“Titan,” Hyperion corrected.
I snorted. “Definitely not one of those. You’re all a bunch of dicks.”
He shrugged but didn’t disagree. “Let’s find you some food, then we can get back to tracking Jealousy. This time, we’ll be smarter about our approach.”
Well, we couldn’t do worse, that was for sure.
Chapter 4
After Hyperion took me to the best little hole in the wall diner—hello, ten stacks of fluffy pancakes for five bucks!—we zapped out of the city and to what seemed like the Titans’ headquarters.
There was no one else there, but I recognized Rhea’s clothing in one corner, and a shirt I’d seen on Crius was draped across the back of the couch. It looked like a giant loft with exposed ductwork and twenty-foot ceilings. I was checking out the surprisingly swanky kitchen when a door slammed and I jumped.
Koios walked out of an adjoining room.
“Well, well,” he said, smiling as he crossed to me. “It’s the human.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “Not totally human. Or maybe you can just call me the human Pandora’s Box … hmmm.”
Some of the humor faded from his features. “Yeah, I’ve been tasked with figuring out how to get those sins out of you before it’s too late.”
#Uh #SayWhatNow
“What do you mean too late? There’s a too late?”
I mean there had been some basic talk about me not surviving taking in the final Sin of Death, but that was a joke, right? Right?
A brief exchange of glances happened between the two Titans. I was really sick of everyone hiding shit from me. I’d been through a lot of darkness in my life. I’d done some really hard shit, like three weeks tied to a fucking ancient set of trees in the redwood forest to stop them tearing it down; sleeping on the beach to protect baby turtles; living without a fucking decent family and mostly raising myself. Not to mention falling for a giant pain in the ass and having my heart obliterated. But I was still standing here. I was stronger than they thought and I sure as shit could handle this news, especially when it pertained to me.
Crossing my arms, I settled back, leaning on the kitchen counter, and stared at them both, silently letting them know that I would stand here for the rest of my life until they told me what they meant by “too late.”
“The sins are like … parasites,” Hyperion said slowly, watching me closely, like he’d stop talking the second I freaked out. “The longer they’re part of you … attached to their host, the more they infiltrate into your very being. To a point where I don’t think we’ll be able to separate you from them. You might not even want us to.”
What in the…?
I swallowed roughly, thinking of all the times lately I’d been talking to them like they were part of my subconscious.
“It shouldn’t be an issue though,” he hurried on to say. “We’ve heard that Zeus found someone that can remove the necklace and the sins from you. One of us will take them then. We have a much higher resistance to their charms. To their magic. We’ve been the gatekeepers between them and the world for too many years to count.”
Koios smiled brightly, his teeth so white against the dark of his skin. “Then you’ll be free to go back to your life. I’m sure you’ll be so relieved.”
An emotion that was nothing like relief hit me then. Back to my life…
#WhatLife #IllPassThanks
“So, Cronus is trying to track down Zeus?” I diverted the conversation from the fact that I had literally been the most lonely, boring human on the planet before a Titan fell into my lap. I couldn’t even think about losing all of this. Even when Cronus had been gone, I’d still felt the connection. Mainly in the stupid necklace and the sins, knowing he’d have to come back for them eventually. But if I didn’t have that…
I’d never see them again. I was sure of it.
Koios wore a slight grin. “Yes. Between tracking Jealousy of course.”
Did he hear about our angry sex? #KillMeNow
“He popped in here briefly,” Koios continued, “but then he got extremely pissed off, mentioned something about one Greek god who would soon be dead, and then he vanished.”
I definitely wasn’t worried about Zeus’ demise. It would be nice not to have to deal with him again, or look over my shoulder. But Cronus … I had no idea how I even felt about it all now. Part of me knew I had to let go of my obsession over him—I’d always been an obsessive person, but it was getting sad. I had to let go and deal with the real-life shit that was going on.
I could possibly die.
Or be bonded to three sins that would destroy me from the inside out.
I mean, this was real serious shit, and I was the fucking moron more concerned with getting laid.
#ButIMean #Sex #WearingFlipFlopsJustToRememberTheSound
“I’m ready,” I told them. “How can we track Jealousy?”
They both looked at me, brows drawn together, and I was guessing they’d probably been discussing that very thing. I hadn’t been listening of course, too busy worried about my blue vagina. I really needed to pay attention.
“We have some feelers out, but it would really help if we could bring the rest of our Titan brethren back from the underworld,” Koios sighed. “Okeanos and Iapetos especially are very powerful. They were an integal part of helping us contain the sins last time.”
Hyperion nodded. “Yes. Especially Iappie. He converses with the dead, sees into the immortal plane that exists side by side to Earth. He will hear things we can’t. Especially since Jealousy is keeping his shit low-key.”
“Why is Jealousy being so discreet?” I wondered out loud. “None of the other sins did that. They were straight out with death and destruction on the largest scale they could.”
It was Hyperion’s turn to look weary. “The sins get smarter along the scale until the nine is fully
