Clearly Okeanos had chosen to go with a billionaire’s boat as our point of contact on the sea near the sins. Normally, I’d be excited about that, but apparently we were about to be drowned by a tsunami, so that dulled some of this ship’s shine.
“He’s got a bit of future sight when he applies himself and isn’t busy chasing women.”
I grinned. A problem all of the Titans had apparently. Still, none beat Zeus and his wandering dick.
Suddenly the floor was pulled out from under me and I flew across the room, smashing into the wall. Pain exploded across my shoulder as a groan escaped. The tsunami had clearly hit.
The sins surged forward within me, darkness coating my fingers as my aches and pains faded with the power. All the lights flickered in our room, and Theia, who was still standing exactly as she had been before, seemed to break out of her trance.
“Sorry, my darling,” she said, sounding horrified as she hurried over to me. “I had to momentarily lend my power to those above. The sins hit us a lot harder than we expected.”
“All good,” I wheezed out, standing on my own. “The sins I carry seem to surge up when I need extra energy.”
“Another wave is coming,” she murmured, her eyes glazing over again. “And another after that. They’re not going to stop until they wipe out everything with their destruction.”
The ship lurched again, not as bad as before, but maybe that was because I was already on the wall and could brace myself against it.
“Are these hitting the humans?” I shouted, over the roar of the ocean that was filling the large cabin. “They’re going to kill millions.”
Theia was pale, her face wreathed in worry. “No. It won’t kill millions.”
Normally I’d sigh with relief, but I knew better.
“Billions?”
She nodded, still grim.
“They’re aiming to wipe out the world in one fell swoop. Humans will not be able to stand against this destruction.”
Pushing myself up on the wall, I tried to get my stomach back under control as I lurched toward the door. “We can’t let that happen,” I shouted. “We need to contain those fuckers right now.”
Cronus couldn’t do it without me. He needed me to funnel the sins through to his necklace.
Theia called after me: “Maisey, you can’t go out there. You’re human!” But I didn’t look back. We hadn’t done all of this to let those fucking sins wipe out the world in a mass of giant waves.
Struggling to support my balance, I trudged outside. When I reached the deck, I slipped and sprawled. Water was everywhere, and as I straightened, the only thing I could see was a five-hundred-foot wall of water heading my way, as black as a raven feather.
The wave hit us, but the Titans must have been doing their magic thing, because it only rocked us side to side. I grasped the railing, keeping myself in place as we seemed to pass directly through the wave. Peering out into the crazy inky water, I saw faces, bones, and shapes moving inside. Chills ran the length of my spine. This was it; this was the end if we didn’t stop it.
“Come on,” Theia said at my side, hand under my arm to help me up. “If you want to help, we need to get closer.”
She wasted no time dragging me over to Cronus.
As he saw me walking over, his face fell. “Get back under—”
Another wave hit but Theia held me in place. This time, the ship groaned with stress and a crack rang throughout the boat. “We need to end this! People are going to die!” I shouted to Cronus.
He looked conflicted, staring up at the darkened sky, and I could have sworn lightning actually flashed through his eyes. In the same instant, everything froze, a huge wave of black water, two hundred feet high included—everyone and everything other than Cronus and me.
“I don’t want to lose you.” He walked toward me. “I only just found the sort of love you destroy worlds for.”
We crashed into each other, my lips pressing to his as I popped up onto my tiptoes. His hands came around my lower back, pulling me harder into him. I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss as tears formed in my eyes. I knew I had my faults. I cared about animals and the environment yes, but I was also vain and a bit superficial. I never went to college, I was a fucking waitress and amateur model, and here was the most powerful man in the world who loved me despite all of that. He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I’d never had that before, and I’d be damned if I was going to lose it.
Pulling away, I grasped both sides of Cronus’ face. “We’re bringing these fuckers down today and then it’s just you, me, and Bali.”
His blue and gold eyes bore into mine, swirling with so much depth and emotion. A sly grin tugged at his mouth. “Alright, human. Let’s do this. Together.”
Together. #Sobs
He did see me as his equal. That alone meant the world to me.
Everything jolted and started moving again as he released time. Okeanos was at our sides in seconds. “I can get you both in there. We will surround the next wave with power so you can start to pull the sins out.”
Sure, pull four deadly sins out of the fucking ocean, no big deal.
Cronus nodded, tucking me into his side, and I blinked to see that Hephaestus’ box was once again in the middle of the deck. “Hype, watch over the box,” Cronus called. “You’ll know when it’s time for me to use it.” Hyperion, standing across the far side of the deck, covered in black inky water, nodded.
My heart raced as Cronus walked us to the edge of the boat. Okeanos stepped up and threw his arms out. The wall of
