Cronus put his hands into his pocket, like he was feeling for something. His eyes had a bit of a far-off stare. “I have another plan.”
The Titans pushed closer. He lifted his head to address them. “Millenia ago, we took a vow to protect the humans,” he started, “and if we stick with that, we will be the ones to bear the burden of the sins.”
He pulled the box from his pocket. “Narida had the original ring,” he said, and their stunned faces and unnatural silence told me everything. This was a concept they’d all heard about, but clearly no one had known it existed.
“Is it the real deal?” Phoebe whispered, eyes wide. “We’ve been fooled before.”
Cronus shook his head. “It’s strong. The power almost knocked me down when I peered upon it, but I won’t know until we use it. I can’t risk the power hurting me before the right time to use it, so there’s no way to test it.”
“And if it is the ring…” Theia pushed, stepping up beside Hyperion, her face wary.
“I believe I can use its power to separate the sins from each other. Their power base is so strong because, at their core, their energies are connected.”
That had been the way they turned into one giant sin last time they were all out.
“Each of us can take a sin,” Cronus added. “Separated like that, we can handle their energy without turning dark.”
#SayWhat
Place a sininsideof them?
Rhea nodded, her eyes bright. “I can take Sickness. Freeze him and keep him at bay.”
“Jealousy is mine,” Koios declared.
One by one, they called out which sin they wanted to carry for eternity.
“What about Death?” I said in a rush. “No one can take it without dying, right?” My heart rate jacked up a notch as I remembered how it had slammed into Cronus, destroying him.
Cronus exchanged the briefest look with Hyperion, and when his friend nodded, he turned to me. “Hyperion and I will split Death and each carry half.”
A lump formed in my throat. “No!”
Cronus pulled me into his arms. “If you want our daughter to have any human playmates, this is how it has to be.”
Burying my face against his chest, I mentally mourned these tough decisions, my heart aching. “Last time you told me it would be fine and you died. What if you get hurt? Or the sins get loose again?”
He shook his head. “We’ll do this over an ancient volcano, one that has lava from the Big Bang. If anything goes wrong, we drop the sins into the volcano, destroying them, and exit Earth before the repercussions.”
My eyes widened. “Why didn’t we just throw them in there before?”
Cronus shook his head. “As I said, it would have great repercussions for the humans. Our goal has always been to trap and contain the sins, not destroy them. It’s the only way we keep the balance of all energy in the universe.”
I sighed. “Will carrying around half of death weaken you?”
He shrugged. “I’m much too strong anyway, I could afford to lose some power.”
I mean, that wasn’t a lie, but it scared me all the same.
Before I could stress further, he reached for my hand and we blinked away. My feet ended up buried in soft sand, waves rolling onto the shore near where we stood. This wasn’t Bali, but it still felt like home with warm breezes, salty sea air, and a lull in energy like there was no need to rush.
“Where are we?” I asked, spotting a waterfall off to the left.
“Hawaii. Big Island,” he said.
One by one, Titans popped in, until finally Hyperion appeared last, carrying the huge sin trunk and necklace.
“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Cronus told me, and blinked away.
