Chapter Twelve

Artemis

“Do not make any sudden movements,” Calliope ordered in Zoey’s head as Asteria darted them every which way. Artemis’s flying stags zipped her chariot alongside the group with masterful precision. “And do not speak without choosing your words carefully. Artemis has found us, so we must proceed with great caution.”

Prometheus clambered in front of everyone. “Stay behind me!” He spread out his arms, his chains, as if to shield them from Artemis, but even with how large he was, he couldn’t cover them all. “I suggest you leave us be, Moon Goddess, or you’re about to be in a world of hurt.” Artemis only tilted her head in response.

Eugenia trembled and choked as Harmony and Narcissa held her. The other nymphs crowded around the trio of Dryads, most of them sobbing. “Somebody do something!” Harmony shrieked. “Please, save her!”

“Nothing can be done,” Narcissa replied, her voice calm, save for a slight tremor. “None of us have power over healing. She cannot be saved. I—I am so sorry, Eugenia. I will always treasure the friendship we shared.”

Artemis’s smirk intensified. “Do not mourn the insolent traitor, nymphs. You’ll be joining her soon anyway.”

Eugenia suddenly stopped shaking. Her body seized up. Her hands, which had once gripped her neck, fell slack. The bubbling sounds in her throat ceased. The light faded from her unblinking eyes, the rest of her going still.

Several of the nymphs cried out her name, their voices cracking. A pit formed in Zoey’s stomach. Tears threatened to cloud her vision.

There was no doubt about it.

Eugenia was dead.

“Eugenia, please,” Harmony croaked. “Please, please, wake up. We can’t do this without you!”

Narcissa sniffled, wiping a few tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. “Harmony, stop. She’s—she’s gone.”

“It’s a pity I cannot kill the Chosen Two, as I have killed the Dryad,” Artemis said with a sigh. She whipped her stags, and they lifted her chariot up above everyone. Asteria darted from side to side, surely trying to shake Artemis off them, but the stags ensured Artemis stayed close.

The Moon Goddess looked down, narrowing her eyes at Zoey and Andy. “Destroying you would bring me infinite amounts of joy. You’re the reason my dearest brother is being thrown into Tartarus.” She nocked an arrow and pointed it in Kali’s direction. “At least I can slaughter your companions before taking you to my father.”

She loosed her arrow. Zoey, Andy, and Darko screamed Kali’s name. At the same time, Prometheus hurtled back and threw himself on top of the girl. The arrow pierced straight through Prometheus’s chest.

The Titan god moaned and rolled to the side, revealing an unharmed Kali. He clutched his heart as golden liquid leaked out from between his fingers. His jaw fell slack, his eyes going as wide and lifeless as Eugenia’s.

Asteria plunged downward. She fluttered faster than ever into the trees, away from Artemis. Her voice echoed in the air around Zoey and her companions. “Even as the stars shine brightly, I have grown too weak to carry all of you. When we reach the ground, you must don the Helm of Darkness and run. Under no circumstances can you be captured, so you must not try to save the other nymphs. Some will escape and live to fight another day, but many will not. I’m sorry, but if any of the Huntresses capture you, all hope will be lost. I beg you to retreat. I beg you, don’t let the lives lost tonight be in vain.”

Once they hovered only a few feet above the forest floor, Asteria hurled them onto it, then swirled back into the sky toward Artemis.

Andy, Darko, Kali, and most of the nymphs didn’t hesitate to do as Asteria said. Right away, they bolted farther into the trees. Harmony held onto Eugenia’s body a moment longer, but as Narcissa urged her on, she finally relented and dashed after everyone else.

However, Zoey found she couldn’t run. Not that she wanted to; she hated the idea of leaving behind people who needed help, especially ones who were in this mess because of her and Andy, but she also understood Asteria’s logic. She and Andy were leading the war on the gods. They couldn’t be captured tonight, no matter what. The best way to avenge those who’d lost their lives already would be to escape now and fight later.

Zoey focused on moving her feet, and something twitched in the back of her mind. They wouldn’t move. She remained rooted in place.

“Retreating will accomplish nothing,” Calliope said in her head. “Artemis and her Huntresses cannot be outrun, nor can they be defeated with brute force. What’s more, they will track and find you even if you’re wearing the Helm of Darkness.

“Deep down, you know all of this to be true. Deep down, you know you must stop them from kidnapping you and killing your companions by joining with me.”

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Zoey’s face. She clenched her hand at her side. By joining with you? she thought at Calliope. Does that mean using my voice-powers?

“Zoey, what’re you doing?” Andy yelped from up ahead. “We have to go!”

“Perhaps,” Calliope responded. “Let us find out together. Channel me. Channel my power, and we will do all we can to stop them.”

I bet you’d love if I listened to you, and you got some control over my body again, Zoey thought back at Calliope. Yeah, no thanks. Andy and I survived a battle against Persephone at the edge of Tartarus, and we fought Poseidon on the surface of a storming Atlantic. I think we can figure this one out on our own.

Calliope snorted. “Perhaps you’re not as clever as I thought. You’re a fool if you believe you accomplished those feats on your own. Without the Son of Zeus’s help in the Underworld, the flames of Tartarus would have swallowed you whole. And without my and Anteros’s powers during your confrontation with Poseidon, the Trojan Cetus would have done the same.

“Face it, little girl. You need me as much as I need you. Let me help you. If you don’t, I fear Artemis and her Huntresses will capture you within the hour.”

Zoey gulped, recalling how Anteros had forced Andy to kiss her when he’d taken over the boy’s body. She didn’t want to risk having another incident like that, but what other choice did she have? What if the only way to beat Artemis and her Huntresses was by relinquishing control to Calliope?

She glanced over at Andy, Darko, and Kali. The three of them had halted, waiting for her next move. Ahead of them, Harmony and Narcissa paused as well. Then the rest of the nymphs who’d gone with them to Artemis City did, too.

Zoey looked up at Asteria and Artemis next. Asteria whirled around Artemis in the form of stars, trying to disorient the Moon Goddess. It seemed to be working for now, but considering Artemis’s reputation, Zoey didn’t think it would take long for her to get past Asteria.

All the while, the howls of the nymphs back at camp grew louder. We’re running out of time, Zoey thought, and surprisingly, Calliope didn’t offer an unsolicited response.

One second ticked by—then two, then three, before Zoey gave Calliope an answer. Fine. I’ll channel your power again. But you have to win this fight. Promise me, for the brave nymphs who agreed to fight for us, and especially for Eugenia.

“I cannot promise we’ll rise victorious, even with my power,” Calliope said. “However, I can assure you of something else: this is everyone’s best chance at victory. Now, close your eyes and search for me, as you did the first time.”

Zoey followed the goddess’s instructions. She clamped her eyes shut and searched the dark, twisting labyrinth of her mind.

Like before, it happened quickly. Zoey spotted Calliope standing at the entrance of a cave-like structure. Calliope ran toward Zoey. Zoey ran toward Calliope.

Soon they reached each other. Calliope seized Zoey by the arms, and that same strange buzzing feeling hummed in Zoey’s chest. The sensation grew stronger and stronger, but even when Zoey couldn’t bear it any longer, she didn’t pull away from Calliope.

The sensation spread throughout the rest of Zoey’s body. Only then did light the color of a clear midday sky flash.

Zoey screamed as she merged with Calliope once more.

Andy had never been so scared in his life. Not when he’d faced off with monsters, not when he’d fought demigods, not even when he’d battled the immortals themselves.

As Asteria fought Artemis in the sky, as the rest of the nymphs screamed in the distance, Zoey was pretty much having a full-on seizure on the ground before him. She shook and writhed and spasmed, her head twitching from side to side. Her blue irises began to glow, and then the luminous color melted into her pupils and the whites of her eyes until she hardly even looked like Zoey anymore.

“Zoey!” Andy shouted, racing toward her. Darko, Kali, and the nymphs followed close behind.

When they reached her, Andy took her hand in one of his own, and Kali grabbed her by the shoulders, surely trying to steady her. “What’s going on with her?” Kali asked.

“Something similar happened to Andy while we were at Circe’s palace, remember?” Darko said. “He was thrashing around and—”

“That’s gotta be it!” Andy interjected, releasing Zoey’s hand. “She’s letting Calliope take over her body so we won’t have to abandon the nymphs. I’ll bet Anteros will want me to . . .”

He trailed off, and Anteros said, “You are correct. If you relinquish some control of our body, we can help Calliope. If I know her as well as I think I do, I might already know what she’s planning.”

Andy bit his lip. As much as he didn’t want Anteros to prance him around like a puppet, it sounded as though the nymphs back at camp were getting totally owned, and Asteria probably couldn’t hold off Artemis much longer. He had to do something.

“Fine,” he said to Anteros, out loud this time.

Darko raised a brow at him. “Fine what?”

“Don’t sweat it, I’m talking to Anteros,” Andy replied, shaking his head. He returned his attention to the god in his mind. “I’ll give you some control of my body. But you have to promise to save the nymphs and defeat Artemis.”

At first, Anteros didn’t respond. Instead, that familiar buzzing feeling started up in Andy’s chest, moved through the rest of his body. Brilliant silver light flashed in his eyes and faded as quickly as it came.

Andy shuddered. He opened his mouth involuntarily and, in a voice that was not his own, said, “I can promise nothing but the fact that this is everyone’s best chance for survival.” No way, he thought, unable to say it. How’d you take over so easily this time? The god didn’t answer his question.

Someone grasped one of his hands and squeezed it tight. He turned—not of his own accord—and saw it was Zoey. She was standing, no longer convulsing, and her irises glowed bright blue. Did his glow silver? “It’s time, Anteros,” she said, but she didn’t sound like Zoey. No, she sounded like a great, powerful goddess. “Time for us to face Artemis. Whatever happens, you must know I love you more than life itself. I always have.”

“And I you, Calliope,” Anteros replied. “I have waited five hundred and eighteen years to reunite with you, and I would sooner be thrown into Tartarus than part with you again.” Calliope forced Zoey to press her lips against Andy’s, and Anteros made him close his eyes and kiss her back. Not again, Andy thought, little sparks of electricity dancing along his lips from where they touched Zoey’s. God, please let Zoey be unconscious for this. Especially if she doesn’t wanna kiss me . . .

Their kiss deepened, and the back of Andy’s neck prickled with anger, his cheeks going hot. He wanted to yell at Anteros, to tell him just how messed up all of this was, but he found he couldn’t stop making out with Zoey. It seemed Anteros was in control for now. How did he take over so easily this time? Andy wondered. Before, it happened when Circe turned me into a pig, which is justified because I was in a weakened state at that point. The second time, I had to close my eyes and look for him and touch him. But this time . . .

Finally, Anteros and Calliope had Andy and Zoey pull away from one another, and Anteros said in Andy’s head, “Stop worrying yourself over the process. This is simply part of our convergence—yet another step in the two becoming one.”

Somewhere behind Andy, Prometheus groaned—he must have regenerated. Anteros turned Andy around to look at the Titan god. Sure enough, Prometheus’s arrow wound was completely healed. His eyes blinked open. He sat up and took in their surroundings. “What happened?”

Anteros forced Andy to hurry over to Prometheus, offer him a hand, and help him to his feet. “Ready yourself, Titan. We’re about to face one of the fiercest goddesses to ever exist.”

Prometheus leaned down, peering hard at Andy. “Bird-Boy, is that you talking? Or is it Anteros?” When Anteros didn’t have Andy reply, Prometheus appeared panicked. “No, no. Andy. You can’t let this happen, kid. Asteria told me about all this convergence stuff yesterday, but I don’t think it has to be this way. Don’t let him take—”

“Silence, Titan,” Calliope said through Zoey. She must have been using her voice-powers, because Prometheus pressed his lips into a thin line and said nothing else. “We shall speak no more of this. It is not the time for discussion. We must prepare for our opponent. All of you, ready yourselves to shoot her down. Get her on the ground, and I’ll take care of the rest!”

Andy wanted to ask Prometheus what he was talking about and what Asteria had told him about the convergence, but he was forced to remain quiet and clap his hands. In a flash of light, a bow and quiver of arrows appeared in his possession, just like at Circe’s palace. Calliope made Zoey retrieve the Helm of Darkness and put it on; the object cloaked her with invisibility. She must have picked up Poseidon’s Trident as well because it disappeared too.

At the same time, Darko, Harmony, and Narcissa fetched their bows and quivers of arrows, Kali seized her spear, and Prometheus readied his chains. The other Dryads present manipulated the vines around them into whips while the Naiads did the same with the freshwater from their pouches.

Artemis conducted her stags in the direction of the group, and this time Asteria couldn’t stop her. The flying deer launched themselves past Asteria’s stars, diving toward the forest floor.

Narcissa, Harmony, and Darko nocked arrows. Anteros forced Andy to follow their lead. “Recruits,” Narcissa bellowed, “attack!”

The nymphs behind Andy released a volley of fearsome battle cries he hadn’t realized they were capable of. Using their vegetation, the Dryads propelled themselves and the Naiads at Artemis.

Simultaneously, Darko, Narcissa, and Harmony loosed their missiles. Anteros made Andy do the same. Artemis narrowly dodged Harmony’s and Darko’s assaults, but Narcissa’s scuffed the goddess’s arm. Andy’s ricocheted off one of the stags’ antlers, and the deer bleated in indignation, rearing back and colliding with the other stags.

The commotion among the deer caused Artemis’s chariot to totter backward. Even still, she managed to shoot arrow after arrow after arrow at the Dryads and Naiads who now lashed at her with their plant- and water-whips. Her projectiles missed some of them, but others pierced three of the nymphs through their hearts. The recruits fell dead, their bodies tumbling toward the forest floor.

“Ari!” Harmony shrieked. “Katerina! Elena!” She, Narcissa, Darko, and Andy launched several more projectiles in rapid succession.

One by one, Artemis dodged their attacks with relative ease. She even shot three more nymphs in the process: one in the shoulder and two in the stomach. The wounded nymphs wailed in pain, temporarily withdrawing from the fight.

An expression of furious resolve came over Harmony’s face. She and Narcissa shared a knowing look. They tossed their bows aside and waved their arms. Vegetation curled and twisted around their feet. Then they propelled themselves up, up, up toward Artemis alongside the other nymphs.

Anteros forced Andy to clap his hands again. His bow and arrows disappeared, replaced with the same heavy golden club from before. Against his will he soared after Narcissa and Harmony.

Andy and the remaining nymphs swarmed Artemis’s chariot. The goddess whipped her stags, and they halted midair, trapped. The Naiads lashed the goddess and her deer with their water-whips, while the Dryads did the same with their greenery.

Artemis readied her bow and arrows to shoot more nymphs. Harmony waved her hands, and her vines lurched her into Artemis’s chariot. Despite her tiny size, Harmony seized the Moon Goddess by her red curls and yanked her backward. Artemis loosed her arrows, but they didn’t hit anyone. They shot uselessly into the sky.

Artemis sneered. She pivoted, backhanding Harmony across the face. The Dryad staggered to the side. She toppled out of the chariot.

As Harmony tumbled through the air, Darko cried her name from down below. Andy tried to flap toward the nymph, to save her, but found he couldn’t. Anteros wouldn’t allow it. We’re supposed to be helping the nymphs! Andy thought desperately at Anteros. Not letting them fall to their deaths!

“She will be fine,” Anteros replied. “Didn’t you see what kind of power she possesses?” Just as Anteros suggested, Harmony ended up being okay. She caught herself with some trees, then used them to fling herself back into the fray.

Despite the nymphs’ attacks, Artemis managed to wound more of them with her arrows. They yelped, clutching their injuries and falling back slightly. An opening appeared among the swarm. Artemis whipped her stags. The deer hurtled through the gap, hauling her and the chariot along with them. She directed them toward Andy’s friends below.

Anteros sent Andy darting through the air after Artemis. He quickly intercepted her, and Anteros made him club one of her stags in the skull. Chunks of bone and brains splattered everywhere. The god forced him to clobber the deer behind the first one next. In half a second the other’s head was reduced to nothing but antlers and scarlet pulp.

As the two deceased stags slumped lifelessly, the others cried out in distress, rearing back as they struggled to hold up the chariot and deadweight.

Artemis released a feral growl. “How dare you,” she snarled. “How dare you harm sacred creatures of the wild.” She nocked an arrow and aimed for Andy. “I don’t care if my father wants you alive. You’ll be slaughtered for this transgression!”

She launched the projectile. Andy threw up the golden club against his will. The arrow bounced off the weapon and plummeted toward the forest floor.

Artemis’s jaw dropped, her eyes going wide as she looked at Andy. “How did you—how did you do that? A regular mortal would not be able to evade one of my arrows. Who are you?” She paused, gaping at his wings before adding, “What are you?”

“I am Anteros.” The words spilled from Andy’s lips, though they were not his own. “Son of Aphrodite and Ares, God of Requited Love, Avenger of the Unrequited.”

“It cannot be,” Artemis mumbled under her breath. She stared in shock at him for a bit longer, her stags still struggling.

Thousands of miniature stars suddenly flocked all around the floundering deer. They twinkled and sparkled and flashed in the animals’ eyes. The creatures bleated fearfully, plunging toward the ground at high speed, taking their dead peers, Artemis, and the chariot with them.

Artemis crashed to the forest floor. The seat of the chariot landed on top of her, concealing her from view. The stags slammed into the ground nearby. The live ones cried in agony and terror as they writhed in the grass, their legs twisted at odd angles.

Anteros made Andy fly down and land beside his friends, the club still in his grasp. The nymphs began their descent as well.

Asteria manifested in front of Andy. Sweat seeped from her pores, and she gasped for breath. Something that looked like steam rolled off her skin. She collapsed onto her side. “F-f-fight, Anteros. F-fight, C-Calliope,” she whispered. “You m-must n-n-not succumb to Artemis, and you m-must c-converge.” She let out a final ragged breath. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she went still.

What’s going on? Andy thought at Anteros, his heart racing. Is Asteria okay?

“I imagine she’s not been worshipped in many years,” Anteros answered. “She has not had time to replenish herself, and she must have burned herself up by using too much power. When that happens to a god, it is usually a sign they’re in the process of fading away from existence. Asteria will not wake for a while.”

The nymphs landed behind Andy, and Darko, Kali, and Prometheus made their way to his side. “Is it over?” Kali asked.

“Did you kill Artemis?” Darko added. “You know, temporarily?”

Calliope spoke through Zoey, though she must have still been wearing the Helm, because Andy couldn’t see her. “No,” she said. “Artemis would never go down so easily. She and her Huntresses cannot be defeated using brute force alone. Weakened, perhaps, but not beaten.”

A low, sinister cackle sounded from beneath the overturned chariot. “You’re right.” The chariot rolled to the side, revealing Artemis. She turned to Andy. “Prepare to face your punishment, you wretched, lying demon.”

The Moon Goddess climbed to her feet. She snatched a dagger from her belt and stalked toward Andy. Darko drew a dagger, Kali brandished her spear, and Prometheus raised his chains.

Before anyone could attack, Calliope had Zoey shove the Trident into Andy’s free hand. She reappeared, tearing the Helm off of her head, and tucked it under her arm. She boldly stepped in front of Andy.

Artemis knit her brow, stopping in her tracks. “Calliope?” she called tentatively. “Sister, is that . . . is that you?”

“Yes, Artemis. It is I, your sister. Calliope.” Calliope forced Zoey to gesture back at Andy. “And my lover, Anteros. He is no liar, nor is he any demon. He is a god. We both are.”

“But”—Artemis shot a fearful glance at Andy—“but Father said—”

“What did Father say? That Anteros and I faded away? That we died and stayed dead from lack of worship because no mortals remembered our names? Our great deeds?” Artemis’s mouth opened and closed in shock, but she didn’t reply.

A scornful laugh escaped Zoey’s lips. “Yes, I thought Father would weave such a story. That’s not what happened to Anteros and me, sister. In fact, it was Father who forced us into these mortal vessels. He did so without first seeking counsel, without telling anyone of his plans, so we could not rebel against him and so no one else would, either. Little did he know we wouldn’t die with these mortals in the Storm. No, the universe had other plans for us.”

“And what do those plans consist of?” Artemis snapped. “Destroying the gods? Giving humanity back their free will, so they can forget about us or reduce us to nothing more than a bedtime story? If that is what the universe has planned, I shall fight it until I fade away into nothingness.”

“Then you are betraying the natural order,” Calliope retorted through Zoey.

Artemis stomped a foot. “If you’re truly my sister, then you are betraying your own family!”

Calliope made Zoey hold her head high and her shoulders back. “My ‘family’ already betrayed me. Why not return the favor? When Father realized that I had discovered the Olympians’ secrets, and that I intended to inform the other minor gods of them so we could save humanity, he hurled me off the edge of Olympus. He forced me to merge with this mortal girl, and now we’re one.”

“It cannot be true,” Artemis spat, shaking her head. “I have never heard something so absurd. You must only resemble Calliope. You cannot be her.”

The Moon Goddess bared her teeth, brandishing her dagger and lunging for Zoey. Anteros had Andy toss aside the club, dart out in front of Zoey, and ram the Trident against the forest floor. A tremor erupted within the earth. Artemis staggered to the side. “You winged abomination,” she shrieked, regaining her balance. “I will kill you! Both of you!”

Prometheus sprang toward Artemis, chains clanking. He swung them for her. One wrapped around her wrist, the other around her neck. Narcissa and Harmony darted forward next. They curled their vines around Artemis’s arms and legs. Together, the three of them wrenched the goddess face-first to the ground.

“Calliope,” Anteros said through Andy, forcing him to offer Poseidon’s Trident to her. “Perform the Descent Spell. Once Artemis is taken care of, I’ll perform it on her Huntresses.” Calliope made Zoey nod. She slipped on the Helm again, disappearing, and took the Trident from him. It turned invisible along with her. She began to chant in an unfamiliar, ancient-sounding language.

“No!” Artemis screamed, wrestling against her bindings. “You cannot perform the Descent! You are not a god!” She ripped herself free of the vines, sending Harmony and Narcissa stumbling back, but the other Dryads were already bolting forward to help. They replaced the torn vines with their own. Darko and Kali and the Naiads ran up to Artemis too. Kali plunged her spear into the exposed parts of the goddess’s body repeatedly, while Darko shot her with his projectiles and the Naiads whipped her with their water. Golden liquid trickled from the goddess’s new wounds, arrows sticking out from various places in her pale flesh. Harmony and Narcissa recovered, wrapping more vegetation around her.

Artemis grappled against her bindings. “You insolent worms! You will die slowly and horribly!”

“Oh really?” Kali responded. “From here, it looks like you’re the one losing the battle.”

Artemis suddenly went stiff, a calm expression passing over her face. She looked to the sky, to the moonlight as it peeked in at them between the trees. “You must know very little of the gods,” she said, closing her eyes. A moment later she opened them, her irises glowing silver. She sucked in a long, satisfied breath. “Or perhaps it’s just me you know very little of. For the moon shines brightly tonight, and she gives me strength.”

The Moon Goddess heaved her arms and legs inward, splitting apart the Dryads’ vines and yanking Prometheus toward her by the chain he had around her wrist.

Prometheus nose-dived into the grass. Artemis plucked away the chains he’d trapped her with, leapt several feet into the air, and landed on his back. Andy’s pulse quickened at the sight, but there was nothing he could do. Anteros wouldn’t let him move. Anteros, do something! Andy thought. Anteros only had Andy retrieve the golden club he’d tossed aside.

Artemis ripped her dagger down the length of Prometheus’s spine. He howled in pain, trying to roll over, but she placed one foot on the ground and the other on his head, keeping him locked in place.

Golden liquid stopped dripping from Artemis’s wounds. Her injured skin knit itself back together, ejecting the arrows from her body. Even as Darko and Kali and the Naiads charged toward her, she didn’t flinch.

“Retreat, my companions.” Calliope’s regal voice echoed all around them, so loud it was as if it were being blasted through outdoor speakers. “This spell is meant for none but Artemis.” Darko, Kali, and all the nymphs started backing away.

Artemis laughed. It was a harsh, cruel sound. “Oh, you’re still raving on about that? I’d love to see you try it. Your attempts will be most humorous, I’m sure.”

Calliope had Zoey chant some more. Then there was a boom. The ground shook violently and split open beneath Artemis and Prometheus, revealing a black pit so deep Andy couldn’t see the bottom. Anteros made Andy fly backward, away from the abyss. His companions staggered back from it as well.

Artemis and Prometheus screamed. They tumbled down into the pit. Andy’s stomach clenched. He twitched, trying to fly after the Titan. Anteros didn’t allow it. Prometheus, no!

Narcissa and Harmony waved their arms, sending a set of vines speeding in Prometheus’s direction. He latched onto the plants. They stopped his fall. The Dryads directed the vegetation to pull Prometheus upward.

Artemis reached for Prometheus as she plunged down past him. Her fingers brushed the dangling links of his chains, but she couldn’t grab onto him.

Narcissa and Harmony finished conducting Prometheus to safety. He grasped the edge of the pit and clambered onto solid ground.

There was a flash of silver light from within the abyss, and Artemis materialized inches in front of Andy. She panted. A single bead of sweat rolled down her face.

The Moon Goddess growled and swiped her dagger at Andy. Heart in his throat, he swung the golden club with all his might. This time he wasn’t sure whether he’d done it or Anteros had.

The club collided with Artemis’s skull. She moaned, clutching her head and dropping her blade as she stumbled to the side.

Anteros forced Andy to leap into the air. Against his will, Andy raised the club like a bat. He swung the weapon at Artemis once, twice. It struck her in the face both times, battering her backward onto the forest floor, toward the edge of the pit.

As Artemis lay on the ground, Anteros had Andy give her a mighty clobber. With a few vicious strikes, he pummeled her head into a mess of ginger curls, fragmented bone, and golden mash. Then, not of his own accord—though he would have done this anyway—Andy kicked what remained of the goddess over the edge of the pit. This time, she didn’t transport herself out. She disappeared into the abyss, ribbons of bloodred smoke spiraling out in her wake.

Calliope forced Zoey to chant some more. There was another boom, and once more the earth quaked. It began to mend itself back together, just as it had in Circe’s palace when Anteros performed the same spell. When the earth finished closing, all that remained were evaporating tendrils of smoke.

Off to Andy’s right, Poseidon’s Trident appeared. It fell to the grass. Zoey was next to come into view. She tossed the Helm of Darkness aside, staggering to her knees. Her irises no longer glowed.

The golden club in Andy’s hands disintegrated, and Anteros had him walk toward Zoey and kneel at her side. Sweat poured from her skin, her chest heaving with labored breaths. She gazed at Andy with the most tender expression he thought she’d ever given him, extending her trembling hand toward his face until she brushed his cheek with her fingers. His heart skipped at her touch. “S-Sp—”

She never finished what she was going to say. Her eyes rolled up into her head and she dropped forward. Anteros forced Andy to reach out and catch her before she could hit the ground. “Nymphs,” Anteros said through Andy, making him set her down gently, “stay here and ensure Calliope’s vessel is safe until I return. Everyone else, follow me. We’re going to banish Artemis’s Huntresses to the Underworld and save as many recruits as we can.” The nymphs—even the ones who’d been injured—huddled around Zoey, and Anteros forced Andy to retrieve the Helm and Trident, then to jump into the air and soar toward the yells still sounding back at camp.

Soon he arrived, finding the recruits as they battled what had to be around twenty blue- and green-skinned young women clad in robes just like Artemis’s. They were equipped with silver daggers, bows, and arrows. The Huntresses, Andy thought. Are they nymphs, too? They kind of look like the Naiads.

“Yes, many of Artemis’s maiden-attendants are nymphs,” Anteros replied. “Though they are more Huntress than nymph, now, after so many years. It appears for this hunt she’s brought the core members of her assembly—her twenty Naiads, the ones who have hunted at her side for millennia. She has many other Huntresses, mostly consisting of oceanids and other types of nature beings, but I don’t see them tonight.”

Wait, these Huntresses have been with her for millennia? Did she make them immortal or something?

“They are somewhat immortal, and they have a bit of magic like all nymphs do, but they do not possess divine essences. So long as they hunt beside Artemis and abide by her rules, and so long as she does not fade away, they can only be killed temporarily, similarly to the gods.”

Despite how many more recruits there were than Huntresses, the Huntresses seemed to be winning the battle. Some of the recruits fought the Huntresses with regular weapons such as swords, spears, axes, and bows and arrows, but the others used magical means to do so. Dryads made greenery grow high, manipulating plants to wrap around some of the Huntresses’ limbs and necks, while Naiads trapped others in giant balls of floating freshwater.

However, the Huntresses were too nimble and strong to be killed or stay imprisoned so easily. They slashed through the vegetation and liquid with their blades and advanced on their adversaries. It appeared hundreds of nymphs had fallen already, no matter the method with which they fought, their paling faces staring blankly at the sky.

Fury bubbled in Andy’s gut; he was more than ready to take Artemis’s attendants down. Or, at least, to allow Anteros to do so using his body. To his surprise, though, the events that transpired next were somewhat of a blur.

One moment, Andy was awake, present, his body abruptly humming with intense heat and electricity. The next, he was in the garden he’d seen in his visions in Aphrodite City, in the garden in his dreams, Anteros chasing after him through the trees.

Anteros made him land at the outskirts of the conflict, the he bolted past cypress trees, marble fountains, golden paths, and bushes of flowers grass stained with slick scarlet. Corpses of nymph recruits surrounded him, the planets and stars loomed in the night sky scent of gore and death assaulting his nostrils. Arrows whistled past his head, inches from he had to run for his life piercing him. He dodged the assaults or Anteros was chasing him again, and if the god caught him this time, he was done for sent them bouncing off the shell of the Helm and the shaft of the Trident.

Two Huntresses approached him from his muscles screamed at the effort of maintaining speed his either side. One had a long brown braid flying out he didn’t know long he’d been running, but it felt like forever behind her, the other with choppy blonde hair flittering wildly around “Stop!” Anteros boomed from behind him her face in the wind.

Against his will, Andy donned the Helm, and “We must finish the convergence!” Anteros yelled chills charged through him as he turned invisible. Anteros forced him to up ahead, the voices of Mom and Dad and Mel-Mel and Mark and Spencer echoed through the air skewer the Huntresses with the Trident, then “Jump off the edge, Andy!” Spencer cried. “Before it’s too late!” shove them off the prongs so he could he reached a clearing, the edge of the garden keep using the weapon.

Darko, Kali, and Prometheus he sped up, sprinting toward his lost loved ones arrived at Andy’s side. Six more Huntresses noticed their arrival, and the young women he stopped dead pulled back from their fight with the recruits, hurdling over the piles of corpses toward he now stood at the edge of a jagged cliff overlooking space Andy’s companions.

As the six Huntresses neared, Prometheus, Darko, and Kali lunged he glanced between the trees behind him toward them. The Titan god slung his chains around two of their necks and the galaxy before him and pulled the links tight, strangling them, while Darko launched multiple arrows his heart pounding at two others, piercing them through their chests, and Kali stabbed his hands growing slick with sweat her spear through the last ones’ guts.

“There are twenty Huntresses,” Anteros shouted through Andy. “We must temporarily kill them and get their bodies into one concentrated area. Once they are all together, I will perform the Descent!”

Andy’s companions offered him nods, then started after “Do not jump!” Anteros shrieked the rest of Artemis’s cronies. Anteros forced Andy to stay close “If you sever our connection now, we won’t be able to defeat the Huntresses!” to the bodies they’d already gathered, presumably to ensure they remained “dead.”

Within seconds, seven other Huntresses the trees behind Andy rustled swarmed Darko, Kali, and Prometheus up ahead, daggers in hand. Kali tore her spear through two, and he chanced a glance over his shoulder Darko pierced his arrows to make sure it wasn’t Anteros through three. Prometheus got ahold of the last ones with thankfully, the god hadn’t reached him yet his chains and choked them until they went limp.

In his peripheral, Andy spotted a shimmering silver object soaring “Is Anteros telling the truth?” Andy asked his loved ones down below straight for Darko. It must be one of “Or is he lying so he can gain control of my body for good?” the Huntresses’ arrows! Twitching, Andy tried to open his mouth “You’re not ready, kiddo,” his dad said to cry out, to warn the satyr. But Anteros “You need more time to understand it all, sweetie,” his mom added kept Andy quiet and “Just jump!” rooted in place.

In the end, Darko never he didn’t hesitate to listen to his mother got pierced by the shimmering silver arrow. Kali yelped out the satyr’s name, shoving he jumped off the edge of the cliff him out of the way. He toppled Andy fell into space, soon tumbling into the ghostly arms of his loved ones, and they hugged him tight to the side, and the projectile impaled Kali and soothing warmth spread through his chest, and then they released him from their embrace through the stomach.

The sight of Kali being shot must have helped Andy snap himself out of Anteros’s control, because his jarring transitions between what was happening outside of him and what was happening in his head came to a screeching halt. His grip on the Trident tightened—this time of his own accord. “Kali!” he screamed, panic coursing through his veins. He bolted forward.

The final five of the twenty Huntresses slipped out from behind the trees and piles of corpses. They surrounded Darko, Kali, and Prometheus, malevolent grins on their lips as they nocked their arrows and took aim.

“What have you done?” Anteros howled in Andy’s head. “I told you not to jump off that cliff. I told you we needed to finish the convergence. You imbecile! You’ve severed the connection!”

But Andy wasn’t listening to Anteros. The only thing he could focus on was his companions. With no thought other than I have to save my friends, he furiously flapped his wings and soared toward them.