"We've got her!" a voice cackled gleefully through the black walkie-talkie I was holding and I frowned, dread and worry knotting my intestines into a ball, joining the snake that reared its head whenever my thoughts drifted to Luke and . . . that. I refused to think about it.
Somehow, the lackeys had gotten to the goddess of the Hunt before I had. "Bring her back," I ordered, steeling myself to face the goddess who had been like a sister to me. "I'll meet with you there."
There was a crackle of confirmation on the other end, and then I was gone, leaving behind the icy forest in gods knew where, heading back to Mount Othrys with a captured immortal in chains.
I'm so sorry, Artemis, I thought as I appeared in a swirl of Mist before the ruins of the castle. I reigned in my gasp as I caught sight of her, her silver dress ragged, celestial bronze chains wrapped around her arms and tied to her feet. But it wasn't the bounds that nearly had me shattering everything around me in rage and terror. It was the lack, or rather, the significantly diminished amount, of her aura of power.
Where a blinding, silver nebula had once been, there was nothing more than a bright glow. A lot, capable of insane power, but nowhere near what a goddess, and one of the Olympians, should have had.
Just what plaything had Atlas given them?
"The chains are enchanted," Artemis said to me in my head. "I don't know what it is, but it's leeching at my power."
I blinked, tucking away the shred of information, then turned to face the growling monsters around me. "Bring her in. The General is waiting."
***
I honestly didn't know how I wasn't dead yet. There were at least a dozen battles I was engaged in, each slowly tearing and shredding through my soul. Emotions, all of them more intense than a hurricane brought down with the wrath of Poseidon, warred inside as I watched, a sentinel facing a terrible change of power.
Right before Artemis was dragged up in chains, Luke had stepped forward, knelt beside Atlas, and shouldered the burden. I'd been forced to watch from the sidelines as he'd clenched his teeth, all the muscles in his body going taught, beads of sweat already running down his face. it'd been a struggle of willpower to run to him, to ease that crushing weight if only by half.
I'd barely heard Atlas as he'd bellowed his freedom to the world, too busy fighting my own shadows as they leaped and writhed inside to fly to the boy kneeling on the ground, the weight of the sky on his shoulders. Hell, I'd almost given myself away, the desire to take away the burden with my magic so strong I almost blacked out from the surge in my magic, but I gritted my teeth and forced myself to watch.
And then did the same as after a few minutes that had seemed like an eternity, Annabeth had run in, pain and terror on her pale face as she saw him crumpled against the rocky ground. I'd watched, silent from my sentry in the darkness as Luke pleaded with her to help him, then rolled free and walked away, leaving Annabeth alone in the cave.
At that point, I couldn't stand it anymore. Atlas was gone, Luke was gone, and as far as anyone was concerned, I was off somewhere in the city, and so, after making sure no eyes were watching, I'd flicked my fingers and invisible pillars of black shadow sprung up next to Annabeth, helping her even if it was nearly inconsequential as she held up the sky.
The sudden suffocating drain on my powers and flash of blinding agony nearly had me dropping to the floor as well, but then they'd simply faded into the tumult of pain swirling through me. Physical, mental, it didn't matter.
When Artemis had been dragged in, in chains, her hands bound and her auburn hair tangled, I was numb. Cold, unfeeling, like the misty plains of Asphodel. It was like my mind had escaped somewhere, leaving my body and its mess of emotions as an empty shell skulking in the shadows.
What was I doing here? I screamed at myself as Annabeth staggered out from beneath her burden, immediately collapsing to the floor only to be hauled up by Luke. I should have been on the other side of the country. I should have been shadow-walking here. I should have been arriving here, my magic and blades out, rescuing Annabeth and forcing Atlas back to take the burden of the sky. Artemis was not the immortal who should have been kneeling on the ground, the weight of the sky her burden. I should have done something to prevent this.
I should have . . . I should have killed Luke a long time ago. The moment I'd found out that he was Kronos' spy, the moment I'd found out he'd been the lightning thief. Never mind that I never would have been able to become a spy and sneak my way in through their ranks and never mind that it would have been useless in the end since Kronos would have just picked another lackey. I should have done it, to spare him the monster looming on his path, and to spare myself this . . . whatever this ache in my heart that was pulling me apart was.
But I hadn't. And now, I was paying the price, even if this was what had been intended for me from the very beginning.
Damn the gods and their shenanigans. I was so sick of this. I wanted to wash my hands of this act, kill everyone in the room, and fly back to camp with Annabeth and Artemis in tow. And then take a nice, long, never-ending vacation away from the gods and their games.
"Clari."
All thoughts vanished from my head as I blinked, my eyes meeting Artemis' silver gaze from the shadows. Even with sweat beading on her face, her eyes were full of sympathetic warning.
"Remember your duty."
All at once, a wave of horror and shame swept over me. Gods, what was I thinking? I couldn't just flick my fingers and then saunter off to the other side of the country. Clari, the hell is wrong with you? I cursed myself. You do realize that the whole world is in play right now, right? Do your fucking job.
Your job, which currently entails sending an Iris message to Olympus.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to turn away from the goddess in chains, the smirking Titan, and the boy who had somehow managed to walk through the fortress of my heart, and shadow-walked to a glen on the side of the mountain, a river cutting through it. Carefully crafting a barrier of darkness, I angled the light so it created a rainbow reflecting through the water, and tossed a drachma inside.
"O Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, show me Athena on Mount Olympus."
The image flickered, shifting, and the goddess appeared, the throne room materializing with her.
"Clari?" she said in surprise, turning towards me. "What's wrong?"
"Artemis was captured by Atlas," I said immediately. "She's bearing the sky as we speak."
"What?" a roar sounded through the image, startling the birds in the trees around me.
I winced. "My Lord, please. They're going to hear you."
"Calm down, father," Athena said. "And don't you dare grab your bolt and head off to California."
"I wasn't," Zeus grumbled. "She's a goddess, she can take care of herself. But the nerve of Iaepetus' stupid son to force my daughter to take his curse! I shall hope that once she is freed by our children, she'll teach him a lesson."
I swallowed back my retort of "Why don't you go rescue her yourself?"
That would only have gotten me killed.
Zeus just had to be here. I had absolutely terrible timing. "I just thought you should know," I added in a small voice. Thankfully, I couldn't see Zeus, though I knew from the sparks that flashed through the image, he was on the verge of causing a storm right on Olympus.
"That Huntress is on the way, yes?" Zeus rumbled from somewhere off image. "They have already received the prophecy, no?"
"I don't know, but if there is one, then yes, Zoe would have already started the search," I replied.
"Is there anything else?" Athena said, eyeing me with sharp grey eyes as I nodded and raised my hand to cut the connection. "You look . . . a bit worse for wear."
I glanced down at my reflection in the stream, already knowing what I'd see. Both Luke and I had definitely seen better days, though Luke was by far in worse condition. Somehow, in the few days that I'd been gone to Maine, he'd gotten even paler and tenser, not to mention busier. We'd barely had the time to speak, and I knew that with Atlas free, the dwindling time we had together would only shrink.
"Clari?" Athena prompted, breaking me out of my reverie. I jerked my gaze from my reflection to meet her eyes, and nodded, shrugging. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just busy with all the . . . preparations going on."
Athena nodded. "Alright. Be careful, and stay safe. I'll see you on the Winter Solstice."
I nodded in thanks and respect and slashed my hand through the image.
Alone, and truly alone this time, I stared blankly at the trees at the edge of the clearing. I knew I had to go back up to Othrys before people started looking for me, but . . . a few minutes more wouldn't kill anyone. I just had to try and sort out the jumble in my head, take a few deep breaths, and then head back up to the chains of my mask.
Crack.
Instantly, my sword was out, the seraphim silver blade reflecting the sun in a blaze of light. "Who's there?" I asked, my gaze pinned on the forest where the noise had come from.
"It's just me," a voice called back, and I sighed, sheathing my blade as Luke walked into the clearing. "I've been looking for you."
I scanned him from head to toe, taking in his pale complexion, his scar stark against his face, the tension lining every muscle in his body, and his hair, which had somehow paled in the three days I'd been gone.
Stress, I kept telling myself. But I knew it wasn't really. And then I met his gaze, green on blue, and I knew that he hadn't come here just because he missed me.
"The wind is shifting, daughter of shadow," Aegle's voice whispered through the leaves rustling on their branches.
That black snake in my gut reared its monstrous head, just as Luke said, still not looking at me,
"We need to talk."