Page 3 (1/2)

"Why are you involving Ananke?"

Apollo waved hiained infor for war"

Dionysus yawned "As reat use when it co information from those who are in the know"

"Wine and drink," Solos ue," Dionysus finished, grinning "There is an enca the movement of Lucian and the First Damn near the size of an army They have moved to just outside the Tennessee Covenant My brothers and sisters are watching them closely"

Daods would retaliate again, and more innocent lives would be lost

"There are over a hundred half-blood Sentinels and Guards with theods," Soloshis te, those people are buying like crack addicts" Dionysus studied his fingernails, appearing bored "No offense, but the halfs are like idiot cousins if they truly believe siding against us is wise"

I didn’t have to look at Solos to know that co the no one ever has"

"And that is?" Dionysus asked

"Freedom" I sat on the arm of the couch "The freedom to do as they please and to not be indebted to the pures in any forestured at Solos

"Free?" Solos straightened "If I od replied "Why not?"

Solos took a shallow breath "Beco a Sentinel was the lesser of two evils My choices were to allowthat I am stripped away from me, or this life, which is one that rave How is that freedom?"

Dionysus’ brows knitted "Do you not feel that your duty is honorable enough?"

"It has nothing to do with his duty," I cut in, glancing at Apollo "The halfs who are Guards and Sentinels believe in their duties and will give their lives for theiven them any choice--not the sa the their own destinies, then can we really blame them?"

"I understand that desire, Aiden, and e, but we cannot allow Lucian to lead theainst us," Apollo said "And I knohat you’re thinking--that those following him are innocent in their naiveté, but that does not change the outcoainst us"

"Which is exactly what they’re planning," Dionysus said, o, I made sure several halfs ith Lucian ell-stocked in the whiskey departirls I’ve learned that they are planning tofor Seth and his little girlfriend"

My teeth were going to break fro theether "What I don’t understand is how none of you can take out Lucian"

"We can’t get near hied "And we cannot harm him, but he can har at full power, he can’t kill you"

Dionysus’ brows rose "He killed Thanatos’ furie"

"By draining Alex of her power," I argued "Without her near, he can’t tap into that"

"We won’t take the risk" Apollo leaned against the seat "He can put us out of commission If one of us is weakened, so are we all"

"The family that--"

"Anyway," Apollo cut Dionysus off "According to what he has learned, they’re planning a full assault on all the Covenants We cannot allow that"

"So what does Olyht of this conflict rested on the the word "pickle" coo to war, but there is dissension a the fearless leaders"

"What kind of dissension?" I rubbed the heel of ainst a dull ache no doubt brought on by lack of food

"Six want to annihilate the proble where he got his gaudy-ass shirt fro him?" Solos asked "Take as many out as possible?"

Apollo nodded "The rest of us believe there is still hope that a full-scale war can be avoided, because if we do go to hat happened with the Titans will have nothing on this The body count will include mortals--possibly millions of them There is no way that can be avoided"

There is still hope Those four words brought forth i about Seth just a few short weeks ago She’d had hope for hiht up to the moment he’d connected with her

"Not to mention the risk of exposure," added Marcus "Gods, this is…"

There were no words

It sort of struck ods--really had foreseen this a year ago The prophecies hadn’t predicted that the world would be on the verge of a war the likes of which had never been seen before--a war that would rip this world apart

"We believe that the war can be stopped," Apollo continued, "but the others are doubtful, especially with the most recent events"