Not knowing if they would come back below the clouds again, I shot the arrow anyway, since I’d been looking at Ethan a moment earlier. Apollo said that the arrows only worked when the target was in sight, but Ethan had been in sight seconds earlier. If I’d acted instead of stopping to think, I would have had him.
I couldn’t make the same mistake again. But the arrow was already gone, so I held my breath as it soared up into the air, hoping it would still work.
“Who were you aiming for?” Chris asked, staring at where the arrow had disappeared into the clouds.
“Ethan,” I said, wiping beads of sweat off my brow. “I don’t know if it hit him, because he was already in the clouds when I shot. But even if it did and he’s dead, the pterodactyls won’t let them down until they’ve reached their destinations.”
“Pterodactyls?” Danielle raised an eyebrow. “Those weren’t dinosaurs.”
“Yeah, they were.” I looked at her like she was crazy. “What else could they be?”
“Dragons,” she said simply.
I waited for her to laugh, since she must be joking, but she didn’t. So I laughed instead. “Dragons?” I repeated, since that was ridiculous. “No. They were pterodactyls. You know—flying dinosaurs?”
“I know what pterodactyls are.” She rolled her eyes as if I were the idiot for doubting her knowledge of extinct species. “Dinosaurs were one of my favorite subjects in fifth grade science. That and plate tectonics. But anyway, pterodactyls have pointy heads with beaks, like a pelican without the neck pouch. And their arms are connected to their wings. Dragons have fuller heads with no beaks, and their arms are separate from their wings. Those creatures we saw were certainly the size of a pterodactyl, but their features were those of a dragon.”
“But dragons don’t exist.” I lowered my bow, looking up at the sky in wonder. “They’re not even part of mythology. They’re fictional… right?”
“I don’t know.” Danielle shrugged. “I know a lot about science so I know those weren’t pterodactyls, but I don’t know every detail about mythology. I mean, I knew everything we needed to know for school, but that was it. I didn’t do any further reading.”
“If Kate were here, she would know,” Chris said.
I looked down at the dirt path, blinking away tears. I was trying not to think about it much, but I couldn’t help remembering what Ethan had said to use before disappearing into Kerberos. He’d said that Kate was dead, and that we were pathetic for hoping there might be a way to reverse Medusa’s curse.
I was trying not to think about it because I refused to accept it. Kate was part of our team—she was the first friend I’d made when I moved to Kinsley. She’d reached out and got me up to speed on everything when I discovered I was a witch. She couldn’t be gone. She just couldn’t.
“She would know,” I finally said, pulling myself out of my spiraling, dark thoughts. After all, we couldn’t do anything to save Kate right now—but we could save Blake. “But it doesn’t matter what those creatures are—the important thing is that we saw them flying toward the mountain. So we have a general idea of where they’re heading.”
“I don’t suppose that any pterodactyls, or dragons, or whatever they were will be stopping by to pick us up, too?” Chris asked.
“Nope.” Danielle dug her heel into the dirt path and turned toward the mountain. “Ethan told us that the Titans were expecting his arrival, so I would guess they sent those dragons to him as transportation up the mountain. Which means we only have one option—we have to climb up the mountain ourselves.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
I stared up at the mountain, hopelessness crashing down on me like a ton of bricks. How were we supposed to make it all the way up there? And how would we catch up on Ethan and Blake’s head start, since they were flown up there by dragons?
“We’ll never make it in time,” I said. A wasp buzzed around me, landing on my arm, and I didn’t bother brushing it away until after it stung me.
“What do you want to do then?” Chris asked. “Turn around and go back to Earth?”
“No.” I sighed and glanced back at the muddy portal. If we’d just been more careful and not trusted Ethan, none of this would have happened, and we wouldn’t have to be in Kerberos at all. But we were here now, and there was no turning back. So I straightened, waved a wasp away from my ear, and gazed back up at the mountain. “We have to try,” I said. “So we need to stop standing around, and start heading up that mountain.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Chris nodded at me. “And for the record, I wasn’t actually considering going back. But I knew that if I said it out loud, it would knock you back into your senses.”
“It worked.” I forced a small smile to show that I appreciated his effort. “I guess we’ll just walk toward the mountain. Hopefully we’ll find a path up when we get there. How long do you think it’ll take?” I looked back and forth between them, hoping that one of them had a general idea.
“Don’t look at me.” Danielle held her hands out. “I’m not really the mountain climbing type.”
“Maybe a day or two?” Chris said. “Or three? I don’t know. It depends on a lot of things—if there’s a clear trail, how easily we’re able to find food and water, etc. We’re all in good shape so that won’t be an issue, but as for the other things, there’s no way for me to know for sure.”
“If we can find food and water,” I said, defeat prickling my skin once more. “On Earth we would probably be able to, but this is a prison world. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was no food or water on the mountain just to torture us.”
Talking about water made me realize that I was getting thirsty. What was the last thing I had to drink? The two glasses of water I’d downed after waking up from my failed attempt to heal Kate. That was hours ago.
Danielle grunted and threw her hands down, and I whipped my head around to look at her, surprised by her sudden outburst.
“What happened?” I asked her. “More wasp bites?”
“No.” She huffed again, wiping her forehead with her wrist. “It’s so humid here that I thought maybe I could pull the water from the air so we could have something to drink. But Apollo was right. Our powers don’t work here.”
“That’s too bad,” Chris said. “This would be a lot easier if I could fly us up the mountain.” He held his hands out and stared forward, his forehead scrunched in concentration. Nothing happened. “Yep,” he said, lowering his hands to his sides. “Didn’t work.”
I didn’t doubt them, but I had to try too. So I placed a hand over one of my itchy wasp bites, closed my eyes, and searched the air for white energy.
There was nothing. I didn’t even hit a brick wall—it was just empty. Blank space. A vacuum of nothingness.
My element was gone.
“Nope.” I opened my eyes and removed my hand from my arm. “Mine don’t work either.”
“Then we only have one option.” Danielle stared forward, her eyes glinting with determination. “Let’s climb that mountain as fast as possible, find Blake and Medusa’s head, and bring them back home.”
CHAPTER NINE
Besides the occasional insect bites and stings, the walk to the base of the mountain was easy, since the path led us straight there. I kept expecting something to jump out at us, but the area around us was barren, and I didn’t see any other creatures nearby. But I was still ready to grab my bow at a moment’s notice, just in case.
“Do you hear that?” Danielle asked, stopping in her tracks.
“What?” I asked, and she shushed me, which made me instinctively press my lips together.
“Running water,” she said. “It’s faint, but it’s there. Listen.”
I stopped to listen, and then I heard it. A light trickling of water from higher up on the mountain. Hearing it made me thirstier than ever.
“If we can hear it, it can’t be far,” I said, picking up the pace. “Come on.”
The path up the mountain was r
ocky and steep, but since we were all in shape from our intense training, it didn’t prove too difficult. We wouldn’t be able to keep this pace up all the way to the top, but for now, the excitement of knowing there was water ahead kept us going.
We finished stumbling up a particularly steep boulder when something growled up ahead. An oversized, snarling fox. Its tail was down and its lips were pulled back, looking ready to attack.
“Whoa there.” Chris held his hands out and stepped back. “Relax, buddy. We’re not trying to hurt you. We just want to get up this mountain.”
The fox growled again, and then it ran forward, jumping up and launching itself in the air so it appeared to be flying toward us.
Danielle’s sword was out in an instant, and she sliced the fox in half. The cut was so clean that there was barely any blood. Just two pieces of the animal, each with a gaping hole on one end, splayed on the ground. It was only after a few seconds that the blood began seeping out and pooling around the corpse.
I glanced around to see if any other animals were around, but we seemed to be in the clear.
“Well, that was different,” I said, staring at the remains of the fox. I didn’t know much about foxes, but I’d always assumed they were shy. I definitely didn’t think they attacked people. So why had it attacked us like that? It was bigger than any fox I’d ever seen on Earth, but it wasn’t big enough that it should feel confident attacking three people.
I had no answer. So we continued on our way, remaining alert in case anything else tried to take us by surprise as well.
We only made it a few steps before another fox wandered out from behind a tree. It spotted us and snarled, its tail grazing the ground, just like the first one. Then another one joined it, and another one behind that one. They all stared at us, blocking our path.
Three of them, and three of us. At least this time it would be a fair fight.
“Come on,” Chris goaded them, pulling his knife out of his boot. “You want to fight, even after what just happened to your little friend?”
They all ran forward at the same time, their tails flying behind them as they jumped toward us. I strung a crystal arrow through my bow and shot it straight through one of the fox’s hearts. Danielle sliced the fox in front of her clean in half, and I looked over at Chris in time to see him struggling with the last one. It was on him, and his shoulder dripped blood, but I breathed out in relief when he pulled his knife out of the fox’s chest. The dead animal dropped to the ground.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, running toward him to check for injuries. He shrugged me off, although I couldn’t miss the bloodied holes in his shirt near his shoulder. “You are,” I said, pointing to the blood. “How bad is it?”
“It’s just a scratch.” He rolled his shoulder around, and since he was able to move it, I relaxed. “I’ll be fine.”
I nodded, since without being able to use my power, I couldn’t have even done anything if the injury was life threatening. “First thing to do when we find water is to get it cleaned up,” I said. “It might just be a scratch, but you don’t want it to get infected.”
“Still trying to heal, even when you don’t have your powers?” he joked.
“I might as well try to help with what I can do,” I said.
“First thing I’m going to do when we find water is to take a long drink of it,” he said. “Then we can clean up this scratch.” He dropped his hand from his shoulder and glanced around the clearing. “Hopefully we don’t come across any more crazy foxes,” he said. “They’re really slowing down our progress.”
Danielle joined us, handing something to me. “Here’s your arrow,” she said, and I took it from her, examining it. The previously clear crystal was now murky and gray. “Be careful about how you use the ones that remain,” she added. “Use this one if you think you can hit your target without magical help.”
“I know,” I said, placing the arrow back into my quiver. It felt different from the others—like it was devoid of life. What would happen if I used it? Without access to my powers, would I be able to shoot as accurately as I could on Earth? “I would have gotten it myself, after I checked to make sure Chris was okay.”
“I’m sure you would have,” Danielle said. “I was just trying to help.”
“Oh,” I said, still not used to this side of her. “Okay. Thanks.”
We walked for a few more minutes in silence, listening to the trickling water get closer and closer. Finally, we pulled ourselves up over another boulder and saw it—a stream up ahead, flowing straight through the path.
“Race you to the water!” Chris said, jumping forward and getting a head start on both of us.
“Hey!” I yelled up at him. “That wasn’t—”
I was cut off when a lion jumped onto the path from a ledge above, landing right in front of the water. I skidded to a stop behind Chris, not daring to move. I didn’t look behind to check on Danielle, but judging from the fact that I couldn’t hear her footsteps, she’d stopped walking too.
The lion sat down and stared at us, not moving. Its eerie stillness was far scarier than the foxes snarling. Its eyes were scarily intelligent—as if it had been expecting us.
“Back away slowly,” Chris whispered, taking my hand and pulling me back with him. “No sudden movements.”
We stopped when we reached Danielle, who was frozen, her eyes wide. I didn’t want to use another crystal arrow, but I wasn’t sure I had a choice. I didn’t want to know what would happen if I shot the regular arrow and missed. Surely the lion would attack.
If I used a crystal arrow now, I would only have three left. I was using them quickly—perhaps too quickly. I needed to save some for later. But if I didn’t use one now, there might not be a later for me to save them for.
One perfect shot was all it would take.
I strung the crystal arrow through my bow and focused on the lion’s heart, ready to shoot. But then another lion jumped down to join him, followed by one more. I swallowed, looking around in panic. I didn’t have enough arrows for all of these lions. Chris’s lyre couldn’t do anything since the lions were animals, and it would be too dangerous to fight them with our knives. Danielle had the Golden Sword, but she was only one person. She couldn’t take on three lions at once.
How were we supposed to fight these creatures without our powers? They would slaughter us. At the very least, they would least injure one of us to the point where we wouldn’t be able to make it up the rest of the mountain.
Finally, one more lion jumped down to stand in front of them. He was double the size of the others, and his coat was pure gold. Like the others, he stared at us with intelligent eyes, although he didn’t attack. It was more like he and his pack were keeping guard—blocking us from the water and from continuing up the path.
If we kept running into wild animals, we wouldn’t make it up the mountain.
“What do we do?” I whispered, making no sudden movements. “Even with our weapons, we can’t beat four lions without our powers.”
“That’s not just any lion,” Danielle said, her sword up and ready. “It’s the Nemean lion. We had a test last semester about Hercules’s twelve labors, and the lion was one of them. His golden fur makes him immune to weapons. The only way Hercules was able to kill him was by strangling the lion to death with his own hands.”
“Is it immune to the Golden Sword and the crystal arrows?” Chris asked.
“I don’t know,” Danielle said, taking a step backward. “But for now, he and the others don’t seem to want to attack us—just to stop us from going any further. If we try to use our weapons against him and they don’t work…”
“Then we’ll provoke him into attacking,” I finished her thought. “And the other lions as well.”
“Exactly,” she said. “And even with the Golden Sword and crystals arrows, I doubt that a fight between the three of us, three lions, and the Nemean lion would end well.”
I nodded, since I’d already come to that
same conclusion.
“So what do we do?” Chris asked. “Turn around and lose even more time?”
I stared back at the lions. They watched us closely, as if waiting to see our next move. So I stepped forward. The Nemean lion took a step forward as well, his eyes level with mine. He looked ready to pounce. I took a step back, and while it was hard to say for sure, it seemed like the lion nodded. As if he was telling us that if we retreated, he and the others wouldn’t hurt us.
“I don’t like this any more than you do,” I told Chris. “But we’re not going to be any use to anyone if we’re dead. And this mountain’s huge—this can’t be the only path up. There has to be a safer way.”
“For once, you’re thinking sensibly,” Danielle agreed.
I rolled my eyes, figuring her comment needed no response, and the three of us took a few more cautious steps backward. The further away from the lions we got, the more they relaxed. They sat down, watching us, and the Nemean lion licked his paw. It was hard to say for sure, but I was pretty sure that he smiled.
They were letting us go. Relief flooded my veins at the realization that we wouldn’t have to fight them, and I breathed easily for the first time since the lion had jumped into our path. We moved further and further away, and as much as I hated running away from a fight, I knew we’d made the right decision. After all, we were no use to anyone if we were dead.
Not wanting to test our luck any further, we finally turned around, not looking back as we hurried down the mountain.
CHAPTER TEN
The lions didn’t follow us—no more foxes jumped out at us, either—and once we reached the bottom of the mountain, we sat down on a stone to take a breather and decide what to do next.
I looked around the dismal brown landscape, trying to get a better idea of our surroundings. The dirt path we’d taken from the portal was the only obvious way up the mountain. All around the path was barren wasteland full of sharp, jagged boulders. We might be able to trek through them, but it wouldn’t be easy, and it would be near impossible at night. But what choice did we have? The path was too dangerous. We had to break from it to find an alternate way up the mountain.
Elementals 4: The Portal to Kerberos Page 3