The Power (Titan #2)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Not dumb,” the pure spat back. “Pure. We’re pure and we’re going to keep it that way. And you might be the Apollyon, but you’re nothing but a dirty fucking—”

  Seth’s fist ended that sentence. Blood and spittle flew. “Bigotry is dumb, you know, just in case you didn’t realize that yet.”

  The pure didn’t hear him, because he was knocked out. Part of me couldn’t believe that this was happening. I turned and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a punch to the face.

  “Gods,” I snapped, more than irritated.

  Coming at me again, the pure lumbered forward, blood trickling out of his nose. He got all Fists of Fury on me, swinging with enough oomph to do some damage, but that wasn’t going to happen.

  I wasn’t the same Josie who walked into the University months ago.

  I was part-badass-ninja.

  Catching his hand, I used his momentum and body weight as I ducked under his arm, taking him with me. I flipped the dude, laying him out flat on his back. I bet he was seeing stars. Or maybe Greek minotaurs. Whatever.

  “Damn.” Seth stared at me.

  “What?” I shook my arms out as I straightened, tossing my ponytail back. “Did you think I’ve just been moping around and not getting better?”

  Okay. I’d been doing a lot of moping in my alone time, but he didn’t need to know that.

  His lips twitched and his gaze dipped a fraction of an inch. His features tightened, and I recognized that expression. Hungry. Starved, really, and something inside me, something just as hungry and something entirely stupid, responded. My lips parted. Seth took a step toward me.

  A punch of unnatural power rippled through the air. My gaze locked with Seth’s. The hue of his eyes burned a bright tawny color. “Is it a god?”

  He shook his head as he scanned the quad. “I don’t know what it is. I haven’t sensed . . .” He trailed off, eyes widening. “What the . . . ?”

  I spun around in the direction he was staring and my mouth dropped open. No more than ten feet away, double doors appeared. Like, literally out of thin air, and it was an ancient-looking thing. The frame was a silvery material I assume was titanium, and the rest was a smooth bronze.

  Those fighting near it scuttled back, staying a good distance away. There were symbols all over the doors—ancient lettering that reminded me of the letter “F” and a really weird peace sign that also looked like a stick person. I tried to decipher the meanings, but I was too distracted to give my newfound ability the time. There was a Romanesque helmet on each door, and underneath each was what looked like a crudely drawn three-headed dog. I jerked, realizing what those etchings symbolized.

  The doors swung open and cool, musty air billowed out over the grass. The green blades curled into themselves, rapidly fading to a dull brown as the heavy breeze pulled back into the gaping blackness. Two faint forms appeared.

  “Oh shit,” Seth muttered.

  I tensed, preparing myself for a horde of Titans or shades. Maybe even rabid bears or over-excited, spitting llamas. That’s not what came through the door.

  A girl did.

  She looked to be close to my age, maybe a year or two younger, and pretty wasn’t a strong enough word to describe her. She wasn’t very tall, but the tight jeans and tank top showed off a body that was somehow ripped and curvy at the same time. Long chestnut hair fell in waves down her shoulders and over her chest. Her eyes were a warm brown and her full, rosy mouth perfectly complemented her heart-shaped face. The girl was gorgeous in a wild, unfettered kind of way.

  She wasn’t alone.

  Beside her was a tall, dark-haired man, and Good Lord Almighty, he was . . . wow. He was taller than Seth, but not as broad, with dark brown, almost black hair, and eyes that were a startling shade of gray. His face was near perfect—high cheekbones, straight nose, and an expressive mouth. He was wearing jeans and a regular shirt, but for some reason I thought he looked like he’d be more comfortable in the garb of a Sentinel.

  Behind them, the door folded into itself, collapsing until nothing was left except for the astonishingly good-looking couple.

  “Well . . .” The girl looked around, dark brows arching as a half was lifted into the air and tossed past them like a football. Her lips were pursed. “This is super unexpected.”

  “Not entirely,” the man beside her said as his silver-eyed gaze landed on us, settling on Seth as the girl stepped forward.

  Deacon shouted over the melee, his voice filled with joy, and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him start toward them. Despite all the crazy going on around us, the beautiful man smiled in response, flashing even, white teeth.

  Understanding seeped in as a brawling half and pure got close to the newcomers. Throwing a punch, the half knocked the pure back several feet. He bumped into the new girl and turned, flames flickering over his busted knuckles.

  Her reaction was wicked fast.

  The girl’s arm shot out and her hand landed on his shoulder. She spun him around as she dipped low, kicking out with her leg. She caught the pure just below the knees, taking his legs out from underneath him. As the now-dazed pure fell forward, she slammed her palm into his back. Static burst and crackled into the air, and the pure flew forward, landing in a moaning, twitching heap facedown several yards away.

  Damn.

  In complete control of every muscle in her body, the girl straightened fluidly. The whitish light faded from her right hand. Her lips curved into a half-smile that was vaguely familiar as she knocked a strand of long brown hair out of her face. “Hey, Seth.”

  Seth was nearly immobile as he stared at the twosome. Glyphs bled to the surface of his golden skin, piecing together and changing so fast I had no idea what the runes were saying, but the taut set of his features said it all.

  “Alex,” he breathed.

  Chapter 14

  Seth

  My skin buzzed. Blood pounded. Pulse accelerated. Energy poured into me as if I’d taken a jolt of caffeine straight to the heart. The glyphs, the mark of the Apollyon, were doing a fucking happy dance on my skin in response to Alex.

  In response to the Apollyon.

  Shit.

  Oh shit.

  The connection was snapping to life, waking up like a sleeping cobra, and it was there, between us, preparing to strike. The entire world zeroed in on this girl. The thing inside me, that felt like a part of me but something else entirely, was roaring like a freight train.

  Without warning, a piece of knowledge floated among my thoughts. I can use her. I can use them. The moment those thoughts hit me they almost faded from my grasp. Like a word you couldn’t place, but waited on the tip of the tongue. Ever since I Awakened, that had happened on and off. For the longest time I didn’t understand why, just thought I was spacing out, but I realized it was from when I Awakened and what had happened. It was the same thing that happened to Alex. Thousands of years of information downloaded, passed down from every Apollyon from before. There was tons of crap I knew, but didn’t always realize since the knowledge existed in the back of my subconscious.

  But now those odd thoughts, even as concerning as they were, faded away like leaves in the fall.

  Alexandria Andros stood in front of me. It was really her. Flesh and bone, but she looked nothing like the last time I’d seen her. Her hair was longer, like it had been when we were first introduced at Deity Island. The hairline scars that had covered every inch of her skin were gone. Scars from when Ares had literally broken every bone in her body. Because she wore a sleeveless shirt, I could see that the tags on her arm and neck were also gone.

  It was more than the physical. The emotional weight she had carried was gone, lifted from her shoulders. Those whiskey-colored eyes were happy and full of laughter. Years of pain washed away, as if none of it had ever happened, but it had happened.

  I had happened.

  Seeing her like this, though, carried some measure of relief. I had planned on never seeing her again. That had been ideal, because
. . . well, who wanted to come face to face with the person they’d gotten killed? Because that was what had happened, and knowing what I did helped me ignore what was going on inside me.

  Alex had died a mortal death, because of me.

  But she looked good. She looked great, actually. And she appeared happy.

  She wasn’t the only one who was overjoyed.

  Deacon had launched himself at Aiden—Aiden saintly St. Delphi—nearly knocking him backward, over a fallen pure. The brothers hugged, oblivious to those fighting around them. Other than their eyes, they absolutely had nothing in common.

  Which was why I liked Deacon.

  Aiden pulled back, clasping the sides of his younger brother’s face. “Look at you,” he said, voice thick. “Are you actually growing a beard?”

  Deacon’s laugh was hoarse. “Yeah, right. Hair doesn’t grow on this pretty face.”

  “More like baby face. Gods,” Aiden said, wrapping an arm around his brother’s neck, dragging him back. “I’ve missed you.”

  “Same,” Deacon muttered as his shoulders trembled.

  I tensed when Alex started walking toward me. She halted when I shook my head. Her lips pursed, and for a moment I thought she would do what she wanted, because that was the Alex I knew, but she surprised me. Alex turned back to the brothers. She joined them, and they opened up, pulling her into a group hug. A second later Luke was with them, and even over the angry shouts, I could hear Alex’s happy squeal. Reunited at last.

  I turned from the happy reunion and searched for Josie, finding her immediately. She was standing off to the side, staring at Alex with wide eyes, apparently unaware of the smoke billowing from the burning olive tree behind her. I couldn’t even imagine what she was thinking, but good sense told me she knew exactly who the newcomers were. Alex squirmed her way out of the group hug and scanned the quad. “What in the hell is going on, guys?”

  I followed her gaze, spying Colin taking down another pure. I smirked. “Everyone is just getting close to one another. You know, love taps and all.”

  She arched a brow. “Uh-huh.”

  “Things aren’t good between us right now,” Luke explained as he stepped back, draping his arm over her shoulders. “I’ll explain later.”

  Alex squinted and started to frown as she stared at someone. “Is that . . . Boobs?”

  Turning to where she was staring, a strangled laugh crawled up my throat. Leave it to Alex to notice her nearly immediately. “Yeah, that is.”

  “Huh.” Alex glanced at me, brows raised, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the giant leap she was making. “Interesting.”

  Not really.

  Shouts calling for the fights to stop echoed through the quad. Guards and Sentinels rushed in, breaking up the remaining fights. Good to see they had such a sense of urgency in getting their asses over here. A lone Sentinel broke free though, his tall body going rigid.

  “Dad!” Alex shrieked and then took off, running at full speed toward the man. He opened up his arms, and she all but tackled him. She face-planted his chest and the older man picked her up off her feet.

  Seeing that, yeah, it got me in places I didn’t even know I had. I’d never met my father. Only knew that he was long since dead. Alex grew up thinking that her father had passed when she was a baby, but that hadn’t been the truth. He’d been hidden away at the main Council in the Catskills, and it was only right before Alex and I faced down Ares that she got to finally meet her father.

  They had a lot of time to make up for, and I’m sure the last time they were topside hadn’t been enough.

  Alex threw her head back and laughed as she grabbed her father’s hand. She all but dragged him over to where Aiden stood with Luke and Deacon. Then, unsurprisingly, Solos was suddenly with them. The whole gang was back together.

  Except for all the ones who’d died and didn’t come back as demigods.

  Gods, my skin was crawling and not in an unpleasant way, but in a familiar way I’d hoped I wouldn’t experience again, and that could only mean one thing.

  Tucking her hair back behind one ear, she glanced over at me. Our eyes met, and I knew she was feeling it too. Oh yeah, that happy little buzz that tasted of aether was there. Shit on shit-covered bricks.

  How had I not been paying attention to the time that had elapsed? Oh, right. My mind had been focused on a different girl. I should’ve been prepared for this. Prepared for the very real possibility that we’d . . .

  Fuck.

  That we’d still be connected.

  Had it been too much to hope that wouldn’t be the case?

  Scrubbing my hand through my hair, I turned and checked on a pure who was lying facedown. I knelt, checked for a pulse and found one. Pures were notoriously hard to kill, just like with halfs, but it wasn’t impossible. They could be seriously injured. I looked up, seeing the girl who’d been struck by the disc being carried off on a stretcher. A hard-enough knock to the head could still do some damage, just like it would to a mortal.

  I rose and immediately my attention focused on Josie. She was still standing where she was, her arms wrapped around her waist as she watched Alex and Aiden. Slowly, her gaze trekked over to me. Her throat worked on a swallow as she pressed her lips together.

  My feet were carrying me over to her before I even knew what I was doing. I stopped in front of her. “Are you okay?”

  Josie nodded. Her gaze roamed over me and then drifted beyond my shoulder. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “That’s . . . that’s her, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah.” I faced the happy little group. Alex was doing some kind of dance with Deacon. My lips twitched. “That’s her.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “She’s so beautiful.”

  I glanced at her sharply.

  “I mean, not that I expected any less,” Josie was quick to add. “It’s just that I . . . I don’t know, I just didn’t know what she looked like. But look at how happy all of them are! It’s . . . I’m rambling, and God, wasn’t all of this just crazy? The fighting? It was like East Side versus West Side. Marcus really has his hands full.” She kept going, a mile a minute. “I hope that girl is okay. Do you think she will be? I mean, that would’ve killed a mortal. Like, dead on arrival kind of dead. And half of them didn’t even seem aware that a freaking door appeared out of nowhere and—”

  “Whoa.” I touched her arm. Electricity danced from her skin to mine. I tried, and failed, to ignore it. “Slow down, Josie.”

  Her gaze dropped to her arm and then flicked up. “I’m not going fast.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “Whatever.” She stepped to the side, and my arm fell back as she stared at the group again. “Shouldn’t you be over there?”

  I coughed out a dry laugh. “Uh. No.”

  “Why?” Her nose wrinkled. Cute. Dammit. Still so cute. “I’m sure they would like to, I don’t know, hug you and stuff. You did so much for them. You did everything for them. You—”

  “I did what I had to do for them. What I shouldn’t have had to do in the first place,” I cut her off, unable to listen to her making me sound like I’d done something heroic. “They wouldn’t be where they are now if it hadn’t been for me.”

  “You’re right.” She straightened out her arms and looked me head-on. “They wouldn’t be standing here, being all immortal and stuff if it hadn’t been for the sacrifice you made. And I hope, or at least I’m hoping, they recognize that. If they don’t, then they aren’t worth what you gave—”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped, uncomfortable with what she was suggesting, and uncomfortable with everything that was going down. Everything. “That’s the problem here, Josie. You only see what you want to see. You have no fucking clue what you’re talking about, especially when it comes to them—to her. So just drop it,” I said, slicing my hand through the air between us, “because it’s none of your business.”

  She paled as she stepped back, fol
ding an arm across her stomach. Thick lashes lowered, shielding her eyes. “No,” she said, her voice reedy. “I’m seeing everything now, but you’re right. Them. Her. They aren’t any of my business.” She took another step and then turned, her voice pitched low. “I’ll see you . . . around.”

  Dammit.

  My anger had risen to the surface, like water boiling over, and I’d lashed out like the dick that I was. None of this was her fault and she meant well. Josie always meant well.

  Things with her were messed up, but she didn’t deserve this shit from me. Keeping my distance from her the last three weeks had made me experience serial-killer levels of asshole, but she, of all people, didn’t deserve this.

  I started after her, but I didn’t get very far. Marcus finally appeared. Happy reunion number five million took place, and before I could sneak off, and by sneaking off I meant following Josie, I was surrounded by what Deacon had dubbed the Army of Awesome.

  While Marcus dealt with the latest civil breakdown, we ended up in one of the large conference rooms in the main Covenant building. I had no idea what I was doing there, but every time I tried to leave the room, someone asked me a question.

  Namely that someone was Alex, who was sitting on the leather couch, squeezed in between Aiden and her father. Deacon was perched on the arm, beside Aiden, and Luke was sitting on the ottoman. Solos was leaning against the wall, grinning. Everyone was happy.

  Not that I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to be in this room with them, so I stayed by the window, watching the Guards escort pures and halfs back and forth. But my attention kept wandering back to who was sitting on the couch. Out on the quad, I’d managed to ignore it, but I couldn’t seem to stop it now. Every fiber of my being was aware of potent aether emanating from the two demigods, but it was more than that. The long-dormant cord was thrumming to life, and I was doing my best to—

  “Why do you keep staring at me?”

  Realizing I was, in fact, staring at Alex, I blinked. Awkward.