Sneak peak of the unedited first 500 words.
On the edge of the city where the silver gates of starlight met the sea, I could feel the breeze coming in from the ocean. I walked along the docks to meet a man who had unfortunately bitten off more than he could chew by trying to gamble against my father. Giovanni Salavar wasn’t the type to forgive and forget. Once you made a bargain with the Golden Ram, there was no going back. And Oliver Peck owed my father a great deal of money from his dealings with him down in the pits on the edge of the city. I hated having to come down to the docks. I had no choice but to pass by the old warehouse where my mother’s body was found… I couldn’t think about that right now. I needed to focus on the task at hand.
My father had sent me out to collect on the debt owed, but with a guy like Oliver Peck, a sly little creep who’d weaseled himself out of trouble with my father more times than I could count, I knew I was going to need to stay alert and keep my wits about me. I didn’t have the luxury of letting my past distract me right now. The smell of a cigarette burning made me halt to a stop, and the vision of my mother’s burnt body flashed before my eyes, the hole in her chest where her heart had been ripped out in some dark blood ritual. I placed my hand to my stomach as I tried to gather myself.
Focus, Athena. Remember why you’re here, I thought to myself..
I heard a splash in the distance and headed toward the docks to find Oliver Peck loading a small boat. He glanced up at me and held eye contact for just a second before I threw myself at him like a ball of fiery rage. “You think Leviathan will let you pass through the sea gates?” I grabbed him by the shoulders just as he turned to jump into his tiny boat. “No one gets to leave the city without permission of the council. Maybe I should drag you to the crystal palace so you can tell them all about your little escape plan.”
Oliver turned to look at me, and instead of fury it was fear I saw in his eyes, the horror of what the Titans might do to him if they found out he was trying to slip past the gates without their blessing. “I didn’t think so.” I turned him around to fully face me and shoved him down to his knees. He wouldn’t look at me. “You know who I am?”
He nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on the wood beneath my boots.
“Then you already know what I’m here to collect.”
He let out a sniffle, and I could feel the ache of my cuff on my wrist as my fire pressed against it. There was something cruel about chasing down the vulnerable and forcing them to give up the last of what they owned in order to stay alive. I could already tell this would be the last time for Oliver. If he was willing to risk Leviathan’s wrath, or the punishment that came from disobeying the gods, then he knew he was going to die tonight.
Leave a Reply