The Underworld (The Atlas Series Book 3) (28 page)

Chapter Twenty

Upon recognizing Gaia, Talan hugged her immediately. Gaia had mentioned that she knew Talan when Kala had met her before. Seeing them embrace only solidified their affection for each other.

When they pulled away, Talan addressed Gaia in a serious tone. “You know what we plan to do?” He motioned to Turner. “What
he
plans to do?”

Gaia talked as if Turner weren’t in the room. “I’ve been keeping my eye on this man. He has the right kind of soul to do what needs to be done.”

The way she said it made the gooseflesh on Kala’s arms rise. Kala knew Turner to be a good man, but he had a dark side, a side she had seen in her vision of the future. But, in order for the world to survive, that was what was required.

Turner didn’t seem offended at all by the implication; if anything, he appeared pleased that the mother of all gods was not only agreeing to their plan, but helping it come to fruition.

A moment passed between Gaia and Talan. They were in complete agreement.

Kala began to feel like a third wheel between the two of them, and if
she
felt that way, she could only imagine how Turner felt.

Even though there wasn’t a clock in the room, Kala knew they were running out of time. “How do we do this?” she asked. “In my vision, white fire came out of my hands and I have no idea how to do that.” She was actually nervous, as if she might fail in her performance because it was magic and not brute force like she was used to.

Gaia focused on Kala and touched her daughter’s hand. A warm sensation flushed through Kala’s body, and all her cells tingled. As if there were pieces of a puzzle inside Kala’s brain, abstract thoughts began connecting together, without her control and without her understanding. It should have been frightening, but Gaia’s touch soothed Kala’s anxiety.

After a few brief moments, ideas began to take shape. Kala could see where her powers resided in her head. Like the Grigori, Kala had access to white fire, purple fire, green fire, blue fire, black fire, yellow fire – and the longer Gaia held on to her, the more Kala learned about herself and about what she could do. It was as if her mother was downloading YouTube tutorials on being a supernatural being straight into Kala’s brain. Connections that weren’t there before were suddenly as obvious to Kala as if she had known what to do her entire life.

By the time Gaia pulled her hand away, Kala was rejuvenated. She had an entirely new arsenal in her head. One that she had complete access to and didn’t require physical weapons. It was invigorating, empowering. Before she had fought with gods, Demons and Malaks blindly, winning because she had tapped into something inside her that she had no control over.

Now Kala knew every single power she was capable of. As strange as it sounded, it was exhilarating to know what each color of fire did: white was for control, purple was for capturing, green was for pain, blue was for paralysis, yellow was to destroy, black was to blind or hide and red was for resurrection. Kala almost wanted some Titans and Demons to show up so she could try each one out.

And gone were the days of
accidentally
devouring a supernatural being. If Kala wanted to consume, she could. Gaia had been right before, though, Kala couldn’t
spit
the deities out like her mother could. If Kala ever chose to consume another god, she’d be forced to integrate them into her and, in turn, kill them. They could never take over her body as she had feared, but all their memories and powers would become hers, and her half-human brain wasn’t likely to accept the changes very well. There was the possibility that Kala could lose herself and her sanity. Definitely, not worth the risk, but Kala didn’t have to let anyone
know
that. It was always good to inspire a little fear in her enemies, especially when they interfered with her job.

With all this new knowledge of her capabilities, Kala was ready.

Kala ordered, “Just stay back here, General Turner. We’re going to need you to hook Cronus and Hades up to the machines. Your cue will be when they’re seated.”

Having foreknowledge of what was about to take place, however, didn’t make Kala feel any more confident. She didn’t have faith that everything would work out the way it played in her visions. Yes, Kala believed that she would accomplish the Atlas mission, but a part of her worried she’d have to think on her feet and complete it another way.

Now all they needed were the players.

Gaia knew her part well as she made eye contact with each person in the room to make sure they were prepared for what she was about to do. When she seemed satisfied by what she saw in every person, Gaia’s eyes rolled back in her head, the sockets turning a deep purple.

Not even realizing it, Kala was already crouched in a defensive stance.

Cronus and Hades were no joke. Her vision could have been the tail end of a very long battle. Just hopefully not longer than thirty minutes, since Kala was pretty sure that was all the time she had left on the clock.

Gaia’s eyes turned back to normal – and Cronus and Hades stood before them. Their expressions were the same: anger and hatred.

Cronus was almost completely healed from Rotoph’s rune-bomb, which made Kala more angry than she cared to admit. But she wasn’t going to let Rotoph to have died in vain. If Rotoph couldn’t kill Cronus, then Kala would imprison him.

Cronus and Hades saw Kala first and not even seeing anyone else in the room, Cronus lunged at Kala. “How could you possibly break the eternal sleep spell?!” His fist smacked into Kala’s waiting arm as she blocked Cronus’s blow with ease. She never would have guessed how martial arts could be such an advantage against deities. Apparently, when it came to physical harm all they knew was hit, punch, tackle and throw.

Kala was about to continue the fight when Cronus was thrown back by invisible hands. Gaia’s hands.

When Hades saw this, he scanned the room. His eyes went round with shock when he finally saw his grandmother. He froze.

Cronus was too livid from being tossed aside to notice though, assuming that Kala had flung him backwards with her own magic. He began to charge her again –

– and, just as suddenly as before, Cronus fell to the floor when his whole body smashed into an invisible barrier. He was on his feet almost instantly, ready to renew his attack despite the obstacle.

“You will cease your fighting!” Gaia’s voice echoed in the large room.

Cronus whipped his head around to see who spoke. And, like his son Hades, Cronus stared at his mother in muted astonishment. Cronus had known his mother was back since their confrontation in the cave beneath the ocean, but he hadn’t expected to see her here, with Kala. Again.

Finally, he found his voice. “Mother.”

Hades suddenly went into a panic, explaining, “It was all his idea, Grandmother. He wanted the Atlas mission to fail. He’s the one who wants a new order –”

Gaia’s raised hand silenced him immediately. Not because he chose to quit talking, but because she had used her power to stop his vocal chords from working. “Enough.”

Her attention went back to Cronus. “I wish I could save you, my son, but you’ve proven too many times to be a danger to this world.”

There was a mixture of fear and defiance in his tone as Cronus answered, “I did what I thought was best for this world.”

Gaia’s hand slashed down in the air. A long gash opened on Cronus’s chest and he grunted from the pain. But wounds were only minor inconveniences for gods: his skin was immediately knitting itself together. But Gaia had made her point. “You did what was best for
you,
” she accused.

“I didn’t. I swear…” Cronus began.

Another slash of the chest shut him up.

Gaia continued, “You’ve made your choices and they’ve brought you to this place where
I
have to tidy up your messes.” Her attention finally went to Hades. “You followed your father blindly and now you’ll have to pay as well.”

Cronus threw a scathing look at Kala. “You would work with
her
over your own child?!” His rage was palpable.

Gaia answered with such intensity that Kala felt herself shiver. “Kala
is
my child.”

Gaia might as well have killed Cronus right there. The expression on his face was one of horror and disbelief. “No…” was all that came out of his mouth.

Kala would have joined into the conversation at that point, but she was resolved to let Gaia take the lead. Besides, witnessing how her mother punished her children for speaking out, Kala didn’t want to find out the hard way if she could heal as fast as Cronus.

Hades was in full suck-up mode at this point, his vocal chords returned to him. “Grandmother,” then he smiled awkwardly to Kala, “Aunt…” he moved on quickly, “I only sided with father out of fear. I had just woken up thanks to…Auntie… here. I was scared Cronus would put me back to sleep.”

Gaia shook her head and Hades clammed up. “It doesn’t matter why you chose Cronus. What matters is that you
did
choose him. Yes, my children and grandchildren will always fight and there will always be wars, but none that will destroy
my
lifeline.” Her rage grew overpowering yet again as she faced down Cronus. “I
am
the earth, my son! Tell me, when you conspired to destroy the world, did you even care that you’d be murdering your own mother?”

From the look on his face, it was obvious it hadn’t even occurred to Cronus. He tried to explain lamely, “You’ve been gone for so long, I didn’t even know if you
were
alive.”

“If the earth exists, I am alive. You knew this, but you didn’t care. You only thought of yourself and your own power. Just like your father,” Gaia spat.

The last sentence destroyed Cronus. “Mother, how could you say that?”

Kala would almost have felt sorry for Cronus if he wasn’t… Cronus. He kind of had it coming.

And, true to character, Cronus went from hurt to hate in a split second. “You’re no mother of mine,” he growled. He waved his hand dismissively at Kala. “And if you would side with this half-breed, then I
want
to destroy you. I’ll revel in it!”

Hades did not like the way this was going. “Father…”

Cronus turned his angry eyes to his son, “You have something to say, Hades?”

The coward that was Cronus’s son, quickly shook his head.

Sneering with delight, Cronus focused back on his mother. “I guess I’ll just have to kill you now.”

Purple fire burst out of his hands, blazing toward Gaia.

Kala and Talan stepped forward to help, but Gaia needed no aid: the purple flames were snuffed out before they even came within a few feet of her person.

Only a flicker of disappointment registered in Cronus’s face before he tried for a second attack of white flames, but Gaia thwarted that as well.

The colored fires and their meanings clicked in Kala’s brain once more: purple to capture, white to control. Cronus was doing anything he could to take charge of his mother. It was interesting to Kala that he chose not to hurt Gaia with green fire.

Gaia had had enough.

As her mother turned to her, Kala heard Gaia’s voice in her head.
Don’t do as I ask, but make them believe you will
.

What?

Kala had no idea what Gaia was talking about until her mother said to her. “Kala, consume them.”

If Hades could have squawked like a chicken he would have. And, after having every one of his attacks blocked by Gaia, Cronus’s face turned white with fear. Cronus out of all the gods knew what it felt like to almost be devoured by Kala.

But Gaia’s words made sense now:
Don’t do as I ask, but make them believe you will
.

So Kala stepped forward as if she were about to eat them whole.

The moment became clear. She was in her Atlas vision now. It suddenly made sense why Hades and Cronus began to back away from Kala, their eyes full of terror.

And when Gaia nodded to Kala and Talan, this time Kala knew what her mother wanted. “Now,” Gaia commanded.

Hades and Cronus screamed in fear as Kala, Talan and Gaia threw their hands toward the pair, white fire charging out of their fingertips.

The fire that controls.

Hades and Cronus were surrounded by the bright flames, struggling like fish caught in a net. The white fire felt so natural pouring out of Kala’s outstretched hands, as if she’d performed this task a million times. Even though Gaia and Talan summoned their own fire, Kala was connected to them both through the power of the magic. It was as if they thought with one mind, knowing exactly what had to be done.

Time to puppet them to the chairs.

In that moment Kala felt the enormity of what she was doing: saving the world from two of its biggest enemies – and sentencing Cronus and Hades to an eternity of prison. Worse, Turner would be able to use them like they were his very own god-machines. It was vile and left a bad taste in her mouth.