My brows rose as I glanced at Aiden. “Well, that’s not freaky or anything.”
“Yeah,” he said, his gaze darting over the tree line and the empty, narrow south lane.
Seth shut the Hummer down and climbed out. “I don’t feel anything, but then again, I’m not a Titan.”
Perses chuckled deeply as he walked toward the front of the vehicle. “I am never wrong about these things.”
Doors opened and closed behind us. “What’s going on?” Luke called, joined by Olivia. Both had daggers in their hands. Sentinels from the other cars were close behind them. “Are we just taking a potty break or something?”
Aiden turned toward them, his mouth opening to respond just as the ground beneath our feet trembled. He looked down, brows furrowing. “What the…?”
The vibration continued, growing in intensity, shaking the vehicles and rattling the trees that crowded the road. Asphalt cracked like an ear-piercing gunshot. A fissure spread along the side of the road, spreading toward the guardrail. I whipped around, following the progress of the crevice as it widened along the land, splitting open. Loose soil pebbled and rolled as giant elms shook until thick roots poked up from the ground.
“Deacon!” Aiden shouted, spinning. His brother was already out of the car, his eyes wide. “Stay near Luke!”
“Earthquake?” Olivia asked, one hand braced on the hood of the Expedition.
I shook my head. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”
“Ditto,” Seth said, joining us.
The trembling eased off and the earth seemed to settle, along with my stomach. The reprieve lasted seconds. From the wide crack in the ground, rich, dark soil spewed into the air like from a volcano. The earthy scent was overpowering as the dirt arced up and shot back down, landing in twenty or so different piles.
“Yeah,” Luke drawled the word out. “That crap ain’t normal.”
The piles of dirt swirled along the ground in circles, then rose up, rapidly taking form. Legs appeared, thick and well-muscled, followed by torsos, broad chests and shoulders, and finally heads.
I blinked once and then twice. “What in the hell?”
The things resembled human males—human males who could’ve easily been pro wrestlers in another life. Soil traveled down their arms, taking shaping over the hands. Axes appeared in their hands, blades sharpened into deadly edges. Like, axes bigger than what I imagined Vikings used to carry once upon a screwed-up time.
These things…they were made of dirt, but the axes were very, very real.
“The Spartoi!” shouted Perses. “Warriors born of soil—sons of Ares!”
“Oh, shit,” Aiden said, eyes flaring with recognition.
I had no idea what the Spartoi were, but seeing that full-grown men made of dirt had just popped out the earth heavily armed, and seeing that were sons of Ares, I was going to assume this was a very bad situation.
Their mouths opened in unison, letting out a heart-stopping battle roar that was matched only by the sound that came out of Perses’ mouth. He launched himself forward, over the crack in the road, and met the first Dirt Man head-to-head.
“Yeah, screw this,” Seth said, lifting his hand. The marks on his skin brightened and akasha blasted from his palm, striking one of the manifestations in the chest.
Dirt Man Two exploded outward, but all the tiny, million particles froze and then snapped back, reforming. The thing laughed, spewing tiny pebbles from its open mouth.
“Oh crap,” I said, my mouth dropping open.
“The heads,” Perses grunted, engaging his sickle blade. “You must remove their heads!”
I unhooked my sickle blade as Dirt Man Two threw his axe. It whipped through the air, narrowly avoiding Aiden, and smacked into a tree across the road, embedding deep. A second later, a red film covered the majestic elm tree, completely and utterly swallowing it whole. When the red haze disappeared, nothing of the tree remained.
“Holy crap,” Luke said.
Another axe appeared in Dirt Man Two’s hands.
Perses whirled, cleaving the head off of his Dirt Man’s body. The creature collapsed into itself, the axe disappearing along with it. The Titan’s laugh was disturbingly joyful.
Dirt Man Two charged forward, and I used the air element to fling him back against the trees. The thing shattered and came back together within seconds. Seth shot forward, avoiding the broad sweep of the axe as he brought the sickle around sharply, catching it under the chin.
“Two down,” Aiden said, springing to the side as another axe flew by our heads.
Luke grunted as he shoved Deacon back toward the rear of the Expedition. “Stay back, pretty boy.”
Deacon responded, but it was lost in the invasion of the Spartoi. One was heading straight toward me, a trail of soil chasing after it. I dipped down, engaging the sickle part of the weapon with a shake of my wrist. I sprung up behind the Dirt Man. The thing twisted as it swung the axe down. Heat flew off the weapon, causing me to jump back.
Dirt Man Three lurched at me. Darting to the side, I reached up and caught his arm. It fell apart under my hand, crumbling in a sheet of dry dirt. Ignoring the grossness of that, I swung it down and twisted hard, causing the creature to lose its grip on the axe. As it fell to the ground, I brought the sickle blade against the back of its neck.
“Three down!” I shouted, feeling a familiar adrenaline rushing inside me.
Olivia spun gracefully, relieving another of its head. “Four!”
Was it twisted that we were counting? I guessed not, because within a few minutes, we were down to ten. Even Perses was calling out numbers, but he seemed to be having a hell of a lot more fun than we were. A wide smile was on his face as he stalked a Dirt Man, easily avoiding the axes lobbed at him. It was like Christmas morning for the freak.
Turning at the waist, I found myself nearly losing my own head when one of them swung an axe. I had two of them, coming from both sides. I started to summon the air element again, but Aiden appeared in front of me.
In a graceful move, he spun and lopped off the head of one of the Spartoi. I wanted to take a moment to recognize the beauty of the way he moved, but another was running straight for me. Rushing forward, I met it with the sharp side of the sickle.
Drop! Seth’s voice shouted in my head.
Without thinking twice, I hit the ground half a second before Seth’s blade cut through where I’d been standing, taking out a Dirt Man that had been really close to putting the hurting on me. None of these things could kill Seth or me, or at least that was what I was banking on, but they could put us down long enough for Ares to swoop in.
Rising, I nodded at Seth. “Thanks.”
He said nothing as he joined Luke in cornering two more of the creatures. Looking around, I saw that Deacon was safe and Aiden was now a few yards in front of him. Nothing would get past him.
I started toward another Dirt Man when a ball of flames landed about two feet from me. Fire licked over the ground. Startled, I spun, and my stomach dropped. Cresting the hill above us was one of the worst possible things we could’ve seen at this moment.
Horns, dark matted hair, and long, flat snouts that sloped into mouths full of strong teeth came into view. Their thick thighs and large hoofs made of titanium were next.
Automatons.
Perses shouted another battle roar, and the rush of adrenaline coiled tight around my heart. I spun and darted out, reaching the Dirt Man closest to me. The thing dove forward, but I ducked under its arm. Swinging around, I swung the blade down, dispatching another one of the freaky creations.
Something inside me clicked off as I ran toward the cars, dodging the axes and fireballs. We had to get rid of the Spartoi first. There were only a few left, so that was completely doable, and Perses was charging toward the bulls to keep them at bay for a while.
Hearing pounding footsteps behind me, I whirled and jerked to the side, narrowly avoiding another axe. Springing into the air, I spun and delivered a nasty kick that would’ve been so damn good if my foot hadn’t sunk through the thing’s chest.