Giving her a single target is a bad idea.
Dread is an icy lump in my chest, and a shudder threatens to shake my teeth loose.
From the other side of the first gate, the minotaur roars, and the kraken rears back and roars in return. They’re…communicating.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
The bone soldiers must agree with me, because I hear a crack of bones, and when I glance back, the two still with us are in that crouched stance, facing the kraken. Then the bone soldiers and kraken lunge at each other, and chaos erupts.
The bone soldiers lock their shields and absorb the hit before driving the kraken back, but she manages to plant a foot against a boulder and grab one of the shields, throwing that soldier to the ground.
And all of us champions are now running to stay out of the way on a battlefield of giants.
I sprint in one direction, only to skid to a halt when a skeleton crashes to the ground in front of me, spraying dirt into my face. Its jawbone separates and lands not a foot from me. In an instant, it’s back on its feet, grabbing the jaw off the ground. It shoves it back on, then opens it wide in an eerie silent scream of retribution. Then it launches itself in the air, spear held high. When it comes down, the kraken has moved, and the spear tip slams into the ground, sending more dirt and dust up into the darkening skies, making it even harder to see.
Coughing and wheezing and blinking the grit from my eyes, I go the other way and have to hit the deck, belly to earth, as one of the kraken’s tentacles flies by overhead. I glance left and see Trinica rolling in the opposite direction.
Air punches from my lungs. Gods, that was close.
Move your ass, Lyra.
As I try to circle the fighting, I’m keeping an eye on the kraken through the dust. I don’t see Trinica beneath the kraken’s feet until the monster is on top of where she’s still on her knees and blinking in a stunned stupor. But Samuel is suddenly there, too. Arms up, he takes the full weight of the kraken as she stomps down on them. From here, I can’t see if she squished them or not.
Closer to me, Rima jumps up onto a boulder. With a yell, she breaks the lid off a small glass vial, and dragon fire explodes out of it. The immediate, crackling boom is so loud I clap my hands over my ringing ears, the flare so bright I have to squeeze my eyes shut, blinking rapidly but only seeing spots dancing. The smell of sulfur fills the air.
That had to have killed the kraken, right?
My vision comes back in time to see the kraken stumbling around, hands clapped over the holes where her ears must be, a massive scorch mark in her chest, her dead eyes wild.
Samuel is dragging Trinica away toward the second gate. I don’t see Rima. Which is when I realize the kraken is stumbling in my direction, a bone soldier attacking at the same time.
I take off again. The world seems to be a chaos of dirt and battle around me, the roars of the furious creatures and the clattering and clashing of bone and flesh filling the air. As I run, I search for anything—a rock, a boulder…I’d accept a shallow dried riverbed at this point—just for a little cover. Which is why I don’t see the tentacle swinging at me through the dust obscuring the air until it’s too late. I cross my axes in front of me again, getting ready to be slammed into, when something tackles me from the side. Strong arms wrap around me as I’m lifted into the air in jerking beats.
Jackie.
“You goddess!” I cry out.
She grins and flies me straight through the second gate—this one is bronze and just as scrolly as the first. Jackie drops me on the ground next to Trinica just as Amir stuffs a white petal into her mouth.
“Be right back.” Jackie shoots back into the dustup.
Samuel and Dae are next through the gate, and we’re still waiting, positioned to close the gate quickly, flinching with every rattle of bones and blast of the kraken, the minotaur’s yells still trumpeting in the distance.
“There!” Rima points.
Above, Jackie shoots through the dust-laden skies, Zai behind her with the Harpe of Perseus drawn.
The second they’re through, the doors shut on their own, and the lock clicks again.
Two down.
One to go.
“What in the name of the Underworld?” Samuel mutters.
Collectively, we all turn.
Trinica narrows her eyes. “That can’t be good.”
105
All The Reasons Why
The darkness here is so thick, the stars and moon don’t penetrate. A few feet in front of me, it’s like a wall of shadow has been raised, obscuring everything.
Which means not only do we have to deal with whatever creature is next without seeing it coming, we have to find the gate, too.
Trinica pulls a strange pink stone out of a pocket and studies it. The prize she won from Athena’s Labor—the Stone of Imithacles, a relic none of us had heard of before but which will give one true answer a day. “Might as well put this to use,” she says, then closes her fingers tightly around it. “How do we pass through this last gate safely?” she asks.
She closes her eyes, but I don’t hear or see anything. I guess the others don’t, either, because we’re watching her and glancing at one another. All while the kraken and my remaining skeleton warriors battle on the other side of the gate.
Then she opens her eyes. “It said, don’t listen.”
“Don’t listen to what?” Rima asks.
“What does that mean?” Diego’s disembodied voice asks.
