“Very well, then,” Abaddon giggled, clapping her hands. “I’ll leave you all in the locations I first took you from, shall I?”

She didn’t give them time to answer. Because in that instant, they were gone. Like they had never been there at all. No goodbyes. No heartfelt words. Abaddon had stolen even that from them.

Cade’s heart broke a second time that day. Of all his friends that could have stayed, Amber and Quintus were the ones he’d wanted to save the most. Now, they would live out their days on this planet if he succeeded. And face Abaddon’s wrath if he failed.

Cade walked to the fire and sat down heavily. He laid his head on Amber’s shoulder and pulled Quintus close.

“Thank you,” Cade said. “For everything.”

They held him tight, and Cade allowed the tears to flow freely down his face. It was time.

“How very sweet,” Abaddon said, leaning in close for a better view. “Such sentiment. But hey, look on the bright side. You bought Earth two thousand years of safety. And you get to stay here and play with me.”

Cade cleared his throat and patted his friends to let him go. He looked down at the timer in one hand and the toy in the other.

“I have one last thing to say to you, Abaddon,” Cade said, his voice shaking with anger.

“Oh yes?” Abaddon asked. “What’s that?”

Cade smiled through his tears and looked up into Abaddon’s avatar’s eyes.

“This,” he said.

And detonated the EMP.

CHAPTER

64

The girl crackled, then disappeared, followed by the thud of the Codex falling directly into the fire. Cade left it there and jumped to his feet.

“Listen to me very carefully,” he said forcefully. “We have to do a lot of things very quickly. Otherwise we are all going to die. Follow me. Now!”

He ran toward the plane, his heart pounding near out of his chest. He was so used to a timer. Now, there was none. The pantheon could come online in an hour, or ten minutes. All he knew was he had to get that bomb to the alien ship. And get the alien ship out of the water for that matter.

Marius, Amber, and Quintus had followed, but the other Romans were still milling about, having watched the disappearances in awe.

“Detach the bomb,” Cade shouted, pointing at the weapon. “And carry it down the tunnel to the waterfall. Marius, call over your men, it’s going to take at least a dozen of them to lift this thing. And be careful with it!”

“Cade, what the hell is happening?” Amber shouted.

“The Grays,” Cade said. “I’m working with them. This bomb is going to destroy the pantheon. Please, we don’t have much time. The pantheon got knocked out by an electromagnetic pulse, but they could come online at any minute.”

He grabbed Quintus and pulled him along.

“Come on,” Cade said. “They’ll catch up.”

He began to run, and shouted over his shoulder.