“Because he believes he can do as he pleases. We believe otherwise. You can do good or ill. He chose poorly. What about you?”
Something changed in Jane’s eyes as she looked up at him. The fear and despair faded to be replaced with purpose. “What do I have to do?”
Chapter 23
After leaving Malcolm to handle the Baroness, Kate and the others followed Simon down the steep slope into the stygian blackness. The cave walls around them were alive and shifting constantly. They had to move quickly to stay ahead of it as the very floor tried to drag them back to the main temple above. In the distance a deep red glow beckoned.
It was hard to tell how long they struggled through the madhouse of a tunnel, but eventually the ground settled into a permanent state. They rushed forward until finally they turned a corner and stared into a vast cavern. Fifty feet ahead of them, the black volcanic soil ended abruptly in a massive lava pool, bubbling like a witch’s cauldron that dominated the huge center of the chamber. Magma exploded from the pool in orange geysers, bursting in evanescent arches of liquid rock morphing from orange to black in midair as they cooled. The lake seemed to breathe, expanding and contracting, rising and falling, its surface level changing several feet in a matter of minutes, spectacular and terrifying at once. Black plates, cut by jagged cracks of orange, floated atop the magma. They shifted and rolled like a child’s puzzle with the pieces skewed.
An island rose in the center of the burning pool. It was nearly one hundred feet across and Gaios knelt with his arms buried in the ground as the earth heaved and bucked at his command. The waves of blistering heat made the air shimmer.
Simon slipped off his coat and flung it aside. He loosened the collar of his white shirt and rolled up the sleeves. His chest glowed as the runic tattoos flared.
Kate pulled several vials from her bandolier and handed them out. She stared pointedly at Simon. “Put on more of this before you do something stupid.”
“You mean in case.” Simon uncorked it with his thumb and poured a generous amount in his hand.
“I mean before.” Kate made sure they all slathered the heavy lotion over their exposed skin.
“Gaios is in a trance,” Nick pointed out, allowing the gel to be placed only on his face and neck. “He’s drawing power from the Earth.”
“Then he’s vulnerable. Be ready.” Simon was in motion. He raced to the edge of the lava and bounded onto the tilting stone platforms, hopscotching across the lake. He didn’t see the column of rock that rose and slammed into his midsection, shoving him up against the roof of the cave forty feet above.
“You seek to harm me in my own temple?” Gaios turned slowly around, his hands coming loose from the volcanic soil. “Is there no end to you fools? There is nothing you can do against me. Why won’t you learn?”
Simon shouted in pain as the pressure threatened to crush him. Gasping out a spell, a tattoo flared again and his skin solidified into stone, holding back the column. Below him, Nick’s hands coated with ice. Steam rose as the cold vapors evaporated in the heat, encircling him in mist. Nick flung bolts at Gaios, but a curtain of magma lifted and the ice lances merely evaporated. Kate vaulted from rock floe to rock floe until she was near enough to shoot a vial and throw several more with her other hand. Gaios raised a maelstrom of swirling stones that smashed them all, save one, which broke against the demigod’s calf. He screamed as acid ate at his still-very-human flesh.
Kate leapt the final gap across the molten pool to the shore of Gaios’s island, her pistol flashing from its holster. They had to keep the elemental’s attention on them and give Simon a chance to free himself. Nick swung his arms out and a wave of lava rose straight up out of the back of the pool and flopped toward Gaios. The demigod saw it at the last moment and held up a hand, solidifying it into solid black stone.
Kate launched another vial. A cloud of amber swirled around Gaios and solidified on his chest and head. She let loose a cry of triumph. She shot at the demigod, but the ball pinged off a chunk of rock that flew up in its path.
Kate saw something hurtling toward her as Gaios yanked Simon off the ceiling and threw him at her. Simon’s stone spell made his form something Gaios could manipulate. Simon couldn’t even cry out to warn Kate. He was going to crush her.