Instead, it was Artemis who popped in beside her brother.
“Oh my!” Artemis exclaimed as she looked at them. “Am I interrupting?”
Apollo seized her arm. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Acheron. This is his house where he lives. I’m allowed to visit.”
No, she wasn’t. Simi was baffled by the lie. Akri had never allowed the heifer in his home. She wasn’t supposed to be here.
More than that, Artemis wasn’t part of the plan.
At all.
Why was she here?
Archon bellowed in outrage. “This is not his home! This is our temple!”
Blinking her eyes, Artemis gave the older Atlantean an innocent look. “No? Then why are you sitting on his throne? That’s not yours, you know. I was with Acheron when he picked it out and brought it here.”
What? Simi was so confused. The heifer goddess had been nowhere near akri when that had happened.
What game was she playing?
“Why is she here, Apollo?” Archon asked through clenched teeth.
“I have no idea.”
Epithymia went rigid. “Something’s not right…”
“That’s because she’s not my daughter.”
Simi looked over to see Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, entering from a side door.
And as she watched her, a horrible thought entered the Simi’s mind. If that wasn’t Artemis …
There was only one person it could be. One person who looked enough like Artemis to pretend to be her.
Katra.
Covering her lips, Simi wished Thorn was here. He would know what to do.
“Mom,” Apollo said irritably. “What are you doing?”
Ignoring him, Leto smirked as she approached their group. “Really, Katra? I’m so disappointed in you for this ridiculous charade. But that’s all right.” She looked at Archon. “We don’t need the twins now. Katra is the daughter of Artemis and Acheron. She has the Destroyer’s bloodline and is actually stronger than her parents.”
Leto grabbed Kat and held a dagger to her throat. “So, Acheron, who do we kill? You or your daughter?”
Simi started for the goddess, but before she could take a step, a sonic blast went through the room. One so fierce, it knocked everyone off their feet and slammed Leto against the wall.
Artemis appeared instantly and pulled Kat to safety. “How dare you,” she enunciated each word slowly as she faced her mother. “No one threatens my baby ever! You cow!” She attacked her mother so ferociously, Kat and Simi had to pull Artemis away to keep her from killing Leto.
Akri took advantage of the distraction to use his powers to jerk the vial from Epithymia’s hand. Using his powers, he sent it to Styxx.
Styxx carefully tucked it in his glove.
With a mutual nod, they attacked the Atlanteans closest to them.
The moment they started fighting, Simi realized why she was so important and why pantheons didn’t like to war among themselves. Since the gods pulled their powers from a mutual source, they were fighting in a weakened position, and their powers weren’t working properly.
