Looping my arms around his neck, I snuggled my face into his chest. Thankfully, the super-strong expectation remained true, and he didn't seem to be feeling any strain as he sprinted to catch up to the others. By the time we reached them, the jungle part of our journey appeared to be ending; we'd reached a clearer section with a very steep incline.
“Whoa,” I murmured, lifting my head as high as I could. “Look at that view!”
We had to be near the top of a mountain, because once we exited the jungle, there was nothing but ocean as far as I could see. And the further Cronus climbed, the more ocean came into view.
“This volcano is always active,” he said, “its molten core is easily reachable if you have the means.”
“Won't that cause it to explode?” I asked in a panic.
He shook his head. “Nah, we'll keep it calm. I just need a path to the heart in case my plan fails.”
“It will work,” I said.
Put it out into the universe and it will come true, or something like that.
The rest of the Titans had all stopped to wait for us, and I took a second to really look at them, standing strong and tall, looking almost like statues of deities, scattered across another ancient landmark. I had no idea how it had happened, but they felt like family. It was the oddest instant connection, considering I didn’t know most of them that well.
“We're going to make this work. I refuse to lose this,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Our baby needed her aunts and uncles.
Cronus set me down gently, taking my right hand into his. Theia stepped over and took my left hand, and together we walked the last few steps to the very tippy top.
The crater was massive, and we stood on the side closest to the ocean, having somehow wrapped around to that direction when climbing. Looking down into the volcano, I could make out a drop that looked like it went on for miles. I was afraid to move any closer and truly see into the middle, due to the fragile look of the ground under my shoes.
“Hold on,” Hyperion said, stepping right up to the very edge like some sort of dude with a death wish. “This might rock the land a little.”
Power slammed out of his hands and into the dark soil and stone on either side of him. It didn't bust up the ground like I'd expected; instead it vanished. I wouldn't have known anything was happening if it wasn't for the slight vibrations under my feet.
Holy crap. This was really happening.
These idiots were mining into a pit of lava, and none of them even looked like they’d broken a boob sweat worrying about it.
#ThisIsMyLifeNow
Chapter 16
The red tinge of the volcano slowly moved closer, rising up like those science projects we did in school. Heat crept up my arms as the lava slowly gurgled to the surface.
“Uh, Hyperion…” I inched backward.
The lava stopped just short of spewing over, thankfully, and no one had to die for that to happen.
Cronus turned to his fellow Titans. “If anything goes wrong, we plunge the sins into the lava, destroying them, and go off-world.”
Off world because there was a chance Earth wouldn’t fucking survive destroying them all?#NotIdeal #DefoPlanC
I gave a nervous laugh. “But let’s try not to do that.”
Cronus nodded.
Surprisingly it was Rhea who stepped forward first. “We can do this. Bring out Sickness.” Gone was the prissy Titan, her warrior expression coming out to play as she powerfully planted her feet before Cronus.
He nodded, dragging the trunk toward them. “Stay back, Mais,” he said, like I was going to bounce myself over and sit on the sin trunk.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I took four giant steps backward until I was standing beside Hyperion.
The trunk at Cronus’ feet rumbled, as if it knew it was about to meet its demise. “When I open it, they will try to meld together and form one entity, as they did before. If the ring does as I hoped, then I’ll be able to tear them apart. But you must be ready to take them on quickly.”
