I just have to run the race. That’s it. Get through those three gates first.
“It won’t be easy, champions,” Zeus warns. “You may use your gifts and prizes to defend yourselves, but you may not use them to escape or skip any portion of this challenge. And to get to each gate, you must get past some of the most terrifying monsters of all the Labors in history.”
Terrific.
“Starting with…” Zeus turns, raising his hands to the skies as if he’s lifting something.
Lightning strikes the ground far out in the distance. Then again, closer. And closer. And the final strike is so near, the clap of thunder sends my ears ringing. Then the ground rumbles under our feet—a small vibration at first, then bigger and more violent until we are all struggling to stay upright.
A crack forms in the earth, splitting it before us in a long gash.
I almost expect steam or lava to erupt or, since it’s monsters, for something to come flying out. But there’s nothing.
With a final smile, Zeus disappears.
Still nothing.
We glance at one another. No way is any of us foolish enough to go stick our heads over the edge and look down. That’s the first rule in a monster movie 101 survival guide.
A snort is the first thing I hear, followed by what might be boulders falling, crashing against the walls of the crevice on the way down, and then a distinct, angry bellow.
Every muscle in my body ratchets tighter, already instinctively moving into fight-or-flight mode.
I’ve never been on a ranch in my life, but that sounded like a…bull.
Hands appear at the lip of the ripped earth first. Human hands, but not, with massive fingers tipped in thick, yellow claws. Then horns. Massive, bone-white horns that end in deadly points, so wide from tip to tip, the creature they’re attached to must be huge.
A minotaur.
103
Don’t Look Back
Zeus has unleashed a damned minotaur on us.
“It’s not an enchantment, like the dragon or the frog!” Jackie hisses. “It’s real.”
The dragon’s fire was real enough if you ask my arm, so I’m not sure if I care about the difference. And what we should be doing right now is not standing here staring.
With a bellow, the minotaur disappears, and a cloud of dust and debris bursts out of the crevice into the sky. It’s having trouble climbing out.
“My compass indicates there’s no one path,” Samuel says. He’s already tucking the copper instrument away. “But go through the gates. You can’t go around them.” Then he shoves something in my hands. “Here. This showed up in my room, but I know it’s yours.”
I look down to find the handle of my axe in my hands.
What the—
I reach into the vest pocket where I keep my relic, but it’s still there. This isn’t mine. This is…Hades’. The twin that completes the set Odin gave him.
Zeus stole it and gave it to Samuel.
It’s not a relic or tool Samuel already owned, like I did with my axe and the dragon teeth.
That godsdamned cheater.
Another bellow. The minotaur is pissed. Great. Why are we standing here?
“Run.” Diego beats me to it.
His glow is immediately doused as he disappears from sight. Like horses out of the starting gates, the rest all take off. Not together. Not a single one of us is sticking together. Because we can all win now.
Me too. I should be running. Instead, I drop to one knee, reaching a hand into one of my zippered pockets.
I have a few dragon teeth left. About four of them. I start digging a hole in dirt that is packed so hard it doesn’t want to budge and my scratching’s barely making a dent, so instead I shove the white shards of bone into one of the cracks and hope that’s enough. If last time was any indication, it’ll take a few minutes.
The horns are back. Fuck me, I should have just run. Two massive hands appear at the top of the crevice again. I pull out both my axes, holding them up. Not that they can do much against a thing that size, but they’re better than nothing. It’s coming out with its back to me. That will buy me a little more time.
I take off after the others, who are far enough ahead that they’re small in the distance. Trinica is closest to me. And Samuel, maybe still weakened from his wound, isn’t much farther ahead. Jackie and Zai are still on the ground, having not used their gifts of flight yet. The others are all too far away to tell.
The minotaur is halfway out, now off to my right, covered in brown-and-white mottled fur. Its bull head sits atop a human-ish body—huge shoulders, bare cowhide-covered torso. The human shape of him is rippling with muscles on muscles.
Run faster, Lyra.
The minotaur swings a leg up to the ground. The thing is wearing breeches of some sort that only come to its calves, revealing that, like satyrs, its lower half is the same animal as its head—also bull, with the same brown-and-white coat. Both hooves finally on firm ground and chest heaving with anger and effort, the minotaur rises to its full height, towering into the skies, back to me still.
But movement must catch the minotaur’s eye, because it whips around to face us.
