Аполлион

At some point, Aiden had moved to stand behind the couch. His hands were on the back of the cushion. His presence was comforting, but I was shocked to the core. Apollo could have appeared in front of me and done a naked jig and I wouldn’t have blinked an eye. Seth hadn’t mentioned any of this, but Aiden hadtried to tell me while I was in the cage.

And I’d told him I hadn’t cared.

I started to stand, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate.

“It’s a lot to swallow, huh?” Luke said as he stared at his black boots. “The world’s gone to shit in about a month’s time.”

“It’s not too late. The gods are showing us what they want.” Lea sounded entirely too mature to be the girl I’d thrown an apple at a couple of months ago. “They want Seth dead.”

I knew that wasn’t so much the case. They wanted one of us dead, preferably before we came within hugging distance. I racked my brain for something useful. After I’d Awakened, I’d learned the history of all the Apollyons, but none of that was useful. None of it except something with Solaris…

“It’s just not as simple as killing Seth.” Solos scratched at the stubble on his chin. “There is the problem of getting close. Dionysus said that Lucian had many Sentinels and Guards, mostly halfs.”

Dionysus? How in the world had he come into the picture? Wasn’t he the god of drunks or something?

“And if we get too close—if Alex gets too close, then…” Marcus trailed off.

Then he would take my power, possibly even drain me, because I now wasn’t sure Seth could stop if he wanted to. No matter what he’d said to me while we were connected, I couldn’t rely on his promises—his sales pitch—because I really didn’t believe Seth knew what he was doing.

I stood then, because I couldn’t sit anymore. Walking to the window, I stared at the shadowy landscape as I twisted the necklace between my fingers. Night had fallen and, even with my suped-up eyesight, the trees were dark and ominous. My reflection stared back at me, pale and unfamiliar. It was me—Alex, slightly rounded cheeks and wide lips. With the exception of the freaky amber eyes, I looked the same.

But I felt different.

There was a stillness inme that had never been there before. I didn’t really know what it meant yet.

“Then what do we do?” Luke asked. “Hide Alex forever?”

My lips twisted into a grim smile. That wasn’t going to work.

“I could get behind that as long as someone brings in a DS or a Wii,” Deacon joked, but it fell flat. “Or not…”

There was a pause and then Lea said, “Please gods, tell me you’re not still against killing Seth.”

“Now is probably not the best time to go there,” Marcus said.

“What?” I heard her come to her feet, and her anger blasted the room. “Alex, you have to understand, especially after everything he’s done to you.”

“Lea,” Aiden snapped, finally getting involved in the conversation.

“Don’t ‘Lea’ me. Seth has to die, and Alex is the only person who can do it!”

Dropping the necklace, I faced them. “I know… he needs to be dealt with. I understand that.”

Everyone, including Aiden, stared at me. He started to speak, but closed his mouth. Truth be told, I loathed the idea of killing anything at this point. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t do it when I faced a daimon again, and even though Seth had been a real bastard about things, I knew that deep down he was nothing more than an unloved little boy who wanted acceptance. And yeah, he had a major akasha addiction, but he was a victim in all of this, too. The only person I’d probably enjoy taking out, just a little bit, was Lucian. Yeah, I could get behind that.

But getting to Lucian wasn’t going to happen.

“Alex,” Marcus said softly.

I took a breath, unable to put forth the words necessary for what needed to be said. “What do we do?” I glanced at Aiden and then Solos. They were the skilled Sentinels here. Time for some battle strategy, which wasn’t my strong suit, because I was more of a “run into things head-first and face-plant a wall” type of fighter. “We have to stop Seth and Lucian, but we can’t just walk up to them. We need to be able to get close without them knowing, and we— Ineed to know how to fight Seth without transferring my power to him.”

Aiden looked like he didn’t like the sound of that, but he turned to Solos and nodded. “Apollo said that it may take a few days for him to come back, but he asked that we don’t lift the wards until he can come to us. Those wards prevent them from finding us, and right now they are the onlything stopping the gods from finding us.”

“How did Thanatos find me?” I asked, curious.

“You went outside, beyond the wards,” Aiden said. “Hopefully Apollo can tell us more when he returns.”

“So we wait in here until then and do nothing?” Lea slumped against the cushion, crossing her arms. A petulant look crossed her face.

“We don’t sit and do nothing,” Solos said, eyeing the girl. “What we need to do is train and prepare for what… for what’s coming. That’s what Apollo wanted.”

Because something wascoming, and it was a war.