We couldn’t outrun a Titan.
The fog thickened as it slowed and seemed to join together. Squinting in the sunlight, I thought I could see the outline of a face, but the heat radiating off the sand distorted my vision too much for me to be sure.
“You know who I am,” I said, trying to sound sure of myself instead of scared out of my mind. “And I know who you are, so let’s cut to the chase. You can’t kill me—or any of us.”
That was a bold-faced lie, but at least he seemed to pause to consider it. The same strange rumbling I’d heard in my vision echoed through the desert, and I became keenly aware of the fact that we were in a vast cavern, not underneath an endless sky. If I could have f lown, my hand would have eventually touched stone.
“You need us.” My words were so like Calliope’s that I nearly took them back, but that was the only way Cronus wasn’t going to kill us all for fun. Calliope wanted me dead, and he needed Calliope to open the gate. But—
She didn’t know how.
A surge of conf idence rushed through me. “Calliope doesn’t know how to open the gate. I do.” Could Cronus tell the truth from a lie like Henry? The fog inched closer to me until it was only a hairbreadth away.
Instead of striking, it surrounded me until the heat of the sun was gone and I could no longer see the blue sky.
I felt light-headed, but I willed my feet to remain planted in the sand. Touching him would undoubtedly mean sear-ing pain, and I couldn’t take any more of it, not when there was a long way to go before we found Persephone. I had to do this. It was my only chance. The council’s only chance.
“If you let me and my friends go, we’ll come to you,” I said, digging deep inside myself to f ind all the courage I had left. “When we get there, let the others go. They can’t defeat you without Calliope anyway. Once that’s done, I’ll open the gate, and you’ll be free.”
Silence. No rumbling, no laughter, nothing. Fog whispered in my hair, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I only had enough room to breathe.
“If you kill me now, the only other person who can do it is Henry,” I said, my voice cracking. “He’d rather destroy himself than ever free you. I know Calliope wants me dead, but she’s using you. I have what she wants, and since she can’t kill me herself, she’s making you do it for her in exchange for a promise she can’t keep. She has no idea how to open it. She can’t—she doesn’t rule the Underworld. Once I’m dead, she’ll leave you locked in that cage, and the other gods will subdue you again. Let me and my family live, and I swear I’ll release you when we get to the cavern.” I paused and swallowed hard. “I’m your best shot and you know it.” As the thick fog encased me completely, all I could picture was Henry lying in a broken and bloody heap in that cave as Calliope laughed in her girly squeal. And my mother was undoubtedly a prisoner now, too. I was going to lose everything if this didn’t work.
“I know what it’s like to be alone,” I whispered. “Not for—for as long as you have, but I know what it’s like to lose everything you love. And the way the gods turned on you isn’t fair. You were nothing but nice to them. You gave them everything they could possibly dream of, and in return, they imprisoned you for eternity. It isn’t fair. You have a right to be free.”
It scared me how easily the words slipped out, as if I really believed them. Maybe secretly part of me did. Not that Cronus deserved freedom; but that I understood what he’d gone through, in a way. I’d been so afraid of being alone that I’d given up half of the rest of my life on the chance that I wouldn’t have to be.
“Let me help you.” My heart pounded as the air began to thin. “Please. I want to. And maybe—maybe we can help each other.”
The air turned bitter cold as all the warmth of the desert disappeared, and I shivered. I’d barely moved, but it was enough; the fog touched my bare skin, cold and silky and much more solid than I’d expected. Like feathers, maybe, or snow.
It didn’t hurt.
Instead, like he’d done to Calliope, he caressed my cheek, and through that single touch, I felt power beyond imagining. It was nothing like the force that Henry and the others had used to chase Cronus away. It was immeasurable, as if the entire universe was compressed into that lone tendril of fog. At last I understood why they were all afraid of him.
His touch lasted half a second, and he was gone before I could open my eyes. My mind reeled as I tried to comprehend what had happened, and despite the sun once again beating down on me, my skin felt like ice. I collapsed onto my hands and knees, the coarse sand scraping my palms, but it didn’t matter.
He’d spared me.
James and Ava were by my side in an instant. Sand f lew everywhere as Ava fell to her knees, and James hovered over me, his hands an inch above my back, as if he thought one touch would make me disintegrate into ash.
“You’re alive?” said Ava with wide eyes, as if she weren’t willing to believe it. She took my hand and held it like she was the only thing anchoring me to this place. I wasn’t so sure she was wrong.
“What happened?” said James, urgency and concern war-ring in his voice. I shakily leaned back on my knees, but I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look at either of them. I’d lied to Cronus and stolen any chance James and Ava had of walking out of there alive. I had no idea how to open the gate, and when I admitted the truth—