I’m close to the end? I’m almost there. No Dex, so far.
I come to another T, and we do our thing again.
Standing in one spot as I wait for my animals to return, I’m shifting from foot to foot in an impatient dance, eager to be out of this cage, when a new roar of the crowd pummels the glass. This roar has a different timbre to it. I spin and catch a glimpse of a wine-colored uniform and dark-brown hair and then the glint of sunlight on a mirror.
Meike.
No.
The truth hits me so hard, I raise a hand over my heart like I could shield it from the impact. It doesn’t help, and I lean forward, hands on my knees, closing my eyes against reality.
Meike won the Labor.
She won, I lost, and that’s it. No way to tie Diego. No way to free Boone. Hades doesn’t get to be king. I keep my curse.
Game over.
I suck in, trying to breathe around the death of the hope I’ve been carrying since Boone died and Hades said he could make him immortal.
“Lyra?” That’s Zai’s voice from my left.
I stay where I am, watching Meike wave to the crowds, trying to make myself remember that I’m happy for her.
“What happened?” He’s closer now.
I turn my head slowly. Trinica is with him. The Harpe of Perseus, in Zai’s hand, is covered in yellow-and-green bug guts, but they’re both alive.
“Meike won.” I try to make it sound positive, but it comes out flat. Gods, I’m a terrible friend.
A sudden garbled scream reverberates not just through the glass walls but down into my tunnel, and I jerk upright in time to get a clear view of Meike being lifted off the ground by nothing. Her hands circle something invisible, and her feet kick out in the air as she fights. With one hand, Dex removes his helm, revealing himself to the crowds.
Trinica bursts past me with a scream of challenge, hurling curses like bombs as she runs. Axe in hand, I sprint after her, down the last halls of the maze, Zai on my heels.
My animals don’t even have to show us the way. We don’t stop running as we make the last three turns.
As we burst from the maze, the noise hits us like a solid wall.
Maybe that’s why Dex doesn’t hear us running at him, but with a scream a banshee would envy, I launch myself on his back. He drops Meike and goes wild under me. It takes everything in me to hold on and not drop my axe. No more sound. No more screams. The only noise coming from me are grunts of effort as I hold on to his thrashing form.
Vaguely, I’m aware of Zai trying to trip him as he and Trinica dance around us. But Dex is bucking and kicking at them and clawing at me, trying to get me off, and we can’t make him stop. That’s when he rolls, slamming me into the glass floor with the force of his body.
As I come to my feet, so does Dex. He rises with murder in his eyes, only to get a kick to the balls from Trinica that drops him back to his knees, doubled over on a groan. Thank the gods. Maybe that will slow him down. The three of us stop fighting, taking a breath.
Just long enough for him to lunge for Meike, who’s still lying on the ground. Then he’s back on his feet, holding her in the air by her neck with one hand. Eyes bulging, her face turns purple.
I hurl my axe, not trying to kill him, just stop him. It spins end over end and hits true, sinking into his shoulder with a thwack right where I intended. Only, to our disbelief, it doesn’t stop him. It doesn’t even slow him down. Still holding Meike up with one hand, he yanks it out and throws it away, and it clatters away on the glass.
Then he jerks her down and in and twists her neck sharply with both hands. I hear the crack, even over the yells of the crowd. Worse, I feel it in my own bones. I feel it in my heart when her body goes instantly limp before she’s dropped in a jumbled heap of limbs.
Dead.
I fall to my knees as he thrusts both of his hands into the air and shouts a carnal roar of triumph. He’s the winner of this Labor now. Beyond where he stands, I see Athena on the platform, and she’s smiling.
Until the answering thunder of the immortals in the stands threatens to break the glass under us.
Boos.
They’re booing him.
Because it’s Meike, I realize.
He should have come for me, not her. Not the sweetest and gentlest of us.
I let Dex go.
Just minutes before this in the maze. I didn’t fight him. I didn’t try to kill him. I let him go, and now…
The watching immortals whip one another into a frenzy. I’m guessing only the Daemones are keeping them from doing anything to Dex, who stands on the glass top to the maze, in the center of the entire stadium, hands dangling at his sides, shock frozen on his features as the throng batters him with their screams for justice and blood.
Dex turns his head, looking at Meike, and I think maybe he says her name as he frowns in confusion. Then he raises his gaze past her, landing on me, and the feral rage that overtakes his features sends terror barreling through me.
“Oh, fuck,” I think Trinica says.
And then he’s on top of me so fast I don’t even have a chance to get to my feet. Just like with Meike, he lifts me by the neck, his grip so tight spots dance before my eyes. I’m clawing at him, beating my feet in the air. But he’s too strong. I try to let go with one hand and get to my vest, but he’s jerking me around so violently, I can’t get a grip on any of the zippers.
Trinica launches herself onto his back. It doesn’t even seem to slow him down.
And the violence of his eyes is like he’s possessed.
