Hunt of the Gods

by Amy Braun

  But felt the prongs jab into my stomach.

  I swung my arm down, chopping Thea in the side of the neck and forcing her away before the Trident could dig deeper into me. I looked down at the wound. Blood dripped from my abdomen. I pressed my fingers to it to close the wounds.

  Thea aimed another jab at my chest. I ducked under the Trident. Ice cold metal slid across my back. I punched her hard under the arm. Thea cried out, making me cringe, and backed away. I nudged my shoulder under hers, letting the Trident slide from her grip and down my back.

  Thea kicked me in the stomach. Stars of pain burst behind my eyes. I stumbled back, watching her drop to the water and set her hands in it.

  Water bucked and rose, snaring my legs. The bands of liquid power pulled me hard to the ground then lifted me into the air, only to slam me back down again. I Adapted to absorb some of the blow, but my damaged shoulder seared with pain.

  A gleam of silver shot toward the right side of my face. I rolled to my feet and stomped on the Trident.

  Pain burst in my side. I glanced down and saw Thea’s hand wrapped around an ice dagger buried in my side.

  I swayed and staggered, not even trying to hide the agony.

  Then I grabbed her and heaved her over my shoulder. She moved fast, kicking at my legs and knocking me down. She rose to her knees and twisted her fingers. Water closed over my head. My body temperature spiraled down, down, down, until every breath was a struggle. Pressure crushed me, forcing the ice dagger and wounded shoulder deeper. Ice stuck to my face. My mouth was still open. My only air was whatever was between my teeth.

  I couldn’t see where Thea was anymore, and I knew it wasn’t her. But she was going to kill me. Apollo was going to win.

  Blocks of ice froze my limbs and crushed my body. A whisper of magic remained under my skin. I used it to call Ki̱demónas.

  Stop Thea. Don’t kill her. Just stop her, stop her…

  The pressure faded. Ice melted. Water flooded into my nose and mouth. I bucked and gagged, pressing my hands into the soggy sand, forcing myself up, even as my side and shoulder begged for mercy.

  My head broke the water. I choked and spat, bending double and throwing up a mess of blood, bile, and ocean water. My entire body burned with pain. I wasn’t sure I could move again. Didn’t think I wanted to.

  I forced my head to rise. The beach was still flooded, but the currents had stopped. Thea lay unconscious on her side, a nasty bruise swelling across her temple.

  I didn’t know where Ki̱demónas was. Was too tired to look.

  A fist plowed into my jaw. I was seeing stars when a hand closed around my neck and hauled me off the ground. I looked into Apollo’s furious face.

  He’d broken free of Thea’s icy prison, and he was not happy.

  “Why,” he growled. “Why is it that in every future I want, you are there to thwart me? Why can I no longer See what I desire? Why do you keep getting in the way?”

  I scrambled for Ki̱demónas, begged the spear to—

  Apollo squeezed my neck tighter. He raised his hand. An arrow of gold light filled it.

  “I have earned the Eye,” he snarled. “I have earned its power. I deserve my future. You will not take it from me.”

  I looked up and saw Ki̱demónas hovering behind Apollo.

  The bag covering the gorgon’s head had been lost during my fight with Thea. Ki̱demónas had speared through the severed neck and hovered like a grisly pike. The back of the snake-filled head was turned to me.

  Apollo raised his hand and aimed it behind him, straight at the gorgon’s head.

  I closed my eyes and gave my mind over to Ki̱demónas. Called it to linger behind my back. Heard Apollo curse as his strikes avoided the spear. Felt the heat of them singe my arms and shoulder.

  Apollo howled, tightening his grip on my neck. A blast of magic sliced across the side of my neck and earlobe. I screamed in pain as magic roared past me.

  No!

  Raging heat filled the air. I didn’t dare open my eyes to see where it had come from or what caused it. I thought of the words engraved on Ki̱demónas, whispered them into the soul of the spear.

  Courage in fury.

  I commanded Ki̱demónas to turn, and show the gorgon’s face to the God of Light.

  Apollo’s roars of anger turned into cries of terror and pain. The blazing hands closed around my neck hardened, turning coarse and rough. I heard cracks and creaks. The sound of stones grinding together. The screams stopped. I waited until the groaning stones fell silent before opening my eyes.

  When I did, I found myself hanging in the grip of a statue.

  Apollo’s body was covered with thick gray stone, his handsome features twisted and frozen somewhere between rage and pain. Even the cuts and spilling gold blood had been detailed in the stone Olympian.

  Faith in Ki̱demónas had paid off.

  I slumped and sent another call to Ki̱demónas.

  Burn the head.

  Flame woodshed behind me. I smelled burning flesh, heard whispering dust.

  It was over. Gods above and below, it was over.

  I pushed against Apollo’s stone fingers. His grip had been tight, and only one of my arms worked properly. Raising anything on my left side was tantamount to torture. I could only hope Ki̱demónas had some magic left to heal me.

  “Allow me.”

  My heart skidded to a halt. No, no, I heard wrong, that wasn’t—

  An explosion of fire slammed into the stone Apollo.

  And shattered it.

  I was freed from the stone god’s hold. I landed on my knees, gasping, looked with horror at the crumbled stone that had once been the God of Light. Only his head was intact. Everything else was smashed. Ruined.

  Apollo was dead.

  Just as Poseidon was.

  I dragged my head up and watched armored legs stalk past me, pluck Ki̱demónas from its place in the air.

  Ares looked at his spear with longing, spun it in his hand, and smiled. Then he pressed the blade under my chin.

  I stayed still, knowing I had failed. I was going to die. Ares was going to kill my friends, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. There would be no Persephone bringing me back. It was over.

  I waited for Ares to kill me. And waited. And waited.

  The God of War tilted his head. “It would be easy, would it not? For me to kill you?” He turned the spear, cutting open the bottom of my chin and spilling hot blood down my neck. “I know where you went. To whom you spoke. I know you learned about your birth mother, your foremother.”

  Which meant Persephone’s Haven was no longer safe. Even if she promised we would never be seen, never be attacked by the gods, it wouldn’t make a difference.

  Two Olympians had died here today. Vengeance would be sought.

  “How?”

  Ares smiled, his blue eyes gleaming in the dark. “Apollo Saw many futures, I imagine. But he did not focus on the present. I have other allies, my son. They know when and where to look. They know how to plan and have the patience I do not have.”

  Ares flicked the spear, cutting another line into my chin. Then he drew the blade back and sauntered away, to where Poseidon was lying.

  “They also told me the benefits of conniving. You mortals are fond of an old saying.” He stood over Poseidon’s body and cocked his head. “Kill two birds with one stone, I believe.”

  He raised the spear and jabbed it into Poseidon’s wounds, one after the other. Even with all that gold blood, it was a grisly sight.

  “I enjoy this new fiction we contrived,” Ares went on, waltzing back toward me. He spread his arms, Ki̱demónas gleaming under the moonlight in his hand. “My allies were clever. The moment we noticed Apollo going mad, all we had to do was whisper in the Olympians ears. My kin are easily distracted. They were convinced to look away from Apollo’s energy, and focus on something even more alarming.” He stopped in front of me. “My sister Athena’s untimely escape.”

  I blinked, my
mind racing with questions. Athena had escaped? Where was she? Why hadn’t she come to help us?

  But the smile on Ares’s face spoke another story.

  Athena hadn’t escaped. She’d been set free.

  Because a traitor goddess was more important than a mad one attacking mortals.

  “Mortal minds are even easier to fool. We have ensured no one has seen what truly happened here, either with their eyes or those peculiar little boxes they speak into. You are the only one who will remember this night, Derek Areios. And that is just what I want, for you will take the blame for this.”

  Ki̱demónas’s carvings began to glow. Every word burned like an ember.

  “You will be the one who killed Poseidon. You will have killed Apollo. Why would you not? He attacked your friends. Butchered your woman. You even tried to murder the successor to Poseidon, but I am the one who stopped her. I am the one who stopped your wild rage because I know who you are. I know you are the Bringer of Shadow and Flame. You are the man who will lead an army to blood and destruction and glory.”

  Fury rose within me. It didn’t need to be helped by the Rage.

  “That lie will be a hard one to sell,” I growled. “Even for you.”

  Ares laughed. “No, it won’t.” He held Ki̱demónas in front of me. I could feel the heat seeping off the blade. “Because I have cursed this spear. As long as you live and hold it, you will not be able to speak a word of the truth.”

  “Then I just won’t—”

  Ares grabbed my wounded arm and yanked my hand forward. I cried out then howled again when he pressed the burning spear into my grip. My flesh bubbled and hissed. Ares shoved me back. I grimaced and looked at the melted flesh of my palm. A rune hand been branded into my skin. But it one wasn’t the same as the War Pact. It was an etching, the word déno.

  Bind.

  I felt the hex burn through my skin and in my blood.

  “What did you do to me?” My voice trembled.

  “I gave you want you wanted,” taunted Ares. “My spear is now bound to you. You adore it so much that it will now never leave your side. If it does, if you try to discard it…”

  Ares looked at my hand.

  It exploded with pain. I screamed and clutched my hand. My finger bones snapped and twisted, warping and flailing.

  Then they snapped back together. My fingers trembled, but my hand remained intact.

  “And I do not suggest breaking this hex, my son,” added Ares. “You are bound to the spear and to hiding the truth. Fighting either will only make the pain worse.” He stood up. “Oh, and I do not recommend using the blood bond to speak the truth to your brother. It will not end well for you.”

  Ares smiled again. “The truth is a burden, is it not, Derek Areios?” He raised his hand. Flames rippled off his fingertips. “And no burden is heavier than the one carried to the path of glory.”

  He slashed his hand down. The bolts of flame flew to my friends and whipped into their heads.

  “No!”

  “Oh, do stay silent, my son,” drawled the god. “I am not killing them. I am merely altering their recollections. If it appeases you, I did not change the mind of the Trojan Princess. There is no point in changing the mind of the dead.”

  Grief sank its teeth into my heart again. Tears welled in my eyes, and I didn’t stop them from falling. Ares chuckled and looked down at me.

  “It is strange. Physically, you are so like me. And yet, I never looked as small as you.”

  Ares picked up the severed, stony head of Apollo and the Eye of Cronus with it.

  Flames rippled up from the sand and crawled up the god’s legs. They wrapped around him, and I was left watching his widening smile as he vanished.

  To tell the Olympians that I was a murderer. That I’d killed two gods.

  And all my friends would believe him. The only person who would know the truth was Selena, and she was dead.

  I was alone.

  A sob choked out of me. I folded into myself, giving in to pain and sorrow and exhaustion.

  I don’t remember falling on the sand. I just remember closing my eyes and hoping the end would come quickly.

  “WAKE UP, DEREK.”

  That voice. If it had been anyone else’s, I wouldn’t have moved.

  But I did. I’d missed it so much.

  I dragged my eyes open and looked into a beautiful face with pale gold hair and silver-blue eyes. She looked just like I remembered, only without any wounds and dressed in a plain white shirt and jeans. No blood, no armor, no death-pale skin.

  Selena smiled down at me, her eyes sparkling but so, so sad.

  I smiled back at her. “This is better than the last time I died.”

  Her grin widened, but the pain in her eyes remained. “Sorry to disappoint you, tough guy. But you’re not dead.”

  I knew it was a dream then. It had to be, because I was lying in a bed, free of pain, and looking at the dead woman I loved.

  My fingers crawled across the mattress and wrapped around hers. Her skin felt warm and soft. “You were never a liar, Selena,” I said. I brought her fingers to my lips and kissed them. Why the hell not? If I wasn’t dead, then I was dreaming. Nothing I did mattered if she was gone. “That was my thing.”

  Selena sighed and lifted her fingers away from my mouth. “I can’t deny that. There was so much you should have told us. Maybe it would have helped.” She frowned. “But probably not. Apollo was the god of Prophecy and with the Eye of Cronus… there really was nothing he couldn’t See.”

  She took my left hand and turned it over. The Greek rune, bind, remained. It didn’t vanish when I willed it to.

  Strange. And shitty.

  I looked at Selena. “I didn’t—”

  Pain ripped through my hand. My fingers cracked and snapped. I lurched out of the bed, the sheets falling around me. I looked at my mangled fingers, my hands shaking.

  I fought the truth, choking it down. My fingers cracked back into place. I shuddered.

  The hex was still in place, even here? But how…?

  Selena’s hands curled around my hexed one. Her right palm felt different. It had a ridge that wasn’t there before.

  It felt like a scar.

  My heart began racing. Her warm magic seeped into my skin, erasing the last of my pain.

  “I didn’t want it to be true,” Selena whispered. “I hoped it wouldn’t be. But Ares… he got to you before I did. I heard him, knew what he would do if he found out—”

  I cupped the back of her neck and kissed her. Selena jumped with surprise, then wrapped her arms around my bare shoulders and melted into me.

  I couldn’t stop kissing her, breathing her in. My eyes burned. I started trembling again. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in the crook of her neck.

  “Gods,” I whispered. “Gods, I thought I lost you.”

  Selena kissed the side of my neck. “Almost, tough guy. Almost.” She drew away from me and tugged down the neck of her shirt. A wide, ridged scar was slashed over her heart. She pressed her right hand over it, revealing the other scar, nearly twice as big.

  “I’d Seen what he was going to do. I wasn’t sure if I’d survive it, but Apollo wanted me to suffer. He’d only Seen the future where I’d died, so I made him believe it. I pretended to die, when really I was just dying.” She lowered her hand and smiled. “I think Corey needs to be our official group healer. He saved my life. I just wish he’d been conscious so I could thank him.”

  Corey. The others. The hex. Liam.

  Oh, gods…

  I felt sick. I dropped my head into my hands. “Shit. They…”

  I didn’t speak the rest of the words. The last thing I wanted was for my hand to break all over again.

  Selena settled next to me, lacing her fingers through mine. Then she started to tell me what happened.

  She’d been awake from the time Liam lost himself in the Rage but was too weak to rise and help us. She’d Seen Ares framing me for Poseidon
and Apollo’s murders and watched me collapse after Ares vanished. She knew she had little time, with others unconscious and no idea how to end the curse. With precious time remaining before the rest of the city and the Olympians found out what happened on that Santa Monica beach, she sent out a call to Athena and begged her goddess to return.

  Athena had answered the call. She’d taken us both to a secure location and warded us. The wards were temporary, but they would keep us settled until I was strong enough to move again.

  “But the others…”

  Selena chewed her lower lip. “They’re alive, Derek, but… Ares’s hex will have held. They think you’re responsible for all of it.”

  “Even the gods?”

  Selena nodded. “Athena went to Persephone to use her mirrors. The Olympians survived, but… but this will have taken a toll on them. A toll I don’t think they can recover from. Hephaestus is now deemed insane and will be locked in prison. Hermes is crippled in one foot. And Artemis…” Selena lifted her eyes and looked at me again.

  They thought I was a murderer. Thea thought I’d killed Poseidon. Artemis assumed I’d killed her twin.

  And Liam…

  I clawed my fingers through my hair. “Liam… he thinks I… Where are they, Selena?”

  Worry creased her eyebrows. “In the Clouds.”

  The Council of Clouds. The mysterious sky fortress where the Olympians made their decisions. No mortal had ever seen it. To be taken there…

  My chest tightened.

  “Hey, Derek, listen to me.” She slid her hands across my cheeks and lifted my face. She looked so strong, so determined.

  “I know the truth. Athena knows. You know. Persephone will know because we’re going to tell her. Ares isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. Which means we can still beat this. I’m not saying it won’t be hard. Gods, it will be the hardest thing we’ve ever done. Thea is going to become a goddess. Mason and Corey are going to have to make promises to their own gods. And Liam…”

  She hesitated but pressed her lips into a firm line. “Liam loves you. He knows you. And he knows you would never do something like this.”