Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chapter 42

"Why are you asking us?" One of his sisters, Holly, asked. Her arms were crossed over chest. She was missing an eye, a patch covering the socket, but Joel could still see the long and jagged scar over her brow and cheek. He remembered when she got it—in a battle against an amphiptere, defending many of their siblings against the winged serpent. She was brave, and quick, and deadly. "And where are the Trollhunters?"

"Listen," Joel said to his siblings, hands held out in a placating gesture. "The Trollhunters, including our brother Carter, are out there in the Sea of Monsters, trying to stop this. But while they're gone, someone has to defend Arcadia. And we can't do it by ourselves anymore."

"But why us?" Someone spoke from in the crowd. Joel scanned heads, quickly finding who'd spoken. Erik Maurer. He was barely eighteen. He'd been burned badly in the last battle they'd all fought together as siblings. The day their father died. The skin was pulled back and warped on his left cheek, the eye on that side of his face blinded. But he stilled looked sharp and alert. "Why do we have to fight?"

"You are children of the god of war," Aanya spoke, her eyes impressively icy for a daughter of Bellroc. "Fighting is in your blood. And you're telling us you refuse to fight for the people who saved you? For the town that risked themselves and their loved ones to rescue you all from Vameus' grip?"

There was some awkward shuffling. Joel tried not to let his heart sink at what he saw. That there were so few who wanted to fight with them. While it broke his heart, he understood. They were tired. They had all had years of their lives taken by their father. Some had decades taken. But still;

"Father can't hurt us anymore," Joel told his siblings, looking around at the crowd of demigods. "He has no power over us. I know what you're all thinking. That to get dragged into another war means to live up to his legacy, but a dead god does not get to dictate what we do with our lives. Help us, and fight because it's the right thing to do. Fight with us, with me, because we owe Arcadia our gratitude. Aanya is right. This town and its people did free us, but more than that, it gave us our right to choose again." He took a deep breath, reaching out with the loose threads of loyalty that still bound him to his siblings. "The hive mind Vameus created is long gone, but the bonds of brotherhood is not something that can be faked. I've fought alongside so many of you incredible half-bloods for years. I'd be honored to do so again. Not because a god is forcing us to, but because we choose to fight for something bigger than ourselves."

There were murmurs and exchanged glances. Joel held his breath, waiting for someone, anyone, to take the first step. And she did, and he was so proud of his little sister.

"He's right!" Sarah piped up, pushing her way to the front. "If you can't find loyalty to fight for the sake of Arcadia, do it for Carter. Our brother, the one who killed a tyrant god for us. Do it for him, but let's do it for ourselves too."

"The gods no longer dictate our lives," Marcy, who had apparently been listening the whole time, invisible in the shadows. "Sarah and I haven't been here as long as the rest of you, but if we've learned one unspeakable truth, it's that we're stronger together. So let's be stronger."

Someone shouted "Here, here!" and soon there was raucous cheering from the gathered demigods.

"Together, then!" Joel shouted above the cheering, the tightly knit loyalty he'd felt to this group of warriors once igniting in his chest again. "As brothers and sisters, let's fight!"

A feral war cry rose from the children of Vameus. They'd go to war again, together. Not for the sake of their father, but for the sake of something better. For the love of a brother who'd sacrificed so much for them, and was still sacrificing now.