No. Ari’s eyes flew wide. No! He scrambled from the ground and skidded to Cerek’s side.
“Cerek...”
Someone screamed his name. He looked up just as the Siren on the edge of the ravine pulled another arrow back. Another whir sounded, but this one didn’t come from the Siren’s bow. Just before she released the arrow, a dagger struck her in the throat. Blood spurted from her neck, and the bow fell from her fingers. Her body hit the ground and slid down the side of the ravine.
Ari’s head swiveled to the side, and in a daze, he realized Daphne had thrown the dagger. She rushed to his side, dropped to her knees next to him, and looked down at the blood drenching Cerek’s shirt. “Oh gods.”
Air clogged in Ari’s lungs as he looked back at his son. He had to fix this. Grasping the fabric where it was torn, he ripped Cerek’s shirt open, then wrapped his hand around the arrow and pulled, but it wouldn’t release.
“Ari.” Panic lifted Daphne’s voice. “Ari look.”
His eyes shot to the wound. To the blood that was already drying, and the gray lines streaking outward from the spot where the arrow was embedded into Cerek’s flesh.
Ari placed his hand on the skin near the wound. It was hard. Hard and cold, like stone.
“No.” He focused on his healing power, placed his other hand over Cerek’s chest. Energy gathered beneath his palms, but it wouldn’t permeate Cerek’s skin.
He tried again, but still nothing happened. Voices muttered near him. Feet shuffled. Someone dropped to the ground on Cerek’s other side. But all Ari could see was his son lying in the snow in front of him, his body slowly turning to stone with every inch those lines traveled.
“No.” Ari’s vision blurred. He moved his hands to yet another spot, only his healing powers weren’t getting through. “This can’t be. Someone help us. Someone—”
“Pateras.” Cerek’s hand closed over Ari’s on his chest. “Dad,” he said in a weak voice, “it’s okay. Stop.”
Ari stilled his frantic movements and looked at Cerek’s face.
“I’m okay,” Cerek said. “There’s nothing you can do. I’m... You have to let me go.”
“No.” Tears swam in Ari’s vision. He pressed his hands harder against Cerek’s chest but it was already hard and cold. “No.”
“I’d do it all again for you,” Cerek said, his voice fading. “Promise me...you’ll finish what we started. Promise”—the streaks crept up his neck—“you won’t let our line fail.”
Tears slid down Ari’s cheeks. He’d said those very words to Cerek just before he’d faked his death and disappeared. He’d wanted Cerek to take his place with the Argonauts, to fill the slot meant for his kin as the chosen descendants of Theseus. Never in a million years did he expect to hear his son say the very same words back to him.
“I...I promise,” Ari choked out. “I won’t let our line fail.”
Cerek closed his eyes and drew a shallow breath. “That’s...good. That’s...the way it should b—”
The streaks crept over his chin and up his cheeks, hardening his lips mid-sentence. Ari grasped Cerek’s stone shoulders and screamed “No!” but the streaks spread up his face until his skin cracked and hardened and what life force was left inside him turned to solid stone.
“Holy Hades,” someone muttered.
“Gods Almighty,” someone else said.
Through tears, Ari stared down at Cerek’s lifeless body, unable to believe what he was seeing. There had to be a way to fix this. There had to be someone—
His frantic mind caught on Nick. Nick was a god now. Kronos’s son. Ari had seen Nick’s face only moments before. He turned quickly, scanned the crowd through blurry vision, screamed, “Nikomedes! Do something! Do something now!”
“Ari, man.” Nick stepped close, his face drawn and somber, his dark gaze skipping over Cerek’s stone body. “I’m so sorry. I can’t—”
“He can’t bring anyone back from the dead,” a cold voice said from the top of the ravine. Ari’s head jerked around, and he looked up to where Zeus stood staring down at their group with contempt and victory in his black as sin eyes. “No god can. Thank your fucking Fates for that, Argonaut.”
“You.” Ari’s vision turned red. “You did this. You killed my son.”
“Technically,” Zeus answered, “my very special Sirens killed him. Their arrows were dipped in Medusa’s venom. I’d much rather one struck you, but since your friends consistently choose war over peace, I guess I’ll take any dead Argonaut I can get.”
“You bastard.” Ari lurched to his feet.
Zeus’s eyes flashed. “Careful, Argonaut. The laws of the Fates don’t allow me to kill you with my powers, but if you come at me, I’m more than happy to rip your head from your pathetic body.”