Deity

Apollo grimaced. “Figures the dead oracle would know. And Hades is not about to let me go down and talk to her now, not after the thing with my sister. Prophecies are always changing. Nothing is set in stone.”

“Artemis said that.” Aiden sat beside Lea. “Has the prophecy changed?”

“Not exactly.”

My patience was ru

“The new oracle has not had any visions, so the last is tied to the dead one. So all we have to work off of is what we know.” His lips quirked into a half-smile. “Some of us believe that you will be able to stop Seth. The prophecy—”

“I know what the prophecy says—one to save and one to destroy. I get that, but what I don’t get is why any of you would risk Seth going all Godzilla on you guys. Eliminating me does eliminate the problem.” I ignored Aiden’s dangerous look as I stood. “There’s something more to this. You know something else.”

“And you know the prophecy says there can only be one of you. There is no way around that.” Apollo leaned back, letting his arms drop over the back of his chair. “Do you really think all of this was Lucian’s idea? That he knew about you without anyone telling him? That he has gained as much support as he has based on his charm alone?”

I started pacing. “I wouldn’t give Lucian that much credit.”

“Good. Because he has had help, I am sure of it,” Apollo said. “Which means stopping Seth from becoming the God Killer does not fix the overall problem. The god behind this will just find another way to push Olympus to the brink of all-out war, and if that happens, it will spill into the mortal realm. What you saw Poseidon do? That will be nothing in comparison to what can happen.”

“That’s just great.” I was going to wear a path in the kitchen floor at the rate I was going. “Do you have an idea of who this god is?”

“There are many of us who like to cause discord and chaos for the fun of it.”

“Hermes,” Marcus said. All eyes turned to him. He raised his brows expectantly. “Hermes is known for creating mayhem and mischief—chaos.” No one said anything. Marcus shook his head. “Didn’t any of you pay attention in your Greek Legends class?”

“Getting Lucian to turn on the Council and the gods isn’t mischief,” Aiden said. “And why would Hermes want to do that? Isn’t he putting himself at risk from Seth?”

“Not if Hermes controls Lucian.” I stopped. A sick feeling crawled down my spine. “Lucian controls Seth… completely. He’d be safe.”

“Hermes has always been Zeus’ personal joke and punching bag.” Apollo stood and moved around the table. At the bay window, he grew pensive. “And as of late, Hermes has been… missing. I was unaware of this, because I was here so much. You see, we all come and go, never staying away from Olympus for too long.”

Marcus tensed. “Do you think it’s possible that Hermes has been around us?”

He looked over his shoulder at us. Strands of blond hair fell forward, shielding half his face. “Like I said before, if the other god made sure we did not cross paths, it is possible. Keep in mind, it may not be Hermes. It could be any of us. Whoever it is will need to be stopped.”

I stared at him, wondering how Apollo expected any of us to stop a god. Only Seth would be able to and he wasn’t playing for our team right now.

“How can she stop him?” Lea asked, her voice hoarse. “How can she stop Seth? Isn’t that the point of all of this?”

Apollo gave her a little smile. “That is the point. Alexandria would have to kill him once she Awakens.”

CHAPTER 34

I COULDN’T HAVE HEARD HIM RIGHT. THERE WAS NO way. “What?”

Apollo turned back to the window. “You would have to kill him, Alexandria. As an Apollyon, you will be able to.”

The idea of killing Seth horrified and sickened me. There was no way I could do that. I ran my hand over my face, feeling nauseous. “I can’t do that.”

“You can’t?” Lea stared, her eyes glistening in the light. “He killed my sister, Alex! He killed those Council members.”

“I know, but it’s… it’s not his fault. Lucian has warped his mind.” And he’d hesitated before he took out the Council. I’d seen that. For a moment, the Seth I knew didn’t want to do it, but afterward… he’d looked thrilled. “It wasn’t his fault.”

And it sounded like I was trying to convince myself.

Lea’s lips thi

“I know that, but…” But I couldn’t kill Seth. I sat in the chair heavily, staring at the remains of Spider-man. “There has to be another way.”

“I know a part of you cares for him,” Apollo said quietly. “You were… built to feel that way. A part of him is you and vice versa, but it is the only way.”

I met his eyes for a long second, and then Apollo looked away. A shadow passed over his face. A strange, almost-bad taste sprang up in the back of my mouth. “Is there another way, Apollo?”

“Does it matter?” Lea slammed her hands down on the table, causing me to jump. “He needs to die, Alex.”

I flinched.

“Lea,” Marcus said gently.

“No! I’m not going to shut up about this!” She shot to her feet, coming alive. “I know it doesn’t seem fair, Alex. But Seth killed those people— my sister. And that wasn’t fair.”

My throat closed up. Lea had a point. There was no arguing that, but she hadn’t seen what I’d seen… and she didn’t know Seth. Then again, maybe I didn’t even know him.

“And it sucks,” Lea continued. Her hands balled into fists that shook. “I even thought Seth was hot, but that was up until he incineratedmy sister. You like him. That’s great. You’re a part of him. Awesome. But he killed people, Alex.”

“I understand that, Lea.” I looked around the room, my gaze settling on Aiden. “Everyone keeps saying there’s hope. Maybe we can save him. And Artemis mentioned something about power going both ways. Maybe there is something to that.”

Pain flickered in his silver eyes, and then I remembered his words and my own realization. Sometimes you have to know when to let hope go.

She sucked in a sharp breath as she clearly struggled to rein her anger and sorrow back in. “You loved your mom, right? You loved her even after she became a daimon.”

“Lea,” Aiden cut in sharply.

“But you knew she needed to… needed to be stopped,” she rushed on before Aiden could shut her up. “You loved her, but you did the right thing. How is this any different?”

I recoiled from the table. Her words were like a punch in the stomach, because they were true. How was this any different? I had done the right thing with my mom, so why was it so hard for me to understand why this needed to be done now?

“I think that’s enough for today,” Marcus interjected.

Lea stood her ground for a few more seconds, but then stormed out of the room. Part of me wanted to go after her and try to explain myself, but I had enough common sense to know that wouldn’t be wise.

“She’s in a dark place right now,” Marcus said. “She hurts. Maybe later she’ll understand that this is hard for you, also.”

“It’s not as hard as it is for her.” I tucked my hair back. “I just can’t… the idea of killing him makes me sick. There has to be another way.”

Apollo glided toward me. “All of this… can wait. Today is your birthday, your Awakening.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know what’s going on with that.” I stared at the runes on my palms. They glowed faintly. Nothing had changed about them. “I feel the same. Nothing’s happened.”

“When were you born?” Apollo asked.