Clio materialized beside me like she'd been shot out of a cannon, hands pressing against my belly before I could blink. Her eyes went wide as dinner plates as she confirmed what I was feeling. "Holy shit, Phoebe. The connections are still there, but they're muffled, Like someone stuffed cotton in their ears.Whatever the triplets are doing, it's screwing with Lyra's ability to siphon power. It's like they've built their own magical panic room."
"How in the nine circles is that possible?" Persephone asked as she and Hades popped into existence in our kitchen without so much as a knock. I really hated when they did that teleporting thing—gave me heart palpitations every damn time.
"I called them," Aidon said, catching my annoyed look. "I wanted their input on this."
"They heard your idea," Hades said, and I swear there was something like wonder in his voice. "Divine children don't develop like regular magical offspring. They adapt to threats in real-time, evolving defenses faster than you can say 'kill that evil bitch’."
Everyone began throwing out their opinion. For the first time since Lyra had forced those parasitic connections on us, I felt like we might actually have a shot. I couldn’t wait to wipe the floor with her face.
"If they can weaken the connections like this, what happens if we push back through them instead of just defending? I think we can do something to hurt her," I interjected.
Aidon's eyes lit up. "We might be able to turn the tables.”
“You bet your ass,” Nana said. “Instead of her draining them, we send her a little love letter. The explosive kind."
As if responding to the words, their magic settled into a steady, predatory rhythm that reminded me of a cat watching a mouse. The parasitic connections were still there, but they no longer felt like venomous snakes wrapped around my babies' hearts. They felt like highways we could drive a tank down. For the first time in days, I let myself believe we were going to absolutely destroy Lyra.
CHAPTER 3
The euphoria of our small victory lasted exactly four hours and twenty-three minutes. I knew because I was watching the clock when Tseki burst through our front door as if his ass was on fire. His usually perfect appearance was completely trashed, and his eyes held the wild look of someone who'd seen way too much.
"The ley lines," he gasped, stumbling into the living room. "They're dying."
I hauled myself off the couch with all the grace of a drugged elephant. Aidon's hand found my elbow before I could face-plant into the coffee table. "What do you mean, dying?" I clarified.
Tseki braced his hands on his knees, sucking air. "I just finished flying recon over New England. Every major ley line from Boston to Portland is corrupted."
"Elaborate," Hades demanded. His divine authority filled the room with pressure that made my ears pop. The God of the Underworld didn't do subtle when worried about his future grandchildren.
"They're turning black," Tseki said, accepting water from Mythia's tiny pixie hands. "The energy that should flow cleanthrough the earth is infected. It feels poisoned. And it’s spreading outward from three points."
My stomach churned like it was trying to make butter. "They have to be Lyra's backup ritual sites."
"We destroyed those," Persephone said, though she didn't sound convinced.
"We destroyed the ones we found," Jean-Marc corrected grimly, looking up from the book he was reading.
Tseki nodded. "The corruption is creating a massive net across six states. If she completes whatever she's building..."
"She won't need the parasitic connections," I finished. "She'll draw power directly from the continental network."
"That would make her more powerful than some gods," Aidon said quietly.
Hades' expression darkened. "More powerful than some gods, perhaps. But not the Lord of the Underworld. We will stop her."
Just like that, the hopeful mood from dinner evaporated. We'd found a way to fight back, along with another layer to her plan. It was like playing chess against someone who kept switching to checkers, then flipping the board.
"How long before the network is complete?" Mom asked.
Tseki closed his eyes, calculating. "Three days. Maybe four if we're lucky."
"Then we don't have time to sit around reading dusty books," I said. "We need to act now."
"Phoebe—" Clio began in that tone that meant a lecture was incoming.
"I'm not talking about charging into battle like some deranged Amazon. I know better. However, we can't sit here looking through dusty grimoires while she turns the eastern seaboard into her personal power source."
Nana looked up from cleaning her shotgun. She’d grabbed it when the conversation began. "About damn time someone started making sense. All this research is fine, but that bitch is out there doing actual magic while we're reading about it."
