“Shit.Shit.Cyrus!” Evander’s voice sounded closer, as if he were right next to Cyrus’s face. Evander grabbed him, clearly trying to rouse him. “Cyrus, can you see?”
“N-No.” Cyrus could barelyspeak.
Oh, gods. He was dying. He had to be.Thatwas how he would end his pitiful existence—by falling like a damn fool.
“The—The earthquake?” Cyrus rasped, coughing up more blood.
“I think it settled,” Evander said, but his voice was uncertain. “For now.”
“Why—Why is everything still shaking?”
Evander went deadly quiet at that, and Cyrus knew something was horribly wrong.
“Cyrus—” Evander finally spoke, his voice tinged with horror.
A loud screech sounded, and Evander was ripped from Cyrus’s side, his strangled cry fading in the distance.
“Evander!” Cyrus roared. He sat forward, squinting and blinking, trying to clear his head. Gods, he couldn’tsee!
He took several deep breaths, remembering the all-consuming darkness of Tartarus. When he’d traveled those caves with Prue, he had coached her on how to trust her goddess senses instead of her mortal ones.
Cyrus didn’t have that power anymore… but hedidhave his mortal senses.
That would have to do.
On wobbly feet, Cyrus stood, arms stretched on either side of him for balance. He could only make out vague shapes—there was a jagged boulder nearby, and the mist still lingered. But everything continued to quake and tremble, as if the earthquake were still going on.
Cyrus clenched his teeth against the pain spiraling through him, making him nauseous. He stopped trying to move and merely stood there, closing his eyes and relying on his other senses.
Evander’s voice rang out, but it was far away.Toofar.
What took him?Cyrus asked himself, ears straining.
Then, he heard it again: that same piercing screech. It was a harpy. It had to be.
Cyrus blindly flexed his arm, reaching forward, then summoned his lightning. It illuminated the space several feet in front of him, enough for him to see the tracks Evander had left when the harpy had dragged him off.
Cyrus moved, his steps clumsy as he hurriedafter Evander. Occasionally, he stopped to conjure another bolt of lightning to show the way before taking off again.
Evander’s voice grew closer. He bellowed with rage, which Cyrus took as a good sign. If Evander was angry, it meant he was still strong enough to fight back.
I’m coming, brother,Cyrus thought.
Another bolt of lightning, and Cyrus froze.Hundredsof black shapes flitted in front of him, wings spread and talons extended.
It was an army of harpies.
“Shit,” Cyrus whispered.
The harpy had been dragging Evander to its flock. To feed its family.
Cyrus was severely outnumbered.
A loud squawk made him yelp and stumble backward as a harpy appeared before him, wings flapping wildly. The feathers tickled Cyrus’s skin.
With a hoarse shout, Cyrus’s lightning forked through the sky, exploding into the ground at his feet. The harpy screamed, its body twitching as the electricity jolted through it.
But now every single harpy was facing him, their wings flapping as they raced toward him.
