“I’ll see you soon.”
It sounded like a promise, and I accepted that into my heart, choosing to trust in him.
“Hyperion and I will resurrect you.”
This was my own promise to him. I meant it with everything in my soul.
Our eyes remained locked, no more words needed between us.
Finally he sighed. “Thanatos is calling. I need to contain my sin now.”
My chest heaved but I held my shit together. “I love you, you big dumbass Titan.”
He grinned. “Love you too, human.”
Before both of us lost our nerve, he was gone.
I wasn’t prepared for the grief that slammed into me. I held it together for about eight seconds before my chest tore right down the center. Sinking down beside my bed, I wrapped my arms around my legs and sobbed until my throat was hoarse.
Chapter 12
Eventually I pulled myself together. Crying wouldn’t do shit, and I’d gotten the initial grief out of the way. Now I could monitor the situation in the best way I knew how.
Social media.
Computer and phone in hand, I had it open to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and about ten others. Flicking between them all, ignoring the billion notifications I’d amassed since my last time online, I focused only on world events.
Fires Spread Across China.
Riots in the Streets Across the World.
Russia Having the Coldest Day of the Year With Ten Feet of Snow.
Mysterious Virus Spreading Across Europe.
Oh God. The fucking world was ending; the sins had enough time to get it rolling. I wondered if we were going to be too late.
Pop.
My head snapped up to see Hyperion, blood soaking his jeans and smeared across his face. “It’s not working, we need you. Cronus is getting battered and the sins are so powerful. He can’t get them into the necklace. He’s definitely going to kill me this time, but there’s no other choice.”
I leapt up, not caring that maybe this was where I’d die. I’d rather be obliterated on the front line with my family than sit here alone, wondering if everyone I cared about was being destroyed.
The second Hyperion touched my fingers, we zapped away. The first thing I noticed was the oppressive heat. Hot flames licked the pavement around us. Cronus was throwing around a blue magical whip, lashing at the flames to keep them back.
“I told you not to get her!” Cronus yelled at Hyperion.
I gasped as I saw that his entire right arm was burned and blistering. Sickness, Turmoil, and Strife stirred within me at the sight of a raging fire. The flames were orange at the top, normal looking, but at the base there was an inky shade to them.
A woman was screaming out of her window as the flames lapped at the side of the building.
I shoved Hyperion toward the woman. “You help her. I got this.”
“Mais—” Cronus gritted out as a huge flame wafted his way. “You shouldn’t have come.”
The sins were pounding against my chest and a realization came over me. Cronus might have the necklace, but I was made for this. I was the box. I might be part human and too fragile to hold them all, but they needed me to get them into the necklace so that Cronus could hold them. Reaching out, I moved my hand closer to the flame.
“Maisey, don’t you fucking dare!” Cronus shouted, lashing out with his whip.
The sins thrummed harder in my chest and I just knew I could do this. “Get behind me,” I barked.
Cronus looked at me incredulously, sweat dripping down his face, blue magical whip in his hand.
“Cronus, this time you need to trust me.”
Those words did something to him; his face softened as he stepped back and got behind me.
Please don’t be wrong. #ILikeMyHair #AndMyFace
I released my sins, letting them emerge and coat my hand in black energy.
Then I grabbed a flame.
Holy shit.
It was warm but not hot. My sins protected my hand like a glove. As I breathed in, the fire started to suck into my palm and I felt the heat pulling into my body.
“Are you okay?” Cronus’ concerned voice came behind me.
I nodded. I was. Weirdly.
“It’s working,” he murmured.
I looked behind to see the fire funneling through me and into Cronus’ necklace. I was the one to control them, even if Cronus now housed their essence.
I grinned, facing forward again. “We got th—” I broke off as the fire formed a humanoid figure, shadowy and dark like he had looked inside the cave in New Zealand. Before I could even react, energy shattered around us, throwing me back.
Pushing hair from my eyes, I desperately searched for him, only to find he’d vanished, the fire left in his wake still burning.
Spinning, I turned to Cronus. “What the fuck was that?”
Cronus looked … unnerved. “He … zapped.”
I touched his necklace, which was searing hot. “But we had him!”
Cronus shook his head. “Partially.” He cursed. “We forgot to take them in order, and that must have given him a shot to break off. Now he’ll find the others.”
“That’s bad, right?”
Cronus’ grim features answered for him.
“They’ll join forces,” Hyperion reminded us of the reason we’d been splitting up in the first place. “We missed our shot. It’s too late to try and take them out separately.”
Like they’d heard his words, or he’d called them with his energy, the rest of our ragtag group of deities popped back into existence, gathering close. Most of them looked a little worse for wear, but all were alive.
“Frost is gone.” Rhea’s voice shook, her hair matted to one side with ice.
“So is Death,” Ares added.
“Famine fucking disappeared like a god. How did he do that?” Crius growled.
They all started to talk at once. Cronus held his hands up to silence them. “They were gods once, remember?”
“This doesn’t change our mission,” Hyperion reminded them. “It certainly makes it a little harder, but in the end we still have to figure out how to wrangle the sins into Cronus. Then we have to transfer them to something that isn’t Cronus, to remain locked
