toward the person behind the voice. A woman stood there, cloaked in red, her hair crackling at the edges, her eyes all madness, swirling like a maelstrom that made you feel that if you stared long enough, you could catch sight of your doom. From them leaked blood tears.
My blood ran cold.
“You weren’t supposed to come,” she said, her voice quiet now, pained. “No one was supposed to come.”
“What is this?” Hecate asked sharply, her eyes reflecting the crazy, hellfire forming once more between her hands. “An ambush?”
“You came to me ,” the…woman Apollo had named Lyssa said sadly. “You can’t stay. The madness…it burns.”
Madness. Yes, I felt mad. Paranoid and panicked and more. More than I’d felt before, even in the midst of ambrosia withdrawal. I felt like the world was out to get me. Like Hecate and Apollo and this whole setup had been to lure me to the top of a mountain. To kill me where I’d always known I’d die.
“What do you mean?” Hecate snapped. “Who are you?”
“Maniai,” Apollo said softly. “The demon who drove Hercules to his doom…or to Megara’s doom anyway and…”
“Stop!” Lyssa said, the blood tears flowing faster now, thicker, like in a killer-virus movie when the heroine bleeds out. My wings flared again, desperate to fly me out of there, out of danger.
I didn’t know how much longer reason would hold sway.
“That’s why the place is deserted. You drove everyone out,” Apollo said.
“No,” she said, but not as if she was certain herself. “I’ve slept. Slept for so long, but the call…don’t you hear it? The call to arms. The call to act. It pulls me. It… I can’t hold on. You have to go too. Now, before—”
A cry split the night, sharp and chilling. Something deep inside me recognized it, wanted me to react like a mouse in the shadow of a hawk. I wanted to dive into the tall grass, regardless of what might be there, knowing it was still safer than what flew overhead.
Dragon.
How had that ever seemed like a good idea?
“Run!” Lyssa said. “Run or die.”
My legs were already moving, but I crashed into a wall of sheer muscle. Arms like steel bands came around me to hold me in place. “Tori, no. This is what we came for.”
“This is madness.”
Hecate was regrowing her hellfire orb. The air crackled and burned between her hands, the heat reaching me even at a distance. I didn’t know how she didn’t burn. I didn’t know how to feel. The dragon was death. I knew it deep in my bones. But it was also life…somehow. I couldn’t remember why. And I didn’t know that it mattered. If the dragon caught Lyssa’s insanity… I knew the story Apollo was talking about—Hercules driven crazy, crazy enough to kill his wife and children, his whole family in a murderous rage. It had destroyed him. I’d thought the Maniai were a myth, a personification mankind used to make sense of murder, but if Lyssa was one of them…and if they were being called… But called by whom?
No time for that now.
“Hecate, no!” Apollo shouted, releasing me to tackle her to the ground.
She whipped out of his way and aimed the full force of her hellfire straight for his chest, seeing him as a threat.
“No!” I cried. I ran to get between them, but there was no time. He was too close, and the orb struck him right at the heart. His eyes went wide and he flew back with the force of it, his shirt catching on fire and his skin seeming to go translucent with the glow of the hellfire burning its way inside. And then, to my shock, it burrowed inside. For an instant, he looked like a jack-o-lantern, all lit up, his ribs showing like sharpened teeth, and then the fire seemed to race through his veins and he roared, his whole body crackling with energy. The sun god, absorbing a fireball.
I was still trying to process this when a powerful wind blasted us and I rocked on my feet. Wing beats blew cool mountain air over us, and Lau yelled from the back of the
My blood ran cold.
“You weren’t supposed to come,” she said, her voice quiet now, pained. “No one was supposed to come.”
“What is this?” Hecate asked sharply, her eyes reflecting the crazy, hellfire forming once more between her hands. “An ambush?”
“You came to me ,” the…woman Apollo had named Lyssa said sadly. “You can’t stay. The madness…it burns.”
Madness. Yes, I felt mad. Paranoid and panicked and more. More than I’d felt before, even in the midst of ambrosia withdrawal. I felt like the world was out to get me. Like Hecate and Apollo and this whole setup had been to lure me to the top of a mountain. To kill me where I’d always known I’d die.
“What do you mean?” Hecate snapped. “Who are you?”
“Maniai,” Apollo said softly. “The demon who drove Hercules to his doom…or to Megara’s doom anyway and…”
“Stop!” Lyssa said, the blood tears flowing faster now, thicker, like in a killer-virus movie when the heroine bleeds out. My wings flared again, desperate to fly me out of there, out of danger.
I didn’t know how much longer reason would hold sway.
“That’s why the place is deserted. You drove everyone out,” Apollo said.
“No,” she said, but not as if she was certain herself. “I’ve slept. Slept for so long, but the call…don’t you hear it? The call to arms. The call to act. It pulls me. It… I can’t hold on. You have to go too. Now, before—”
A cry split the night, sharp and chilling. Something deep inside me recognized it, wanted me to react like a mouse in the shadow of a hawk. I wanted to dive into the tall grass, regardless of what might be there, knowing it was still safer than what flew overhead.
Dragon.
How had that ever seemed like a good idea?
“Run!” Lyssa said. “Run or die.”
My legs were already moving, but I crashed into a wall of sheer muscle. Arms like steel bands came around me to hold me in place. “Tori, no. This is what we came for.”
“This is madness.”
Hecate was regrowing her hellfire orb. The air crackled and burned between her hands, the heat reaching me even at a distance. I didn’t know how she didn’t burn. I didn’t know how to feel. The dragon was death. I knew it deep in my bones. But it was also life…somehow. I couldn’t remember why. And I didn’t know that it mattered. If the dragon caught Lyssa’s insanity… I knew the story Apollo was talking about—Hercules driven crazy, crazy enough to kill his wife and children, his whole family in a murderous rage. It had destroyed him. I’d thought the Maniai were a myth, a personification mankind used to make sense of murder, but if Lyssa was one of them…and if they were being called… But called by whom?
No time for that now.
“Hecate, no!” Apollo shouted, releasing me to tackle her to the ground.
She whipped out of his way and aimed the full force of her hellfire straight for his chest, seeing him as a threat.
“No!” I cried. I ran to get between them, but there was no time. He was too close, and the orb struck him right at the heart. His eyes went wide and he flew back with the force of it, his shirt catching on fire and his skin seeming to go translucent with the glow of the hellfire burning its way inside. And then, to my shock, it burrowed inside. For an instant, he looked like a jack-o-lantern, all lit up, his ribs showing like sharpened teeth, and then the fire seemed to race through his veins and he roared, his whole body crackling with energy. The sun god, absorbing a fireball.
I was still trying to process this when a powerful wind blasted us and I rocked on my feet. Wing beats blew cool mountain air over us, and Lau yelled from the back of the
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