Hope swelled behind my breastbone, and I stepped closer, searching for Lucia within it.
“Don’t make me regret this.” Harrow heaved a sigh and tackled my brother. “Go to her.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. Lucia should have walked out by now. She must be hurt.
Matty yelled, first at Harrow and then at me, but I banished any second thoughts.
I made it one step before stumbling over a mass and landing on my hands and knees.
Blinking away the brightness, I gave myself a moment to readjust to Abaddon and its gloom.
Slowly, details came into focus, and I could tell I was in Ithas’s home. Lucia was curled in on herself, a hand applying pressure to a gash through her abdomen. The deep cut across her chest wept blood. Ithas had gotten in some good hits. She had given up applying first aid to most of them.
“Hey…kid.” Lucia squinted up at me through her left eye, the right one a swollen mess, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I couldn’t…think…what else to…do.” Anger burnt in her, hotter than ever. “Don’t let him…live.”
“Don’t give up now.” I made it an order, scanning for him. “You’ve come too far to miss the good part.”
Her answering smile bared pink teeth, but her breaths came easier.
“Where is he?” I pushed to my feet, wishing for a weapon. “I don’t see him.”
“There.” She pointed toward the deepest shadows with her chin. “Hurry before…he breaks free.”
A dagger made its way into my hand, and I nodded my thanks to Lucia as I stalked toward Ithas.
Half of the Titan was pinned to the floor with what I assumed to be the Spear of Thebes. It had done its job and paralyzed him, but I wasn’t sure how long it would hold him, and that wasn’t the only thing happening. Lucia must have thrown everything she had at him while he was at her mercy.
The other half of Ithas swarmed, black buzzing dots, funneling into a jade statue maybe a foot tall.
Difficult to tell if it was a slow draw, like he was being sucked into the statue, or if it could only hold a portion of him and the result left him stuck in a half-solid state.
About to check with Lucia and nail down the details, I glanced over my shoulder to find her unconscious. No helpthere. I would have to wing it and hope for the best. Not much different than how I approached everything these days. I would say that approach hadn’t killed me yet, but it kind of had once already.
Oops.
I really had to work on my pep talks.
Light drew my attention to the right as Anunit joined me, and relief coasted through me at not having to do this alone. “About time you got here.”
“You should have waited for me, Frankie Talbot.”
“I didn’t have much choice.” I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the novelty of hearing her speak out loud. “All I could do was jump and hope for a soft landing.”
Low in her throat, a rumble conveyed her unhappiness with my impulsive behavior.
Unsure which half of Ithas to start with, I gripped his ankle and sent my magic rushing through him until I could determine whether the motes were part of his soul, his essence, or just an intangible expression of himself. No sooner had I brushed his stone-cold skin than I got my answer.
His black hole of a soul pulsed with dark energies, divided between his corporeal and incorporeal bodies.
“Those motes are fragments of his soul given substance.”
“The statue is devouring them,” she agreed with my assessment. “The absorption rate is slowing.”
Too bad I couldn’t just sit back and let the jade do its thing. Ithas was vast, his power enormous, and the statue couldn’t hold him. Halfway through consuming him, it was stalling out, already struggling to devour more of him.
Palms damp, I turned to her for advice. “Where should I start?”
“The soul is all connected, and I have full faith in your abilities.”
