Apparently, “nowhere” was the realm of the gods.
“Where can we find these swords?” I asked.
“That’s where I come in,” she said. “As you know, gods with a chosen champion in the Games aren’t allowed to interact with the players. This keeps them from manipulating the odds to their champion’s favor. So I’m here to deliver Vulcan’s swords to you.”
She pointed the end of her scepter to the ground by her feet and moved it slowly in a circle. As she did, the blue inside the glass orb swirled brighter and faster. It extended out of the orb, creating a sparkling glow of magic where she was drawing the circle. The glow intensified until it was nearly blinding, and then Juno pulled the scepter back to her side.
The magic shimmered and disappeared, revealing three swords at her feet. The blades glowed orange, like they’d just been pulled out of a furnace. Except unlike blades pulled from a furnace, these didn’t cool down.
At least there were sheaths beside them—probably so whoever carried the swords didn’t burn themselves.
“Good luck,” Juno said, and then she turned to me. “I hope you prove I made the correct decision by letting you continue on in the Games.”
“I will,” I promised.
She nodded, as if she already knew I would.
The three of us reached for the swords, each of us taking one for ourselves.
After seeing Julian fight Vulcan’s champion with two swords, I worried he might take two for himself and leave us in the dust. But he didn’t.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
We put on our sheaths and shoved the swords inside of them. Then I turned to Cassia and Julian. “So,” I said. “Do either of you know which way is north?”
I knew Avalon like the back of my hand. But the Otherworld? Not so much.
Cassia looked up at the night sky. “The North Star is there.” She pointed to a bright star near the Big Dipper. “So the Tomb is that way.”
Not wanting to leave without saying goodbye to Juno, I turned back to her and lowered into a curtsy. “Thank you, Your Highness,” I said, bowing my head respectfully.
She gave me a tight smile—the first expression she’d shown since we arrived at the forum. “There’s no need to call me that,” she said, sounding amused. “Such honorifics were created long after the birth of the gods.”
“Oh.” I bit my lip, mortified at having incorrectly addressed her in two different circumstances. Not just in front of her, but with the entire Otherworld watching on the orbs. “How should I address you, then?”
“By my name.” She sat straighter, her scepter gleaming beside her. “Juno.”
So the gods went by their first names—like Madonna and Beyoncé. Cool. I could get behind that.
“All right,” I said. “Thank you, Juno.”
She nodded in acceptance of my thanks, serious once more.
“Come on,” Julian urged, focusing on Cassia and me. “The others are likely already close to the Tomb. If we want a shot at the wreath, we need to hurry.”
And so, we hopped back onto our horses and rode north toward the Tomb of the First Queen.
43
Selena
The Tomb of the First Queen was fifty miles away from the capital city—twice as far as the distance between the capital city and Vesta’s Villa. The journey would have taken eight hours on regular horseback.
But while these horses didn’t have wings, they still had magic. They ran at a speed closer to the unicorns on Avalon than the horses on Earth. So we got there in two hours instead of eight.
The horses came to an abrupt stop at the bottom of a tall hill. Like pretty much everywhere in the Otherworld, the hill was covered with thick green grass. I’d thought Avalon was green, but it had nothing on the Otherworld.
“The Tomb’s over the top of the hill,” Cassia said, giving our horse’s sides a firm but kind kick. “Come on, girl. Not much farther to go.”
Both our horse and Julian’s horse refused to budge.
Julian jumped off his horse, as graceful as ever. No guy had the right to look that perfect all the time. Especially one I shouldn’t be crushing on but was anyway.
“Looks like we’re walking the rest of the way,” he said, looking to the top of the hill.
“Looks like it,” I agreed, and Cassia and I jumped off our horse, too. We patted our horse’s nose, thanking her for bringing us that far.
The moment after we did, both our horse and Julian’s horse galloped off in the other direction.
“I’d say they were going back to get the champions left behind at the villa,” Cassia said, even though the champions left behind were in no condition to continue on in the competition. “But they’re heading the wrong way.”
“The gods must not want us leaving this place until one of us has the wreath,” Julian said.
I nodded, although my stomach fluttered with nerves. It sounded like whatever we were going to face was terrifying enough that the gods worried we might try to flee.
That didn’t sound good.
We started up the hill, Julian at one of my sides and Cassia at the other. None of us said a word as we walked.
“So, who was this First Queen?” I asked, breaking the awkward silence between the three of us.
“Queen Gloriana was the first faerie queen of the Otherworld,” Cassia said, happy to jump into telling the story. “Legend says she was the kindest queen to ever rule. But right after she announced that she’d met her soulmate and the two were going to marry, a half-blood killed her. The half-blood was her lover, and he was so overcome with jealousy that he lost his mind. He killed himself right afterward. It’s one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the Otherworld.”
“After the First Queen was murdered, the faeries started binding the magic of half-bloods and turning us into slaves,” Julian added, his eyes hard with anger. “One half-blood committed a crime thousands of years ago, and the rest of us have been paying for it since.”
“Wow.” My chest hurt at the thought of the half-bloods who’d had to endure such mistreatment for so long. “So the faeries are afraid of the half-bloods. But faeries are so powerful. I imagine it’s nearly impossible to kill them.”
“It’s not impossible,” Julian said. “The life source of a faerie exists within their wings. So does ours now, since we’re chosen champions. Wings originate from the heart. Destroy the heart, and the faerie—or chosen champion—dies, too.”
“Just like a vampire,” I said.
“A what?” Cassia asked.
Right. The faeries returned to the Otherworld in the fifth century—which was before the original vampires were created on Earth. If any faeries knew about vampires, they either kept it secret from most everyone else in the Otherworld, or just kept it secret from the half-bloods.
“Vampires are one of the supernatural species’ that live on Earth,” I started. “My father’s a vampire.”
From there, I told them all about vampires and their abilities.
Cassia couldn’t get past the fact that vampires drank blood to survive. She found it vile, even when I told her about the vampires in the Haven that drank animal blood instead of human blood.
I was still telling them about vampires when we approached the crest of the hill. But then I saw it, and I stopped speaking—and walking—mid-sentence.
Because straight ahead of us were the backs of three giant, furry heads. They were so close together that they clearly shared a body. And even though it was only the back of it, I’d learned enough in Ancient Magical History 101 to guess what this monster was.
Cerberus. The vicious, three-headed dog that guarded the gates to the Beyond. Well, here they called it the Underworld. But it seemed like they were just two different words that described the same thing—the place where people went after death.
Julian pulled his glowing sword out of its sheath, holding it at the ready. Cassia and I did the same.
“Cerberus is guarding the en
trance of the Tomb,” Julian said, softly as to not catch the three-headed monster’s attention. “We’ll have to kill him to get to the wreath.”
“We can do that?” I asked. “Just kill an infamous monster that’s been around for…” I tried to figure out how long Cerberus must have been around, but couldn’t come up with anything. “Since the beginning of time?”
“Cerberus belongs in the Underworld,” Julian said. “Pluto must have sent him here for this competition. So by killing him here, we’re sending him back to his home, where he belongs.”
“Great,” I said, still not confident we could do this. Yes, we were powerful after being gifted with magic from the gods. But Cerberus was a monster as old as time itself.
“Don’t look so worried.” Julian gave me a reassuring smile, as if he knew what was going through my mind. “Emperor of the Villa competitions aren’t designed to kill us. The gods want the fights to the death to happen in the arena. So Cerberus will know to leave us alive. He can injure us—badly—but nothing he’ll do to us will be fatal.”
“That’s good to know,” I muttered. Although I supposed from the perspective of the gods and the faeries, it made sense. It would be far more entertaining for them to watch each Emperor of the Villa choose which three chosen champions to send to the arena.
This whole thing was sick. But I couldn’t let my mind go there. Because right now, I had to stop the champions who’d left the villa before us—mainly Octavia—from getting that wreath.
The three of us crept around the Tomb, which was basically a smaller hill on top of the larger hill. As we approached Cerberus’s side, I realized he looked more terrifying than I’d imagined.
I’d always pictured him as a giant, three-headed dog. But he was more like a giant, three-headed wolf. All six of his eyes glowed yellow, his incisors were almost as long as my arms, and his claws were sharpened into points.
His heads focused away from us, and he growled and bared his teeth, ready to attack.
Maybe he’d heard our horses going that way? But that distraction wouldn’t protect us for long.
Luckily, there were chains around his necks, keeping him tied to the Tomb. Unfortunately, he was standing right in front of the entrance, so we still had to get past him to get inside.
We made our way around the Tomb, and I saw the chosen champions who’d arrived before us. Molly, Cillian, Octavia, and Felix.
They were covered in strange black goo, and were splayed out on the field in front of Cerberus. Judging from the way they weren’t moving, they were all unconscious.
The only champion missing was Bridget. Had she already gotten the wreath?
She couldn’t have. If she had, Bacchus would have announced her as the winner, and the champions splayed out in front of us would be healed.
She must have run away. Or she was purposefully staying under the radar, like I was supposed to be doing.
“What happened to them?” I asked, my gaze roaming over the bodies of the fallen champions again.
“It looks like some kind of poison,” Julian said. “Cerberus must have spat it at them, and it knocked them out.”
“Great.” My stomach lurched at the knowledge that all of the players before us had fought Cerberus and failed.
Cerberus must have heard us talking, because all three of his heads turned in our direction at once. I could have almost sworn that they all smiled at the sight of us. Then the middle one bared its teeth and growled. The other two joined in, and together, they pawed their front legs into the ground, sharp claws slicing through the dirt.
If not for the chains, I had a feeling he would have pounced by now. As it was, I backed up, not wanting to risk being anywhere the monster could reach. Julian and Cassia followed suit.
How were we supposed to beat Cerberus? I had no idea. But I forced myself to breathe steadily, trying to calm my racing heart. Panicking wasn’t going to help anything.
Plus, being knocked unconscious wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It beat dying.
We’d already gotten this far in the competition. We had nothing to lose by trying to beat Cerberus and getting into that Tomb.
Once we got inside, I had to make sure Cassia got the wreath instead of Julian. She was the only one I trusted to keep me out of the arena this week.
“So,” I said, trying to sound more relaxed than I felt. “How do we kill this thing?”
“Cutting off the heads usually does the trick.” Julian held up his fiery sword and admired it, as if he was already picturing slicing the blade through Cerberus’s thick necks. “These swords must be the only ones that can cut through its skin.”
“They must,” Cassia agreed.
Although from looking at the matching swords strewn next to the fallen champions’ bodies, it didn’t look like that technique had worked for them.
“A three-pronged attack will work best,” Julian continued, apparently not sharing my worry. Of course he didn’t. His patron god was Mars—the god of war. Fighting was his specialty. “I’ll take the middle head. Selena will take the right, and Cassia will take the left. And remember—if Cerberus looks like he’s about to spit out poison, avoid it at all costs. It’s better to be delayed than unconscious.”
“Right.” I nodded, reminding myself that even though Cerberus was massive, the extra strength I’d gotten with my new magic allowed me to jump high enough to reach him. “We go on three?”
“On three.” Julian held my gaze and nodded. His fiery blade reflected in his eyes, making him look as fierce and dangerous as ever. “One, two—”
“Wait!” Cassia held out her arms, stopping us before Julian could say three.
“What?” I looked at her, worried she was about to chicken out.
But her green eyes were wide with excitement, like she’d just had an idea.
“Fighting Cerberus was one of Hercules’s twelve labors,” she said quickly. “But Hercules didn’t kill Cerberus. He did something else…” She paused and stared up at the aurora dancing in the sky, trying and apparently failing to remember the rest of the story.
As she was thinking, someone with sparkly gold wings zoomed out of the shadows and stopped in front of us. Bridget. She was covered in mud, but other than that, she appeared uninjured.
“You’re right,” Bridget said, looking approvingly at Cassia. “Hercules didn’t kill Cerberus. And if you try to kill him, you’re going to end up just like the rest of the fallen champions on that field.”
44
Selena
“If you know how to beat Cerberus, why haven’t you done it yourself?” I asked, instantly suspicious of Bridget’s motives.
The golden orbs circled around us, eating up every word of our conversation.
“Because while Hercules was able to fight Cerberus alone, that’s because he’s an extraordinarily strong demigod,” she said. “We’re strong, but nothing in comparison to Hercules. And while Julian’s right about a three-pronged attack being the best way to go about this task, he’s wrong about the task being to kill Cerberus. Because to get past Cerberus, we need to use the same method as Hercules.”
“I’m guessing they used the wrong method?” I glanced at the fallen champions on the field.
“Correct,” Bridget said. “Molly tried to touch Cerberus so she could learn the feel of his form and shift into it. He swatted her away with his claws, and she used her sword to protect herself. The moment she drew blood, it burst out of the wound, splashing her and knocking her out.”
“So that’s what the black goo is,” Cassia said. “Blood.”
“Yep,” Bridget said. “Cerberus’s blood is poisonous enough to knock us out, but not quite strong enough to kill us. Cillian was the only one who knew the right way to beat Cerberus, but he didn’t know about the blood being poison. He’s so cocky that he thought he could beat Cerberus on his own. Which he couldn’t, since none of us can. The whole point of this part of the competition is to force us to work together. So Cillian tried
, failed, and ended up using his sword to protect himself, too.”
“Which splattered blood on him and knocked him out,” I finished.
Bridget nodded, and continued, “Octavia and Felix arrived next. They attacked the same way you were planning on doing it—by cutting off the heads. The moment their swords drew blood, they were knocked out, too.”
Julian studied Bridget the whole time she explained this to us, his eyes narrowing as she spoke. “Where were you during all this?” he asked.
“The moment I arrived, I covered myself in mud dark enough that in the night, it passes as Cerberus’s blood.” She motioned to her mud-covered body. “I lay on the ground like the others are now. They thought I’d been knocked out, too. But I was just biding my time until the three of you arrived.”
“Why us?” I asked. “If three champions have to work together to beat Cerberus, why didn’t you work with Octavia and Felix when they arrived?”
“Octavia is ruthless,” Bridget said. “I don’t trust her, and I never will. Plus, I don’t want to fight Cerberus, and I don’t want the wreath. At least, not this week.”
“If you don’t want the wreath, what do you want?” I asked. Because in the Faerie Games, everyone always wanted something.
She appraised me with her calm gray eyes. “I want to make a deal,” she said. “I’ll tell you how to beat Cerberus. But only if you promise that whichever one of you gets the wreath won’t send me to the arena this week.”
She was offering us an alliance. One that only lasted for a week, but it was something we could build on as the Games continued.
“How do we know that after we beat Cerberus, you won’t bolt into the Tomb and take the wreath for yourself?” I asked.
“Because I meant what I said earlier. I don’t want the wreath this week,” she said. “I know that if we come to an agreement, all three of you will stick to your word. And that’s enough for me. So, what do you say? Do you accept the deal?”
The Faerie Games (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 1) Page 15