Justin stared at me helplessly.
Luckily for us, the creature was torn. Its attention had been fixated on Zeus and Hermes. It instinctively wanted to go after its blinded prey. But I’d caught its attention by speaking. Loudly.
But, to my surprise, it ignored all of us. Instead, it spotted Demeter, alone and petrified where Hermes had left her to save Zeus.
“You’re a Dreamer! Do something!” I shouted at Justin.
My only hope was to either jar Justin into action or distract the creature. I would’ve given anything to have Athena back with us. She would’ve known what to do. She always did.
Justin was still frozen. By fear. By doubt.
The creature took slow, careful steps toward my sister. It didn’t want to spook her. Right now, she was too terrified to run. The creature had all the time in the world.
“If my sister dies, I will hate you forever!” I screamed at Justin.
I was out of options. I ran at the creature.
Justin blinked. His jaw clenched. Then his eyes snapped shut. A moment later, he held a shield in one hand and a sword in the other.
As I ran past him, Justin did the unthinkable. He tripped me. I fell sprawling to the ground. I glared at him, but he didn’t notice. He was running for the creature.
It sensed Justin coming and whirled toward him, forgetting about Demeter and letting out another deafening roar. Its tail-snakes shot venom at Justin, but he was fast, faster than I’d ever seen him before. He tucked into a diving roll, dodging the streams of poison and standing up behind the creature. He jumped and swung his sword down on the creature’s tail with all of his weight behind it.
A half-dozen snakes fell to the ground, their severed bodies spouting blood and jerking crazily. The creature screamed in pain. The remaining snakes rose menacingly and spewed their venom at Justin.
But he expected that. Instead of risking another dodge, Justin raised his shield to block poison, turning his face away.
A critical mistake. Justin couldn’t see the creature rear and then charge straight at him.
There was a terrifying crash as they collided. Somehow, the shield held solid. But Justin was pinned beneath the creature. Only the shield kept its gaping maw from tearing out his throat. But already the shield was bending under the sheer weight of the creature. Soon, it would snap, and then Justin would be defenceless.
I could run to him. Try to help. Or I could leave him and run to Demeter. While the creature was busy with Justin, Demeter and I could both escape and meet up with Zeus and Hermes later. Justin’s death would save not one, but four gods. He’d die a hero. Besides, I was no good to him without powers. If I risked my life on an insane rescue, we could all die, and there’d be no one left to find the Fates and save existence.
I bit my lip. I knew what I had to do.
Then, swearing furiously, I did the opposite. I ran at the creature. It was so wrapped up in Justin that it paid no attention to me. Perfect. I needed every advantage I could get.
I put all my bodyweight behind a kick to one of the creature’s backmost legs. I heard a satisfying crunching sound, and black ichor fountained into the air from where I’d snapped the limb. It hung off the creature like a broken hinge.
The creature roared in agony. Its tail of serpents whirled to spray, but I was already gone. In and out. A quick raiding attack. Just like Athena had taught me.
Somewhere, in the distance, I heard a roar. No. Not a roar. An answer.
There were more of these creatures. There was no telling how much time we had before they arrived. In the empty savannah, sound could travel forever. We could have hours or minutes. There was no way to know.
Justin took advantage of my sneak attack. He hauled himself out from under the creature while it was distracted with me. Then he disappeared into the grass.
He'd left me. Alone with the creature. He’d abandoned me, the same way I’d considered abandoning him.
Something brushed my back, and I flung my head backward to head-butt it. When I turned, I saw that I had smacked Justin directly in the forehead.
“I thought you left,” I hissed, my head throbbing.
“Never mind,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead. He closed his eyes and a second later, I had a bow in one hand and a quiver in the other.
It was nothing like my own bow. That had been handcrafted by Hephaestus himself, and he’d poured all his love for me into that exquisite creation. That bow was a poem. That bow was a song. It shone like the moon, and it never missed.
This bow barely deserved to be called a bow. It was crude and plain. Just wood and string.
But it would have to do.
Justin melted back into the grass, as I slung the quiver on my back and notched an arrow. I knelt down. I waited. I had to be sure.
I spotted the creature moving in the brush. It scuttled awkwardly now that one of its legs was broken, but it was still hunting.
I carefully took aim and let an arrow fly directly at the creature, channeling all of my fury into it.
The arrow sailed so wide, the creature didn’t even notice.
I notched another arrow. I took my time. I pretended there was nothing at stake--no sister to save, no wounded husband, no mortal risking his life for gods he only recently and reluctantly believed in.
I didn’t even realize when I released the arrow. Somehow, it just released itself. And this time, it shot from my bow like a bolt of Zeus’s lightning.
It neatly severed three more of the creature’s tail-snakes.
The creature howled in pain, jerking its head around, searching. Our eyes met. It roared. I’d been spotted.
It barreled toward me. I got ready to run, but, even injured, the creature was too fast. It would trample and kill me.
Kill me. I would die. It was so absurd. Ludicrous. Those words didn’t make sense together. I wanted to laugh and scream. A god? Die? Die. The word was so strange. Meaningless. This wasn’t right. None of this was supposed to happen. I was beyond life. Beyond death. Or I had been. But that was before Athena.
In its eagerness to kill me, the creature forgot about its injured leg, and stumbled and fell.
I didn’t hesitate. I ran.
I ran on pure instinct. There was no plan. I threw myself into the tall grass blindly, hoping I wouldn’t trip over a rock or worse, slam into another of these monsters.
I heard the creature closing in behind me. I could smell its rotten breath. It was picking up speed, and I was already running as fast as I could.
I remembered Artemis telling me about the chase. She loved it. It was wild and freeing. Of course, she was always the one doing the chasing.
Somewhere, in my spiraling despair, I remembered her recounting how prey would try to escape her. They weaved and zigzagged. They knew that they couldn’t outrun her. She was too strong. So they tried to outmaneuver her instead.
I veered to the left. I arced to the right. It was terrifying. It felt like a waste of precious time when all I really wanted to do was run.
But it worked. The stench of the creature grew fainter.
Maybe it’d give up. Maybe it’d circle back to find the others. With any luck, they’d regrouped by now, and they’d be ready for it.
I fell. I didn't know what did it. Maybe a rock or a root or just plain bad luck. But I crashed to the ground, landing on my right foot at a brutal angle.
There was pain, but that was nothing next to the panic. I could hear the creature smashing through the brush, seconds away. The reek of its breath was everywhere.
But it had lost sight of me when I fell. The grass was too high. I could use that. I had to be very careful. Move very slowly. Predators were attracted to motion. I waited for the wind to ripple the grass. Then I crawled, careful to move in the same direction as the breeze.
The creature was so close. I could've reached out and touched it. It was searching where I’d just been moments before. I watched the grass swaying as it moved.
The urge
to run was unbearable. I felt like I’d burst if I didn’t do something. But the creature was too close. I couldn’t run. It’d catch me before I took two steps. I had to hide.
Then there was nothing. No more swaying grass. No sound of movement. Nothing. I hoped for a second that the creature had left, but I realized with sick certainty that I would’ve heard it leaving. It wasn’t gone. It had just stopped moving. It was . . . sniffing.
Of course, it smelled the blood. I’d scratched myself when I fell. My mortal weakness would seal my fate.
There was no use trying to hide anymore. I grabbed an arrow from my quiver. If I was going to die, I’d die fighting. Maybe the others were coming. Maybe they weren’t. Right now, all I had was me. Some things never changed.
My fingers shook as I held the arrow against the string. The waiting was unbearable. It should’ve found me by now. What was it waiting for?
Then I fumbled and dropped the arrow.
The creature sprang at me. It was so sudden. I couldn’t believe something so large could move so fast. It lunged, its needle-filled maw snapping hungrily at my face. But it had miscalculated by precious inches.
I smashed my bow against its jaws, but the wood splintered harmlessly against one of its large horns.
I was alone, injured, defenceless. I had no powers, no weapons, nothing. I was going to die.
The creature lunged again, and I clumsily threw myself backward, pushing my bloody hands and bruised feet against the ground as hard as I could. Its jaws snapped again, even closer to my face. Its rancid spittle sprayed across my cheeks.
As I clawed my way backward, my hand brushed the arrow I’d dropped. I grabbed it and rammed it with all the force I could muster deep into one of the creature’s eyes.
The creature pulled back, screaming.
Now was my moment. I struggled to my feet. But as I stood, I felt the weakness and pain in my foot. I couldn’t run.
I’d die on my feet, but I’d still die.
The creature was already shaking off its latest injury. It moved cautiously now, circling, waiting for me to make my move, waiting for me to make a mistake. The few snakes left on its tail danced and gleamed in the sunlight.
I drew myself up to my full height. I tried to seem as imposing as possible. But the pain in my foot was getting worse, and my body trembled with fear and exhaustion. I was wounded. And the creature knew that. If it could’ve smiled, it would have.
“Get down!”
I turned to see Justin plunging through the grass toward me with Hermes close behind.
But the creature saw them, too, and rushed in to finish the kill before the others could reach me. Hermes was faster. Or, rather, his bolo was.
It whirled through the air like something alive, rising, and falling, then rising again. It wrapped around two of the creature’s scorpion legs. The creature collapsed to the ground.
I didn’t waste any time. I limped toward them as fast as I could. Justin reached me just as I started to fall again. He caught me with remarkable gentleness.
“Stay down,” he said.
He laid me carefully in the grass. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was holding another bow. This one was gleaming metal. His powers were growing.
He was gone before I could say anything. As the wind rippled through the tall grass, I caught glimpses of the fight.
Hermes and Justin circling on either side of the creature; a few weak sprays of venom; the creature lunging, missing, falling; Hermes and Justin leaping on it, blades high.
I heard the screams. Then a terrible stillness.
The stillness of death.
Justin found me again. Some of the evil-looking venom had splashed on his shirt, but his face was clean. He panted heavily.
“It’s dead,” he said.
I nodded. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
He reached down and lifted me to my feet with surprising strength. As soon as he did, I began to fall. There was no strength left in my foot.
Justin grabbed me before I could collapse again.
“Change of plans,” he decided. Before I could protest, he swept me up in his arms.
“There is no way--” I started.
“It’s either this, or over my shoulder,” he warned.
I fumed silently as we walked back to the others, Hermes guarding us the whole way.
“You’re . . . quite a surprise, Justin,” Hermes said after a while.
“Uh, thanks,” Justin replied. “I think being here kinda helps. I feel . . . different. Amazing actually.”
We had reached the others. I felt a swell of relief as I saw Demeter, unharmed, with Zeus’s head in her lap. She was cleaning his face with a scrap of her dress. He tossed and turned in obvious pain.
“How is he?” I asked.
“He is not deaf,” Zeus growled, wincing yet again. “I’m fine.”
“He can’t see,” Demeter informed me.
“I’ll be fine,” Zeus insisted.
“You’re in pain,” I replied sharply.
It was always this way when he suffered. Bittersweet. I loved him, but I hated him, too.
“Can we do anything?” I asked.
Demeter looked at me helplessly. “With no powers, I can’t find herbs that would help. I can’t even ask the plants if there’s water nearby to wash his face.”
“You don’t have powers,” I said. I turned to Justin. “But you do. Can’t you . . .”
I left it hanging. I knew I wanted him to heal Zeus, but it felt strange asking him to. I knew they hated each other. But more than that, I had no idea what exactly needed to be done.
Justin sighed. “I’ll try.”
He set me down on the ground near Demeter. Then he frowned and closed his eyes. He put his hand over Zeus’s eyes.
“Nothing?” he asked, opening his eyes.
“Nothing,” Zeus said darkly, wincing again.
“I’m sorry,” Justin said to me. “I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“It’s not your fault,” I replied. “We don’t know what the Rules are here. But there were more of those things. We have to get moving and just hope Zeus doesn’t get any worse.”
But he did get worse. The blindness led to a fever, then chills. Soon, Zeus couldn’t even walk. He was wracked with pain, his body seizing from the sheer agony. While I limped along with Demeter, Justin and Hermes supported Zeus, but they couldn’t carry his enormous bulk for long. We were forced to stop and make camp.
We had no idea how far we were from the Oracle’s necklace or how much longer it’d take to get there, but Zeus wasn’t getting better. He was getting worse. Much worse.
He was fighting it. I could tell. I could always tell when he was fighting something, because that something was usually me. And that’s also how I knew when he was losing. It wouldn’t be long before his will to fight was gone, and when that happened, it’d all be over.
Zeus was dying.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Nothing could be done. We had no powers here. And no matter how much he tried, even Justin couldn’t seem to help Zeus.
After we made camp and started a fire, the others slept. I stayed by Zeus’s side the entire night. I was his wife. Whatever else may have been true about our relationship, it was my duty.
Watching him was painful, but at least he lapsed into unconsciousness now and then, when he was exhausted beyond what his body could bear.
I watched as Zeus suffered and weakened. I watched as the life trickled out of him. There was so little left.
I was watching him slowly die. Athena. Zeus. We were all being picked off, one by one, by an enemy we didn’t even remember making. No cosmic battle. No blaze of glory. Just death. It was so unfair. So ordinary. So mortal.
I was so lost in thought that, until he spoke, I didn’t even realize Justin had sat down beside me.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Justin said. We watched as Zeus tossed fitfully in his delirious semi-sleep.
/>
I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
Justin paused. “How bad?”
It was the question I’d been avoiding. But I couldn’t avoid it any longer. “He won’t make it to dawn.”
We were both quiet for a long time.
Justin finally broke the silence. “What happens if Zeus . . . doesn’t make it? I mean, the Dreamlands aren’t real, right?”
“They’re real enough,” I said softly. “The Dreamlands is a reality, just like any other. Best case scenario: he dies here, and his mind dies too. Everything that makes him real, everything that makes him who he is, will die here, too. There will be nothing left to wake up.”
“I’m sorry,” Justin said quietly.
I sighed. “Me, too.”
We sat again in silence. I didn’t cry. I never cried. There was no point. Tears did nothing. They were for those without hope, those who were powerless. And I wasn’t powerless. I couldn’t be powerless. But I certainly felt powerless a lot lately.
I pulled my knees to my chest and laid my head on Justin’s shoulder.
“How will you all get back home?” he asked. “When your mission is done. How will you get back to the Heavens?”
“There’s a ritual,” I answered. I didn’t know why he was asking, but I didn’t care. I had no energy left to care. “But once we go back, we can’t come back again. Not right away. Taking the power of a god from one dimension and pouring it, even a small part of it, into another world puts pressure on both worlds. Too much pressure, and . . .”
“Bad things?” Justin suggested.
“Very bad things,” I agreed.
“But you could go back,” Justin pressed, “whenever you want?”
“I guess,” I admitted. “But we can’t abandon our mission. We have to find the Fates. Or there won’t be anywhere worth going back to.”
“But you could send Zeus back, right?” Justin said, eyes widening. “The rest of you could stay to find the Fates. But you could send Zeus back! Wouldn’t that save him?”
Justin had proved once again he was too smart for his own good.
“The ritual is draining,” I said evasively. “In his current condition, he might not survive it.”
Hera, Queen of Gods (Goddess Unbound) Page 14
