Page 44 of Crimson Skies

It was what he’d felt in London, just before Cabalista was attacked. Except it was coming from afar.

War demons!

Victor bolted upright, pupils flashing crimson. He’d picked up on the corruption Theo had just discerned.

Explosions boomed in the distance.

They shifted into their demigod forms and were on the terrace of Morgan’s apartment in a flash, weapons in hand and armor glinting in the growing daylight. Loki morphed into his imp form as he darted out of the living room and joined them.

Horror filled Theo.

Smoke was rising from several locations across the city.

“Isn’t that—?!”

“Yes,” Victor confirmed grimly. “That’s where the Argonaut, Hexa, Cabalista, and Order of Rosen bureaus are situated!”

Loki scowled and released the Eternity Key.

Divine warmth washed over them as Atropos and the other Goddesses appeared, armor and weapons unleashed. Ladon tasted the air curiously with his tongue where he clung to Hesperia’s shoulder in his horned Texas lizard form.

Eden, the Dryads, Kalliste, and the three mages weren’t far behind.

“What the hell is going on?!” Ortega barked.

Shadows boiled around Tenebra’s inky wings and dark battle suit. “There are war demons in the city.”

Yuan paled. Wallace clenched his jaw.

“Looks like our lesson’s gonna start early,” Eden told the mages in a hard voice. Bloodcursed magic exploded around her. “Woody, give us three of the summoning staffs! We’ll take Hexa!”

The devilwood staff swelled in her grasp and regurgitated the weapons in a move that made Yuan gag.

“We’re coming with you,” Cedric told Eden darkly.

Leaves and shoots burgeoned on the Dryads on a wave of sparkling, emerald magic. The blackthorn and alderwood crowns that denoted Cedric and Leiv’s royal lineage sprouted on their heads. Eden got Woody to spit out two more summoning staffs for Galliad and Elwyn.

Victor indicated Kalliste, Daphne, and the Hesperides. “We’ll go to Cabalista.”

Atropos nodded at Lachesis and the three Nereid Goddesses. “The Order of Rosen is ours.”

Theo glanced at Loki, Tisiphone, Megaera, and Tenebra. “And we have Argonaut.”

Lachesis’s pupils flared gold. “Bostrof is headed for Hexa.”

“Clotho and Orena, scour the city for more war demons,” Atropos ordered the youngest Moira and the Black Fate. “I wouldn’t put it past Elios to play a dirty trick on us.”

The Goddesses dipped their chins and shot up into the air.

Victor tugged Theo close and kissed him. “Be careful.”

Theo gazed into the demigod’s smoldering eyes, warmth filling his belly where their soul cores resonated. “You too.”

Loki jumped on his back when he took to the sky with the Furies and the Black Fate. The city’s empty streets blurred beneath them as they arrowed toward the smoke spiraling against the sky to the north, their passage parting the air with supersonic booms. A familiar power echoed inside him when the Argonaut building came in sight.

“Cassius is on his way,” Theo told Loki and the Goddesses.

His chest tightened as he registered the destruction Elios’s troops had already wreaked. Half the structure had collapsed and the other half was in flames.