Behind him Joel was dressed as a Minotaur Shadow. His whole body was covered in armor with only his head exposed. He held a Minotaur helmet in his hand.
Agent B was shockingly convincing as a Blackbird Shadow. The wings of the warrior hung limp at the back, but he had learned to mimic their walk. Minerva and Venus were also suited up and looked frighteningly like the Turtle Shadows.
Venus was lightly binding Seren and Jasmine’s hands to give credibility to their presence on Tartarus. The plan was to deliver the twin centaurs and Stella to the prison as “prisoners.”
“We have your armor ready,” Chiron told the Big Three.
Emily continued to fire her powers at the masses of Shadow Titans. As she stopped to take a breath, she turned to Chiron. “How did you get the armor?”
“Each suit is made up of several Shadow Titans destroyed by the flame-swords,” Chiron explained. “Joel has chosen a Turtle Shadow for you.”
The Big Three took over from Emily as she put on the Turtle armor. Before Minerva secured her breastplate into position, Agent B pulled Emily aside. In his armor-covered hand was a small leather-bound book.
“Would you hold this for me?” he asked, handing her the book. “Put it with your own journal. I’ve been keeping one too. If anything should happen to me—”
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” Emily insisted, feeling very uncomfortable at the turn in conversation.
“I hope not,” he continued, “but if anything should, I want you to have this. Then if you succeed in destroying that weapon and hitting the reset button, I’m asking you, as a friend, to find me in London—my address is in the front of the book. Find me and please, get me away from the CRU.”
He tilted his head to the side and smiled. “You know me now. You know I’ll fight you. Get me to Olympus or Xanadu, it doesn’t matter which. Show me this journal. Force me to read it”—he grinned again—“as only you can. I have written secret messages to myself that only I would understand. I have warned myself to leave the CRU.”
“Why are you doing this?” Emily asked.
“Really, you don’t know?” he asked incredulously. “After all this time here, I have come to care a great deal about you, Joel, and all these crazy Olympians. I can’t be part of any agency that seeks to destroy them and exploit you. Once the other me reads this journal, I’m hoping he will help you bring down the CRU. I know things, Emily. Things that can expose the Central Research Unit for what it really is.”
Emily could see the sincerity in his intense blue eyes. She accepted the journal and slipped it in her tunic pocket beside her own. “I promise,” she said finally. “Whatever happens, I will find you and make you read this.”
“Thank you,” Agent B said. He pulled on the Blackbird helmet. “Now finish getting suited up. We leave the moment you’re ready.”
Once they were all in the leather armor of the Shadow Titans, Emily and the Big Three combined their powers together. They all held hands and gathered close as Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto closed their eyes.
“Tartarus!” they shouted.
33
EMILY WONDERED IF SHE WOULD ever get used to visiting new worlds. It was one thing to read science fiction books or see other worlds in movies, but nothing could have prepared her for the strange places she’d been.
The sky above was dark and stormy, just like the Nirad world. But unlike the dry arid air of the Nirad world, the vicious winds of Tartarus tore through the seams of her armor. It was cold, wet, and miserable. The ground was rough and muddy. Nothing grew here, and as she gazed around, she could see no trace of wildlife.
“What a wretched place,” Agent B called through his helmet.
“It is a prison world,” Jupiter explained. “Nothing lives here but the unfortunates imprisoned far below us.”
Because of the Blackbird helmet covering his head, Emily couldn’t see Jupiter’s face. But she could hear the anguish in his voice. This had been the place of his childhood, where Saturn had imprisoned him and his siblings until they escaped.
Jupiter and his brothers were dressed as Blackbird Titans like Agent B, but strangely, it was easy to tell them apart by their walk and movements.
“This way,” Jupiter called as he led them forward. “From this moment on we do not speak, no matter what we see or hear. Understood?”
Everyone nodded.
Each move they made had been carefully planned long before they arrived on Tartarus. Emily, Joel, and Agent B followed directly behind the Big Three as they led the way to the entrance of the prison.
The area was teeming with Cronus’s forces. As they moved slowly past the thousands of Shadow Titans, Emily’s Flame itched to be freed against them. But their disguises were working. They were not stopped, and walked freely among them.
At the prison entrance Shadow Titans shoved and carried captured Olympian prisoners. A good number were Olympians Emily knew personally. Jupiter and his brothers knew them all. It took strength for Emily to not call out and try to help them. Not one of them paused or broke their disguise as they watched some of their people being abused by the Shadow Titans.
The heavy main doors to the prison were open, releasing a choking stink from below. The Olympians began their descent down the endless stairs cut into the rocky walls. Acrid smoke from the burning torches clogged the dank, stagnant air.
Emily looked back up the stairs behind her and watched Vulcan in his Minotaur armor carrying Stella, while Minerva carried Maxine.
Seren and Jasmine’s faces were filled with fear as the centaurs concentrated on not slipping on the wet steps. Their fear wasn’t an act. The prison on Tartarus was terrifying.
They descended deeper into the bowels of the prison, down past the levels containing the Olympian prisoners. They passed real Shadow Titans delivering prisoners to the cells. The warriors didn’t give them a second glance. Emily was worried that Chiron’s exposed body would give them away. But the centaur had been right. The Shadow Titans did not notice the difference. They were simply drones following orders, with no free thought or independent movement.
They managed to make it deeper than they’d imagined possible. Venus took the lead and led them to where she and her team had found the Hundred-handers. No words were spoken; she just gave a quick nod that directed them.
They left the stairwell and traveled down a dark, damp corridor that looked like it had seen very little traffic. At the end they encountered another set of narrow steps.
In her bulky Turtle armor, Emily’s shoulders touched the walls on either side of her. Up ahead Jupiter and his brothers had to turn sideways to walk down the stone steps. If the Hundred-handers were as big as it was suggested, how had they gotten down there? And more important, how would they get out?
Jupiter had said the Olympians’ powers did not work within the walls of the prison. Here they were as vulnerable as humans. With no Shadow Titans around, Emily gave a little push of her powers and felt herself lifting off the floor.
“Yes!” she cheered softly. The Olympians’ powers may have been neutralized in Tartarus, but hers weren’t. She was still a powerful Xan.
At the very bottom of the stairs they stepped into several feet of foul-smelling, slimy water that soaked through the armor on their feet. Emily found it very slippery, and it took all of her will not to cry out in disgust. She looked over at Joel and could see, by the careful way he was putting his feet down, that he felt the same.
“Paelen would have had something funny to say about this,” she whispered softly to Joel.
“Shh!” Agent B hushed.
Joel shrugged at her and then nodded.
After they followed Venus through a narrow passage, the walls opened up. They entered a deep and impossibly large cavern that was dimly lit from a roof far above their heads.
The deeper they walked into the cavern
, the more their senses were assaulted by the worst stink Emily had ever encountered in her life. It smelled like rotting vegetables mixed with old sweaty gym socks and just enough scent of skunk to make a person violently ill. It was worse than the worst of the gray Nirads and nearly made Emily gag in her helmet.
Looking around, she could tell the others were feeling the same. Seren and Jasmine were pinching their noses, while Stella held her hand over her nose and mouth.
With every step, the smell got worse. Just when Emily didn’t think she could take any more, they came across three massive prison cells along the walls of the cavern. The steel bars in the front of the filthy, wet cells rose up to at least five levels.
They approached the first cell. Jupiter and his two brothers removed their helmets and leaned closer to the bars. They started to speak softly in Olympian.
In the dim light she could not see who they were talking to. But then she heard heavy shuffling as something big moved closer to the bars. Emily nearly screamed when she saw her first Hundred-hander. She had been warned by Stella and Agent B about what the myths said they looked like. But nothing could have prepared her for the creature she now beheld.
It was huge. From its sturdy shoulders sprang a hundred long arms with thick hands and fingers. At least fifty heads extended from its neck, and Emily watched in astonishment as they all spoke together as the Hundred-hander talked with Jupiter and his brothers. The sound reminded Emily of music concerts she’d been to when the crowds sang in unison with the singer.
“This is Briareos.” Jupiter turned to Emily. “He is the strongest of the Hundred-handers and has agreed to help us if we free all his brothers from here.”
“I thought there were supposed to be only three Hundred-handers?”
“There are,” Jupiter agreed. He pointed to another cell. “There is Cottus and, in the final cell, Gyges. But they have other brothers down here. The Cyclopes.”
“Are you going to free them all?”
Jupiter shook his head. “Not me, Emily, but you. Our powers will not work within this dark place of misery, and our strength is not enough to open the doors. But you are unaffected by Tartarus. Will you open these cell doors?”
“Of course,” Emily agreed.
Everyone took a step back as Emily removed her helmet and stood alone before the immense door. She reached out with her powers and commanded all the cell doors on their level to open.
Moments later the air was filled with the horrendous sounds of creaking and groaning metal hinges that had not been opened in thousands of years.
When the prison door swung open, Briareos and his two brothers charged out of their cells and ran to one another in a noisy reunion.
“So much for a stealthy escape,” Agent B said. “I am sure they can hear those three on the surface.”
“Perhaps,” Vulcan agreed, “but it will take more than all the Shadow Titans in Tartarus to contain them again. The Titans had to trick them into their cells long ago. The Hundred-handers will not be fooled again. They are free and will remain so.”
The sounds of other calls filled the noisy chamber as Cyclopes charged in and greeted their brothers.
Joel came up beside Emily. His eyes were as big as saucers. “Are they cool or what?”
Emily nodded. “They sure are.” Then she turned away, fighting a wave of nausea. “But they sure could use a bath!”
As the massively huge Hundred-handers greeted all the Olympians, the sound of organized marching filled the air.
“I think we’ve got company,” Agent B said.
Jupiter donned his helmet. “All right, everyone, just as we planned it. Minerva, take your team and head up. Have Cottus and Gyges free as many Olympians as you can on the way. Then take them and the Cyclopes back to Earth and arm them with flame-swords. We must let the Titans see we have the Hundred-handers on our side.”
To Venus he said, “You and Briareos stay with us. We will free the Four Warriors and then head straight to Titus for the weapon.”
Shadow Titans had begun to pour into the cavern. They drew their weapons and charged forward blindly.
The pent-up fury caused by their long imprisonment exploded as the Hundred-handers and Cyclopes attacked the Shadow Titans. Despite being badly outnumbered by the Shadow Titans, the large fighters made easy work of them.
“Whoa!” Joel watched mesmerized. “Now I get it. Look at them go!”
“Draw your flame-swords; let us move!” Jupiter shouted.
Standing up front with Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, Emily joined the fight and charged forward through the swarming Shadow Titans. She shot blast upon blast at the attacking warriors. Briareos took up the rear and waved half of his hundred hands at his departing brothers while he used the other half to keep tearing Shadow Titans apart.
With the light of her powers guiding the way, Emily spotted the entrance the Shadow Titans were using to enter the cavern—it was huge, large enough to fit Briareos and his brothers.
Shadow Titan reinforcements were arriving every second, and the fighting intensified. But the combined efforts of the Olympians, Hundred-handers, Cyclopes, and Emily cut a path through the warriors.
As Minerva led her fighters in one direction, Venus led Jupiter’s group in another. There seemed to be an unending supply of Shadow Titans, as each step they took was blocked by more warriors. They fought their way to the stairs that would lead them up and out of the prison. Emily stole a glance behind her and watched Joel and Agent B fighting shoulder to shoulder.
Farther back Vulcan had put Stella in Maxine as he wielded a flame-sword in each hand. Stella used her own weapons against the attackers. Even the very girly centaur twins looked fearsome as they shouted and fought their way through the Shadow Titans.
They emerged from the stairwell, and Venus led them into a long corridor. But the Shadow Titans did not follow.
“Where are they going?” Joel asked, pulling off his helmet. His face was bathed in sweat. “Why aren’t they following us?”
“I do not know,” Neptune said. “But I think we should be on our guard. Something feels very wrong here.”
Jupiter stopped the group. “Venus, how far?”
Venus removed her Turtle helmet. “Not far at all. They are just down at the end.”
Emily peered down the silent, dark corridor. “This feels like a trap.”
“I agree,” Jupiter said, “but we do not have much choice. We will not succeed if they keep creating more Shadow Titans. They must be stopped.”
He studied the large group with him. “Chiron, will you, Stella, and the twins wait here? Briareos will stay with you for support. Do what you can to keep others from coming after us. We will find the Four Warriors and free them.”
The remaining fighters followed Venus toward the door at the end of the corridor. It was made of thick bronze and appeared heavily secured. As they drew closer, they could hear moaning coming from behind it.
“That is Aronder,” Jupiter said. “I recognize his voice. He is suffering.”
“They all are,” Venus added.
Jupiter inspected the door. He called his brothers forward. “Together we push on three.”
As they pushed against the bronze door, Emily raised her hands, ready to fire at anyone on the other side. But behind the open door was a sight more horrible than anything she could imagine. Even after the horrors she’d witnessed firsthand on the battlefield, she was unprepared for the sight of the original Four Warriors.
Suspended from the ceiling was the Minotaur. Thick chains cut into his bleeding wrists and wrapped around his feet to keep him in place. His sturdy man’s body was covered in deep burns, and soft moans came from his bull’s mouth.
Beside him was the Blackbird Warrior. But in the flesh he didn’t look like a warrior at all—just a very large blackbird. Like the Minotaur, he wa
s suspended in the air by thick chains that pierced through his large black wings, while floor chains wrapped around his clawed feet. His head was lowered and his long black beak hung open as a soft, pain-filled chirp issued forth. The feathers on the bird’s back were singed off.
The Turtle and Dragon Warriors also looked vulnerable, and writhed in pain. These were large, intelligent animals and nothing like the deadly Shadow Titans that were created from them.
No more than a few feet in front of each of the Four Warriors was a hole in the floor. Emily approached the nearest hole and discovered it was a chute. But she couldn’t see where it led.
“My God,” Agent B said, pulling off his helmet. “What is happening here?”
At their approach, the Four Warriors lifted their heads and spoke words Emily couldn’t understand. She didn’t need to. It was obvious they were begging for help.
Vulcan pointed to a large, round, slowly turning cut crystal behind the warriors. Attached to the back of the crystal was a thick and powerful magnifying glass. Imprinted on the surface of the glass was the outline of the four armored Shadow Titans. “Look here. This is how they are casting them. First the light strikes the magnifying glass with the designs of the armor. It passes through the crystal and hits the Four Warriors. The shadows they cast create the Shadow Titans!”
“How is that possible?” Joel said. “It’s just a glass crystal.”
As they watched, the crystal turned again. “Shield your eyes!” Vulcan warned.
With little time to spare, everyone put their hands up to their eyes. Even so, they could still see a searing white light and feel a great temperature rise in the room. As it intensified, the Four Warriors cried out in agony.
The light faded, the temperature dropped, and the crystal continued to move around on its slow turntable. Lying on the floor before each of the Four Warriors was a newly created Shadow Titan. The hollow, armored creatures rose to their feet. Without a backward glance at their creators, they took a step forward and disappeared down the chutes.