Page 134 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

I nodded. “When Mircea and I went through the portal to Jontunheim, we saw the crows everywhere—”

“They originate from there,” Faerie said. “Zeus brought them with him when he came, and some were left behind when the gods were banished.”

“Well, they must have been reproducing because there’s a lot of them. And the fact that they’re on both sides of the barrier gives him a conduit to the other gods. He must use them to communicate.”

“How?” Bodil demanded again. And damn, she was getting on my last nerve.

“I don’t know, but he must have a way. How else would Athena know to go for that particular portal just when it was about to be opened from our side?”

“So, you think he’s getting help,” Alphonse said. “Somebody pushing on that side while he pulls from here?”

“That’s what it looked like. And while Athena is now dead, there are plenty of other gods to take her place.”

But Pritkin wasn’t buying it. “Plenty of half-starved gods who can’t give him power they don’t have. And those poor bastards he and Zeus have been rounding up, like Rask and his group, are getting thin on the ground. And most didn’t have much god-blood to begin with.”

We paused while he tried another spell. It flared vivid blue against the rock’s black surface for a second before petering out once more. But he stayed with it because if anyone could jury rig a solution, it was Pritkin.

And what other choice was there?

“Zeus might have found enough power to heal after his battle with you,” he added. “But to overcome your mother’s spell? And not just hers. She cast it, but the Circle maintains it. He would have to defeat all of us.”

“Maybe he did.” I didn’t like to think about it, but our forces were damned vulnerable to someone who could feed like I had in the race. That was how Mother had ravaged the hells, only on a whole other level. She’d drained entire armies and turned their power against them; why would Zeus be any different?

But Pritkin was shaking his head. “He doesn’t want to risk himself in a straight-up contest. He isn’t Zeus the Mighty or Jupiter Best and Greatest anymore. He’s a fraction of his old self—”

“And still packs a punch.”

“Yes, but he’s vulnerable in a way he doesn’t like and isn’t familiar with. That’s why he went back in time, courtesy of his pet dark mage, to weaken our alliance in the past when he couldn’t manage it otherwise. Yet he somehow did so shortly after our departure?”

I frowned. “He could have used the Ancient Horrors. They don’t have god blood, but they’re powerful. If he drained them—”

“It would give him a meal, not a feast. Your mother drained whole worlds and, afterward, multiplied the energy she gained with my grandfather’s power a hundred times over, a thousand. The Ancient Horrors couldn’t give Zeus anything like that.

“I don’t know what could.”

“You could,” Alphonse said. “Like you could give it to Cassie. Then we go back, find Tony, and make his fat ass sing about whatever he did. Ten to one, that little bastard knows Zeus’s plans. He always knew everything—”

“But you have to catch him first,” Faerie pointed out. “And if he can time shift, that may be difficult. Whereas we already know where Rhea is, and she’s a seer—”

“Cassie is a seer!” Alphonse yelled, his voice echoing around the great space. The Ancient Horrors seemed to have made an impression.

I wondered what he’d think of Zeus.

“But Cassie cannot force a vision,” Faerie said patiently. “And did not live through what happened. Rhea did. She can give you facts—dates, events, methods—”

“Which won’t do us any good dead!”

“What is it?” I asked because Alphonse suddenly looked close to panicking, and the big man didn’t panic. “What do you hear?”

“What do you think? They’ve started calling to each other; I can hear them through that,” he gestured up at the missing river. “And they’re all around us, digging. They’re coming, which means we need to get going. And you,” he turned on Pritkin, “need to get busy charging her up before they get here!”

But Pritkin had a weird expression, one I couldn’t interpret. He didn’t look enthusiastic about Alphonse’s plan, which was starting to sound better all the time. Because yes, using his gift was dangerous, but not doing so might be worse.

“I don’t need enough power to take us all at once,” I told him. “This reality tried to reject me when I first arrived, but I tore through—”

“So that is what released us,” Enid said, looking at me with far too much admiration. It made me uncomfortable.

“—so, now that I’ve been here, I should be able to return after meeting up with the Pythian power again—”

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