Page 125 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

Or maybe for the same reason I didn’t like him.

He always looked like the rest of us smelled bad.

Enid smiled. It wasn’t a particularly nice one. And then she repeated what Alphonse had said to me at the mouth of the tunnel. “Make me.”

Alphonse barked out a laugh, also getting the reference. “We’ll make a human out of you yet,” he told her and grabbed Æsubrand by the arm. “Touch her and die.”

“I have no intention of touching her!” Æsubrand spat, throwing off his hold. “I do not consort with slaves, much less half-breed bas—”

He stopped abruptly because Enid’s wand was in his face, almost touching his nose.

I didn’t know she’d had one, as I hadn’t seen it before. I guessed she reserved it for when she really wanted to get nasty. And damn it, we didn’t have time for this!

And for once, Alphonse seemed to agree. “Kill him later,” he advised. “Save your strength.”

“Yes,” Faerie said. “You will need it.” She looked at Alphonse, and her voice strengthened, echoing around the great space. “I told you the truth, vampire; my people were slaughtered, and with them went pieces of my very soul. The same soul that gives me my power. So, I cannot do more for you than I am. This is your fight, and if you do not win it, all of us are doomed.”

“Win it how?” Pritkin asked. “What went wrong? You said we need to find Rhea to tell us. Does that mean you don’t know?”

“Yes, I am afraid so. Zeus realized I had allied myself with you and thus made his plans elsewhere, beyond my vision. I cannot see outside my realm unless one of my people is there, or there is a gate, what you call a portal, that gives me a hazy vision for a space around it.

“He well knew this. And when the Black Day came, it originated from beyond—from Earth.”

“The place you want to send us to,” Alphonse said heavily.

“The place you must go to find out what happened. All I can tell you is this: Shortly after you vanished, Feltin’s champion won the challenge. That was followed by many days of feasting and celebrations, but Feltin was not there. He crowned Lord S?þórr, but even at the ceremony, he was distracted, almost as if it no longer mattered. He immediately left for Earth thereafter and was still there when the invasion came. It was as if something had been decided in that short time.”

“It was,” I croaked, my throat feeling half closed. I looked up and met Pritkin’s eyes.

“Zeus realized I was beyond his grasp,” he said.

I nodded. “And got tired of waiting.”

“Yes,” Faerie said. “I thought it might be something like that.”

“Something like what?” Bodil demanded. “What are you talking about?”

“The young one can multiply magic,” Faerie said. “It was an ability great Artemis craved and slaughtered his grandfather for.” She saw Bodil’s shock. “Yes, little one. Yours was not the only family ravaged by the gods’ lust for power.”

“But . . . but you’re with her?” Bodil asked Pritkin, glancing from me to him. “Why?”

“She’s not her mother,” he said simply.

Bodil scowled.

“Artemis used demon magic to overwhelm the gods, taking on the entire pantheon by herself,” Faerie added. “She could not have done it without those borrowed abilities. They are . . . impressive.”

And, suddenly, it was Pritkin’s turn to have everyone stare at him.

Chapter Thirty-Six

But . . . if you can do that, we don’t need the portal,” Alphonse said, his whole face brightening. “That’s to let you access the Pythian power, right?” He looked at me, and I nodded. “But you got power of your own. You’re a witch! Just have him do his thing,” he waved a hand at Pritkin. “And top you up. Then we don’t have to go through any of this! We can just go home!”

“That would not tell you what happened,” Faerie pointed out.

“We know what happened! Pritkin slips through old Zeus’s fingers, he throws a tantrum, and—”

“And does what?” Pritkin demanded harshly. “He doesn’t have the power to break Artemis’s spell without me. Otherwise, he’d have done it before.”

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