Changing the Future

Chapter 70

I woke up with a groan, my head throbbing painfully as I forced my eyes open. My wrists were pinned to the wall, and my ankles were bound with Celestial bronze shackles. As far as I knew, I hadn't received any new injuries, and judging from the fact that my weapons weren't on me anymore, I figured that they'd reverted back to their charms before Poine could take them away.

I blinked a few more times, adjusting to the sudden light in the room as I tried to take in my surroundings.

It was like I'd seen in my dreams for the past few months, except Nico was here now, and Luke and Will were way worse off. Nico sported double black eyes, probably the result of a broken nose, judging from the dried blood from his nose to his chin. The sleeves of his aviator jacket were slightly torn up, and a good portion of his pants' legs had been cut off, turning what were once pants into shorts. Bruises and cuts littered his fair skin everywhere you looked. His hair was considerably shorter as well, like someone had forcibly given him a haircut.

Neither Luke nor Will had any part of them unscathed anymore, the majority of their flesh turned into a mangled mess that could only be akin to a soldier who'd gotten a limb blown off by a hand grenade.

I cringed at the sight of arms and feet and hands bending the wrong way, enough dried blood and dirt caked over their bodies to scare any grown man out of his wits. The rest of their hair remained in patches, the exposed skin rubbed raw and red, their golden locks in clumps all over the ground.

"Oh, God," I exhaled softly, tugging at the chains holding me captive to see if there was any leeway. If I could reach the bobby pin in my hair...

"Good, you're up," a gruff voice said, one that rocked me to my very core.

Honestly, describing Tartarus's voice was a challenge in its own right. Imagine every rusty, blunted weapon getting dragged against volcanic rock with an amplifier picking up every sound, broadcasting it into speakers loud enough to cause entire buildings to rumble, on the verge of collapse even if it was the most structurally sound building in existence. That still didn't do it justice.

"I've waited a long time to finally make your acquaintance, Andromeda," Tartarus crooned, pausing to kick an unconscious Luke so hard that he flew into the wall, his head whipping behind him and taking the brunt of the impact.

I gave a strangled cry before gritting my teeth and glaring at the primordial. "You're nothing but a coward," I growled, wishing that these damn shackles would fall off so that I could put this bastard down long enough to get my friends out of here. "Kicking a boy when he's out – what are you, afraid? Fight me with honor! Leave them alone!"

Faster than I could blink, Tartarus pressed himself close enough to me that I could feel the fire of all the world's furnaces radiating off of his skin, and I immediately broke out into a cold sweat. He straddled my waist, a blood-curling smirk resting on his face as he dragged a finger against my cheekbone.

Like I'd done to Atlas all those years ago, I tried to bite his hand, only to have my head snap to the side. It took me a few moments to register that Tartarus had slapped me, but that only made me glare at him harder, though I seriously doubted it did me any good.

"Poine was right – you are a feisty one," Tartarus commented. "But let me tell you something right now, I have no tolerance for feistiness in this place. From now on, you are mine."

"Like hell I am," I said, spitting right in his face.

He merely laughed, wiping his face dry with the back of his hand. "You are in Hell, my dear, and I promise to make your stay most enjoyable. Good night."

Tartarus snapped his fingers, and my head lolled to the side, my mind immediately seized by nightmares.

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