Amazon Princess

by Kate Karyus Quinn

  Sophia’s horse gives a last, horrible scream, as if to accentuate my point.

  “The zombies are not part of my trial,” Artemis says loudly.

  “Pull down the perimeter. We need to stop this trial!”

  Athena turns to the field, raising her hands. But nothing happens. Confused, she shouts. “Someone else has control of it! The mist isn’t obeying me!”

  Realization rushes through me. No one is coming to help us.

  None of the other contestants looks like they’re fleeing. Nobody wants to lose. Stubborn entitled jerks. Well, I’m not going to let my friends become zombie bait because they’re a bunch of idiots.

  It’s up to me to save their dumb asses.

  23

  Suddenly I notice Alaric at my side, bashing in a zombie’s head. It seems like the zombie was about to take a chomp out of Whiskey’s leg.

  Okay, so maybe I have to get saved so I can save the others.

  Rattled, I fumble with my bow and nearly drop it under Whiskey’s dancing feet.

  Alaric pulls Whiskey’s reins to calms him.

  “Brandee,” he shouts at me. “Stay close. I will get you to the barrier and you’ll be safe.”

  “Oh no,” I tell him. “I’m in this until the end.”

  “You infuriatingly stubborn girl,” he tells me. “You have no business being on a horse for a walk in the park, much less a melee packed with zombies. Leave now before you get yourself killed.”

  “No,” I yell back. “This fool is going to help fight the zombies!” Tugging Whiskey’s ear, we gallop away.

  A moment later, Alaric and his horse are beside me. “Stay close, you gormless girl. And remember, we’re allies.”

  “I got your back,” I tell him.

  “Yes, well, don’t accidentally put an arrow into it. I haven’t Rada’s healing powers.”

  “That was an accident!” I screech at the same time that we hear a shrill scream from Trevor’s horse.

  A zombie is climbing up its hindquarters. Trying to shake it off, the horse dances crazily on the perimeter. Another zombie has Trevor’s horse by the head, mouth gaping wide as it prepares to bite into the soft fuzz of its nose.

  “No, not my horse, you vile brain-eating tossers!” Trevor swings his bow at them, having apparently spent all his arrows.

  There must be something wrong with the front zombie because it is super slow. Even so, Trevor can’t fight them both at the same time. With his focus on keeping the one zombie from eating his horse’s face off, he forgets about the zombie climbing up the back of his horse. Until it’s right on top of him.

  “Brother! Help!” he yells, grappling with the back zombie which is now trying to take a chunk out of Trevor’s face.

  Alaric looks to me, as if asking permission, but before I can even say ‘go’, he’s wheeling his horse around and I’m left in his dust.

  I try to follow, but am swarmed by a zombie horde. I have to retreat while trying to watch Alaric. I spot him as he reaches Trevor. He comes charging, an arrow flying from his bow, penetrating an eye socket of the zombie Trevor is struggling with. It goes limp, sliding from the horse’s back to be trampled by Alaric’s mount as he pulls up next to his brother.

  “Are you hurt?” Alaric asks, and from across the field I can see Trevor’s crocodile smile.

  “I’m fine, Ricky,” he says. Then he grabs Alaric by the shoulders and pulls him off his mount. Twisting in his saddle, he tosses Alaric outside of the misty perimeter.

  Alaric cries out, but it’s too late. His flag—royal blue—unties itself from his waist and sails through the magical mist to tie itself around Trevor’s waist.

  Well, Mama always did say that family ties can easily hang you.

  The zombie holding his mount’s head snaps its jaw shut and looks to Trevor…as if for instruction.

  “Piss off! Your job is done.” He kicks out a leg and the zombie falls to the ground. “Off you go wankers, time to cause more chaos.”

  Trevor is in on the zombie uprising? What the—

  Okay, it’s not really that shocking. He is a total liar and a cheat who just stabbed his own brother in the back.

  “Traitor!” Rada screams from the far side of the perimeter. She lets loose an arrow at Trevor’s head.

  Guess I’m not the only one who saw Trevor ordering around those zombies.

  Trevor’s eyes narrow as Rada’s arrow narrowly misses him.

  “You’re next,” he says, pointing to her.

  Right then more zombies erupt from the earth, surrounding Rada. One grabs Madathan’s tail and he goes into a wild spin. The zombie loses its grip and goes flying, but the arrow Rada was preparing for a zombie goes wide. It sails into the stands, where the Amazons are trying to get past the magical mist barrier and help us.

  The barrier has been spelled to not allow anyone to enter or interfere with the trial in any way. Arrows fly from the audience members, but are incinerated to ashes as they pass through the mist. And when the girls begin to use their bodies as battering rams, flames flare up out of the mist, pushing them back.

  Flames. Zombies.

  I’d bet my Miss All-Midwest Gourd & Pumpkin Princess sash that Hades is behind this. When Alaric rejected him, he must’ve run straight back to Trevor.

  Rada shouts as Madathan is overwhelmed by more zombies, pulling him down to the ground.

  Her scream is like Shauna’s. The look on Rada’s face is as desperate as Shauna’s had been when she glanced back at me. I could see she was terrified as our eyes met for one long moment, and then Shauna was lost in a cloud of motorcycle exhaust.

  I’m not letting it happen again. I’m not losing another friend.

  I ran that day with Shauna. It didn’t even occur to me that there was another option. But that’s not me anymore. I will help Rada even if it means I don’t make it out of here alive.

  I’m rounding on the group of zombies surrounding Rada, when I feel a firm touch on my shoulder. I slap at it, expecting to feel cold, dead zombie fingers, but instead there’s a spreading warmth, and a musical voice in my ear.

  “Welcome, my daughter,” the voice says. “Welcome to the sisterhood of the Amazons.”

  I’m infused with a sudden strength. Not the power of Zeus, which lies only in my muscles. This is different, deeper, something coming from my core and enveloping my entire body.

  I also suddenly realize something else. Devana was right, damn it—I am left-handed. I am a left-handed Amazon beauty queen from the Midwest who is not putting up with any more bullshit.

  I transfer the bow to my right hand and let three arrows fly in quick succession, all of them hitting their mark. Zombies fall away from Rada as she stands on Madathan’s corpse, desperately beating them away. I see the surprise in her face as the tip of an arrow comes jutting through one’s nose. Her gaze travels past the zombie and up to me.

  Rada’s eyes widen, and then, amazingly, she laughs.

  As I gallop towards her, Rada lifts her arms, ready for me to pull her up. She swings behind me onto Whiskey’s back and we spin together, both bows raised as we turn to face Trevor.

  He bears down on us, his eyes are alight with a manic glee. It’s a much scarier look for him that his usual charming rogue act.

  “Asshole,” I say.

  “Shit stain,” Rada counters as we focus on our target.

  “Buttweasel.”

  Rada snorts. Then her voice dips low and I know a good one is coming.

  “Target practice.”

  We let loose, my arrow tearing his flag—blood red—from his waist, and Rada’s taking his left ear off neatly. He falls from his horse, face as red as his flag, blood streaming from the side of his head as I swoop to gather my prize—his flag.

  “You bitch!” he screams at me, running for Whiskey in a mad dash, as if he’ll attack my horse if that’s what it takes to get to me.

  At that moment, Athena and Artemis manage to pull the barrier down, although it takes most of their
combined magical strength. Their arms fall limply to their sides as Amazons swarm the field, dispatching zombies. Lilliana and another girl intercept Trevor, pinning him to the ground.

  “I didn’t cheat!” he shouts. “I did nothing against the rules!”

  Lilliana pulls a blade from her belt, holding it to his neck with a smile that could get her first place in a toothpaste contest. “You have been knocked out of the contest, little fae. What happens now is between us.”

  Despite Trevor’s absolute dickishness I don’t want to see him gutted on the field. “Let’s see what Athena says,” I yell down to her.

  She looks up at me and to my surprise, gives me a nod of agreement.

  I pull Whiskey to a halt in the center of the ring as the last of the zombies fall under the wrath of the Amazons. As I dismount, Rada slides off his back as well, landing in a low crouch at my feet.

  “Mother Hippolyta has touched you here today,” she says solemnly as she tears the flag from her side. “You are a true sister warrior, Brandee Jean Mason. You saved my life even though we were combatants.” Her voice catches a little. “I cede my place in this contest to you.”

  All around us, the Amazons have come to a halt. The crowd splits, allowing Athena, Artemis, Epona, and Devana to pass through.

  “This trial—this entire contest—has been tampered with,” Athena says, throwing a dark glance to where Trevor lay, still pinned to the ground. “I cannot in good conscience guarantee that any further trials will be performed with honesty and good sportsmanship. I vote that we declare this melee the final contest, and the winner—Brandee Jean Mason—as the rightful inheritor of Zeus’s position as head of the gods.”

  “No! Absolutely not!” Sophia shouts. “That whole trial was a shit show and it’s a fluke that BJ won.”

  “It was no fluke,” Rada steps up. “She was blessed by Hippolyta. She is now a true Amazon.”

  There’s a gasp from the crowd of Amazon warriors, then amazingly, they cheer. For me.

  I give them my best pageant humble wave.

  “I’m in favor of crowning Brandee Jean Mason,” says Artemis.

  “This isn’t fair,” Malik says. Alaric remains silent, and his face is blank so it’s impossible to guess what he thinks of all this.

  Zahara stands beside Rada, wincing from her damaged wing. “I support Brandee Jean as well.”

  “You have got to be joking,” Sophia yells. “You want to give this piece of white trash the power of a god?”

  “There are worse contenders,” Zahara says, looking from Sophia to Trevor, and back again.

  I feel like I’m taking part in Little Miss Practical Joke again. That was a one-off pageant where someone thought it would be cute to tell the losers they won, and then scream, “April Fools!”

  “I support Brandee Jean,” adds Epona.

  “Myself as vell,” agrees Devana, giving me a glance. “Although she vould make gud magician’s assistant girl. Zip. Zip.”

  I thought they all hated me. I was the underdog. The white trash wonder. The faux queen with the plastic pageant crown.

  “Do I have the blessing of my fellow gods?” Athena asks, raising her voice to the sky.

  Around us arrows fall to the ground, most of them blue with a few red marking the bunch. But the blue heavily outweigh the red. I can guess by the look on Sophia’s face that it must mean the gods have voted in my favor.

  “Brandee Jean Mason, Amazon sister. It means that you are going to be leader of the gods,” Rada says.

  “And Miss All-Wisconsin Cheese Wheel winner,” I remind her. “And don’t you forget it. That one came with a lifetime supply of cheese, so it’s gonna be pretty hard for this gig to measure up.”

  24

  There are so many people who want to attend my crowning that the ceremony has to be held on the same field where we just had the melee. It seems like maybe not the greatest place, vibes wise, but I don’t want to act like a total prima donna and have them think the whole new Zeus thing is already going to my head.

  It’s almost disturbing how quickly the ground has been smoothed. The hoofbeats and holes where the zombies dug their way out of the underworld have been filled in. Like it never happened. Although none of the contestants were bitten, there was still a price to pay.

  Rada is doing a good job of hiding her pain, but Madathan meant a lot to her. I even feel a tug on my heart for Sophia, who might have lasted longer during the melee if she hadn’t tried to comfort her dying mount.

  The stage has been moved to the middle of the field with a sea of Amazons and gods in the audience. I’m wearing a shimmering deep purple ball gown. I’d originally opted for black, in honor of the dead horses—and the death of Trevor’s dignity—but Rada insisted I wear purple.

  “The color of royalty,” she said.

  Now, Rada, Sophia, Zahara, Malik, Alaric, and Trevor are arranged on the opposite side of the stage, waiting to have their powers stripped and transferred to me. Lilliana and another Amazon stand by Trevor’s side, ready to grab him if he tries to bolt. Edie waits by the chair for me to be seated and gain my powers. Catching my eye, she gives me a goofy thumbs up.

  For now I’m the only one in the middle of the stage with Athena. I try not to stare too hard at what’s in her hands; a delicately crafted golden crown perched on a pillow.

  It is, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

  I hope I’m worthy of it. No, I will prove I’m worthy of it.

  Finally, everyone is settled and the ceremony begins.

  Athena opens by settling down the crowd, giving a quick recap of the trials, and denouncing Trevor’s machinations during the melee, his alliance with Hades, and his general bad sportsmanship throughout the contest.

  The Amazons boo him, and some even send arrows toward the stage—too close for comfort, but not hitting him. I wonder if he’ll make it off this island alive once the ceremony is over.

  Cocky to the end, he smiles and waves, treating each arrow like a compliment.

  I notice that while all the other contestants have their mentors beside them, Stranger sits in the audience, his eyes glued to Zahara.

  When she’s done recounting the trials, Athena turns to me and nods solemnly.

  “Brandee Jean Mason, you are worthy of Zeus’s powers,” she tells me. “You are worthy to be Queen of the gods.”

  I press my lips together to keep myself from blurting out, “Are you sure?” Saying such a thing would ruin the moment, and probably make Athena rethink putting that crown on my head. And, oh man, I really want to wear that crown.

  Staying silent, I tilt my head slightly and she places the crown upon my head. I almost forget that there’s no sash or flowers—that’s standard, even at the most third-rate contests. You’d think Demeter would have put together some roses, at least. But the crown is perfect and feels as light as air on my head. So I make do, not cradling flowers, but instead waving gracefully as I make my way over to the chair.

  Edie gives me a proud mama smile. “I knew you could do it,” she tells me.

  I sit and cross my ankles like a proper lady and wait for the powers, hoping no one can tell how nervous I am.

  Rada—not just my roommate, but truly my friend—is first. She requested to give her powers to me first, like it’s an honor. She also dressed for the occasion in an emerald green cocktail dress. Her skin looks glorious, her freckles echoing her vibrant personality.

  But there’s no smile on her face. Instead, she looks…terrified.

  Behind her, Sora follows.

  Wait! Sora?? But he’s dead!

  He died in the maze and his body…oh, shit.

  His body disappeared.

  Sora has one hand on the back of Rada’s neck, her skin already bruising from the pressure. Confusion spreads through the crowd as he guides Rada to the middle of the stage, then forces her to her knees.

  “Edie?” I ask, my voice a hoarse whisper. “What’s going on?”

&nb
sp; Her hand is on my shoulder, her palm damp and wet. “I don’t know.”

  On the other side of the stage, behind the rest of the contestants, I see Athena. She’s arguing with someone. The other contestants stare at Rada and Sora when I glance toward them. But Alaric meets my eyes. And he mouths one word. Run.

  I stand, ready to do exactly that. But I’m not running away. I’m headed straight for Rada and Sora. I don’t know what’s going on, but Rada is clearly horrified. If my friend is scared, I’m going to her side—not the other direction.

  But I’m not fast enough. Sora pulls out a blade, and slides it across Rada’s throat.

  A spray of blood arcs across the stage and I slip in it, going down on my hands and knees.

  “Rada!” I scream, reaching for her, my palms slick with her blood. A foot lands on my back, pinning me in place. I glance back to see a grinning Hades.

  “Next Zeus?” He wags a finger at me. “I don’t think so, little girl.”

  I struggle, but can’t get a grip on the slick floor. Desperately, I look around for help. But a fresh wave of zombies has overtaken the stage. My fellow contestants and their mentors have been backed into a corner trying to fight them off.

  Overhead, a dragon swoops down, incinerating zombies to ashes. My heart lifts as I recognize Edie. But even in her airborne flamethrower mode, she barely makes a dent in the zombie army. One group turns to smoke, and immediately another and another and another is on its heels.

  Apparently the zombies at the melee were just the warm-up. This right here is the real thing.

  But at least with Hades on my back, the zombies are keeping away from me.

  Digging my fingers into the ground, I drag myself forward, one inch closer to Rada. Close enough to see her eyelids flutter as she tries to heal herself. I watch the wound begin to close, slower than it should. Skin desperately trying to knit together as blood gushes down her beautiful dress and on to the stage.

  “Come on, Rada,” I say, stretching a hand toward her. “You can do it.”