Titos drops his head straight down, and the entire screeching Hydra disappears into his monstrous gullet—gone in one gulp.
“Good Gods,” Griffin murmurs.
I drag my jaw off the ground. “Well done, Titos!” I cheer. “Good snake!”
Titos looks in our direction and then sets his massive head down on the waterlogged bank, leaving his huge body to bask half in the sun, half in the warm lake. He looks for all of Olympus like he’s settling down for a nap and a long digestion. The Hydra is a giant lump in Titos’s even more gigantic throat. The lump ismoving.
I clap. “Onward to the Ipotane! This day is turning outgreat!”
Griffin levels a flat, dark look on me, not amused.
Kato looks ill. “I… It… Me…” He stares at the massive snake. “Big.”
I squeeze his arm. “Don’t worry. You’ll speak in complete sentences again soon.”
His brow creasing, Flynn looks out over the now-calm water. “Actually, before we move on… Since Titos has made the lake safe, I wouldn’t mind a bath.”
The others murmur in agreement, and it sounds like a good idea to me. I’m covered in my own blood.
“Wash and rest.” Griffin nods. “We’ll camp here until Cat is at full strength again.”
As anxious as I am to reach the Ipotane, he’s right. I’m pumped up on adrenaline right now, but everything that just happened is bound to take its toll. Better to rest and recover with Titos watching over us.
We return to where we left our gear and supplies, and Carver rummages for soap and a change of clothing. Flynn and Kato do the same.
“We’ll take that side,” Carver says, and he and the others move off toward the right, between Titos and the cliffside path, leaving Griffin and me alone.
Griffin grabs his soap and satchel and then reaches for me, swinging me up into his arms.
Smiling, I loop my hands loosely around his neck. “I can walk.”
“Or I can carry you.”
I arch a brow at his flat, unbending tone, but I like it where I am, so I don’t argue.
Griffin carries me toward the steaming lake, heading for a scattering of boulders to the left of Titos. Staring straight ahead, gruffly he says, “I need you.”
Anticipation leaps in my belly. I need him, too. I bury my face in his scruffy neck and inhale deeply. I choke a little. “What you need is a bath.”
He grunts.
“And a shave.” I rub the tip of my nose over his whiskered cheek. “Can I shave your beard for you?”
“No.”
I stretch up and nip his earlobe. “Why not? I’m good with knives.”
Griffin’s grip tightens. “Concentrate on your own hair. It might take a while.”
“Ah, the Knotted Nest. Thatwilltake some work.”
Griffin almost smiles. I think. “You named it?”
“Of course. It’s worthy of a name. Actually, it’s got two. That and the Terrible Tangle. Which do you prefer?”
“I prefer ‘I love you and you’re beautiful.’”
I grin. “Charming, Your Highness.”
