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“No!”
Luame stumbled, then fell over—lying prone in the air.
Pandora flung her aside. Luame disappeared before she hit the wall.
Laughing, Pandora faded from sight, and into Daciana.
Silence fell over the pitch-black temple.
“Daciana?” I whispered. “Can you hear me? Everything is going to be okay, I promise. Just stay with me. Stay—”
“Don’t you know better by now, girl?”
Goose pimples rippled down my flesh, standing my hairs on end. I knew that voice. Oh gods, I knew that voice all too well.
The candles erupted, bursting towering explosions of flame that lit up the being before me.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
Daciana. It was Daciana from her wavy, long hair; sepia skin; and warm brown eyes. It was her... but it wasn’t. A thick, heavy presence emanated from her, rolling off her like crashing waves—holding me down, knocking me around, and drowning me. Before her, I felt afraid. More scared than I’d ever been in my life.
True despair was frightening to see.
“My goddess!”
The followers rushed her, falling to their feet. Their gushing cries and praise as they lay in a temple of the dead sickened me.
“What is wrong with you!” I shrieked. “You killed my friends and took Alex away from me. You put that monstrous bitch in the best person I know. Why are you celebrating!”
It was like they didn’t even hear me.
“Yes,” Pandora hissed, trailing her hands all over Daciana’s body. “I’d been observing the wolf all this time, but she’s an even better vessel than I predicted. Her superior senses. Her superhuman strength. I will not be able to shift into a wolf now that the soul leech is gone, but she will do very nicely as is.”
“You are perfect, my goddess.” Remis kissed her feet, slobbering all over her. “No one can stand against you now.”
“Mmm,” she hummed. “I feel the power of Persephone, Apollo, Hera, Zeus, and Ares within me. So many of us within an ordinary human would’ve reduced them to dust, but this creation power is worthy of the name. It remakes her as quickly as we destroy her.”
“Even so, this vessel will not last forever,” Vasili said. “That is why we work diligently to restore you to your true form and power. This will go a long way toward achieving that goal.” Vasili presented her with the scepter.
I never understood the phrasehunger in her eyesuntil right then. No one could ever covet anything more than Pandora did as she gazed upon the scepter. She grabbed it from him so quick, he stumbled.
“Oh, yes.” Stolen fingers traced the eagle’s wing. “The king of the heavens falls, and the queen of the damned rises.” She lashed out, waving the scepter, and the temple changed before my eyes.
Cracked walls re-knit. Dead leaves blew out the window. Marble floors gleamed. Even the stone table beneath me was made new.
Gone was the hideous beast from the walls. In their place, were beautiful portraits of the washerwoman, sitting on a throne of skulls while the gods of Olympus lay torn apart and bleeding at her feet.
“This will do quite well,” she said, returning the scepter to her side. “I have only one question left”—she turned on me—“why is this wretch still alive?”
Remis rose to her feet, but kept her head bent low—unworthy to look upon the face of her goddess. “As you know, the potion and knife do not work on demigods such as her. She does not have the essence of the Fates within her. She is merely a bridge to a physical space.
“Since there is nothing to do but kill her and stop her from ever undoing these events...” Remis picked up my dagger. “We thought you would like to do the honors?”
“I would indeed.” Pandora laughed. “For all the months I endured this stupid chit, and her pointless wittering on.I want my mommy. I’m not strong enough. I’m too weak. Help me, help me.” Her followers howled at her high-pitched mocking, heating the tips of my ears. “Nothing would give me more pleasure than to drive a dagger through her heart.”
“And this dagger is special, o goddess of despair.”
Something flickered at the edge of my vision, bringing my gaze up.
