Click. Click. Chuff.
Great. I have the beast. I do not have the lyre.
I round a bend, moving as quietly as I can. The tunnel brightens by degrees, and a thought kicks my already thundering heart into overdrive.Is the beast guarding the second large cave?
I’m desperate to see Kato again. And to get us both out of here.
My blood drumming in my ears, I inch toward what can only be described at the moment as not total dark, my sword leading the way. I swear to the Gods, when this is over, I’m never going underground again. It’s horrible, black, quiet, and incredibly lonely. I have no idea what’s happened to Kato—well,someidea—and Griffin and the others must be freezing cold and out of their minds with worry.
The scratching sound gets louder. I want to turn around and find another tunnel, but there’s light this way. And a three-headed beast was part of the Gods’ warning. I need to face it, whether I want to or not. Unfortunately, I’m minus one lyre.
Ariadne’s Thread trails from my wrist, and I wish I could somehow sense Griffin on the other end. What if something’s happened to him? What if I don’t make it out?
A desperate sort of anxiety constricts my throat, making it hard to breathe. I clutch my sword, feeling each ridge of the grip press into my palm. Fear usually makes me angry. I need to get back to that.
I plaster myself against the icy wall and creep forward just enough to get a look at what comes next. The passageway opens up, but not enough for what I’d call a cavern. It’s a bigger, wider, higher tunnel, with multiple offshoots, some of which are not utterly dark.
What do those offshoots lead to? The second cavern? The first? The top of the needle? At this point, I’m completely turned around. I could be anywhere inside the mountain. Maybe it’s the exit. I could be closer to Griffin than I thought!
Quietly, I hurry toward the light until I slip on black ice and nearly land on my back. Then I step on something uneven, and my left ankle twists. Ignoring the twinge of pain, I lower the torch to see what my foot just landed on.
It’s bone. Old, crunchy, dried-up bone.
Thump! Scrabble.
I jerk my head up.
Scrabble. Thump! Thump!
I whirl to face the darker tunnels. Something’s coming down one of the passageways, but I don’t know which one.
Thump! Thump! Chuff.
The middle! I dive to the right.
Wrong!The three-headed monster explodes from the right-hand tunnel.
A shot of pure fear detonates inside of me. I drop and roll under a lethally clawed foot. Something razor-sharp slices my thigh, and I hiss in pain as I shove my torch up into the beast’s underbelly. It bellows and skids to a stop.
I jump to my feet, my injured leg howling in protest, only to drop again when a powerful clubbed tail whizzes over my head and smashes into the side of the tunnel. Ice shatters, and I duck as a shower of cold, sharp shards splashes over me.
The beast pivots. One of its huge heads lunges for me, and I spring back, pain pulsing in my thigh. Its jaws snap, and I back away. Six black eyes track me. They’re as dark as the rest of the beast, only with a shiny, liquid gleam.
“We don’t have to fight.” So saying, I raise my sword.
The middle head attacks. I shoot to the side and then bring my blade down hard on that skull. The impact jars me from teeth to toes.
In the flickering torchlight, I see a flash of dark horns—long, smooth, and curved low over the beast’s skulls. Like a ram’s horns, they spiral back around to protect the vulnerable necks.
Massive. Three heads. Too many teeth. Horns like helmets.Uh-oh.
While I’m assessing the situation, the monster brings its clubbed tail around again like a battering ram. There’s just enough room in the tunnel for the maneuver and nowhere for me to go. The cramped quarters work in my favor, though, because the thick, muscular part catches me in the middle while the bony club scrapes a deep furrow along the tunnel wall. I have just enough time to curl inward and throw myself backward to better absorb the impact.
I fly through the air and land sprawled on my back, the wind knocked out of me. I slide what feels like a mile down the slippery tunnel before the top of my skull cracks against the wall. Bright lights explode behind my eyes. Pain rips through my head as momentum carries me around in a hard arc, and the rest of my body slams into the icy barrier.
For a second, there’s nothing. No air. No light. No sound. Then I suck in a huge breath, and my stunned body jolts back to me. Groaning, I roll to my knees. Pain grips my head. Everything spins. I touch the sorest spot and feel the start of a huge knot, warm and wet.
I tighten my other hand around a familiar hilt. Somehow, I held on to my sword. The torch lies far down the tunnel, dimly illuminating the advancing monster from behind. I blink, trying to chase away the dizziness, but my head throbs, and the pounding ache doesn’t stop there. I can’t focus on the beast, but I know it’s coming for me, hulking, huge, and snarling snorts and growls that remind me of Cerberus.
