Adrastia (The God Chronicles Book 4) (12 page)

“Nice try!” the bird laughed, still carrying me higher.

Her bird feet had been covered in an armor I hadn’t noticed before, keeping the fire from touching her, even at its current temperature.

I needed to do something, anything to get away. But was falling to my death really better than getting taken by the Titans?

In a split second decision, I chose the first option.

Letting the Titan loose a little more, the fire went out and I felt my fingers morphing painfully, the bones rearranging themselves to form the snakes that had saved me from the enemy’s grasp last time. Almost unbelievably, they appeared, quickly stretching out with their own minds, biting into the unprotected legs of the bird.

She screamed, wings flapping harder as she jerked around, trying to get us to let go, but I was determined to be the winner. The snakes kept striking, over and over again, blood gushing from her wounds, until, finally, she released me, crying as she attempted to nurse herself.

Time seemed to slow down again as I fell, the breath rushing from my lungs as I flipped over and over, tumbling down to the far away earth. The Titan within banged against the walls that held her back, urgency in her movements as the snakes faded away into my normal, human fingers.

Closing my eyes as the last of my breath sucked from my mouth, I felt a sudden peace in knowing that everything would be over soon.

My Titan broke free, shredding the walls she’d been trapped behind, taking over, and coming to my aid once again.

Sucking in a painful breath, an agonizing scream blasted from my lips as I opened my eyes, my back practically tearing itself open at the Titan’s beckoning. It felt like she was destroying me, killing me to free herself. Just when it seemed I wouldn’t be able to take the pain any longer, beautiful, white, feathery, angelic wings sprouted out around me, catching the air and jerking us to a stop a few hundred feet from the ground.

I flapped them in wonder, caught off guard by their beauty and sheer extent. They were at least twice my size, large enough to wrap me in a cocoon with hardly any effort.

For the first time, I felt like I was working with my Titan. I could feel her pulling at my senses, battling to take over completely. She hungered to hunt those who would hurt us, to be safe again.

With one mind, we looked to the car, still being attacked as it tried to outrun the birds, and dove.

Chapter Twelve

Cristos

“Damn it!” I yelled again, swerving off the road as another pair of large talons harpooned themselves through the glass of the windshield, effectively shattering it the rest of the way.

“Arsenio, where is my sword?” I roared, slamming on the breaks.

Grinning as one of the attacking harpies tumbled from the hood of the car, I punched the gas again, running her over in the process. She wouldn’t stay down long, not with the armor they had on.

A new pair of talons punched through the top of the car and Arsenio’s answer was lost as he tried to swat off his own attack with a headrest through the back window.

This was proving to be very difficult.

The broken windshield made it hard to get any speed up on the car, the wind blinding me any time I was able to break through the attack enough. We were at a standstill, which wasn’t going to end well for us.

In a rage, I slammed on the break and ripped the gear shift from its spot between the seats, jabbing it at the bird lady in front of me.

I needed my sword, but for some reason had agreed to put it in the trunk. If we made out alive, I was going to wring Arsenio’s neck for that.

Suddenly, the harpy I’d run over appeared on the hood of the car again, one wing bent and murder in her eyes.

“Great,” I mumbled, gearing up for a good fight, sword or not.

Lunging the best I could over the steering wheel, I brandished my much shorter, make shift sword at my attacker, succeeding in only making her laugh, grabbing the stick from me with her talons and throwing it off the side of the road.

“Just how strong is Adrastia without Daddy’s sword, I wonder?” she cawed out, her cackle sounding like a crow’s call.

Despite myself, I felt some of the color drain from my face at her comment, the same thought running through my own mind. Anger at the small sign of weakness urged me forward, and I grabbed the open edges of the windshield, intent on climbing out and really joining the battle.

With a jerk, I slipped back into the car, multiple pairs of talons suddenly breaking through the roof and hauling the vehicle up into the air. The sound of heavily beating wings slammed into my ears even more, the wind picking up as we were carried helplessly higher, with only one outcome I could see.

When the harpies dropped the vehicle, their laughter and cries screeching off the hills around us, it felt like time was slowing down for a moment. Everything unraveled around me, the top of the car ripping off in their feet, and then falling after us, as if trying to catch up with the rest of its body. The air sucked from my lungs and an overwhelming dizziness overtook me. The harpies flew down with us, shouting insults, gleefully awaiting the sight of our broken bodies when we hit the pavement below.

My senses finally snapped into place and I pushed myself up, struggling against the force of gravity, and flung myself over the side of the broken metal, grabbing onto the legs of one of the beasts nearby to keep from falling.

The real battle began then, my strength against hers, a fight to see who would bow first. Dangerously sharp talons scratched against me, gouging my skin and bringing blood to the surface, but I refused to let go.

For a fraction of an instant, I saw the car still falling slightly below us, Arsenio burying himself into the seat the best he could, awaiting impact.

Immediately, my attention was drawn back to the task at hand, the beast snapping her human like but very sharp teeth close to my face, practically bending in half trying to get to me.

Climbing up the monster, I caught hold of one of the wings and pulled as hard as I could, smiling greatly as it cracked beneath my touch, the wind suddenly blasting against me as we fell down together.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to enjoy the sickening crunch at the bottom, something else grabbing me out of midair. But, instead of the talons I was prepared for, it was human hands.

I glanced up at who held my hand, seeing the Titan, in all its terrifying power and glory.

Avalon had sprouted monstrous wings, with feathers so snowy white she looked almost like an angel. There was something different about her, a hardness that fought back against the harpies as she pulled me up closer to her, wrapping her arms around my chest to keep me from falling as she yelled to the retreating attack force. As I watched them go, it wasn’t lost to me that many of them were hurt, burnt feathers sticking out and blood coming from several wounds.

Desperation for Arsenio suddenly struck me and I struggled to look down, trying to see if he had survived the crash, but Avalon’s wings were in the way, beating furiously as we slowly descended back to the ground.

“Are you okay?” she panted, greeting me with eyes full of worry.

I didn’t answer, just staring at her as my feet finally brushed against the earth.

“You’re bleeding,” she said, concern etched into her features as she reached a hand out to my face, her wings stretching out to their giant like span.

With a heart stopping halt, she shuddered to a stop, her beautiful eyes suddenly filling with the most pain I’d ever seen anyone display. Her mouth twisted into a silent scream as she wavered, hands shaking, until finally the sound broke from her and she crumpled forward.

Catching her in my arms, my own wide eyes watched as the wings folded back in on themselves, burying into her flesh. Her body convulsed in my arms, face pressed against my chest as fingernails dug into my back, the pain she was feeling obvious. It was so much, she passed out before the task had been completed and I was left with my Titan savior grasped in my tight embrace.

“Is she all right?” Arsenio’s breathless voice asked behind me.

I turned slightly, taking in his scratched up and bleeding form before answering.

“I don’t know,” I replied, gingerly rearranging her so I could stand up.

Her head rested on my shoulder, hands in her lap, and legs held up in my arm, as I turned to look at my cousin once more.

“I thought you were dead,” I stated simply, not realizing the truth of it until it had left my lips. “How did you survive that fall?”

“She caught the car,” he replied, nodding to Avalon. “Right before it hit the ground. I thought it about ripped her arms out of their sockets—she dropped me again right away—but it was enough to slow me down and keep me alive. She was on her way to you before I could even sit up and see what was going on.”

I looked down at the body in my arms in wonder. This was the strangest Titan I’d ever come across, most definitely. Not only had she spent the last week allowing me to treat her no better than dirt, but she’d saved the both of us, injuring herself in the process.

“We need to get out of the open,” I said slowly, still looking at her face, peaceful in its state of unawareness. “Grab whatever you can from the car and let’s go.”

He limped over to the hunk of broken metal, pushing aside what had been the lid to the trunk, and started rummaging through things.

“Most of our supplies are broken,” his voice wafted over to me. “But I think some can be salvaged. The food is destroyed, though. It’s all scattered and pounded to a pulp.”

“Take what we can use,” I replied, still lost in the features of Avalon’s face.

It was like I’d never seen her before, which I hadn’t. Not like this anyway. She was even more beautiful than the day she saved me from the ice Titan’s attack. Gone was the fear and hatred I’d seen every time she looked at me, replaced by complete trust to take care of her.

Even more surprising was the sudden urge I had to do just that. I wanted to hunt down the harpies and tear out every throat, to seek revenge for what they’d put her through. I wanted to strangle myself for tying her to a tree each night, refusing her warmth and care, and starving her to death. I’d slapped her face, spit on her, and refused to call or even think of her as anything more than “It.”

With a lurch, I realized I’d been the one acting like a monster. The Graeae had scared me, enough to make me forget the human side of her did matter. All I could see was what I thought was a beast, what needed to be destroyed to keep my own fate from cursing me. Long gone from my mind were the stories of Titans who had helped the Olympians, and likewise my own kind who had betrayed their family and sided with the enemy.

Here I was now, with this helpless being in my arms, thrown into a world she didn’t understand and most surely feared. Her body was changing, displaying things she’d never known about, and her mind was struggling to accept it. I’d seen the fear inside her on more than one occasion, even reveled in the fact that she was terrified.

Holding her to me tightly, I finally looked up at Arsenio, who had saved all he could of our stash and was staring at me curiously.

I nodded to him and turned, heading into the woods and leaving our peculiar wreck behind.

We walked until night fell, staying off of any roads and keeping clear of any kind of civilization. It was clear to me now that we couldn’t go anywhere we might be seen, not if we wanted to avoid more run ins anyway. If I was honest with myself, I didn’t know if we could handle another fight without losing Avalon to the Titans.

She still hadn’t woken by the time the sun set and we arranged a tiny camp, bare compared to what we’d had before. Our tent had been torn and left behind, as well as most of our cooking gear. It was the one downfall to packing everything together magically; if one thing was broken, most of the rest was bound to be as well.

“I saw some rabbits earlier,” Arsenio said when he’d finally finished putting his things together. “I thought maybe I’d do some bow hunting tonight for our food.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled, still thinking of the revelations I’d had about myself earlier. It was clear to me I needed to protect Avalon, at the very least, to make up for how I’d treated her.

“Do you want to come?”

“No,” I replied, my eyes falling on Avalon’s sleeping form once more. “I want to be here when she wakes up.”

Arsenio didn’t answer, his gaze seeming to burn into the side of my head, so I finally turned to look at him.

“What?” I demanded.

“You called her a ‘she,’” he said, smiling softly. “It’s about time.”

“Don’t read too much into it,” I answered curtly.

“What changed your mind?”

He was looking at me with his stupid, lopsided, know it all grin that made me want to punch him in the face.

“Would you just go get some food?” I ordered. “Fighting makes me hungry.”

He raised an eyebrow at me before shouldering his bow and turning to leave the camp, a low whistle on his breath.

She didn’t wake for some time. I began to wonder if Arsenio would return before she did, if something had happened to her and she wasn’t going to wake up, or if I was merely being impatient. Every now and then, her face would twitch, matching the pain she’d displayed before, and I had to fight the desire to hold her in my arms again, to comfort her and banish the demons she fought.

I was tending to the fire when she finally stirred, moaning softly as she rolled over on the blanket we’d laid her on. It was obvious she was sore from the way she moved, reluctant to stretch her back or lay on it any more. A pang of guiltiness stabbed at me as I realized I may have hurt her by lying her on her back in the first place.

Stepping forward to help her up, I silently cursed myself as she flinched, scooting away as quickly as she could.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was only trying to help.”

“Did my ears stop working, or did you just apologize for something?” she asked incredulously.