Bound

Chapter Twenty

The Hall of Heroes was nothing more than ruins set high on a hill on the island of Pandora. The Mediterranean Sea crashed against rocks far below the broken outpost, and off in the trees on the hillside behind them, the splitting of trees hitting earth followed by an occasional screech or bellow echoed.

Titus didn’t know what the hell was making that noise or what was in those trees, but he had a bad feeling they’d soon find out. Demetrius had told them about his time on Pandora—about the hydra and chimera and ker he’d encountered while he’d been here. A ripple of worry skittered through Titus, but he forced it back. All he wanted to do was find Prometheus and leave.

His heart squeezed tight. He wasn’t going to lose her. He couldn’t. He kept his mouth shut as he followed Demetrius inside the ruins. Behind him, Theron and Zander spoke in hushed words. He didn’t know why the fuck the leader of the Argonauts had joined them, but he wasn’t going to be stupid. He knew Theron was most concerned about the element, not that he cared what happened to Natasa. Titus had already made an important decision before coming here: when he got Natasa out of this mess, he was leaving the Argonauts. He’d had it with doing what everyone wanted. When it came right down to it his guardian kin didn’t care about his happiness or his needs; they only cared about what he could do for them. About the fact they could use his ability to read minds to gain the upper hand in whatever battle or quest they were engaged in. And he was sick of it all.

Demetrius stopped in front of a stone wall and muttered words in ancient Greek. Air rasped, and then the entire door slid open to reveal a secret passageway and a curved set of dark stairs.

“Sweet,” Zander muttered at Titus’s back.

Demetrius reached for a torch from a holder on the wall, waved his hand, and used magic to ignite a small flame. Then he ushered them to follow.

Boots clomped against stone. The flame illuminated the dark staircase. Moving off the last step, Demetrius waved his hand over the torch, and the flame grew brighter, illuminating a hall with a vast ceiling and soaring columns, and seven trunks, each marked with a different seal of the great heroes. They formed a U shape with Heracles’s trunk the center of attention.

“Holy mother of gods,” Zander said, awe and wonder alight in his voice. “I honestly didn’t think this place was real. I mean…I know you told us but...”

“I lived it,” Demetrius said, setting the torch in a holder on one of the columns. “And most days I don’t believe it’s real.” He waved his hand again and other torches around the room came to life. “Fan out and look for what might be of help.”

They spread out. Titus moved toward the trunk marked with the seal of Odysseus. Metal groaned as he flipped the lid open and eased it back. Behind him, the guardians talked in low voices as they went through the other trunks.

A sword, a shield, a wooden statue of Athena—which Titus immediately recognized as the Palladium of Troy that Odysseus had stolen during the Trojan war—a cylindrical-shaped reed closed off on both ends that sloshed as if water were capped inside, and a small branch with a clump of bright orange, perfectly preserved berries still clinging to the vine.

He uncapped one end of the reed and sniffed. Quicklime, saltpeter, resin and a few other components he couldn’t decipher. He looked to the vine. At his back, he could hear the other guardians showing off spears and poisoned arrows.

He should be awed by the history in this one room, but he wasn’t. He was too frantic to get help for Natasa. Recapping the small tube, he thought logically. Odysseus had been a great warrior and a better thinker. Magical weapons might help, but they weren’t going to save Natasa’s life. He was.

He stuffed the reed into one pocket, the berries in another, then gathered the sword and shield and closed the lid of the trunk. “Let’s go. “We’re running out of time.”

Trunks closed. Demetrius and Zander headed for the door. Titus turned to follow Z, only to be stopped by Theron’s hand against the sleeve of his shirt. “T, hold up.”

Thankfully, Theron didn’t touch his skin, but Titus could read the Argonaut leader’s mind. And he already knew the guardian was fumbling for something to say after their run-in. “Don’t. I don’t want to hear excuses. I just want to get this done.”

He pulled his arm free and turned for the stairs.

“I didn’t know she was your soul mate.”

Titus harrumphed. “It wouldn’t have stopped you from trying to use her. I know that better than anyone.”

“There.”

Titus swiped the sweat from his brow. They’d battled three harpies—winged, screeching creatures that were a grotesque cross between woman and bird; a hydra—a nine-headed dragonlike beast hell-bent on keeping them from reaching the opposite side of a giant lake; and an orthrus—a two-headed serpent-tailed dog that, luckily, went down with the help of Demetrius’s magic and the strength left in Achilles’ spear. Hours had passed since he’d left Natasa, and every second that spun by amped Titus’s fear. Time was running out. If they didn’t free Prometheus and get him to his daughter…

His heart twisted. Zander, Theron, and Demetrius—each equally battle-weary and as sweaty as he—moved up on his side. All four eyed the dark cave dead ahead.

“I don’t hear anything,” Theron said in low voice.

No, Titus didn’t hear anything either. An eerie silence echoed over the rugged mountains. He knew Prometheus was in there. Lies could be told but not felt. Calypso couldn’t have fooled him.

Demetrius scanned the rock formation above the cave entrance. “You think that giant eagle’s inside with him or lurking somewhere out here?”

Titus’s gaze jumped from rock to rock. He tuned in to his gift and tried to locate the eagle’s thoughts. Couldn’t.

“We could look for another way in,” Zander said.

“That could take hours.” Demetrius’s gaze narrowed on the cave opening. “Natasa doesn’t have hours.”

Theron drew his blade. “Then let’s be quiet and quick and get the hell out of here.”

Zander, Theron, and Demetrius moved forward. Titus hesitated, hundreds of thousands of years of war strategy rolling like a wave through his mind. If he were Zeus, he’d lock Prometheus somewhere no one could reach him. In a place with only one entrance that, to the naked eye, might seem harmless but was actually impenetrable.

Rock was impenetrable. But one thing could destroy it.

He turned to Theron. “Gimme the bow and arrow you took from Heracles’s trunk.”

Theron slid the quiver from his back, handing it and the bow to Titus. “What are you going to do?”

“Use my brain.”

He headed for the boulders and rock-face and reached for a handhold to pull himself up.

The others quietly moved for the cave entrance. When Titus reached the top of the cliff minutes later, sweaty and breathing heavily, he realized this part of the mountain didn’t peak like the ones around it. A domelike rock structure stretched out in front of him.

He’d bet his life Prometheus was being held inside. A perfectly designed prison. From below, the screech of an eagle similar to the one who’d led him to Natasa echoed, and shouts and hollers of the eternal guardians followed.

Urgency coursed through him. He hiked out to the far side of the dome, reached into his pocket, and drew out the reed. Liquid sloshed inside the cylinder. He set it at his feet, then moved back to the other edge. Stepping behind a boulder, he grabbed Heracles’s bow and reached for an arrow from the quiver at his back.

C’mon, Odysseus…don’t fail me now. If Prometheus was in there, he hoped like Hades the god wasn’t on the far side of the cave.

He closed one eye, lined up his target, and let go.

The arrow whirred through the air and struck the reed standing on end.

Thunder echoed, a plume of black smoke shot into the sky, and a fireball erupted, incinerating the rock and everything around it. The dome collapsed with a roar. Shielding his face from the toxic fumes, Titus rushed to the edge of the destruction and peered inside the hole left behind.

Debris littered the floor of what used to be a giant cave. Frantic, he searched through the smoke and finally found what he was looking for. Chains. Just barely visible, sticking out from beneath a pile of rock.

He pulled rope from his back pocket, tied off one end around a boulder, and rappelled into the cave. The eagle’s scream echoed from a tunnel to his left. From the rocks, coughing echoed, followed by a weak voice calling, “Who’s there?”

Energy rushed through Titus’s veins. He lifted rocks and moved them out of the way. A bloody hand emerged from the stones. His adrenaline surged.

He worked faster, finally clearing enough debris to see a face.

Deep green eyes peered up at him. The face was old and wrinkled, the hair salt-and-pepper, stringy and covered in dust. But power resonated from the frail body chained to the rocks. Power and purpose.

“Who are you?”

A dozen emotions ripped through Titus. Anger for a situation he and the guardians shouldn’t be in, frustration that this was taking so freakin’ long, hatred for a father who’d condemned his daughter to pure torture…but mostly faith that he was going to be the one to free her from her bonds. “The one who’s saving your sorry ass.”

He reached for the chain locking Prometheus to the rocks. The eagle blasted a screech that tore through Titus’s eardrums and knocked him off his feet.

He pushed up on his hands and stared wide-eyed at the giant beast. This wasn’t the same eagle he’d followed before. Not even close to the one who’d swooped over him on the castle wall in Argolea. This thing was as big as a house, with bloodred eyes and a beak sharp as a machete.

At his back, Prometheus whispered, “Don’t move.”

Fuck that. Natasa was dying.

Titus jerked the berries he’d taken from Odysseus’s trunk from his pocket and hurled them toward the eagle.

They peppered the eagle’s face. It blinked, recoiled, then opened its mouth again to scream. But instead of attacking like Titus expected, it lowered its beak and pecked the berries across the ground until they were all gone.

Footsteps pounded across the earth. Zander, Demetrius, and Theron rushed into the cave, weapons drawn. All three were bloodied and bruised, as if they’d taken a beating from the eagle in the tunnels. All three sported holy fuck looks on their faces.

The eagle swallowed, then opened its beak to screech again. It’s giant red eyes rolled back in its head, and it dropped to the ground like a board.

Surprise was swift and useless. Titus lurched to his feet and reached for Prometheus’s chains. One tug and he realized he couldn’t break them. “D! I need your magic!”

The guardians rushed over.

“What the hell was that?” Zander asked.

“Lotus fruit.”

Demetrius traced the chains, held his hands over them and muttered ancient, magic words.

“How in Hades did you cause that explosion?” Theron asked.

C’mon, c’mon…

Titus swiped at his forehead. “Greek fire. Set off by Heracles’s poisoned arrows.” When they all stared at him, he shook his head. “They weren’t really poisoned. The tips were dipped in potassium nitrate, and the tube I found in Odysseus’s chest was filled with the ancient mixture. It just needed to be ignited.”

Theron looked to Zander. “Remind me not to underestimate him.”

“Don’t worry.” Zander lifted one brow. “On a good day I can barely keep up with him.”

Come on, already. We need to go…

“How did you find me?”

Titus turned toward Prometheus, who pushed up to a sitting position on the rocks. Blood flowed from a wound in the Titan’s side, and he seemed frail and out of sorts, but he was still immortal. No matter how much he suffered—and Titus hoped he suffered a hell of a lot before the end of days—the god wouldn’t die. “Calypso.”

“The nymph?”

“Yeah. And she’s waiting for us to return. Get up, old man. I saved your ass. Now you’re gonna save my soul mate’s life.”

“But I can’t,” Prometheus protested, slowly rising to his feet when Zander helped him. “Don’t you know…? No god but Hades can cheat death.”

Breathe. Focus. Draw on the strength inside you.

Natasa struggled to open her eyes. Instead of a raging fire she’d prepared her whole life to be incinerated by, she rolled on a crashing sea. Giant waves exploded all around her. Water sprayed into her face. She gasped for breath, tried to open her eyes amidst the storming sea, but couldn’t.

Focus…

Her mother’s voice rang clear in her ears. Encouraging her. Leading her.

The strength is inside you… Focus, Natasa.

“You thought you could get out from under our deal.” Her mother’s voice shifted, morphed, grew deeper, darker. “You don’t double-cross a god, child. Especially not the God of the Sea. “

“Poseidon, don’t—”

A scream rang out.

“Silence, nymph! Do not get between me and my…prey.”

Calypso. That was Calypso crying out in pain. The island, the hemlock, Titus bringing her to the deity for help…it all rushed through Natasa’s mind.

Fear condensed beneath her ribs. The deal she’d made with Poseidon flashed in front of her, as if set on a movie scene.

“I fulfilled my end of the bargain and you repay me with this?” Poseidon snarled. His voice echoed in her ear, and his breath blew hot against her cheek. He was close. She still couldn’t open her eyes, but she pictured him leaning over her, all surfer, sun-tanned God of the Stormy Seas. “There will be repercussions for your treachery. I will hunt down that Argonaut you did this for and see his limbs ripped from his body. Then I’ll watch as he drowns in his own blood and vomit and remind him he has you to thank for every second of his misery.”

No. No! A groan tore from Natasa’s throat, but the poison was too strong for the sound to reach her ears. Her limbs wouldn’t work. She couldn’t move her body. Paralysis settled in. Why had she ever thought this would save Titus? Her pulse slowed until only a flicker of life remained.

The scent of the sea reached her nostrils. Natasa tried to suck in deep breaths.

Poseidon chuckled, a dark, menacing sound. “Give my regards to my brother in hell, traitor.”