“You think I could just tell Aion to freeze?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, you can't control anything with free will,” Azrael said. “And you can't create life, either. Still, the magic is powerful. This god may control time, but it sounds as if he's otherwise defenseless. You could freeze him in a literal way; by manifesting ice around him.”
“That's brilliant.” I gaped at him.
“I've seen Gabriel fight.” Azrael shrugged.
“Oh, no,” I whispered. “Were you two friends?”
Azrael made a surprised bark of laughter. “Hardly. Gabriel was a supreme asshole. Don't worry, Carus, his death didn't bother me. I would have been far more upset by yours.”
“What does 'Carus' mean?” I asked him.
“Beloved,” Odin said. “It's a Latin endearment.”
“Oh,” I murmured.
“I am a god of water,” Toby said into the silence that followed.
We all looked at him questioningly.
“The freezing thing,” Toby reminded us. “Instead of having to work your magic around Aion, Vervain, I could surround him in water, and then you could just focus on freezing the water.”
“I don't know if that would make it easier on her, per se,” Azrael mused. “But it may make the barrier stronger; what with both of you contributing your magic to it. However, that's only one option; Vervain should probably practice a few things while we have the time.”
“We don't.” Odin nodded ahead of us.
Hades had stopped the march in front of a castle that looked as if it were made of polished jet. The outer walls were slick, high, and had an iron gate set into them, but the main body of the castle stretched up into the cavernous dark like giant spears; so tall that the tips were lost to the gloom. Two people stood atop the outer wall; a man and a woman. The woman had midnight wings like Azrael's, and Hades was shouting at her.
“I know it was you Nyx! Just tell me why,” Hades demanded.
“You won't be able to understand it now.” Nyx crossed her arms and stared down at him scornfully.
“Try me,” Hades ground out.
Odin, Azrael, Toby, and I moved forward with Thor and the rest of the rebel gods. We spread out to either side of Hades as his army pressed in behind us. Roars echoed forward from a bunch of lions some goddess had brought, and the sound shivered through my body.
“I can't believe this is happening again.” The man who stood beside Nyx shook his head in disbelief. “How does she find them every time?”
“You obviously didn't go back far enough,” Nyx snapped at him before she answered Hades. “You nearly killed Macaria, Hades.”
“What?” Hades scoffed. “I would never hurt my daughter.”
“You thought you had your reasons.” Nyx grimaced. “Regardless, you and your friends tried to kill Macaria and me; for that, I had to seek justice. You attack someone I love, and I kill someone you love; simple.”
“Obviously, you've lost your mind,” Hades said sadly. “I've never attacked you or our daughter.”
“Fool!” She hissed at him. “Aion changed your past so we could have revenge upon you and Vervain.”
“What has Vervain to do with it?” Hades asked in bafflement.
“She brought down my father and then dared to become an Olympian!” The man shouted.
“They won't believe you, Aion,” Nyx said; confirming the god's identity. “Look at them? They are completely lost to this new timeline; the fools.”
“I don't care anymore what your motives were,” Hades declared. “You killed my wife, and now, you'll pay. Attack!”
Hades motioned the army forward, and the Gods cast their magic at Nyx, Aion, and the castle wall. But Odin, Azrael, Toby, and I concentrated on Aion. I had been a little distracted by Aion's accusation, but this wasn't the time to wonder how I could possibly have taken down Zeus and become an Olympian. This was the time to put Time back to the way it was.
I nodded to Toby, and he summoned a column of water around Aion. The God of Time was completely encased; floating in a tube of water. Aion looked panicked, but drowning wouldn't kill him; we had to remove his head for that. I was about to say the word that would turn Toby's water into ice when a black mist surrounded me. I couldn't see through it, and so I couldn't focus on Aion. I reached out with both hands—trying to feel my way through the darkness—but it seemed endless... and hungry. I gasped as my energy was stolen; leeched out by the mist.
But then a pair of strong hands took hold of mine. The dark disappeared, and I looked up into Toby's striking face. He had the most amazing eyes; blue like that deepest, clearest water, but with a rim of chocolate brown around them. With his deep-cedar skin and raven-black hair as a backdrop, those eyes seemed to glow. The scent of fresh water cleared my head, but then he drew closer and everything went hazy again. All I could see was Toby.
“What happened?” I asked him.
“Nyx attacked you with her Darkness, but I control the Dark as well.” Toby smiled.
“Focus, people!” Odin shouted.
Toby and I jerked apart.
“We need to get up there,” Odin said. “They're distracted; this is our chance!”
Forget freezing him, use the hourglass! Alaric shouted.
“Give me the hourglass,” I said as I unfurled my new wings.
Odin held it out to me with a worried expression, but before I could take it, Azrael snatched the hourglass and shot into the sky.
“Azrael!” I shouted after him.
That's when the castle gates opened, and Nyx's army rushed out. Screeching harpies came first; the half-bird women flying ahead of the others. They lifted their vicious talons and dive-bombed the gods in our army. More screaming women followed the Harpies out, but they didn't have wings. What they had were
