Killing Olympia

Someone's here, Adam thought. The air had shifted. Something stank of meat and blood, so raw his nose twitched and his throat tightened. He stood frozen, straining to listen, but the walls here were too thick, the metal probably not even from Earth. It was too rigid, too solid, to be human-built. The white corridors were long and winding, and no matter how many times he tried, Veronica wouldn't let him carry her. She insisted on limping, using the wall for balance whenever they rounded corners and descended stairwells so expansive it would make the hallways in the Blackwood Building look cramped. Pillars thicker than some buildings shouldered the weight of a grand, arching ceiling that danced with moving tapestries. Nothing human. He'd been taught history, forced to memorize it, and nothing here was human. The pillars were too grand, too large, the artwork above them too fluid and vibrant and alive. But he couldn't move from the top of the stairs, listening to the sound of Veronica stumble her way down.

She slowed, paused, panting deeply and dragging an arm across her forehead to wipe the sweat away. Adam slowly turned his head. Searching. Staring. They were in some kind of grand chamber, pillars keeping the ceiling at bay and dozens of hallways going in various directions. The only thing inside the chamber was a short pedestal, one that was engraved with a golden crest. What's that sound? Scraping. Shoes. His nose twitched again. He hovered off the floor, breathing so deeply his heartbeat slowed and nearly stopped. And that smell, I know that.

Lucian was getting closer.

"What is it?" Veronica asked him. Her voice echoed. The entire place was cold, distant, and the balls of light barely warmed the air. It was almost like a colosseum, so massive he couldn't understand how it was under the entire city. Was it? How deep were they? How many people knew about this place? "Adam, what's the problem?"

"There's…" Nothing. The smell vanished. The sounds disappeared. He flew a little closer to her, his heart in his throat and his stomach coiled. "I heard something, smelt something, too. We're not alone here, Veronica."

"Shit," she hissed, then took the next few stairs in a rush, nearly tripping over her own bruised ankle. Adam caught her. She stumbled, then kept going, trying to run as fast as she could toward the pedestal. She got there. Grabbed hold of it. The tapestries above swirled and moved as if the souls of the warriors and poets painted into the ceiling were all curious and sentient and finally entertained as Veronica threw the sling off her arm and slammed her cast against the side of the pedestal. It cracked. She swore, gritted her teeth, then raised her arm to do it again. He was there in half the time it took for her forearm to get close. Adam grabbed her arm, stopping her dead.

"What're you—"

"Break it," she said breathlessly. Her eyes flicked from one empty hallway to the next. Dozens that all looked the same. She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close. "I said break it, goddammit, break the cast!"

Waste a little more time. Search her eyes. Give Him time to get here. But don't waste time either.

Cassie's orders: play it smart, and get what he's always wanted.

Adam swallowed, searching her eyes. She'd always been an odd woman. Sometimes so deathly serious she was like a corpse with a heartbeat. Other times she would laugh, or smile, and it would come out like a coiled spring leaping out from her mouth, as if she couldn't wait to get it over with and let it leave her system as fast as possible.

But the only thing he could see in her eyes was a deadly kind of seriousness.

He tensed his jaw, then squeezed the cast as softly as he could, cracking it. The outer shell splintered. He helped peel off the bandages and cotton underneath until her arm, thin and pale and purple, hung from her side. He watched Veronica curse as she held her wrist. Pain wracked her face, making her lips curl as she placed her withered hand onto the golden crest. She dug into her pocket and pulled out her ring, forcing it without care onto her index finger. Nothing happened. Adam waited, searching the tunnels until the ground shuddered underneath their feet.

Symbols appeared on her ring, bright golden things that pulsed just like the crest.

Veronica shut her eyes, both her hands on the pedestal. "Come on," she whispered. "Please."

The smell struck him across the face again. A smell he was so used to now, because how many times had he been beside Olympia when she had bled? How many times had they smeared each others' blood over one another?

"Gods," a voice said. He spun around, and so did Veronica. A group of five filthy, stitch-covered people stood at the top of the stairs. One stood closer than the others, a girl with short black hair so unkempt it looked like someone had made sure of it. A girl beside her with brown skin and two scars on her cheek, another girl, smaller, not as imposing, held up a boy so skinny, so fragile, he almost looked like a dead body. The last stood behind them, a boy with blonde hair and broad shoulders and a frame that spoke of muscle but barely had any left. And yet, despite their filth, their stench, their eyes glowed—not brightly, but softly, just enough to make them glint. "This place…"

"It reminds me of home," the larger boy whispered, his voice quaking. "Of the Brookskoben."

"V," Adam said quietly. She had gone back to the pedestal, pressing her fingers so hard against it that her nails turned white. "Who are those people? Should I get them out of here?" She didn't answer. "Veronica, I said—"

"They'd murder you," she whispered, her voice light. "Don't bother. Rylee must've told them to come."

Gonna be a little harder now, but not impossible.

Adam looked back at them, watching as they slowly made their way down the stairs, all of them looking up at the moving tapestries and the colossus space. "Then do you mind at least telling me who these people are?"

"Technically," Veronica said, as the crest began pulsating, "one of them is your niece."

The one with the wild black hair stopped just in front of him. The others did the same. The skeletal boy was breathing, albeit barely—he wheezed and twitched, and the girl keeping him upright was forced to sit him down at the base of a pillar. The one in front of him shook her head slowly, looking Adam up and down like they had some kind of problem, like she had an issue with him looking the way he did. He folded his arms and stepped in front of Veronica, blocking her with his body. He didn't care if she could kill him (he fucking doubted she could, anyway), all he cared about was making sure Veronica was safe. The Olympiad wasn't going to be happy, but at the end of the day, Cassie had told him to come here. To watch and listen and do as he was told, then go back and give her a debrief. They hadn't spoken ever since her Make New Olympus Great Again campaign. Her focus had been on the other Olympia. Training her. Strengthening her. The prison break had been a learning experience for the girl.

And now, in just under a few weeks, she's stronger than me—and all I get for training is nothing.

Sit. Stay. Hold position. Walk with Cassie, follow her footsteps, make sure she's safe. No more media duties, because they had the other Olympia to do it. Get some rest. You've done plenty for the company. Let someone else take the reins for now, Adam. No more late night talk shows, no more endorsements—the people who'd invested in him, quite literally in the cells that made up his entire body, had cashed out, because there was something shinier, something better, standing right beside him—and he hated it. Hated it so badly he wanted to be sick some days and say fuck the whole thing and leave. But…to where? He didn't have a home, a mother or a father or siblings to run away to, and the one person who might have been closest to that was the woman behind him.

But she would help him. She had to help him. After this was over, he would ask her to make him better. To make him stronger. He wasn't made to be a failed product, a bad product—an unfinished product. Because…why?

What was the point in not making him worth the face they had put on him if he could never—

"How dare you look like my uncle?" The girl with the black hair got closer. She had an edge, a feeling, one that almost felt like Olympia's—and when her forearms tensed, they sounded like the coiled cables keeping the bridge between both sides of the city connected. But Adam didn't flinch. He didn't move as she got so close their noses nearly touched. She stank of death, blood, of cold rainfall that still dampened his own shirt, and sewage. "What are you?" she asked him. "I've heard stories, but this…" Her lips curled. "You're simply disgusting."

Uncle?

Then she must be…

"Titan died on his knees," Adam said quietly. "Be careful you don't face the same embarrassment."

It would be what she deserved, wouldn't it, after her father butchered so many in his rampage across the country. He'd have to tell Ares and Poseidon and the rest of the board about this. Zeus' daughter was already a problem, but Titan's offspring would be enough to cause public riots the likes most people had never seen.

If only—

The girl with the brown skin grabbed the other girl's arm before she could swing. The moment her hand met the other girl's bicep, it sounded like a dull thunder clap—one that ruffled his hair and threw lingering dust into his nose. The girl with the dark hair tensed her jaw, then wrenched her arm free from the other girl's grip.

"Forgive her," the blonde-haired, larger boy said. "Rhea angers very quickly."

"I hate people like that," Adam muttered. They hadn't stopped staring at each other. "All that power and you can't control it only means you're a liability just asking to be re-educated or written off. Besides"—he turned his back on her and unfolded his arms—"I've fought powerful, and what she is, is the furthest thing from that."

The girl tending to the boy near the pillar smiled weakly. "He speaks like Rylee."

"Arrogantly," the girl with the black hair quietly snarled.

"Proudly," Adam corrected. "I'm Zeus' heir, what do you expect?"

"You're a clone."

He looked at the girl behind him. "I'm him. The more I mature, the more—"

"Christ sake," Veronica swore. They all quieted. She took her hands off the pedestal, panting deeply. She slowly shook her head, licked her lips, then looked at the girl with the short black hair. "Were you ever Assigned?"

She blinked, then slowly nodded. "A long time ago, but with this body…"

"The…" They all looked at the boy near the pillar. He swallowed, his mouth hanging open as he gathered what energy he still had and spoke. "The percentage threshold would be too…too small." He coughed. Blood flaked onto the floor. Adam tried not to breathe in the stench of rot coming out of his throat. "The system would cease and lock. Our blood was tainted. Mixed. We are…." He shuddered. The girl beside him squeezed his hand, sending a tiny trickle of light from her fingertips to his veins. He groaned, then shook his head and said, "Don't." She tried to speak. He begged her until she stopped. He looked at Adam. "How pure is the clone, Doctor Addams?"

Veronica brushed a hand through her hair. "We synthesized a lot of blood after the fight. Arkathians—"

"Our blood dries quickly," the taller boy said quietly.

"Exactly," Veronica muttered. "We stored plenty. I spent months gathering what I could, making sure it was as close as possible to the samples we'd acquired." She swallowed and sighed. "Mostly all of it was 'acquired' by the government for…research. What was left created Adam's first iterations. Many that didn't make it were recycled until we came to a final product." He hated hearing any of this. It made him sound like some kind of…of machine, some kind of plastic product that was manufactured and built and not cared about at all. "He's pure, maybe even slightly purer than Rylee, but there are so many kinds of chemicals in his bloodstream that he's almost classified as a biohazard in most cases." Veronica leaned one hand against the pedestal, getting the weight off her foot. "But there's more." The thin boy looked up, almost trying to shift and sit upright. "Unfortunately, it's all inside here."

"More what?" Adam asked her. "Blood? My blood?"

"Zeus'," she said. "Just enough to create more, but it'll take time. A lot of time. What you need—"

"We didn't come here to gain Great Conqueror Thaddeus' blood," the blonde boy said.

"Your daughter told us to find you," the brown skin girl said. "Yes, for your help, but also to protect you."

"No." The weaker boy shifted, the skin on his chest pulled tight over his ribs as he struggled to breathe. "The blood sample must remain pure. We will survive off doses and treatments from your daughter's blood, with your blessing." He coughed again. The sound came with a rigid shard of pain that made him double over and vomit black bile onto the floor. Adam swallowed. The girl with black hair tensed her jaw. "The clone must open it."

"It's Adam," he said flatly, then looked at Veronica. "And why should we open it, anyway? I mean, if it didn't work for you, and you were Zeus' wife, then nobody else has gotten into this place. His body is safe, right?"

"His body?" the girl with black hair—Rhea, maybe–whispered. "Zeus' corpse remains in one piece?"

"Most of it," Veronica said. "My husband isn't dead. Not entirely."

Silence. A silence so abrasive it shrieked filled the air.

Just like Cassie had said, Adam thought. The Lord of the Sky is still alive.

Not yet, though. Not until he saw the body.

Adam spoke first. "What?"

"It's a long story," she said, hanging her glasses off her collar and massaging the bags underneath her eyes. "One that we don't have time to get into right now. But, in all fairness, I didn't only come here to check on him."

"Then…why?" Rhea asked quietly. "Why travel all the way down here in the first place?"

"That's simple," a voice said. Someone new. Heads, like dogs smelling fresh meat, snapped upward as the words echoed off the cavernous ceiling. Adam unfolded his arms. Rhea tensed, those muscles of hers coiling. Then, from the hallway directly in front of the pedestal, came a figure Adam had only ever been shown pictures of and heard stories about. And with him came some kind of creature, a monster made of flesh that dragged its sagging mass along the floor, grunting and struggling and staggering under its own disgusting weight. Boils of pus and blood puked over its own body, making its own skin smolder and burn and blacken. What the fuck is that thing? He wasn't gonna get an answer. Not when the man in the suit stopped walking and the creature beside him did as well.

And behind them, through the gap between the devil and its creation, was Olympia.

The others saw her too, and the silence that fell was just as loud as the one that stuttered Veronica's heart. Adam glanced at her. She was staring at Lucian, at her daughter and the bloody, torn, broken mess lying behind him. They'd left a smear of blood on the floor, almost like a tongue had dragged along the ground. Rhea took several steps forward. Veronica put her arm out, stopping her. Rhea shot her a look, an accusing, violent look.

"Lucian," Veronica said. Her voice was clear, sharp—a knife gutting the silence. "You look healthy."

"I can't quite say the same." Both hands in his pockets. His tongue slid across the upper row of his teeth, cleaning the blood that had forced itself between the gaps between them. She hurt him. Badly enough to leave blood on his clothes and even in his mouth. Adam flexed his fingers. Shifted on his feet. Then Lucian looked at him, smiled thinly, and shook his head—his eyes were hollow, dark, irises almost a deep scarlet and pupils white. "The boy wonder," he mused quietly. "What a pleasure. It's true what they say, you're an exact copy, even more so face-to-face. We haven't formally met, but I'm sure we've brushed shoulders plenty of times rather indirectly."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Adam stepped forward and squared his shoulders. His heart was fast, each punch against his ribs painful. The others could hear it. He was sure of it. But he'd been taught to be a protector, even at the risk of his own life,

"The…" They all looked at the boy near the pillar. He swallowed, his mouth hanging open as he gathered what energy he still had and spoke. "The percentage threshold would be too…too small." He coughed. Blood flaked onto the floor. Adam tried not to breathe in the stench of rot coming out of his throat. "The system would cease and lock. Our blood was tainted. Mixed. We are…." He shuddered. The girl beside him squeezed his hand, sending a tiny trickle of light from her fingertips to his veins. He groaned, then shook his head and said, "Don't." She tried to speak. He begged her until she stopped. He looked at Adam. "How pure is the clone, Doctor Addams?"

Veronica brushed a hand through her hair. "We synthesized a lot of blood after the fight. Arkathians—"

"Our blood dries quickly," the taller boy said quietly.

"Exactly," Veronica muttered. "We stored plenty. I spent months gathering what I could, making sure it was as close as possible to the samples we'd acquired." She swallowed and sighed. "Mostly all of it was 'acquired' by the government for…research. What was left created Adam's first iterations. Many that didn't make it were recycled until we came to a final product." He hated hearing any of this. It made him sound like some kind of…of machine, some kind of plastic product that was manufactured and built and not cared about at all. "He's pure, maybe even slightly purer than Rylee, but there are so many kinds of chemicals in his bloodstream that he's almost classified as a biohazard in most cases." Veronica leaned one hand against the pedestal, getting the weight off her foot. "But there's more." The thin boy looked up, almost trying to shift and sit upright. "Unfortunately, it's all inside here."

"More what?" Adam asked her. "Blood? My blood?"

"Zeus'," she said. "Just enough to create more, but it'll take time. A lot of time. What you need—"

"We didn't come here to gain Great Conqueror Thaddeus' blood," the blonde boy said.

"Your daughter told us to find you," the brown skin girl said. "Yes, for your help, but also to protect you."

"No." The weaker boy shifted, the skin on his chest pulled tight over his ribs as he struggled to breathe. "The blood sample must remain pure. We will survive off doses and treatments from your daughter's blood, with your blessing." He coughed again. The sound came with a rigid shard of pain that made him double over and vomit black bile onto the floor. Adam swallowed. The girl with black hair tensed her jaw. "The clone must open it."

"It's Adam," he said flatly, then looked at Veronica. "And why should we open it, anyway? I mean, if it didn't work for you, and you were Zeus' wife, then nobody else has gotten into this place. His body is safe, right?"

"His body?" the girl with black hair—Rhea, maybe–whispered. "Zeus' corpse remains in one piece?"

"Most of it," Veronica said. "My husband isn't dead. Not entirely."

Silence. A silence so abrasive it shrieked filled the air.

Just like Cassie had said, Adam thought. The Lord of the Sky is still alive.

Not yet, though. Not until he saw the body.

Adam spoke first. "What?"

"It's a long story," she said, hanging her glasses off her collar and massaging the bags underneath her eyes. "One that we don't have time to get into right now. But, in all fairness, I didn't only come here to check on him."

"Then…why?" Rhea asked quietly. "Why travel all the way down here in the first place?"

"That's simple," a voice said. Someone new. Heads, like dogs smelling fresh meat, snapped upward as the words echoed off the cavernous ceiling. Adam unfolded his arms. Rhea tensed, those muscles of hers coiling. Then, from the hallway directly in front of the pedestal, came a figure Adam had only ever been shown pictures of and heard stories about. And with him came some kind of creature, a monster made of flesh that dragged its sagging mass along the floor, grunting and struggling and staggering under its own disgusting weight. Boils of pus and blood puked over its own body, making its own skin smolder and burn and blacken. What the fuck is that thing? He wasn't gonna get an answer. Not when the man in the suit stopped walking and the creature beside him did as well.

And behind them, through the gap between the devil and its creation, was Olympia.

The others saw her too, and the silence that fell was just as loud as the one that stuttered Veronica's heart. Adam glanced at her. She was staring at Lucian, at her daughter and the bloody, torn, broken mess lying behind him. They'd left a smear of blood on the floor, almost like a tongue had dragged along the ground. Rhea took several steps forward. Veronica put her arm out, stopping her. Rhea shot her a look, an accusing, violent look.

"Lucian," Veronica said. Her voice was clear, sharp—a knife gutting the silence. "You look healthy."

"I can't quite say the same." Both hands in his pockets. His tongue slid across the upper row of his teeth, cleaning the blood that had forced itself between the gaps between them. She hurt him. Badly enough to leave blood on his clothes and even in his mouth. Adam flexed his fingers. Shifted on his feet. Then Lucian looked at him, smiled thinly, and shook his head—his eyes were hollow, dark, irises almost a deep scarlet and pupils white. "The boy wonder," he mused quietly. "What a pleasure. It's true what they say, you're an exact copy, even more so face-to-face. We haven't formally met, but I'm sure we've brushed shoulders plenty of times rather indirectly."

Adam stepped forward and squared his shoulders. His heart was fast, each punch against his ribs painful. The others could hear it. He was sure of it. But he'd been taught to be a protector, even at the risk of his own life, and that's what he would believe, that's what he would make sure they would all think was going on right now. So he swallowed, found his words, and said, "Let Olympia go, leave, and disappear into whatever hole you've been—"

"These kids and their fucking threats," he said, waving his hand through the air. "In my day, when Capes actually had the merit to stand on their own feet and be proud of themselves, sidekicks wouldn't talk that way."

"Sidekick?" Adam repeated.

"Isn't that what you're meant to be?" Lucian said. He began walking, but not toward them—around the room, looking up at the tapestry, his shoulders relaxed, hands still hidden like he wasn't afraid. "Zeus' sidekick?"

"I am Zeus."

Lucian stopped. Quiet. Then he looked at Adam, smiled, and quietly laughed. "Let's cut the act, it's getting quite ridiculous, and I don't really know how much longer I can go on. For their sake though?" he said, continuing. They watched him, tense, ready—the floor underneath Rhea's feat quietly cracked. "She lied to you."

Adam swore internally, then glanced at Veronica. "She'd never."

"Oh, not her." He stopped and turned to face them, now near the stairs, one foot on the first. "Cassie Blackwood. She told me you were going to make this easy for me, or, well, easier, not that I needed the help of some clone to do any of this." Lucian slid his hands out of his pockets and waved at the group. "Well, go on. Kill them."

He didn't have to look over his shoulder to know Veronica was staring at him. "Adam?" she whispered.

The others stared at him. Rhea, the closest, waited, watched—almost for her mark.

Adam rolled his shoulders, sighed from his nose, and said, "No idea what he's talking about."

"Saving face," Lucian muttered, walking up the stairs. His shoes snapped against the cold floor. The echoes were sharp like gunshots. "I can't blame you, not when you're in the company of so many powerful beings. But the truth, boy, is simple—you were made a promise, weren't you, when you went to Lower Olympus just a few hours ago. That beast would force Olympia to engage with it, and knowing her tendencies to settle fights when they first happened, she was led astray. Blight was next." His throat tightened. Rhea started getting closer. "She dealt with him a lot faster than I would've thought. But the more she extended herself, the worse her ability to hold it all together became. She entertained those animals in the rain, then dove into the darkness after their leader without ever thinking for a moment what that would entail. She tried. She really did. It was a concerted effort, one that I could have taken on myself, but I suppose that fight would have been over quickly, violently, and rather unfairly. I wanted the girl to think she was special, when in reality…" Lucifer shrugged. "The only thing she is, is stubborn."

"Cassie sent you?" Veronica asked him. Adam didn't turn around. "You knew everything?"

It wasn't a statement, but an accusation.

One he couldn't stomach.

He turned around. Rhea stepped in front of him. Adam put his hands up and took one step back. "V," he said softly, "you need to understand why any of us would do this. Rylee is a problem. And all we want to do is fix it. You were blessed with intelligence, with knowledge beyond most people on the planet." She didn't move back. She said nothing. Her face remained blank, her eyes hard. "I was given a chance. If all of this was true, then I would—"

"How fucking pathetic," Veronica said. Adam froze. "I made sure you didn't end up as a lap dog—"

"—you made me powerless in the first place," he snapped, anger like a surge coming from his gut.

"Powerless?" she asked quietly. "Adam, how can you ever think that? Why? Because you've lost a fight before? Because Cassie seems to think that that God-forsaken clone of my daughter is better than you? I didn't raise you to be fragile. I warned Rylee about fighting you because I know more than anyone what you're capable of, and you think I made you powerless?" They stared at one another. His heartbeat got quicker, almost painful. His mouth had dried and so had his throat, making it painful when he swallowed. "You were never perfect initially, but we came as close as we humanly could. My daughter's own blood courses through your veins, my husband's bone marrow is the reason you can puff out your chest and call yourself Zeus, and you dare think you're powerless?"

"She's right, you know," Lucian said from above them. "The power is always within, dear boy."

"Don't listen to a supervillain," Veronica said dryly. "You're being swayed by a promise, Adam."

"They promised to make me better. Zeus' blood would change me. Fix me."

"You're not broken."

"Your daughter," he said quietly, voice on edge, "tore my arm out of my socket faster than I could blink, then she came to my home and demanded I side with her just because she knew she could hurt me and force me to do what she wants? She's a tyrant. The only reason she's been punished this way is because she deserves it, and you don't deserve to be burdened by her anymore." Adam tensed his jaw. "The night she came to see me, was the night I told Cassie about what she was planning on doing—it was the night months' worth of planning was changed, and a new plan was put in place. I might not know what they'd first thought, but I know someone as volatile, as violent and stupid as Olympia, shouldn't hold onto that kind of power. Someone more deserving than her should own it."

Veronica's lips remained sealed for several seconds, Then, quietly, she said, "And that's you?"

"Yes," Lucian answered. "Cassie would have wanted it otherwise, but…there's just something about this boy that I like. Maybe it's because he looks like him, Veronica. Maybe I have a soft spot for the simpler times."

When Rhea's fist connected with Adam's jaw, it felt like his entire face had been struck by lightning. He flew through the air, then smashed into a pillar. It didn't buckle. Didn't even crack. He fell to the floor, groaning. His ribs ached. His lungs could barely hold onto the thin, wheezing wisps of oxygen he managed to suck down. Then he heard a war cry, one so loud it made him wince. He lunged out of the way just before Rhea slammed into the ground, shattering the white tiles. She stood up and ran through the veil of dust. Adam ducked under her fist swing. Grabbed her throat in one hand and— She curled both her legs around his arm, grabbed his hand, and twisted.

Bone cracked. He roared in pain and fell to one knee. Then a foot slammed into his nose, sending a shard of hot agony through his head. His vision blurred, senses scrambled. He spat blood. Someone grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his face upward. The bigger blonde boy had half his head in his entire hand. Adam didn't move. He spat more blood, swallowed the hot liquid iron, and stared at Rhea standing in front of him, breathing heavily from her mouth as she knuckled spit off her lips. Adam glanced at Lucian, who hadn't moved a muscle.

"Remember our deal, clone," he said. "You impress me, and you get what you want. Cassie won't dare try her luck with me, but if you fail…well, I suppose you've just tarnished your credibility, and you'll die a painful death at the hands of your species-mates. Best of luck. Survive, and I'll be seeing you soon. Devil's Promise."

The brown skinned girl raised her fist and slammed it across his face. Adam shook his head. Breathed heavily. He tried to protect himself, tried to get up, but Lucian was walking toward Veronica now, slowly, taking his time, saying something to her he couldn't understand. She wouldn't get hurt. That was part of the deal. She would open the chambers, they would get his body and the only vial of blood, and then they would leave—that was his promise, and all Adam had to do was win. Just win. For once in my fucking life, all I've got to do is keep fighting.

Those thoughts vanished from his mind the second he heard Veronica scream.

The beating stopped. Blood flowed from his swollen lips. They all stared at Lucian as he grabbed her thin arm and forced it hard against the pedestal. Rhea broke the tiles lunging toward him. The monster of flesh moved. Faster than he thought it could. It enveloped her in its folds of greasy flesh, pouring over her and keeping her in place. The other two let go of him. One, the brown-skinned girl, darted for Rhea, grabbing her wrist and pulling her free. The monster retaliated, its orifices opening up and sending a barrage of bone spindles her way. She flipped aside. The bone stabbed into the pillars and the floors. One whistled past her ear, slicing the top. She didn't flinch. She ran for Rhea again, and suddenly got flung backward when a spear of bone punched through her stomach.

She stumbled backward. Grabbed at the barbed piece of bone. Blood poured from the wound. She fell to one knee. The larger boy stopped running. He'd been going for Lucian, then changed direction, scooping the girl into his arms before more spears could impale her. Rhea shouted a name. One he couldn't understand in a language he barely knew. It didn't matter. The larger boy dropped her beside the other two, then lunged for Lucian. The ground shook when he ran. The ceiling quaked and the pillars shuddered. Adam slammed into his midsection before he could even get close to Lucian. Veronica was still screaming, but she wasn't in pain—she would get healed. Saved. A bruised wrist wasn't bad. Cassie had people who'd heal and reset and make sure she's healthy.

For now, Adam and the boy skidded against the floor, rolling over and over and going their separate ways when they hit a pillar. They both groaned. The larger boy spat, looked up, bared his teeth and dove for Adam. He slammed into him, their hands locked and feet squared and the tiles under their feet cracking with force. Adam locked his jaw, hated the burn that was raging down his spine as the larger boy forced him onto one knee. He screamed. The larger boy didn't stop until Adam was down and his shoulders were burning. Then, a sound.

"Identity Detected," a voice sang through the air. The boy hesitated. Adam smashed his fist into the softer part of his jaw, snapping his head upward. The ground shuddered. Adam slammed his foot into the boy's gut, sending a slew of saliva out of his mouth. "Veronica Addams, Spouse of Thaddeus Korr. Defect: homosapien. Children: Rylee Adira Korr. General Access Granted." Adam glanced at Lucian. Then got hit so hard in the ribs blood leaped out of his mouth and splattered onto the floor. He stumbled. Fell. The blonde-haired boy bellowed and slammed his fists down onto his back, slamming Adam into the tiles. He groaned, his arms buckled when he tried to move. The boy brought his fists down again, shaking the pillars and making his body numb. His vision swam. He saw Lucian throw Veronica aside hard enough to smack her skull against the floor, knocking her out cold.

"Lucian!" Adam bellowed. His voice got cut short when he was slammed again. Agony ripped down his spine when he tried to move. Lucian barely glanced over his shoulder as he strolled across the chamber, his walk slow, hands in his pockets, whistling as he entered a chamber that continued underground, the floor parting to reveal a walkway that spiraled deep, deep into the chasm. Adam grunted. Looked at Veronica. Then at the creature of flesh and bone that vomited Rhea into a heap of saliva-covered limbs, unconscious and limp. The boy looming over him picked him up by the back of his throat, then threw him back down into the ground, smashing whatever sense, whatever strength he had left in his body. Adam moaned. He wanted to curl up and give into the agony.

The boy crouched beside him, grabbed his jaw, and said, "You're no man. Not worthy of the face you wear. I'll teach you of our people and our customs—we do not take scalps, we take spines, hearts, faces—none of you is useful, none of you is a prize. The only thing I want is your death and your blood on my hands, nothing more."

Adam spat blood onto his face. The boy's face screwed tight as his eyes narrowed.

A spear of bone took half the boy's head. A splatter of gore and brains and shards of his skull showered Adam as the spear ruptured his face and tore through his crown. Adam gagged, spitting brains as the boy slumped over him. He grunted and shoved him off his body, panting hard, covered in blood that kept spewing from his head.

Adam stared at the body, and…and his hands were shaking, unsteady, his breaths even more uneven.

Lucian whistled from the stairwell leading underneath the floor. The creature of flesh lowered, melting into the shadows sputtering and boiling around his feet. He said nothing. He only turned around and walked down the stairs, a final look of…something on his face. Maybe disgust. Maybe something else. Something harsher. Worse.

Disappointment.

Adam shakily stood up, his shirt ruined, his body aching as he shook his head. He slowly walked across the chamber, leaving bloody footprints on the white floor. The corpse behind him spewed more blood from its severed arteries and veins. He passed Veronica's limp body. Olympia, not breathing, barely a heartbeat, almost none at all, lay in a heap next to her mother. He glanced at the two remaining Arkathians near the pillar. The skinnier boy. The girl with the soft golden light coming from her hands as she clutched tightly onto the brown-skinned girl with the bone spear sticking out of her gut. Adam looked down at them. The smaller boy was unconscious. But the girl stared at him, no tears in her eyes, no anger on her face—a cold, distant, detached stare filled with so much hatred he could smell it on the blood-tainted sweat on her brow. She spat at Adam's feet, then promptly passed out, the light vanishing from her hands, but that didn't stop her from clinging to the bodies around her—the smaller boy, Rhea, the brown-skinned girl. She fell unconscious staring across the chamber at the boy bleeding into the floor.

Adam looked away and rolled his shoulders, massaging his aching right arm.

A thrill of cold air brushed down his spine, making his breath hitch.

Adam glanced over his shoulder, squinted his eyes and stared at…nothing.

Just in your head, he thought.

"Clone!" Lucian snapped. His voice echoed from below. "We have a deadline, boy, hurry up!"

He took another step, but that same cold brush of air slid down his spine, his arms, drying his throat and making him swallow and prickle. He looked around, but it felt so close. There in his face. Not even a foot away.

Adam steeled himself, then walked forward, leaving the biting cold air behind him.

Whatever it was, it didn't matter.

Ghosts weren't going to stop him from becoming what he was always meant to be.