From Titans (Book 4) (26 page)

“
I
’
m going to eat you one by
one. You cannot defeat the elders.” Cronus
’
s tone sounded like a
promise. His eyes blazed with determined fury.

“
Hermes, Tara, where are
you?” Zara muttered under breath. She had been trying to protect us
by creating a bubble of shield whenever one of us needed it, but we
were scattered, and the arena was too big for her to pinpoint
exactly where we were hiding, dodging, or running.

A bright light glowed
between two boulders and then blinked out.
Hermes
’
s and Tara
’
s heads came into view. Zara and
I ducked behind a titan as dust clouds came and went, depending on
the Titans
’
footing.

“
Do you have it?” Zara
asked.

“
Yes.” Hermes placed the
trident and helm in front. “How
’
s it going? From the looks of it,
not well.”

“
One titan is down for
now,” Zara said. “You know how the history went. It took years to
finally defeat the Titans. It seems as though this battle might end
from exhaustion. We could go on fighting forever.
We
’
re not repeating history.”

“
Where
’
s Poseidon?” Hermes
asked, gazing at the trident.

We ducked when rock debris flew at us.

“
Cronus swallowed him,” I
said nonchalantly, surprised at myself for not
panicking.

Hermes rubbed his chin, frowning. “I see.
And how will this plan work without Poseidon?”

Zara grabbed the trident
and helm from Hermes. “This plan doesn
’
t include the
gods.”

We ducked again as another rock sliced the
boulder we hid behind in half.

“
Sky!”

“
I
’
m fine, Ma—” Before I could
finish, Mason was beside me. “Stay close to me.” He did a double
take when he saw Tara and Hermes.

“
It
’
s good to have you
back, Mason.” Hermes tipped his head as a way of
greeting.

Mason gave a heartfelt
grin. “Thank you. It
’
s good to see you too. Listen. I
know you already have a plan, but Cronus will know what the gods
will do with the gifts, so I suggest we—”

Zara
’
s eyes brightened.
Before Mason could finish, she interrupted,
“That
’
s brilliant, but I had already thought of it. Give the helm
to Sky. Nick takes the trident.” She handed the helm to me. “Mason,
you give Cronus all you have with Zeus
’
s staff. Make this work. Now
go.”

“
We have to hurry. The
humans need us.” Hermes
’
s words stopped us. He continued.
“The earth is rumbling. The sky is falling. Eris is causing all
sorts of chaos.”

“
Eris planned this all
along. She wants to take over the world. In order to do so, she had
to distract us.” Zara
’
s eyes never looked so cold and
dark and full of hate as they did that day.

Chapter
23

Mason

To stop the war on Earth, we had to first
defeat Cronus. The Titans were immortal, so it was impossible to
kill them; however, we could lock them away for good. But only if
we could defeat Cronus, their leader, the one they answered to. The
helm, trident, and staff worked last time, but could it work
again?

Nick and Sky were in
position and so was I. We didn
’
t need to say much since the plan
was simple. We briefly strategized, and then I borrowed
Zeus
’
s staff, leaving him a little vulnerable, but Hermes and Zara
protected him.

“
Ready?”
I inhaled.
“We can do this.”

Sky and Nick gave me
thumbs-up to confirm, ducking to dodge a titan
’
s hand swinging at
us.

“
Go,” I said. “Be
careful.”

When Sky lowered the helm
over her head, she became invisible. I smiled when I felt a peck on
my cheek, knowing it was Sky. Nick tightened his grip on the
trident and inched closer to Cronus while I distracted him by
sending bolts through the staff. I had to admit, I felt powerful
holding Zeus
’
s staff, but Cronus
wouldn
’
t be put down easily.

“
Mason,
I
’
m
going to step on you like I should have done the first time we
met,” Cronus roared. “Nobody that sides with Zeus will live. I will
kill all of you.”

Cronus lifted his legs one
by one, pounding the ground, trying to crush me. The cement
shattered and pieces fell all around as I ran in zig-zags, wishing
Sky would hurry. I felt like a tiny bug, running away from a
human
’
s steps.

“
I
’
m here, you big pathetic
giant piece of shit. Move faster, grandpa. Come get me.
I—”

I had no alternative but
to curl myself into a ball to escape a rock that rolled toward me.
In that instant, I slipped and Cronus
’
s foot fell directly at me. I
tried to scurry away, but another broken boulder tumbled my way. I
had just reunited with Sky. No way in hell would I die by
Cronus
’
s foot. But it was out of my hands. I was trapped, nowhere to
run. From a distance, Hades
’
s eyes rounded in horror. Even
running at god
’
s speed he
wouldn
’
t reach me in time, but he ran to me anyway. A thought
occurred to me. I could fly—or I could point the staff up, hoping
its pointy end would stop Cronus, but it was too late. I should
have felt the pain of Cronus
’
s feet squashing me, but it never
came.

Sizzling light glowed from
Cronus
’
s head. Sky was able to get to his head without being
detected. He threw his head back, shrieking in pain, and slapped
his head as if he could stop the bolts. I cringed, knowing Sky was
still up there. She had to be in order to produce that much light.
Then from the corner of my eyes, just as planned, Nick flew, with
Tara
’
s help, aiming the trident at Cronus
’
s chest. It plunged between
his ribs. I would have preferred it through his heart, which was
our target, but it was better than nothing. The impact caused the
lighting still blistering his head to spread down to the trident.
Cronus
’
s body convulsed as his eyes rolled back. Now, it was my
turn.

“
Need a hand, little
one?”
Hades smirked.
“It
’
s good to see you.”

As much as Hades annoyed me at times, I
hated to admit it, but I was growing a soft spot for him.

I smirked
back.
“No thanks, grandpa.
I
’
ve
got this.”

Calling all my will, the
thunder boomed and lightning crackled from the sky, twirling around
me, covering me, raising me to Cronus as the wind pushed me up and
away from everyone. I pointed the staff to his heart, ready to put
him down. It wouldn
’
t kill him, but he would fall
unconscious. He would become immobile. Then we could carry him back
to New Olympus, to a stronger, modernized prison, where Hephaestus
was also locked up.

Everyone stood still, watching, even the
other Titans. The Titans did nothing to evade the inevitable. They
knew they had been beaten. They knew it was over just as we did.
And here it came. I lunged forward as the power carried me. The
staff vibrated, as if it knew what it needed to do. It had done it
before, and it would do it again. Put down Cronus once and for
all.

But as I reached Cronus,
the staff never penetrated his heart. It didn
’
t even touch his skin.
Something like dust swirled around him. Then I heard the familiar,
annoying voice above his head. What the hell? Cronus shrank right
in front of my eyes. It took three heartbeats for the giant beast
to reach the size of a rat.

“
No, no, no, Mason.” Eris
clicked her tongue in a scolding manner, keeping her distance from
me. “You shall not have my toy.”

Speechless and shocked
beyond words, I gawked at her and Cronus. I
couldn
’
t move. I couldn
’
t breathe. He was as tiny as I
was before, and a part of me feared beyond words that she would
shrink me too and take me prisoner again. Instead, she picked
Cronus up as fire, light, and icicles darted toward her from my
team.

“
Enjoy the rest of the
day. Die well, my sweet almost-husband. Don
’
t let the bugs bite you.”
Every word spat out of her like venom.

What did she
freakin
’
mean by that? With a poof, she was gone. A red apple dropped
and rolled by my feet. I wanted to laugh, but there was no time. I
turned to face my family and friends. We failed! No, I failed. I
had one simple task to end this and Eris… ERIS! I growled at the
top of my lungs, imagining myself twisting her neck to
break.

“
I
’
m going to kill her,” I
hollered. Wringing a fist full of my hair, too enraged to think, I
kicked the apple out of the arena. Turning back, I composed myself.
My beloved Sky trembled, and she stared in disbelief.

“
I thought she was going
to take you away.”
Her lips
quivered.

“
Sky.” I embraced her,
making sure she was real. We had both been traumatized by my
disappearance. The fear in her eyes gutted me.

As I continued to hold
Sky, I assessed our surroundings. Amid the damage, the former arena
reminded me of the time of the Greeks, crumbled and broken behind
repair, but it didn
’
t matter. I reminded myself the
arena sat inside a Labyrinth. It was an imposter, fake.
Wait
. Where
were the Titans?

“
They
’
re gone, too,” Nick
said, answering my question before I asked as he dusted his shirt.
“They all shrank while we were trying to get Cronus. Eris took them
or saved them or whatever.” Nick
’
s jaw clenched.

“
He has Poseidon.” Zeus
dipped his head down, his eyes filled with concern.
“He
’
s shrunken too.” Raising his head, he glanced at me, as if he
remembered something. “That
’
s mine. I
’
ll take it back. Thank you.”
His tone was polite but possessive as he took his staff
back.

“
Mine, too.” Hades gently
took his helm from Sky. “How I miss this gift.” His eyes roamed the
helm, greedily. “We
’
ll get our brother back,” Hades
assured us, sounding determined.

“
Is he in pain?” Ares
asked, dropping his shield.

“
No, but
he
’
s
asleep. That
’
s what I remember it to be like,”
Zeus replied.

“
We have to be careful
with Cronus then,” Athena added, her sword to her side.

“
We need to get out of
here.” Hermes shook pebbles off his hair and then his
wings.

“
Do we even know how to
get out?”
Amanda
snarled.

Amanda
’
s shirt was torn at
the bottom and the black spots on her pants looked like she might
have been zapped with lightning a few times. Everett and Noah
looked as bad. The gods and the Oracles, on the other hand, looked
almost perfect.

“
I know the way,” Skylar
announced. “Zara gave me a magic pen. It will guide us out
of—”

Skylar never finished,
because the ground shook violently and burst open. We leaped and
moved in gods
’
speed, avoiding what had become massive craters
everywhere. Then out of the ground appeared enormous bugs. Giant
ants, spiders, flies, earthworms, and other crawling things.
Enjoy the rest of the day. Die well, my sweet
almost-husband. Don
’
t let the bugs bite you.
I realized she
’
d meant that
literally.