by Alane Adams
He spun on his heel, strode back to his horse, and waited to be lifted up onto the finely tooled saddle. He started to ride off, then pulled up to look back at her. “My son said there was also a girl about the same age.”
“She was a stranger he met on the street. No one of importance,” the boy’s mother said.
Thankfully, he accepted her answer and galloped away.
The soldiers ransacked the little village, tossing tables over, emptying pots of food onto the ground, stomping out cooking fires, and throwing the dried fish into the dirt before leaving.
The woman stood with her arm around her son as the rest of the villagers set about righting the tables and picking up the pieces.
I came out of the hut. I think they had forgotten I was there. The woman saw me and wiped her damp cheeks with her apron. Rummaging in the debris, she pulled out a small bag. “Here, child, I packed this for you. Take it with our blessings.”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to leave. Something about the two of them tugged at me. I wanted to help them. Tell them it would all be okay. But they stood silent, a pair united in their own world, waiting for me to leave.
With a nod goodbye, I made my way down the hillside to the docks. My friends came running toward me.
“Where have you been?” Angie demanded, practically throwing herself at me to wrap me in a hug. “We were so worried.”
“And what happened to your face?” Damian asked with a worried frown. “You look like you fell down a flight of stairs.”
“It’s nothing,” I said. “Let’s go. I don’t want to stay another minute in this place.”
Karisto eyed me but remained silent. As I stepped on board, he stopped me. “You kept your promise, didn’t you?”
I tugged free. “What’s it to you?”
He shrugged. “I’m just surprised. In my experience, demigods tend to throw their powers around.”
“Guess that makes me unique. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave this dump.”
Karisto hoisted the sails, and I provided a hearty gust of wind to speed us away. As the island receded from sight, I thought of the boy and his mother. I hadn’t even learned their names.
“I’ve always liked Seriphos,” Macario said from his spot on the deck, where he lay in the sun. “They have the best candied figs in all of Greece.” He tossed one in the air and caught it in his open mouth.
Damian was helping Karisto with the sails, but he paused, turning to look at Macario. “What did you say the name of that island was?”
“Seriphos. Why? Is it in one of your stories?”
Damian’s stricken eyes went to mine. I sat up, knowing I was about to get some horrid news. “What is it?”
“It’s just … I mean … I think …”
“Oh, just spit it out.” Angie dropped down on the deck next to me. “Katzy here can take anything.”
“Well, a long time ago—or maybe not, I’m not sure where exactly we are in Greek history—there was a king named Polydectes.”
“Yeah, I met him. He’s a real jerk.”
Damian laughed nervously. “Okay, then, about that king—he fell in love with a woman. She and her son had come here from another land. She lived in a simple fishing village but was descended from a royal family.”
“Sounds like a fairytale,” Angie said, making gagging noises.
“It’s not a fairytale. It’s the story of Phoebe’s family.”
I froze. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your mother, Danae, princess of Argos, and her son Perseus, your brother.”
I shook my head. “No, back up. I mean what does it have to do with that place?”
“Seriphos is the island Danae and Perseus washed up on after her father, the king of Argos, put her and her baby in a crate on the seas.”
My head buzzed with anger. “And you didn’t think to mention that to me?”
“I didn’t know. I swear, Phoebe, I didn’t know that’s where we were.”
Then it hit me, like a ton of hydra dung. “I met them.” The woman had looked familiar. Now I knew why. She was my mother. I quickly told them what had happened, including how the king had threatened her. “It has to be them. We have to go back.”
“We can’t,” Karisto said. “The tides are against us now.”
“I don’t care! That was my freaking mother back there. I didn’t even get to tell her my name or who I was. I left them to that bully. He’s going to do something terrible. I have to warn them.”
I rushed for the tiller, but Karisto gripped my wrist. “It is too late to turn back.”
I wrenched my arm free. “Why are you so heartless? Don’t you have any family?”
Pain flashed in his eyes. “Yes. A brother named Mikos I would do anything for. But it doesn’t change the facts. Macario has told me of your journey to save your friend. Every second you delay means another day he is a slave.” His eyes burned with a fire I didn’t understand, but I did get the Carl part, and he wasn’t wrong about that.
Damian put a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay, Phoebe. Perseus turns out fine. You know the stories. He’s smart and brave, and, well, he’s just like you.”
I sank down onto the deck. My mother had been right there. I could’ve hugged her. Asked her a hundred and one questions. I opened the satchel she had given me. Inside was a pair of small green apples, some dried lamb meat wrapped in flatbread, and three freshly baked cookies. Tucked beneath was a scrap of linen for a napkin. I held it to my face, inhaling, imagining I could smell her.
Angie sat next to me. “You okay, Katzy?”
I nodded through blurry eyes. “I should have recognized her.”
“I bet she misses you.”
I leaned against Angie, closing my eyes. I wasn’t so sure. She seemed so close to Perseus, as if the two of them made a closed circle. Even though they lived in a small fishing village, they had each other. That was a lot more than I’d ever had. I had a sudden longing to be home, back in New York, with its smell of hot dogs and sewers, the bustle of traffic, and Carl taking me out for Sunday pancakes.
CHAPTER 30
After another day of sailing and brooding over missed family reunions, we came across another island jutting out of the sea in front of us. It was like nothing else I’d ever seen. An entire city had been carved into the steep sides of the sandstone cliffs. Ornate columns held up vaulted ceilings, hinting at dark openings. Oddly, there wasn’t a soul in sight.
“Is that Lycia?” I asked Karisto. He had thawed considerably toward me since I had kept my promise not to use my powers.
“No. Those are the tombs of Kragos.”
“Kragos?”
“The Lycians believe that if they bury their dead in these tombs, winged creatures sent by Hades will carry their souls into the underworld. They are tended to by priests called necros.”
I looked at Damian. His eyes flared as he had the same idea. If it was true—and around here the craziest things were—we might be able to follow them to our next stop, the underworld.
If we survived the monstrous lion-goat, that was.
We beached the boat on a rocky shore, tugging it high so the tide wouldn’t carry it out.
“So where do we find the chimera?” I asked, looking hopefully to Karisto.
He shrugged, perched on the prow of the boat. “Don’t ask me. I’ve never been here before. But I’ve heard rumors it roams the hills in these parts. If you follow the vultures circling the sky, you’ll find its latest victim. Just wondering, how do you expect to kill it?”
All eyes switched to Damian.
He cleared his throat. “According to legend, a guy named Bellerophon rode on Pegasus, the one Perseus rode, and attacked the chimera from the sky to avoid its deadly fire breath.”
“Fire breath? Wait, you didn’t mention it had fire,” I said.
“Didn’t I?” He laughed nervously. “I did mention it has the head of a lion.”
“A fire
-breathing lion?”
“No, as I recall, it’s the goat that breathes fire, and its tail …”
“What about its tail?” I said, hands on my hips. “You said it was just a snake.”
“Snake. Yeah, maybe more like a drakon.”
“Drakon? That sounds bad,” Angie said.
“It’s like a small hydra head.”
“Great, so how did this Beller-phone guy kill it?”
“He shot a lead arrow into its throat, and the fire melted the lead in its lungs.”
I stared at him in stunned disbelief. “So all I have to do is learn how to shoot a bow and arrow from the back of a flying horse. How hard could that be?” My voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Don’t be mad at me, Phoebe. It’s not like I make the rules here,” Damian said.
“I know.” I sighed, picking up a rock and throwing it into the sea. “I just wish one thing was easy in this place. Macario, you said there were wild herds of pegasuses, right?”
“Yes, they roam the woods outside of Lycia.”
“So first we capture a pegasus, and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
“About that.” Now it was Macario’s turn to look nervous.
“What now?” I asked.
“Uh, the thing is, the pegasuses are—”
“They’re not fire-breathing things with serpent tails, are they?” Angie asked.
“No, no, they’re harmless,” Macario said. “They’re not the ones I’m worried about.”
“What he’s trying to say is they’re guarded by a couple of centarians,” Karisto said, jumping down to the sand.
“What’s a centarian?” I asked.
“A hundred-handed giant.”
I blinked. “A hundred-handed what?”
“Giant. You know, very large creature, pretty dumb, but they don’t like it when you mess with their herd.” A haunted light entered his eyes.
“What do they do?” Damian asked.
“Boil you in a pot of oil, peel your flesh from your bones for their stew, and make a necklace out of the bones.”
I stared at the satyr. “Seriously?”
He burst out laughing. “No, but you should have seen your faces.” His face tightened as he went on. “They lock you in chains and put you to work as a slave in their fields.”
There was something he wasn’t telling us, but I didn’t have the patience to pry. “Damian’s right, we can’t defeat the chimera until we have wings, so job one is to find this herd and figure out how to steal a couple without tipping off the giants.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Angie said. “Let’s go wrangle some winged horsies.”
A steep ravine led up from the beach. Loose rocks caused us to lose our footing more than once. The hot sun burned our skin, and what little water we had was brackish and hardly touched my thirst. As we passed the tombs, a cold draft skated over my skin, chilling me in the heat of the day.
I lagged behind, curious about the place. A man appeared in one of the openings, standing silent in a black robe. His eyes were on me, as if he could see me, but that was impossible because someone had sewn them shut. Black stitches crossed his lids with knotted thread. The same thing had been done to his mouth.
Weird. And really creepy.
I hurried after the others. Karisto clopped along on those goat legs of his as if this was a simple stroll down Fifth Avenue. His back glistened with sweat. He used a walking stick to keep his balance as he steadily led us up the ravine. Finally, red-faced and completely spent, we reached the top and collapsed in a heap on a patch of dry grass.
After my lungs stopped aching and my legs had feeling in them again, I sat up. In the distance, a city of white adobe buildings rose from the valley.
Lycia.
I planned to give it a wide berth. My track record in big cities wasn’t great. If I didn’t burn something down, I destroyed a temple or got myself thrown in prison.
Karisto led us into a forest of what he claimed were cypress trees. The air was cooler out of the direct sunlight. The ground underfoot grew soft with the covering of pine needles.
“Hurry up,” he called as he rushed us along. “The giants will be sleeping this time of day.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Yeah, I thought you said you’d never been here,” Angie added.
He stumbled to a halt, shoulders heaving as he stared at the ground. “That’s right, I’ve never been here, but I’ve sailed around these islands. People talk. Now, are you coming or not?” And then the jerk turned and walked off, without even waiting for an answer.
I exchanged glances with Angie.
“What’s his problem?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but something’s wrong.”
The satyr stopped abruptly, cocking his head. “There.” He pointed. “In that clearing.” He waited for us to go ahead.
“And I thought sun-brain was annoying,” Angie said.
“Hey, I heard that,” Macario said.
We stepped out of the brush into a clearing covered in a thick layer of leaves. A pegasus stood on the other side.
My breath caught in my chest. It was so beautiful. I had seen Pepper turn into a winged horse, so I knew what a pegasus looked like, but Pepper was a carriage horse. She didn’t have nobility woven into the fabric of her being.
The pegasus gleamed in the sunlight beaming through the trees. It was silver, glowing with an inner fire. Its regal head raised up, sapphire eyes watching us warily. Its wings were tipped with white feathers, and it flared them slightly, as if it were wondering if we were friend or foe.
Karisto held back as the rest of us took a step toward the pegasus.
Two things happened: the pegasus crashed away into the brush, disappearing in a thunder of hooves, and Karisto drew a curved blade from his waistband and slashed at a rope tied to the tree. Before I could ask what he was doing, my feet went out from under me as the net hidden under a layer of leaves snapped tight and hoisted us up into the air.
CHAPTER 31
We swung in the air, squished together, a good fifteen feet off the ground.
“Karisto, cut us down!”
We took turns yelling at him, but he didn’t look up, remaining crouched behind the tree, as if he was waiting for something.
It didn’t take long.
An ominous stomping sound grew steadily closer. The treetops parted, and my heart stopped as I caught sight of my first giant.
It was big. Not linebacker big; more like two-story-building big. He had a bushel of red hair on top of his head, a cauliflower-shaped nose, and tiny eyes that squinted down at us.
And then there were the hands.
I couldn’t swear there were a hundred of them, but his beefy arms extended one after the other from the shoulder all the way down to the waist, three deep. He wore a singlet made out of animal hides. His bare feet sported four gnarly toes with dirt-crusted nails.
“Agor smells thief,” the giant rumbled, wading closer through the trees. “Who dares steal Agor’s pretty ones?”
Two stomps later he towered over us. Yellowed teeth sprouted from his gums like broken surfboards.
“Hey, Agor, down here,” Karisto called. “I have something to trade.”
“Trade?” Agor sniffed the air. “I know that smell. You try steal my pretties once.”
“I escaped, but you took my brother Mikos prisoner. Look.” He pointed at us. “I’ve brought you four new slaves. Take them and give me my brother back.”
My jaw dropped. So that was what Karisto had been hiding—the traitorous snake!
Agor bent down to look in the net. His beady eyes passed over each of us, inspecting us like cattle. “This puny lot?”
“Two of them are demigods,” Karisto said. “The other two will be hard workers. More than enough to replace one satyr.”
The giant scratched his chin with one hand while he dug out earwax with another. “Deal.”
He reached out
a meaty fist, snatched the net out of the tree, and turned to go.
“Hey, what about my brother?” Karisto challenged.
The giant chortled. “Brother is nothing but bones at the bottom of the sea.”
“You killed him?” Karisto flinched, as if he’d been punched in the gut. I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“We not kill good slaves,” Agor said. “The beast of the woods ate him. Now be gone before Agor change mind and keep you too.” He strode off through the trees, carting us off and leaving that traitor Karisto behind.
“This calls for lightning.” I rubbed my hands, ready to call a fat bolt.
“Don’t, Phoebes,” Damian said. “You know it will only make it worse.”
Aargh. I was so tired of hearing that. “You really think those Erinyes are going to find us here?”
“I think they can track you to the ends of the earth.”
“Guys, we’ve got company,” Angie said.
Another giant approached—just as big, just as homely.
“What find you, brother?” It scented the air with its bulbous nose.
Agor thrust the net out. “Fresh slaves to help Boza work the fields.”
The giant named Boza leaned in to get a closer look. “Boza like new slaves.” He poked the net with one of his fingers.
“The son of Apollo is not a slave.”
Macario drew a sunbeam and launched it into the face of the giant. The giant howled, swatting multiple hands at the burning sun embers on his face.
Angie slashed through the netting with her sword. We tumbled to the ground in a heap. She stabbed the first giant in his foot.
He screamed, hopping up and down. “That not nice,” he roared as dozens of hands smashed down, trying to capture us.
We dodged between fumbling fingers and fat palms. “Split up!” I shouted as I jumped over a large thumb.
Angie followed me as Damian hotfooted it after Macario. We ran through the trees, dodging brush, jumping over rocks and across small rivulets. We raced down an ivy-covered hill, nearly tripping in the twisting vines. One of the giants chased after us, tossing trees aside like sticks.
