The Prophecy (Titan 4)

“You’re like my own personal napkin.”

“Yeah.” He kissed the side of my neck. “I’m useful like that.”

I moved on to the bacon, eating all the crispy slices, because it was the most amazing combination of salty and sweet I’d ever had. I had no idea how they made their bacon here, but eating it was a magical experience.

Seth ate another tender and I even forced a few pieces of broccoli down my throat before I went back to the fries. It was time for these few precious moments of normalcy to end. “So, are we going to talk about it?”

“About?”

I slid him a long look. “About finding the other demigod and figuring out how to entomb these Titans…if that’s what we decide to do.”

“I thought Deacon and Luke were focusing on the other demigod?”

“They are, but they can’t just pop themselves to England to look around for this guy. We really don’t want them taking a commercial flight, all things considered.”

“Then I can bring them over.” His hand stilled on my leg. “And you can stay right here, safe—”

“Seth, I know I’m safe here, but I can’t stay here forever.” I paused, watching his face. “You know that.”

Seth lifted his hand, and a napkin flew out the bag and into his grasp. “I know you can stay here until the Titans have been dealt with,” he said, and I stiffened. “Which brings me to your word usage. What do you mean by if we entomb them?”

For a moment, I didn’t know what he was talking about, and then I realized what I had said. My stomach dropped. There was no “if” involved here. We had to entomb the Titans. Killing them wasn’t an option even if Seth had already taken out two of them.

Was that a Freudian slip?

Seth handed me the napkin, and I wiped my fingers off. “Are you aware of another option?”

Tossing the napkin onto the table, I slipped out of his loose grasp and stood. “There is no other option. We have to entomb the Titans. We just need to figure out how.”

Seth leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “I’m going to be real with you, Josie. I don’t want you anywhere near the Titans.”

I tossed the ponytail over my shoulder. “Because I’m pregnant?”

“Because you’re pregnant with our child and because I don’t want you to get hurt,” he clarified, watching me. “And I’m not trying to be an overprotective jerk here.”

“I know.” And I did know that. I started pacing in front of the food-covered coffee table. “Trust me, running out there and fighting the Titans isn’t something I’m looking forward to doing, but it’s…”

“Your duty,” he answered for me, his shoulders tensing. “Fuck this duty shit.”

I turned to him, brows lifting.

“No. Seriously. You’re a demigod. Great. You were created as some kind of fail-safe, but you control your life.” Seth rose fluidly, his arms lax at his sides but his eyes burning with intensity. “This duty thing is utter bullshit.”

“Seth—”

“It’s the same thing with the halfs. They were born into a world that controlled every step they took, but not any longer. They are free to do with their future as they wish. Why can’t that be the same for you? For the other demigods.”

“It’s different, though.” I folded my arms across my chest as I paced in the small space. “Only we have the ability to stop the Titans.”

“That’s not true.” He lifted his chin. “I can stop them.”

“Yeah, you stopping them results in massive earthquakes where charred-up daimons climb out of them.” I turned, walking to the little kitchen area to expand my pacing path. “That’s not an option. You can’t continue killing them.”

Seth said nothing.

I faced him, my heart suddenly pounding fast, because I was thinking about what I had said moments earlier. Was there a little part of me that wanted Seth to just take them out? Even knowing the potential consequences?

If so, that was incredibly selfish of me.

People would die, innocent people, in the fallout. Wanting to keep my child safe was paramount, but could I live with the knowledge that I had sentenced hundreds, if not thousands, to death?

“There has to be another way,” I said, getting my feet moving once again. “One that doesn’t require the demigods to go toe to toe with the Titans or doesn’t end with you taking them out.”

“And how are we going to figure that out exactly?” Seth waved his hand, and the empty baskets ended up in the bag.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe Medusa? She’s old and seems to know stuff. I went by the library today to see if I could find her.”

“No luck?”

“Nope.” I sighed. “But I have a feeling she’s only able to be found when she wants to be. Anyway, back to the whole finding the other demigod thing. I think we still need to do that, just in case we don’t come up with Plan C.”

All the food was cleaned up in moments. “What are the first two plans, just so we’re on the same page?”

“Plan A is we entomb the Titans. Plan B is you kill the Titans, and hopefully Plan C will be the perfect plan that doesn’t involve either of those things,” I explained.

His lips twitched. “I’m hoping we find a Plan C, but let’s talk about Plan A for a moment. You don’t need to go find this demigod.”

Letting my head fall back, I groaned. “And again, I’m just supposed to stay here? Like I said before, you do realize going to an OBGYN will require me to be present there.”

“Or it requires me to find said doctor and bring them here.”

“Seth.”

“What?” He came around the coffee table. “We could get the equipment here and, as you know, I can be very, very convincing.”

I unfolded my arms. “Are you suggesting kidnapping a doctor?”

Seth grinned, and it was the bad kind of grin. The one that told me he was up to absolutely no good. “I wouldn’t say kidnap. More like convince.”

“Seth.”

“Josie.” His grin spread as he stopped in front of me. “I’m not going to kidnap a doctor. In all honesty, I think we’ll be okay with leaving here for short periods of time. Plus, you’ll be with me. But going to this town in England? That isn’t necessary and it is dangerous. The Titans may lie low for a little while, but they are still going to be looking for demigods.”

I exhaled roughly. “Especially since they no longer have a food source.”

Seth nodded. “You being in the same location as another demigod outside these walls, or Andros Island, isn’t smart.”

“Is it smart for Alex and Aiden to go, then? Because if Deacon goes, you know they will be with him.”

He rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “That’s not our problem.”

I stared at him.

“I know that makes me sound like an ass, but if Deacon goes, he knows the risk. So do Alex and Aiden.” Seth’s hands stopped just below my shoulders as his eyes searched mine. “I know you want to be a part of this and you want to be out there, fighting the good fight, but—”

“I really don’t,” I whispered.

Seth blinked, obviously caught off-guard.

Heat climbed up my throat and splashed against my cheeks. “That’s a really terrible thing to admit, isn’t it?” I tried to pull free, but Seth wouldn’t let me. My shoulders slumped. “In the movies and books, the badass woman is still a hardcore warrior even if she’s pregnant. Like Maggie from The Walking Dead! She was pregnant, but she still led the Hilltop to battle. With only a revolver. Or maybe it was a different gun. I don’t know. But I have super powers, so whatever.”

His jaw softened. “Josie, that’s a TV show and not real life.”

“I know it’s a TV show, but if it were a real zombie apocalypse—”

“But a zombie apocalypse isn’t real.”

“Ugh! I know, but what I’m saying is that the Titans are the zombies and I must lead the—”