“They’re getting out!” Earl cried.
“Move!” Vulcan commanded as he ordered his metal wings to open and fly.
Joel climbed onto Chrysaor, and the boar squealed as he charged into the open shaft, spread his stubby wings, and started to fly up.
“Go!” Paelen ordered the Cupids. He then ran back to the Pegasus clones. “I hope you can understand me. Follow us if you wish to live!”
The stallions’ eyes were wide with terror, and they whinnied.
“Paelen, come on,” Joel cried from inside the shaft. “This whole place is coming down!”
More of the ceiling collapsed, and dust filled the corridor as the ground shook violently. There was a strong sense that they didn’t have much time left before the whole place was destroyed.
“Come!” Paelen shouted at the Pegasus clones. He leaped into the elevator shaft and commanded his sandals to take him up.
The tall, dark shaft was filled with the sound of beating wings as the large group started the long, vertical climb. Paelen stole a look down and was grateful to see that the two Pegasus clones had figured out this was their only means of escape. As they winged their way up, the sounds of the Titans’ triumphant roars mixed with the cracking of the ground around them.
Halfway up the long shaft, Earl started shouting. “There’s the elevator, but it ain’t moving fast enough. This shaft will collapse before it reaches the top!”
“Everyone, push the bottom of the metal box!” Vulcan commanded. “We must help them up!”
Paelen commanded his sandals to move faster. He soon joined the group of Cupids and Vulcan pushing the bottom of the elevator. “Harder!” Paelen grunted.
The cables screamed in protest as the heavy elevator was forced to move faster than it was designed to go. Beneath them the sounds of collapse intensified.
Faster and faster the group of winged Olympians carried the elevator up. Vulcan punched an arm through the floor of the elevator. “How much farther?” he called.
One of the agents shouted down to them, “Just eight more levels. Seven, six, five . . .” He counted down until they reached the top. “We’re here! Stop pushing.”
They heard the scuffling of the people in the elevator. The senior agent’s face appeared at the hole. “You’ve broken the lift. The doors won’t open!”
Vulcan punched a second and then third hole in the elevator floor. His reached up and started to peel back the box’s framework and metal. The hole was too small for anyone to fit through except for one.
“Paelen, you can make it through there,” Joel said. “Teach the others what you need them to do. Open the elevator doors and get everyone out.”
It had been some time since Paelen had used his powers to stretch out his body. He focused his thoughts on what he wanted to do. Soon his hands, arms, legs, and torso started to stretch. Paelen winced as his bones snapped out of their joints and his muscles elongated until he was thin enough to fit through the hole in the floor of the elevator.
Two agents reached for his arms and finished pulling him up. When he was safely inside, he painfully returned to his natural shape.
“I’d heard you could do that,” one of the agents said. “But I never believed it. Does it hurt?”
“No, it tickles,” Paelen said sarcastically. He pushed through the clones to the elevator doors. “You,” he said to a clone of himself. “Do as I do. Help me pry the door open.”
In the past, whenever Paelen encountered one of his clones, his instinct was to fight it. This time, he saw the innocence shining in the eyes of his mirror image and he felt nothing but compassion. Had Lorin changed him so much?
The clone nodded and followed his every move as Paelen forced his fingers into the crack of the closed doors and started to pry them open. Soon the inner elevator and outer security doors were pried open, and everyone ran out.
From deep below the ground the sounds of rumbling increased and the whole upper level of Charing Cross Station shook violently.
“Everyone is safe,” Paelen called below. “Push harder. Lift the elevator higher and you can get out.”
Working from the outside, Paelen and three of his clones caught hold of the bottom edge of the elevator and helped to heave it up higher to free those from beneath it. Slowly it rose up to their knees, waists, and then to almost over their heads.
“Go!” Vulcan ordered the others in the shaft. “All of you get out!”
Paelen and his clones helped Joel and Chrysaor climb out. They were followed by the Cupid clones.
When they were safe, Vulcan pushed the elevator even higher. “Get the two stallions out of here.”
Paelen peered down into the shaft and saw the two Pegasus clones. They were using their wings to hover in the shaft but were too frightened to climb any higher.
“Take me down to the stallions,” Paelen ordered his sandals. Immediately he was lifted off the ground and carried back down into the dark shaft. Flying past Vulcan, he could see the muscles in his arms quivering with the strain and the metal wings struggling to support the weight of the massive elevator.
“Hurry!” Vulcan commanded.
Paelen reached the clones and placed himself between the two. “Fly with me,” he ordered. The two stallions whinnied in fear, but as Paelen moved, they started to follow behind him.
“That’s it,” Joel called from above. “Keep coming. Keep coming!”
Frankie appeared at the entrance. “C’mon, boys, you can do it,” he called softly.
The moment Frankie started calling the stallions, they flapped harder and climbed higher in the shaft, neighing and whinnying.
“That’s it, boys,” Frankie coaxed. “Come to me!”
Soon the two stallions flew past Paelen and out of the shaft.
Just as they were clear, explosions started from below. Paelen looked down and could see flames flashing into the shaft. The collapse had reached the lower floors of the CRU facility and was taking out its power plant.
“Paelen, get out!” Vulcan shouted.
Paelen ordered his sandals to move. Just as he flew free of the shaft, the whole building, heaved with the ferocity of a great explosion from below.
The elevator shaft groaned, shifted, and bent. Everyone standing was thrown to the floor.
“Vulcan, come out of there!” Joel cried, climbing to his feet again.
The Paelen clones were struggling to hold the elevator from the outside of the shaft. But when the building heaved a third time, they were thrown free. Vulcan was left holding the full weight of the enormous elevator.
“I cannot hold it!” Vulcan roared.
“Give me your hand,” Joel cried. “Get out of there!”
The elevator dropped several feet as Vulcan’s strength gave way. “Forget me. Get back to Olympus!” he shouted. “Warn Jupiter and the others. Tell them . . .” Before he finished, the building rocked again and the elevator shaft buckled completely. Cables snapped, and the heavy elevator started to fall, taking Vulcan with it.
“Vulcan!” Paelen shouted as the elevator whooshed past them and free-fell down into the dark abyss.
“Vulcan!” Joel cried. “No . . .!”
The sounds of explosions intensified as the top of the elevator disappeared into darkness. Moments later, a rush of roaring flames shot up through the shaft. Paelen had to pull Joel free to avoid being burned alive.
“Vulcan . . . ,” Joel whispered.
“He is gone,” Paelen said softly. “Just like my Lorin. He gave his life for us.”
The horrible sounds of laughter from the Titans was now all around them and booming louder than they’d imagined possible.
Paelen looked back and saw all the clones and the aliens waiting for them. Frankie was back with the two Pegasus clones, and Earl was with the Dianas. But all the CRU agents had gone. The ground was now shaking constantly and the floor beneath them starting to crack.
“We must get out of here,” Paelen warned. “This whole place is c
oming down!”
“I can’t leave him. He might be alive!”
“Joel, Paelen!” Earl shouted. “We gotta go. Vulcan was right. We gotta tell Jupiter and his brothers about them Titans. They plan to devour Olympus!”
Paelen could feel Joel’s grief at losing Vulcan, and he shared in it. Both Vulcan and Lorin had sacrificed themselves so that they might survive. “Come,” Paelen said, catching hold of his best friend. “We will not serve Vulcan or Lorin if we are killed in here. We must go.”
“Boys!” Earl cried. He was holding open the door that led to the restrooms and the stairs going up into the open station.
The ground beneath them split open as the sounds of people screaming filtered down from the station just above. Suddenly a large part of the upper section of the station came crashing down into the restroom area.
With no time to grieve or even think, Paelen and Joel ushered the large group of clones forward while Earl and Frankie kept to the back, making sure they all got out. Black smoke billowed into the area from the elevator shaft, choking them. They coughed and picked their way through the rubble toward the stairs.
They arrived at the concourse level to complete chaos. Sirens and alarms were blaring while an automated voice ordered the full evacuation of the station. People were leaving their luggage and running for their lives in every direction.
The panicking crowd hardly glanced at the new arrivals. If they even saw the Cupids with their wings, they paid no attention. The appearance of the two winged stallions was actually ignored.
“This way!” Paelen called, leading his large group forward. “Earl, Frankie, get on the stallions if you can. We are going to have to fly the moment we leave here. If we are lucky, they will fly with us.” He moved back to the Cupids. “All of you, I want you to carry the Dianas and Paelens. Stay close to us. This is going to be very dangerous.”
The clones nodded and paired up. Joel climbed onto Chrysaor’s back. “The exits are all blocked with people.” He pointed in the opposite direction toward the turnstiles and train tracks. “Let’s get out that way. You can see daylight down at the end of the tracks. They lead out of the station.”
Paelen nodded. He looked back and was glad to see Earl and Frankie had been accepted by the winged stallions and were now seated on their backs. “Everyone, fly. Follow me!”
Commanding his sandals into the air, Paelen lifted off the ground. Chrysaor and Joel were next, followed by the clones. This time the panicking people did stop long enough to scream and point at them.
“Don’t stop. Just keep going!” Joel shouted.
Just as they gained height in the station, they heard the most horrendous roars from outside it. “We’re free!”
The ground shook and the building heaved, causing the glass ceiling of the station to shatter. Most of the larger pieces were caught by the pigeon netting high above the concourse. But smaller shards of glass rained down, cutting victims and making the ground slippery for the fleeing people.
“Let’s get outta here!” Earl shouted.
They flew faster over the heads of the crowd and toward the turnstiles. Soaring easily over the top, they approached at least fifteen train platforms. Some trains were moving to get out of the damaged station, while others were blocked with falling rubble and debris.
“That way.” Joel pointed. “Follow that train out!”
The Olympians and clones chased a train evacuating the station. People stood in the rear carriage, pointing and taking pictures of the group of flying creatures following directly behind them. The moment they came out from under the cover of the station, Paelen climbed higher in the sky. He looked back and gasped.
Charing Cross itself was still standing—somehow. But it was hanging on the edge of a vast precipice that went down into the depths of the Titans’ pit. It was wider than the station and had swallowed half the block across from it. Buildings that had stood there for years were now missing, with only a large hole in the ground to mark where they’d been.
But the worst sight of all was the two massive Titans. Now free of their dark pit, they were no longer clear liquid. Instead, rainbow colors flashed and pulsed in their heaving bodies as they poured themselves like thick nectar along the streets of London.
The two Titans roared in delight as they shot tendrils of themselves out and crushed double-decker buses and cars on the roads. Instead of remaining on the street level, one of them slid up the side of a building until its hulking weight brought the building crashing down.
“We are free!” the female Titan screeched. “Soon you will all feed us!”
“Where’s the third one?” Joel called from the back of Chrysaor. “I only see two.”
“They devoured it!” a voice boomed from behind them.
Paelen and Joel turned back and saw Vulcan flying toward them. His metal wings were bent and severely damaged, but somehow they still worked. His clothes were burned and smoldering, and his hair was singed short.
“Vulcan!” Joel cried. “You’re alive!”
“Barely,” Vulcan said. “I had to follow those two monstrosities out of their pit to escape the collapse. I saw what was left of the third Titan after they devoured it. They have absorbed all of its power. With it and Lorin combined, they have enough to enter the Solar Stream and make it to Olympus.”
“If they got the power, why ain’t they leavin’?” Earl called.
“They are too heavy to launch from the ground,” Vulcan explained. “They must climb to the highest peak and cast themselves off it to achieve flight. Only then they can enter the Solar Stream.”
Down on the ground, the Titans were moving toward two of the many bridges that crossed the river. In the distance, on the opposite shore, was one of the tallest buildings in the area. It had a massive pyramid at the top and looked large enough to support their hulking weight.
“That is where they will launch from,” Vulcan warned.
The roar of military jets sounded overhead as they flew toward the two Titans.
“I never thought I’d be glad to see them,” Joel said. But his enthusiasm vanished the moment the jets opened fire on the Titans. Their rockets passed right through their heaving gelatinous bodies and exploded on the ground beneath them.
Despite the damage around them, the Titans kept moving toward the bridges. As they went, they appeared to take pleasure in knocking down smaller buildings and destroying any vehicles within reach.
The first mutant arrived at Waterloo Bridge and slid its shifting hulk onto the crossing. The second moved farther down to Westminster Bridge, right beside the Tower of Big Ben. As they flowed onto the bridges, they left flattened cars, trucks, and buses in their wake.
Once the Titans arrived at the center of the bridges, the jet fighters launched aggressive attacks. Rockets blasted the foundations and tore into the decks, exploding on contact. Both bridges were destroyed in seconds and collapsed into the River Thames, taking the two mutant Titans with them into the cold water.
“I hope they dissolve!” Frankie cried.
But their hopes faded when the two Titans floated on the surface like balls of grease and made their way to the opposite shore. Further attacks achieved nothing but the destruction of the city around them.
“What if we get the jets to destroy the tall building?” Joel called.
“They will only find another,” Vulcan said. “Come. It is time we left this place. There is nothing we can do to save it. Only the Big Three stand a chance of defeating them. We must get back to Olympus.”
Paelen shook his head. “No, Vulcan. You go, and take the clones with you. Get to Olympus and tell Jupiter what has happened. We are going to Xanadu. We must find Emily and Riza. If the Big Three cannot stop them, perhaps they can.”
Vulcan nodded and swooped closer to the Cupid clones. “Come, children of Olympus. Follow me. I will bring you home.” Vulcan led the Cupid clones higher in the sky, and the military helicopters and jets actually moved out of their way to
allow them to pass. Paelen looked over to Joel. “Why are they not shooting at us? Do you think the CRU have told them to leave us be so we can inform Jupiter?”
“I don’t care,” Joel called. “As long as they leave us alone, this world stands a chance. Without us, it’s doomed.”
Paelen nodded without saying he believed the world was doomed anyway. Instead he looked back at Earl and Frankie on the Pegasus clones. “Stay close and follow us. We are going to Xanadu.”
Paelen took one last look back at the two Titans tearing through London. As he watched, they slithered onto the opposite shore and moved toward an enormous Ferris wheel with large passenger pods. They laughed maniacally as they pushed it into the river.
“I will be back for you,” he said grimly. “You will pay for what you did to my Lorin. You will pay for it all!”
With a rage he’d never felt before burning inside him, Paelen called down to his sandals, “Take me to Xanadu!”
14
EMILY WAS WORKING WITH RIZA in the central control room on Rhean to help bring more of the people and wildlife together. They had created an area of protection that was larger than the whole of the United States, and it was here that people, animals, and plants were being delivered from around the rest of the dying planet, in preparation for transport to Xanadu.
Pegasus was at Emily’s side, gazing out the large window at the flashing reds of the dying sun.
Agent B and Cupid arrived in the control room with a group of the silver-skinned people. They were all covered in dirt and brushing mud off their hands.
“Well, that was fun,” Agent B said, grinning.
“Not what I could call it,” Cupid complained. “Look at the state of me. I am filthy and my feathers are caked with mud. I need to bathe, but there is no water to spare.”
“A little dirt never hurt anyone,” Agent B said. He looked at the silver-skinned people and nodded. “Right?”
They smiled and nodded back and did the closest approximation to the sound “right.” It was obvious they had no idea what he’d just said.