by Kate O'Hearn
“We can’t take that big thing with us,” Cylus said. “It’ll eat us the moment we turn our backs.”
“No, he won’t,” Angie said. “He’s not going to hurt us. He can help keep us safe.”
“But—but it’s Lergo!” Cylus cried. “He’s deadly.”
“Yes, he is,” Angie agreed. “But not to us anymore. Besides, if I go, he’ll go. I can’t stop him. Would you leave without me because of him?”
“No way!” Jake said quickly. “Where I go, you go.”
“So, Lergo goes too,” Angie said.
“I guess he does,” Astraea said. “He’s just like Belis. No matter how many times we told him to stay, he still wanted to follow us.”
“Exactly,” Angie said. She patted the snake’s snout again. “You’ll see, he can really help us.”
Cylus raised his hands in the air in frustration. “I can’t believe this. We came here to sneak into the queen’s palace to get her. How are we supposed to do that now? It was bad enough with her.” Cylus pointed to the Fallen Queen. “No offense, Melissa,” he added.
“That’s funny,” Melissa said, “because I’m offended.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Cylus said. “What I meant was, instead of going in quietly, we now have you and Lergo. What’s next? A giant or two? How about the Hundred-handers? I’m sure they’d like to join us.”
Astraea walked over to the angry centaur. “Cylus, calm down. I know it’s not what any of us expected. But you know Melissa now, and she’s wonderful. Lergo might be the same—look at Nesso, Belis, and my two in here.” She patted her bracelet with the two snakes. “Besides, we don’t have any choice. The only way we can stop him from following is to leave Angitia behind. But we’re not going to do that. So you have to accept that Lergo is now part of your team.”
Render nodded. “He didn’t hurt me, Cylus, and I was actually in his mouth. If we’re with Angie, he’s with us.”
The centaur crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. But if he gets in my way, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Tryn said. “What could you possibly do against him?”
“I don’t know; give me some time and I’ll figure it out.”
“Yes, you do that,” Zephyr said. “But could you do it while we’re moving? Have you forgotten the sun is rising? Mimics like to come out in the sun. But we don’t like the Mimics because they want to kill us.”
“Yeah,” Cylus said. “Let’s go.”
They started to move again. But the mood had changed greatly since they’d found Render and Angie alive. There was a sense of hope that they might actually succeed.
Astraea and her brother stayed on the ground, despite Zephyr’s protest that she was well enough to carry them. Her limp told Astraea that she wasn’t. Instead they walked closely together down the street.
Astraea often looked back at the strange assortment of fighters moving together with the same goal. She had thought that nothing could ever be stranger than Melissa among them with all the Shadow Titans trailing behind. But Astraea had been wrong. Lergo was by far the strangest member of their team. Angie was seated on his wide back again, holding on to a bent scale. From the front, Astraea couldn’t see her because the snake was just too big. But her occasional comment confirmed she was there.
Zephyr shook her head and snorted. “When I suggested we bring Lergo here, this was not what I meant.” She glared back at the snake. “Despite what Angitia says, he’s not a cute pet. He’s a deadly monster.”
“He’s behaving like a pet with her,” Astraea said. “If he’s anything like the other snakes, he’ll do whatever she asks.”
“Maybe,” Zephyr said. “But I agree with Cylus. I don’t like him being here. Look at the size of him. I thought Melissa was big, but compared to Lergo, she’s tiny. And we are just like ants walking in front of him.”
“I just hope he’ll help,” Astraea said. She looked back at the snake, and then over to Melissa. “If the queen is Melissa’s size or even a bit larger, Lergo should be big enough to get her.”
Zephyr looked at the two as well. “Yes, but would he?”
Astraea shrugged. “We’ll just have to see.”
They fell silent as they continued on their journey. The sky above them was turning dawn gray as the sun rose slowly above the horizon. They were all feeling the pressure to find a place to hide that was large enough to hold Melissa and Lergo. But they were still in the city and surrounded by buildings. Buildings with lights on. Buildings filled with Mimics.
When daylight rose, there was nowhere to stop. They were in trouble and they all knew it. Every street they tried had buildings with lights on. Very soon, Mimics started to emerge.
“This is so bad,” Zephyr said. “We’re in big trouble.”
Almost immediately things went from dangerous to really, really weird. The Mimics didn’t attack or send out any tendrils. They just stood on their doorsteps and watched.
Once Lergo had slithered past them, they started to follow. They didn’t speak or try anything violent. But from a few Mimics at first, there was soon a legion of them.
Jake looked back. “It’s like some kind of demented parade.”
“It sure is,” Tryn said. He looked around at all the Mimics. “Is it because of Melissa?”
“Don’t blame me,” Melissa said as she glared at the Mimics. “They’re not interested in me. I can hear them; they’re calling others. They are saying we are moving.…” She stopped and looked at everyone. “They’re telling my mother. The First Queen knows we are coming.”
27
THE TERRIBLE PARADE CONTINUED THROUGHOUT the day. When Astraea and her team stopped, the Mimics stopped. They didn’t attack. They didn’t speak. They just stood and waited.
“This is worse than when they try to kill us,” Cylus said. He was standing at the side of Lergo, looking down the length of the snake to the mass of Mimics behind them. “At least then you know you can fight. But this… What is it?”
Melissa rose. “Stay here. I’m going to see what they’re doing.”
“Be careful, Melissa,” Jake warned. “If the First Queen knows about us, she knows about you. She might order them to kill you.”
“They won’t,” Melissa said. “When I am near them, they do as I say.”
Jake started to walk with her, but Melissa stopped him. “I said they wouldn’t hurt me. I can’t be sure what they’ll do to you. Please stay here.”
Jake waited with Astraea while Melissa walked back toward the growing army of Mimics. When she approached them, they parted to let her through.
“This is so strange,” Tryn said. “I would never have believed this. It’s like a game or something.”
“This is no game,” Vulturnus said. “It’s deadly serious. Mimics are unlike any other species we’ve ever encountered. They have no compassion or feelings at all for our kind or even their own. They just exist.”
“What makes Melissa different?” Astraea mused.
“I’m not sure,” Jake said. “It could be because she’s a queen and they are different from the Mimics that are like drones, or it could be because when she was very young, she touched me and learned about me, just like I learned about her.”
“Whatever it is,” Tryn said, “I’m glad of it.”
After a while, Melissa returned. She looked back at the Mimics and they just stood there, watching and waiting.
“Well?” Jake asked.
“Let’s keep moving,” Melissa said softly.
“No, wait, tell us what they said,” Jake said.
Melissa shook her triangular head. “If I do that, you will never trust me again. You’ll hate me and won’t be my friends.”
“Just tell us,” Jake insisted. “What happened? What did they say?”
Melissa gave the impression of a sigh. “You promise you won’t turn against me?”
“Of course we promise,” Jake said.
Melissa looked down at the ground. Despite being
huge, she suddenly looked very small and vulnerable. “They told me if I kill you all right now, my mother will allow me to live and become a Risen Queen. She says I can have my choice of worlds—Titus, Xanadu, or Earth—and all these Mimics will be mine to take with me.”
A heavy silence fell as everyone took in her words. Finally Cylus said, “You’re joking, right? This is a joke?”
Melissa shook her head. “I wish…”
Finally Tryn said, “What happens if you refuse to kill us?”
“If I refuse, when we reach my mother, she will call all the new queens together and they will kill you in front of me. Then my sisters will tear me to pieces.”
“Wow,” Jake said. “That is one very cold queen.”
Melissa nodded. “She is. That’s why she makes us fight. So only the most vicious queens survive.”
Cylus took a step back. “So what are you going to do?”
Melissa bent down closer to him. “I knew you would hate me if I told you.”
“I don’t hate you…,” Cylus said.
“Yes you do; you’re scared of me. I can tell.”
Astraea approached the Fallen Queen and reached up to touch her leg. “I don’t hate you, Melissa. None of us do. And I know you won’t kill us because we’re all friends. And friends don’t hurt friends.”
Melissa tilted her head to the side and peered long and hard at Astraea. “You mean that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” Astraea said.
“You already knew that,” Jake said. “We’re a team.”
“Yes we are,” Melissa said. “And I promise you all, I won’t let my sisters hurt you. We will stop them.” She turned and looked back at the Mimics. “We’ll stop all of them.”
* * *
They walked the entire day with the Mimics trailing behind them. By the time the sun started to descend, they’d left the area of dense buildings and started to see homes. Then they reached rolling hills of wildflower meadows. There was even a slow-moving river that cut through the green hills.
After a long night and day of walking, they were grateful to settle down on the bank to rest. Zephyr and the centaurs entered the water and lounged in it. But they left it the moment Lergo came forward and slid into the water.
“No way,” Zephyr said quickly. “Walking together is one thing. I am not swimming with that snake!”
The water washed Angie off Lergo’s back, and she swam to shore. She watched the snake. “He’s so old, everything aches,” she said. “The water will help.”
“Is it from eating Mimics?” Astraea stared warily at the gigantic snake rolling in the water.
“No, he’s just very old. His bones hurt.”
“He shouldn’t be coming with us, then,” Zephyr said. “If he stays here, we’ll stop the queen and then take him back home.”
“He won’t,” Angie said. “Not without me. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Why?” Tryn asked.
“He’s dying.”
“What?” Astraea cried. “Did we cause it by bringing him here?”
“No,” Nesso said. “We live a very long time and grow very big. But then it isss time for usss to go into the nothing. Lergo isss going toward the nothing.”
When Jake repeated the message, Astraea was surprised to feel a twinge of regret. Lergo should have been on Zomos to die in peace, and not here in this strange world, about to go into battle.
She looked at Tryn. “We should send him home.”
“He won’t go,” Angie insisted. “Not without me.”
“We have no right to expect him to fight for us,” Triana said.
“You will not be able to ssstop him,” Nesso said. “I would do anything for all of you. He feelsss the sssame for Angie. He will fight into the nothingnessss to protect her and you. But we had better hurry. I do not think he hasss much time left.”
Jake repeated the message. Everyone looked at the gigantic snake in the water. He was so large; his body was wide enough to reach each bank.
“We still have a long way to go,” Tryn said. “We can give him a while longer in the water.”
They dozed and rested on the shore while the Mimics remained farther back. They didn’t sit or lie down. They stood waiting.
“That is really disturbing,” Zephyr said, watching the Mimics. “I hate them.”
“So do I,” Melissa agreed. “Part of me thinks I should care because I am kinda one of them. But I don’t. They are just not nice.”
In Astraea’s life she had been exposed to all kinds of shapes and sizes of Titans and Olympians. She’d even met a few Nirads, the large four-armed rocklike people that were still good friends of the Olympians. But in all her life, she’d never met anything like Melissa. Titus had insects. Some could even be tamed, but Melissa was unique. She was intelligent and felt things deeply. Whatever happened, she had to be protected.
The sun started to set after the seemingly endless day. Everyone rose and prepared to get moving again.
When they did, the Mimics started to murmur.
“They’re telling the queen we’re moving again,” Melissa said.
“Let them,” Astraea said. “It’s not going to stop us.”
Angitia was the first into the water as she swam across the river in front of Lergo’s head and made it to the opposite shore. When she walked farther inland, the old snake drew itself slowly out of the water and back onto land to follow her.
With the snake out of the way, the others entered the water and crossed the river. The Shadow Titans followed behind them, and soon they were all standing on the shore.
“Hey, look,” Jake called. “The Mimics aren’t following us.”
The Mimics stood at the edge of the water but didn’t go in.
“Ah, too bad,” Zephyr said. “I kind of wanted to see them bobbing like sticks on a river.”
“I say good riddance,” Jake said.
Astraea said, “I wonder what would happen if they got really wet.”
“Maybe they’d melt,” Triana offered. “Should we try splashing them?”
“Triana!” Tryn cried. “You can’t do that!”
“Sure I can,” Triana said. “After everything they’ve done, I really can.”
Astraea stepped between their growing fight. “Come on, children, we don’t have time to play with the nasty Mimics. Let’s just keep moving.”
“I wasn’t going to play,” Triana muttered. “I was going to melt them.”
Leaving the Mimics behind, they kept traveling in the direction the skateboards took them. Tryn would occasionally ask his skateboard to take him to Diana and the others. Each time he did, the board pointed them in the same direction they were already traveling. The group hoped they would all meet up before the others reached the queen.
The terrain around them changed, and they soon entered woodland. As the full night descended, Jake couldn’t see anymore and had to be carried by Render.
The walk was long and tiring. They stopped several times to rest. When they did, Melissa would disappear for a short while and then return. Sometimes she would bring back fruit for them to eat or tell them what was around.
The journey seemed endless, but no one complained or suggested they should stop. At some point during the following day, they left the trees and were faced with rolling hills of open grassland. When night returned, the hills flattened into smooth, even terrain. They were exhausted and out of food, but still they pressed on, feeling the pressure that each and every moment the queen was still spawning.
Late into the night, Melissa ventured out again. She returned a while later with a container full of ambrosia. “I found another camp full of people!”
She put the container down. “They were frightened of me, but then I told them about you and what was happening. I got them some food and then said I would bring you back so you can send them home with your ring.”
Everyone was stunned as they listened to her story. “That’s wonderful,” Tryn said. �
�Where are they? How far?” He looked at the others. “Perhaps some are strong enough to join us.”
“They’re not far.” Melissa pointed to the left. “Just that way.”
“Did you see any Mimics?” Jake asked.
“Nope, the camp was quiet except for the people.”
“How about Chiron, Diana, and the others?” Astraea asked. “Any sign of them?”
“Sorry,” Melissa said. “Just the camp.”
“If there’s a camp, we must be near another town or city,” Vulturnus said. “I wonder how far away the queen is.”
“She’s mega close,” Melissa said. “I can feel her. If we stay on the ground, we’ll reach her tomorrow. By air it would be much faster.”
Tryn looked at Astraea. “Would you give me your Solar Stream ring? I’ll go to the camp and use it to send the weakest prisoners to Xanadu and bring the stronger ones back here.”
“I’ll come too,” Astraea said.
“No, please stay here and wait for us,” Tryn said.
Astraea put her hands on her hips. “Tryn, I’m just as capable as you of rescuing those people.”
“I know that!” Tryn insisted. “But for you to go, Zephyr has to fly, and she’s still hurt.”
“Hey, I’m fine,” Zephyr said. “Don’t bring me into your fight.”
“No, you’re not,” Tryn said. “We all know you’re still hurt from the building collapse. I’ve got my skateboard to use.”
“So we all go,” Astraea offered.
Tryn approached Astraea and lowered his voice. “Please stay, Astraea, and take care of him—” He pointed at Lergo. “Look at him, he’s exhausted.”
Astraea looked back at the snake. His head was down on the ground, and Angitia was petting his snout.
“You know how Cylus feels about him. You’re the only one that has some control over that hotheaded centaur. Please, keep everyone here safe.”
Astraea hated to be told what to do, but Tryn was right. Lergo was exhausted, and Cylus was ready to take the big snake on. Tryn was the best choice to go. But it didn’t make it any easier to admit.
“Fine,” she finally said. “We’ll stay.”
Tryn looked over to Vulturnus and said, “Some of them might recognize you. Will you come?”
