28

28

The Gods Love Monsters

I pull my feet away from the edge. “Where in Hades’ name did that thing come from?”

“There seem to be eggs under the words on the rocks.” Samuel lets go of me, and we both get to our feet.

Sure enough, I look over just in time to see a black-and-red pod the size of my fist, half in, half out of the water, stuck to the cave wall like a barnacle beneath the carved letters. A wave swells, then recedes, and a monster erupts from an egg. Small. Much smaller than what just attacked us.

Nearby, the bigger version of the nightmare creature breaches the surface before diving back under, so I get a better look. It is black with red edges and shaped a little bit like a seahorse but the size of a small pony, except all its undulating parts are made up of leafy-looking appendages, like strongly colored kelp. Instead of a sweet little horse’s face, there’s a long, narrow, snapping snout with jagged teeth that fit together in a way that I imagine would rend flesh from bone. A crocodile sea dragon?

The ripple in the water tells me the thing is headed straight for Isabel, who is still trying to climb up to Zai.

I open my mouth to warn her, but Samuel beats me to it. “Isabel, watch your back!” he booms.

She turns just as the sea monster rears up and lunges at her with those snapping teeth. She slashes with the wire cutters I gave her, and the creature whimpers and drops back into the water. But it doesn’t leave. It swims around the pole as Isabel frantically climbs to join Zai near the top. They are treed prey.

There’s a sick popping as another little sea monster thing breaks free from its egg and drops into the water. Now there are three of them. Worse, as the water dips lower, I can see the silhouettes of at least nine more eggs under the surface.

What…one for each of us? What’s making them hatch?

Over the roar of the ocean waves and the calls and cries of the champions, I catch a strange squelching sound nearby. There’s water dripping behind us. But the drops aren’t coming from the ceiling—they’re materializing in midair, a few feet above the ledge floor.

Goose bumps creep over my flesh. Where’s that coming from?

Samuel swings out a hand like he’s swiping at the air, but there’s a thud a heartbeat before Dex appears out of nowhere, a metal helm falling to the ground beside him with a clank. Samuel grabs Dex by the wrist and yanks my axe right out of his grip. Without looking at me, he hands the relic to me as he shoves Dex back a few feet. “Couldn’t swim out of here, I guess?”

“There’s an invisible wall,” Dex says. “It won’t let us out.”

The sneer on Samuel’s face says it all. He considers Dex to be a bit of a coward. I don’t. He’s just trying to survive like the rest of us.

“If I had the chance to escape, I would, too,” I say.

I get distinct looks from both men—one resentful and the other speculative.

At the very least, now we know one of Dex’s gifts—the Helm of Darkness, which can render him invisible. The question is, did Samuel also use a gift to be able to see him?

“Somebody do something,” Isabel yells.

The sea monster leaps, thrashing its long tail to propel itself higher into the air, snapping at her feet as she and Zai both huddle at the top of his pole.

I’m the one with the weapon, so I guess that means me. “I’ll try to get them,” I tell the people near me, though I’m not sure if anyone cares. Other champions are scattered across the ledge, which runs all the way around the cave. “Somebody figure out what’s going on with those eggs and how to stop them.”

Over uneven rocks, I sprint the length of the cave, waves crashing into my thighs and stumbling me back every few feet as I circle around to the end closest to Isabel and Zai. There’s no way I’m going to outswim those beasts. But at least they can’t come up onto the ledge—

“Get back!” someone yells.

The largest of the monsters surges almost all the way out of the water and onto the rocks, just missing Jackie and Amir, Aphrodite and Hera’s champions, respectively. With a hiss, the creature slips backward into the water again. Damn. The other large one is still circling Isabel and Zai, which means these things are hatching and growing fast. And as soon as they get a little bigger, they can reach us up here, too. We’re not safe for much longer.

We need to find a way to kill them. Would my axe even work? How would I get close enough, and where would I hack at a monster like this to stop it?

“Fuck me,” I mutter. Because I have an idea, but it sucks to have to use it so soon.

Samuel makes his way to where I’m standing, which is a good thing. I’m going to need him if my plan will work.

“Get ready to pull me out fast,” I tell him. He’s saved me once already, so I’m going to trust him. I move to the very edge of the rocks, crouching with my knees to my chest.

“What are you doing?” Isabel yells.

If I can, I’m going to slide into the water without those things noticing. “I have a gift that can help us, but I need dirt!”

“Dirt?” she squeaks.

Farther down the ledge, Trinica flaps her arms to catch my attention. “I can see them from here,” she calls. “Go on my count.”

So instead of looking down, I look at Trinica as she studies the water, expression intent. She’s old enough to be my parent, with a cool head under pressure to show for it. She holds up a hand, head swiveling as she tracks the three creatures. “Go!”

I slide in as gently and soundlessly as I can without a splash, then duck underneath and swim for the bottom fast. I feel along the rock wall, pressure pressing in on my ears painfully, but I keep going until—thank the gods—I hit a patch of sand. Unzipping the compartment where I stored them, I pull out a few of Boone’s dragon teeth.

I think I hear Hades’ voice in my head shouting, Faster, Lyra.

I shove three teeth into the sand and bury them, then swim up, gasping for air when I hit the surface. No time to figure out if I’m hallucinating. That will have to come later.

“When you see bones, jump into the water and swim for Samuel, and he’ll pull you out,” I yell up at Zai and Isabel.

“Bones? There’s something wrong with her,” Zai says to Isabel.

“You can tell her after we all get out of this alive,” Isabel snaps. “Get back on the rocks,” she yells at me.

Keeping my head out of the water so I can hear any shouted warnings, I get moving. Any second now, my bone soldiers should sprout. Any second now.

I’m reaching for Samuel’s hand when Meike yells, “Behind you!”

I don’t know if she’s yelling at me or the others, but all it takes is a look over my shoulder to find out. A black-and-red kelp-leafed ridge protrudes from the water, winding back and forth like a serpent, swimming straight at me.

Spinning away from Samuel, I drop under the water, ignoring the stinging of my eyes as I search, weapon ready. I am not going to be eaten today, damn it. Not in my first Labor.

The monster zeroes in on me, cutting through the water wicked fast. I desperately search for its weak point, a place to cleave its slender body with all those leaflike appendages. If I do this wrong, I’m just going to piss it off.

With my luck…

As it shoots forward, jaws wide, I lunge to the side and see a different way. In a snap decision, instead of chopping at the monster, I wrap my arms around its slender, slick body, riding it like a bucking bronco.

The thing goes wild in my grasp, thrashing and flipping. It tries to leap out of the water, and I get one breath of air as I breach the surface. When the monster and I come back down, instead of trying to get out of my grasp, it turns on me, not to bite me but to wrap its kelpy body around me like a constrictor, so fast that it almost pins my arms, but I manage to get one out.

The thing is crushing me as it drags me deeper into the water, squeezing tighter and tighter and tighter. If it doesn’t drown me first, it’s going to pulverize me. I stab and stab at the trunk of its body, but it’s not working. I’m not hitting anything vital enough to stop it.

Out of nowhere, a white blade slices through the water, coming straight down into the top of the monster’s head. Immediately, it goes limp.