CHAPTER
15
ALL AROUND us, the trees rattled and shook as a wave of birds suddenly took flight, streaming into the air in a flurry of snapping wings and frantic shrieks, blocking out the sun as they blanketed the sky.
Seth shot to my side. “Damn, this…yeah, this is not good.”
The ground quaked as the sound of hoofs pounded from the direction of the shaking trees. I stumbled, plastering myself against the tree as deer broke out from the trees. Not one. Not a few. Hundreds of them. They ran, hopping over the slight dip where the grass turned to pebbles, their white tails twitching.
But among the deer were smaller critters—rabbits, squirrels, skunks. Stunned, I watched as an entire cast of cute Disney-type creatures veered sharply at the water’s edge, following the lake until they disappeared out of sight.
Seth twisted toward me, brows raised, and I swallowed hard around the knot of fear in the base of my throat. “That’s not normal,” I said. “At all.”
“What? You don’t have a mass exodus of animals every weekend?”
Before I could respond to his smartass comment, a loud sound clapped again, causing me to jump. Louder than thunder, it rolled through the blue, cloudless skies, an endless roar that raised the tiny hairs all over my body. It sounded like trumpets, like the apocalypse kind of trumpets.
Or Godzilla.
And the sound was coming from where all the animals had run from, the direction of my grandparents’ home. My stomach dropped to my toes. “My grandparents…”
I pushed away from the tree at the same moment Seth grabbed my hand. He didn’t try to stop me. We ran together toward the noise. From above, branches broke away from the trees, streaking down and snagging my clothes and hair. Seth was sure-footed, avoiding every exposed root and boulder. We burst out from the trees, and there was my grandparents’ home, the Porsche next to the Ford, and everything looked normal except for the trampled bushes my grandfather had planted around the driveway a few years ago. I rounded the side of the house and the porch came into view. The front door gaped open, the screen door hanging off its hinges.
Oh no, no.
Seth’s grip tightened and he drew me to a halt. “Something’s not right.”
Fear crowded my thoughts. “I need to make sure my grandparents are okay. Let go.”
With his free hand, he pulled out one of those wicked-looking daggers he had stowed God knows where. “You are not going into that house.”
I whirled on him, but the look in his eyes stopped me dead. I shook my head. “No. Not—”
Seth hauled me to him and twisted, going down on his knees as another loud crack reverberated and the windshield on the Ford exploded in a shower of glass. “Gods,” he grunted, pushing me the ground and back against the Porsche. “Stay down.”
He sprung up and around, scooting down the narrow space as another shot rang out, smacking into the hood of the truck. I pushed onto my hands and knees.
My grandfather stood in the doorway, a sawed-off shotgun in his hands. He whipped it around, aiming straight for Seth. I scrambled to my feet. “Granddad! No!”
He didn’t hear me as he came down the porch steps, firing another round. I screamed as Seth darted to the right as the buckshot whizzed past him.
Seth moved as fast as I imagined a panther did in the jungle, rushing the steps. He gripped the barrel of the gun, twisting it out of my grandfather’s hands and tossing it to the ground in front of the Porsche. The sun glinted off the dagger as Seth raised it high.
“No!” I screamed, shooting out from between the two vehicles. “Seth! Don’t!”
Seth hesitated a fraction of a second as he looked in my direction. My grandfather stepped to the side, lifting his leg and landing a vicious kick in Seth’s midsection, knocking him back. With a grunt, Seth crashed through the wooden railing on the steps.
“What the…?” I skidded to a stop at the bottom of the steps, staring up at my grandfather. I hadn’t seen that coming.
My grandfather faced me.
“Josie, get back!” Seth shouted.
I saw my granddad’s eyes…or the lack of them. They were pitch black. No pupils. Just pure black. I took a step back. I took a sharp breath, and the scent of dirt and decay surrounded me.
He smiled. “We’ve been looking for you, daughter of Apollo.”
Oh shit.
“That’s not your grandfather.” Seth was suddenly in front of me, edging me back. “Not anymore.”
My head couldn’t process that. I got what he was saying, I saw what he meant with my own eyes, but I just didn’t want to understand. I couldn’t.
Granddad kept coming, and Seth tensed in front of me. “Don’t look, Josie,” Seth said softly. “Don’t watch.”
Breath strangled in my chest, and I couldn’t look away. He’d been right—Seth had been right. He tried to tell me that it would be too dangerous to come home, but I hadn’t listened.
I’d led these…these things straight to my family.
“It’s too late.” My grandfather laughed, and it was nothing like his normal laugh. It was cold as death, dank as underground tunnels. “He’s here.”
An icy shiver coursed down my spine.
Seth took a step toward my grandfather, and I knew what was about to happen. A scream built in my throat, but before it could escape, my grandfather threw his head back, and black smoke poured out of his mouth, thick and murky like dirty oil. I didn’t even see where it went.
My grandfather crumpled, folding into himself like there were no bones or muscles in his body. I shot around Seth, but he snagged my waist with one arm, lifting me clear off the ground. Through a haze of tears, I stared at the lifeless body. He lay in a messy pile of skin and clothes. My heart cracked, fissuring straight down the center.
“Pappy?’ I whispered, reaching for him.
“He’s not there,” Seth said into my ear. “He’s gone, Josie, and we need to go. We need to get out here before—”
Dust plumed above the roof as it cracked down the center. The windows in the house exploded, one after another. Glass flew through the air like tiny missiles, heading right for us. My throat closed up as Seth started to turn, to use his own body as a shield, but the glass shards stopped. They just froze in midair and stayed there. Light reflected on the slivers, turning them into diamonds. And then they dropped to the ground.
The house shuddered and the porch trembled as something— someone—stepped out from the warped doorframe. Planks of wood snapped under booted feet. Legs the size of tree trunks were encased in leather, and the wide torso was covered with a half-buttoned white shirt.
It was a guy—a massive guy who had to be seven feet tall, or damn near close to that. He was huge, steroid-size huge. Head completely shaven, eyes exotically slanted at the corners, wide mouth and broad cheekbones, his skin tone was the strangest mix of ethnicities. He wasn’t white or black or Hispanic; he appeared to be several different shades all at once. As he strode forward, the roof over the porch peeled up like a can opener had been set across the middle. The man was beautiful until I saw his eyes. They were pitch black—soulless.
Yeah, I didn’t need to be up on my mythology to safely assume that this—this was a god. Please be a friendly. Please be a friendly.
Seth continued to edge me back, his body coiled with tension. “Hyperion.”
Totally not a friendly.
Hyperion stopped at the top step as he tilted his head to the side. “Step aside, Apollyon,” he said, his voice echoing through me. “Or I’ll burn everything you cherish.”
“That sounds fun and all,” Seth said, blocking me. “But I think I’ll pass.”
The Titan was on the porch one second and then in a heartbeat he was right in front of us. Seth swore violently as he twisted, but even he—as fast as he was—wasn’t fast enough.
Seth was seized by the shoulders and tossed to the side like he weighed nothing more than a bag of potato chips—a half-eaten bag of potato chips. Full of rising horror, I watched him slam into the side of the house, cracking the exterior. He hit the ground, and I didn’t see him move.
Hyperion cocked his head to the side. “You are rather… boring for a demigod, but your father’s scent is all over you.”
Instinct propelled me into action. I spun around and took off between the vehicles. Where was I going? I couldn’t leave Seth. I could circle back, and then what? Scream for help? It didn’t matter. As I reached the opening, Hyperion was in front of me. Crying out, I skidded across the gravel and began backpedaling.
One side of his lips curled up. “Don’t run. It’s rude.”
Forget that.
Whirling around, I ran back to where I came from, breaking out between the cars, but then he was right there. Shrieking, I couldn’t stop in time and bounced right off his rock-solid chest. I fell back, landing on my ass.
He looked down at me, the shit-eating grin on his face. “It’s also pointless to run, little one. I am a Titan.”
I scrambled back across the gravel, heart racing as he casually strode forward. His arm snapped out, digging his hand into my hair. Fiery pain erupted over my scalp as he hauled me to my feet. I grasped at his thick wrist and dug my nails in.
He didn’t even blink as he lowered his head. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” he asked, and a silver color flashed across his black eyes. “Thousands of years I’ve been trapped with nothing but the thirst of vengeance to keep me sane.” He jerked his arm, and my back bowed as he leaned over me. “Well, the sanity part is up for discussion.” A warm hand circled my neck, cutting off my strangled gasp. “You don’t even know why, do you?”
I opened my mouth, but there was no air. No words. I smacked at his hand, trying to pry the fingers off of my windpipe. Stretched up on the tips of my toes, I was beyond the point of panic and knee-deep in terror. Like with the daimons, there was nothing I could do to fight him, no way to defend myself.
“Oh. Can’t breathe? Sorry about that.” Hyperion’s grip loosened enough to allow a ragged breath to scorch down my throat, but he curled his fingers, digging his nails into my skin like talons. His head came closer and when he spoke, I felt his breath on my cheek. “You think I want to kill you?” He laughed and the cars trembled around us. “No. I don’t want something quick for you. Oh no, I’m going to drag this out for years. Soon, you will call me Master, and when —only when—your father is broken and Olympus is ours, will I release you into the abyss. But until then, you’re going to be my personal PowerBar. Looks like someone already got to you.”
I kicked out, but my feet bounced off his legs with no effect.