Adrastia (The God Chronicles Book 4) (11 page)

My eyes were watering again as I looked away, every part of my body aching from his words. People were dying because of me. Everything he said was making sense.

“You would cost us this war,” he continued, obviously not caring that his words were stinging me.

“At least I would have thought of them as people instead of pawns,” I shot back, hating that a tear slid down my face as I looked at him. “They don’t mean anything to you, do they? The people you claim to protect. You’re just looking for another fight. You don’t really care what happens to us.”

Anger sparked in his eyes as he got right down in my face.

“You are a Titan,” he growled slowly.

“I am a human!” I shouted back. “I’m a person with feelings! You are nothing but a monster masquerading as a hero.”

“That’s enough,” Arsenio broke in, putting a hand on Cristos’s shoulder. “Cristos, go to bed. I’ll take the first watch.”

He stared at me for a moment longer, loathing etched into every line of his body, before finally turning and going back to his side of the camp.

“You don’t know the amount of good he’s done, for gods and mortals alike,” Arsenio said softly. “You shouldn’t judge him based on just the few days you’ve known him.

“And I shouldn’t be judged for something I have no control over.”

Without answering, Arsenio followed after his friend, stopping halfway between the two of us and settling down for his watch.

So many emotions tumbled through me as I watched him, his body becoming only a dark spot in the glow from the fire, his features completely washed out.

Fear. Hatred. Pain. Self-loathing. Anger. Everything massed together into what felt like too much to bear. Every time Cristos had spoken, I’d wanted to throw up. How could I so easily believe what he was saying and at the same time know I was so much more—better—than what he made me out to be?

People were dying and it was my fault. If I hadn’t been with Dimitri, he would still be alive and doing the work we’d both loved so much. If I hadn’t run from Erebos, I would have saved that whole town from being run over with Titans. Who else was waiting for me to come and ruin their lives with my presence?

I was bait, practically picked up off the shelf and being carried to my doom. To top it off, I didn’t even know what death would mean for me. If the Greeks had been right about their gods, did that mean there was no heaven? Would I fade into nothing if I died?

Something told me I would find out very soon.

Chapter Eleven

There was something different inside of me. I could feel it there, churning under the surface, waiting for the moment when it might be free again. Hunger exuded from it, yearning for the uninhibited world to accept its power, to let it run wherever it wanted to go.

Now, with my wounds being taken care of and my stomach fed nightly, I could sense what must have been there since I first caught fire and searched for it with the nymphs—the Titan half of me. She was the same in so many ways, familiar and comfortable, but also scary and unknown. Why, after all of the years I’d spent not knowing she was there, did she suddenly decide to reveal herself now? It was as if she’d been waiting for her own kind to show up.

I sighed, still in a not quite awake state, the area around us quiet in the early morning mist. The chill in the air had settled into my bones, the bite taken away by the warming presence of my other half. On the outside, my skin prickled, the tingling from having been mostly outside for the past week never really going away.

With my eyes closed, I could hear the soft movements of the men at their camp, putting things away and packing up for wherever we would be heading today.

I highly doubted we would be getting to Sicily any time soon, especially if Cristos was going to insist we walk the whole way. It’d been four days since his plan had been revealed and we were apparently walking in circles, trying to lose anything on our tail.

As the sounds from the camp started to diminish, I heard footsteps crackling through the snow and branches, heading my way.

“Wake up,” Cristos’s gruff voice ordered.

Eyes fluttering open, I took a deep breath, reluctant to come back into this mystical reality. It was so much easier to think about things and try to work them out when my eyes were closed. Everything didn’t have to be real then, but could be something I’d imagined for myself.

The ropes around me loosened, Cristos having moved to the other side of my tree to undo them. I didn’t even bother asking about the handcuffs, knowing he would refuse to remove them.

He was interesting to me. A jerk and bully as well, but interesting. It had been my experience that when someone acted very meanly towards another person they were either attracted to them or very afraid. I highly doubted he was attracted to me, but if things had been different I could have seen myself finding him attractive. Fear also seemed like a far reach. Up until now, I’d been fortunate to never run into someone who was mean just for the pleasure of it. Cristos definitely seemed like he was one of those people, though.

“Get up,” he commanded as soon as he’d pulled all the ropes away and stowed them in a bag.

Groaning, I hefted my sore body off the ground, stretching the best I could. My back popped some, but my muscles cried to be really stretched out. Until the handcuffs were gone for good, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Good morning to you, too” I said facetiously as he grabbed my arm and started pulling me along next to him.

“Shut up,” he replied grimly.

The Titan side of me sparked at his words and I felt the anger rise inside. Surprisingly, it seemed like a gate had opened up, clearing the way for her to attack. I knew if I were to concentrate and just let it happen, I would light on fire right now. The past few night’s rest and realization of where my powers were actually coming from had cleared the block of emotions I’d felt before.

Surprisingly, I didn’t want to light my captor up. Even more surprisingly, the Titan half of me seemed to agree. We were safer with him than on our own.

It was a scary thought, one I’d reluctantly been accepting since we’d been attacked in that tiny town.

Heeding his words, I remained silent, allowing him to pull me along, away from the camp. Arsenio was nowhere to be found, so I assumed he was either already ahead of us or coming from behind.

We continued on through the trees for a few more moments, the only sounds that of our feet and the birds chirping in the trees. If the circumstances had been any different, I would have enjoyed it. Golden light filtered through the branches, snow sparkling under its happy beam.

Finally, I could see a road up ahead of us, a red sports car parked on the side of it, under the trees. Arsenio leaned up against it, arms folded over his chest as he looked around cautiously.

“We aren’t walking?” I asked in surprise.

“I never said we were,” Cristos answered, a slight chuckle in his tone.

“But you said—
”

“I said we couldn’t travel with a large group of people. I never said we were walking the whole way.”

I looked at him, mouth hanging open.

“You were messing with me! You wanted me to think you were going to make me freeze to death and walk all the way to Sicily!”

“That would be pretty hard, since there’s ocean between here and there,” he said, not quite hiding his smile like he was trying to.

“All clear,” Arsenio stated as we neared him.

“Good,” Cristos mused, nodding. “Let’s get going.”

Still pulling me beside him, he walked to the back of the car, pulling keys out of his pocket and opening the trunk.

Looking around, I almost wished another car would appear on the road. I could call out for help and be saved. Except I really wouldn’t be. The Titans would find me, or Cristos would again, and I’d basically be a sitting duck no matter where I went.

Cristos cleared his throat and I looked back at him.

“What?”

“Get in,” he said, motioning to the trunk, his hand still on the open lid.

It took a second for the words to process, my expression blank as I stared at him. As soon as I realized he was serious, my mouth popped open once more.

“I am
not
riding in the trunk,” I growled defensively.

“I agree,” Arsenio said from behind me.

“Stay out of it,” Cristos said, eyes still looking evenly into mine. “And yes, you are. It’s either the trunk, or the roof.”

“You wanna bet?” I challenged him, not backing down.

“She can’t ride in the trunk,” Arsenio butted in again, his voice revealing his exasperation.

“Yes it can.”

“I can if you want it burned right off the back of your car,” I replied vehemently.

“This is ridiculous,” Arsenio sighed. “Cristos, we have to cross the border. Don’t you think it will be a bit suspicious when they open the trunk and find a bound woman in there?”

“It can’t be in the car with us and the weapons. I’m not taking any chances,” he replied coolly, eyes never leaving my own.

  “Put the weapons in the trunk then,” Arsenio laughed humorlessly. “And stop being so pigheaded. What is she going to do? Attack us and crash the car? Fine. Even if that happens, she’s handcuffed and tired. We’d catch her again in no time.”

“Or the Titans will,” Cristos offered, finally looking at his companion. “And I’m not willing to risk that.”

“I’m not riding in the trunk,” I muttered again. “And I’m not going to crash the car. I don’t want them to get me just as much as you.”

His eyes came back to my face, a strange look in them as he studied my features.

“Fine,” he finally growled. “I’ll put the weapons in the trunk. But as soon as we cross the border, you’re trading places with them.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes as I turned to look at Arsenio. His expression seemed to match most of what I felt at the moment.

Cristos slid his bag from his back, placing it in the spot he’d expected me to occupy, and then motioned for Arsenio to do the same with his.

“No funny business,” he remarked as he opened the driver’s side door and motioned for me to climb into the back of the two door car.

I didn’t even dignify him with a response.

Sliding into the back of a car that isn’t really meant for more than two people while wearing handcuffs proved to be slightly difficult, my frame trying to fit into the space without slipping and falling on my face. Finally, I managed to arrange myself across the seat, my back against the side of the car behind the passenger seat and legs stretching across the bench, feet resting behind the driver’s side.

As soon as I was in, Cristos climbed into the driver’s side, Arsenio sliding into his spot across from him.

“Where did you get this car?” I asked as the engine roared to life.

“We have vehicles stationed around hot spots. Since Moscow has been a big contention site, we put this one further away, where it was less likely to be damaged,” Arsenio answered, buckling his seat belt.

“No more talking,” Cristos added, doing the same.

Quietly, Arsenio passed me a blanket that had apparently been on the floor in front of him. A shrug was all the answer he gave to Cristos’s glare.

Thankfully, I wrapped the warm cloth around my body, instantly feeling like I could go right to sleep.

As we pulled onto the road, the car accelerating to its top speed in seconds, Cristos turned on some loud music, further enforcing his no talking rule.

The miles flew by, towns coming and going as we headed to our destination. The further from Moscow we got, the poorer the towns became, until finally there was nothing but us and the road. Soon, we would cross the border into whatever country they’d decided to travel through.

Eventually, with nothing to say and only my own tired mind for company, I slipped off into sleep, snuggled in my warm blanket.

The glass above me cracked, pieces of it falling on me, startling me awake as the car suddenly shot forward, wheels swerving all over the road.

Cristos swore loudly, anger clouding his features as he managed to gain control of the vehicle once more, slamming the gas pedal into the floor.

“What’s happening?” I asked in a panic, looking out the now broken rear window, the wind howling through the opening.

No one answered me. It might have been that they couldn’t hear me, or that they were concentrating on something else.

Arsenio tore his seatbelt off, moving to climb in the back with me, waving his arm in an attempt to tell me to get out of the way.

I looked to where he was pointing and noticed a button. It unlatched the seat and opened into the trunk.

They needed their weapons?

Dazed from being woken up and thrown around in the seat, I turned to look out the window again, in what felt like slow motion.

That was when I saw it.

It was a beast, with massive golden, feathered wings. It looked like a bird human hybrid, its body feathered and animal feet sporting massive talons. Its face looked like that of an old woman, wrinkled and smiling in glee as it flapped down towards me, feet stretched out in preparation to snatch something.

Too late, I realized the thing she was snatching was
me
. In desperation, I tried to climb out of reach, up into the front of the car, but I was too late.

With the wind howling in my ears, Arsenio grabbing for my still cuffed hands, talons wrapped around my waist, pulling me through the broken glass and away from the car.

A scream tore from me as I flailed around, trying desperately to free myself from the beast’s clutches.

“Give it up, sweetie,” it cackled. “You’re not getting away this time.”

Frantic, I looked back down at the road, catching sight of the car. It was being attacked by three more of the beasts. Their strategy was effectively keeping Cristos or Arsenio from coming to my aid.

With a sudden push of fear, I lit on fire, the Titan in me fighting to take over and do something. I burned so hot, the handcuffs I’d been forced to wear for days melted right off me. Unfortunately, my new captor seemed unfazed by the display.