Page 17 of Atlas and the Traitor

“Simon,” Atlas said, focusing the boy’s attention on him. “Are your parents in there?” he asked as gently as the anger gathering in the back of his throat would allow. Twin tears escaped Simon’s eyes, streaking down his cheeks, and some of the anger escaped. “They’re humans!” Atlas shouted at his brother. “You should’ve left them out of this.”

“They’re fodder.”

Growling, Robin tensed, every muscle coiled, as if he were about to pounce, but as Evan’s orb grew brighter, Atlas put a hand in front of Robin, pausing the impending attack. “Go check the kitchen.”

Another low growl but Robin conceded, veering into the adjacent room to confirm the nightmare Simon’s tears hinted at.

“Does he know?” Evan asked, and Atlas snapped his gaze back to his suited twin.

“There’s been enough death today already.” The last thing any of them needed was a fully informed Robin on the rampage.

“I heard you killed our dear cousin.”

Simon’s eyes grew wide, then wider still at Robin’s thunderous howl from the kitchen, loud enough to rattle the windows in the room where they stood. The boy cut his eyes toward the front door, wisely away from the threat supernatural beings posed to humans like him. But every minute Atlas kept his brother talking was another Simon stayed alive. And another for the cavalry swirling above to answer Robin’s call.

“Because you preyed on her fears,” he said to Evan. “On the losses we’ve all suffered. Same as Chaos is preying on yours.”

“You could join me too. We could share the power, like we were always meant to.”

Atlas shook his head, dismissing his brother’s corrupted version of fate. “Not like this.” From the kitchen, a door slammed and a cacophony ofcaws andkraas followed, the cavalry closing in. “You’re outnumbered. You can’t get to her.”

“Maybe I wasn’t here for her,” he said, then hurled his orb at Atlas.

So much for sharing power.

Atlas blocked the hit with his own orb, diverting Evan’s to the cabinet of wine goblets along the wall. Between the shattering glass and the sea of corvids streaming in from the kitchen, Mac’s violet-eyed raven at the point, Evan was momentarily distracted, his arm loosening around the boy’s neck.

“Simon, get down!” Atlas shouted, before firing an orb of his own at Evan. Then another, buying Robin time to corral Simon. “Get him to the others!”

The coyote didn’t argue, sliding across the hardwoods, scooping Simon up with his mass, and carrying him out the door that Atlas blasted open for them. Mac and his flock followed them outside, creating a shield against the enemy, leaving Atlas alone in a face-off with his brother.

“You’re their prisoner,” Evan said as he spun up another orb. “Nature, fate, our mother and his. You can be free, brother. You don’t have to do what they say. You don’t have to end up like Canton and Cole.”

All the anger that had been gathering in the pit of Atlas’s stomach, that had been clawing up his throat and searing through his veins, made the two glowing green orbs above his hands glow brighter, made them powerful enough to end Evan.

But then Robin charged back through the door and drew Evan’s attention—and the orbs meant for Atlas.

Atlas had no choice. He didn’t want the same fate to befall him that had befallen his twin.

With a final blast of power, he put everything he had into the orbs he hurled at the yellow ones, then hurled himself at Robin, grabbing the dog’s tail and snapping them out of there.

Twelve

They landed back in the crowded safe house to find Nature’s army checking each other over for injuries, including Abigail tending to a still trembling Simon. Atlas moved to comfort the boy too but barely made it a step before he was spun back around by the biceps, a post-shift Robin growling in his face. “Why’d you do that?”

“He was going to kill you.”

“And now he’s going to come up here and kill her and the rest of us.”

“He’s not,” Atlas said, shaking loose of Robin’s hold. “Evan would have come after her already if that was his purpose.”

“What was it then?” Mary asked from atop the loft stairs. She stood next to Mac, who was cinching the terrycloth robe Atlas had stolen from Icarus around him.

“You need to get somewhere safe,” Atlas replied, then said to Mac, “Take her back to Monte Corvo. Non-magically.”

“We’re not idiots,” Jenn grumbled, the bark in her tone so much like her cousin’s that Atlas had to fight a smile. “We took Paris’s plane down here.”

Atlas’s smile fought harder, making his lips twitch. He covered it with a smirk. “Take everyone back with you.” When Simon stiffened, Atlas kneeled before him. “Go with them, okay?” The boy hesitated, trembling harder, and Atlas gently clasped his arm, easing some of the anxiety. “They’re going to an even bigger vineyard than this one.” That notion seemed to comfort him some. “They’ll take care of you. And I’ll be there before long too. Promise.”

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