a pretty good idea that something must’ve gone down between them in a library.

  “The library? The one here?” Seth asked.

  I nodded as I crossed one arm over my waist. I knew he wasn’t happy with me revisiting the path that led to a face-off with the Titans, but unless we figured out another way, this was the only path before us.

  “When I met Medusa, she took me to this place that was underneath the library, but it was actually outside. Super weird, but that’s where I saw the Pegasus,” I said, and a faint smile curved Seth’s lips when I brought up the Pegasus. I’d been so excited to see one, I had talked about it for hours. “Medusa told me where we were. She said it was a gateway to Olympus.”

  “Whoa,” Alex murmured.

  “Wait.” Seth brushed a strand of his hair back from his face. “I thought the doorways leading to this place Medusa took you were gone?”

  “They were.” That was the only wrinkle in my plan. “I didn’t see the doors and the librarian I saw acted like they’d never been there, but they have to be there.”

  “We could always knock down the walls,” Aiden suggested.

  Alex looked up at him. “I can totally see Marcus’s face when you ask him for permission to knock down walls in the library.”

  Seth was quiet for a moment and then he said, “You know, I’m always of the mindset it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

  ~

  Once Seth and I were alone in our room, I turned to him and immediately asked, “Are you really okay with this plan? Knocking down a wall? Going to Olympus?”

  Seth walked into the small kitchen area. “I am always down for blowing stuff up and pissing people off in the process.”

  I arched a brow. No big surprise there. “Besides that part, what are you thinking?”

  “Honest?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Honest.”

  “You and I talked about facing the Titans. Both of us want that to be the last damn option.” Opening the fridge door, he grabbed a water. “But right now, it is the only option. Thirsty?”