The Cult of Kronos Read Free Page B

numbly answering a line of traditional
questions—“no, she didn't have any enemies” (lie) and “I can't think of anyone who would want to kill her” (another lie) —Jason
had brought Penny back to his house. He couldn't leave her there with
no family. Social Services would take her, and Jason couldn't let
that happen. There would be headaches and paperwork, but Jason was
cleared to take her home for the night by her emergency contact card.
There was a Titan out there looking for blood. Jason couldn't leave
her undefended. He had tried to leave The Pantheon, but here he was,
sucked back into it all.

    Jason placed the phone call
the morning after Celene's death. He sat at the kitchen table, still
dressed in his shirt from the night before, a crinkly, collared,
light-blue oxford. He hadn't been to bed yet. Jason anxiously tugged
at his short beard as he spoke. All of this felt oddly familiar, like
the morning after Felicia had passed away when he had been up for
hours, unable to sleep because the quiet allowed him to think. He
remembered that night vividly. Every time he had tried to sleep,
grief overtook him and wracked him with fits of painful sobs. Jason
spent this morning calling colleagues from the school, because Celene
had no family, and he was trying to stay busy to stay numb. After the
phone tree had been activated and after a long call with Principal
Phillips, Jason called his father. When he heard his father's voice
on the other end, Jason couldn't help but remember that morning years
before.
    “ I need you or Aunt
Elizebeth to come get the kids,” he said.
    “ What happened?” Paul
Livingstone asked.
    “ There's been an accident.
Celene passed away last night.” He heard his voice crack when he
said it. He needed someone to take the kids before the numbness
broke.
    “ I'm the only one who can
take Penny in.”
    “ What kind of accident?”
Paul asked.
    Jason was silent for a moment.
Did he want to worry his father? “She was murdered ”
    “ Then that's no accident,”
Paul said.
    Jason didn't respond.
    “ They catch the bastard who
did it?”
    “ No, Dad. He was… they
don't know. There was a car accident, and then he—I really don't
want to talk about it.
    “ I told you that city wasn't
a safe place to raise kids,” his father said. “Too many gangs.”
    Jason's fist clenched the edge
of the table. Paul Livingstone had always preached the evils of city
life. He was a survival nut, growing more paranoid of criminals and
populated areas as he aged. Jason knew that gangs had nothing to do
with what had happened to Celene, but the real culprit was far more
frightening. He knew, logically, that he should take his kids and get
out-of-town with them. That would have been the intelligent thing to
do, but Jason had always prioritized right over smart. “It's only
for a little while. I don't want them around. They're too young to
understand. And I've got all these meetings with social services.”
    “ Of course. We'll be there
this afternoon.”
    “ Thanks, Dad.”
    When Jason hung up the phone
in the kitchen, Penny was standing behind him, her right arm hanging
in a blue, cotton sling.
    “ You're sending them away?”
    Jason twisted around in his
chair, startled. Whatever peace of mind Jason had found after
stepping down from his role with The Pantheon had been shattered by
Celene's death. He took a deep breath and nodded. “You saw him rip
the seatbelt apart like a party streamer. It's a Titan, and I'm not
going to have them in the line of fire.”
    Penny nodded. “Of course.”
She started to turn from the room, but stopped. “I'm sorry.”
    Jason frowned. “What for?”
    “ For dragging you back into
this.”
    Jason shook his head and stood
up from his seat. “Hey, don't be. I jumped right in two years ago.
When you know a secret like that, there's no going back.”
    “ You didn't have to come
back.”
    “ And leave you to the
system?” He slid his hands into the pockets of his blue