Page 49

His filthy fingers would crush me, I’d lose my breath, and just when it felt like bones were about to snap, his grip would ease up. Maybe he was just fucking with me.

He held me close to his filthy, burned face. One of his eyes was a sooty, empty hole. The other eye, though, studied me closely. “Who are you?” he thundered.

I considered pulling Odysseus’ trick on the Cyclops and telling him my name was Nobody, so he could rage about how Nobody had hurt him. It had worked for Odysseus until his stupid pride got the better of him and he decided to gloat after he’d gotten away, telling the Cyclops his real name. Idiot. That one cost him.

Then a thought occurred to me. “I am Finvarra, king of the fae.” If he and his mommy wanted to hunt someone down, make it that asshole.

His dark brow went down. “Fin..?”

Ah, well, it had been worth a try.

Silently, without warning, Coco flew between us, her claws dragging across his face and popping his only remaining eye.

On a screech of pain, he dropped me. My axe and I were falling at least forty feet, and Coco was on the other side of the hall, swinging back. She was too far away to help. Shit. This was going to hurt.

Loose knees, loose knees. As I prepared to hit the ground, I saw Bracken slide into view, his arms out to catch me.

“Watch out!” I was going to crush and kill my great-uncle.

I didn’t, though. I landed in his arms softly, like I’d been a feather on the wind. He grinned down at me and then placed me on my feet.

The giant was on his belly on the ground, flailing at the tiles, having a good, old-fashioned tantrum. Coco flew to our side and, in a flash of fire, shifted and dropped down twenty feet away from us. Bracken turned his back to her, giving her privacy.

“I dropped my backpack before I shifted. Did anyone see where it hit?” she asked.

Bracken pointed at the tunnel entrance. “I moved it over there, my dear.”

“Good eyes,” I told him. “I didn’t even see it drop.”

The giant howled and pounded, so we all moved into the tunnel, past where an arm could possibly follow.

“I’m out of clothes,” Coco grumbled, walking behind us.

“I have running tights and a tank you can have,” I told her, pulling off my backpack. “Oh, shit. That giant crushed the spit out of me. My body is going to be one big bruise from chest to ankles. Everything in my bag is probably destroyed.”

The canteen was crumpled. Bracken flicked his fingers, though, and it returned to its original state.

I grinned. “Thank you!”

“My pleasure.”

The grape leaves were empty and crumbs covered everything else. “Damn, no Artemis cake for me this time. I still have some protein bars in here, though, so it’s all good. Let’s take a break.” I upended the bag, shook out the divine crumbs, and pulled out a change of clothes, handing them to Coco.

“I’d been going for clothes that were super thin and wouldn’t take much room,” I told her. “And I still have a pair of running shorts and a tee, if we need them.”

While Coco got dressed, I opened protein bar packets and tipped the crushed contents into my mouth. Hoping, I uncorked the canteen, and there was water inside. “These things are so worth the million bucks.”

Bracken drank his down, corked it, uncorked it, and drank it down again. “They certainly are.”

“These are nice,” Coco said, putting her hands in the hip pockets of the running tights. “I need to get myself a few pairs.”

“I have a pair in every color. They’re super comfortable and breathable.” I thought about the conversation we were having. It felt so normal and yet so ridiculous. “Assuming we get out of here, I’ll send you every pair I can find in your size.” I turned to the other two. “Feel free to put in your orders now. If you hadn’t agreed to come with me, I’d have died way back with the sea monsters.”

“I want that two-hundred-thousand-dollar Benz you have,” Stheno said.

“You don’t drive,” I reminded her.

“And a driver,” she added.