by Candy Crum
Kylie knew right then why she hadn’t heard back from her spirited friend. Her life had been saved. She ran to where Joe had come from, sliding down on her knees. She was afraid to touch her, and made sure to keep distance in case she was still weak.
“Hi!” Kylie said. “You made it!”
“I did,” the woman said. “Thanks to you and your friends. The witches are both on this side of the river now. We managed to get their attention, but they’re cloaked.”
“I’m glad that you have memory of all that now that you’re back in your body. Still… the news isn’t good,” Kylie said. “There’s no way that I can sense out two cloaked witches.”
“You don’t need to,” she said. “Use the others that have died. They’re gone, but they aren’t useless. They want to help. They’re ready for you to command. You are the only thing that they have left. Help them get closure. They want those witches to pay for what they’ve done.”
Tears fell down Kylie’s cheeks. She didn’t want to use the dead that way. She wasn’t even aware that she could. They’d always been unable to stop themselves from touching her and being pulled into Hades, but everything around them was so chaotic, it was possible that they were able to ignore the pull. Or maybe the fear of leaving such a large deed undone was anchoring them. Kylie knew that in the same position, she would fight the pull they felt if it meant avenging her wrongful death, or the death of her family, friends, or other innocent people.
“I’ll find them,” Kylie said. “I’ll find those witches. I promise.”
Kylie stood and turned, jumping a little as she saw several spirits that had been standing behind her. They varied in ages from very old to very young. It crushed her to see all of them there. She silently prayed to anyone listening that some of them still had a chance. Looking at them and gathered strength as she thought over Amy’s words. “You are all they have left,” she’d told Kylie. It was a responsibility that she didn’t want to get wrong, or blow off.
“I need you,” Kylie said finally. “All of you. I need you to help me find the witches. They wanted you to die. They knew we would be underprepared and unaware of what we are doing.”
Kylie stood as she spoke to the spirits, but they weren’t her only audience. There were others that watched her. Her friends hung on her every word. They couldn’t see the spirits, but they knew who she spoke to. Bystanders paid close attention to her speech and several of them stepped forward.
“Are you the one that Cronus is after?” one of the bystanders shouted.
“What?” Joe asked. “How did you know that?”
A woman stepped forward. “It was all over the news in Europe, but it didn’t take long to get here. Cronus told the world that he wanted all of the humans to search for… I can’t remember what he called them.”
“The Fated,” the other man said. “He said that if we brought them to him, that he would spare us.”
“Is that what you plan to do?” Cass asked. “You watched us, and even helped us, while we saved dozens of lives. Maybe more. I couldn’t begin to count. We couldn’t have done that without you. You certainly couldn’t have done it without us. We are in this fight together. This happened to lure us out. They were willing to kill all of you just to get ahold of us. Do you really want to be on that side?”
The man that first spoke stepped closer.
“My name is James Richards. My daughter was two minutes ahead of me and on that bridge. We just bought her a brand new car, and she was driving it home. You saved her life. I watched you pull her out of the water myself. I don’t want to turn you over to that monster. I wanted to know if we had the honor of fighting by your sides. Fighting next to the ones that are going to save the world. I will never stand with him,” he said.
“None of us will!” a man that stood further back shouted.
The crowd began to cheer and shout.
“We stand with the Fated,” James said.
Kylie stepped forward, speaking to both the living and the dead. “We need to hurry before they leave or do worse. All of those that have died, stand with me and help me fight them.”
“How sweet.” A feminine voice filtered through the crowd as the witches stepped out right behind her. “You’re quite the public speaker.”
“Why would you do this?” Joe asked as he stepped next to Kylie. Jess had even come to join the group, her head pounding.
“Why would you want to hurt so many innocent people?” Joe asked.
“How can you judge me when you don’t know me?” The brunette had quite a knowing smile as she spoke. “I am Ariyah, and this is my friend Chelsea. We serve Cronus. Not the people. Cronus will win, and so will we. He sent us after you. You’re lucky that he doesn’t want you dead,” Ariyah said.
“He doesn’t want us dead?” Alee asked. “Why?”
Ariyah smiled. “He has no idea how long it will take to gather his strength. He needs you alive so he can use you. I’m unsure if he just plans to absorb your power, if he plans to turn you to his side, or kill you once he’s done with you. In any case, you’re to stay alive.”
“We will never serve him,” Brittany said. “I’ve trained my entire life to fight him. I’m not going down that easily.”
Ariyah stepped forward. “Suit yourself. Go the hard way, then.”
Ariyah whipped her hand around, a massive fireball roaring through the air at Brittany. She dove and tumbled out of the way. The group scattered in an attempt to make it harder for them to be hit as people screamed and ran down the interstate, taking cover behind wrecked vehicles from the impending battle.
The gryphon ran forward, ready to pounce, but Chelsea stepped up. She thrust one of her hands outward, causing the gryphon to screech in pain. She fell to the ground, emitting high-pitched screams and loud growls as she did all she could to shield herself using her wings.
“Epíthesi.” It was the only word to come from Chelsea’s mouth, but it was a strong one.
Cass watched in horror as the same Hydra he’d only barely fought off before emerged from downstream. It was in full view for everyone to see. Uncloaked and terrifying. It was fully healed, all of its large dragon-like heads alive and ready to devour whatever the witches asked it to. The Hydra made quick strides toward the screaming and helpless gryphon lying on the ground.
“No!” Cass yelled.
He ran forward, wanting to save the gryphon, but Darius snatched him up and held him back.
“You can’t!” Darius said. “That thing will kill you!”
“I stopped it before!” Cass said. “We can’t let it kill that gryphon. Not after she saved all those people.”
Thunder rumbled as lightning danced across the sky. The sun was going down and the fight had only just begun. Brittany took a chance as she felt the same pain that Cass felt for the gryphon. She pulled a knife from a sheathe that she wore on her ankle under her jeans. Brittany used Darius’ large frame to shield her from Chelsea’s view as she threw the blade. The throw was flawless. It cut through the air with lightning speed and impaled Chelsea in the right side of her back. She screamed as her attention turned to her wound and away from the gryphon.
With the pain gone, the gryphon rolled out of the way and narrowly escaped the Hydra’s initial attack. She was careful to avoid the heads of the Hydra, but it was no use. The Hydra struck out with its tail and knocked the gryphon into the center of the river. Cass was well aware of how dangerous the Hydra could be in the water, but he knew that he could be feared there as well. As the Hydra went in the river after the gryphon, Cass took advantage of Darius’ distraction and freed himself of the death grip. Cass ran, diving into the water as soon as he was close enough.
“Cass!” Jess screamed.
Jess was terrified, knowing without a doubt that was the very thing that had attacked Cass only the week before. That night she’d been forced to stand by while he fought for his life. She wasn’t about to do that again. Without a second thought, Jess ran forward and jumped in
after him.
“It seems like you guys are making this a little easy on us,” Ariyah said.
“Certainly looks that way,” Chelsea said. “And this?” she waved the knife in the air before tossing it to the ground. “Not nice. Which one are you?”
Brittany smiled. “Athena.”
“Oh good,” Chelsea said. “It looks as though we have the descendants of Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hades, Poseidon, and our little road-trip friend is Zeus. Though, I’m unsure of who that girl that just jumped in the water could be. It doesn’t matter. You’ll all join your Ancestors once Cronus is finished with you. Tell them I said hello.”
“Darius,” Joe whispered. “Can you use your powers at will?”
“I don’t know,” Darius said. His brows furrowed as he stared ahead. “But I plan to see if I can.”
“Let’s make this a little interesting,” Ariyah said.
Another wave of her hand conjured a wall of fire spreading across the interstate and the fields on either side, separating the Fated from the people they were trying to save. As they’d suspected before, the rain had no effect on magical fire.
“Shall we begin?” Ariyah asked, another devious smile spreading across her beautiful face.
The river seemed to clear quite a bit as most of the loose earth and debris had been washed downstream. The water rushed even faster than before as the rain had begun to pick up again. Cass navigated the current and searched downstream in an attempt to find the gryphon. He did not see her, or the Hydra, which only worried him given how the Hydra had been cloaked before.
Even in the rushing water, Cass was able to feel a tremble in the flow. He turned to see Jess swimming toward him, but further behind, he saw what he’d feared. A few dozen yards behind his friend, Cass saw the Hydra using its powerful clawed feet to flip one of the submerged cars. The car tumbled through the water toward Jess at a dangerous speed, picking up more as the water pushed it faster.
Adrenaline pumped through Cass’ veins as he propelled himself through the river at speeds he didn’t know he possessed. He reached Jess, wrapping his arms around her as he prayed he’d take the hit instead of her. The sound of crushing steel echoed around them, the vibrations rocking them a bit.
Cass opened his eyes, realizing then that he’d closed them. The water that surrounded his immediate area did not flow. They were locked in a bubble of stillness, safe from the rushing current around them. The bubble acted like a shield, having stopped the car as it smashed hard into the side. Cass stared at the wreckage pressed against the barrier only a foot away. Not wanting to risk the bubble of solitude fading, he kicked his feet and brought Jess up to the surface as their barrier continued to envelop them. As soon as they were clear, the car continued to roll down stream.
“What are you doing?” Cass asked, his eyes wide.
“I couldn’t let you face that thing alone again!” she said.
“You can’t help me,” Cass said. “I can breathe down here; you can’t. Go. It’s going to come back after us any moment. Find the gryphon. I’ll take care of-”
Cass didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as the Hydra’s tail wrapped around his leg and pulled him down. Jess heard a loud whoosh. She turned to see a wall of flames rise between her friends and the people they’d saved. She was torn between going back under the water and risking drowning to save Cass—who had no one to help him find the gryphon—or getting out to help fight the witches.
“He will be killed, a voice said. You are my descendant. A descendant of Hera. You can stop that beast faster than he can. Save him.”
Jess stopped as she thought back to everything she had learned about Greek mythology in the past. Her seventh grade English teacher had focused an entire two weeks on the subject, even bringing in pomegranate seeds to eat, as that was the only thing that Persephone had eaten while trapped in the Underworld, thus trapping her with Hades as his queen.
Hera was another favorite of her teacher. She said that Hera had been very jealous of the many women Zeus had taken as lovers and even fathered children with. At times her jealousy had allowed Hera to forget herself, causing her to be quite cruel. She was known for sending monsters in retaliation. Something that was uncalled for, given that it was Zeus who had been unfaithful, but she had still been compelled to seek retribution.
Jess wasted no time. She took a deep breath and dove back under the surface. She worried for the gryphon, but knew she had a greater chance of survival than Cass against a Hydra. Her friends were all together, which allowed them to have better chances for survival as well. Her place was with Cass. Hera had spoken, and Jess could not ignore her.
The battle with the witches was about to begin and the group had no plan other than to simply dodge their attacks. Would they kill them? Could they kill them if they needed to? Would they be able to get the girls to surrender?
“Shall we begin?” Ariyah asked.
Darius focused on his rage. It was not difficult to do so as he worried for the people on the other side of the wall of flames. Thunder cracked overhead as he felt the tingle that was becoming all too familiar to him moving through his body. He took a step forward.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Darius dropped down to the ground, his hands flattening on the wet earth. His body weakened as the energy he’d been storing burst out of him, traveling through the ground and exploding out as it reached his targets. Both women screamed as they were hurled backwards, rock and earth raining down around them. They rolled over on their stomachs as they struggled to get to their feet.
“Go!” Brittany shouted.
Joe, Alee, and Brittany all rushed forward, running after the witches to keep them from escaping. Kylie knelt down to help Darius to his feet, who had become very weak and a bit disoriented.
“You did it!” Kylie said.
Darius shook his head. “Not really. I didn’t mean to release that much energy. It wasn’t even supposed to be that soon. It just exploded out of me as soon as I touched the ground,” he said.
“You’ll get stronger,” she said. “It’s just going to take some time.”
Kylie looked forward to see that her friends had stopped. They looked around themselves for the witches that had concealed themselves behind magic once again. Kylie also searched and saw the spirits watching her, waiting for her to say something.
“If they can use you to fuel their power, then you can see them. Please,” Kylie said. “Find them and stop them from leaving!”
“I don’t think they anticipated me having that much strength,” Darius said. “I think it scared them. Good thing they didn’t stick around to see how much it took out of me.”
“I don’t think they did either,” Kylie said. “We need to get that fire under control. It’s getting closer to the vehicles. If there’s any gas on the ground, the flames will start causing explosions and we won’t be able to save those people from that.”
Darius nodded as he did his best to regain control of his body. He took a deep breath and made his way over to the fire with Kylie. The wall of flames was high. It was taller than Darius and far hotter than normal fire.
“What are we going to do?” Darius asked. “It’s pouring out here and the rain isn’t even fazing it. I don’t think my powers aren’t going to be much help, not that I could control them anyway.”
Kylie sighed. “We may need Cass,” she said. “If he could pull a rush of water up here, we might be able to stop it. We have to get the people on the other side to safety. That’s most important.”
“We are soaked from rain. Do you think we’d be able to jump through without getting too burnt? The flames, rain, and river are all too loud to shout over,” Darius said.
Kylie nodded. “We have to try.”
“Krónos akoúsoun tin ékklisí mas gia voítheia!”
Kylie heard chanting from behind her. She turned to see the witches locked in a barrier, bloodied and filthy from what Darius had done. Joe, Alee, and Brittany
all gathered around them, ready for what may happen.
“Krónos akoúsoun tin ékklisí mas gia voítheia!” Ariyah and Chelsea chanted over and over.
“What are they saying?” Kylie asked.
“That’s not good,” Darius said.
“What is it?” Kylie asked.
“They are calling out to Cronus. You can hear them say his name,” Darius said.
Chills ran through Kylie as she grasped what Darius was saying. They were trying to bring the titan there to them. Kylie remembered back in the truck how the blonde witch had been able to teleport Joe out and then back again. If they could do that with Cronus as well…
“We have to stop them!” Brittany shouted. “We have to find a way to get through the barrier. It’s too strong as it is!”
Kylie and Darius ran over to the witches that were safe and locked away within the powerful aura. The group could see the girls inside, eyes wide, shaking from fear as well as frigid rain. Blood ran down their faces as they chanted for Cronus to come save them. To come claim what he’d asked them to procure for him.
“There has to be something that we can do!” Joe said.
Kylie looked around her, the spirits gathering in tight. “Actually,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I think I know what to do.”
Jess swam hard, her sharp eyes able to see through the cloudy water with ease. The water whipped around her as it tried to push her back, but the increased strength helped her move forward. She found Cass at the bottom, the Hydra striking at him with its many heads. It was obvious that the monster did not want to kill him, and she imagined that was because of what Ariyah had said. The Fated were not to be killed, but delivered to Cronus alive.
Out of nowhere, Jess felt something wrap around her waist, yanking her upward. Within moments she was out of the water and in the sky. She looked up to see the gryphon holding her tight as she flew over to the bank, dropping her from just a few feet above the ground.