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And inside, like a princess who’d been closed up in the tower, Catina lay on a bed. She sat up, her watery eyes enlarged. Her skin looked clammy and glistened with a cold sweat. Her hair hung limp, and fear edged her face. But Elyse stepped around me, and Catina’s face changed to relief. Her mouth slackened.
“Oh my God, I’m not even going to ask how you found me!” she cried, wrapping her arms around Elyse. The two women embraced, and the rest of us waited for them to get their emotions out of the way.
“I’m so sorry. We came as soon as we tracked you down.” Elyse’s voice crackled with emotions.
“What the hell took me?” Catina’s chin trembled.
“A fuckhead. Have you not seen him since you were taken?” Elyse asked.
Catina looked around as if expecting a monster to jump out of the shadows. “I was locked in here with food and water and nothing else to go by. Where are we? This place is like hell on Earth.”
“Or hell in hell,” Elyse said. “This is the Underworld.”
Catina’s head flinched back slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain later.” Elyse rushed her words and kept glancing at the boarded-up windows. “We have to get you out of here. Now.”
“Who are they?” Catina asked when she walked with Elyse toward us. She looked up with uncertainty, with caution.
Elyse sighed. “This is Poseidon, Ares, and Apollo. The guys I’m dating.”
Catina looked from us to Elyse and shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
Of course she wouldn’t. Not only did it sound like a silly joke, but everything about this was difficult to believe. From the moment Catina had been taken, nothing would have made sense to her anymore. How could it have?
“We have to go,” I told Elyse, holding out my hand. She cleared her throat and took my hand, letting me guide her out of the tower. Catina followed, flanked on both sides by Poseidon and Apollo. The five of us had to get out of here alive.
We made our way all the way to the bottom floor of the palace without incident. I stopped and turned to Apollo and Poseidon.
“Something’s wrong,” I whispered. “This was too easy. X hasn’t even tried to stop us.”
“He will,” Elyse muttered.
“You’re absolutely right,” a voice said behind us and we all spun around. Catina let out a scream riddled with terror, faced with the person who’d taken her captive. She sank to the ground, crippled by her own fear.
Apollo, Poseidon, and I stepped forward, ready to attack. Elyse stayed right next to us, willing to fight, even though she struggled with her power. But she wouldn’t let anything happen to Catina, not now we’d found her.
X laughed, his hissing voice grated on my nerves, and he looked at the four of us.
“What a band of misfits,” he sneered. “It’s cute you thought you could save her. But I’m glad you tried.”
With that, he attacked. But it wasn’t the physical contact I’d expected. Instead, a cloud of darkness rose around us until it was almost impossible to see each other, to see him.
“Elyse!” I cried out.
“I’m right here,” she said, grabbing on to me.
She carried her scythe in a sheath on her back, and she was ready to use it. Maybe she would. But right now, it was about our power against X’s.
I focused on my magic, the ability buzzing over my nape, and I let it flare up. I sensed Apollo and Poseidon do the same, the electricity around us heightening. When Elyse tried, her power vacillated, coming and going, and X chuckled. He sensed it, too.
“Really, you shouldn’t have bothered bringing her along. She just weighs you down. Now you have two humans to look after, and it’ll only cripple you.”
Elyse attacked first. She let out a battle cry and swung her scythe through the air with practiced precision. I mirrored her and jumped in on her heels. Her power might not have been as controlled as before, but she was still a seasoned fighter, and she’d trained for most of her life. X hadn’t expected us to attack so vehemently, and we managed to catch him off guard, sending him recoiling backward. Excellent.
The fight was immediately brutal. As soon as X recovered from his surprise, he retaliated, and Elyse was in over her head. X was stronger and faster than her, and she needed help.
Apollo charged in, but Poseidon hung back, taking care of Catina. He had the power to call any of his weapons, so he was best suited to protect her, and I was glad he’d taken the initiative. On the battlefield, we could only rely on what we did naturally. Hesitating would be our downfall.
