1
Islam my fist down on the table in the war room. “What are we going to do? He didn’t actually have his own temples in ancient Greece.”
Jayden rubs a hand down my back. “I don’t know, baby. I doubt Athena will be pleased if we stroll up to her temple in Athens, looking for an item of power that doesn’t belong to her.”
“We’re running out of time. They could attack any day now and we have nothing.” I hang my head. “Of course this wouldn’t be just like all the other times. It would have to be noticeably harder.”
“I don’t know, Beth,” Raven says. “I think getting lost in a different realm was a struggle.”
Kira leans forward. “Hephaestus is kind of a loner, right? Like he sticks to himself and his sacred places. What if they got a hold of one of his forges and put the hammer there instead since he doesn’t have temples?”
“That’s actually pretty brilliant. How many forges does he have? We came across a sort of workshop of his while going to get Ares’ shield.” I tap my fingers on the table.
“Um, well…” Kira slumps in her seat.
“How bad are we talking? There isn’t a whole lot of information on him.”
“His forges are spread across the world in every major volcano.” Kira bites her lip.
“Holy Hades,” Jayden hisses. “There’s got to be at least one that was famous for something, right?”
“You don’t think they took over the one on Mount Olympus, do you?” Raven asks. “How would we even get there?”
“I don’t know. I tend to think she has it somewhere accessible but wouldn’t put it past the queen to make it unattainable.” I shake my head.
“Let’s dig up what we can on his forges just in case. We can figure out what is special about the forges later and pick the most likely place.” Jayden squeezes my shoulder.
“Wait,” Kira says. “Didn’t you guys say you fought Typhon in Tartarus?”
“Yeah, he was in the pit. We almost lost that one.” I nod. “Why?”
“That’s not where he was imprisoned. How did he get to the underworld?” Kira asks.
“We didn’t think to ask him while we were fighting for our lives,” Raven scoffs.
“Easy,” Greyson says. “We shouldn’t be biting each other’s heads off. We’re a team.”
“You don’t know me at all, do you? That wasn’t biting people’s heads off; that was sarcasm, babe.” Raven rolls her eyes.
“Anyway,” Kira drawls. “Typhon was imprisoned in the base of Mount Etna. Hephaestus caged the Titan there himself and then built his most famous forge there.”
“On top of a sadistic Titan’s prison who wants nothing more than to destroy him? Perfect place for your home.” I lean into Jayden.
“It is if you want to keep him contained and keep an eye on him.” Jayden rests his elbow on the table and leans forward. “Where better to keep an eye on him so he can’t escape.”
“But he did escape.” Kira points at him. “Into the underworld. How did he get there? How long has the queen had control of the forge?”
“Shit, you’re right. That has to be the place. Someone helped that bastard escape. Meaning she’s had access to the forge this entire time. That was months ago that we went to the underworld.” I tilt my head back and squeeze my eyes shut.
“Does that mean she has been draining Hephaestus slowly for months?” Raven asks. “We met him, though. He seemed… normal.”
“Yeah,” Greyson says. “He was not what I expected from the god who was tossed from Olympus because he wasn’t beautiful.”
“He wasn’t godlike but still not ugly by human standards.” Raven shrugs.
“The queen is all about appearances and hated that her son wasn’t perfect. Stupid twat,” Kira snarls.
I burst out laughing. “I think Raven is rubbing off on you.”
