‘Aethra!’
Ignoring the appalled onlookers, we burst through the doors and flew down the stairs. Not one coherent thought streamed through our thoughts—Aethra had fallen into a panic, if she even recalled where she was.
Letting Seth guide me, I tried to find a clue in her jumbled thoughts, but only a whirlwind of terror streamed into mine.
What could have caused her to react like this?
Fear caught in my throat.
What, but the man who’d tormented her dreams last night?
Biting his knuckles, Seth let blood stream between his fingers and grabbed the blade forming from their drops. He called to Aethra across her mental link, but she didn’t answer.
She didn’t hear us.
Something was happening up ahead—screams carried fromthe square, and people streamed in every direction, fleeing from something. Seth didn’t pause to see what was happening—he simply charged into the chaos.
Godsdamned recklessidiot.
A heavyset man crashed into me as I rounded the bend, and I flinched as pain reverberated through my arm. Percy ran into my back. “What’s going on?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” I said through gritted teeth, weaving through the sea of bodies to reach the square.
I found Aethra in an instant—forced to her knees, hands bound behind her back. Lord Icelus gripped the back of her neck—the man in gleaming gold armor who’d interrogated us in the Duat.
Who’dtorturedher.
Hearing us coming, his gaze snapped in Seth’s direction. “You!” He gasped, recognizing us. “Seize them!” He ordered.
The Hades Knights turned toward us, glaives pointed forward.
Looking at Aethra, I called out across our link, hoping to snap her out of her fear. “Aethra!”
Hearing my voice, her eyes shifted in my direction, but she did not break from her frozen stance.
One Hades Knight sprinted toward Seth, while the other charged me.
Eyeing the glaive aimed for my chest, I backed up. Music sang through the air, lonely and somber—a spell Percy had woven. But it had no effect. The knight carried on, unfettered.
The immortals here did not fear death the way we did.
Throwing myself to the side, I tried to avoid him at the last moment, but he spun on his heel with practiced precision and raised his weapon.
Scarlet vines wrapped around his ankles, pulling him away from me. More crashed into his chest, throwing him against one of the buildings. Phaedrus stalked toward him, face covered by his deep blue cloak.
That knight would have killed me. Despite our circumstances, Phaedrus was the last person I’d expected to rescue me.
Steel rang as the other knight’s glaive crashed into Seth’s scarlet sword.
“Get Aethra!” Phaedrus barked at me. “I’ll protect you.”
Darting around him, I sought Aethra in the chaos of running bodies. Lord Icelus yanked an elegant blade from his belt and pressed it against her throat, dragging her back with him.
His fingers tapped on the steel. I couldn’t hear the faint sounds they made, but I knew what he was doing.
Creating music.
My head spun as the muse took over my thoughts, seeking my darkest nightmares.
