I climbed over the rubble, groping my way through the dust as sharp edges tried to cut my impermeable skin. My foot caught on a rock I couldn’t see, and I stumbled, throwing my arms out to catch my fall. But instead a pair of strong hands caught me, and I looked up.

Dark hair, handsome face, broad shoulders. Henry.

I blinked rapidly, my eyes tearing up to flush out the dust, and his face swam into focus.

No, not Henry.

Cronus.

“Come, my dear,” he murmured, pulling me to my feet. His palms were hot coals against my skin, and bile rose in my throat. Where was Henry? Why wasn’t Cronus trying to stop him?

Because he didn’t need to. One god versus the King of the Titans—there was no question. And with Calliope’s weapon, it wouldn’t be a fair fight between siblings either. Henry wouldn’t know what was coming, and then—

I clenched my fists. I had to find the baby before Henry found me, and I had to find Henry before it was too late. No other option was acceptable.

“I want to see my son,” I said, jerking my arm away from Cronus and struggling to keep my voice steady. To my left, a gaping hole in the stone wall opened up to a golden sky and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. “Take me to him.”

“All in good time.” He led me through the wrecked corridor, and the rubble swept aside to make a path for us. For him. Ava trailed after us, dragging her feet and scattering the pebbles as if she were trying to make as much noise as possible. A warning to Calliope that we were coming? A signal to Henry to tell him where we were?

Suddenly the air changed as the dust vanished, and the salt-tinged wind blowing off the sea gave way to the thin wails of a newborn. I blinked. It’d been a long time since I’d slipped into a vision without meaning to.

I was surrounded by walls painted to resemble a sunset, and the room was empty except for a white cradle in the center. A lump formed in my throat, and I peered over the edge, barely daring to hope.

There, wrapped in a knit blanket, was my son.

His sobs paused, and he cracked open his eyes as if he were staring directly at me. But that was impossible—he couldn’t see me. No one could see me in my visions. I was an observer. Less than a ghost; I was nothing.

The lure of his blue eyes was irresistible, and I reached out to touch him. For a split second I imagined the warmth of his smooth skin and tiny fingers, and a smile crept onto my face.

“Hi,” I whispered. “You’re such a handsome little man.”

He stared up into the space I occupied, and I could hardly breathe. He was perfection.

“Milo.” The name left my mouth before I could think about it, but once it was out, it seemed to wrap around the baby, becoming as much a part of him as his dark hair or how much I loved him.

Yes. Milo.

An enraged cry broke the spell between us, and Milo’s sobs returned, even louder than before. I tried to touch him again, to offer whatever small measure of comfort I could if he really could sense I was there, but my hand passed through him. His screams only grew shriller.

“Calliope!”

I froze. Henry.

Torn between leaving Milo or finding Henry, I lingered near the cradle. As much as it killed me to leave the baby, I had to know where Henry was. If he was outside the nursery—if he knew about Milo and was going to save him—

Please, please, please let him know.

I dashed through the open door and into a part of the palace I’d never seen before. The walls were a rich gold, not stone like the ones inside my prison, and the indigo rug matched the silk curtains that hung every ten feet on the outside wall. The hallway stretched nearly the entire length of the palace, and Calliope stood in the middle, only a few feet away from Henry.

He’d saved me from the clutches of death on the banks of the river in Eden. He’d fought for all our lives as Calliope choked me with chains in Tartarus. He was Lord of the Underworld, King of the Dead, and one of the most powerful gods in history.

But never had I seen him look so terrible in his power. It rolled off of him in black waves, shaking the very foundation of the palace, and even though I wasn’t really there, for the first time in my life I was genuinely afraid of him.

Satisfaction mingled with that fear though, and disdain ripped through me as I approached Calliope. Henry would end her. Whatever this weapon was she claimed to have, it couldn’t possibly match up to the pure rage that surrounded him, fueling his power. Only a Titan could kill a god, and Calliope was exactly like me: immortal. Nothing more.

A blast shook the walls, and panic shot through me. Milo. Henry had no idea he was here, that Calliope stood between him and his son. He might not even know he existed. And if he brought down the entire castle—

All it would take was a single thought, and our son would die.

I dashed into the nursery, but before I could spot Milo’s face over the edge of the cradle, the sunset walls disappeared.

It took me several seconds to regain my bearings. Cronus held my arm, his hands still fire against my skin, and Ava lingered on my other side. We stood in a gold-and-indigo corridor, but it was empty.

Was it over? Had we missed it?

No, impossible. My visions were always in the present. I couldn’t go into the past or see the future. Henry and Calliope were somewhere nearby. They had to be. Above us, below—

“Kate, my dear.” Cronus’s voice cut through me like a dagger made of ice. “Are you mine?”

Never. Not in a million years, not if we were the last two beings in the universe. Not if the only other choice I had was to live out eternity buried under boulders.

But only moments stood between now and the entire castle ripping apart at the seams, and I had to save Milo. If that meant making a promise I couldn’t keep, then I would deal with the consequences later. “Give me my son, and I’m yours.”

My feet left the ground as Cronus floated us upward, leaving Ava behind. Together we passed through the ceiling as if it weren’t even there, rising into the hallway above us, and I held my breath.

We stood only a few feet behind Calliope, and beyond her, surrounded by dark power—

Henry.

He and I stared at each other across the hallway, and my knees nearly buckled with relief. At last, someone who loved me.

He took an involuntary step toward me, but even though it was the first time I’d seen him since the winter solstice, my body pulled me in the direction of Milo’s room. Only a few feet away, two doors behind Calliope, and I’d be able to hold my son. I’d have a chance at saving us all.

Cronus gripped my arm, his fingers a cuff of flesh and bone, and no amount of subtle tugging and twisting loosened them. I was as trapped as I’d been in my prison, but this time both pieces of my heart dangled in front of me, taunting me. Begging me to do something.

I was powerless.

In my mind, hours passed, but in reality it took Calliope only seconds to realize what was going on. She turned and grinned, her eyes sparkling with malice, and something slid from the loose sleeve of her gown into her hand. A dagger.

The blade glowed with the same essence that had infused the chains she’d wrapped around my neck, the same opaque power that had threaded through the rock she’d used to knock me unconscious the day she’d kidnapped me. She hadn’t been lying, after all. Somehow, even though Cronus stood beside me whole and solid, she’d managed to separate a piece of him from the rest. And now she had the power to kill every last one of us until she was free to rule the universe at Cronus’s side.

“Perfect timing,” she said, her voice as girly as ever, but regality saturated each syllable.

“Kate?” Henry’s voice broke, and the waves of dark power around him faltered. No, no, no, he couldn’t stop now. She’d attack the first chance he gave her.