Revenge of The Gods (The Titan's Saga Book 3) Read online

  All of a sudden, Hyperion went flying toward the bull in the oddest jerking motion that I’d ever seen. The normally graceful Titan never moved like that, and before I could even contemplate what was happening, he ended up gored on the large horns of the beast.

  #WhatTheFuckJustHappened.

  Oh gods.

  The Erynomus threw its head back, Titan still attached, and made a triumphant bellow.

  Cronus and Rhea both hit the ground at that moment, their forms still, and I gasped, trying to figure out what was happening.

  Shit, shit, shit, shit. Had … had the baby just done that? I'd been hoping for an idea, talking to it like I had an ally on my side. But…

  “You killed Grandpa!” I screamed. Looking down to scold my belly, I gasped; my hands and body were translucent, making me appear almost invisible.

  What was my baby Titan capable of?

  The Erynomus pawed the Titans, his hooves cracking against the lifeless figures on the ground, and I swallowed down another scream. When it went near Cronus, I panicked. “Leave him alone!” I shouted.

  Only no sound emerged; a huge gust of wind seemed to steal my voice away, fading the sound into this level of the underworld.

  #It’sFine #DontHyperventilate

  The Erynomus bellowed again, and I imagined shoving my fist straight into its ugly face.

  It looked around, head still high and proud, and then with a shimmer of gold energy, it folded down on itself, and in its place was a perfect golden boar, its coat shining in this shitty dark level like the finest of metals.

  Unlike its other form, this one was truly stunning. About four times the size of a real boar, with long deadly tusks and no eyes—there was just a smooth blank space where eyes would have normally been. That didn't seem to bother it though, as it used those tusks to lift Hyperion from where he'd fallen and hoist him onto its broad back. Next it went to Rhea and Cronus, until all three lay across him.

  “Wake them up now,” I said, not bothering to whisper because no sound was going to emerge with the weird tree rustling going on.

  What if it wasn’t the baby?

  No! It had to be. That one ray of hope was all I had.

  Gods, please let it be an illusion.

  Chapter 5

  I had closed my eyes briefly, probably stupid with a raging boar prancing about near me, but I seemed to somehow be invisible to him, so it felt like it would be okay to take a second to get myself together.

  Right?

  Like, a girl couldn't just watch the love of her life die over and over again without needing a second. There had to be some sort of limitation on how many times one had to experience this horror. And while pregnant!

  I mean, I was probably going to use the pregnancy excuse a lot over the next few months, mostly to get out of cleaning and exercise, but this still felt like a legitimate reason to freak the fuck out. #NoMoreDeadTitans #SomeoneStartAPetition

  This time I felt the release of energy from inside of me, right around the place a womb was—pretty sure anyway. Human anatomy wasn't exactly my strongest subject at school.

  When I opened my eyes, Cronus stood before me, looking like a fucking god with those broad shoulders thrown back and a whip of power in one hand. The other end of his weapon was wrapped around the boar's tusks, holding him as the creature fought and tried to jerk away.

  Oh, thank fuck. He’s okay. He’s fucking okay.

  My heart was still pounding like it was due for a heart attack very soon, but that was fine. My gaze scanned the ground, finding Rhea helping Hyperion up, not a stitch of blood on either of them. Rhea I could learn to live without, but I loved my grandfather. He'd grown on me the same way so many of these ancient Titans had.

  It had been an illusion after all … my fucking baby was a magician.

  “Your pride will get you every single time,” Cronus said as he wrapped the energy whip around the boar’s legs and yanked, bringing it down to its knees. The Titan dove forward, wrapped the rest of his shimmery power rope around the beast, and left it hogtied—#HAHA—on the ground.

  “Maisey,” Cronus bellowed, not realizing, I guess, that I was as close as I was. Probably because I was still invisible. “I can feel you, love, but I can't see you.”

  I reappeared just like that, arms and legs, stomach that looked a little bigger too. #WTAF #SomeoneGetMeBodyButterStat

  I already loved my little baby girl, but she was going to be huge if she was growing at this rate. Of course I would have an overachieving Titan.

  “There you are,” Cronus said, sounding relieved. “How did you disappear like that?”

  I shrugged, stepping even closer and pointed at my belly. “I think it was her … I think all of it was.”

  Our child apparently enjoyed the acknowledgement for her actions. #WasThatAKick #ThisKid #JustLikeHerDaddy

  Cronus’ eyes dropped to my stomach but before he could do or say anything about that weird statement, the boar roared. Cronus jerked on the rope again, like it was going to shut it up that way. “This time when I kill you,” he said, nearly face to face with it at this point, “you won't be returning, whether Titans are here or not.”

  “Last time we didn’t fully destroy it. We sent its energy back to the deep,” Hyperion said, and Cronus nodded.

  “This time we’re ending it,” he declared and pulled another energy whip out of his free hand.

  “What what?” I asked, confused and scared that thing was going to pop back up into its original shape if we didn’t kill it soon.

  Rhea stood up and I sighed. Not rid of her yet, apparently. “The Erynomus is a creature that already exists in a dimension beyond this one. It draws power from multi-worlds and Cronus would fuck up a lot of timelines if he was to mess with that. But the boar, that's its pure form, one that has energy just from here. The rest has been released until it calls it back.”

  Uh oh, someone was in trouble.

  “This magical lasso will stop it from transforming back as well,” Cronus said.

  Well, that made me sigh in relief. I wasn't going to question how we'd made this work, just that we had, and it was going to be over soon. And no one had died … again.

  “Okay, well, kill it, because I could really go for like twenty Tacos right now,” I told my man.

  Cronus looked up at me, the lasso still around the boar, which was bucking and yanking against him. “You might want to step back, love.”

  Doing as I was told, I cradled my belly in case my crazy powerful baby threw her dad across the desert or something. I needed a remote control with this thing. Pause and mute seemed like they’d be good buttons to have to help with a Titan child.

  Without warning, Cronus leapt up from the ground, clutching the boar demon’s neck between his two whips and shot into the sky.

  Holy mother … he was like … flying.

  “Back up, Maisey.” Hype yanked my arm and I noticed Rhea was much further back. Stumbling with him, I watched as Cronus dropped from the sky. Like a rock, his body fell fast, the boar bucking in his grasp, trying to get free.

  Umm, that looked like it was going to hurt for the both of them.

  I winced as Cronus shoved the boar’s head between his feet and—

  Hyperion covered my eyes. The ground shook and a splatting noise, mixed with a cracking noise that could only be a skull, echoed around us.

  #GonnaVom

  Bile rose, burning up my throat as Hyperion removed his hand from my eyes. The first thing I saw was tiny bits of boar meat exploded all over Cronus’ shoes and the ground.

  Leaning over, I dry heaved, nothing coming up because I hadn’t eaten in two days—or was it ten weeks, I didn’t fucking know.

  “Really, Cronus, that was vile!” Rhea snapped. “She’s pregnant.”

  Cronus wiped his shoes on the dirt and approached me with concern. “You okay, love?”

  “You need a shower,” I announced, trying not to look at the ground pork behind him.

  Cronus nod
ded. “It’s done. Shower in Bali with you.” He winked.

  Bali was our code word, and I instantly got wet.

  The baby kicked again then and it fucked with my mojo.

  What the hell was that about? Could this baby read my mind? Because we were going to need to get her some serious therapy if that was the case.

  The ground shook suddenly under our feet and Cronus pulled me into his arms, tucking me closely into his body. Trees rattled and leaves shook until finally everything was still again.

  “Oh good, he’s gone,” Rhea exclaimed.

  “Who’s gone?” I was too hungry to play guessing games. Honestly, I’d have killed someone myself if it got me some delicious vegetarian food in my hands.

  “The Erynomus. His energy just died.” Rhea said.

  His energy? It lasted like a minute after the body had become Hamburger Helper? That was terrifying.

  “Alright, let’s get to that portal and see if we can sneak Rhea through with us,” Cronus declared.

  #DoWeHaveToThough? #LikeReally

  Rhea patted his arm. “You’ve always been good to me, Cronie.”

  #Bitch #I’llCutYou

  Suddenly a beam of light shot from my right hand, completely unexpected and out of my control, and before I could say a word, it shaved the side of Rhea’s hair clean off. A clump of her long, luxurious mane fell to the ground as she stared at me in horror.

  “MAISEY!”

  #Fuck

  “It was the baby!” I grabbed my stomach as Rhea’s hand went to her bald patch, just above the left ear.

  “My hair!” she shrieked, looking at the clump on the ground.

  Nervous laughter escaped me. “It’s an innocent baby, Rhea, and come on, you look punk rock now.”

  She lunged for me, basically frothing at the mouth and ready to kill. Cronus reached out and wrapped an arm across her, sending her flying back across the land. Hyperion tucked me into his body and we started to walk away.

  “Let’s give them a minute, shall we?” Hyperion glanced at my belly. “I’m really happy for you, Mais. Gonna make me a great-grandfather.”

  At this stage, it was beyond me to work out our messed-up family tree, so I just smiled and nodded. When we got to a thicket of trees, Hyperion pulled me to a halt and knelt down, putting his mouth close to my bellybutton.

  “Hey there, kiddo, Great-Grandpop Hype here. Just want you to know I’m really fond of my balls, so please don’t cut them off.”

  I chuckled. “She won’t. She only does what I’m thinking.”

  Hyperion raised an eyebrow. “So you were thinking about shaving Rhea’s head?”

  I winced. “Not exactly in that detail…”

  Hyperion pointed a finger at me. “You better control your thoughts, Maisey. This is clearly a super baby and we don’t know what she’s capable of. If she thinks you're in danger, even if you’re joking…”

  I held up my hands. “I got it. I’ll be mentally Zen.”

  #FuckRhea #ShaveTheOtherSide #KiddingBaby

  Hyperion straightened, rubbing the spot on his ribs where the Ery demon had fake gored him.

  “What was that like? It was an illusion, right?” I didn’t understand what had happened, but the baby figured out a way to make it work.

  Hype nodded. “Too good of an illusion. I thought I was a goner until I realized it was some type of magical projection for the demon’s benefit.”

  “We’re ready to travel.” Cronus came up behind us. Rhea was at his side, her hair pulled over one shoulder. She pinned me with a death glare, arms crossed, but didn’t say anything.

  Be nice, baby. That’s Mommy’s number one frenemy.

  Cronus tucked me into his side as Hyperion lagged behind with Rhea and we set off for the portal.

  “So what’s the plan when we get to level one?” My stomach was eating itself from hunger. Why hadn’t I brought snacks to hell? Poor planning on my part.

  Cronus nodded. “You’ve got my body on Earth?”

  “Yep. Okeanos and the others are guarding it.” Talking about my boyfriend’s dead body was traumatic in so many ways.

  “Good, then when you get up top, get some food.” He patted my belly, which was growing at an alarming rate. I looked like I’d just had Christmas dinner. #WouldKillForTofurkey. “And then help Hyperion resurrect me.”

  I nodded. “And then we live happily ever after?”

  Cronus frowned. “Then we resurrect Rhea, get the sins, and finally … we kill Zeus.”

  I looked back at his ex-wife and growled, before remembering the temperamental baby in my belly. I tried to think of happier times of Rhea; the image of her chugging Taco Bell hot sauce packets came to mind and I grinned.

  Kick.

  Baby liked that.

  “Oh, are you aware that Zeus got away with the necklace and the sins?” I said suddenly, realizing that Cronus might not know that. He had a good plan, but some of it might have to be rearranged.

  Cronus stopped walking. “Really? What happened? I was hoping you guys were in possession of that too. Death took me out before I knew if they all ended up contained though…”

  I had to stop the sob from creeping out of my mouth; the vision of death taking Cronus’ life would forever be seared into my memory.

  I shook my head. “I’m not totally sure what happened after you died. I blacked out. All I know is that Zeus now has the sins.” I hugged my arms and Cronus pulled me straight against his chest.

  “Baby, that will never happen again. I’m so sorry.”

  Emotion tightened in my throat and the baby kicked three times in rapid succession. I groaned and brought my hand to my belly.

  “Everything okay?” Cronus looked concerned, eyebrows knitted together.

  I nodded, reaching down and, ahhh, unbuttoned my jeans. “Baby is kicking, I think my pants were too tight.”

  Cronus grinned, placing a hand on my now mini swollen belly.

  “How the hell am I feeding this baby without eating down here?” My mind was ready to explode thinking about all this. “She just keeps growing.”

  Cronus chuckled. “First of all, you’re a demi-god, you don’t really need food that often. Especially not down here.”

  #Lies #TouchMyFoodAndDie

  “Secondly, our baby is half Titan. She grows with energy, which is why her power is growing too.” He looked back at Rhea and her burned-off hair.

  I nodded. “But for the record I do need six small meals a day. I mean, if we’re going to be living together, you should know that about me.”

  He chuckled. “I really missed you.”

  “Cronus?” a mysterious female voice called from behind us.

  I spun, ready to blast some heads off, when Cronus cracked a smile. “Maikea! You old crone! I haven’t seen you in ages.” He stepped forward and hugged the old woman. Her ghostly spectral form looked about fifty years old, but he’d referred to her as crone, so who knew what her real age was.

  Cronus called me forward and introduced me; the crone seemed to already know Hyperion, giving him a warm smile. To Rhea she threw an angry glare, and I liked her already.

  “Remember what I told you,” Maikea said. “Don’t want to see you down here.”

  Cronus shot her a broad smile and it was clear he was very fond of her. “Walk us to the portal,” he suggested, and the old woman nodded.

  We set off in the direction of the portal, and as we neared the spot, I saw a group of ghostly souls standing around it. “Thanks for saying goodbye,” Cronus said to the ghost woman. “Hopefully next time we catch up, it’s under different circumstances.”

  She nodded slowly, her eyes ablaze with an otherworldly light. “Kill that rat bastard Zeus,” she said out of nowhere. “He’s rotten, just like his mother.”

  She glared at Rhea, who lunged forward. Hyperion scooped the Titaness up mid-air and walked away with her, not at all bothered by her struggling and swearing.

  “You know I would resurrect you if possible
,” Cronus told the crone, sounding sad.

  She patted his hand. “I know that, dear.” Her eyes roamed over me and I squirmed. “Are you the one who released the sins?”

  #GuiltyAsCharged

  I opened my mouth, but before I could say a word she continued. “You should see Narida about the ring. Might help you with them.”

  Cronus frowned. “Ring?”

  Maikea shot him a look like she couldn’t believe he was this stupid. I already loved this old mean lady. “Remember that artifact your parents hid on Earth?”

  Light seemed to dance behind Cronus’ eyes. “Uh, you mean the burst of original energy that I searched a thousand years for? Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”

  My most glorious achievement was teaching him sarcasm.

  Maikea did not appear to agree as she again hit him with a deadpan look. “Narida has it. Secretly keeping it as an insurance policy against you all. Powerful thing it is, but you could probably handle it. I heard it can cut through any form, living or dead.”

  Cronus was silent a full minute, seeming to comprehend far more than me about what she was implying, and when he finally spoke, the only tone in his voice was reverence. “Thank you, friend. I will send the finest flowers to adorn your grave. I owe you for that tip.”

  She smiled, waving him off. “Anything to piss off Narida and get Zeus murdered. I’m happy to share the knowledge.” With that she glided away, as if she hadn’t just told him something he really wanted to hear.

  “Was that a big deal?” The information she’d given him seemed really important.

  He nodded. “Very. Come on, the portal is up here.”

  We stepped closer to a thicket of trees and I heard crunching twigs behind. Looking over my shoulder, Hyperion and Rhea were heading toward us. She looked grumpier than ever, which brought me great joy.

  A hissing noise pulled my attention forward and snapped my neck to the front to see a dozen ghoulish souls, arms out, reaching for the portal.

  “What are they doing?” I whispered.

  Cronus frowned. “They’ll have sensed the Erynomus’ death. They’ll be trying to get back to the upper levels as well.”