94

94

Murderers & Monsters

Instead of searching for Dex when I know I won’t see him, I stare downward at the glass floor that shows me the bowels of the maze underfoot, and I focus on the sound of his steps. Closer. Closer. He’s breathing hard.

Now.

I duck and roll, and the cadence of his steps trips up as he has to jump. I come up, axe held in front of me, because now I know roughly where he is. The panther and fox are snarling and yipping, as they can sense him—smell him, hear him—but not see him.

“Don’t make me do something we both regret,” I warn him.

“You’re going to lose.” He still sounds funny. Then he giggles—like a child—and takes off the way he was already going, the slap of his feet growing quieter.

I swallow hard, allowing the fear I was holding back to wash through me, then recede. Gods, that was close. I doubt I could’ve killed him before he killed me, but the bluff worked, so who gives a shit. I straighten, glaring in the direction he ran.

My animals paw at me to keep going, and we’re off again. Hopefully, Dex isn’t lying in wait up ahead. Three more turns, and the air becomes even sweeter.

I’m close to the end? I’m almost there. No Dex, so far.

I come to another T, and we do our thing again.

Standing in one spot as I wait for my animals to return, I’m shifting from foot to foot in an impatient dance, eager to be out of this cage, when a new roar of the crowd pummels the glass. This roar has a different timbre to it. I spin and catch a glimpse of a wine-colored uniform and dark-brown hair and then the glint of sunlight on a mirror.

Meike.

No.

The truth hits me so hard, I raise a hand over my heart like I could shield it from the impact. It doesn’t help, and I lean forward, hands on my knees, closing my eyes against reality.

Meike won the Labor.

She won, I lost, and that’s it. No way to tie Diego. No way to free Boone. Hades doesn’t get to be king. I keep my curse.

Game over.

I suck in, trying to breathe around the death of the hope I’ve been carrying since Boone died and Hades said he could make him immortal.

“Lyra?” That’s Zai’s voice from my left.

I stay where I am, watching Meike wave to the crowds, trying to make myself remember that I’m happy for her.

“What happened?” He’s closer now.

I turn my head slowly. Trinica is with him. The Harpe of Perseus, in Zai’s hand, is covered in yellow-and-green bug guts, but they’re both alive.

“Meike won.” I try to make it sound positive, but it comes out flat. Gods, I’m a terrible friend.

A sudden garbled scream reverberates not just through the glass walls but down into my tunnel, and I jerk upright in time to get a clear view of Meike being lifted off the ground by nothing. Her hands circle something invisible, and her feet kick out in the air as she fights. With one hand, Dex removes his helm, revealing himself to the crowds.

Trinica bursts past me with a scream of challenge, hurling curses like bombs as she runs. Axe in hand, I sprint after her, down the last halls of the maze, Zai on my heels.

My animals don’t even have to show us the way. We don’t stop running as we make the last three turns.

As we burst from the maze, the noise hits us like a solid wall.

Maybe that’s why Dex doesn’t hear us running at him, but with a scream a banshee would envy, I launch myself on his back. He drops Meike and goes wild under me. It takes everything in me to hold on and not drop my axe. No more sound. No more screams. The only noise coming from me are grunts of effort as I hold on to his thrashing form.

Vaguely, I’m aware of Zai trying to trip him as he and Trinica dance around us. But Dex is bucking and kicking at them and clawing at me, trying to get me off, and we can’t make him stop. That’s when he rolls, slamming me into the glass floor with the force of his body.

As I come to my feet, so does Dex. He rises with murder in his eyes, only to get a kick to the balls from Trinica that drops him back to his knees, doubled over on a groan. Thank the gods. Maybe that will slow him down. The three of us stop fighting, taking a breath.

Just long enough for him to lunge for Meike, who’s still lying on the ground. Then he’s back on his feet, holding her in the air by her neck with one hand. Eyes bulging, her face turns purple.

I hurl my axe, not trying to kill him, just stop him. It spins end over end and hits true, sinking into his shoulder with a thwack right where I intended. Only, to our disbelief, it doesn’t stop him. It doesn’t even slow him down. Still holding Meike up with one hand, he yanks it out and throws it away, and it clatters away on the glass.

Then he jerks her down and in and twists her neck sharply with both hands. I hear the crack, even over the yells of the crowd. Worse, I feel it in my own bones. I feel it in my heart when her body goes instantly limp before she’s dropped in a jumbled heap of limbs.

Dead.

I fall to my knees as he thrusts both of his hands into the air and shouts a carnal roar of triumph. He’s the winner of this Labor now. Beyond where he stands, I see Athena on the platform, and she’s smiling.

Until the answering thunder of the immortals in the stands threatens to break the glass under us.

Boos.

They’re booing him.

Because it’s Meike, I realize.

He should have come for me, not her. Not the sweetest and gentlest of us.

I let Dex go.

Just minutes before this in the maze. I didn’t fight him. I didn’t try to kill him. I let him go, and now…

The watching immortals whip one another into a frenzy. I’m guessing only the Daemones are keeping them from doing anything to Dex, who stands on the glass top to the maze, in the center of the entire stadium, hands dangling at his sides, shock frozen on his features as the throng batters him with their screams for justice and blood.

Dex turns his head, looking at Meike, and I think maybe he says her name as he frowns in confusion. Then he raises his gaze past her, landing on me, and the feral rage that overtakes his features sends terror barreling through me.

“Oh, fuck,” I think Trinica says.

And then he’s on top of me so fast I don’t even have a chance to get to my feet. Just like with Meike, he lifts me by the neck, his grip so tight spots dance before my eyes. I’m clawing at him, beating my feet in the air. But he’s too strong. I try to let go with one hand and get to my vest, but he’s jerking me around so violently, I can’t get a grip on any of the zippers.

Trinica launches herself onto his back. It doesn’t even seem to slow him down.

And the violence of his eyes is like he’s possessed.

I catch a flash of Zai, who runs closer and stabs his sword into Dex’s leg. But it doesn’t stop him, like he’s not even human.

Then, Dex jerks me closer to his face. “Time to die, Keres.”

Trinica suddenly jumps at Dex from the side. She hits hard enough that he stumbles with all three of us.

Right into Zai’s sword.

I hear the sick slide of it as it enters his body, feel him take the hit. Holding me in the air, Dex sways for a second before all three of us drop to the ground with a hollow thud of glass. I claw his hands away from my neck and scramble back in case he’s still on the rampage.

But he’s already gone.

Zai’s sword must’ve hit something vital, because the life has already drained from Dex’s face, his eyes cloudy.

I turn away on all fours, reaction making my stomach heave. I retch but manage to not vomit.

“Lyra?” Zai’s voice reaches me. He sounds…small.

Controlling myself, I look over my shoulder to find him standing not far away, the Harpe of Perseus now limp in his grip as he stares in dawning horror at Dex. Then he starts shaking his head. Hard. Then harder. And his entire body starts to shake.

I can’t watch him fall apart.

Part of me expects Hades to appear and take me away, like he did when Boone died, but he doesn’t. I lift my head, searching for him, but he’s not even among the other gods and goddesses, who are all seated up on the platform with the spikes with the heads of our dead.

The Olympian gods are, all of them, on their feet. My gaze lands on Athena.

Hades’ blood is still inside me, still part of me. Maybe the rabid wrath that tears me apart at the sight of her is him. I don’t care.

I jump up and point at Dex. “What’d you do? Drug him? Curse him to be more aggressive today?” I scream at her. “Well, he’s dead now, and that is fucking karma, you monster.” Dex was her champion. “You won’t be Queen of the Gods now, will you?”

The four Daemones, still standing at their posts in the four corners of the platform where the gods and goddesses watch, all suddenly extend their wings with sharp, militaristic precision.

That is when Charon appears in front of me and takes me away, kicking and screaming.