“I couldn't take another one,” Paris added. He swept an arm toward the cave. “Look at them, Hector. You can read their intentions still.” He moved fast, swiping Hector's hand from his shirt to grab his brother's arm and drag him toward a statue. “Tell me you can't read what this man had planned for her.”
Hector pushed Paris off of him. “I see it. But there's nothing I can do about it now. Not for Medusa. The only person I can help is Leo, and you might have given us away.” He glanced at me. Whatever came next was as much for me as Paris. “I hope it felt good, that second of taking your rage out on a dead man, but you better fucking pray it hasn't cost us the girl who is still alive.”
The connection between me and Leo electrified with a pulse so strong it made my teeth clench.
“Do you feel that?” Achilles asked.
It was a stupid question. Power hummed in the air, too pulsing and heavy to ignore. “A god.”
“Or goddess.”
I smelled it. It was like the sea, but rotten. It was low tide and a million creatures drowning in air. “No.” It was a god. “Poseidon.”
The look on Achilles's face was undeniably gleeful. I had given him a gift with those words.
And not just him. Each of my friends.
“He's hiding,” I said, baiting. Taunting. “He is frightened.”
“A god who must prove his strength by attacking young women?” Pollux shook his head. “A coward.”
If the gods had just one flaw—if all their evil could be narrowed down to one thing—it would be pride. Nothing made them appear faster or act without thought as quickly.
Pollux flew from one side of the cave to the other with enough force that he nearly took out the wall. In front of him appeared Poseidon, trident clutched in one hand. He brought the pronged end to Pollux's throat while keeping him pinned with the other. “For a half-god, you are weak.”
None of us moved. A quick glance at Achilles revealed a man poised to erupt, but he held himself in place. Pollux didn't bother to fight against Poseidon's strength. Only the twitch of his fingers against the stone wall gave him away, and the god was too focused on himself to notice Pollux was allowing this position.
“I was not so weak I couldn't trap you.” Pollux grinned.
The taste of metal filled my mouth. Poseidon didn't flinch, but the smell and taste of ozone gave away how close he was to losing control.
“Weak enough you ran from a mortal,” Hector added.
“That is because she is no simple mortal!” The trident slammed into Pollux's shoulder, pinning him against the stone.
Not a sound left my friend's lips, though he gripped the trident holding it in place as Poseidon whirled toward us.
“She is no mortal! She is a shield, filled with the power of a god-created curse she can't possibly wield.” With each word Poseidon spoke, I crept closer to Pollux, gaze on the trident.
Around the god, my friends fanned out. Poseidon didn't even notice we surrounded him. I studied him, taking in the way his broad shoulders shook with each breath and the way his hands clenched at his sides.
Not a god with full strength, then.
Good.
“Athena...” The god huffed a laugh, then spun suddenly, withdrawing the trident from Pollux before jamming it into the other shoulder. “Don't. Move.” He hissed at my friend. “My niece thought only to punish the priestess. She was supposed to be the smartest of us. The most forward thinking. But she sprung from my brother's head, and he was no genius. She gave a woman—a girl—the power to destroy us.” He faced us, back turned to Pollux. Mistake. “That'swhy Athena brought her back.”
In one smooth movement, Pollux yanked the trident from his body, and with a quick twist of his wrist, shoved it into Poseidon's back.
The god's mouth opened in shock, but that was all he had time to do. We were on him then.
Leg. Leg. Arm. Arm.
Just like Achilles had planned when the god had revealed himself to Leo in Italy. We held him there, pinned like a starfish against the stone floor.
Poseidon dropped his forehead to the ground, then turned to rest his cheek against the floor.
His muscles flexed as he attempted to move, but Pollux pushed the trident in deeper. “Don't move.” He repeated Poseidon's earlier threat.