Doing as I was told, I cradled my belly in case my crazy powerful baby threw her dad across the desert or something. I needed a remote control with this thing. Pause and mute seemed like they’d be good buttons to have to help with a Titan child.
Without warning, Cronus leapt up from the ground, clutching the boar demon’s neck between his two whips and shot into the sky.
Holy mother … he was like … flying.
“Back up, Maisey.” Hype yanked my arm and I noticed Rhea was much further back. Stumbling with him, I watched as Cronus dropped from the sky. Like a rock, his body fell fast, the boar bucking in his grasp, trying to get free.
Umm, that looked like it was going to hurt for the both of them.
I winced as Cronus shoved the boar’s head between his feet and—
Hyperion covered my eyes. The ground shook and a splatting noise, mixed with a cracking noise that could only be a skull, echoed around us.
#GonnaVom
Bile rose, burning up my throat as Hyperion removed his hand from my eyes. The first thing I saw was tiny bits of boar meat exploded all over Cronus’ shoes and the ground.
Leaning over, I dry heaved, nothing coming up because I hadn’t eaten in two days—or was it ten weeks, I didn’t fucking know.
“Really, Cronus, that was vile!” Rhea snapped. “She’s pregnant.”
Cronus wiped his shoes on the dirt and approached me with concern. “You okay, love?”
“You need a shower,” I announced, trying not to look at the ground pork behind him.
Cronus nodded. “It’s done. Shower in Bali with you.” He winked.
Bali was our code word, and I instantly got wet.
The baby kicked again then and it fucked with my mojo.
What the hell was that about? Could this baby read my mind? Because we were going to need to get her some serious therapy if that was the case.
The ground shook suddenly under our feet and Cronus pulled me into his arms, tucking me closely into his body. Trees rattled and leaves shook until finally everything was still again.
“Oh good, he’s gone,” Rhea exclaimed.
“Who’s gone?” I was too hungry to play guessing games. Honestly, I’d have killed someone myself if it got me some delicious vegetarian food in my hands.
“The Erynomus. His energy just died.” Rhea said.
His energy? It lasted like a minute after the body had become Hamburger Helper? That was terrifying.
“Alright, let’s get to that portal and see if we can sneak Rhea through with us,” Cronus declared.
#DoWeHaveToThough? #LikeReally
Rhea patted his arm. “You’ve always been good to me, Cronie.”
#Bitch #I’llCutYou
Suddenly a beam of light shot from my right hand, completely unexpected and out of my control, and before I could say a word, it shaved the side of Rhea’s hair clean off. A clump of her long, luxurious mane fell to the ground as she stared at me in horror.
“MAISEY!”
#Fuck
“It was the baby!” I grabbed my stomach as Rhea’s hand went to her bald patch, just above the left ear.
“My hair!” she shrieked, looking at the clump on the ground.
Nervous laughter escaped me. “It’s an innocent baby, Rhea, and come on, you look punk rock now.”
She lunged for me, basically frothing at the mouth and ready to kill. Cronus reached out and wrapped an arm across her, sending her flying back across the land. Hyperion tucked me into his body and we started to walk away.
“Let’s give them a minute, shall we?” Hyperion glanced at my belly. “I’m really happy for you, Mais. Gonna make me a great-grandfather.”
At this stage, it was beyond me to work out our messed-up family tree, so I just smiled and nodded. When we got to a thicket of trees, Hyperion pulled me to a halt and knelt down, putting his mouth close to my bellybutton.
“Hey there, kiddo, Great-Grandpop Hype here. Just want you to know I’m really fond of my balls, so please don’t cut them off.”
I chuckled. “She won’t. She only does what I’m thinking.”
Hyperion raised an eyebrow. “So you were thinking about shaving Rhea’s head?”
I winced. “Not exactly in that detail…”
Hyperion pointed a finger at me. “You better control your thoughts, Maisey. This is clearly a super baby and we don’t know what she’s capable of. If she thinks you're in danger, even if you’re joking…”
I held up my hands. “I got it. I’ll be mentally Zen.”
#FuckRhea #ShaveTheOtherSide #KiddingBaby
Hyperion straightened, rubbing the spot on his ribs where the Ery demon had fake gored him.
“What was that like? It was an illusion, right?” I didn’t understand what had happened, but the baby figured out a way to make it work.
Hype nodded. “Too good of an illusion. I thought I was a goner until I realized it was some type of magical projection for the demon’s benefit.”
“We’re ready to travel.” Cronus came up behind us. Rhea was at his side, her hair pulled over one shoulder. She pinned me with a death glare, arms crossed, but didn’t say anything.
Be nice, baby. That’s Mommy’s number one frenemy.
Cronus tucked me into his side as Hyperion lagged behind with Rhea and we set off for the portal.
“So what’s the plan when we get to level one?” My stomach was eating itself from hunger. Why hadn’t I brought snacks to hell? Poor planning on my part.
Cronus nodded. “You’ve got my body on Earth?”
“Yep. Okeanos and the others are guarding it.” Talking about my boyfriend’s dead body was traumatic in so many ways.
“Good, then when you get up top, get some food.” He patted my belly, which was growing at an alarming rate. I looked like I’d just had Christmas dinner. #WouldKillForTofurkey. “And then help Hyperion resurrect me.”
I nodded. “And then we live happily ever after?”
Cronus frowned. “Then we resurrect Rhea, get the sins, and finally … we kill Zeus.”
I looked back at his ex-wife and growled, before remembering the temperamental baby in my belly. I tried to think of happier times of Rhea; the image of her chugging Taco Bell hot sauce packets came to mind and I grinned.
Kick.
Baby liked that.
“Oh, are you aware that Zeus got away with the necklace and the sins?” I said suddenly, realizing that Cronus might not know that. He had a good plan, but some of it might have to be rearranged.
Cronus stopped walking. “Really? What happened? I was hoping you guys were in possession of that too. Death took me out before I knew if they all ended up contained though…”
I had to stop the sob from creeping out of my mouth; the vision of death taking Cronus’ life would forever be seared into my memory.
I shook my head. “I’m not totally sure what happened after you died. I blacked out. All I know is that Zeus now has the sins.” I hugged my arms and Cronus pulled me straight against his chest.
“Baby, that will never happen again. I’m so sorry.”
Emotion tightened in my throat and the baby kicked three times in rapid succession. I groaned and brought my hand to my belly.
“Everything okay?” Cronus looked concerned, eyebrows knitted together.