He was on me in under a second, picking me up by the scruff of my neck and introducing his fist to my jaw, snapping my head back. He let go and I landed on my knees. I lifted my arms to block the kick, but my movements were too slow. His boot landed in my stomach, flipping me onto my back.
I caught his boot before it came down on my neck. Muscles straining, I held him off, an inch from crushing my windpipe.
“I have a secret,” Hyperion said.
Struggling to hold his foot back, I grunted out, “You envy my hair?”
He laughed coldly. “Titans can kill an Apollyon, you silly little fuck.”
Ah well, shit…
“Apollo!” Josie screamed immediately, her voice cracking. “Apollo! Please!”
Hyperion turned from me, laughing. “Yes. Call him. Call him—”
Shoving his foot to the side, I powered onto my feet and slammed my hands down on his massive shoulders, feeding akasha straight into him. The big fucker jolted as the back of his skull lit up. He let out a roar that shook the walls. Using the distraction, I gripped both sides of his head and twisted.
Cracked like a dry board.
Except when I let go, Hyperion didn’t go down. He wheeled around, his neck twisted at a painful and disturbing angle.
“Oh come the fuck on,” I said.
Hyperion struck out, his fist catching me in the chest, knocking me back into the wall. Plaster cracked and dust plumed into the air as I fell forward, breaking my fall with my forearms.
He reached down, grabbing a handful of my hair, and Josie’s screams pierced the room. “You have mettle, but I am so very tired—”
A bright light filled the room, like a burst of sun in the night. Hyperion dropped me, spinning around. As the light receded I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Apollo stood in the middle of the room, as tall and powerful as the Titan. Head thrown back, white eyes glowing and spitting tiny bits of electricity into the air, he wasn’t dressed for combat in his white linen pants, but he was there, and I couldn’t believe it.
Hyperion dematerialized and reappeared by Josie, gripping her by the throat, cutting off her next breath.
“You wanted me,” Apollo said, hands at his sides. “I’m here, but you do not have me.”
The Titan eyed the god, lips pulled back in a sneer. “That’s what you think now.”
“Paidí apó to aíma mou kai sárka mou.” Apollo’s voice traveled like thunder through the room. “I apelefthérosi dynami sas.”
Of my blood and of my flesh, I unbind thee.
My gaze riveted onto Josie, and…and nothing happened. Her dilated eyes bounced from me to her father.
“That’s all?” Hyperion laughed darkly. “Really anticlimactic, Apollo. I am almost embarrassed for you.”
He smiled coldly. “Come on, Hyperion, you know I’m flashier than that.”
Then Apollo moved, brandishing a wicked-looking dagger. He moved so quickly it was hard for even me to track. His arm cocked back and he let go of the dagger.
It flew through the air, handle over deadly end.
Hyperion let go of Josie, stepping to the side, but the…the dagger was never aimed at him. I didn’t realize until it was too late.
Shoving to my feet, I felt my stomach twist with raw terror. It rose through me like a monster snapping its massive jaws.
“No!” I shouted, stumbling forward, drawing on akasha.
But it was too late.
The blade struck true, right where Apollo had aimed.
It slammed into the center of Josie’s chest, knocking her back against the wall, and my step faltered, as if I’d taken the mortal blow myself. Pain ripped through my chest, feeling so very physical. Oh Gods, I’d been here before. With a different girl, a different situation, but I’d been here before.
History was on repeat.
It happened so fast.
I’d seen the dagger in Apollo’s hand. I saw him cock back his arm and let the dagger go, but I didn’t understand as a fiery pain knocked the air out of my lungs and pushed me back against the wall. Had Hyperion hit me?
Looking down, a strangled sound parted my lips. Apollo’s dagger was buried in my chest, to the hilt. A swath of red stained the front of my shirt. Blood?
This couldn’t be happening.
I lifted my hands, but I didn’t know what to do with them. I tried to take another breath, but it was like there was a plug in the base of my throat.
“What in the fuck?” Hyperion roared, his anger like a furnace.
My pulse pounded erratically in my ears as I lifted my chin. My gaze collided with Seth. He was staggering toward me, his face pale and amber eyes full of horror. Oh God, I thought about what had happened before. This wasn’t right. This was so wrong. How could Apollo do this to him again? How could he do this to me?
Only seconds had passed from the point of impact to when my trembling fingers curved around the handle of the dagger. I had to get it out of me. In the back of my head, I knew that was probably a bad idea, but I couldn’t breathe and I wanted it out.
My legs felt detached as I gripped the handle of the dagger. Someone—Seth?—shouted as I doubled over, my hair falling forward. I yanked—yanked hard. My body jerked as a scream tore through me. The dagger clattered off the wood floor. A buzzing, a low-level hum, filled my head like an army of a thousand pissed-off bees. Something…something was happening.
I inhaled past the sharp, tangy pain and breathed in fire. I was on fire. Worse than when I was tagged and fed on, the blaze was in my veins, infiltrating every molecule. The pain throbbed throughout me, stealing the ability to think around it, but I knew this wasn’t death.
Death could not be this painful.
A great and terrible force started at my toes, rapidly traveling up my legs, beyond my waist and to my skull. My body straightened, bowing as my head kicked back. My mouth opened but there was no sound. Air seemed to build underneath me, and I was vaguely aware of my feet no longer touching the floor. I was in the air, my arms floating out to my sides.
I could feel it.
A coil of power that had slumbered my entire life, something that had always been there but had been at rest, built inside me. It had woken up, rushing through me, filling me, and it tasted like sunlight and strength. It was so warm, so incredibly hot. I heard a thousand voices—a thousand prayers uttered throughout the many years, in many different languages.
My eyes peeled open, and I saw Hyperion.
A stranger in my body smiled.
“Damn it,” he growled, backing up.
The heat inside me exploded free, pulsing out in a giant wave from the wound in my chest. It rippled out, creating a shockwave. Furniture lifted up, toppling over. The scent of burnt ozone filled my senses. The wave streamed, like a solar flare, pulsing as it reached Hyperion. The light burst, capturing his hoarse shout and sucking it in before the wave whirled its way back, slamming into me.
I fell to the floor, landing hard on my hands and knees, jarring my bones. All the wonderful strength, the glorious warm light, was gone. It took everything to lift my head.
The room was destroyed.
Glass was blown out, the windowsills on fire. The wood floor was warped, boards completely missing in some areas. Curtains were gone. Chairs were demolished into pieces.
Hyperion was gone.
So was Apollo.
In disbelief, my eyes scanned the wreckage of the room. I cried out when I saw Seth. He was lying on his back in the center of the room. He wasn’t moving. What had I done?
I forced myself across the floor with shaking, sore arms until I reached his side, my entire body trembling and my vision full of weird black spots that danced.
“Seth?” I placed a hand on his chest.
His eyes were closed, thick lashes fanning the tops of his cheeks. When there was no response, I pulled myself closer. I needed to get us out of here, but my head felt too heavy on my neck, and the next thing I knew, my cheek was on his chest, and the last thing I heard was the steady, strong beat of his heart.