92

92

Creepy As Fuck

At the snap of Athena’s fingers, I’m no longer standing on the platform. I’m in the pit of glass and rock—at the very bottom, probably, because the floor here is sandy, crunching beneath my shoes. The air is stale, unmoving. At least it feels like there’s air in here, though Athena did say “suffocate,” so I’m guessing it will only last so long.

The cheering of the crowd is more like a faint buzz in the background. Mostly, I hear the sound of my own breathing. None of the other champions are anywhere near me that I can tell. And I can’t use my pearls to get out faster. Pretty sure Athena added that rule just for me.

A noise like feet running—no, it’s more like feet scuttering over sand and rock—whizzes by. Maybe in the next tunnel, because nothing is here with me. Yet.

At another scuttering overhead, I look up to see at least ten different bugs crawling around the levels above, their many legs clicking against glass floors. I frown at the underside of the maze directly above my head. That glass looks scored. For us to run easier? Or for the bugs to?

A splatter of yellow goo from overhead has me scrambling back just in time to see the underside of Zai’s feet as he runs by with the Harpe of Perseus clutched in his white-knuckled hands.

Move, Lyra. He’s already trying to win. He’s already gotten up a level.

I hate that I have to think that way at all.

Right or left? I choose right, and only a short way in, the path turns to shadows as it twists and turns beneath the stadium, until the light is blocked completely. I’m about ten steps into the pitch black, navigating by touch, when they come.

Spiders.

Out of the darkness.

Which is when I run into a web. Already they’ve laid a trap that covers the entire width of the tunnel. I manage to swallow my yelp of surprise, but my touching the web sets them off. With a tapping and odd sort of squeaking that reminds me of my tarantula, I’m covered in spiders the size of my fists.

I can’t see, but they are all over me.

Thank you, Order of Thieves, for the torturous training that means bugs don’t bother me. I saw the kind of spiders Athena used. Nothing deadly. Painful at this size if they bite, probably, but my flesh won’t rot off.

Eyes and mouth closed, holding my breath, I form my hands into flat, closed-fingered blades and slide them along my arms, knocking them off me. A sudden sting of pain on my neck makes me flinch, and thank the gods this isn’t Artemis’ Labor with the fear, pain, and confusion overtaking me, because that would suck worse.

Forcing myself to move carefully, I knock that spider off, too. But then a second, less painful sting hits my ankle through my pantleg.

I frown. They shouldn’t be biting me. I’m not being antagonistic. I’m not wiggling, screaming, moving, or crushing them. These aren’t aggressive spiders.

I back up while I keep knocking them away. Another bite at my hip. And they keep coming. More and more of them. This is an attack.

Almost like it’s planned.

My heart rate kicks up, adrenaline hitting my blood, and I have to control my breathing because they’re on my face. I back away faster.

I’m still trying not to act aggressively toward them, but another bite, and I know that’s not working. So I cross my hand over my chest and, in a violent swipe, throw as many off my arms as I can. At the same time, I turn and run, flinching and twitching and slapping at myself all the way.

Back into sunlight, past it, and into the darkness on the other side. Not quite as bad, though. At least I can see where I’m going.

The squeaking and clacks of the spiders’ fangs and skittering of their feet on the glass behind me is the creepiest fucking sound. I don’t stop running, even as two more bite me on the legs. The little yelping noises I’m making bounce off the glass. Hands flying, I knock more spiders off as I sprint down hallways, not caring where. Turn after turn. And they’re still following.

This isn’t working.

Yanking back my sleeve, I awaken the fox and panther, who leap from my flesh, becoming real to run with me. “Help!”

That’s when the tarantula does something that feels like she’s crawling under my very flesh, which, given what I’m dealing with, almost makes me lose my shit. But I look down instead to find her waving frantically at me.

She wants to be released. Of course—how could I forget Aphrodite’s challenge?

I touch her, and she springs from my body. Only this time, she grows beyond the normal size of her species. The skittering behind me stops dead, the silence palpable. Enough that I stumble to a halt and turn to watch as my tarantula, now big enough to fill most of the tunnel, faces down at least thirty spiders of varying sizes, from my fist to that of a large dog. They aren’t on the walls of the tunnel, just the floor, but they cover it in a moving, wriggling sea of blacks and browns, with their eyes—all those eyes—trained on my tarantula.

She moves the smaller appendages near her mouth and vibrates. A few of the other spiders move as well, like they’re waving at each other. Some scrape appendages together, making a scratchy noise. Others clack or squeak, and there is a vibration in the air that I can feel. It slithers over my body in invisible waves.

They are communicating.

I have no idea what my tarantula says to them, but eventually, they scurry away in the other direction. She shrinks a little so she can turn in the tunnel to face me.

“I have promised them that you will not kill any spiders in this maze.” Her voice is bizarre, like scratches and hums at the same time, but I can understand her. “In exchange, the spiders will not attack you.”

I am still smarting and bleeding in a few spots, and I’ll probably start itching and swelling, given the size of the bites. I nod. “You have my word.”

“The other bugs down here, I cannot help with.”

“Thank you.” I offer my arm, and she returns.

Now I have to figure out what’s next. Hopefully, my unaimed running didn’t get me lost or send me deeper into the tunnels.

“Please, help me find the way out,” I say to the fox and panther. “Watch out for more bugs.”

They don’t hesitate, loping off down the tunnel. I follow at a jog. We hit a T in the maze fairly quickly.

“Go.” I point in opposite directions.

Then I wait there. I close my eyes to force my racing heart and thoughts to slow down and focus. To center on my senses. To ignore my spider bites. The air to the right is cooler and a little sweeter. Barely.

A clattering of legs coming toward me stands the hair up on my neck, and I spin around just as a bullet ant lunges.