will try to destroy the crown and send Chronos back to Tartarus.”
“The island is likely frozen,” Eve said. “The entire Med is an icicle, according to our sources.”
“I can take care of that,” I said.
Hades stepped away, no doubt to call on his brothers, and I looked back at the crowd. “Is there anyone here who can make portals?”
“I can.” A dark-haired mage stepped forward. She was short, with a pretty round face and serious dark eyes. “I’m Emily. From the Academy of Magic.”
“Thanks, Emily.” Zeus and Poseidon appeared next to Hades. The three of them leaned together to confer about something.
A second later, Lucifer appeared. So much for not helping. I shot him a small smile. He nodded, his jaw set and his eyes serious.
“Um, guys?” Carrow pointed to the door. “We’d better get a move on. The pub is starting to freeze.”
I looked toward the wall and saw the telltale glimmer of blue ice. We’d made it just in time.
“I only need a moment.” Emily raised her hands, and her magic swelled. Her power shivered through me as she met my gaze. “Can you come give me a hand?”
I nodded and jumped off the table, going to her side.
“Touch my shoulder and think of where we’re going,” she said.
I did as she asked, envisioning the island that Phaethon had shown me in my mind. Hades joined me.
A shimmering portal about ten feet wide appeared in front of Emily, and she nodded. “I’ve got it. You can enter.”
“Give me one minute, then it’ll be safe to come.” I stepped through the portal, and Hades followed. The ether spun me around and dumped me out on the frozen island. The sun gleamed brilliantly on the ice, nearly blinding me.
I shivered, the cold settling into my bones. Hades appeared next to me, and clouds formed over the sun. I turned to him, concerned that he might freeze.
He met my eyes. “His ice can’t hurt me. It is death, and so am I.”
I shivered and nodded, then knelt and touched the ice. I fed my magic into it, driving it back and up the hill in front of us. A cluster of huge boulders sat in a pile at the top. The crown was there. It had to be. I could feel the pulse of magic.
Hades, too, was staring at the hill.
“You can’t, Hades.”
He looked at me. “If it’s the only way, then I must.”
“It won’t be.”
His jaw tightened, but he nodded.
There was still darkness inside him—I could see it. I could feel it. Would he turn to the light?
The air around us reverberated with shock waves. The sky grew darker, the sun fading. Magic beat at me, making me stumble.
I looked up at Hades. “Do you feel that?”
He nodded. “He’s here. He felt us arrive.”
I shivered. Behind me, my friends stepped out of the portal. “Chronos is here,” I said, turning to them. “On the other side of the hill, I think. We need to get to the top.”
Everyone nodded. Before I could say anything else, a thundering roar interrupted me. I turned, spotting movement on the mountainside. A horde of creatures surged toward us, glittering in the faint light.
“Ice demons,” Hades said.
I drew a shuddery breath. There were so many of them. Hundreds, far outnumbering us. But we were powerful. The Night Wolves appeared between us and the ice demons, racing to meet them on powerful legs. They collided with the beasts, tearing them apart.
I turned to Emily. “Can you get us closer?”
She nodded and threw out her hands, creating another portal. I lunged through it, Hades at my side. The ether sucked us in and spat us out closer to the rock outcropping that contained the crown.
Our remaining forces spilled from the portal as a ferocious bellow shook the air and vibrated my lungs.
Chronos.
Eight feet tall and made from jagged ice, the ice demons sparkled ominously in the pale light. Hades raised his bident, his magic swelling. His army rose from the ground, skeletal warriors draped in ragged cloaks. They charged the ice demons, clashing in an explosion of icicles.
But there were just so many. Far more than Hades’ army could fight. Zeus and Poseidon attacked, calling upon lightning and massive jets of water. Thunder rolled through the sky as Zeus’s flashing bolts plowed into the beasts.
“Go!” Carrow shouted. “We’ll hold them off!”
At her side, Eve launched into the air with a bag of potions. She hurled them at the roiling ice demons below. Glass potion bombs exploded against