Hunt of the Gods

by Amy Braun

  I jabbed my elbow back, aiming for his ribs. I struck true, and he cursed in my ear.

  “Fucking shit, Derek!”

  I froze in horror. I’d just attacked my brother.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Liam roared.

  As he yelled, the War Pact blazed to life. I hissed, and my eyes sought the Trident again. I couldn’t tell Liam that Ares had hexed me.

  Selena and Mason were crouched over Thea, protecting her. Thea’s hands were curled around the Trident and encased in ice, becoming icy manacles that stopped at her wrists. Goosebumps lined her arms and she was shaking, though I couldn’t tell if it was all from the cold. I could see bruises around her neck.

  Bruises I had put there.

  I absorbed all of it in seconds. Then all I could concentrate on was the Trident and the orders I’d been given.

  I tried to throw Liam off, but his hold was strong. “Trident,” I croaked. “I need to—”

  Liam’s grip shifted, and I felt him hesitate. He didn’t let up on his hold, but I heard the tremor in his voice.

  “What’s wrong with the Pact?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him, but no words came out. I tried again and again. Still nothing.

  Ares had forbidden me to talk about it.

  “Binding spell,” I snarled at him. “Stop me.”

  Liam didn’t hesitate again. Tense magic poured out of him and funneled into me. My arms and legs snapped to my sides as if I’d been lassoed by rope. Once the binding was complete, Liam relaxed and let me go. I toppled limply onto the sand, my body tense but my mind alert and focused.

  “What the hell just happened?” Mason asked.

  Everyone was looking at me with fear and mistrust. Their gazes cut deep, but I couldn’t make my voice work. I could still speak, but I couldn’t tell them what was important—that Ares had manipulated me again.

  Selena looked at my neck then at me again.

  As I looked at her, I noticed the Cetea.

  None of them had moved. Some were rousing, getting to their feet, but weren’t running away or attacking us like they should have been. One of them was even standing and watching us.

  No, not watching. Waiting. Waiting for—

  A bolt of lightning crashed through the sky and slammed into the sand. Appearing next to it was a tornado of water. Two figures formed out of the elements. The first was a tall man with a white beard, pale eyes, and a domineering face. He was dressed in a white suit trimmed with sparkling gold. In his right fist was a bolt of light that pulsed and crackled with energy.

  Next to him was a man whose facial features were similar, but whose demeanor was wilder. His hair and beard were stormy gray and tangled with fine seaweed, seashells, and pearls. His tunic was silky, shimmering blue. Fierce, ocean-blue eyes narrowed at us, but moved quickly to Thea and what she was holding.

  His eyes sparked with light and power. Waves rolled and crashed against the beach.

  Poseidon, the Earthshaker, marched across the sand. Cold, liquid power ebbed off him. Thea stood up slowly, the Trident locked in her grip.

  Poseidon didn’t look at her when he grabbed the Trident. The ice melted from around her fingers, and he tore the Weapon from her hands. Thea gasped in protest, but her forefather didn’t bat an eye.

  The Trident did not react violently when Poseidon touched it. A steady pulse of cold, liquid magic filled the air as he caressed the Trident. He ran his strong fingers over the gold engravings and the deadly prongs. He stared at the words, Call the Tempest, for a long moment while the world stayed silent around him.

  Then he raised the Trident into the air. Thunder rumbled over his head. The tide rushed out behind me. Struggling against the binding spell, I looked over my shoulder and watched the wave rise until a wall of water stood fifteen feet over our heads. Dread ripped through me. If that wave hits the shore while we were on it…

  But the wave curled backward, breaking the current and smashing back into the ocean. It was an ultimately harmless display of power. But my hands were still shaking.

  I turned my gaze back to Poseidon and Zeus.

  The King of the Olympians was watching his sibling. “Patience, brother. The waves will welcome you soon.”

  Poseidon scowled. “I have waited thousands of years to regain this power. Do not tell me you do not wish to unleash your Thunderbolt’s power in all of its glory.”

  “I do and have wanted to since it was returned to me,” confessed the King. His ageless eyes moved amongst us. “But it appears we have questions that need to be answered.”

  Poseidon lowered the Trident. “Yes,” he snarled. His turbulent blue eyes fixed on me. “I sensed the Trident’s presence when it was nearly stolen by him.”

  I took a breath to tell him what happened, that I would never try to steal it, that Ares had brought it here, somehow concealed, and told me to destroy it.

  But the War Pact burned when I tried to speak the truth.

  Poseidon touched the prongs to the sand. Ice spread from the gold daggers and snaked toward me.

  “What were you trying to do to my Weapon? Why did you try to kill my heir?”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill her,” I said, because that was true. I was ashamed of attacking Thea and would be begging for her forgiveness. But I couldn’t tell him anything more. I fucking tried.

  “He wanted to destroy it, Lord Poseidon.”

  All heads turned to the Cetea man who’d spoken, the one who’d been left standing. He reached for his mask and pulled it down, revealing a weathered face, dark-red hair streaked with gray, and sharp green eyes.

  I didn’t know who he was, but Thea gasped with alarm. The man appeared not to notice her and knelt on one knee before Poseidon.

  “Who are you?” demanded the god. Ice continued to spill from the Trident.

  “My name is Kallis Faidon. I am a humble servant of yours, Earthshaker. My family and I have been looking for the Trident to return it to you.”

  Oh gods, I was fighting Kallis fucking Faidon.

  Poseidon stalked toward the leader of the Cetea Clan. “Explain.”

  Kallis looked up. “Ever since we heard about the Thunderbolt, we became suspicious about a former traitor in our family.” His angry eyes darted to Thea. “Thea Eldoris betrayed us and ruined the lives of dozens of our family members, all for her own selfish purposes. So when we learned she had joined with this group of upstarts and misfits, I suspected something was wrong. We began to monitor her, follow her, and soon, we realized she had found the Trident. But she had no intention of giving it to you.”

  “That’s not true,” Thea shouted.

  “I did not command you to speak, Thea Eldoris,” growled Poseidon. “Be silent, or I will silence you.”

  She cringed, and though I could see it burned her, she didn’t speak again.

  “We learned she is completely devoted to Athena’s cause,” Kallis went on. “She wishes to overthrow the Olympians and set her new goddess, your very rival, atop the throne in the Clouds. The best way to ensure that you could not help your brother would be to destroy the Trident.” Kallis’s eyes then moved to me. “And who better to destroy it than a pet of Ares?”

  The Rage blazed to life inside of me. They’re working together, I wanted to scream. They planned this.

  “That… that doesn’t make any sense,” Liam protested. “Derek would never—”

  A crush of icy power swept through the air and struck Liam. He hissed and doubled over but fell silent.

  Poseidon glared at him. Frost crawled toward him where he knelt beside me. “Do not question me, war scion. I know where your loyalty lies, and I have no patience for it.”

  Liam looked at me, confusion and panic brightening his blue eyes.

  I met his desperate gaze with my own.

  The War Pact flared to life and bit into my neck. I grimaced and squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. Godsdamn it all. I
couldn’t even speak through the blood bond.

  my brother whispered.

  I nodded, my head grazing the coarse sand.

  “We saw what Derek Areios was trying to do,” Kallis went on. “We came to stop him, but he attacked us and then attacked your heir when she tried to finish the job. I’m not sure what came over him, but an heir who turns his back on his god is cannot be trusted.”

  Poseidon whirled around and looked at Thea. The ice clawed its way to her, quicker than before. It left jagged spikes in his wake, a testimony to the Earthshaker’s fury.

  “Is it true, my daughter?” growled the sea god. Waves crashed violently behind me, slapping my boots and calves with icy cold water. “Have you sworn loyalty to Athena over me?”

  “No, I—”

  Thea gasped and whirled away from Poseidon to stare at Zeus.

  The god’s eyes were glowing pure white. Thea clapped a hand to her ribcage, where Athena’s oath had been tattooed onto her skin.

  “She has, brother,” Zeus said, oblivious to the pain he had inflicted on Thea feel. “I sensed Athena’s magic on her skin.”

  Thea paled and whirled to Poseidon. “My lord, I can explain.”

  He growled, and a sheet of ice shot up from the sand. Thea jumped back, but not fast enough. Spikes of ice grazed her arms and jabbed into her stomach. Warning shots. She stumbled back, wrapping her arms around her body and cringing with fear.

  Selena and Mason were running for her, only to be stopped by the same spiked, icy wall.

  “Do not interfere,” snapped Poseidon. “I will not slay my brother’s heir, but my niece’s…” A spike of ice extended slowly, menacingly, toward Selena. She was forced to step back. I nearly begged Liam to take the binding spell off, but as long as I could see the Trident, I couldn’t trust myself.

  “Nothing would give me greater pleasure at this moment,” Poseidon finished.

  “Brother,” remarked Zeus. “I will not allow you to slay anyone here.”

  Poseidon glared at his brother. At his King. “We have set them on a mission. They must see it through, and while I am concerned about the Trinity Weapons, I am more concerned about the Cronus Shards.”

  Of course. The Trinity Weapons held power and had locked the Titans in Tartarus, but they didn’t hold the power of the Shards. As long as the Shards existed, it was possible for Cronus to regain his power and consume the world for his revenge.

  “Then pass the mission on to Kallis Faidon and his family,” Poseidon demanded.

  Zeus shook his head. “I cannot do that. They do not have a Farseer, and if we cast these scions away from this mission, I am beginning to question what they will do with their loyalty.”

  Cautiously, Thea stepped around the ice wall to look at Zeus. “My lord, please. This is a mistake. Something has happened to Derek Areios. We’ve never had the Trident. Surely you would have seen it from the Clouds if we had.”

  “Perhaps,” he agreed. “But our Weapons have been concealed from us for a very long time at the behest of my daughter.” Zeus fell silent, and his eyes went distant. He showed no emotion as he thought of Athena. Then his eyes flicked to Selena. “It would be simple for her to teach her heir any enchantment she wishes, including a concealment spell.”

  Selena shook her head. “Lord Zeus, I would never learn a concealment spell for this.”

  “You say that, and perhaps you believe it, but you are not all you seem, are you child?”

  Selena struggled for words, but I could see she was as confused as the rest of us.

  “It is clear to me there is but one solution,” proclaimed Zeus. “Both groups must work together.”

  Thea staggered and looked as if she would throw up. Selena rushed over to her friend, uncaring about the cold, dangerous wall near them, and held her up. She looked at Zeus with feverish eyes. “My Lord, please, this—”

  Zeus stared at her. It was all he needed to do to silence her. He knew that Selena would never defy him openly. Zeus was already punishing Athena. What was a little more pain?

  “We shall serve you both happily, my Lords,” said Kallis, bowing his head to the sand.

  Both gods smirked. Nothing appeased them like worship.

  “We shall watch your alliance closely,” Zeus added. “I suggest you don’t disappoint us.”

  The Thunderbolt flashed in Zeus’s hand and swept him up in its crackling power. Poseidon turned to his heir one more time. “I made a mistake choosing you.”

  Thea stumbled as if she’d been punched. Selena held her steady.

  Frost and slippery water curled around Poseidon, whirling around his broad frame in a tornado. It closed in on itself, and the god was gone.

  Their presence remained, however.

  “You can let me go now,” I grumbled at Liam.

  The tension in my muscles loosened, and I was able to move on my own again. I stood up and trudged toward the group.

  Thea spun out of Selena’s grip and faced Kallis. “If you think for one fucking second I’m going to work with you—”

  “Hush now, Thea,” he chided. “The gods are watching.”

  He gave her a smug wink and strode away. Thea snarled and launched herself at him, only to be held back by Selena. Thea was still shaking by the time Liam and I reached them.

  “Thea, I’m sorry—”

  She whirled to me. “Derek, you better have a fucking good explanation for what just happened.”

  I sighed and rolled up the right sleeve of my shirt.

  The rune Selena had placed there was still intact.

  “I do. But you’re not going to like it.”

  THE ONLY CONSOLATION we took from the disaster at the beach was that it had been recorded on my skin.

  Or most of it had.

  Selena halted the shouting when we returned to the hotel by explaining that I had told her to place a Third Eye enchantment on my arm with a permanent marker. As long as it was inked onto me and I traced the mark with my finger while muttering its corresponding incantation, it would record everything I saw and heard. But it was tricky to use because, while it recorded visuals and sound, it could be muffled by clothes. I’d had to wear a longer-sleeved shirt because if Ares had known I was recording him, I would’ve likely come back missing an arm.

  The rune had recorded my entire conversation with Ares on the beach, from the first barbed words to the battle against the Cetea Clan. The problem was that when Ares had buried me in the sand, my arm had been covered. Important pieces of the confrontation were missing.

  Still, with the recording as proof, and if we could have it enhanced—maybe combine it with images from my memory, if we were willing to trust a dark scion to manipulate my brain cells that way—we could prove that Ares was the one who set us all up.

  I needed to get the information to Zeus as soon as possible. That wasn’t going to be easy, though, considering how many people were gunning for us.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you attacked Thea,” Corey pointed out, “or what the Cetea guy was saying when you tried to destroy the Trident.”

  I instinctively tried to answer him, but my scar burned, and my throat locked up.

  Selena looked at the Pact. “It shimmered just now,” she whispered in horror. “Like there were embers under your skin.” She looked in my eyes. “Derek, what did he do to you?”

  I grimaced. I had to tell them something about what happened when I confronted Ares on the beach. I’d gone there to see what he wanted and was lured into a trap. I should have ignored him, should have left well enough alone. But foresight wasn’t my strongest gift.

  At least I hadn’t brought Ki̱demónas with me. The warmongering bastard would have probably found a way to make me hand the damn thing over to him.

  Quickly, I sent a thought to the spear. Its response from the bedroom where I’d left it sent a welcome shiver down my spine.

  At least there’s that.

  I turned away from my friends and family, tr
ying to think of a way to explain without directly explaining. My eyes landed on a notepad and pen on the coffee table. I raced over and snatched them up.

  Ares had said I couldn’t speak. He’d said nothing writing.

  I placed the pad on the countertop and scrawled out everything I could. My handwriting, already jagged and messy when I wasn’t under the influence of a hex, became nearly unreadable as I tried to scribble about the lure, the hex, the Cetea arriving with the Trident—

  The Pact exploded with pain, and my fingers spasmed into uselessness before I could finish. I frowned at the words I had written—Lure, hex, CC + Tri. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

  The group peered at my scrawls. Liam glanced at my neck with worry. It wasn’t bleeding, but it felt godsdamn fierce to touch.

  Like there were embers under your skin.

  The group looked at my jagged words, murmuring amongst each other and piecing together what it meant. I wondered if it was too late, or maybe too early, for those drinks I’d denied Thea.

  “So,” Selena reasoned tentatively, “Ares put some kind of hex on you to keep you from telling us about this?”

  I nodded and was pleased to find I could do that much if they guessed something correctly. Progress was progress, no matter how small.

  “And he wanted you to destroy the Trident”—she thought a moment—“because it would pit the gods against us.”

  Thea’s face drained of color. “That’s why you attacked me. Because I was trying to take it from you. That’s why Liam bound you.”

  I nodded again, trying not to look at her neck. There were no bruises, but she could have healed herself when I wasn’t looking. “Thea, I am so sorry. I never meant—”

  “It’s all right,” she assured me. “I knew something was wrong. You wouldn’t hurt your friends that way.” Thea looked at the notepad as if it could unveil more secrets. “I just don’t understand why Kallis and his goon squad are working with Ares. They never cared for him or any other scions, so…”

  She chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. No one had any answers to offer her.