Daughter of Asteria (The Daughter Trilogy) (47 page)

Theia and Deidra are huddled with Lydia and the others as we walk over to their exhausted

expressions.

“Now that you’ve had time to think about it, how do you feel?” I eagerly assert.

“I feel like this puts a lot on you,” she sighs.

“Slash?” I ask.

“I’ll be good with it if he promises to drop his taunting threats, and he has to promise not to

mention the incident between you and me again,” he pouts.

I look expectantly toward Devin, and he frowns a little before answering.

“I promise,” he dryly mutters.

“Then I’m game,” Slash says with a little
oomph
.

“You know everything could go wrong the moment Gemma provokes a plant. What if they don’t

come right away? What if they sense a trap?” Theia worries.

“What choice do we have?” I prompt.

“You sure you want to do this early?” Devin asks warily.

“I’m positive. They think we’re running. If we give them an easy target, they won’t refuse.

Where’s the nearest island? I want to be as far away from civilian life as possible.”

“There’s one about three hours from here. It doesn’t have but a few people living there, so it

shouldn’t be hard to evacuate them,” Devin murmurs hesitantly.

His eyes are casting shadows of doubt as he looks anywhere but directly at me. I tug on his hand

to pull him away from the others.

“You don’t like it, do you?”

“I don’t like anything that puts you directly in harm’s way,” he grumbles.

“You know this could be our only shot of winning,” I urge.

“I do, but I also know this is one dangerous way to go about it.”

“I can do this. If they’re looking one way, I may be able to hit Van with everything I have before

he freezes me solid,” I tremble out. “It’s the only way we get the chance. If we wait for them to come

when they’re ready, then we lose the upper hand.”

“I don’t know that we really gain enough advantage to call the element of surprise a loss. I’m

worried we’re just speeding into something a little too recklessly,” he breathes with too much anxiety.

I stroke his tense cheek with the back of my hand, and he pulls it to his lips to plant a soft kiss in

the center of my palm. My name on his finger still wants to draw tears from my eyes, and I move to

be in his lap as he sits down.

“I love you,” I murmur through my gush of emotion.

“I love you,” he soothes, and his lips call to mine before I can utter another word.

I stare out at the ocean for what seems like minutes, but then there’s land just ahead.

“We’re here?” I gasp.

“Yeah. Time flies when there could be little left,” Kry softly answers.

“It flies when you have an eternity of it as well,” Devin offers.

“Are you ready?” I ask Gemma.

“Yes… No… Yes… I don’t think I really have a choice,” she stammers.

“Just wake a plant, and then we’ll wait,” I whisper.

She turns to the beach as we dock, and I see the others flashing off the boat to evacuate the

unsuspecting mortals. A palm tree bends to the ground, and Gemma’s eyes close as she concentrates

on not giving away her inner thoughts.

She releases it, and Devin takes my hand as we stare out at the sea. Everyone speaks in code so as

not to reveal our plan.

“Do you think it’s going to rain?” Kry asks softly.

“It’s hard to tell right now,” I answer dryly.

Hours tick by as if they’re minutes, and we continue talking idly in order to keep suspicions low.

Devin’s hand squeezes against mine each time the wind rustles too long.

Then we hear it… the buzzing. Devin almost crushes my hand when he squeezes too tightly as

the buzzing nearly deafens us to all other sounds.

We can’t see anything, and the ocean is wiped from our sight as the buzzing flakes darken the sky.

“The first part of your plan is already a miss. I can’t take out their boat if I can’t see it coming,”

Devin whispers.

“We’ll break that bridge when we get there,” I whisper back.

“It’s
cross
that bridge… not break it,” Gemma scolds.

“I plan on breaking everything today,” I growl.

The buzzing continues, and I bring my hood lower so my face isn’t revealed. Suddenly, each

flake begins swarming into a corporeal form, and the army of dead materializes.

I stare down at myself as if I’ve been exported from my body. Van’s eyes glare into mine, and I

see his smirk etching out when I tremble in fear.

“Hey, gorgeous. It’s a good day to join me, don’t you think?” his eerie tone mocks.

“One last chance to walk away,” I offer.

“I’ve got nothing to live for,” he jokes, and then his eyes swell with a flame as he glares his

penetrable stare of fear into my far too blue eyes.

I smirk as I see myself trembling and unable to do anything while Van thinks he’s winning. Then

I hear the pounding footsteps on the earth as the daughters of Athena appear.

I stand frozen as their vines wrap around me, and then Safina’s smug tone chills me to my bone as

she shows up in the immortal flesh and blood.

I have to kill Van first. She’s not supposed to be here yet, damn it.

“You summoned us? How stupid are you? Did you really think Van could be held back for the

full seven days?” she laughs. “He’s strong. His bloodlust is unparallel to any army of dead leader

I’ve used thus far. I’m surprised you’re so eager to die.”

I see a smirk spread over my face as I break through the vines they thought to be killing me with

poison.

“How the hell?” Herma barks.

“Oops,” my alien mouth says.

“The seer. He never leaves her side. Where is he?” Safina growls, but we keep our position

among the jungle shade.

“You sniveling little bitch. Who are you? You’re not the Aphrodite or you would be wheezing

for air right now,” she blares.

Devin squeezes my hand a little tighter as Slash drops the mask that bore my face, and Safina’s

ashes surge free from her body to charge him for his insolence.

Fuck. Too soon.

The wind circles Slash and the others as it swirls the ashes around, and then I see their air

elemental working against my attack.

“Now,” I screech, and Devin responds by pulling the ocean in to grab her and suck her out to the

pits of the unforgiving sea.

The ocean swirls violently as the battle begins, but they have their own water wielder this time.

He fights against Devin, but he’s not as strong.

“That’s new,” I strain out as I keep my hold on the ashes.

“He’s not from my family,” Devin grumbles, and he pushes against the air to force the waves

against the whirling wielders stepping up to aide the other guy.

Phillip joins Devin, and together they fight to press down on the suspended water. Safina’s eyes

scour the hillside we’re perched on, our bodies now barely cloaked by the jungle’s cover, and her eyes

fall on me and my hooded face.

“There she is. Stop her now,” she screams at Van.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I don’t know what to do now. I was supposed to take Van out while he was distracted. I’m the

only one strong enough to attempt it, and if his eyes find mine, I’m going to be paralyzed. This was

our only shot.

I can hear the others fighting as the battle roars across the island. Kry’s blades are pinging off

surfaces, and thuds are erupting all around me as lightening crashes.

Hagar is grounding their conductor in order to free the beautiful bursts of energy exuding from

Persia, Jace, and myself.

The rattling thunder begins to fiercely beat the walls of the heavens as I see Van rushing toward

me.

“Hold them back,” Devin yells.

Everyone launches their deadly spurts at Van and his army, but they just bounce off of their

indestructible bodies.

I can feel the tides surging through Devin’s body as he grips my waist. Suddenly he’s thrown

backwards as Van deflects the ripple I never saw Devin launch, and it strikes only him when it returns.

I close my eyes as Van finally reaches me, desperately trying to avoid the stare I won’t be able to

escape. I feel the power stirring inside of me, warning me of the dark force about to escape, but I

don’t even Kaos will be strong enough to save me from this devil awaiting my eyes to open.

“It’s time, Izzy,” he hisses.

I feel the chills consume me as death warns me of its presence, but when I open my eyes, there’s a

red glow obstructing the vivid colors that were once there.

I smile as I stare into the black eyes glaring at me and forcing his strongest offense. I don’t feel

the fear I’m supposed to though; I feel control, power, and the wrath of one really pissed off titan.

“You’re right,” my echoed voice chimes. “It is time.”

The fear meant for me now freezes him to a standstill. His face distorts as my fearless gaze shuns

his attempt to control me. He trembles as his lips quiver under the gaze my foreign eyes are

producing, and the fury of hell opens up to bring him home.

“No. She can’t…” Herma gasps.

“Adisia! Don’t let Kaos take control,” Devin pleads as he struggles to fight against the swarms of

the dead restraining him, hurting him.

“Too late,” my hollow voice responds.

Then I feel the new surge of power breaching the gates as the green mixes with the red.

“Time to go home,” my ominous double-chimed tone releases.

Van screams loudly as he crumbles to the ground in pain. He reaches for his throat as if he’s

gasping for air, and I hear the others from his army screaming in agony as he falters more.

He holds one hand up to beg, but Kaos shows no mercy the way my weaker self would. The

unrelenting titan isn’t wavering or forgiving.

The man standing before me shows his true self as he slowly fades into the corpse he was meant

to be.

Screams erupt as the deterioration quickens. His hand reaches out hopefully one last time to

plead for the mercy that still remains absent, and he bursts into the silent flakes that once buzzed with

intimidation.

The rest of the army splashes into the same unthreatening flakes, and they gradually begin

floating to the ground with no chance of regeneration.

I slowly strut through the littering flakes, and all the sounds around me fade as I stalk toward the

snarling Safina. My tunnel vision for her pulses as the red darkens my view. No other color exists,

and I only feel stronger by the second.

Herma steps up, but with a wave of my hand she’s thrown from the land and into the deadly

clutches of Devin’s sea. I feel a small stinging sensation in my hand, but it’s not even enough of a

hindrance to inspect.

My attention has to stay on Safina. Her ashes took the lives of our people in reality and in my

horrid vision. Her power is the greatest, and her death is the most necessary.

The wind swirls around her, and she screams as it lifts her into the air. It grabs me and pulls me

with it, and we spiral through the air opposite each other as the raging cyclone carries us away from

the others.

I drop her to the other side of the island once we’re clear from my immortal loved ones. She

thuds
in a clumsy roll while I drop to my feet with the intimidating badass entrance I fully intended to

make.

“You bitch! You think you can kill me without killing everyone else?” she scoffs too cockily, and

then she wipes her bloody mouth with her sleeve.

Her orange and black eyes swirl while her streaked hair rolls through the vicious winds. She

shrugs off her jacket, and I tilt my head to the side as the green rejoins the red.

“That’s the plan,” I menace.

“I’m not a man, so your green doesn’t scare me. Your red offers me little pause, for ashes can’t

be burned. You can’t handle all three at once,” she laughs.

I smirk as I feel her taunting remark pissing off the prideful entities inside. The white surges to

the surface, and I feel the burning in my hands as the fire forms around them.

“Can’t I?” My voice echoes with several tones at once.

Her smug smirk fades instantly as all three reveal themselves in unison. I feel the power rushing

through me with more glorious power than I ever thought possible, and I know she’s mine now.

“No… You can’t… No…” she stutters while stumbling backwards.

A new sensation floods me, and the fire shoots free. The white burn of Asteria’s cosmos mingles

with the flames of Kaos’s fire, and Aphrodite’s passion intensifies the white blaze that much more as

it begins swirling in a ferocious ring around Safina.

“I’ve learned a thing or two since our last encounter,” I taunt.

The sight of the delicious fear staining her eyes empowers me that much more as the white flames

begin closing in around her, confining her to the small space like a fiery cell,

She starts to scream, but she’s silenced as the white flames rush into her gaping mouth. She

chokes on the fire she ridiculed with underestimation, and she suffocates on the power she never

thought could exist.

The orange and black swirls in her eyes begin to slow as the fire lifts her from the ground to burn