The Crucible was not a place. It was a nightmare made real.They drove Marcus through Chicago's empty streets, past closed shops and sleeping towers. The city looked peaceful. It was a lie. Marcus could feel the tension in the air, thick and wrong, like the moment before lightning struck.The van stopped in front of an abandoned meatpacking plant. Dmitri hauled Marcus out and shoved him toward the entrance. Two other guards flanked them, hands on their guns.Inside, the smell hit Marcus first. Blood and ozone and something else. Something that made his instincts scream.Magic.The main floor had been cleared, replaced by a massive circle carved into concrete. Symbols glowed faintly around its edge, pulsing like a heartbeat. In the center sat a stone chair, black and ancient, covered in chains.Viktor waited beside it, checking his watch. "Strap him in. The Vesper wants this done before dawn."They forced Marcus into the chair. The stone was ice cold against his back. Metal cuffs locke

They dumped Marcus on Michigan Avenue at midnight.No weapons. No armor. Just the torn clothes on his back and the mark burning beneath his skin. Bjorn had given him one piece of advice before shoving him out of Valhalla's Gate."Trust your instincts. The mark will try to protect you. Let it."Then the door had vanished, leaving Marcus alone on empty Chicago streets.The city felt wrong. Too quiet. Street lights flickered like dying stars. Cars sat abandoned at intersections, doors hanging open. Everyone had fled or hidden, sensing the danger that prowled tonight.Marcus started moving. He had three hours until dawn. Three hours to stay alive.His feet carried him south, away from the lake. The mark pulsed with each heartbeat, warm against his chest. It whispered to him in a language he did not know but somehow understood.Danger. Close. Move.He ducked into an alley as shadows rippled across the street behind him. Not natural shadows. These moved with purpose, flowing like oil, searc

The police station burned with golden fire.Not real flames. Something worse. Divine energy poured from Marcus like water from a broken dam, melting steel, cracking stone, warping reality itself.He could not stop it. Could not control it. The mark had taken over, and Ares's rage consumed everything."Marcus!" Athena's voice cut through the chaos. "Focus! Pull it back!"He tried. The power ignored him, flooding out, searching for something to destroy.The Vesper laughed from the shadows. "Look at him. A mortal body cannot contain a god's essence. He will burn himself to ash within minutes."She was right. Marcus could feel it. His skin was too hot. His heart beat too fast. The power was killing him from the inside."Help me," Marcus gasped, falling to his knees.Athena moved fast. Her spear flashed, and she drove it into the ground beside Marcus. Lightning erupted from the weapon, forming a circle around him. The energy crashed against the barrier, contained but not stopped."Listen t

Elena drove through Chicago traffic like the laws did not apply to her.Marcus gripped the door handle, watching buildings blur past. Athena sat in the back seat, silent and calculating. The tension in the car was thick enough to cut."Where are we going?" Marcus finally asked."Somewhere the pantheons cannot track us," Elena said, cutting across three lanes without signaling. "A dead zone. No divine surveillance, no magic signatures. Completely off grid.""How does a mortal detective know about dead zones?" Athena asked, her tone sharp.Elena met the goddess's eyes in the rearview mirror. "I am not mortal. Not completely. My father was Hephaestus. Which you already knew, or you would not be in my car right now."Marcus turned to stare at her. "Your father was a god?""Was being the key word." Elena's jaw tightened. "He died six months ago. During the Crimson Night. Same night Ares supposedly died."The car fell silent except for the engine's hum."I did not know Hephaestus fell that

The facility sat thirty miles outside Chicago, disguised as a private medical center.Kara killed the motorcycle's lights a quarter mile out, coasting to a stop behind a cluster of trees. Elena and Marcus climbed off, studying the building through the darkness."Looks normal," Marcus said."That is the point." Kara pulled binoculars from her jacket. "Three floors. David Park is in the basement. Guards rotate every four hours. The next shift change is in twenty minutes.""How do you know all this?" Elena asked."I have been watching this place for weeks." Kara handed her the binoculars. "See the parking lot? Seven cars. Five belong to staff. Two are personal vehicles for demigod guards. The silver sedan is Deimos's. He is here tonight."Marcus felt the mark pulse. Danger. Close. But also something else. Anticipation. The part of him that was Ares wanted to face Deimos. Wanted violence.He pushed the feeling down."We cannot fight a god," Marcus said. "Even with three of us.""We do not