“So much for our clever plan!” Joel shouted as he dashed up to Argon and pulled his sword from his arms. “We’re going to have to fight!”
In an instant, what appeared to be solid marble walls suddenly burst open and guards rushed out. Two other guards opened a secret door in the pillars down the corridor and came running toward them, shouting and brandishing their weapons.
“This is it, boys!” Agent B said, retrieving his sword and holding it up. “Fight for your lives!”
22
EMILY STOOD IN THE THRONE room with Pegasus, facing Saturn and his four brothers. They had read every inch of her mind and then Pegasus’s. They knew everything that was happening on Olympus.
“Do you understand now why we are here?”
Saturn nodded and rubbed his chin. He looked at his brothers. “If she is part Xan, is there any way she could have manipulated her thoughts?”
“Perhaps,” Iapetus said. “Though I do not believe she could have altered Pegasus’s.”
“What?” Emily cried. “After all of that, you still don’t believe us?”
Hyperion came closer, the hardness gone from his eyes. “As leader of the Titans, Saturn must be extra cautious. The lives of everyone depend on him. But I, on the other hand, am not constrained by such responsibilities.”
He looked at all his brothers. “I believe if we do not assist Olympus now, in its greatest time of need, those creatures will come here and devour us all.”
Emily turned back to the large gathering of Titans. “Please, I’m begging you. You must help us defeat them before it’s too late.”
The mood in the room changed from distrust and fear to nods of acceptance and agreement in their part of the struggle for Olympus. But all of that vanished the moment alarms started blaring and guards in the corridor started shouting that the palace was being attacked.
Hyperion lunged forward and caught hold of Emily. “This was a trick?”
“No!” Emily cried. “I swear everything we’ve told you is true!”
“Then who is attacking us?” he harshly demanded.
“I don’t know! Maybe it’s the mutants!”
Hyperion shoved Emily back toward Saturn and pointed a shaking finger at her. “You will stay here.” He summoned some of his men and ran for the door. As he exited, he shouted back to his brothers, “If she makes one move against us, kill Pegasus—he is her weakness!”
Pegasus whinnied in protest as more Titans swarmed around him.
“Leave him alone!” Emily shouted.
She tried to run to Pegasus, but Saturn’s hands slamming down on her shoulders stopped her. “Do not move, Emily,” he warned darkly. “And do not dare call your mother’s name and change. You will not complete your metamorphosis before we kill your beloved Pegasus.”
“Please, Saturn,” Emily begged. She turned to face him. “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but it’s not me! You must believe us. Olympus needs you.”
“Perhaps it does, or does not. But until we discover the source of the alarm, you will not do a thing. Is that understood?”
Emily looked back at Pegasus and nodded.
Time seemed to stand still as everyone in the throne room stood, staring at the door. The shouts outside grew louder for a time and then stilled. Tension climbed as they watched and waited for word.
Finally, Hyperion returned. His face was unreadable.
“Well?” Saturn demanded. “What has happened?”
Hyperion walked over to Emily. “Your little deception did not work.”
“What?” Emily demanded. “I don’t understand.”
Moments later, Joel and Paelen were shoved brutally into the throne room. Joel had a large cut on his forehead, and his silver arm was badly dented. Paelen also bore the wounds of a recent fight.
“Joel!” Emily cried.
“Em, are you all right?” Joel tried to break free of the guards who held him, but the Titans were too strong.
“I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
“We came to rescue you.”
Agent B was dragged into the throne room by two large Titans. He was unconscious and his head was bleeding from a deep wound. Emily broke away from Saturn and ran to him. “What did you do to him?” she demanded of the guards. She reached out to Agent B. At her touch, his wounds started to heal.
“They attacked us,” one of the guards reported.
“That’s a lie!” Joel challenged. “You guys attacked us first!”
“Silence!” Hyperion commanded. He looked back at Saturn. “Brother, Emily’s people were captured in the palace, not far from this throne room.”
“How did they get in?” Saturn demanded.
“They had help.” Hyperion ordered. “Bring them in!”
Two more prisoners were dragged into the throne room. Emily recognized the satyr from the cell beside Joel and Paelen. He was being restrained by two Titans but was kicking at them with his sharp goat hooves. The other young man she didn’t know. He struggled in the arms of the guards, who held him firm.
Saturn gasped and Crius ran forward and faced the muscular youth. “Argon!” he harshly demanded. “What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Father,” Argon said coldly.
“Father?” Paelen cried. “You did not tell us your father was Crius!”
“What difference would it have made?” Argon said.
“A big difference!” Joel cried. “Just whose side are you on?”
“I am on the side of peace,” Argon said. “Father, uncles, you must listen to us. Olympus is being destroyed.”
Saturn’s expression was black as thunder. “So in response you helped these people break into my palace to attack us?”
“No, we came for the girl and the gemstone that will lead us back to Olympus. I must go there to find Mother.”
“Your mother?” Crius exclaimed. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Maybe I have, Father. But I need to find her. We have been apart for too long. Now that Olympus is in danger, I must go to protect her.”
“Your mother chose to side with the Olympians against us!” Crius cried furiously. “Her crime is unforgivable.”
“You gave her no choice!” Argon shouted back.
Emily listened to the argument between Argon and his father. In this, their greatest time of danger, they were arguing over old allegiances? When Saturn joined in, Emily felt her own temper start to flare.
“Shut up!” Emily fired two blasts of flame into the ceiling high over their heads, bringing burning chunks of marble crashing down to the floor.
“Em, calm down,” Joel warned. “Don’t lose your temper!”
It was already too late. Emily felt the Flame rumbling in her core, demanding to be released. It wouldn’t take much to set it free. “I can’t believe you people!” she cried. “Olympus is being destroyed, Titus is next, and all you care about is who sided with whom a thousand years ago? Have you heard yourselves?”
She turned on Saturn and pointed an accusing finger at him. “And you, old man. All these years, hating and warring against your sons just because someone once told you they would overthrow you? Get over yourself, Saturn! Family is all that matters, and right now, your children are fighting for their lives. What are you going to do about it?”
“How dare you!” Saturn boomed.
“How dare I?” Emily exploded. “How dare you, Saturn, and all you Titans! All the Olympians wanted was peace. They were going to release you from Tartarus right before you broke free and attacked them. They have never done anything against you. You have always been the aggressors, and that’s just too stupid for words because you’re the same people! You are family!”
“Emily, please stop,” Paelen warned, “before it is too late.”
“It’s already too late!” she raged. “The Olympians—your family—need you, but what are you going to do about it? Nothing! Well, that’s just fine! But we are leaving here, Saturn. . . .”
Emily’s temper finally blew, and she burst into a full flame that covered her entire body. The fire crackled and roared and gave off searing heat that drove everyone back. “You are not going to stop us. We are going to Olympus to try to save them. So you will bring that gemstone to me right now, or I’ll really get mad and show you what the Flame of Olympus can do!”
Everyone around her took another step back as Emily’s Flame grew in intensity. Each second that passed, the flame climbed higher and grew hotter.
“Em, please, you gotta calm down!” Joel said. “You’re about to go nuke!”
Emily’s heart was racing as her anger stoked the flames higher. “Not until Saturn brings us that gemstone!”
“All right, all right!” Saturn shouted. “I will return your gemstone. But you will turn off your Flame right now!”
Emily was panting hard and tried to pull the Flame back inside, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t been this angry in a very, very long time and somehow couldn’t calm down in the face of these Titans who would do nothing to save the Olympians.
Pegasus came as close to her as the heat would allow. He nickered softly and lightly pawed the floor. His head bobbed up and down and he snorted. He alone cut through her rage. He alone had the power to calm her fiery temper. Little by little, with Pegasus standing before her, the flames started to diminish. Emily took several deep breaths until they vanished completely.
Since receiving her new body, Emily hadn’t released the Flame. Now that she had, she felt physically exhausted. She stumbled to Pegasus and put her arms around his neck.
Joel came up to her. “It’s over, Em. Just relax. We’ll go back to Olympus and do what we can. Maybe we can evacuate some of the Olympians to Xanadu.”
Emily reached out to Joel. “Why won’t they believe us?”
“They can’t,” Agent B said as he joined her. “They’ve hated the Olympians too long. They don’t know how to change.”
Emily was grateful to see him conscious. “Are you all right?”
He nodded. “All the better for seeing that light show of yours. That was really something.”
“It was indeed,” Saturn agreed. He approached her and looked at Joel, Paelen, and the others. “You all care so much for Olympus?”
They nodded.
The leader of the Titans turned to Agent B. “You are wrong. We are still capable of change.” Saturn looked to his brothers and to the large gathering in the throne room. “Love them or hate them, they are still our children. Titans, arm yourselves for battle. We journey to Olympus!”
23
EMILY COULD HARDLY BELIEVE HER eyes as she watched Saturn and his four brothers climbing into their chariots, the same ones they’d used against the Olympians just a short while ago. This time they were going back to Olympus to save it.
All around them, other powerful Titans used whatever means they could to travel. Each carried several weapons and was gearing up for war.
She was seated on the back of Pegasus with Agent B directly behind her. His arms were around her waist, partially holding her up after she’d expended all her energy in the Flame. Joel was beside her on Chrysaor. He looked up at her and smiled.
I love you, he mouthed quietly.
I love you too, she replied silently.
“Ah, young love,” Agent B teased as he squeezed her waist. “It just warms my heart. . . .”
Emily looked back at him. “Really? After what you just saw, you really want to tease me like that?”
He grinned and nodded. “Bring it on. . . .”
Finally Emily smiled too. But it was a haunted smile filled with fear and anxiety that even with the Titans’ help there would be no stopping the blobs from devouring Olympus.
The gemstone had been set up against the strongest wall of Saturn’s palace, and as they prepared to open the Solar Stream, Saturn called to Emily, “Flame of Olympus, lead us in.”
Emily nodded to him and reached forward to pat Pegasus’s neck. “Here we go, Pegs. Are you ready?”
Pegasus twisted his neck to look back at her. He nickered softly and nodded. To her left, Paelen also waited and nodded. “I am ready.”
Joel grinned up at her. “I was born ready!”
Emily smiled at him and then sat up higher on Pegasus to gaze around at the warriors surrounding them. Hyperion was beside Saturn and acknowledged Emily with a nod, as did his three other brothers.
Argon was behind her with the rest of his forces and called to Emily, “We are ready to go on your command.”
Emily looked down at Joel a final time. “This is it. Let’s go.”
Pegasus whinnied loudly, opening up the Solar Stream. Charging forward, he ran into the swirling brightness.
• • •
Just as coming to Titus was a fast journey, the trip back to Olympus seemed even quicker. They soon burst free of the blazing lights.
Emily gasped. They hadn’t been gone long, but in that time the damage to Olympus was unimaginable. Where they arrived near the remains of Jupiter’s palace, not one tree or bit of growth could be seen. The brown earth beneath their feet was covered in a toxic slime.
Joel, Chrysaor, and Paelen were next to appear. Their shocked reactions were exactly the same.
“They’re actually devouring the planet!” Joel cried.
Saturn and his forces followed. Emily watched their shocked faces as they viewed the dying world. “Surely this cannot be Olympus,” Saturn cried.
Emily nodded. “We told you, those monsters are eating everything.”
“Where are my sons?” Saturn asked. “Take us to their war room.”
Emily looked back to Paelen. “Ask your sandals to take us there.”
Paelen leaned closer. “This is our last chance, Emily. Should we really trust Saturn? What if it is a trick?”
“Then we are all going to lose,” Emily said. “Please do it.”
Paelen looked down at his sandals. “Take me to Jupiter.”
The sandals flapped in acknowledgment and lifted him off the ground. Pegasus flapped his wings and took off behind Paelen. Joel and Chrysaor launched into the air, followed by the legion of Titan warriors.
“I hope they’re still alive,” Joel called.
“If they weren’t, Paelen’s sandals wouldn’t have moved,” Emily explained.
They flew away from Olympus’s main city and toward Helicon. Emily gazed down on the remains of the world she loved. Somehow, it all seemed wrong. The sky above them was the usual bright blue with the sugar-sweet, fluffy white clouds. The sun was shining brightly, and a warm, gentle wind blew. But everything beneath the sky was gone.
There was no birdsong, no buzzing insects. Not even a blade of grass grew in the rich, fertile soil. They flew over what used to be the nectar orchards, but they too had been devoured by the mutant Titans.
Emily turned back to Saturn and his people. The shock on their faces was absolute. Around them was the proof that if they didn’t stop the mutants here, no world stood a chance against them. How long before the blobs turned their monstrous appetites on Titus, Earth, or Xanadu?
In the distance, Emily heard the roaring sounds of thunder and saw lightning flashes in the clear sky.
“There!” She pointed. “There they are!”
The closer Pegasus flew to the battle, the larger the rock in Emily’s stomach grew. She was still too far away to see the Olympians fighting, but from a great distance she could see the two mutant blobs. They had grown to impossible sizes, standing taller than her whole apartment building and spreading out just as wide.
Emily heard the roar of Saturn’s voice. “Titans, attack!”
Before she could look back at them, Emily felt the air around her whoosh as the Titans flew past. Saturn and his people attacked the mutants. Blasts of power exploded in the air, and the sounds of the creatures screeching echoed across the land.
“Saturn!” a high, booming female voice roared. “Have you come to feed us?”
In response, Satu
rn and his brothers fired more blasts at the monsters. Hyperion commanded his fighters to attack from the rear. Soon the two rampaging mutants were surrounded by the fighting Olympians and Titans working together.
The effort the Titans were making was more than Emily could have dreamed. But her hopes were quickly dashed when she saw it was in vain. The Titans were as ineffectual against the mutants as the Olympians were.
“It isn’t working,” Agent B said. “Nothing can stop them!”
Emily heard a voice calling her name. She looked down to the ground and saw her father and Diana waving at her.
“Pegs, look. Dad is there. Please take us down!”
When Pegasus landed, Emily slid off the stallion’s back and ran into her father’s arms. She held him tightly, grateful that he was still alive.
“Where have you been? We’ve been so frightened!”
“We went to Titus to ask for Saturn’s help.”
“What?” Diana cried. “That is madness!”
“No, it’s not. Look!” Emily pointed up at the sky, where Saturn and his brothers were beside the Big Three, uniting their powers against the mutant Titans.
Diana’s mouth hung open. “How did you do this?”
“We told them the truth. If they didn’t help us now, the mutants would move on to Titus.” She looked all around. “Dad, have you seen Riza? Is she here?”
Her father shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen her, and we really need her now.”
“She must still be sick,” Joel said as he arrived and hugged Emily’s father. “We’re on our own here.”
Emily felt herself tearing up with relief that her father was still alive. She hugged him again. “There’s so much I have to tell you, but we just don’t have time. Have you seen Tom and Alexis? What about Cupid? Are they all right?”
Diana nodded. “I saw Cupid carrying Venus earlier today. He was gaining speed in the sky to open the Solar Stream. The Sphinxes left for Xanadu a while ago. We expected them to stay and fight with us.”
“Alexis is going to have a baby,” Emily said. “Tom won’t let her.”