Daughter of Kaos (The Daughter Trilogy Book 3) (33 page)

of my mother. “She’s your granddaughter.”

Her eyes almost pop out of her head, and my slowly approaching father walks up just in time to

hear the tail end of the conversation. He almost stumbles in shock, and Clara gasps loudly while

covering her mouth.

“We just saw you a few weeks ago. You didn’t even have a tiny bump,” Clara argues.

“I know. I didn’t know until just before I had her. Apparently there are still numerous things I

have to learn about our world, but I need her to stay here,” I answer strongly, my words only slightly

crackling in the end.

“Of course,” Mom hurriedly answers without hesitance.

“You okay, Daddy?” I ask to the pale man stooped on the ground.

“I just need a minute, but I’ll be fine. I wish you had told us,” he dryly replies.

“I didn’t want to reveal her to the world until I had to. I knew this day would come, but I had

hoped I had longer,” I whimper, and Clara takes Aster while my mother’s arms fold around me.

“Honey, please tell me what’s going on,” she pleads.

“No. It’s bad enough you have to hide out here. Just take care of my baby,” I whisper through the

tears.

“You know we will,” she assures, and Jake walks over to investigate the scene.

“I’ve got a niece?” he says so helplessly cautious.

“Yes,” I cry with a hint of a laugh.

Clara gently places Aster into Jake’s arms, and then Devin’s eyes begin to water when he glances

at his watch.

“We can’t stay long,” Theia cautions with tears starting to stream.

“You can’t stay for a little while longer?” Mom asks softly.

“It’s not safe. The longer we’re here, the more of a chance someone has to sniff out our undiluted

power,” I whimper, and then I take Aster back in my arms.

“I love you, little girl,” I whisper softly, and then another one of my tears dampens her smooth

cheek.

Devin wraps his arms around me from behind as he holds the both of us, and then everyone comes

to pick her up and hold her one last time before we have to go.

Devin wipes away my lingering tears as Persia and Theia take one last look at their

granddaughter. Kahl and Phillip quickly resume the grandfatherly role by kissing the angelic wonder

with hesitant release.

I can’t resist touching her tiny fingers one last time, and more tears squeak free as her hand clasps

around my index finger. Her scrunched eyes close even tighter as she yawns in her sleep.

“You ready?” Kry asks anxiously.

Devin sighs loudly, and I only cry harder as I hug my family goodbye. Devin’s fingers intertwine

with mine, and we flash to the cars before I have time to change my mind.

The dust stirs violently behind us as Kry gasses the SUV too hard. I’m worried the steering wheel

is going to break under his hands, and Devin’s hand has already busted the handle in the backseat.

My tears are almost corrosive as they burn against my cheeks, and the whole mood is drenched in

misery.

The sun lowers to reveal the usual sight of darkness, but tonight it seems so much darker. I’m so

distraught, agonized, and distressed that I smell the scent of death. It’s almost scary, and then I

realize everyone else seems to smell something odd as well.

“What is it?” I worry.

“It could be nothing,” Devin comforts, and then his eyes connect with Kry’s in the rearview

mirror.

Their exchange seems to be a silent conversation, and Kry jerks the wheel to the right to cut

through a field. We ’re only twenty miles from the house where my family is. It’s not possible

they’ve already found us.

“Anything?” Deacon asks, and now I feel as though I’m the only one not in on the theory.

“A glimpse of a shadow, but that’s it. Based on the strength of the presence, they’ve just caught

our scent. Aster and the others should be safe,” Devin murmurs.

“You saw something?” I prompt.

“Shh,” he lightly cautions. “Whispers, baby. Whispers.”

I lower my register to a near muted whisper as I ask, “Is it her?”

“I don’t know. The visions of blocked invaders are weak usually, sometimes even nonexistent.

It’s possible I’m just too fatigued, and I could be seeing something based on my fear for our

daughter’s safety,” he answers without conviction.

“Don’t spare me. Be honest,” I growl.

Then Kry cuts the wheel sharply as something barely misses us.

“Harpies!” Camara screeches, and then hoards of them drop in from spiraling dark cyclones that

seem to appear out of nowhere.

I gasp at the surreal sight, and the car flips through the air as another cyclone drops too close too

quickly for us to swerve by. Devin wraps an arm around me, and I feel us flashing out of the car

before it hits the ground.

We bounce to our feet, and immediately Devin starts stirring the water around us.

The howling carried through the swirling, black cyclones brings Jace to a thundering charge as he

flashes to face the appearing hellhounds. I scream as Camara barely escapes the wrath of a Medusa,

and then a flock of rabid Furies fall in.

Ember, Samara, and Ambora face off with the savage side of their past, and I feel helpless as the

sky shuns my attempts to break it free. Jace is left handling all the beasts salivating their flames of

destruction by himself.

“Sirens!” Devin shouts just as another cyclone whirls in, and Hale jumps up with Faith as the light

pours from their bodies to ward off the screaming fiends.

Devin pushes me backwards to save me from a fatal blow from a harpie attack, and the force

sends me several hundred yards backwards before I
thud
to the ground.

Jace electrifies a hell beast inches from my face, and then Devin yells at me.

“Get back, Adisia!”

I scramble backwards like the coward I never thought I’d have to be, and then I feel a powerful

force wrapping around me before my eyes can fathom what’s going on.

The swirling cyclone appears and draws me in with its vicious, inescapable grasp.

Devin’s eyes widen as he charges toward me. I struggle to break free from the binding winds, but

I can’t move.

I feel as though I’m in the aerial equivalent to quicksand, and every move I make only sucks me

in deeper.

“No! Adisia, no!” Devin screams, but it’s too late.

The flashing cyclone sucks me into the air before I see nothing but faint pieces of light barely

scratching through the darkness. I almost feel the tackiness of spider webs sliding over my skin as I

struggle against the force of the severe gale winds.

I try to draw my own wind to aide me in release, but I can’t find the power that has left me

abandoned, deserted, and all alone.

Sharp pricks resembling the feel of bee-stings pierce the flesh of my body, but I can’t make out

what intruders are. The taste of poison plays on my lips as it induces an unwelcome sleep I’m slowly

being forced to succumb to.

The screaming sounds of Devin and the others crawl through the barriers of the ferocious cyclone,

but they sound more distant with each passing second.

A whirling force throws me forward, and I’m sucked into the sky I once controlled before I lose

the battle of consciousness.

Chapter 13

A Brewing Thunder

The heat on my face is almost painful, and it shouldn’t be. My weakened body has drained me of

my tolerance for everything - mortal and immortal alike. I shouldn’t be feeling heat to this magnitude

though.

My eyes are still too heavy to open, and I’m almost afraid to try for fear of what I’ll see. I taste

ash on my tongue, and I smell fabric burning as the clothes on my body threaten to melt against me.

It really is hot down here.

The smell of suffocating heat is layered with death and anticipation. I stir slightly, and small

rocks crackle under my hands. The hard ground I’m lying on offers little remorse for my discomfort,

and very cautiously I finally open my eyes.

I gasp slightly when I see the woven cage of vines I’m in.

Is this from the daughters of Athena? I thought I killed the remaining huntresses.

Molten rocks ooze down a glowing red stream, and I realize there are several of these fiery trails

all around me. The solid rocks tower over me, and the cave-like atmosphere offers little light to view

into the dark crevices with shadowy eyes I can feel rather than see.

A low growling draws my attention, and I stay on my knees as I look through the winding weave

of vines.

Fiery spit drips from the snarling mouth of a rabid hellhound. The flaming body of the vicious

mutt cools and parts for an aged hand to caress its back, and I gasp a little more.

The vines block the face while I hunch in my crouched position behind the vines, and I very

slowly rise to peer through a larger opening.

A woman with silver layers of frizzy hair stands beside the beast and strokes its back as though

it’s her pet.

Her dry, crackled lips draw up in a wry smile as her dark brown eyes catch mine. The pronounced

wrinkles on her face and neck add to the aged skin of her arms and hands. Everything else is covered,

and I recognize her gypsy style.

It’s Pyrrha.

“Good evening, Aphrodite child. I was starting to worry you’d sleep for the remainder of your

pregnancy. You’ve been out cold for three long days,” she murmurs with her eerie, raspy tone.

“Where am I?” I bark shakily, fighting the urge to sigh in relief.

She still doesn’t know Aster is already part of the world.

The beast snaps his dagger-like teeth violently into the air when it feels I’ve shown its master

disrespect.

“Easy, Abaddon,” she coos to the bloodthirsty howler. “That’s not showing hospitality.”

The growling resumes and she smirks when she sees me desperately trying to summon my power

that has forsaken me.

“It’s no use,” she snarls. “I’m sure you’ve learned by now what I did to you.

There’s a nasty little secret about the drug you consumed. Between that and the naga poison,

you’re as powerful as an ordinary mortal,” she gloats.

Snakes slither out as if cued by her mentioning, and their cobra wings flare to exert their

dominating intimidation. I can still feel the pricks on my arms where they apparently inserted their

poison.

I start to try and rip free of the confines, and she holds her hand up to halt my attempt.

“Careful, Aphrodite. Those are vines from Athena’s garden. They’re laced with her poison, and

we both know how deadly that is to you. Wouldn’t want to harm that precious child in your womb just

yet,” she taunts, and I shiver slightly as I remember both of my near deaths because of these vines.

“You can’t have my baby,” I threaten, and her eyes smile their dark, ominous grin.

“She’s my baby,” she asserts with her eerie, chilling tone. “I gave you the drug, and I forced your

womb to open. That child belongs to me, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I need my power

back, and that child is all that will restore it. I’ve waited centuries for this day, and I didn’t have time

to wait any longer. The day of bleeding rain isn’t far from being upon us, and then it’ll be too late.”

“What’s the bleeding rain?” I ask, but it’s only to give me time to think of an escape plan.

Each tunnel is too dark to see down, and I can only assume we’re in the deep belly of a volcano,

though I can’t imagine where at.

The hellhounds begin pouring in more and more, and they circle my thorny prison.

“It’s
her
. Just as the life that flows through this once docile volcano is her. Deep below the level

any mortal can travel, she lives. Everyone thought burying her alive would end her reign, but it only

fueled her rage and her desire for vengeance.”

“Who is
her
?” I pry, and then my eyes are drawn to a small lizard scurrying in the corner.

I’m curious as to whether or not it’s a party to this death-dealing brigade, but then I see its eyes

staring into mine. The glowing pale blue greets me, and there’s promise that I’m not far from being

found.

Camara.

I break my eye contact so as not to give away Camara’s spy. I have to keep stalling in order to

stay alive. I stare expectantly at the old woman who hasn’t answered my question yet.

“She’s the bringer of a new era. Once she held the lives of all in her hand, and she offered me the

fountain as a token of appreciation for my servitude. My power grew immensely, and I became

ageless. The other sniveling immortals looked down on my sisters and me, but she didn’t. She

offered us a chance to rule by her side, for she too loathed the ones like her.

“Her bleeding rain will come, and that will seal the fountain if it isn’t activated before then. I

need that water, and I need your baby. That small child hiding in your womb will offer an eternal flow

of the luscious water I once took for granted,” she says dreamily while staring into the swirling flames

of Abaddon’s eyes.

Rhea. She’s talking about Rhea. Fuck.

“Rhea can’t return. Safina is dead, and she can no longer wake her from her grave,” I murmur as I