Chapter Twelve

I wanted to be angry.

I wanted to want to find Dexius again, to rip his soul to shreds like I'd done to the kiska, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I suddenly felt drained and exhausted, and it was more than just the magic Hannibal had used on me to calm me down.

My entire life had been spent thinking I had done what I had done to get revenge for Dexius, for what my family had done to him. My entire life was focused on my memories of Dexius and I together. I kept myself going all these years thinking of Dexius. Now, it was all sucked out of me and I felt deflated, like a balloon tied to a post and left there.

I didn't even fight when Apollo pulled me to my feet and told me it was best that we get out of Xandria as soon as possible, the distant sound of Xios snarling making the others agree hastily. I didn't disagree or agree to his suggestion, just let him pull me along, feeling like I was stuck on some sort of autopilot, but unlike last time where I'd been frantic and terrified, now I felt... empty. Cold.

Even worse, Dexius's words kept spinning around and around in my head.

"You never loved me... you loved the idea of me."

What was that supposed to mean?

"You just wanted someone you could finally boss around and drag by the neck because you were the only god in the pantheon that was treated like a footstool."

All my life, my family had treated me like the pantheon punching bag. I tried to ignore the way my siblings mocked me and played tricks on me. I tried to tell myself that Atlan cared, even though he completely ignored my complaints about my siblings, even though he punished me for their wrongdoings. I tried to tell myself that Xenon was different, even though he would smile when my siblings called me worthless. I told myself, Lea and Zetnos and Xanius and everyone else knew it was wrong, even though they stood on the sidelines without a single reaction, as if it didn't bother them in the least.

I was the pantheon joke.

But when I met Dexius, I was... different. He didn't see me like a joke or a mockery or pathetic. He saw me for the god that I was. He came when I called for him and he brought me offerings when I asked for them, and he played games with me when I wanted to...

"... you loved no one. In fact, I don't think you even love yourself. Because even you can see how fucking selfish you are."

Selfish... Was it really selfish of me to want one person to care about me? To want one person who didn't treat me like garbage, like I was worthless?

Don't even love yourself... No. I didn't love myself. I never really had a chance to try. With Dexius, I felt like maybe I could, like maybe I could look at myself in the mirror in the morning and not want to sucker-punch the mirror. Dexius made me feel... beautiful. He made me feel powerful, like I could do anything, be anything. He made me feel like... a god. When no one else did.

And in return, you destroyed his family. His people.

That was what really angered him, and I still found it baffling. How could he possibly love all those people after what they'd done to him and his memory? How could he not want to destroy them himself? How could he not be happy about what I did? I did it because those people deserved it. I heard the cries of his family when they begged for my forgiveness, begged on Dexius's behalf, as if pleading to me would make everything better. Even as they begged me, they cursed Dexius to their dying breaths and I would never hold pity for them.

Never.

We walked in silence, navigating the tunnels back the way we came. No one spoke a word, not even Arikos. The silence was oddly deafening, that strange ringing when things were just too quiet, too eerie.

I glanced at Apollo, who walked close to me, his hands fidgeting every so often like he wanted to touch me, but he felt as if he shouldn't. Arikos walked with his head down, eyes concentrating on the hard compacted dirt under our feet. Menoetius walked that same stern soldier silence and Hannibal looked grim as he walked at his side. There was a heavy air of dread and misery, and I wasn't sure if that was my fault or if it was just the effects of staying in Xandria too long.

The death in the air was enough to make even the strongest of persons wish they were dead and it was all over with, all the suffering, even if it wasn't our own.

"What the hell?" Apollo's angry demand snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see that we had entered the main chamber with the scrying orb, except now the tunnel we'd taken to get to the chamber in the first place was gone and there was nothing, but a skull wall across from us.

"Shit." Hannibal swore, walking over to the wall to place his hand against it. Menoetius appeared beside him to frown, tilting his head back to stare up at the wall, then back down at the floor before turning to Hannibal.

"You never said this was like the Labyrinth."

"It's not supposed to be." Hannibal said dryly. Arikos grimaced, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Yeah, not usually," He said slowly, making Hannibal and Menoetius turn to him with wary stares, "Xandria is protected by creatures called Xios. They control parts of Xandria in order to keep the souls from mingling in different levels. You know, so Zetnos doesn't have to do all of that himself."

"How come you didn't mention this before we came down here?" Apollo asked. Arikos looked at him innocently.

"Because they were supposed to be inactive." He answered with a helpless shrug.

"I did it," I said emptily, making everyone look at me as I stared at the wall, still feeling a bit numb, "I fell through... something. I ended up in Mialosk and it must have activated the Xios." Arikos cursed.

"No wonder I keep getting this creepy tingling sensation." He grumbled, looking around the chamber nervously. Menoetius frowned as Hannibal turned away to wipe a hand down his face in frustration before he leaned one hand on the wall, looking at the floor as he considered the situation. Menoetius leaned in to say something I couldn't hear and Hannibal glared at him for it, making the Titan take a step away.

"Are you alright?" Apollo asked, making me blink and turn to stare at him. I stared at him for the longest time, studying the elegant masculine arches of his brows, his perfectly sculpted high cheekbones, perfect pouty lips made for biting and sucking, deep blue eyes like oceans in themselves, and rich sun kissed skin like a model's. Skin that I had bit into, held and caressed, mostly because I was ordered to, but there was a tiny pleasure there. Tiny and fleeting, but pleasure nonetheless.

And I found myself remembering Hyacinth back at the temple.

Hyacinth loved Apollo, even after all these years. Sometimes Hyacinth still wept in the garden, went through the hallways sobbing and trying to touch Apollo, and the sun-god couldn't even feel it. At least, not until the other night when we were in bed together and I had taken Apollo under Hyacinth's command. I still remembered the soft breeze of cold hands over mine, Hyacinth's body around me, probably trying to recreate an image of himself with Apollo.

I was just there to help him feel his lover, nothing more.

And my heart suddenly felt like it was bleeding all over again.

Hyacinth loved Apollo.

What Hyacinth and Apollo had was real. True love at its finest. Even now, Apollo only slept with me and his other nymphs to fill the void left behind by the Spartan prince. I couldn't count the amount of times I stumbled upon Apollo weeping at the loss of his lover, and I couldn't count how many times I'd curled my lip at him, calling him pathetic and a simpering child.

And now the raw foul emotion that plagued me every time I caught Apollo crying over Hyacinth was clear to me, and it only made the pain in my heart worse.

Hyacinth really truly loved Apollo.

And he always would. They would always love one another, and I...

I never really had anyone, did I? I thought I loved Dexius... No, I do love Dexius. I love him so much that it burned, but he was right —damn him, he was right. That our entire relationship had been me trying to control him because there was nothing else in my life I could control. I had destroyed the only real relationship I could've ever had with someone.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Callias?" Apollo's voice drew me out and I realized his hand was cupping my face, thumb sweeping across my cheek under my eye to catch tears I hadn't even felt falling. I could've sworn I cried out all my tears earlier. I stepped away from Apollo, uncomfortable with his concern and wiped the tears away angrily, turning away from him.

"Whatever. We need to get back to Olympus." I said through clenched teeth. Apollo frowned, looking like he wanted to discuss it further, but thank the gods for Arikos, as he began to chatter once again.

"Yeah, to be honest, I'm starting to miss that big bed compared to this place," Arikos said dryly, folding his arms over his chest and leaning on the wall, "And Denarius's cooking. That nymph can make a mean burger, man. Hey, Apollo, are you keeping him?" Apollo glared at him and Hannibal opened his mouth, getting a look on his face that said he was prepared to give Arikos a whole 101 on Questions You Don't Ask Gods, Especially Apollo. However, he was interrupted mid-sentence as a deafening roar tore through the air and everyone shrank back from it, clasping their hands over their ears.

The sound was... terrifying.

It sounded jumbled, as if there was more than one, and underlying it was a deeper howl. The rocks and dirt around us trembled and fell around us before the roars faded, then started back up again and everyone flinched. Goose bumps prickled our skin and a cold chill crept up my spine.

"Okay," Menoetius said, standing up and bumping his hand against his ear as if it were ringing, "So I'm going to take an educated guess and say that was the Xios you guys were talking about." Arikos cursed, his body tense as he sidestepped a rock that fell from the ceiling.

"Yeah, unfortunately," He answered grimly, then turned to Hannibal, "We have to go back the way we came."

"If we do that, the Xios could catch up to us, right?" Apollo asked.

"Not if we turn the other way." Hannibal offered.

"It's a dead end," I said, and when Hannibal and Arikos stared at me with arched brows, I gave them a bored stare, "I had a dream, that's why I came here in the first place. That right turn at the end of the tunnel is a dead end... But we can still go left and turn left again, instead of right." Hannibal pursed his lips, considering the idea. Another roar ripped through the air and Arikos shuddered.

"All in favor of following Callias's direction, say I— I!" Arikos took off before anyone could vote, and Menoetius went after him. The rest of us followed, sprinting across the chamber and down the tunnel back the way we came. A series of roars pierced the air, one of them higher than the rest this time, and much, much closer.

"So, what do these things look like anyway?" Apollo asked me as we ran. I started to reply until we rounded a corner and I smashed into Hannibal's back and he smacked into Menoetius, who nearly knocked Arikos over. Every one of us managed a grunt until we realized what had Arikos frozen in place.

Down the tunnel with its head brushing the ceiling was the Xios. The creature I'd seen in Mialosk. The giant spindly creature rose up from all fours, its pasty white body glowing in the dim lantern lights, revealing its tiny black veins across its skin, eyeless sockets glaring at us as its jaw fell open to reveal a roar that made Arikos leap back into Menoetius, who managed a muffled "oomph".

"Never mind." Apollo managed.

"Jesus Christ," Arikos groaned, "It looks like that creepy thing from the movie."

"I swear to the gods above, Arikos, if you make another movie reference right now, I'm going to hurt you." Hannibal said under his breath. Arikos made a noise of distress, but it turned into a yelp as the creature roared again and began to stomp down the tunnel toward us.

"Back, back! Go back!" Arikos shouted, whirling around to shove at us. He didn't need to tell us twice as we whipped around and took off running.

"Can't you do something about that thing?" Apollo shouted over his shoulder as he ran beside me. Hannibal shook his head.

"Just because I'm in Zetnos's favor doesn't mean I can control them!"

"Then what use are you?"

"If you want to volunteer, fine, go ahead, but I didn't escape Atlantis to be trapped here all over again!"

"Now isn't the time to argue," I shouted, annoyed now, "Come on, follow me. There's an opening up ahead, but we'll need to force our way through the wall this time!"

"Isn't that going to attract the poltergeists?" Apollo demanded.

"Do you really give a shit?" I threw back. Apollo stared at me, then looked away, looking uneasy at my anger, but I was tired of pretending to be delicate. I was angry, I was hurt, and I wanted to destroy something, and the Xios chasing us was going to be the perfect outlet. I led the way around another corner, then another, then shot down a long narrow hallway before coming to a stop near a wall.

I drew up enough energy to blast a hole through the wall, and several white orbs shot out of the wall screaming, flying around in circles and shooting down into the floor along with several full body apparitions, who purposely mutated their faces to look horrific as they screamed their rage at us and followed the orbs into the floor.

"That was the scariest fucking thing since Clymene on her monthly." Menoetius said breathlessly, and Hannibal looked at him, clearly grossed out by his comparison. Arikos grinned at him.

"You are scared of ghosts. That's adorable." He said. Menoetius glared at him.

"I am not." Was his fierce defense and Arikos couldn't look more amused.

"Come on, you can flirt later." I said, ducking through the opening. Arikos shrugged and followed me along with the others. We darted into the tiny room I'd seen Dexius in in my dream. Hannibal seemed to recognize it right away, his eyes widening.

"The entrance to the cave." He said. I nodded and ran my hands along the wall, searching for the point where the wall would be thinnest when there was a loud shriek and a long clawed hand shot through the small opening in the wall. Everyone shouted and threw themselves up against a wall as the clawed hand thrust around inside the room, and a hiss escaped past my lips as its claws swiped my hydra uniform, ripping it open and making Apollo's eyes widen as he went to move toward me, but the claw swung back around and nearly beheaded him.

"Did that thing just rip open hydra skin?" He demanded, looking at Hannibal as if it were his fault. Hannibal glared.

"It's a creature that's probably stronger than a hydra, that's why. Not to mention, Hades discovered an unfortunate downside to using hydra skin as material." He said, making Apollo scowl. Not that we had time to talk fashion because the claw came swinging back around and this time, its long fingers clasped around my waist and I gasped in pain as it squeezed so hard, I swore my ribcage cracked under the pressure, blood working its way up my throat and out the corner of my mouth in a dribble.

"Shit! Callias!" Apollo dove for me, reaching for my hand, but the creature yanked me back through the opening and threw me down the tunnel so I rolled and slammed into a wall. I panted hard, blinking past the pain that blurred my vision.  The creature turned to me to finish its job, shrieking and stomping toward me.

I snatched more energy from my reserves and formed a ball with my hands, allowing the energy to build into a ball of fiercely crackling electricity. I threw it down the tunnel and it collided with the Xios, causing it to release another high shriek of pain.

I caught sight of Apollo moving out the corner of my eye from the hole in the wall and I cursed.

"Get back," I shouted, "Go through the wall! Have Hannibal open the wall for you!"

"No," Apollo yelled back angrily, "I'm not leaving you!"

"Apollo, don't be stupid!"

"I command you to shut up and stand there!" Apollo shouted. I winced as my mouth snapped shut and my legs refused to move. A small sliver of panic cut through me, though, when the Xios recovered from my attack and swung its arm around, smashing it against Apollo. But instead of sending the sun god flying, Apollo latched onto the monster's arm and its white arm turned a vicious shade of glowing red, like a piece of heated metal.

The Xios screamed and swung its arm around, smashing Apollo down on the floor before freeing its arm to stumble away. I wanted to protest, my voice caught in my throat as nothing, but pathetic mmphs, but Apollo ignored me and held his hand out, lighting up a fire of blue flames that he threw into the Xios's face.

The monster screamed and threw its hands into the air, flailing and thrashing around, stumbling back toward me. My eyes widened and I struggled against the curse that refused to let me move out of the way.

"Callias, move!" Apollo ordered. I darted out from my spot and rolled to avoid getting smashed by the Xios that fell into a pile of heavy bone and stinking flesh where I had previously been standing. Anger lashed through me and I whirled on Apollo, who approached me.

"Are you alright?" He demanded. I glared at him silently, unable to answer. Apollo scowled, then winced when he remembered.

"You may speak." He said. I tore away from him, throwing his hands off me.

"How dare you! I was handling it just fine until you showed up! Ugh!" I hissed, unable to finish my tirade as pain tore through me and I looked down to see blood pouring from the wound in my abdomen, making Apollo's eyes widen.

"Why isn't that healing?" He demanded.

"Xios attacks can't be healed as quickly," I seethed, moving to take a step past him when a deafening roar rang out and I shouted back in frustration, turning to Apollo, who stiffened, "We need to leave, now."

"Let me help you—"

"You've helped me enough! Don't touch me!" I snarled. Apollo ground his teeth together, but said nothing as I shoved past him and went to the hole where Hannibal had already opened the entrance into the underground cavern, ushering Arikos and Menoetius through. He turned to look at me as I entered with Apollo right behind me, his eyes widening slightly.

"Anexius—"

"I don't want to talk about it," I snapped, making Hannibal's expression go blank now, "We need to get out of here and the only way is through that cavern." Hannibal frowned.

"What about the merpeople? As soon as they catch the scent of your blood, they'll be swarming you in a feeding frenzy."

"Good," I said through clenched teeth, shoving past him to go through the exit, "I'm itching to kill something." Hannibal shared a look with Apollo, but I ignored it as I came out on the other side, passing Menoetius, who stared at my wound, and Arikos, who grimaced.

"Anexius, maybe we should take a break. We should be safe from the Xios here since this is technically outside their jurisdiction." He offered, but I ignored him and went to the water, breathing hard as I looked into the water, crystal clear so I could see all the way down to the bottom where assorted fish and an eel slithered by amongst swaying seaweed and colorful coral. My reflection rippled in the water and I curled my lip at it, turning away as Hannibal and Apollo came through the entrance and Hannibal collapsed it behind them just as a vicious roar rang out in Xandria, only to be muffled by the closing entrance.

"Once we're outside," Arikos said, approaching the water, "We can teleport from there to Olympus."

"Why can't we teleport from here?" Menoetius asked, looking into the water warily.

"Because the barrier for Xandria technically still stretches here," Hannibal replied grimly, then paused to look at Menoetius, who didn't look too thrilled about getting in the water, "What? Don't tell me you can't swim. You held my head under the water quite well in the past." Arikos, Apollo, and I all stared at Menoetius, whose expression shuttered, but his eyes brewed with a bitterness so potent, it was almost a match for my own.

"I just don't like water." Was all he said. Hannibal shook his head, then approached the edge before looking at the rest of us, until his eyes fell on my wound.

"It'll take almost five minutes for you to swim to the other side with that wound. By then, the merpeople could already be on us. And that's if they're not already hanging out nearby." He said, then lifted his eyes to meet mine. I narrowed my eyes on him, taking a step toward him, making both Arikos and Menoetius tense.

"Like I said," I started, invading Hannibal's personal space and watching his muscles pull taut, a tic throbbing in his jaw as he clenched it tight, "I'm in the mood to kill something. I encourage the merpeople to come after me." Without another word to avoid further argumentation, I stepped over the edge of the pool and fell straight through the cool water.

I held my breath and my eyes flickered open, the water burning my eyes for a moment before adjusting and I peered up to see the others instantly going to the edge of the water before jumping in. I moved before anyone could drag me out. The water stung my wound, and even with my hand clasping over it, blood seeped out in transparent swirls, staining the water around me.

I swam toward the underwater cave that would lead us outside into a pool that was connected to a river, which let out into the ocean that surrounded the smaller outlying island. I'd been on the island before when I'd come here with Xenon and some others to rescue Zetnos. I knew what to expect from the merpeople. They never attacked alone. They traveled in pairs or in a pod, and pods generally consisted of seven to even thirty merpeople.

Part of me was craving a full pod massacre.

There was a small part of me that screamed. It didn't want to kill. It just wanted to curl up and sob, but I was tired of crying, tired of being treated as if I were unimportant or weak or pathetic. Dexius's words were a wake up call.

He was right.

I had always been pathetic. Always a crybaby, always weak, a simpering child. Instead of violently retaliating against my siblings, I'd always broken down and wept and they would mock me further for it. I would tell Atlan and he would simply assure me that siblings were supposed to be like that. Dexius's death had been the final straw, and I had snapped. I had fallen back into my pathetic state, however, after my curse and I had lived my entire life once again being tossed around like nothing more, than a piece of furniture.

I was done.

So fucking done.

Something darted in the water and I almost stopped to look where it went, but I didn't dare. Even with the group swimming behind me, I didn't want to be in the center of their attempt to protect me. I pushed forward, and this time, I knew I saw something. The flash of a silver and green ombre tail about the length of my legs with jagged fins racing along the back.

I propelled myself through the water, senses alert as I pressed on, making a gesture with my hand in the water to show the others that we were being surrounded. I saw Hannibal's jaw tic again. I knew he was blaming me for this, but I wasn't going to argue with that. I had attracted them on purpose.

I needed to kill something.

The drive in me was clawing at my stomach, at my chest, driving me wild. My senses sharpened and I could hear the sound of tails swishing through the water, low menacing growls, claws scraping the rocks around us. I could hear hearts pounding, ours and the merpeople. I could feel the slight stirring of water that indicated there was something swimming around us, could feel seaweed brushing my skin like slimy thin fingers.

And the blood trail that swirled out from my wound.

I felt the water stir before the first merman shot from his hiding place between a pair of rocks, lunging at me with his pretty pert mouth open to reveal rows of jagged teeth, gold eyes flashing like coins in the water. I pushed myself down through the water to avoid him and he flew over me before doubling back to grab for my ankle with a monstrously large hand tipped with hard black claws.

Hannibal grabbed it by the tail before it could go further, and it snarled in the water, bubbling rushing around us as he whirled to snap at Hannibal, who caught him around the throat in a headlock, snapping his neck so a sickening crack pulsed under the water and the merman only managed to yelp before slumping down toward the bottom of the cave at the same time several shrieks rang out.

We looked up as three more merpeople came darting out of their hiding places, looking furious. A female mercreature swam for me, jaws opening and closing threateningly. I caught her before she could take a bite out of me, grabbing her by the waist and squeezing hard. She writhed and thrashed. One of the males went to save her, but Arikos caught him and body-slammed him into the nearby rock.

Hannibal made a gesture to keep going while pointing at his lungs, and I shook my head. He gave me the finger, then shot for the exit of the cave. Menoetius and Arikos pushed after him and Apollo hesitated, looking uncomfortable at having to hold his breath.

I could hold my breath a lot longer than he could. I had practice. One of my masters had delighted in shoving my head under water when he fucked me, and I'd been trained to hold my breath for quite a long time. Not that that was the only incident to test my breathing, but it was the one I remembered most prominently.

I jerked the female mercreature up against me and bared my fangs, sinking them down into her throat and ripping it open so blood poured out into the water. The other male merman who'd leapt out screamed and swam for me. I released the female, letting her bleed out as she trembled and darted away in fright.

The male lunged at me, at the same time the other one recovered from his body-slam from Arikos, and now both of them swam at me. The dark-haired male mercreature reached me first and sank his fangs down into my shoulder. I snarled and caught him around the neck, preparing to break it, but the other one latched onto my waist and bit down into the wound on my abdomen, making me gasp out in pain.

I choked as water rushed into my lungs and I coughed, unable to bring air into my lungs. Apollo swam for me, snatching the first merman off my shoulder, allowing me the chance to grab the merman latched onto my waist. I sank my thumbs into its eyes and it screamed, shooting away from me and thrashing in the water.

I threw my hand out and sent a blast of energy into the merman, causing him to bloat for a split second before exploding, blood obscuring my vision and flooding around me. I whirled back around as Apollo threw the merman away. The merman screamed again, his eyes locking on mine and I froze.

Cursed god! Bastard god! His thoughts projected into me so hard that my head snapped back and Apollo started to go toward me, but the merman shoved past him and shot toward me, his hands reaching for my throat.

Bastard! Cursed god! He screamed without physically speaking. He caught me by the throat and the force of colliding with me sent me slamming down into the bottom of the cavern as the merman held me there, baring his teeth in my face. I stared up at him, struggling to muster the strength to fight back as the merman shook me by the throat.

You killed Kallisto's family! You die! Die, cursed god! His thoughts were a flurry of pain and rage, and my vision darkened around the edges as I choked, water rushing into my lungs instead of air as I tried to gasp. I was drowning when I was breathing, and being strangled when I tried to hold my breath, or what was left of it.

And I couldn't find the strength to fight back as the merman screamed aloud, his voice carrying through the cavern, but it didn't last long before Apollo appeared behind him and yanked him off, catching him around the throat. Apollo went to break his neck, but I caught his arms and shook my head, choking. The last of my breath left in bubbles and I tried to find strength in my arms to fight, but I felt like I was sinking into a black blanket.

Apollo cursed and threw the merman aside, making it scream and lung for us again, but Apollo slammed into me, caught me and swam for the exit of the cavern. My vision turned black, but I could still hear the water and bubbles rushing around us a second before our heads broke the surface.

"Grab him!" Apollo shouted near my ear, making my head throb. Although, the lack of oxygen was also giving me a severe headache. After a moment of darkness and being manhandled, I found myself laying on grass and twigs, someone pushing hard on my chest, causing pain to wrack my body, but water to rush from my lungs up through my throat. I choked, water pouring out of my mouth a second before someone covered it with their own, forcing air into my lungs.

I sucked it in desperately and they moved aside so I could expel the last of the water from my lungs, blinking as my vision cleared to reveal Apollo leaning over me, tapping my face frantically to keep me conscious.

"Anexius?" Apollo demanded. I blinked a few more times, focusing in on his face.

"Apollo." I managed. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat back on his knees, revealing Hannibal, Arikos, and Menoetius standing near the edge of the pool where a dagger was pinning the merman's hands down to the ground, preventing him from escaping. He screamed and wheezed in between each gasp, thrashing and writhing.

"W-What're you doing?" I managed as Apollo helped me sit up.

"We can't let him go," Hannibal said grimly, "He's from a larger pod and merpeople are known to hold grudges."

"You're going to kill him?" I managed. Arikos shrugged, using his foot to the nudge the dark-haired merman in the head, making him snarl and snap his teeth at him, causing Arikos to leap away.

"We could always try sushi." Arikos offered, eyeing the thing warily. I glared.

"No, let him go. He was just... He was doing what his kind does. It's not like I'll be back here any time soon." I muttered. Hannibal appeared hesitant, but Apollo stood up, helping me to my feet and shaking his head.

"No," Apollo said, his voice hard, "We're bringing him back with us. Zeus has never had a taste of an Atlantean merperson before and I think he deserves it." I stared at him, horrified by the suggestion. Menoetius went taut, his eyes darkening and his nostrils flaring with anger.

"No fucking way. It'll be better to just kill him." He snapped. Apollo glared at him.

"This isn't up for discussion, Titan," He spat with malice, making Menoetius's eyes snap fire and the Titan took a step toward him threateningly, only to have Hannibal cut him off, "He dared to attack me and my slave. He'll be punished. Besides, he'll die with Zeus eventually." I tensed, glaring at him.

"You can't do that! He was—

"Shut up." Apollo snarled. I clenched my teeth, wanting to argue, but his command was clear and the curse froze my vocal cords. Not to mention, the wound in my abdomen was exhausting and my legs felt like rubber. I almost collapsed again, but this time, Apollo caught me and hoisted me up into his arms.

"Secure the merman," Apollo ordered, making the Atlanteans narrow their eyes at him, "And stop looking at me like that, unless you want to feed that thing's entire pod." Arikos looked aggravated beyond belief, but he knelt down and conjured a leather muzzle that he struggled to put on the merman's mouth and jaw. Menoetius caught the merman's head to hold him steady and Arikos clasped it on, buckling it in the back. The merman thrashed violently, snarling and growling past the muzzle and its tail splashing water around, soaking everyone all over again.

"Won't he die without water?" Menoetius asked as Arikos managed to wrench the merman's wrists behind his back to bind them with a chain. Hannibal didn't look too thrilled to find out, but he bent down to help Arikos pull the merman onto the grass.

Bastards! The merman's voice pierced my skull as he screamed and his gold eyes locked on me with a fury that cut me. Cursed god! Release! Release! I clenched my teeth, wanting to protest again, but the strength was steadily draining as my body rushed to heal the damage dealt from the fight and the Xios wound.

Hannibal managed to heave the merman up over his shoulder, which was no easy feat considering the merman was about Hannibal's side to begin with and Hannibal was rather large, both in height and muscle mass.

Cursed god! The merman screamed, writhing for only a moment before Menoetius dealt a rather severe blow to his head and the merman managed a muffled moan and slumped limply over Hannibal's shoulder, unconscious. Hannibal glared at him and Menoetius scowled.

"What? He was gonna kill you sooner or later if he wasn't out. Besides," He paused and a pained look flashed through his dark eyes so fast that I thought I imagined it before he spoke in a low voice that I'm sure was only meant for Hannibal to hear, but I caught it anyway, "I think he'll want to be unconscious when Zeus gets a hold of him." Hannibal's eyes darkened, and a strange look came onto his face before he quickly looked away from Menoetius, almost as if he were ashamed to look at him and Menoetius dropped his eyes to the ground.

I tried to stay awake long enough for us to teleport back to Olympus, but the last of my energy went toward healing myself and I relaxed in Apollo's arms as exhaustion swallowed me into a pit of darkness.