"Talon," he rasped hoarsely. Ash's eyes flickered, then he looked back at Talon.
Suddenly, another shock wave shot through the room, this one in the reverse direction from the first. It was as if the unleashed power were drawing back into Acheron.
The dragon shot up toward the ceiling, then vanished.
Ash's features transformed back into the face of the man Talon had known these centuries past.
Ash blinked his now silver eyes and looked around as if he were waking up from a nightmare.
Without a single comment, Ash stepped away from Talon, wrapped his arms around his chest, and walked across the room as if nothing had happened.
As he passed Artemis, she reached for him, but he dodged her touch and kept walking.
Artemis turned on her brother with a snarl. "Just you wait till Dad gets his hands on you.
"
"Me? He knew what I had planned tonight. Wait until I tell him about Acheron!
"
Artemis curled her lip. "Oh, shut up, whiny boy." She held her hand out and zapped him out of the room.
Styxx shrank back as Artemis turned her gaze to him.
"You," she said, her tone thick with loathing.
Styxx gulped audibly. "How can you protect something like him? After I died, I was sent to the Elysian Fields while he was—
"
"No concern of yours," she said, interrupting him. "You and your precious family, you turned your backs on him and condemned him for something that wasn't his fault.
"
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"Not his fault? Please." Styxx tried to say something more, but his voice vanished.
"That's better," Artemis said. "Funny, the two of you sound alike and yetyou whine. Thank Zeus, Acheron doesn't have that repugnant quality. But then, he was always a man and not a sniveling little child.
"
She backed Styxx against the wall. "I can't believe you. I gave you a perfect existence. Your own island, filled with everything you could ever desire, and what did you do? You've spent eternity hating Acheron, plotting ways to kill him. You don't deserve mercy."
"You can't kill me," Styxx squeaked out. "If you do, Acheron dies too."
"And I curse the day the Fates bound your life force to his." She narrowed her eyes at him as if she wanted nothing more than to splinter him where he stood. "You're right. I can't kill you, but I can make living a worse hell than anything you can imagine."
"What are you going to do to me?" Styxx asked.
She smiled evilly. "You'll see, little human, you'll see."
Styxx vanished.
Artemis turned to face them. She took a deep breath and seemed to calm down exponentially.
"Take care of your soul, Speirr," she said to Talon. "Know that it was purchased for you at a very dear cost." Then she too vanished.
That left them alone with Camulus.
"Well," Talon said to the Celtic god. "It appears your friends have abandoned you."
Camulus sighed. "What a pity. Excess, War, and Destruction. Together, we would have had a high time on earth. Oh well. I shall just have to content myself with taking her from you again. After all, she gave me her soul and now I wish to claim it. And of course, the fun thing about souls, they can only be claimed from a dead body."
Camulus started for her.
Talon pulled his srads out ready to do battle.
Out of nowhere, a bright flash lit the room. It faded into a form that was almost as dear to Sunshine as
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Talon's.
"Grammy?" Sunshine asked in disbelief.
Her grandmother stepped between them and Camulus. She faced the Celtic god with a stern glower. "
'Fraid not, hon. You don't own bupkis."
Camulus was aghast at her appearance. "Morrigán? What are you doing here? This doesn't concern you."
"Oh yes, it does." Her grandmother transformed from a little old lady into the beautiful war goddess Talon had met in his days as a mortal man.
Talon went cold.
Sunshine sputtered. "Excuse me? What is this?"
Her grandmother looked at Sunshine apologetically. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way, Little Bit, but Acheron and I had to stop them from unleashing Apollymi. And to get Talon free, we needed the two of you here to face Camulus."
Talon gaped.
Ash had known all about this? Why hadn't he told him?
The Morrigán turned back to Camulus. "Sorry, Cam. For onceyou forgot to read the fine print. You agreed with Bran to let Nynia be reborn to mortal parents for your scheme. You never specified that her grandparents be mortal too.
"Since I couldn't help Speirr escape your curse and his bargain without declaring war on you and Artemis, I figured the least I could do was return his wife to him in the body of someone you couldn't touch. Nynia now reborn as Sunshine is flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood. When Speirr drank from her neck, he took my blood into him and now he, too, has my protection."
Camulus cursed.