Antigoddess

She grasped Cassandra’s hand. “How does it end?”

Cassandra shook her head.

Athena nodded. “Okay.”

They took a deep breath. Conviction laced the air between them, white hot.

“I don’t know how much strength is left in me,” said Athena.

“Enough,” Cassandra said softly. She looked one last time at Aidan’s face.

Together, they rose to their feet and looked down the road. Hera stood with Aphrodite hiding behind. The stone fist hung heavily at her side. More patches of stone were visible too, spattering her neck and cheeks with flecks of gray granite. She wore a finely woven black coat and dark blue jeans. She looked cold, almost indifferent. Someone who didn’t know her would never guess at her violent temperament. She kept it carefully hidden. Swallowing so much vindictiveness and rage must have been like swallowing shards of metal.

“I don’t know how much use you’ll be with a crushed foot,” Athena said to Hermes. “But keep the others safe, if you can.” She glanced over her shoulder at Odysseus. When she turned away, he caught her by the arm and pulled her back.

“Athena.” They looked at each other for a long second. Fear shone plain in his eyes, and for a moment she thought he might actually say it, that he might actually grab her and kiss her and throw her completely off her game. Instead he smiled his cockeyed smile and pushed the tire iron from the Dodge into her hand.

“Don’t get hit,” he said quietly. She wrapped her fingers around the weapon.

Good advice.

“Give up the girl,” Hera commanded.

“And you’ll let us live?” Athena asked sarcastically.

Hera smirked. “Of course not.”

Athena looked over at Cassandra, who stared straight ahead. She didn’t know what she was doing, leading a mortal against the Titans’ queen. It felt crazy. It felt against everything she’d ever known about war and battle and strategy. It felt completely right.

When she walked, the girl walked with her. The tire iron settled into her palm. As they came closer, Aphrodite scurried away, a rat going to hide in the sewers and wait until it was all over. Hera bared her teeth. The stone fist twitched. There would be no bombs this time, no tricks. She wants the satisfaction of murdering me with her bare hands.

“How noble. Standing against me together? All for one and one for all?”

Athena clenched her jaw. “Me first.” The tire iron spun, slicing through the air as she ran and sprang, using it to strike and slash. Hera ducked and dodged, her face a twisted grimace. When the iron finally connected, it caught her in the back of the shoulder and barely knocked her forward.

In the corner of her eye, Athena saw a flash of granite and pulled out of the way.

Don’t get hit.

* * *

Cassandra watched Athena and Hera, fists and iron, moving sharply through the air. Fear laced through her insides, but it wasn’t alone. An odd certainty ran in her blood, infusing it with heat. She knew what she had seen in her vision. She remembered what the world had looked like, flying by. Her death was here. And it wasn’t. The images shimmered, becoming transparent. She should have been terrified. She should have been mad with grief, collapsed over Aidan’s body. Instead she waited. Waited for Athena to give her an opening.

* * *

Athena was struggling. Speed was the key, both to landing blows and to keeping her skull in one piece. But it was also tiring. Hitting Hera was like hitting twelve tons of rock. It sent painful shock waves all the way up to her shoulder. And Hera’s fist came dangerously closer.

She swung once more and leapt away, breathing hard; the feathers lining the lower part of her lungs held her back. The tire iron sat heavier and heavier in her hand. Hera’s arm swung and Athena leapt out of the way, half a second too late. The ribs on her left side cracked and disconnected. The world turned colors as she flew through the air and her lower back thumped into the base of a tree. In comparison to Hera’s arm, it felt soft.

“You’re supposed to be so smart,” Hera said. “What do you think you’re doing? I’m going to smash you to pieces. I’m going to grind you into the road until you’re nothing but a stain.” Kitten-heeled footsteps jarred the pavement as Athena pushed up onto her elbow, and then her knee. “You killed your uncle, my brother!”

“You killed mine!” Athena shouted, and suppressed a cough. Her left lung had mostly collapsed, and breathing through the feathers made it feel like a flapping curtain. Hera advanced, glittering eyes and stone.

“And now I’ll kill you.”