Before he could answer, the brewing storm melted away, replaced by my bedroom in Olympus.
I ran down the hallway, momentarily forgetting my ability to be wherever I had to be whenever I needed to be there. I needed to run. I needed to scream, but I had no voice left for anything other than the words I’d been dreading.
Bursting into the throne room, I dashed into the center of the circle, ignoring the silence of broken conversation. Whatever the council had been discussing, it didn’t matter now.
“It’s Cronus,” I said breathlessly. “He’s escaping. There’s a storm around the island and—”
“We already know,” said Dylan, and I shook my head. He didn’t understand.
“The final battle—it’s begun.”
Chapter 16
The Last Hour
Walter had to shout four times and crack a bolt of lightning before the council came to order. Everyone was on their feet, including my mother, and the energy in the room jolted between nervous and aggressive.
“We have been preparing for this moment for a year,” said Walter once the din faded. “We may no longer have the allies we relied upon, but we have each other, and together we are strong.”
No one said a word. Even Dylan couldn’t muster up a battle cry. This would either be the day they finally sent Cronus back to Tartarus, or it would be the day the council fell. By this time tomorrow, I would either have a family or I’d be alone, subject to Cronus’s whims and darkest pleasures.
I would’ve rather slit my throat with that damn dagger myself.
“We are prepared. We are together. And we will fight until we win or are no more,” continued Walter. “Take an hour to do whatever you must, and we will meet back here then.”
One by one, the council filtered out, some in pairs, others by themselves. At a loss, I stayed put. What was I supposed to do? It’d been hard enough watching them all go off to war the last winter solstice, but this time...
This time, it’d be the greatest battle the world had seen since the first Titan war, and my entire family would be front and center.
“I want to fight,” I said once the room had emptied of everyone except my mother and James. “You said I could.”
“Oh, honey.” She pulled me from my seat and into a hug. “You have fought, in ways the rest of us couldn’t. Fighting doesn’t always mean going to battle with a sword and a shield. You’ve done more than enough, and now is the time for you to stay safe. For Milo’s sake.”
“Milo’s exactly the reason I need to fight. I know I’m not strong enough to give you any real support, but maybe I could distract Cronus or Calliope or—or something. Anything.”
Her arms tightened around me, and she buried her face in the crook of my neck, her cheek warm against my skin. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to memorize this moment. She had to come back. And if she didn’t—
No, I couldn’t think like that. They’d survived the battles so far, and they’d survive this one, too. My mother would not die today. No one would.
“Come,” she murmured. “We haven’t got much time, and there’s something I’d like to do before then. James?”
James stepped up and touched our shoulders. “This won’t be fun,” he said, and before I could ask where we were going, the room exploded with light as we fell to earth.
My eyes watered. Going from Olympus to the surface wasn’t anything new. Why James had felt the need to warn me, I didn’t know. Until—
Until the blue sky disappeared, replaced by rock.
I would’ve thrown up if I could have. Even with my mother at my side, the oppressive layers of the earth pressed down on me, making my heart flutter with panic as we sped downward. I tried to force my eyes to close, but they were glued open with terror, and the best I could do was hug my mother tightly and hope like hell it would be over soon.
At last we landed in the rock cavern outside Henry’s obsidian palace. My knees knocked together, and all the blood rushed from my head, making the walls spin.
“You bastard.” I punched James in the arm as hard as I could. Not like it’d hurt him. “Why do you keep doing that to me?”
He grinned. “Because the look on your face is priceless. Honestly, Kate, what do you think I’m going to do? Leave you in the rock?”
I shuddered. “You wouldn’t.”
“I couldn’t,” he corrected. “Once you learn how to use the portals, you won’t be able to either.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but the murmur of low voices caught my attention, and I turned toward the palace. In the shadows, a crowd had formed, swarming the garden and the river on the other side of the cavern. “What’s that? Who are they?”
“The dead,” said James. “The lost souls, the ones who need guidance. No one’s here to help, so they’re stuck until you and Henry return.”
I stared. There had to be thousands of them. I’d expected some, knowing that Henry wasn’t down here to help, but not this.
Of course there were so many, though. With the numbers Cronus had slaughtered, I should’ve been surprised there weren’t more. “We need to help them.”
“Not right now, sweetheart,” said my mother, rubbing my back. “They have eternity. We have somewhere to be.”
“And where’s that?” I said.
“We’re going to visit your sister,” she said, and all of my indignation melted away. She’d gone ages without seeing Persephone before facing her the year before. Another visit so soon could only mean one thing: she was saying her goodbyes.