Breath of Fire

by Amanda Bouchet

A hot dart of betrayal stabs me in the chest. Kato just chose sides in my argument with Griffin, and he didn’t choose mine.

  Carver turns his cloak around, putting the fire-bright threads on the inside now. “Keep in mind that I’ll kill anyone who admits we needed Cat to tell us we were wearing our clothes inside out.”

  “Who would have thought of putting the fire on the inside?” Flynn wonders out loud.

  “Someone who’s not afraid of getting burned,” Griffin says, his tone still laced with fury.

  I glance up, my surprise hidden by the deep hood. Does he think I’m not afraid? I’m terrified. Constantly. I just do things anyway and hope for the best. Admittedly, that’s not always the best strategy, but sometimes there really isn’t much choice.

  “Hades wouldn’t hurt me,” I announce. “And now we’re sure they’re safe.”

  Griffin looks like he wants to wring my neck, which is just unnecessary.

  “I do what needs to be done,” I say stiffly. “Just like you.”

  “Put yourself in my place, Cat. In all our places.” Griffin roughly pushes my hood back, and I get a good idea of how angry he is from the hard glint in his granite eyes. “Keep throwing yourself into the fire first, and I’ll kill you myself.”

  Heat crawls up my throat, and not only because that was a blatant lie. “That’s an empty threat if I ever heard one.”

  “Fine. Then I’ll tie you up and leave you at home.”

  No burn this time. “You wouldn’t.”

  “You know I would.”

  “You can’t. You need me!”

  “I need you alive!”

  I stare at him in shock. “You’re overreacting.” I’m a warrior, just like him, and he knows it. My skill set is simply different from his. It includes burning to a crisp one minute and coming back from it the next. “I didn’t do anything reckless.”

  “You are synonymous with reckless,” Griffin growls.

  My hands clench at my sides. That was low. And kind of true. I lift my chin. “I trust in the Gods.”

  “The Gods’ motivations are rarely clear,” Flynn says. “You should have been more careful.”

  Flynn, too? I expect this kind of overbearing nonsense from Griffin, but not from the others. I take a shallow breath, feeling another attack of completely uncharacteristic crying coming on.

  When Griffin takes my shoulders and swings me back to him, my eyes must betray something of my distress because he abruptly softens his hold. “Don’t you get it, Cat? You’re the key. I knew it the day I laid eyes on you and couldn’t take them off again. Didn’t want to.” He gives me a gentle shake, his eyes burning into mine. “Every single one of us would fall if it kept you standing. You are not expendable.”

  “And none of you are expendable to me!” My voice cracks, brittle with unshed tears.

  Griffin breathes deeply and then pulls me against him. My arms automatically rise, and I cling to him, my emotions so close to the surface they hurt my skin.

  In a deep rasp, he says, “Enough of this. We’ve both made our points.”

  I nod. I don’t move. I don’t want to. I lean my head against Griffin’s chest, surprised when the Chaos Wizard’s resonating voice disrupts the fraught quiet of the night. I’d thought he was in a trance again. Done.

  “Persephone sends her blessing to the Harbinger. Hades has spoken.”

  I lift my face, puzzled. “Persephone? That’s new.”

  Griffin’s expression seems to say nothing surprises him anymore. There’s also a stoniness to it, and I can practically read the questions on his mind.

  Harbinger. My stomach suddenly rolls like a pitching ship, and I move out of Griffin’s arms. He releases me except for keeping one of my hands in his.

  “We still don’t know where to find the Ipotane,” I call to the wizard.

  Silence. Blank stare. I don’t know why I bothered.

  I start to turn away, thinking we’re finished here, but then the conduit to the Gods opens his mouth to speak, surprising me yet again.

  CHAPTER 13

  Opens his mouth to speak? Scratch that. It’s not words that come out of the wizard’s mouth. That would be too simple, and when did the Gods ever do simple? Drama is their collective middle name.

  A shiny, dark snake head rises from the man’s thin throat, and my stomach starts to kick its contents around in disgust. A forked tongue flutters out to lick the air. Lidless eyes and gleaming scales reflect the moonlight as the reptile slowly emerges, swaying slightly in the way of the most deadly and venomous of snakes. Deep green or black—it’s hard to tell in the dark—the creature has a row of diamonds on its glistening back, the pattern alternating between crimson and gold. It keeps coming until two and then three feet of snake dangle from the wizard’s slack-jawed mouth. The Chaos Wizard convulses every now and then. His bottomless eyes are a whirling tangle of otherworldly light as he heaves up more and more of the snake, distressed sounds rattling in his chest.

  Completely horrified, I stare at the long rope of reptilian muscle arching toward the porch. The snake keeps its triangular head raised, its unblinking eyes shining an eerie reddish-yellow as its tongue darts out again, vibrating.

  I’m fifteen feet away, but a quick, stinging lash seems to whip the side of my face. I flinch, touching the icy path smarting across my cheek. Is it an Oracle? Or something else?

  “Gods on Olympus,” Griffin murmurs under his breath. I guess he can still be surprised after all.

  Kato curses softly when the snake hisses in his direction.

  The Chaos Wizard gives one last heave, and the creature drops to the porch with a slap of scales on wood. Raw, choking coughs rasp in the wizard’s throat. Then he stares blankly again, his eyes a spinning, iridescent mix of golds.

  The serpent slithers down the steps and then glides soundlessly toward us. I despise snakes. I’m about to back away when it stops and forms a nest of coils, settling into a bed of its own body to observe each of us in turn.

  I have no idea what to make of this, but I do know one thing… “Snakes are mean and unpredictable.”

  “Sounds like someone I know,” Carver tosses my way.

  “Har, har,” I respond dryly, keeping my focus on the snake.

  “Don’t go near it, Cat.” Letting go of my hand, Griffin steps in front of me. “Don’t,” he repeats, as if I need the extra instruction.

  I lean around Griffin’s arm, tracking the creature’s movements and the direction of its eyes. It gives us all another piercing once-over, that two-tined tongue shooting out again.

  A chill ripples through me that has nothing to do with the frosty wind. I slip a Kobaloi knife free, weighing it in my hand. If there is any surviving magic in the sinew wrapping the hilt, it doesn’t nip at my palm. I don’t know why the snake is here, but I don’t like it. Snake symbolism ranges from very good to very bad, but it’s not as though anyone keeps a pet adder around, and this snake is clearly dangerous.

  Torn, I can’t quite bring myself to throw the knife. Is this somehow another gift? It might not be. The Gods are a vengeful, spiteful lot. They rarely get along, and they can be opportunistic. Whoever sent the snake may simply be implementing a straightforward, time-old strategy—the friend of my enemy is also my enemy—that has nothing to do with us.

  My eyes don’t leave the serpent as I call out, “Who sent the snake?”

  The wizard doesn’t answer. Of course.

  The creature rises from its nest of coils, hissing softly. Its roaming glance is sly and subtle, sliding over Kato without any real pause, but instinct screams at me that the serpent just found its mark. My heart hammers a frantic beat, and I stop hesitating. My knife flies from my hand and lands…in the dirt?

  I gasp. I never miss.

  The snake strikes so fast it’s hard to see. Kato somehow sidesteps the sudden explosion
of movement, twisting out of the way. His fiery cloak billows as he spins, splashing light over sharp, curving fangs and glistening scales. I see the glassy surface of a predatory eye, and then nothing as the snake drops to the ground with a soft thump and disappears into the long grass.

  “Where is it?” Kato whirls, drawing his mace.

  Flynn turns in a slow circle, his battle-ax ready in one hand, a knife in the other. The rest of us don’t move, as if going perfectly still will help us find a shadow in the dark.

  Apparently, it does. “There!” I shout, pointing to Kato’s left.

  I lunge, ready to grab the snake with my bare hands if I have to, but Griffin catches me around the middle and hauls me back, his sharp “No!” ringing in my ears.

  In the next second, the creature propels itself upward with otherworldly power and snaps its jaws closed around Kato’s neck.

  My heart stops utterly. I blink. I don’t believe what just happened. I refuse to believe.

  Fear and guilt rob me of my breath. I brought them here.

  Kato’s eyes dilate, turning dark and huge. His arms drop heavily to his sides, and the mace he was holding thuds to the ground. He takes an unsteady step back, and then another, his tall, broad body going stiff. Under the serpent’s powerful jaws, his throat works, convulsively grabbing for air. Twin rivulets of blood slide down his neck, hissing when they hit the racing embers of his cloak.

  The sight of those thin, dark lines shuts down all rational thought. I tear at Griffin’s arm. “Let me go! Do something!”

  “I’m not letting you go until that snake is gone, or we know why it’s here.” Griffin’s rough words hit my temple like a warm punch. “You’re not getting in the middle of this. I will not let you.”

  Flynn grabs the snake’s tail and yanks, stopping when Kato staggers and gurgles a pained sound.

  Fury boils my veins. Dread ices them. Hot. Cold. About to explode. “Kill it,” I shout to the others. “Kill it!”

  Flynn hovers with a knife in his hand, but Carver whips his head around. “You just told us to trust gifts from the Gods!”

  “We don’t know who sent it! It’s biting Kato!”

  “And it came out of him!” Carver flings his hand toward the Chaos Wizard.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see the wizard. He’s immobile. Impassive. Not reassuring. Not unusual, either.

  Kato’s throat stops moving, and his cobalt eyes go blank. He falls like a tree. Flynn catches him before he hits the ground, easing him down. Laid out, unmoving, Kato is so rigid he looks dead to me. Terrified, I go numb from the scalp down as the blood crashes from my head.

  Flynn rears back, nearly falling over when the serpent releases its bite. The creature springs up and then dives into Kato’s open mouth, disappearing down his throat faster than I can blink.

  CHAPTER 14

  Flynn crouches and lays his hand on Kato’s chest. When it doesn’t move, his head bows, and his fingers curl into a white-knuckled fist.

  There’s total stillness for too many breaths. My heart throbs, each painful beat fracturing me a little more until something inside of me shatters, and I scream. Raw grief shreds my throat. Griffin tucks me inward against his body, as if the feel of his heart hammering against my back could somehow keep mine from breaking.

  Kato opens his eyes, and I choke on my scream. He blinks, sits up, and I forget to breathe.

  “Kato?” Flynn grips the blond warrior’s shoulder, steadying him.

  Grimacing, Kato gently rubs his throat. He coughs, and then his voice rasps like a wire rake over stones. “That was one of the more traumatizing experiences of my life.”

  There’s a heavy beat of silence while we all stare at him, struck dumb with relief. Then Flynn chokes out a laugh and claps Kato on the shoulder. “I thought you were dead, you Gods damned idiot.”

  “Not dead. Possibly deaf.” Kato gives me a wry look. “You’re really loud for such a small person.”

  A strangled noise escapes me, a sob trying to disguise itself as a laugh. I push on Griffin’s arms, and after a slight hesitation, he lets me go.

  I drop to my knees next to Kato, my fingers trembling as I reach out and cautiously touch the twin puncture wounds on his neck. Kato sucks in air through his teeth.

  “Sore?” I ask, inspecting the angry red circles.

  He nods, his lips forming a bloodless seam.

  I gently press again, and he grabs my wrist, pulling my hand down. Reflexes—normal. Speed—excellent. But there’s still a snake inside him, which can’t be good. “I have to see if there’s venom.”

  “There’s venom,” he says. “The whole left side of my neck feels like a Giant took a spiked club to it.”

  “Then we have to draw it out.”

  Kato doesn’t let go of my wrist. His grip loosens, but the way his strong fingers curve around my bones makes me think I’m grounding him, when really, he’s grounding me.

  His throat bobs. “How?”

  The almost imperceptible catch in his voice punches a hole between my ribs. “I’ve seen it done in Fisa. We have lots of venomous snakes. I know how to suck it out.”

  There’s an immediate, fierce rumble of denial from behind me. “No poison anywhere near your lips.”

  “I won’t swallow anything.” I glare over my shoulder at Griffin, my tone promising fury and savage retribution if he tries to stop me again.

  A muscle pops in Griffin’s jaw. His eyes are frightening, but he doesn’t move.

  I turn back to Kato, shifting forward and angling my head toward his neck. “Hold still.”

  The moment my lips touch his skin, a blast of magic knocks me on my ass. That bloody wizard thumped his staff and sent me flying! The boom rattles my brain and leaves it ringing so hard I have to curl up on the ground and cover my ears again. Then Griffin is beside me, and I roll into him as he buffers me against the magic and the torturous pounding in my ears.

  “If he thumps his staff again,” I gasp out, “I’m going to grab it and whack him over the head.”

  “No, you won’t,” Griffin says flatly. “Let’s not give Zeus a reason to smite us where we stand. And I think he did that for your protection.”

  I glare up at him. It’s annoying that he makes sense—constantly. But I suppose I wouldn’t be wildly and irrevocably in love with him if he were an idiot.

  “The Drakon Titos’s venom is incompatible with the Harbinger,” the Chaos Wizard thunders.

  I lurch back up, gripping Griffin’s arm for balance. “Now you’re just ganging up on me.”

  Griffin smiles tightly. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “You’re too rash by half. You terrify me. If I had a staff that could stop you in your tracks, I’d be thumping it all the time.”

  “Then it’s a good thing you don’t,” I say acerbically. Narrowing my eyes, I look around me. “Now, which one of you is going to suck the venom out?”

  The wizard’s deeply resonating voice crushes any response. “Seek the Ipotane along the Phthian Gap.”

  I must look like a Centaur just kicked me in the face because Griffin’s eyebrows slam down. “What? What is it?”

  “That’s the last mountain pass before Olympus. Deep, deep into the Ice Plains. There’s a lake at the mouth of the gap. According to legend, it’s guarded by the Hydra.”

  Griffin’s eyes widen. “The Hydra is real?”

  Gods, I hope not. I turn back to the wizard. “How do we get past the Hydra? Is it really there?”

  “Poseidon has spoken.” The Chaos Wizard turns, his worn robes swirling, and then the door to his hovel closes behind him with a hard click. I hear him throw a heavy lock.

  My mouth snaps shut. I stare in shock. At least Poseidon finally showed up, albeit with a parasitic snake and a casual By the way, why don’t you head on over to the Phthian Gap!

  Kato stiff
ly regains his feet. Turning, I reach for him, grip his arm, and perch on my toes to inspect the snakebite. The twin holes have closed over, leaving two red, raised bumps on his tanned skin.

  “They’ve closed,” I say. “We can’t draw the venom out.”

  Kato touches his neck, wincing. The whole left side of his throat is enflamed, and I can feel the heat radiating off the bite like a fire in front of my face.

  “I’m not sure we’re supposed to,” he answers.

  Maybe he’s right. I let go of his arm and drop back onto my heels. “If this was Poseidon’s gift, why would it go to you?”

  Kato shrugs. “You’re incompatible.”

  “I’ve never been incompatible before.”

  “Maybe it’s because you were yelling ‘Kill it! Kill it!’” Carver suggests, a wry arch to his brows.

  I purse my lips. He has a point. “I loathe snakes. They have that lidless stare, and you can just tell they’re thinking about dinner. As in you are dinner. It’s creepy.”

  “Snakes are a symbol of healing. Asklepios’s rod and all that,” Kato says, obviously trying to make himself feel better about having just swallowed one whole.

  Where is that thing, anyway? How can it fit?

  “And protection. And rebirth. And God-like power.” I shake my head. “I still don’t like them.”

  “But giant carnivorous fish and sea serpents are okay?” Griffin asks.

  “Oracles? Sort of. Not really. To be honest, before they helped me, I was pretty sure they were going to eat me.”

  “Poseidon’s Oracles—all scaly creatures—have only ever helped you,” Griffin points out. “You just wrapped yourself in fire and said to trust the Gods. The cloaks didn’t harm us. Even without knowing why the snake was here, it stood to reason it wouldn’t harm us, either.”

  “Don’t bring logic into this!” I lift my hands and shove his chest. “And Kato didn’t look ‘unharmed’ a few minutes ago.”

  “I thought, hoped, it would be okay,” Griffin says.

  Okay? Okay! “In that case, why were you holding me back?”