Page 31

Bracken’s ball of light bobbed above us as we made our way to the edge of the underground lake. The water pulled me away from the edge, so I kicked like hell, fighting to get to the rocks.

Bracken was already standing at the water’s edge. He reached down and pulled Stheno out while Coco and I were battling for our lives against the strong current trying to pull us away from the others.

I hit the edge and dragged myself up a moment before Coco followed. Exhausted, we both sat on the rocks, catching our breath and then frantically checking our packs to make sure we had the food, canteen, and most importantly, the obol for the return trip.

Bracken flicked his fingers, drying us and our belongings.

Coco blew out a breath, securing everything again. “That was a close one.” She wiped water out of her eyes and looked around. The lake seemed to comprise the entirety of this huge cavern. There was a thin lip of rock around this side of the lake, but it was hard to tell if it went all the way around.

“What happened?” Coco stood, pulling me to my feet with her. “How did we end up here?”

“Watch your mouth,” Bracken mumbled slowly as he stared at the swirling water. He clearly wasn’t talking to Coco. He was remembering what the judge had told Stheno. He’d warned her to watch her mouth, and then she proceeded to ream both Athena and Poseidon. Shit.

Coco looked between the three of us. “Wait. Are you saying the gods heard what Stheno said and dumped us out of our safe, boring tunnel into this?”

I slung my backpack on. “Sure looks like it.” I walked over to Bracken. “What are we thinking? Any idea where we are?”

He created two more balls of light in his hands and threw them up into the air. With more light, we could see that the rock pathway didn’t extend to the opposite side of the lake. We could only walk on this side. It also made more of the lake itself visible. The water was swirling strangely.

“This is like that scene at the end of The Little Mermaid,” I told Bracken. “Ursula creates a whirlpool to kill Ariel and Eric.”

Bracken nodded. “Yes. I believe that’s what this is.”

“What?” Coco moved up beside us. “You think a cartoon sea wicche is responsible?”

Bracken looked at her blankly. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what that means.” He pointed at the now violently swirling water. “This, I believe, is Charybdis, the whirlpool.”

“You have got to be shitting me,” Stheno muttered, moving up on Bracken’s other side. She stared at the lake a moment and cursed. “If that’s Charybdis, then that asshole Scylla is around here somewhere.”

Bracken nodded. “My thoughts exactly.” He pointed to the far side of the lake. “There’s no path around that side. I assume that means Scylla will be over here.”

Coco held up her hands. “Wait. I didn’t have time to study before this trip. Who or what are Charybdis and Scylla?”

“Sea monsters,” Bracken replied, “for want of a better term. Charybdis is the whirlpool. He pulls ships off course and drags them below the sea, drowning entire crews. Scylla is a six-headed sea serpent of sorts. If ships are able to navigate past Charybdis, they end up sailing into her territory, where she can eat six sailors at a time.”

“Oh, wait,” Coco said. “This sounds familiar. We read The Odyssey in freshman English. Odysseus sacrificed his men and sailed by Scylla, right? He figured losing some was better than losing all.”

Bracken nodded.

“I remember thinking if he’d had a dragon on his crew, they could have flown over the tops of them.” She shook her head, apparently annoyed once again with Odysseus’ lack of dragons.

“Hold that thought.” Bracken called his light balls back to him before sending them along the narrow stone lip. He followed a few feet before stopping short at a flash of something in the dark. “Did you see that?” he whispered.

“Did—did she eat two of your lights?” I asked. His remaining light hovered farther from the cavern wall.

Bracken nodded. “We now know where Scylla’s hidden. There must be a break in the rock we can’t see from here where she’s secreted herself away.”

Stheno’s snakes stared intently at where we’d just seen two of Scylla’s heads. “Who knows how long they’ve been down here,” Stheno grumbled. “This is probably the most fun they’ve had in a couple thousand years.”

Bracken started back toward us and then was snatched up in the air. One of Scylla’s heads had popped through another break in the wall, her jaws trying their best to crush Bracken and snap him in half before eating him.

I raced toward him and jumped, my claws hooked around her open mouth, desperate to saw through her and free him. Bracken was muttering spells as he tried to pry her jaws apart. There was blood, mostly Bracken’s, as I wrenched my arms apart, tearing at her mouth.

Coco moved in close beside me and spat a fireball at the neck attaching this head to the larger body hidden inside the rock. On a scream of pain, the head dropped Bracken from her bloody mouth before retreating back through the slit.

Helping Bracken up, I hurried him toward Stheno, away from Scylla. Coco was beside us, propping up Bracken’s other side. Panicking, I lifted his shirt to see the extent of his wounds. There was more blood and jagged chucks bitten into his abdomen.

“Oh, God. That’s bad,” I whispered, horrified. “Stomach injuries are really bad.”