Page 122 of Until the End of Ever
Each of the steps of the approaching creature felt like an earthquake, and no wonder. The thing passing through one of the archways was at least twelve foot tall, and the air cackled with power around him.
My heart contracted, frozen in terror as he advanced.
"Come on, let's go!" Lucian screamed, pulling me along as I looked back in absolute terror.
The forum had a dozen entryways underneath the stands, and the magistrates were fleeing through them all, the passageways clogged by the crowd.
We wouldn't make it.Iwouldn't make it, not when I was the one it wanted.
Hewanted.
Zeus. The king of heaven.
His hair was the lightest of sky blues, just like his eyes. His beard, cut with precision, made him look somewhat mature; without it, I would have assumed he was around my age. As things stood, he seemed no older than Lucian.But the power in those eyes, holding the entire storm I could feel outside, was undeniable, crushing, horrifying.
He was the man who'd wanted me bound to a stranger, forced to marry someone who'd keep me his slave. Along with a healthy dose of fear, I couldn't deny the consuming rage boiling inside me.
My eyes were first drawn to him, but I could see several other oversized beings by his side, one of them with red hair, a leather wristband, and one single crystal on his earlobe.
Apollo had come, golden bow in hand, just as gorgeous and lethal as I recalled. And the others, well, I couldn't take the time to identify them, but one thing was absolutely certain.There were eight Olympians in the Hall of Truce, and we didn't stand a chance.
Every single one of the seven companions of the king wore armor, ready for a war we couldn't possibly hope to win.
This was the end. My end, specifically, but something told me they wouldn’t have come in such number if it had just been about little old me.
All around us, the shrieks of terror made it clear the rest of the vale agreed with me: this arrival spelled our doom.
I spotted Gideon, Lucky thrown over his shoulders, and Ronan, walking backward right behind him, holding up a shield that protected him all three of them, as well as the many magistrates hiding behind it. They made it out of an archway.
There was also Cassiopeia, practically dragged by Kaelius and the younger blond man I’d only seen once or twice—Lucian’s brother. She screamed Lucian’s name, and both men seemed to shout reassurances as they managed to get her out of the forum.
Hopefully, they’ll be on the way to the underside, and safe from this madness. But knowing that family, I doubted they’d think of their own security until Lucian was also safe.
My eyes glanced towards my father’s box, finding it empty.
Lucian and I had been as far from any of the arches as possible. Fast as he was, we reached the exit at the same time as the bulk of the crowd, and strained to make our way out.
"How are they here?" Lucky shouted over the cacophony of screams.
"Someone must have called them."I thought about my non-mother, dead in the temple of Zeus. "Zenya. That must be how she died! Opening a portal for them."
And it burned through her. What was it that Apollo had said? Anyone could call a god so long as they were ready to meet their opposite. What was the opposite of Zeus?
It didn't matter.She’d done this to us, tome.
"I forgot how pungent the air is in this world. Why, I believe it got worse," Zeus mused in an ancient tongue I shouldn't be able to understand quite this easily. "Sweat and iron and shit."He laughed merrily. "Where is she?"
His eyes scanned the panicked crowd desperate to flee. I was too far from the doors to make it. Lucian half carried me, pushing past the sea of bodies, while Silver reached for my hand.
"Ah. Right there."
And then, there was a flash of yellow light.
There was no word for the pain that followed. Nothing could encompass the complete, unyielding ache of being hit by the shot of pure white light that had flown out of the god's hand. And when I managed to make myself open my eyes, I realized it hadn't even directly touched me: Lucian had pushed me against the wall, taking the brunt of the hit.
Silver was lying on the forum's floor moaning, most of her clothes on fire. But every other person around us, even those who'd made it out, but were still in view of the archway?
They were cinders. Obliterated with a single stroke.
