Page 65 of A Spell of Bones and Madness (Nostos #2)

Chapter Fifty-Three

Ander

I ncessant growls flowed from Cerberus, its heads thrashing against each of the fog-bound chains Ander threw at it.

Skill would not help them now, not against Hades’ daimon pet, but time, sheer will, would allow them to win—or at least deter the creature enough that Ajax could get Ember to the cavern.

Crimson, onyx, and amber—that was how Leighton had described the Spéos , a ritual cavern from the time of the Olympi.

The three-headed creature was once the protector of the underworld, it now resided in the mountain at Cyther guarding its master's tomb. What might meet them if they made it to that cavern? Would they be able to find where Hades’ soul was entombed?

Would the bident be there as well, or would they need to wait until Cerberus was defeated?

Would Katrin have to use the crystal talisman of Poseidon that hung around her neck?

He prayed to the gods, both olde and new, that it would not come to that.

If Katrin used the pendent it would permanently take a part of her powers and Ander wasn’t sure which part would remain—the starlit fire she wielded right now, or the powers of darkness she had yet to wield.

The creature howled once more, snapping the chains Ander wove from fog. He drew his hand in a circular motion toward the right, crafting another concentric circle to trap the daimon ’s paws in, but Ander was not fast enough. It lunged toward Katrin, racing with a preternatural rage for revenge.

Katrin’s body lit so brightly, Ander had to shield his eyes for fear of it blinding him.

She was teetering on a burn out if she kept this up.

Bending the starlight to her will, she shot razor stars at the creature’s throats and fleshy part of its legs, where the thick scale-like hide did not protrude over.

Small tears formed, leaking obsidian liquid as pungent and foul as the drool from its lips.

It spattered to the floor below with an audible hiss , singeing the bones it prowled over.

Toxic.

Sizzling.

Venom.

The creature was filled with venom.

“Don’t let it get on you!” Ander yelled to Katrin over the roaring yelps. It wouldn’t kill them, the venom, but it would injure them enough that the creature would easily shred them to pieces with its teeth.

“Trying my best!” she yelled back, this time sending a spear hurtling at the nearing daimon below its front leg, conjuring a shield to take the impact of the equally toxic claw that headed straight for her chest.

Instinctually, Ander lunged, though he knew he would not reach the other side of the cave in time. So when fog whipped around him and he rolled over her heated body, slamming them both into the hard, jagged rock out of the way, his eyes flared. No .

“How—how did you do that?” Katrin panted, her body shaking beneath his embrace. “You shouldn’t be able to aervade here. Not with the wards.”

“No, Starling, I shouldn’t,” he heaved. The entire contents of his stomach bubbled, threatening to make their way back up.

This was not good. Because if he could aervade, that meant the wards were down. It would mean Ajax and Ember had not gotten there in time. It would mean that he was reborn.

“Hold tight.” They needed to get to the Spéos and fast. He let Leighton’s description of the chamber flood his mind, allowing him to find a place he could not see and had never been.

Fog circled around them once more, cocooning Katrin against him as they drifted through the air in a snap of a finger to the end of the tunnel.

Deep cobalt flames lit the room that lay before them.

On his knees, in the center of the room knelt Ajax, arms bound behind him with black thorny vines, small white flowers speckled with crimson spread along them—the same type of flower Ember described seeing in Aidesian, ones that had bloomed from her blood.

Ember knelt next to him, arms around his throat, shielding him from the man and woman who sat upon the golden dais before him. Hades and his queen .

“Please!” Ember’s weakened voice cried. “Not him! You cannot take him.”

“It must be done, you know that better than most,” Hades roared.

We will only have moments, Starling. His power will not have come back fully yet. The Thysía works in two parts.

What do you mean by two parts? Katrin replied.

He needs a second sacrifice. Blood to be repaid to the earth. Evening of the balance. Hold on as hard as you can, this will not feel great.

The world shattered around them as he whipped them to the center of the room where their companions knelt. Reaching out his hand, Ander grabbed Ajax’s arm, Katrin following suit with her sister.

The Olympi’s power flared around him, thick flames circling his hands. “You will regret taking what is mine, boy!” Hades seethed.

“Doubtful.” Ander grinned and in a cloud of gray mist they were gone.

Letting the memory of The Nostos fill his mind, Ander used what little power he had left to transport them to the deck of the ship. The four of them landed with a crashing thud, pieces of wood splintering beneath them. Standing, Ander raced over to Leighton who tended to the anchor they had set.

“How did you—” the nauarch started, but Ander cut him off.

“Where is Kristos? Cal left him with a special vial of potion and I need that now. It’s Jax.”

Lying face down, unmoving, was the commander. Blood pooled down Ajax’s back where the thorns were lodged deep into his skin.

“What the fuck happened to him?” Leighton asked, sending one of the crew below to get Kristos .

“Hades is back, I don’t know what spells he used to bind him, but those vines are coated in viper venom.” Ander turned to Ember who knelt by Ajax’s side. “Do you know what he did? What spell he used? What he said?”

Her mouth opened but no words came out.

“Ember, this is very important. We need you to tell us what happened,” Ander pried again. If he used blood magic then it was possible the venom antidote Cal had sent them with would not work.

The princesses eyes were snaked with red, her lower lip trembling, but she said nothing.

“I’m here! I’m here!” yelled Kristos, running over to the commander and flipping him on his back. Foam coated the outside of Ajax’s mouth and his eyes were washed over with a glassy white film.

“Come on, boy,” Kristos slapped his cheeks trying to rouse him, but Ajax’s breathing got progressively more shallow.

“I’m going to have to force his jaw open.

Ander, I need you to pour this in his mouth.

” He uncapped the vile, thick concoction, handing it to Ander.

A loud snap hung in the air as Kristos broke Ajax’s jaw, giving Ander enough room to pour the thick liquid down his throat.

“He’s going to die,” Ember finally said, her eyes slowly returning to their amber hue. “It is the will of the Fates.” She began to break out in uncontrollable sobs, throwing her body on top of him. “It is all my fault.”

“He is not going to die, young Prytan,” Kristos said, placing his palm on her back. “Cal’s potion will work, he will heal. ”

“But he will still die. We all will.” Ember’s voice had a ghostly chill about it. “They…they said…” Vomit coursed from her stomach, landing with a splat on the deck. It was a strange blend of black and crimson, appearing more akin to poison than bile.

“What did they say? What did they say to you, Ember?” Light flared all over Katrin’s skin.

“They said the Grechi will fall. They said I’m…they said we…”

Ander couldn’t make out the last words Ember spoke, he was consumed by a flash of images in his mind of two young girls under a mountain, entombed in golden coffins.

Markings were painted above them in the same kind of runes that peppered the walls of the caves they’d used to escape in Alentus.

These were not his thoughts, his memories. They were Katrin’s.

Katrin fell to her knees before him, eyes brimmed with tears that threatened to let loose. It wasn’t possible—these couldn’t really be memories? But when he met the stare of the woman he loved, the light around her began to glow blue.