instructional. It didn’t, for instance, give us anything like “vampires on the rise, bring garlic”—not that I’d ever met an actual vampire or even knew that they truly existed. With belief fueling reality, it was entirely possible they now sparkled in the sunlight and I’d see them coming a mile away.
Still, I didn’t like it.
“We’d better watch our backs,” I said, just in case they’d missed my message.
The hilltop was hyperalive with growth. Huge weeds and determined clumps of grass grew between the rocks that hadn’t yet eroded to the point of soil. Some grew up to our knees. A hearty few struck at chest and even shoulder level. There were only a handful of trees, not much higher than some of the weeds. I hoped Lau would be able to find us.
I checked my phone. I had one bar with which to find out.
“How close?” I asked when she answered.
“Do you know how hard it is to talk while traveling by dragon?” Lau asked. I assumed it was rhetorical. “I kind of need my hands for other things. We’ll be coming in around full dark. You setting off flares?”
“We’re going to have to clear a little ground cover first, but, yes, you won’t be able to miss us.”
“Good. Then I’ll see you when I see you.”
She hung up on me.
We didn’t have too long to wait until full dark. Already, the sun was dropping in the sky. Flares on the deserted hillside risked calling unwanted attention, but except for Lau and our creepy squatter, there shouldn’t be anyone around to take notice.
Still, I felt weird…like we were already being watched.
And there could have been anything in the high weeds. Anything. Spiders, snakes, scorpions… I didn’t know that any of those actually got up this high. But I didn’t know they didn’t .
Suddenly, every brush of every leaf was the creep of furry spider legs. I whirled the first time, swiping at it frantically, only to catch Hecate doing the same. She gave me a rueful smile when our eyes met.
“Would you two stop being so girly and help me out here?” Apollo asked, his hand squeezing the tall weeds in his hand so tightly it looked like he had them by the throat.
For a second he was menacing. His broad shoulders massive, his hands meat hooks. I took a step back, and the look on his face changed from cantankerous to…I couldn’t tell, and that scared me.
“Something’s going on,” he said. “You’re afraid of me.”
I shook my head too hard in denial, not wanting to provoke him. With the weeds so high—high enough to trip and choke, like strangler vines—and the stones ready to slide from beneath my feet—sending me shooting down the mountainside—I wasn’t sure I could get away from him in time if he came for me. I shot a look at Hecate, to see if she was thinking of flight as well. I wondered if I could outrun a goddess.
I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t tell anything. Her eyes were darker than the night, and she was looking from me to Apollo and muttering something beneath her breath. I didn’t understand a word of it, but my inner alarms were blaring.
“Duck!” a voice called out, sharp and unknown in the onrushing dark.
I dropped to the ground without thought, just as Hecate let loose a hellfire blast straight from her fingertips. It caught the high grass behind me on fire in an instant, and I rolled away instinctively, trying to put distance between me and the goddess, me and the fire, but my wings got in the way.
Apollo’s voice, raised in shock and awe, stopped me. “Lyssa? Is that really you?”
Lyssa? Who the hell was Lyssa? It was Hecate he had to be worried about…
I opened my mouth to tell him so when it occurred to me that he might be talking about the person behind the warning to duck. My ire rose. Who was she? Some blast from his past? A nymph or demigoddess or prophetess or any of the hundreds of thousands who must have shared his bed over the eons?
I flipped to my feet, wings flashing out in agitation, and whirled
Still, I didn’t like it.
“We’d better watch our backs,” I said, just in case they’d missed my message.
The hilltop was hyperalive with growth. Huge weeds and determined clumps of grass grew between the rocks that hadn’t yet eroded to the point of soil. Some grew up to our knees. A hearty few struck at chest and even shoulder level. There were only a handful of trees, not much higher than some of the weeds. I hoped Lau would be able to find us.
I checked my phone. I had one bar with which to find out.
“How close?” I asked when she answered.
“Do you know how hard it is to talk while traveling by dragon?” Lau asked. I assumed it was rhetorical. “I kind of need my hands for other things. We’ll be coming in around full dark. You setting off flares?”
“We’re going to have to clear a little ground cover first, but, yes, you won’t be able to miss us.”
“Good. Then I’ll see you when I see you.”
She hung up on me.
We didn’t have too long to wait until full dark. Already, the sun was dropping in the sky. Flares on the deserted hillside risked calling unwanted attention, but except for Lau and our creepy squatter, there shouldn’t be anyone around to take notice.
Still, I felt weird…like we were already being watched.
And there could have been anything in the high weeds. Anything. Spiders, snakes, scorpions… I didn’t know that any of those actually got up this high. But I didn’t know they didn’t .
Suddenly, every brush of every leaf was the creep of furry spider legs. I whirled the first time, swiping at it frantically, only to catch Hecate doing the same. She gave me a rueful smile when our eyes met.
“Would you two stop being so girly and help me out here?” Apollo asked, his hand squeezing the tall weeds in his hand so tightly it looked like he had them by the throat.
For a second he was menacing. His broad shoulders massive, his hands meat hooks. I took a step back, and the look on his face changed from cantankerous to…I couldn’t tell, and that scared me.
“Something’s going on,” he said. “You’re afraid of me.”
I shook my head too hard in denial, not wanting to provoke him. With the weeds so high—high enough to trip and choke, like strangler vines—and the stones ready to slide from beneath my feet—sending me shooting down the mountainside—I wasn’t sure I could get away from him in time if he came for me. I shot a look at Hecate, to see if she was thinking of flight as well. I wondered if I could outrun a goddess.
I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t tell anything. Her eyes were darker than the night, and she was looking from me to Apollo and muttering something beneath her breath. I didn’t understand a word of it, but my inner alarms were blaring.
“Duck!” a voice called out, sharp and unknown in the onrushing dark.
I dropped to the ground without thought, just as Hecate let loose a hellfire blast straight from her fingertips. It caught the high grass behind me on fire in an instant, and I rolled away instinctively, trying to put distance between me and the goddess, me and the fire, but my wings got in the way.
Apollo’s voice, raised in shock and awe, stopped me. “Lyssa? Is that really you?”
Lyssa? Who the hell was Lyssa? It was Hecate he had to be worried about…
I opened my mouth to tell him so when it occurred to me that he might be talking about the person behind the warning to duck. My ire rose. Who was she? Some blast from his past? A nymph or demigoddess or prophetess or any of the hundreds of thousands who must have shared his bed over the eons?
I flipped to my feet, wings flashing out in agitation, and whirled
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