Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Asterion somehow manages to keep his feet, his expression fierce as if he can will us to stay afloat. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m laughing hysterically at the thought of surviving to this point, only to capsize and drown in the very event we worked so hard to make happen.
The boat veers sideways, tipping violently, and then swoops up, sending my stomach in the opposite direction. Oh gods, I think I’m going to be sick.
“Almost there, almost there.” It’s strange how I can hear him clearly. It seems like there should be screaming wind and roaring rain, but for all the noise of the waves themselves, it’s still remarkably quiet.
The next dip the boat battles through is smaller. The next smaller yet. By the fourth, it’s mostly choppy water that’s sickening but survivable. Only then do I fight to my feet and look back the way we came.
The barrier is no more.
Olympus is sprawled out along the coastline, a glittering, poisonous creature that’s caused so much grief for so many people. A creature that still holds my brother in its clutches.
Asterion barely waits for the boat to steady further before he’s moving. He rushes around the deck, doing stuff to make the sails come down and then returning to the wheel to guide us farther out to sea.
There’s barely any sound at all as we cut through the waves. I half expected us to angle to follow the coastline, but Asterion cuts a direct line toward open water. I understand why after about thirty minutes. There is a trio of massive ships heading toward the bay of Olympus. I don’t have to see the banner they’re flying to know that they belong to Circe. It’s notable that they’re flying her colors, not Aeaea’s.
Bitterness bubbles up inside me. “All this loss. All this violence and destruction, and for what? I know she was hurt by Olympus, but she’s hurt so many others.”
I want to hate her for the man my father was, but that poison resided inside him long before he ever met her. She gave an avenue to his ambitions; she didn’t create them. I have so much anger and nowhere to send it.
We pass through the ships without conflict, and only then does Asterion turn south. He glances at me, and I know him well enough to read the worry there. “There are no easy answers, sweetheart. Olympus has had a reckoning coming for generations. Maybe as far back as its founding. The way they run shit is fucked up, and you can’t deny it. They would’ve hurt you just as quickly as Circe did.”
He’s right. I know he’s right. But I can barely focus past the loss of my father…and my brother. I want to ask Asterion for reassurance that Icarus will be okay, but any words he gives me would feel like a lie. He can’t guarantee my brother’s safety. Even if we turned around right now and went back, it would be for nothing.
Without thinking, I pull up my phone and type out a text.
Me: You have to be okay, Icarus. We always promised we’d meet in Rio for Carnaval someday and I’m holding you to it. I’ll be there waiting.
Even knowing that his phone went into the water with him and there’s no way for him to respond to my text, I stare at my screen until light peeks over the horizon. Only then does Asterion wrap a blanket around me and ease my phone from my grip. He doesn’t take it far, though. He sets it on the seat right next to me, screen up.
Then he pulls me into his arms and hugs me close and tight. For the first time in hours, I draw a full breath. “Am I going to be okay? Are we?”
“Give it time, sweetheart. You haven’t had the space to feel your shit for a very long time. It’ll probably come in waves. I’m here and I’ll ride them with you. Whatever that looks like.”
For someone who acts like he’s not good with words, he sure knows the right thing to say. I wouldn’t have believed a promise that everything would be okay. But a journey? That I understand.
I nestle tighter against him and bury my face in his throat. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “We have a couple stops to make to get money and our papers in order. But then we have the whole world in front of us, sweetheart. Where do you want to go first?”
My smile is faint and feels bittersweet. “Everywhere.”
Epilogue
Icarus
Everything hurts. Poseidon wasn’t gentle when he hauled me out of the water and onto the dock, and my body feels like one big bruise. That doesn’t stop me from turning to watch the boat disappear into the distance, even though it wrenches my shoulder to do so. My sister is safe. My father is dead. I don’t know what the fuck to feel.