AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I rolled my neck, trying to loosen up my muscles after sitting on the broken tile floor for however long it had taken the Fates to do their thing. Time was an abstract concept at this point.
“I fucking hate you,” Thanatos clipped, pointing a finger at me. “I fucking hate that Keres and I hate the two spare daimons whose names I refuse to learn. You’re lucky that I’m so intrigued by your agathos—what kind of sweet, innocent Eutychia would tie herself to useless shitbags like you? She should be on her knees, praying in gratitude that the bonds were broken and she was released from her ties to you four stains on society, but no, she actually seemed quite disappointed. Fascinating.”
I would greatly prefer Thanatosnotbe intrigued by Grace, but my life couldn’t be that easy.
“Deathhimselfcan clean this wasteland up just fine. I’m not afraid of the Fates.” He linked his fingers, stretching his arms in front of him and cracking his neck. “Now, move. Unless you want to find your soul in the underworld too—I don’t plan on being careful.”
Lunatic.
I half ran, half stumbled out of the chapel, running through a corridor of anxious, excited souls and heading for the exit. If I had to swim off this island, I’d swim. Whatever it took. Though I was pretty sure I wasn’t within swimming distance of Grace, which was a massive issue, but not one I was able to address at this exact moment.
The second I was outside, I sucked down a lungful of clean air, tipping my head up to feel the warm sun on my face. Maybe it was what I’d just accomplished with the Fates, maybe it was the lack of souls pressing directly down on top of me, or maybe it was something else, but the world felt different somehow. Brighter. More hopeful.
It was probably just the hunger talking.
Arete appeared before me, looking far more impressed with me than she had the last time she’d seen me.
“Well, look at you,” she crooned, crossing her arms and looking me up and down. “You have that glow of fulfilled potential. As well as a little something extra.”
“Cool,” I replied, glancing over my shoulder. I didn’t want to be rude, but I was in a real hurry to get the fuck out of here. “Can you give me a lift back to my girl now? I have a bond to restore.”
“You are ahero, and the best you can respond with is ‘cool’?” Arete looked faintly appalled, which was much more familiar territory.
“Ahero? That can’t be right.” I thought back to that silvery thread that represented my life. I thought Atropos had meant ‘act of heroism’ in a metaphorical sense. “No, that’s not me. That’s Grace’s whole thing. Bringing in the Second Age of Heroes or whatever.”
“Or whatever,” Arete muttered to herself. “Heroes, plural. The receiver of the prophecy, who saw it through to completion, was never going to be the only one. That’s how plurals work.”
“Yes, thank you for the English lesson; very helpful,” I grumbled, my face heating slightly with a mixture of embarrassment and something more self-conscious. “Can we go now?”
There was a weird, shrieking sound from inside the building that I really didn’t want to examine too closely. Since I hadn’t been able to hear the souls, I could only assume it was Thanatos having his version of a dead ferry party, and I wanted nothing to do with it.
Arete cut an annoyed sidelong look at the building, pursing her lips in disapproval. “Yes, let’s. I suppose, in a world of change, it’s nice to see that some things never do. Thanatos is… exactly who he has always been.”
And with that, she grabbed me roughly by the arm and stepped into nothingness. For a moment, there was only golden light and a peach-colored sky.
It was a split second of perfect peace before she abruptly released me, and I stumbled onto a battlefield, right behind an army.
“Riot!”
My arms came out automatically, catching Grace around the middle as she broke through a group of soldiers—Spartoi—and threw herself at me, knocking me a step backward.
There was a shriek from above us, and I dragged Grace to the ground instinctively, sheltering her as best I could as an enormous red-wingedbeastflew overhead.
And then crashed headlong intoanotherenormous black-winged beast.
What the fuck was going on? I’d walked out of a horror movie and into some kind of epic fantasy where apparentlydragonswere flying around.
Or at least one of them was a dragon. The other one was… Honestly, I had no idea. Humanoid-ish, but with giant bat wings and snake legs.
I clutched Grace a little tighter to my chest, looking around, trying to figure out where exactly I was and what was happening. Why was Grace here? Who was this fight between?
“Riot, you’re here,” Grace sobbed. I wrapped a hand around the back of her head, vaguely registering her hair was shorter than before.
“I’m here. Are you okay, Gracie? What’s going on? Where are we?”
The snake monster unleashed a wave of fire that the dragon seemed to bat away with apparently flame-proof wings. Maybe… maybe wingsmadeof fire?
“I’m okay,” Grace breathed, trembling as she watched the monsters above us do battle. “A little terrified for T, but I’m safe. Gaia’s army of agathos is over there, on the fortification she made for them. Wild is leading the Spartoi, trying to penetrate the fortress now there’s no more scorpions, but there isn’t much they can do. Where have you been? Are you okay? Riot, I missed you so much—”
