Cold horror spread through Trivia’s chest, but she shoved it down. Something told her Pandora was bluffing.
Have you found a way to free me?The words clanged in Trivia’s mind, echoing over and over.
Pandora neededher. She needed Trivia to free her.
Because she couldn’t do it herself.
Midas had been right. Triviadidhold power. More power than Pandora.
Trivia cast a glance at Midas’s unconscious figure floating in the darkness. Pandora hadn’t done that to him.Triviahad. Midas was strong enough to ward against Pandora’s attacks.
But he hadn’t expected Trivia’s to be so powerful.
“You try my patience, child,” Pandora hissed. “Answer, or I will unleash my shadows on your precious sun god.”
Trivia said nothing, her sluggish mind working frantically to keep up with what she had discovered.
Pandora had sensed Trivia’s power when she’d projected to Midas. It had drawn the goddess here. And when Pandora had appeared, she’d claimed it washerdoing.
She wanted Trivia to think herself weak.
“No,” Trivia said softly.
Pandora stiffened. “What?” she bit out.
Trivia thought of the vision Pandora had forced on her, of the tendrils of darkness creeping toward Sol and Gaia. Gaia’s earth magic had managed to dissolve one of Pandora’s shadows.
Damn this earth magic,Pandora had said.
That same earth magic flowed through Trivia’s veins.
And Pandora needed it to escape.
“I saidno,” Trivia snarled, squaring her shoulders and glaring at Pandora. “I will not free you. And I will not let you threaten Sol any longer.”
Pandora’s face paled, and Trivia’s chest swelled with triumph. She’d won. She’d caught Pandora in her farce.
The goddess had control over her no longer.
Then, to her surprise, Pandora began to laugh. She threwher head back and cackled, the sound resonating and echoing around them.
Trivia went still, her skin prickling with unease. Why was Pandora laughing?
Pandora clapped her hands together with glee, her laughter subsiding as she gave Trivia a wide grin. “Oh, this is justdelightful,isn’t it? You’ve discovered your powers. Ah, what a relief it is to finally have a worthy opponent.” She spread her arms, and darkness descended, swallowing up Trivia completely. Midas vanished, and Pandora melted into the shadows.
Trivia could see nothing. Not even her own hand in front of her face.
Then Pandora’s voice was at her ear. “This is going to be fun.”
BEACON
CYRUS
Cyrus’s bloodwas still humming from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. His Titan magic flowed through him, sizzling with electricity that longed to be unleashed.
He had been ready to do battle, right there in that cave. A strange, savage part of himyearnedto do it. To attack. To let loose all the pent-up rage and frustration that had been building since Prue was taken.
Now that the moment had ended, the energy pulsing within him had no outlet. No hope of release. It churned violently within him, gnawing and roaring, tired of being caged.
