Vomit rose in my throat at the gruesome scene.
Cronus, chest heaving, looked around the rest of the crowd. “Anyone else?”
The only sound was the body of the god slamming to the ground, what was left of his heart following as Cronus opened his bloody hand. For a second everything went a little black around the edges and I fought valiantly to keep the contents of my stomach from appearing.
I mean, I had no love for Apollo of course, but I was pretty sure that bits of his blood was on my face. Like, right on my fucking face!
“What about his power?” I choked out, resisting the urge to wipe at my cheeks.
There was a power balance between Earth and the gods that inhabited it. When one was killed, that power had to go somewhere. And as Zeus’ son, Apollo was no slouch.
“We're off-world,” Hyperion said, when Cronus appeared to be too angry for normal conversation. “We should be able to divide the power between all of us without too much disruption. It’s just one god.”
Somewhere behind us, Athena started to scream and cry. Her threats of murder were detailed and gory.
“Shut the fuck up,” Zeus snarled at her. “We have an object to find and that’s my future wife Apollo tried to harm. Let's get started while they're distracted.”
Future wife?#TheFuckYouSay
Despite their fury, the gods still listened and followed him away from us, leaving the body of their fallen brother behind. No doubt the gods would want his body back eventually, but for now he was left as he was.#DeadAF
The Titans moved away, none of them sparing a second glance for the god. I didn't either, but the death lingered heavy in my soul. I'd seen too much of it lately, and I'd always be scarred from watching Cronus die.
“These are the two coordinates we have,” Cronus said, holding the piece of paper up for everyone to see. I personally was thankful to have something to focus on.
Using some magic, Cronus projected the coordinates up on a holographic looking screen in the middle of the air that showcased a map of this world.
Cool. My boyfriend had skills.
“The gods are far away,” he said. “We’re safe to plan our search area.” He pointed to the line connecting the two, expanding it into a circle. “The ruby is somewhere inside this area,” he said.
I suddenly got what Narida must have done. “I bet the other team has different points, and their circle would intersect with ours,” I said, leaning closer. “It would be like a Venn diagram.”
Every eye was on me. “What?” I shrugged. “I did school. Kinda. But anyway, that's not my point. My point is this blogger I watched was obsessed with Venn diagrams and she was always posting them on Instagram, and the concept stuck with me.”
Cronus kissed me, another one of those random heart-stopping kisses. A girl could really get used to being loved like that.
“Thank you for existing,” he said, before turning to the others while I tried to get my racing heart under control. “And Maisey is no doubt correct. Narida made this difficult on our own, maybe near impossible, but together with the gods…”
“She would have us battle to the death for the ruby,” Okeanos said with a snort. “She gets off on that shit.”
“She does,” Rhea added. “We used to drink together, many years ago of course, and that bitch has a mean streak a mile wide.”
“If there had been anyone else we could have brought in to oversee this, I would have,” Cronus grumbled. “But Zeus knows that Narida owes allegiance to no one but herself. Powerful and impartial, she was our only option.”
“Can we forget about her and deal with finding the ruby,” Hyperion snapped, sounding way less jovial than usual. “We’re wasting time.”
Theia put her hand on his arm and he took a deep breath, smiling down at her.#PowerOfLove #ItWasIntense
“Hype is right,” Cronus said shortly. “Okay, so she said that it would have no power resonance and we wouldn't really know it until we found it.”
“I've been thinking about that,” Phoebe piped up. She was quiet, but when she spoke, it was worth listening. “And I've reached two conclusions. Based on her instructions to 'listen' to what she was saying, I think we need to move into the area we have coordinates for, and once we are there…” Her voice got very low. “We should feel for the energy of everything. Because if this object has no energy…”
“Yes,” Cronus murmured, sounding intrigued. He had obviously clicked on to what she was saying … I was still confused as fuck.
“What?” I said, looking around. “If it has no energy, how will you find it?”
“Everything has energy,” Phoebe explained to me. “Absolutely everything, no matter how inanimate it is. So if this has none, there's going to be a dead spot where it is. Almost like a—”
