I would have smiled, but we were all about to die so that didn’t seem right.
Cronus grasped my hand. “We still have the bond. One that can’t be broken.”
#Swoon #TakeMeToBali
“I’m going to freeze the fuckers and try to tear them apart,” Rhea called.
Her hands came up and shards of white ice shot into the water. Theia came up behind her, lending her powers, and Cronus clapped his hands, blue streaks of power shooting through as well, doing whatever it was that power did.
It was fucking Armageddon and all I could do was stand there with my pretty hair and black fingertips.
Steam shot up from the water as a thousand screams rang out around us.
“Here we go!” Rhea cried as a black blob emerged from the water and landed before me. In seconds, it transformed into a humanoid figure. Without thinking, I slammed my knee up into the general vicinity of where balls would be. It crumpled forward, liquefying onto my legs as I reached out and took hold of the only solid part I could before it disappeared.
A deep gnawing hunger hit my stomach.
Famine.
“I got it!” I groaned, my hands shaking as I fought to contain the Sin that was now pouring into my hands and crawling inside of me. The hunger grew so intense I whimpered, tears running down my face. My stomach felt like it was eating itself, and I struggled to comprehend any human having to feel like this in the twenty-first century, although I knew it happened all over the world.
Cronus grunted as the necklace absorbed the Sin; within me the feeling of hunger began to dissipate. A high scream rose from my left, and I turned just in time to see Rhea swept off her feet and torn in two by a large, black, spiky tentacle.
There was a collective gasp from our group as her blood sprayed over us all.
Death. Death just killed Rhea like she was nothing more than a human.
I stood there in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. It … it was too fast. She was there and then she wasn’t. Cronus stiffened behind me for a second, but that was the only move he made that gave any indication that he cared his ex-wife had just been split in two.
“It’s coming back around!” Ares yelled, lashing into the water with his glowing swords.
How fucking useless were these gods? All of us against the two remaining sins and we were losing?
“Maisey!” Cronus’ voice snapped me out of it. “Death is retreating and merging with Frost. We need to do something now if we want to have a chance.”
I looked out onto the water, which had stilled, and saw a black figure slinking away into the water. The bastard was retreating, only to come back when we least expected it and tear us apart.
The sins stirred within me. I realized that getting Frosty Death to come out was going to be on me. I fumbled with the rope at my waist, using some of my sin power to unravel it. With one final look at Cronus, I swallowed hard.
“Maisey…” he warned.
“Trust me,” I told him, taking a deep breath.
Leaping off the water shelf, I crashed into the ocean. The last thing I heard was Cronus' strangled cry. The second I sank into the water, I kicked after the black mass slithering away. I was a Santa Barbara surfer chick. I could swim like nobody's business.
#NotReally #SurfedTwoTimes
Pumping my feet, I trailed after the big asshole and was rewarded when he sensed me and turned.
Holy fuck.
#IInstantlyRegretThisDecision
The form the final two sins had taken was like that of a mythical water dragon, large and blue, with a horned head, four webbed feet, and a bunch of spikes down his spine. Without hesitation, he came after me, swimming like a fucking torpedo.
I’ve got this.
I’d been planning for this so I was already ready, turning and swimming as fast as I could toward the floating raft of gods. I wouldn’t have had a shot if one of the Titans hadn’t sent some water magic in behind me, shooting me forward at an unnatural speed.
Peering behind me, Frost-Death dragon looked pissed, steam shooting from its jaws. We were so close, I couldn’t give up now.
Breaking through the top of the water, I shouted, “Get ready!”
Okeanos, who seemed to be directing the water beneath me, was beside Cronus. The box lay open between them. Lightning cracked overhead as Cronus reached for me, the water pushing me up and out of the sea.
The Frost-Death dragon was right behind me. Black rivulets of water streamed off his body as he plowed right at us.
“Forgive me, love,” Cronus whispered, chucking me at Hyperion.
“No!” The shriek that left my throat was not human as I sailed through the air, crashing into Hyperion’s arms. They wound tightly around me, locking me in place.
There was no time to act. All I could do was watch in horror as Frost and Death slammed into Cronus’ chest, knocking him backward into the box. Cronus lay sprawled half in and out of the box, his hands clamped around the beast's back as he forced it into the necklace. The box trembled, glowing a sickly green, and I put more effort into thrashing against Hyperion’s hold.
“He needs me!” I wailed, kicking out to no avail as the man I loved wrestled the black mass into the necklace.
Suddenly, from my own body, a similar black, oily mass began to rise up off my chest as Sickness, Turmoil, and Strife were pulled from my body. They floated up and into the necklace, leaving me breathless and alone. Cronus made a sound that sent chills across my soul as he funneled all nine sins through himself and into the box. By the time he was done, there was no color left in his face; he looked half dead.
Theia and Ares ended up wrestling
