And I remembered the journal.The Titan's throat.
I didn't reach for Kaelen. I didn't reach for power that I understood, or at least partly understood.
I reached for something beyond everything I could comprehend.
The bone.
Desperation clawed at me as Marissa-Hera brought the dagger closer to my neck, and I threw my consciousness wide open, bypassing my own barriers, and slammed into the resonance of the dead Titan.
SCREAM,I commanded the bone.
It wasn't a spell or logic. It was just me, Aria Pandoros, the woman who opened things she shouldn't, kicking the hinges off a dead titan's voice box.
The bone vibrated.
A sound, not audible but felt in the soul, erupted from the center of the room. It was a note of pure, unadulterated dissonance.
Marissa faltered. The knife shook in her hand. The crushing gravity wavered as the power source she was sipping from suddenly punched back.
The pressure lifted for a split second.
"Now!" I screamed.
Kaelen didn't need to be told twice. He was a blur of motion, launching himself off the wall. He didn't attack Marissa; he knew she would block it.
He tackled me.
He hit me hard, knocking me out of Marissa’s grip. His body curled around mine as we rolled across the stone floor, away from the silver knife.
"Flynn! The jars!" Kaelen shouted as we skidded to a halt.
Flynn, released from the pressure, exploded into motion. He sprinted for the table of glowing containers.
"No!" Marissa shrieked, her composure shattering. The divine mask slipped, revealing the terrified mortal woman beneath for just a second. "Do not touch them!"
She spun, throwing a bolt of white fire at Flynn.
Elias intercepted it. He stepped into the path of the bolt, catching it on a shield of turquoise light. The impact sent him sliding backward, his boots smoking, but he held.
"Break them!" Elias yelled, his face contorted with effort as the bolt still tried to break his shield.
Flynn reached the table. He didn't carefully smash them. He grabbed the edge of the heavy stone table andheaved.
The table flipped.
Dozens of glass jars crashed to the floor.
The sound of shattering glass was beautiful.
Glowing liquid spilled across the dirty stone. Runes flared and died. The biological matrices, my stolen potential, withered instantly upon hitting the air, turning to grey dust.
"My work!" Marissa screamed, the sound echoing like a banshee. "My legacy!"
The air in the cavern grew instantly colder. The presence inside Marissa swelled, enraged.
"You ungrateful little pulses of electricity," Hera’s voice boomed from Marissa’s throat. "I will unmake you."
She began to rise into the air, white light pouring from her eyes, mouth, and fingertips. The Titan bone hummed, reacting to her fury.
