The Power
Page 43

Jaw working, I looked away from her. When you die . . .
“Not that she really died,” Aiden intervened quickly, always the mediator. “But when you enter Tartarus the correct way, you’re kind of . . .”
“Reassembled?” Alex said with a laugh. “Caleb is the same way. So are Olivia and Lea.”
The names of those who had perished echoed in my skull.
“How are they doing?” Luke asked.
“Great. Caleb and Olivia are together, just like they were, um . . . here. Topside. And we’ve played Mario Kart with Persephone a couple of times.”
Alexander’s brows rose at that.
She giggled. “She gets mad when she loses, though.”
“And when she gets mad, that usually means Hades is going to be in a worse mood than usual.” Aiden grinned a little as he glanced at Alex. “We make ourselves scarce when that happens.”
“Sounds like fun,” Solos said, but his tone was the complete opposite.
“It’s really not that bad. Pretty much whatever you want is there,” Alex replied, leaning her head onto her father’s shoulder. “But we miss you guys. Sucks that we have to wait six months and we aren’t allowed to communicate with anyone topside during that time. Feels like forever to us down there.”
Her father turned, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.
Aiden leaned forward, his gray eyes serious. “So, we’ve heard about what’s going down with the Titans.” His stare landed on me, and I thought it was ironic how they couldn’t communicate with us but they seemed to know what was going on somehow. “Any updates?”
“Not really.” I folded my arms. “Hyperion was out of commission for a while, but I’m sure he’s back or will be soon. Apollo is supposed to be bringing a demigod back with him to help locate the other ones so they can entomb—”
“Other demigods?” Alex frowned. “Demigods like Aiden and me?”
“You don’t know about that part?” I asked.
Aiden shook his head. “This is the first time we’re hearing about anything demigod-related.”
“Why am I not surprised you guys only got half of what is important?” I sighed, pressing my shoulders against the wall. “I’m going to give you the version for dummies.”
“Gee, thanks,” Alex replied. “Otherwise, we might not be able to process it.”
I smirked. “When I was created, the gods knew something was going on and that there was a chance that we’d connect and one of us would turn God Killer on them, so they took precautions.”
“Man.” Aiden slid a hand over his face. “This is going in so many directions.”
“The gods came down to earth, got it on with various men and women, and produced twelve demigods. Born demigods. Not made ones like you two. You know, real demigods,” I pointed out, and Alex rolled her eyes. “The gods locked their abilities, basically turning them into sleeper demigods. Of course, Hera ended up killing some. So did . . . so did Ares. Six remain. The Titans got hold of two of them, but Apollo said that one of the original demigods would be able to find the other three. If we get the six of them together, then their abilities will automatically unlock.”
“The Titans have two of them?” Aiden asked.
“They’re feeding off them,” Solos added. “It’s how they’re getting their powers back.”
“Oh my gods,” Alex whispered. “Feeding off them? Like daimons?”
“Basically.” Solos pushed off the wall. “We have no idea what condition they are in or even where the other three are. We’re waiting on Apollo, and you know how he takes his time with stuff.”
“Did you know Ares was taking out demigods?” Aiden’s gaze latched onto mine.
I resisted the urge to flip him off. His suspicions were warranted. “Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t know everything Ares was up to. I didn’t know about any of this until Apollo told me.”
“We didn’t think you knew everything,” Alex threw out, but yeah, didn’t quite believe that.
Aiden glanced at her and then his attention flipped back to me. “Hold on a sec.”
“Holding,” I murmured.
He ignored that. “You said that there are six demigods alive. Two were with the Titans and you needed to find three more. Shouldn’t it be four more? Or did I forget how to count?”
“Yep. You forgot how to count,” I replied dryly.
Aiden looked unimpressed with my comment. I thought it was pretty astute. “Do we need to find three or four of them?”
“I think it’s cute how you’ve inserted ‘we’ into this.” I smiled tightly.
“We’re up here for the next six months,” Alex stated slowly, like I needed the time to comprehend. “So, duh, we’re going to help while we’re here. This isn’t a vacation for us.”
I was going to throw myself through a wall.
Aiden nodded in agreement. “So, there are—”
“Oh! Holy shit balls.” Deacon jumped up from the couch and looked around the room, the corners of his mouth turning down. “Where is Josie?”
“Hell,” Luke grunted as he too glanced around, like he was going to find Josie hiding under a chair or something. “Did we forget her? She’s not still out on the quad, is she?”
Yes, I wanted to tell them. Yes, you totally forgot about Josie. “She went back to her room.”