Nah, he’d tangle them with the shrubs and then set fire to them. Rain down fire and brimstone. Make their heads explode.
Yeah, that was Grim’s style. The bloodier the better. Make them sweat and enjoy watching them squirm. He was sick that way.
“Anyone else getting a bad feeling in their stomach?”
“It’s been ten minutes since your last meal, Nick. For you, it’s probably hunger.”
Bubba was right. He did have a hefty appetite.
Still …
Nick froze as they rounded the corner of the castle. “Huh. When they said statue in a garden, I envisioned a pretty little garden with a single statue. No one said it was a statue maze. How are we going to pick Ash out of this?”
They all drew up short beside him as he stared at what had to be a hundred statues or more.
“Wow,” Xev breathed. “I haven’t seen anything like this since Apollymi went wild on the Atlantean gods.”
“Hey, now! That’s my family you’re talking about.”
Xev cut a sideways stare at Kody. “I made no comment about your relatives, only that Apollymi went to town on them.”
It was true. After the Greek god Apollo murdered Ash when Ash was in his human body, Apollymi was freed from her prison. To say she became unhinged over the death of her son would be tantamount to calling Fuji an anthill. She’d cut a swath of slaughter through her pantheon and over the earth to the point that Artemis had been forced to bring Ash back to life in order to return Apollymi to her prison.
No one wanted to relive that horror.
Except whoever had created this lovely monument.
Dang.
“Is this a family thing?” Nick asked Kody. “Do I have to worry about your getting angry at me one day, and going Medusa?”
“Not really. My grandfather pulls body parts off his family and mutilates them. God of Chaos. Gotta love him.”
“Awesome. I just got an ulcer.”
Xev clapped him on the back. “Why? Your family is known to pull wings off those who anger them.”
Nick wanted to whimper.
Until he thought of something. “Wait … I would be related to Xenia, right?”
“Yeah. Cousins. Why?”
He smiled at Xev. “Then I would have the same ability to get into the castle?”
“Maybe.”
Nick tsked at him. “Maybe’s just a baby you rock until it’s a yes.”
Xev rolled his eyes. “Why do you want to go into the castle?”
“Hey, people pay lots of money to tour castles … and haunted houses. This is both. I like twofers.”
“Are you serious?”
“No. I was just curious.” Nick headed for the statues.
Man, it was rough. Too many of them held expressions of terror or horror permanently etched into their faces. He couldn’t imagine going about his business and then have some narcissistic jerkweed turn him into stone.
