While they fought, I hoped Cronus knew what he was doing in tricking this bull thing into believing they were dead. How the fuck did a dead Titan “play dead” anyway? Surely that was an oxymoron or juxtaposition?—I could never remember what those two meant.
#NotAnEnglishMajor #LifeOfHashtagsAndTaglines
Clutching at my stomach, I sucked in a deep breath, cursing the hot acrid air and wishing I had a margarita in front of me. Fuck! #NoAlcoholForNineMonths #ForgotThatGem
But seriously, how could anyone think under these circumstances?
The Erynomus roared, launching itself up into the air and sending out gusts of air and putrid-smelling energy, blasting the three Titans away.
“Help Mommy out,” I muttered in a rush, wondering why my head was so fuzzy. When did being pregnant give you the flu symptoms in the underworld? “We need someone to play dead for a bit but not be actually dead. Give me an idea rather than a hormone imbalance.”
All of a sudden, Hyperion went flying toward the bull in the oddest jerking motion that I’d ever seen. The normally graceful Titan never moved like that, and before I could even contemplate what was happening, he ended up gored on the large horns of the beast.
#WhatTheFuckJustHappened.
Oh gods.
The Erynomus threw its head back, Titan still attached, and made a triumphant bellow.
Cronus and Rhea both hit the ground at that moment, their forms still, and I gasped, trying to figure out what was happening.
Shit, shit, shit, shit. Had … had the baby just done that? I'd been hoping for an idea, talking to it like I had an ally on my side. But…
“You killed Grandpa!” I screamed. Looking down to scold my belly, I gasped; my hands and body were translucent, making me appear almost invisible.
What was my baby Titan capable of?
The Erynomus pawed the Titans, his hooves cracking against the lifeless figures on the ground, and I swallowed down another scream. When it went near Cronus, I panicked. “Leave him alone!” I shouted.
Only no sound emerged; a huge gust of wind seemed to steal my voice away, fading the sound into this level of the underworld.
#It’sFine #DontHyperventilate
The Erynomus bellowed again, and I imagined shoving my fist straight into its ugly face.
It looked around, head still high and proud, and then with a shimmer of gold energy, it folded down on itself, and in its place was a perfect golden boar, its coat shining in this shitty dark level like the finest of metals.
Unlike its other form, this one was truly stunning. About four times the size of a real boar, with long deadly tusks and no eyes—there was just a smooth blank space where eyes would have normally been. That didn't seem to bother it though, as it used those tusks to lift Hyperion from where he'd fallen and hoist him onto its broad back. Next it went to Rhea and Cronus, until all three lay across him.
“Wake them up now,” I said, not bothering to whisper because no sound was going to emerge with the weird tree rustling going on.
What if it wasn’t the baby?
No! It had to be. That one ray of hope was all I had.
Gods, please let it be an illusion.
Chapter 5
I had closed my eyes briefly, probably stupid with a raging boar prancing about near me, but I seemed to somehow be invisible to him, so it felt like it would be okay to take a second to get myself together.
Right?
Like, a girl couldn't just watch the love of her life die over and over again without needing a second. There had to be some sort of limitation on how many times one had to experience this horror. And while pregnant!
I mean, I was probably going to use the pregnancy excuse a lot over the next few months, mostly to get out of cleaning and exercise, but this still felt like a legitimate reason to freak the fuck out. #NoMoreDeadTitans #SomeoneStartAPetition
This time I felt the release of energy from inside of me, right around the place a womb was—pretty sure anyway. Human anatomy wasn't exactly my strongest subject at school.
When I opened my eyes, Cronus stood before me, looking like a fucking god with those broad shoulders thrown back and a whip of power in one hand. The other end of his weapon was wrapped around the boar's tusks, holding him as the creature fought and tried to jerk away.
Oh, thank fuck. He’s okay. He’s fucking okay.
My heart was still pounding like it was due for a heart attack very soon, but that was fine. My gaze scanned the ground, finding Rhea helping Hyperion up, not a stitch of blood on either of them. Rhea I could learn to live without, but I loved my grandfather. He'd grown on me the same way so many of these ancient Titans had.
It had been an illusion after all … my fucking baby was a magician.
“Your pride will get you every single time,” Cronus said as he wrapped the energy whip around the boar’s legs and yanked, bringing it down to its knees. The Titan dove forward, wrapped the rest of his shimmery power rope around the beast, and left it hogtied—#HAHA—on the ground.
“Maisey,” Cronus bellowed, not realizing, I guess, that I was as close as I was. Probably because I was still invisible. “I can feel you, love, but I can't see you.”
I reappeared just like that, arms and legs, stomach that looked a little bigger too. #WTAF #SomeoneGetMeBodyButterStat
I already loved my little baby girl, but she was going to be huge if she was growing at this rate. Of course I would have an overachieving Titan.
“There you are,” Cronus said, sounding relieved. “How did you disappear like that?”
I shrugged, stepping even closer and pointed at my belly. “I think it was her … I think all of it was.”
Our child apparently enjoyed the acknowledgement for her actions. #WasThatAKick #ThisKid #JustLikeHerDaddy
Cronus’ eyes dropped to my stomach but before he could do or say anything about that weird statement, the boar roared. Cronus jerked on the rope again, like it was going to shut it up that way. “This time when I kill you,” he said, nearly face to face with it at this point, “you won't be returning, whether Titans are here or not.”
“Last time we didn’t fully destroy it. We sent its energy back to the deep,” Hyperion said, and Cronus nodded.
“This time we’re ending it,” he declared and pulled another energy whip out of his free hand.
“What what?” I asked, confused and scared that thing was going to pop back up into its original shape if we didn’t kill it soon.
Rhea stood up and I sighed. Not rid of her yet, apparently. “The Erynomus is a creature that already exists in a dimension beyond this one. It draws power from multi-worlds and Cronus would fuck up a lot of timelines if he was to mess with that. But the boar, that's its pure form, one that has energy just from here. The rest has been released until it calls it back.”
Uh oh, someone was in trouble.
“This magical lasso will stop it from transforming back as well,” Cronus said.
Well, that made me sigh in relief. I wasn't going to question how we'd made this work, just that we had, and it was going to be over soon. And no one had died … again.
“Okay, well, kill it, because I could really go for like twenty Tacos right now,” I told my man.
Cronus looked up at me, the lasso still around the boar, which was bucking and yanking against him. “You might want to step back, love.”