Chapter 2

I stepped into the portal,allowing the ether to suck me in and send me through space. When it spat me out in the forest, I was out of breath.

All around, the trees creaked and groaned. They were black, shriveled things, so ancient that they must have seen the Amazons when they'd originally lived along the shore of the Black Sea thousands of years ago.

Maximus appeared next to me. He looked around. "This place is haunted."

I shivered, feeling it in the air. It was hard to miss. "No kidding."

I drew in a deep breath and used my super hearing, a gift from Artemis. Last week, the Greek goddess had given me some of her powers. They included the ability to command animals to my will—sort of. They didn't attack when I asked them not to, at least. I was still working on getting them to clean my house. Another perk was that I was also able to hear and see extremely well.

Though I carefully searched the forest, I picked up no signs of life. Even the trees had no leaves, and their bark was black. It was winter, but they didn't feel dormant. For all I knew, they were dead.

The sound of waves crashed in the distance. I looked at Maximus. "I can hear the Black Sea to the right. The queens said that Tiresias would live near the shore."

We made our way through the forest, our footsteps quiet on the soft ground. Occasionally, a branch would snap beneath our feet or the wind would whistle through the trees. Other than that, I sensed no signs of life.

The sound of the waves grew louder as we approached, but there was something…off.

Was that a heartbeat? "Do you hear that?"

"No." Maximus kept his voice soft and his footsteps silent.

I peered through the trees, squinting to try to catch a glimpse of anything in the dim light. Night was falling, and I prayed that we were alone in this forest.

To my right, a twig broke. The sound cracked through the evening, shockingly loud.

Maximus stiffened. "We're being followed."

I could barely hear him over the sound of the wind through the trees.

But he was right.

Someone was out there.

I kept my eyes peeled on the forest around us. When I caught sight of an animal"s legs in the distance, I frowned.

Was that a goat?

Goats weren't predators.

It appeared again, darting from the shelter of one tree trunk to the next.

Nope. That was not a goat.

That was a man.

With goat legs.

He was definitely a creature straight from Greek myth, with the legs of a goat and the top half of a man. He wore no shirt despite the fact that the night was brisk. Horns protruded from his head, but that was all the detail I could spot through the darkness. He was careful to keep the trees between himself and us. He shifted, and I caught a glimpse of his bow and arrow.

Pointed straight at us.

Another twig broke, this time on the other side of the forest. Closer to Maximus.

I swallowed hard and looked at Maximus. He nodded silently, gaze intense. The message was clear.

We were being hunted.

I reached into the ether and withdrew a shield. Maximus followed my lead, and conjured his own shield. We walked side by side through the forest, each holding our shield between us and the goat man.

Were they satyrs? Were all goat men satyrs?

There were so many elements to Greek myth that I really needed to study. But whatever he was, it was bad news.

Quietly, we continued through the forest. When the goat man stopped, I felt it more than heard it. There was a sudden stillness, and my heart began to pound. Adrenaline flooded my muscles, and I felt like prey.

No joke, I might as well have been a rabbit caught in the gaze of a fox.

"Duck!" I hissed.

I dropped to my knees, holding the shield in front of my entire body. Maximus did the same, thrusting his shield in front of me.

The arrow smashed into my shield.

I looked at Maximus. "You're supposed to protect yourself with your shield."

"Shields are for protecting what we find valuable."

If there'd been time for my heart to melt, it would"ve been in a puddle somewhere around my feet. Now was not the time, however.

"We're just trying to pass peacefully through your forest," I shouted. "We're looking for Tiresias. We need to ask him some questions."

"The prey speaks?" The goat man"s voice had a strange intonation. Like he was bleating.

I"m not prey!I stood, reaching into the sack that hung over my back and yanking out a potion bomb. I raised my shield in front of my torso, and sprinted toward the goat man. I ran full out, barreling into the forest. For effect, I added a roar. The primal scream unnerved even me.

Soon, I was close enough to get a good look at him. More importantly, I had a good shot.

I raised the potion bomb, a stunner, and threw it at him. For the briefest moment, he blinked stupidly, staring at me like a moron. At the last minute, he ducked, and the bomb sailed over his head.

From behind, I could hear Maximus charge across the forest floor. Then the sound of clashing steel. I wanted to turn and watch the fight, to make sure that Maximus was okay. But there was no need. He could handle himself. And frankly, I didn"t have the time. The goat man was raising his bow and arrow again.

I reached into my bag and withdrew another potion bomb. The blue glass gleamed in the light of the setting sun, and I chucked it at the goat man. He was too busy aiming his bow, and by the time he spotted the blue glass ball flying toward him, the potion bomb crashed against his chest, spraying blue liquid everywhere.

His eyes widened briefly.

"Not used to your prey attacking?" I asked. "And here I thought goats were vegetarians."

He toppled over backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

I crouched low to make a smaller target of myself and searched the forest for another attacker. I could hear no one, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was almost like I could feel someone in the distance off to my left.

They watched me.

They wanted to kill me.

They wanted to eat me.

Holy fates, the power that Artemis had given me was amazing. I'd never felt this before, but I was damned certain I'd developed the instinct of a prey animal.

It was creepy. I didn"t like how it made my heart race and adrenaline fill my body. I didn"t like how my skin chilled, or the hair on my arms stood on end. But I appreciated it.

This was a power that could save my life.

Slowly, I turned toward the sense of danger, reaching into my potion bag and gripping another bomb. I withdrew it, squinting through the darkness.

In the distance, the bare branches of the trees rustled. I looked up, squinting. Could a goat man climb?

Then I spotted the eyes through the tree limbs, peering down at me.

Yup. Goat men can climb.

He raised his bow and arrow, sighting it toward me.

Before he could fire, I hurled my potion bomb at him, knowing that my aim would be true. I could just feel it.

A second later, it crashed against his shoulder. With any luck, he wouldn"t break his neck when he fell from the tree. I'd chosen a weaker stunner, and I wanted to grill him. The other goat man would be out for hours, but not this guy. As long as he didn"t break his neck.

He hit the ground with a heavy thud. I took a moment to survey my surroundings, but I could neither see nor sense any kind of threat. To my left, the sound of battle ceased.

"Maximus?"

"I"m fine."

"Good. I'm going to grill this one over here." I hurried toward the fallen goat man, keeping my senses alert. Just because there weren"t any more threats didn"t mean they wouldn"t show up in a minute.

The goat man was sprawled beneath the tree, his bow and arrow scattered. Fortunately, he wore a little loincloth. If I knew one thing in this world, it was that I did not want to see a goat's dangly bits.

I knelt at his side, inspecting his fallen body. Neck looked okay, and nothing else was at a particularly weird angle.

I poked him in the shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

He groaned, and it sounded a hell of a lot like bleating.

Maximus knelt on the other side of the goat man, his blue eyes meeting mine. "What did you hit him with?"

"A light sedative. He should be sort of out of it, but still able to answer questions. As long as we can convince him to."

"That won"t be a problem." Maximus conjured a small dagger, and pressed the tip to the base of the goat man"s throat.

"Dude! Wake up." I shook the prostrate man"s shoulder, and his eyes fluttered open.

He had no whites to his eyes, and they flickered a strange greenish brown. The pupils were slanted like a goat's. His gaze met mine.

"What the hell is your problem, dude? I thought goats were vegetarians. Why were you trying to kill us?"

"On our land." His words were garbled and slow.

"So, it"s an automatic death sentence?"

He didn"t answer. And honestly, I didn"t care. Not really. "Do you know where Tiresias is?"

The goat man tightened his jaw, and it was pretty clear he didn"t want to talk.

Maximus pressed the dagger closer to his neck, and a small bead of blood welled. "Answer the lady."

"Honestly, I"m the scary one." I grinned at the goat man, trying to make myself look crazy. It wasn"t that hard.

His eyes widened. "Women should not be fighters."

I growled. "I forgot how sexist the ancient Greeks were."

Maximus nodded sagely and looked down at the goat man. "Friend, I suggest that you not say such things in the future. She objects. And when she objects, well, I don"t think you want to know what happens."

I drew a dagger from the ether and twirled it in my fingers. The goat man"s eyes followed the glinting steel.

I tapped it against my lips. "Now, tell me where Tiresias is. We're not gonna hurt him. But if you don"t tell me, I will hurt you."

Frankly, the idea of hurting him while he was down like this made my stomach turn. But he didn"t need to know that. Whether or not I was going to live up to my threats didn"t matter as long as the threat itself was convincing.

Apparently it worked, because he opened his mouth. "There is an island near the shore. He spends time there."

"Any tricks on how to get there? Anything to look out for?" Maximus asked.

The goat man shook his head.

I wasn"t sure if I believed him. Maximus didn"t seem sure either. He pressed his dagger into the goat man"s skin. It didn"t go deep, but the goat man"s eyes widened again.

"Ignore the trees," he said.

"Ignore the trees?" I frowned at him.

"That"s what I said, isn"t it?"

"Why?"

"Because—" The goat man choked, the words no longer able to leave his throat.

I squinted at him, then looked at Maximus. "I think he"s been cursed not to speak of it."

"Agreed."

This was probably as much as we were going to get out of him. "Can you conjure some rope, Maximus?"

He nodded, and his magic swelled on the air. I drew in the scent of cedar, loving the hell out of Maximus's scent. A moment later, several lengths of rope appeared on the ground next to me.

"I'll get this one," Maximus said.

"Thanks." I took a couple pieces, then hurried over to the first goat man that I'd hit with the longer-acting sedative.

Quickly, I bound his limbs. If he woke up before we were out of the forest, I didn't want to run into him again. Or his arrows.

By the time I returned to Maximus, he'd bound the semiconscious goat man and was waiting for me.

"What about the other one?"

He shook his head. "No need."

"All right, then. Let"s go."

We started through the forest again, heading towards the shore. As we walked, I kept my senses alert. Dark was falling, and my night vision kicked in. It was strange, almost like I was seeing the world in black and white. But I could see almost as well as I could in the daylight now. Without question, I liked Artemis's gifts the best.

As we walked through the trees, noise floated through the leaves. Something like whispers.

I blinked, looking around. "Do you hear that?"

"The whispers?" Maximus nodded. "But what are they saying?"

I tilted my head, listening harder. At first, the noise was indistinguishable from wind. In fact, the whispers sounded so much like wind that I wouldn"t have thought them out of place in a forest.

But there was something almost human about them. Like there was life to them.

And then the words became clear.

Help me.

Help me.

Help me.

I shivered, fear icing my skin. I reached for Maximus"s hand.

I"d faced down demons, giants, witches, monsters. Even Titans.

But this? The sound of somebody so miserable, so in distress. This frightened me.

I stopped abruptly, dragging Maximus to a halt. I turned around, twisting myself to see the entire forest. I didn"t let go of Maximus"s hand, and he had to follow me around in a circle. He didn't let go, though, as if he knew how freaked out I was. Spiders crawled up my back, fear given form.

"Do you hear that?" I looked at Maximus.

His skin whitened. "I do now."

"Where are they?"

"I can"t see them."

The only thing in the forest I could see were the trees. There weren't even bushes or scrub brush or ferns or flowers. Just trees. Ancient and dead-looking.

It sounded like the whispers were coming from the trees.

"The goat man said to ignore the trees." I shook my head, not liking the sound of that.

We couldn't ignore them.

Not when they were so miserable.

I let go of Maximus"s hand, approaching one of the trees on shaky legs. There was something terrible here, something I didn"t want to face.

Help me.

Something I had to face.

I raised a trembling hand and pressed it to the rough bark of the tree. It poked the tender skin of my palm. Two life forces pounded in the tree, and I gasped, jerking my hand away.

I turned back to Maximus to find that he was right behind me.

Concern shadowed his eyes. "What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Not a ghost. A possession." I turned back, studying the bark as my heart thundered in my ears. I pressed my palm to the bark again. I shuddered as two life forces bombarded me. "Someone is trapped in the tree."

"How is that possible?"

"The Greek gods did this all the time." I shook my head, disgust shooting through me. "They often turned women into trees. Usually when she incited the lust of a god and ran from him. They considered it protection for her. Better to turn her into a damned tree than tell the jerk to stop being creepy."

"What bastards." Maximus frowned. "Can we get her out?"

"We have to."

"How, though? It"s not like a regular prison."

"No, it"s some horrible magic that binds her to the tree." I pressed my other hand to the bark, closing my eyes. If I focused very hard, I could feel the difference between the two lifeforms. One was clearly arboreal—that was the tree. But the other—that was human.

I was going to have to use my power to suck the life out of the tree without hurting the human life. It would be like performing surgery, the hardest thing I"d ever done with my power.

Why was it that the power I hated the most was the one that could do the most good? It should be an evil gift, but somehow, when I forced myself to use it, it could do great things.

As carefully as I could, I began to draw the tree's life force out of the bark. It flowed up my arms and into my chest, seeming to suffuse my soul with its strength. But there was something almost dirty about it. Not nearly as bad as the life that I had sucked out of the Stryx, but this was a life-form that had been used to trap another. One of the gods, maybe Zeus since he was a real bastard, had given this tree a bit of his magic in order to trap whatever nymph or beautiful woman was locked in there.

Slowly the magic traveled from the tree into my body. Strength flowed through me, followed by nausea that roiled in my stomach.

As I continued to work, my knees buckled, and I nearly went to the ground.