Page 80 of Voices in the Stars
“What have you done?”I screamed at Eris.
My words were thick as I fought the sobs as I tried to make sense of everything I was seeing. Atlas was on his knees. Eris’ hand was fisted into his hair, keeping his head aimed at me while Eris stood behind him with that stupid smile.
Blood trickled from the corners of Atlas’ mouth. Bruises purpled the rest of his face. They were darker toward one of his temples where he was bleeding as well. All that marked Eris were a few cuts and slashes through his clothing. None of this was what caused the scream. That was because of the tip of a sword that was currently sticking out of Atlas’ stomach.
Eris shifted forward, causing it to push further through him. Atlas grunted, eyes closing as he tried to lower his head. Eris tightened his fingers, pulling his son back up.
“Stop,” I choked out, tears streaming down my face.
Eris just laughed. It made the room feel colder as it echoed around us.
“How nice of you to join us.” His words were slow as they trickled from him. “I’m sure Father Dearest was of little help to you.” His voice was smug as he shoved Atlas to the ground, ripping the sword out of him just to let it clatter to the ground.
Atlas grunted as he smacked the floor, blood pebbling around him even as he rolled to his back, dragging himself closer to me.
“I’m sorry, little witch,” he mumbled, his words soft as they came in between ragged breaths.
Eris moved his head in a mock eyeroll before reaching behind himself. I jumped back as he quickly threw something at my feet. My heart felt like it stopped as I watched the little, tattered, leather book come sliding to a stop. Immediately, I recognized it as my father’s book.
“Read it and summon them,” he ground his words out, one of the first signs of true emotion I’d seen from him.
“If I still refuse?” I asked, leaning down to grab the book, knowing that even if I wanted to, I still had no way of doing what he asked.
“Don’t force me to put you into the same position as my pathetic son.” His lips twisted in a snarl. “You will do this. Whether by choice or me forcing the words out of you.”
I nodded, glancing over at Atlas. He shook his head, defeat settling over his face as his eyes slid closed while he fully laid back. His hand was turning dark red from where it was pressed against his stomach. The movement in his chest slowed until I could barely see it moving. He was running out of time.
As I grabbed the notebook, I snatched a handful of the wood splinters. A plan formed as I moved the book to my free hand, hoping his attention would stay focused on it as I dropped my other hand to my side.
It seemed to be working. Each time I turned the book, his head followed the move. There was no sign he noticed me heating up the wood.
Looking at the notebook now, it was crazy to see all of the pain and suffering its contents had caused. Whatever my father had written had to have led Eris into thinking we could summon gods. None of the memories shown to me made it seem like that was even a possibility. It was certainly nothing my father had talked about before he died.
A large part of me wanted to burn it, even though without it, I was certain Atlas would’ve been ordered to kill me rather than bring me here. Along with that, there was a small voice screaming that this was all I had left of my father. Letting Eris take this from me just seemed like another victory for him in this war.
I went to look back at Eris, but light shining off Atlas’ swordpulled my attention to it instead. It was just a few steps away. My plan solidified as the wood started burning into my palm.
I threw the burning coals at Eris’ eyes. A yell ripped through him as he stumbled back, hands swiping at his face. This was my chance. I darted forward, grabbing the sword. I swung it up in one of the few practiced moves going through my mind. It wasn’t enough. Eris recovered quickly, darting back in time to avoid everything but a scratch along his arm.
His eyes squinted into a glare as he pulled his mace from the strap along his back. The skin around his eyes was bright red. Every inch of me thrummed with the need to do something as I faced down with him, sword pointing at his chest. I forced myself to wait. Even after the fight with Atlas, he showed no sign of slowing.
It felt like I was facing down a statue. He didn’t blink. There were no movements besides my own shifting. He was just there, analyzing my every move.
A shadow moved past one of the windows. My heart soared as my attention was pulled away from the fight. There could finally be someone coming to save us.
I was ripped back to what was happening in front of me when a hand grabbed the back of my dress. It was pulled hard enough to make me stumble back. Right as Eris slammed the mace into the floor where I had been standing just moments ago.
Atlas cursed as his hand flopped back to his side. There was little time before Eris struck again. I pulled the sword up just enough to stop his blow. I cursed, grinding my teeth as the blow vibrated down my arms.
With little time to recover, he was on the attack again. I was caught in a twisted sense of déjà vu. This is the exact way he and Atlas had fought. His movements were just fast enough I couldn’t see any openings between his attacks. My arms were already burning. Each powerful blow I stopped made my fingers ring with the want to let go of the sword. I didn’t stand a chance lasting as long as Atlas did, let alone have any chance of winning this fight.
I needed to use any advantage I had. When his arms raised for another blow, I threw my free hand out. Flames shot out toward him,aiming right at the previously burned skin on his face. He yelled, dropping the mace as he shielded his face. The floor cracked as the spikes sunk into it.
“Move!” I yelled over to Atlas as I ran over to the edge of the stage, jumping down.
Atlas groaned as he moved, trying to lower himself to the lower floor. I flinched as his legs collapsed and he sunk to the floor. He braced himself against the back of the stage. A slight twitch of his lips was as close to a smile as I was going to get. All I wanted was to go to him and fix everything. We needed to end this first.
After setting the sword near Atlas, I placed my hands on the stage as I gathered every bit of magic I had twisting inside me. Eris had gathered himself as the flames on his clothes vanished. He ran over to the mace, trying to rip it from the floor. Part of me felt bad for him as I watched him snarl at the weapon as it refused to cooperate. It wasn’t enough to stop myself from setting the entire stage on fire.
