“This is your chance to prove your worth!” he bellowed, and black fog gathered at his feet.
The inky fog poured down the high walls into the sands where we stood.
His legendary power streamed toward us. No one knew exactly what it did, but everyone knew to fear it.
The House of Hades was known as the House ofDeathfor a reason. Their abilities were as scary as the House of Ares.
Chthonics are all evil.
My breath left my mouth in an unnatural frosty puff as the fog rolled in and the temperature plummeted. I rubbed at my chest, heart racing uncomfortably fast from the adrenaline they’d injected into my veins.
Thunder cracked.
I was painfully alive.
As the black fog approached, it carried voices—a woman wailed, amale begged me to call the Spartans, a young boy sobbed, a strange male shrieked in pain, and Nyx hissed in confusion.
I turned to run from it, but there was nowhere to go—the screaming fog surrounded me on all sides. Dark and solid. It trapped me.
My teeth chattered.
“FIGHT TO THE DEATH!”Hades bellowed, his voice warping with a strange cadence, and three dog barks boomed.
“Immortality is not a right, it is a privilege... Immortality is not a right, it is a privilege...” echoed through the coliseum.
Off to my right, a boy bellowed, and flesh smacked in the fog.
I turned my head and squinted.
To my left, a boy’s shriek was abruptly cut off.
There was a grunt, then silence.
Lightning flashed, and electricity filled the air. My wet hair fizzled. I turned in a circle and squinted into the fog, but I couldn’t see anything.
“You need to get ready—stay alert,” Nyx said.
“Ready for what?” I whispered.
A boy appeared out of the fog, charging at me.
I turned to run—he slammed against me, and my face banged against wet sand. My limbs tingled from being body-slammed. He was all over me. He wastouchingme.
There was a moment of pure shock.
I froze.
Nyx yelled something at me, but I couldn’t hear.
Fists slammed into the side of my head, and the ringing in my left ear got louder. Another blow caught my chin.
He was still touching me,and I didn’t want it.
Something inside me snapped.
Bucking against the boy’s hold, I swung and kicked blindly. Scratched. My fists landed against thick muscles. We grappled, rolling through the wet sand.
He punched me in the stomach with insane force.
