A roar sounded from the trees above. Talisa barely had time to look up before something slammed into her, knocking her hard to the ground.
She heard Zagreus grunt as he hit the ground, too. Had no idea what had hit them. It was there and gone, but when she lifted her head and looked up from the dirt, she realized it wasn’t a “what” but a “who.”
The who she’d been looking for since Zagreus had poofed her out of that club.
“Max!” She pushed up in the dirt, scrambling to her feet.
Max had already knocked Pandora free of Phin’s hold. She scrambled back while the two males rolled across the ground, throwing punches and kicking up dirt in a blur of movement.
Footsteps pounded at Talisa’s back. Beside her, she sensed Zagreus watching for the moment he could jump into the fight and take hold of Max. But the two were moving too fast, then their momentum shifted so quickly Talisa barely tracked it. One second, they were on the ground. The next, Max was behind Phin with a dagger at Phin’s throat.
“Get back, all of you,” Max growled, a wild look in his eyes. “Get back or I swear I’ll kill him.”
“Whoa, hold up,” Theron said on Talisa’s left. Max shifted Phin that direction, skidding in the dirt. “We’re not going to hurt you. Just drop the blade, Maximus. We’re all friends here.”
“Yeah, dude,” Phineus said. “Friends. Rememb—”
Max pushed the tip of the dagger into Phin’s throat, breaking the skin so blood ran down the blade. Phin’s mouth snapped shut.
“You’re no friends of mine,” Max growled.
His voice was low. Flat. Nothing like Talisa remembered. He moved back a step, dragging Phin with him.
Nick moved up on her father’s other side. She could see both him and Zagreus were reading Max, trying to decide if they could step in and disarm him. But if Zagreus’s theory was true, and Max could harness any powers used around him, that would only make him stronger. And judging from the crazed look in his eyes, that wouldn’t be a good thing. At least not until they got him away from Pandora.
“Son…” Zander. That was Zander’s voice to Talisa’s right. Max’s dad. Only he didn’t just sound stressed, he sounded scared. As if he knew what Max was capable of. “We’re all your friends. And family. We just want you to come home.” He stepped forward, hands up in a nonthreatening way. “We love you, Max.”
Max glanced from Theron to his father, then to Talisa. Familiarity flashed in his stormy eyes. He swallowed. Seemed… conflicted.
“We do,” Talisa said, also stepping forward, desperate to get through to him, hoping her voice would shock him back from whatever hold Pandora had on him. “Your mom, too.”
Max’s gaze shot her way. “My… mother?”
“Don’t listen to her,” Pandora snapped at Max’s back. “She’s lying.”
“Talisa’s not lying,” Zander said, inching forward again. “Your mother’s here, son, waiting for you. We all are. We’re here for you. Just let go of Phin. Stop listening to that… female, and let us help you.”
Pandora growled, but indecision warred in Max’s eyes, a battle Talisa sensed he waged deep inside.
“Max,” she whispered, feeling that bond to him they’d shared since they were kids. When he was the only person who’d understood her. “Max, come back to us.”
His gaze found hers. Held. And like storm clouds parting, the uncertainty faded from his turbulent eyes, leaving them the same soft, silver hue she’d gazed into thousands of times back home.
His hold on Phin eased. The blade fell from his throat. Relief swept through Talisa as Phin jerked free. Then she heard the scream.
Max lurched around and stared wide-eyed at the dagger sticking out of Pandora’s chest. The one already soaking the front of her dress with blood.
Talisa whipped back, squinting past the argonauts and Zagreus, toward the top of the hill, where Rhen stood staring at Pandora.
Oh shit.
Talisa whirled toward Max again, cradling Pandora in his arms. Only his eyes were no longer silver spheres. They were raging squalls she sensed were about to unleash a fury none of them had ever seen.
“You,” Max growled in a low, menacing voice as Pandora lay limp against him. “You’ll pay for what you did to my soul mate. Every last one of you.”
“Max, no.” Panic rose in Zander’s voice. “It was an accident. Don’t—”
A roar that shook the forest burst from Max’s chest, then he and Pandora disappeared in a cyclone of black smoke.
“Holy skata,” someone muttered.
“How did he do that?” someone else said.
“Motherfucker,” whispered another voice.
Talisa looked from one shocked face to the next, knowing the Argonauts had no clue how powerful Max really was. But she was too focused on the horror pushing up her throat to explain it to them just yet.
Something grazed her arm. She turned to find Zagreus standing right behind her.
Without hesitating, she moved into him and wrapped her arms around his waist, then pressed her cheek to his chest, closing her eyes against the hot rush of tears.
His strong arms settled around her like steel bands, holding her tight, and in her ear, he whispered, “We’ll find him. We did it once, we’ll do it again.”
She wasn’t so sure. What she’d seen in Max’s eyes seconds ago was unlike anything she’d seen before. Violent savagery was the only way she knew how to describe it. Like the humanity inside him had all but been annihilated and replaced with blinding rage. She just wasn’t sure if it was because of Pandora, his link to the Greek hero Achilles, or if there was something much darker at work here. Something festering from his time with Atalanta as a child in the Underworld.
She sniffled against Zagreus. Clung to him. Knew only that none of this would have happened had it not been for her. “This is my fault. This is all my fault.”
“It’s not.” He shifted one hand to her face and lifted so she had to look at him. “You told me when a soul endures terrible things it can become capable of terrible things. He endured something long before this. Long before he knew you. It’s just coming to the surface now. You are in no way responsible for the choices he makes because of what happened to him then.”
She blinked up at him, tears blurring her vision. His features were drawn, his dark eyes pained, but underneath she saw strength. And resilience. And hope.
“If anyone knows it’s possible to come back from the dark, it’s me,” he whispered. “Because of you. We’ll find him and bring him back. Whatever it takes. I promise.”
Her chest contracted, and all the love she felt for him swirled inside, threatening to overwhelm her.
Sniffling again, she pushed to her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, knowing her father and the Argonauts were all watching, not caring in the least. Pressing her face to his throat, she drew in his calming, wicked scent and hung on tight.
Because he was not what anyone thought. He was a devil, but he was also her savior. He was the darkness and the light. He was the result of everything bad in the world but had transformed himself into an expression of good. He was flawed and broken and real. Her captor, her protector, her trial. Yet through it all, her absolute strength, just as he was now.