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"I don’t know," she whispered "Nothing like this has ever happened before No , they’ve never purposely hurt innocent people before We’re supposed to protect them, and the six were always really, really adaht Calliope was the one killing Henry’s girls It’s just--she’s never done anything like that before None of them have"

She set her head on my shoulder, and I forced myself to s the lump of fear in my throat Ava needed reassurance ure it out," I said, even though I had no way of knowing if I was telling the truth or not "They’re strong, right? The council And she’s one against thirteen"

"But she has Cronus," Ava said with a sniff "When he regains his strength, there’s nothing any of us can do to stop hies to contain him the f irst time, and the only reason they won the war then was because they had the eleainst them But now…" Now Cronus knehat to expect, and he’d had nearly the entire span of humanity to come up with a way to defeat the my voice steady for Ava’s sake It was easier to keep a lid on ain"

Ava wiped her cheeks, and when she gave me a hopeless look, I blinked, taken aback Despite her moments of doubt, Ava had always been bubbly and opti the best in a situation no matter how bleak it was After she’d died in Eden, instead of be the loss of her ht have been, she e dead Even when I’d imposed a harsh punishment for the role she’d played in the scuff le that had resulted in Xander’s supposed death and Theo’s grave injuries, she hadn’t turned on me She’d f ished my body frohtto save me Ava was the one who believed in the impossible, not me When she lost hope, hoas I supposed to have any?

"You don’t understand," she said in a broken voice "It took all six of theods there are None of us cole one of the with the to let her seewouldI could comprehend At best, it would mean enslavement for Henry and my mother and everyone I’d come to care about; at worst, it would ht have had countless lifetimes to live, but I was nineteen years old, and I really wanted to see twenty

I didn’t reone and Pogo snored in the indent she’d left in the pillow Sighing, I took inventory, pleased that at least some of the pain had dulled Even if it did still hurt to rin and bear it

But theo licked ed athered in led, andin the rock walls around me I wasn’t in my bedroom anymore Instead I stood in the cavern where I’d watched Henry battle the fog I no to be Cronus, and the ate loomed before me, carved from the stone itself

I twisted around to f ind whoever it was that had laughed, and suddenly I was nose-to-nose with Calliope

I froze This was it She’d so I could do to protect myself

If she was half as powerful as Ava said she was, she could probably rip ht, and I knew better than to hope there was any way I could talk myself out of this

To my amazement, she looked pastinto host

I wasn’t really here Just like what had happened when I’d f irst arrived in the Underworld, this was another vision, and Calliope had no idea I atching

I hurried to follow her She walked proudly through the cavern toward a smaller cave to the side, and I noticed an oddly shaped pile beyond the light that glowed fro I could only ain

"I can’t believe it" She stopped a foot fro up with you, and this is all it takes?"

My insides turned to ice I didn’t want to look, but my feet moved forward anyway until I could ether, bound by chainsand stone

Walter on the left, his head slumped forward as blood trickled down his cheek Phillip on the right, an ugly wound running through an eye, down his face and disappearing underneath his shirt

And Henry in the middle, as pale and still as death

CHAPTER FIVE

OPTIONS

I f lew to Henry’s side, too afraid to touch hihtened to turn away, either Desperately I searched all three brothers for any sign that they were still alive, but I saw nothing No rise and fall of the chest, no telltale f lutter of a pulse in their necks--except those wereHenry and his brothers weren’t mortal and never had been