he could fight the gods. He’d already shot down Zeus with a green bolt, temporarily killing him, but Hera and Heracles had him cornered. His only chance of escape was to fly into the sky or back to the palace—except he had no intention of abandoning Diana.
Hestia, Dionysus, and Aphrodite surrounded Diana. “If one of us kills the Daughter of Apollo instead of Karter, the war on the gods will still end, right?” Dionysus said, glowering at her. He raised his hands, his vines slithering all around him.
Heracles pointed a finger at Dionysus. “Don’t you dare. We can’t do anything that might compromise the future. In Father’s visions, Karter was the one to kill her, and the war ended quickly thereafter. If anyone else does so, the outcome is unclear.”
Hera summoned her battle scepter with a clap of her hands and stalked closer to Karter. Although she stood a few feet taller than him, he didn’t back down from her glare. He stared up at her in defiance. “The future is already unclear,” she said. “This was not supposed to happen. However, we’ll still wait. The king should regenerate shortly, and when he does, I have no doubt he’ll order Karter’s and Diana’s deaths immediately.” She bent down to meet Karter’s gaze. “You will no longer get away with defying the gods, you filthy ingrate. We offered you immortality, power beyond your imagination. For gods’ sakes, I was going to accept you as my son. Even before that, we gave you all you could have wanted. And this is how you repay us?”
Fury unlike anything Karter had ever felt brewed and boiled in his gut. His heartbeat quickened, a hot, tingling sensation rising from his toes to his face. “Gave me all I wanted? You must be joking, Hera. Since I was a child, the gods have made it a point to destroy everything I care about. But you know that better than anyone, don’t you? Because you’re the one who murdered my mother.” He scoffed and, without thinking, spit in her face.
The other gods around him gasped. Hera took a step back, her expression an impassive mask. She wiped the saliva from her skin with the back of her hand, then narrowed her eyes into slits. “I suppose you’re right about a few things, bastard child.” She raised her scepter. “But whether you like it or not, the whore deserved to die. As do you.” Hera brought down her weapon. Karter darted to the right, barely dodging her attack.
Just then, the ground began to quake. The Queen of the Gods stumbled to the side, and so did everyone else.
Regaining his balance, Karter conjured his power of flight and soared over to Diana. He pulled her into his arms and flew high above the immortals.
All the way up here, he could see what had caused the shaking, though he could hardly believe his eyes. “Andy!” Diana cried with pure joy. Sure enough, it was Andy. The boy stood guard before Zeus’s body, and he had Poseidon’s Trident in hand. He slammed the prongs against the floor of the amphitheater, over and over, causing the earth to shudder. He also looked different from how Karter remembered. He wore the white robes and golden sandals of an aristocrat, and a pair of feathered butterfly wings had sprouted from his back.
Where’s Zoey? Karter wondered, and that was when he saw her—well, he didn’t really see her. Rather, he saw where she must be. One moment, Zeus’s body was visible. The next, it disappeared. She’s wearing the Helm of Darkness, and she plans to steal the Master Lightning Bolt.
Just like Diana said.
“It’s them!” Heracles bellowed. He seized one of the columns holding up the amphitheater temple and tore it from its place. He brandished it like a weapon, bounding toward Andy. “The Chosen Two of the Dreaded Prophecy!”
The rest of the gods howled in rage, following Heracles’s lead. They charged for Andy. Heart in his throat, Karter flew toward the mortal boy.
Dionysus was first to reach Andy. The god used his vines to propel himself forward, and soon greenery slithered around Andy’s ankles and wrists. Andy jolted his limbs, trying to free himself of the vegetation’s grip. It held fast. Almost there, almost there, Karter thought.
Andy cried out as Dionysus made a vine curl around his neck. He jutted the Trident’s prongs in Dionysus’s direction, but the god stayed just out of reach. “I’ve got the boy,” Dionysus shouted over his shoulder. Another vine wrapped around the handle of the Trident. “And the Trident, too.”
Karter swooped down toward them. But before he could attack the god himself, Diana leapt from his arms, spheres of sunlight blazing in her hands. Her foot collided with Dionysus’s temple. He toppled sideways.
Like the nimblest of dancers, Diana flipped in the air and landed on the ground. She spun around and pitched her balls of light at the other gods charging for them. At the same time, the vines Dionysus wrapped around Andy came undone. They wriggled back to his side as he let out a pained groan, trying to get up from the dirt.
Karter landed beside Andy. The boy raised Poseidon’s Trident, rushed toward Dionysus, and plunged the prongs through the god’s chest. Dionysus went limp. Golden ichor leaked from his wounds.
Andy tore the Trident from Dionysus’s body and turned to Karter. “So, did you actually decide to join our side this time? Or do I have to use this Trident on you?”
“I’m here to help you,” Karter said. “I swear.”
Andy didn’t look convinced, and Karter couldn’t blame him, but there wasn’t time to explain. Heracles grew closer and closer to them, the rest of the immortals in tow. It appeared Diana hadn’t hit any of them with her missiles, or if she had, the attacks hadn’t deterred the deities.
Karter readied two green lightning bolts. Diana created more fiery spheres. Andy brandished the Trident.
Heracles approached, still clutching the broken-off pillar. Karter chucked his lightning at the god, while Diana hurled her glowing spheres at him. Heracles ducked beneath the attacks. The gods behind him didn’t see them coming in time. Diana’s light rammed into Hestia’s stomach, sending her barreling backward. Karter’s bolts struck Aphrodite, the peridot electricity whizzing across her skin. She toppled to the ground, dead for the moment.
Karter darted forward to meet Heracles head-on before the god could attack Diana and Andy. Heracles swung the column at Karter like a massive club. Channeling his strength, Karter caught the column.
Heracles released a battle cry and shoved the column against Karter. The veins in his arms bulging, Karter stood his ground to the best of his ability, holding tight to the pillar. The heels of his sandals dug into the dirt beneath him.
On Karter’s right, Diana launched two fiery spheres at Heracles. They struck him in the ribs. He stumbled to the side, losing grip of the column. Karter yanked it out of the god’s reach and tossed it aside.
Hera appeared thirty feet in front of Karter, lifting her scepter. Hestia seemed to have recovered; she followed Hera closely, brandishing a pair of twin daggers.
Karter conjured two green bolts. He hurled one at Hera, the other at Hestia. They dodged the projectiles with ease and continued to advance.
I got lucky with Zeus and Aphrodite because they weren’t expecting my attacks, Karter thought, gritting his teeth as he conjured more peridot lightning. His chest had begun to burn at the exertion. So how am I supposed to fight the others? How are any of us supposed to fight them? We’re just mortal. It’s only a matter of time before—
An arrow whooshed past them. It pierced Hera through the shoulder, and she screeched in pain. Another arrow went flying, this one into Hestia’s stomach. She yelped, keeling over.
The sounds of chains clanking penetrated the screams of the dispersing crowd, and Karter looked over his shoulder. To his surprise, the Titan Prometheus—still in shackles—and Zoey and Andy’s satyr companion—a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows slung over his back—careered toward them. Behind the Titan and satyr, a dozen nymphs used shields of plants and water to block the other gods and demigods from coming closer.
Hestia snarled at Prometheus and the satyr, then launched a dagger at Diana. The Daughter of Apollo tried to get away, but she wasn’t quick enough. The weapon pierced her thigh. She cried out, falling to the ground.
Andy glanced between Diana and Hestia. He scowled at the goddess, leapt into the air, and flew toward her and Hera in a slightly unsteady manner, clutching Poseidon’s Trident.
“Diana!” the familiar voice of a young woman exclaimed, and Karter’s stomach did a flip. Zoey. Had she revealed herself? Despite the circumstances, he swung around.
Zoey had in fact revealed herself. Like Andy, she was dressed as an aristocrat, her floor-length dress the same bright-blue color as her irises. She had the Helm of Darkness tucked under her handless arm. With the hand she had left, she held a humongous drawstring sack. Golden electricity arced around the brown fabric, and Karter recognized the bag as the one Zeus kept the Master Lightning Bolt stored within, under his robes. She got it.
Not only that, but behind her, Zeus still lay “dead,” ichor spilling from fresh wounds in his throat, chest, and sides. She must have wanted to keep him incapacitated for as long as possible.
Zoey rushed to Diana, and Karter realized the sight of her was making his chest hurt. The last time he’d seen her had been when he betrayed her. If they managed to get out of this alive, would he ever be able to make it up to her?
As Zoey helped Diana rip the blade from her thigh and Diana healed the injury, Prometheus wrestled with Heracles. The satyr hurried over to Andy, presumably to aid the boy in fighting Hera and Hestia.
“Retrieve the objects of power,” Hera ordered, her words carrying over the chaos. “And do not allow any of these traitors to escape, unless you care to be punished with the utmost severity.”
Another voice that Karter knew all too well, a voice he had not expected to hear again—the voice of a Titan goddess—echoed from above. “You never were a merciful queen, were you, Hera?” Asteria!
Thousands of miniature stars floated down from the sky and into battle. They twirled around Hera’s and Hestia’s faces, twinkling brightly in their eyes as if to distract them from Andy and the satyr. If that was Asteria’s intent, it worked, because the duo took advantage of the immortals’ disorientation. Andy stabbed Hera in the chest with the Trident, and Darko shot Hestia through the throat with an arrow.
“Hey, Son of Zeus!” Prometheus called from off to the side. Karter looked over to see he was still wrestling Heracles, and he seemed to be losing. “Since you decided you’re a good guy now, you mind givin’ me a little help?” Karter sprinted toward them.
Heracles and Prometheus suddenly stopped wrestling. They stared at something behind Karter. Heracles’s expression was awed, while Prometheus’s was panicked. Had the other gods and demigods fought their way past the nymphs?
Karter looked back to find something much worse.
Zeus climbed to his feet, his body fully regenerated, his flesh free of lightning burns and blade wounds. He conjured peridot lightning as he glared at Karter.
The King of the Gods heaved a green bolt for Karter. Karter lurched to the left. The lightning blasted the dirt next to him.
Karter glanced at Zoey and Diana—were they okay?—but it seemed they’d already disappeared, taking the Helm of Darkness and the Master Lightning Bolt with them.
As Zeus reared back to shoot Karter with his other bolt, thousands of glittering stars sped in front of Karter. Asteria materialized before him, shielding him from Zeus. Prometheus managed to squirm out of a stunned Heracles’s grip and bounded up to Asteria’s side, his chains at the ready.
“Go, Karter,” Asteria said. “Follow the Chosen Two. Help them retrieve the grandchildren-of-Hephaestus, escape Olympus, and finish their war on the gods. Your destined greatness awaits.”
Behind Zeus, the fortification of plants and water the dozen nymphs had created came undone, the minor gods and demigods erupting through. They made a break toward Zeus, while the nymphs scattered, trying to dart out of harm’s way. Some of them didn’t make it, though. In seconds, one Dryad and two Naiads were shot down.
Zeus began to laugh. It was a horrible, maniacal sound. The sky darkened, thunder rumbling in sync with his cackling. He heaved his peridot lightning in Prometheus’s direction.
Karter never found out whether the bolt hit the Titan god. He jumped into the air, intending to fly back to the temple, then into the palace. That was the only direction Zoey and Diana could have gone. Hopefully, Andy and the satyr were already with them.
Karter spun around and was met with the broken column barreling toward him. Narrowly dodging the assault, he soared around Heracles toward the temple.
When Karter reached the temple, the first thing he saw was Zoey, Diana, Andy, and the satyr as they dashed toward the palace. Karter flew to the group’s side, then dropped to the marble floor to run with them. “What took you so long?” Diana asked as they sped into the palace halls and headed in Troy and Marina’s direction. “Why didn’t you fly away right when you saw Zeus?”
“I did,” Karter replied. “Sort of.”
Zoey rolled her eyes at him. She no longer clutched the sack holding the Master Lightning Bolt; it seemed she’d handed it off to Andy. The boy had it slung over his shoulder, the Trident still in his hands. However, Zoey did hold another pack, which, judging by the shape and size of it, contained the Helm of Darkness. “What are you even doing here?” she asked.
He tried not to let his heart sink at the sharp tone in her voice. “Helping all of you.”
“You realize if you’d done that back in Hephaestus City, we wouldn’t be in this mess, right?” she barked. “Diana already told us about Troy and Marina. If it weren’t for you, they wouldn’t be paralyzed, Diana wouldn’t be half starved to death, and Kali wouldn’t be wounded and stuck back in the forest. Not to mention the fact that hundreds of nymphs were killed on this mission.” Karter didn’t reply. He couldn’t. Zoey was right. If he’d only known then what he knew now, it would have changed the trajectory of all their paths.
“Uh, guys?” Andy piped up. “The big dude with the column isn’t far behind us. I don’t think this is a good time to argue.”
“That’s Heracles,” Karter said. “My immortal half-brother. We need to pick up the pace. You can fly now, even if you’re still learning, right?” He leapt into the air, snatched up Zoey and Diana, and hoisted them over his shoulders.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Zoey screeched, flailing in his grasp.
“Keeping Heracles from pulverizing you,” Karter said flatly. “Also, don’t let the Helm touch me, even while it’s in that bag. Unless you want it to suck away my life force, in which case I wouldn’t be able to get you away from Heracles.”
“Don’t tempt me,” she snapped in reply.
Karter did his best to ignore her, looking down at Andy. “Get the satyr and let’s go. We have to hurry!” Andy nodded and handed the satyr the Trident, then grabbed him under the armpits and jumped into the air alongside Karter.
As Karter watched Andy fly, he became sure that the boy was still honing his flight skills. Andy had some trouble staying high up, and he grunted and groaned and knit his brow in exertion as he did so. Even still, this was faster than running. It’s the only way we’ll escape Heracles, Karter thought. He might be a Son of Zeus, just like me, but he didn’t inherit the gift of flight.
“You can call me Darko, by the way,” the satyr said after they’d already soared through a couple of hallways toward the grandchildren-of-Hephaestus. “Also, what’s the plan? How are we going to get ourselves plus Troy and Marina off Olympus?”
“I stole a pegasus and stationed it outside my bedchamber window,” Karter explained. “If I fly the twins down, two people can ride the pegasus, and Andy can carry whoever’s left.”
“Oh, that sounds a lot better than our first plan,” Darko remarked.
“What was your first plan?” Diana asked.
“The nymphs who came with us were supposed to make a bridge back down if Asteria couldn’t fly us,” Andy answered. “But they, um . . . there’s no telling whether any of them are gonna make it outta here now.”
Karter couldn’t hear anyone behind them. He tried looking over his shoulder, but Zoey’s and Diana’s backsides blocked his view. “Did we escape Heracles?” he asked them.
“I haven’t seen him since three hallways ago,” Diana said.
“Good.” Karter rounded a corner, then stopped dead when a flash of white light blinded him. Oh, no. It’s a god.
When the light faded, Heracles stood in the center of the hallway, the massive broken pillar in his burly hands. I’m such an idiot, Karter thought. He must have guessed where we were going and intercepted us!
The trick now was escaping Olympus and going somewhere Heracles wouldn’t suspect. The god couldn’t reach them when they were this high up, but he could certainly club them down or squish them against a wall with the column if they weren’t quick enough.
Heracles stared up at Karter. “Why?” he asked. “Why do this, little brother?”
“Let us through without any trouble,” Andy shouted, flapping in place. “We have all three objects of power. You don’t stand a chance.”
Heracles sneered at Andy and Darko. “Is that so?” He swung the column at them. Andy swerved to avoid it, but the movement was clumsy. He and Darko crashed sideways into a wall and tumbled to the floor. “If you’re so unstoppable, then why are you running away? Why not use the objects of power to their full potential and destroy the gods?” The immortal raised the column once more.
“Leave them alone!” Karter yelled. He swooped down in front of them. Zoey and Diana scrambled off his shoulders and hastened toward Andy and Darko. Karter held out his arms, trying to shield them all from Heracles.
Heracles brought the pillar to his side. “I can do as you ask, I suppose.”
Karter furrowed his brow. “What? Really?”
“Of course.” He gestured at Diana. “So long as you admit your folly and kill the Daughter of Apollo.”
Karter set his jaw. “Never.”
The god clucked and shook his head. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this. You could live forever, an immortal among the rest. You could fulfill your destiny.”
“You said it yourself,” Karter replied. “I have a choice.”
“What a pity it is, then,” Heracles hissed, “that you chose wrong.”
He raised the pillar, prepared to bring it down. Karter braced himself to catch it.
The column slammed against Karter’s hands. The impact sent shock waves of pain through his body, and he slid backward toward the others. Tapping into his strength, he replanted his feet and, using all his might, shoved the pillar against Heracles.
The god fell to the side, losing grip of the column. It careened toward him, then rammed into the floor beside him. Chunks of marble and precious metal spiraled through the air at the collision.
Burning, blazing pain seared through Karter’s chest. But that didn’t stop him from conjuring a green lightning bolt in his trembling hands. He couldn’t give up now. He had to stop Heracles, had to get the others out of here.
His godly half-brother still lay on the floor. This could be his only chance.
He pitched the peridot bolt at Heracles.
Heracles ducked. The lightning blasted into the wall behind him. He rolled over and jumped to his feet. He seized the column. Stomped toward Karter.
Gasping for air, Karter collapsed to his hands and knees. I have to get up. I have to . . .
An arrow shot toward Heracles. The god dodged it. Two spheres of golden sunlight soared toward him next. He easily swerved out of their paths.
Heracles grunted in pain, halting in his tracks. Ichor began dribbling from the side of his broad neck. There was a wet tearing sound, and the flesh of his throat opened to reveal the muscles and tendons and ligaments beneath. It must be Zoey! Karter thought. She snuck up on him using the Helm of Darkness!
Whatever relief Karter felt from this realization didn’t last long. Heracles jerked out an elbow. Zoey cried out. A few seconds later, she reappeared on the floor ten feet from Heracles, the Helm of Darkness rolling away from her. Although her dagger remained lodged in Heracles’s throat, the god regained his balance and raised his column above Karter.
As Karter prepared to roll out of the way, he saw someone dashing forward in the corner of his vision. He looked over. It was Andy.
The mortal boy struck Poseidon’s Trident against the floor. Shudders rocked the hallway. Stumbling to the side, Heracles brought down the column.
With a rush of panic, Karter realized the blow meant for him was about to flatten Andy instead.
With no thought other than I must save Andy, Karter leapt to his feet and vaulted toward the boy.
In the end, he wasn’t quick enough.
But someone else was.
Darko shoved Andy out of the column’s path, and rather than crushing the boy, the marble crushed the satyr instead.