Hades left me his guard dog for eight years, and I needed him a grand total of once. The Hound of the Underworld would come in really handy right now, and yet he’s nowhere to be found. I’ll never understand the Gods’ sense of humor, or irony, or whatever it is.
Real fear, the kind I recognize like an old enemy, takes root inside of me. I’m so completely outmatched right now that there’s a good chance I’m going to die.
I slide backward on my hands and knees, still trying to clear my vision. A growl reverberates around the tunnel, and then the beast catapults forward. Straightening, I grip my sword with both hands and swing in a wide, wild arc, somehow keeping it at bay. Every bruise and abused bone aches as I swing again, gaining myself the time to get to my feet.
Dizzy, I stagger and almost fall into one of the beast’s mouths. Gasping, I stumble back as another head grabs for me at the same time. The two fang-filled faces collide with a thump. The beast roars, and the competing heads snarl at each other, growling and biting.
I spin and run. Pain streaks through my head, and suddenly up is down. I lose my balance and hit the ground with a full-body smack, my chin bouncing off the ice. Stunned, I roll onto my back only to find all three of the monster’s heads looming over me.
Instinct makes me swing with all my might. I hit horns again, and my sword flies from my grasp. My frozen fingers bark in pain, and I pull them back, clutching them against my chest as my sword clatters away.
Oh Gods!I can’t stay here. I have to get up.
Desperation and panic give me a burst of strength. I flip over and pop up running. I skid on the ice and careen off the side of the tunnel, using it like a frozen springboard. Sharp teeth snap behind me.
The beast charges, its claws scraping on the ice. Despite the risk to my balance, I dart a look over my shoulder. It’s gaining on me.
Light sparks in my head, radiating out from the throbbing pulse point at the top of my skull. Gritting my teeth, I twist and throw two knives. It’s too dark to see what happens, but the ping and clang as I face forward again tell me they didn’t stick.
I sprint for the fractionally brighter end of the tunnel, my head pounding like my blood. Hot breath slams into the back of my neck as I jump, breaking an icicle off the mouth of the passageway.
I turn in the air and land facing the beast, already swinging the icicle with a vicious upward thrust. Just before the frozen dagger connects with the soft underside of one jaw, another head swoops in and snatches the weapon from my hand. There’s a crunch.It ate my icicle!
I sway on my feet. All three heads lunge at once, and I leap back, turning to flee.
A horrifying, empty feeling rushes up through me. I gasp, flailing. It takes only a split second to realize there’s nothing under my feet.
Fear punches me in the gut. My stomach flies up into my mouth, and my terrified shriek almost drowns out the sound of Kato frantically shouting my name from across an immense, dark hole.
CHAPTER 19
IDROP. I’VE DONE THE UNTHINKABLY STUPID ANDstepped off a cliff. I can still hear Kato’s panicked bellow, and it’s almost as heartbreaking as knowing I’m going to die.
My life flashes before my eyes. I don’t like a lot of what I see. But there’s Eleni. And Desma, Aetos, Vasili, and Selena. There’s Beta Team. And Griffin.
My heart explodes at the thought of Griffin. My scream turns raw. Cold wind buffets me. The two cloaks flap above my head, their buckles digging into my chin. Their glow does nothing to pierce the vast darkness. Below me, everything is black.
I’m completely unprepared for total, icy submersion. Freezing water closes over my head, expelling the air from my lungs and bruising me straight to my bones. My scream cuts off, bubbling around me. Reflexively, I fan out my aching arms and legs, trying to slow my descent before starting to kick.
Kicking is useless. I keep going down. The weight I’m carrying pulls me in the wrong direction.
My lungs scream for breath as I wrestle the strap of the heavy satchel over my head and then drop Kato’s clothing and all of our supplies. I’d rather starve than drown. One happens a lot faster than the other.
It’s not enough. I kick furiously, yanking at the cloak buckles and trying to shed the heavy garments. The dark water is numbing, and my stiff fingers slide off the latches. Panic beats through me as I reach for a knife. My mind races for solutions, but my body is sluggish, the marrow-deep cold preventing my hand from closing around the hilt.
I sink, my head and ears throbbing from the pressure. My lungs spasm, my chest convulsing as I deny myself the right to breathe. The light from the smoldering cloaks illuminates the steady stream of bubbles rising around me. Soon enough, that decreases, fading until there’s nothing.
Reflex finally overwhelms me, and I breathe. Water floods my lungs, painful and wrong. I can’t cough. There’s no air for that, so I just breathe more water, sucking it down and choking on it, the cold invading me, inside and out.
Numb to my core and yet filled with a burning desire to live, I shout a liquid scream. I scream for Griffin, for my friends, for myself, and maybe even for Fisa, the home I abandoned to a monster.
My scream heats my throat, heats it until my neck burns, my skin catches fire, and…splits?
Grimacing, I slowly lift my hand to my stinging neck. The pressure in my ears disappears, and I breathe. Sort of. I breathe water, but it doesn’t hurt. And it doesn’t feel wrong anymore. It clears my head of the shadow of death an instant before my feet touch solid ground.
Unsteady,confused, I try to catch my balance and my breath. Instinctively, I draw more liquid in through the slashes in my neck.
I didn’t drown. I have gills.
