Your Funeral

I barely had time to grab the quiver of arrows before I had to follow Commodus and Lityerses out of the dining room, practically jogging to keep up. Despite having slept an entire day, I still felt the exhaustion from forcing my body beyond its usual limits. My movements felt sluggish and my head felt like a lead balloon on my shoulders.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, trying to hide my breathlessness, as we winded our way through the halls of the palace. I was also trying to attach the quiver to my waist at this breakneck speed.

"You're going on a fieldtrip," Commodus said.

When he didn't say more, I prompted him with, "Okay?" At the mere word "fieldtrip" the quiver of arrows at my side seemed to grow 100 times heavier.

"Lit will be in charge," Commodus said instead. "I must continue preparing for the naming ceremony." Not sparing another word, Commodus turned down a hallway to the left while Lityerses continued forward.

"Differences aside," I began, "are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Lityerses snorted, throwing a glare over his shoulder at me. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I outsmarted you, Reaper of Men."

Lityerses's eyes snapped over to me, blazing with fury, and I thought he might just pull his sword on me right there. Instead, he snorted.

"You got lucky," he said. "It won't happen again."

"Touchy, touchy," I chided.

He sped up his pace and spun on me, sword drawn and at my throat. I just barely had time to stop. I felt like I hadn't even blinked; that he'd teleported.

The edge of the blade grazed my neck.

"Let's see you get out of this, then," he growled. "See if you're fast enough to grab one of your fancy little throwing knives before I cut you down."

I stepped forward, the blade now fully pressed against my throat. "Go ahead," I goaded. "Cut me down. Prove you're the top dog."

He glared at me, and I stared back. Then I saw his arm ripple and prepared myself for impact (not that it really mattered if he was going to behead me). Instead, he shoved me away with his arm, spitting through his teeth again.

"Fine, your funeral," he muttered, sheathing his sword, turning, and continuing down the hall. I followed behind, glaring at his back. Thinking perhaps I should stop daring people to kill me.

After a few moments of silence, Lityerses finally said, "Your dear old dad is visiting the Indianapolis Zoo today." He grinned at me over his shoulder, making his scars ripple. "We're the welcoming committee."

We headed down various hallways, twists and turns, before coming into the parking garage I had first entered when Ellery, Huixing, and I had arrived. There were three SUVs running and waiting (so I guess I hadn't had to attach the quiver to my waist just yet after all). Two of the SUVs held Germani, the last one was, I assumed, for the rest of us: Lityerses, Ellery, Huixing, and me. Oh, and the Germanus driving. Lityerses got shotgun, while the last three of us were crammed in the backseat.

"So," Huixing drawled. "What's going on?"

"We're going to the zoo," I muttered, crossing my arms, and leaning up against the door, my quiver of arrows resting precariously in my lap. Huixing had mercifully taken the middle, despite us being about the same height.

"Oh! How fun!" Huixing said, with genuine enthusiasm.

Ellery huffed and rolled his eyes as Lityerses gave Huixing an incredulous look through the rearview mirror. The SUVs began exiting the parking garage.

"Not for fun," Lityerses spat. "Just follow my orders, got it?"

Huixing rolled her eyes and waved at him noncommittally. "I got it, I got it."

I could tell that really peeved Lityerses but he just gave Huixing a glare through the rearview before turning his eyes to the road. I couldn't really blame Huixing though, because he looked about nineteen. It was difficult to take him seriously, despite his nickname.

Then I realized that many Greek heroes were often his age or younger, even. Most likely because of the fast rate in which they died. But after having seen and interacted with so many older demigods now, and knowing our life expectancy rate had gone up drastically since ancient times, I couldn't help but look at all the teen demigods and feel…saddened and angry that they were still thrust into these life-threatening situations when there were older adult demigods who could be, at the very least, helping them, but weren't.

But that was a tangent. I had to focus on the now.

When we got to the zoo, the SUVs drove right into a restricted, employee only area and I wondered if Commodus had either bought a lot of people off, or if the Mist was working overtime. (The answer was probably both, seeing as there were a ton of Germani with us, but also knowing the Triumvirate had a vast fortune I couldn't begin to fathom.)

We all exited our SUVs and the Germani looked to Lityerses for command. I reattached my quiver to my waist as he gave orders. I also used this time to dry swallow some pain meds.

"They should be inside the zoo already," Lityerses began. "Three of them. We're going to surround them and capture them alive, understand?"

The Germani all grunted and nodded.

"Alright, communication units on."

I inclined my head as the Germani all reached up to press the buttons of small devices in one of their ears.

"Do we get those?" I asked, looking at Lityerses expectantly.

He rolled his eyes at me but reached into his pocket of his very normal jeans and procured three more comms devices. Ellery, Huixing, and I each took one and quickly put them in our ears. They were probably some kind of enhanced communicating devices, seeing as, as far as I could tell, they weren't connected to any phones. Even if they were all connected to one phone, that was still impressive.

"You five," Lityerses pointed to one group of Germani, "split up. One team starts searching the Deserts, one team starts searching the Oceans." He looked to the rest of us. "The rest of you are with me. We'll start at the entrance, make our way through the Forests. If we can't find them, we'll converge at the train station. Move out."

Despite how the Germani generally looked, I suddenly felt extremely overdressed and somehow underprepared. I had two types of projectile weapons and no close-quarters weapons (though, I suppose if I really needed to, I could use my throwing knives in close quarters). But this was also for a mission that was just capturing a few people alive.

If a fight broke out, at least, I'd be incredibly prepared.

I thought it strange for such a big group of us to follow Lityerses, but once we got past the front gates, spotted no one, and headed down toward the Forests, I understood why.

"You three, that way." Lityerses ordered, pointing toward the Forests exhibits. Then he pointed to Ellery. "You go with them." He pointed to two of the Germani. "You two, that way." He pointed toward a large café that stood between the Forests and Oceans exhibits, then at Huixing. "You go with them."

"I have a name, you know," Huixing muttered under her breath as she skulked away.

As the groups split up and headed off, Lityerses looked at me and the last two Germani, "You three are with me."

We continued down the path toward, as the signs told me, the Flights of Fancy exhibits. We were going past a restaurant before we'd officially hit the Flights of Fancy, when Lityerses suddenly stopped. I instinctually tensed, my pin-pricks responding, trying to listen for whatever he might have heard, or see what he might've seen.

When nothing jumped out at me, I looked at him in question.

He ignored me, silently gesturing for the two Germani with us to continue forward and then some other hand gestures I didn't understand but that the Germani did. At least, I think they did. I don't think I'd ever seen them express any other emotion that that stoic expression they often wore.

Then Lityerses looked at me and gestured to his right. I scowledbut his back was already turned. Despite wondering why he was being so quiet all of a sudden, I really had no other choice but to follow.

We made our way down a path that took us past the orangutan enclosure, and skirted by the Deserts exhibits. In the distance I saw a sign for the train.

"Are you going to fucking tell me what all this song and dance is for?" I finally asked. If he still wanted me to be quiet, he should've said so.

"They're heading for the train station," Lityerses said, for once distracted by whatever was running through his head than by being angry at me.

"How are you so sure?"

Lityerses paused, as if realizing he was supposed to be angry at me. "I just am. Based on their path through the zoo."

That was a blatant lie but I didn't want to push my luck. He was getting keyed up about something, and I wasn't really sure what. The explanation that we were here to capture Apollo wasn't sitting as well with me anymore. It felt like there was something he wasn't telling me, which I guess I shouldn't have been surprised with. Whenever I was sent out on these missions, I never got the whole story. Most times, I got half-truth or just a full-on lie.

But why was Apollo heading toward the train station? What was there that Apollo could possibly want?

When we passed a small snack shop across from the entry to the train station, Lityerses stopped.

"Stay behind this building until I give the signal," he said. "I want to bottle-neck them."

"What's the signal?" I asked.

The teen simply smirked at me before walking over to the train entrance. I huffed in annoyance but did as I was told, leaning up against the side of the snack shop. I felt a shiver run through me and pushed away from the wall, instead opting to shift from foot-to-foot, trying to keep my blood flowing in my extremities.

I watched Lityerses casually amble his way toward the entrance of the train station. It looked like he was speaking into his comms device, but whatever he was saying, I wasn't privy to. Ah, even better; he could be selective of who he talked to.

I was starting to get really irritated with how much information was he was holding back from me. It wasn't a new experience, sure, but he had to be so smug about it. As if he was somehow superior for being privy to information I had absolutely no way of knowing. Was I really this insufferable at nineteen?

It wasn't very long before I heard rapid footsteps heading toward the train station. I peeked around the corner and sure enough, there was Apollo and Calypso.

Speaking about Apollo in a distant way was a lot easier. It was a bit like him being a god again—he was distant and it was easier to handle my emotions regarding him because he was far way. Seeing him now, though, I felt all those intense, confusing emotions wash over me and struggled to stay where I was.

Not that I was sure what I was going to do if I revealed myself at this moment. Lityerses would probably behead me or skin me alive if I did that. And it wasn't like I was going to get into a fight with Apollo—well, scratch all that, actually. I simply wanted to throttle him.

In the six weeks since I last saw him, I really hadn't had time to process any of the information he'd dropped on me, or process how angry I still was about how much he cared for Meg. Or how angry I still was, at him, at all. So seeing him now simply just disturbed all the emotions that'd settled like flour dust in my mind, and someone had just lit a match.

But, once again, there were other things I needed to be focusing on! So, grit my teeth, closed my eyes, and tried to take deep breaths. Tried one of Rowan's coping techniques. It was really meant for anxiety, but I figured it took long enough that it would help my anger simmer down. At least enough I could control it once I had to actually face Apollo again. (This also, sometimes, helped my chronic pain, which was starting to act up in reaction to my anger.)

When I felt I had a better handle on my emotions, I exhaled one last time and opened my eyes. Apollo and Calypso looked a little ruffled up, and held something wrapped in paper in their arms, but not hurt. Apollo had his bow out, but it wasn't going to be much use if he had to hold onto that other package in his hand. Calypso didn't have any weapons as far as I could tell.

It looked like they had paused when they saw Lityerses waiting for them on the station platform, under an ivy-covered canopy. At some point, he'd unsheathed his sword and now rested it casually on his shoulder. He lifted his hand to his ear and his voice through the comms.

"They're here at the station," he said. "Converge on me, but slow and calm. I'm fine. I want these two alive." He tapped his comms again and spoke to Apollo and Calypso, which I was too far away to hear. I supposed that was my cue?

Regardless, I stepped out from my hiding spot and began making my way over to them, hands casually in my pockets. Just as I came into earshot, Ellery appeared to my left, from the Flights of Fancy exhibits, and Huixing appeared to my right, from the Reptiles exhibit, completely blocking any exit route Apollo and Calypso could take.

I looked back at Lityerses, wondering if that's what he'd been talking into his comms about earlier.

"—blocking demigod communications?" Apollo was asking.

Before Lityerses could respond, Calypso spotted me. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. She tugged at Apollo's sleeve.

"Apollo, isn't that…" she began to ask, her eyes flitting over to me. Then to Ellery, and finally turning to look at Huixing.

Apollo turned to look at me and he jolted when he saw me, his face going pale. I tried not to let that hurt, but I a fresh wave of anger together sweep over me. I dug my nails into my palms until it stung to keep from throwing one of my knives at him.

By then, Calypso had gotten over her shock.

"I thought you were on our side!" she said, looking like she wanted to deck me. Which was very impressive because so far, she looked like a meek teen (despite knowing she was the Calypso and was thousands of years older than me). "Does Leo know you're here? He would be so disappointed."

"It's complicated," I responded. Low blow bringing up Leo. She was sharp.

Calypso's gaze strayed, eyeing both Ellery and Huixing for a moment, before looking at the gaps between the three of us.

"I wouldn't," I said, interrupting her assessment.

Her brown eyes shot back to me and her eyebrows furrowed, her free hand balling into a fist. I was honestly a little surprised at how ready she was to get into a fight. Without a weapon, no less.

"And what do you think you're going to do with your hands in your pockets like that?" she asked, putting up more bravado.

Perhaps it was because Lityerses had been irritating me, with him desperately needing to show his machismo after almost losing to me—I had to wonder if it was because he almost lost or because he almost lost to a girl—but instead of continuing whatever back-and-forth stalling Calypso was doing, I gave her a demonstration.

In as fluid a movement I could do, I pulled my hands from my pockets, flicked my wrist, and as my bow spiraled out, I pulled an arrow from my quiver. By this time, my bow was ready, and I knocked my arrow and shot at her.

She gasped and stiffened as the arrow sailed through her hair, the point of the arrowhead severing the hair-tie she was using to keep her hair up. It snapped and flew to the ground, her hair falling around her shoulders.

I lowered my bow and let it turn back into a bracelet, before shoving my hands back into my jacket pockets.

"I am my father's daughter," I said, smiling at her sarcastically. I couldn't help but glance at Apollo to see how he would respond to that comment, but his eyes were focused intensely on the ground. Typical. (Perhaps some part of me had done that to hurt Apollo more than it was to outshine—hah, get it?—Lityerses.)

Lityerses cleared his throat, then, scowling like he was annoyed the spotlight had been taken off him. "Back to the matter at hand," he said loudly, "Apollo, drop your bow. And as for your friend, keep your hands at your side. No sudden curses. I'd hate to chop off that pretty head of yours."

Calypso, trying to get over her surprise, turned back to Lityerses, but she was smart, in that she didn't fully turn, to keep me in her periphery. Though…with Ellery and Huixing on either side of them, there wasn't really a good way to turn without turning your back on someone.

"I was just thinking the same thing about you," Calypso managed in a sweet voice. "Drop your sword and I won't destroy you."

I was impressed by how her voice never wavered, despite the shock she'd just received, but I could tell her heart was pounding in her chest—giving away how nervous she really was. It also sounded like neither Leo nor Apollo had told her about Lityerses's prowess with a sword. I found that a bit odd, especially considering Leo being Calypso's boyfriend.

Lityerses chuckled. "That's good. I like you. But in about thirty seconds, a dozen Germani are going to swarm this depot. They will not ask as politely as I did." To punctuate his point, he took a step forward and swung his sword to his side.

Calypso hummed. "Then what's with…the advance party?" She gestured to me, Ellery, and Huixing. "Scared you wouldn't be able to take us on by yourself?"

As Lityerses went to respond, I noticed the ivy above him rustle. He didn't seem to notice but suddenly, Apollo dropped his bow. The sound of it bringing my attention back to him.

"Apollo," Calypso hissed, distracted from whatever the conversation had previously been about. "What are you doing?"

"He's being smart," Lityerses said. "Now, speaking of Leo, where is he?"

"It—it's just the two of us," Apollo stuttered, sounding perplexed.

Lityerses didn't like that, his scars rippling as he scowled. "Come now." I could hear the barely contained rage in his voice. "You flew into the city on a dragon. Three passengers. I very much want to see Leo Valdez again. We have unfinished business."

"You know Leo?" Apollo asked, sounding…relieved?

Calypso stepped toward Lityerses. "What do you want with Leo?"

Lityerses's eyes narrowed as he gazed at Calypso. "You're not the same girl who was with him before." I was stunned he hadn't noticed until now. Did they really look so similar to him? "Here name was Piper. You wouldn't happen to be Leo's girlfriend?"

I saw Calypso's blush in her neck, some of the bravado she'd been trying to hold slipping.

"Oh, you are!" Lityerses exclaimed. "That's wonderful! I can use you to hurt him."

"You will not hurt him," Calypso growled, her whole body tensing. For a moment, I thought she might launch herself at Commodus's new prefect. Before she could, however, the sound of rustling leaves brought my attention back to the ivy canopy above Lityerses. It was visibly shaking now, its leaves rustling so loud, I was surprised Lityerses didn't seem to notice. I thought about warning him, but since he had pissed me off, I stayed quiet. If Ellery and Huixing noticed, they took my lead and also stayed silent.

And, to be honest, the over-growing ivy was starting to make me queasy. I think I may have involuntarily taken a few steps back. Once again, it was because of my previous experience with Mr. D—I tried to avoid any type of vine these days.

"Calypso," Apollo said warily, "step back."

Calypso rounded on him. "Why should I? This Cornhusker just threatened—"

"Calypso!" Apollo grabbed her wrist and yanked her further away from the canopy right as, with a mighty groan, the canopy collapsed on Lityerses.

I stumbled back and gasped as a vine of ivy shot out, straight toward me. My prickles burst.

I was able to get away from its initial attack, but tripped over my own feet or a crack in the concrete and sat down hard. The vine wrapped around my ankle and I lost it. I felt the heavy weight of hands grasping at my ankles and wrists, pulling me down, restraining me. Now combined with the smell of grapes and the feel of vines wrapping around my chest, constricting my ability to breathe. And, of course, my chronic pain capitalized on my panic.

In my haze, I grabbed one of my throwing knives, throwing it at the vine around my ankle and severing that connection. But there was still a vine wrapped around my ankle, and although it was now loose and dead, my frazzled brain only knew I needed to get it off me. So, I reached for another of my knives, and was about to stab myself in the ankle just to get the vine off me.

Thankfully for me, someone grabbed my wrist before I could. Though, in the state I was in, it wasn't helpful. It only made me panic and struggle more, my pin-pricks washing over me in waves.

Someone was calling my name, in a low and firm voice, but through the haze of adrenaline, I couldn't make out who it was. Friend? Enemy?

The vines were trying to suffocate me! Couldn't this person see that!

I looked back at my ankle, but the vine had gone. The shock of seeing that, broke some of my flashback. I felt the vines loosen around my chest.

"What…" I breathed, looking around and trying to gather my bearings and shove away my prickles.

I recognized Ellery, who was holding my arm, but it no longer felt like the hand of an orderly trying to strap me down. Huixing was on my other side, kneeling next to me but concentrating on something in front of us. When I followed her gaze, I realized she was monitoring the canopy of ivy that'd collapsed.

That's right—the ivy had collapsed on Lityerses. With a start, I looked around for Apollo and Calypso, but they had run off somewhere.

Back at the ivy, the Germani that had joined us on this zoo adventure were helping pull Lityerses out of the overgrown canopy. I watched, feeling like I should maybe help, but also feeling frozen. Like my brain wasn't taking any commands at the moment, it just needed my body to sit down and rest. My heart was still racing and I was now having to spit my concentration on what was going on and my pin-pricks.

When the Germani finally extricated Lityerses, he glared over at me.

"Some help you are," he spat before ordering the Germani. "They're heading toward the griffons. Go!"

The whole group raced off, then, following the train tracks into the greenery.

I watched them numbly, as the adrenaline rush wore off. I couldn't even be annoyed about his comment. (Though, I was probably going to be very annoyed later, when I had the energy. Lityerses was more of a 19-year-old brat, and less the Reaper of Men. His attitude was starting to really piss me off.)

Ellery and Huixing sat with my quietly, Ellery finally releasing my wrist. I reattached both of my throwing knives to the inside of my jacket. I took a few deep breaths, closing my eyes, and did another one of the exercises Rowan had taught me.

For the second time, when I had made it through the exercise, I opened my eyes and stood. I felt kind of wobbly now, exhausted, even, but looked toward the way Lityerses and the Germani had gone.

"Let's go," I said, though my voice wavered.

"You sure?" Huixing asked, giving me a wary look.

"He's hiding something about this 'capture mission,'" I muttered, looking at the collapsed canopy of ivy and turning everything he'd said today over in my head.

Huixing frowned. "Hmm."

"She has a point," Ellery chimed in.

Huixing huffed and glared at him. "I know that."

"Not now, guys," I pleaded, before starting forward.

We followed the train tracks, jogging lightly. Mostly because my head was spinning, and I was afraid I might collapse if we broke into a run.

By the time we started to hear shouting and yelling, and what sounded like furious chopping and hacking, my legs felt like lead. But I didn't think we'd been jogging for that long. This wasn't necessarily a big train. (Compared to transit trains, anyway.)

We rounded the corner to see overgrown bamboo that was shivering and slowed. Then I realized it wasn't shivering, it was shaking because of the Germani trapped inside it. Lityerses was also there, trying to chop his way through the thick bamboo with his sword, but since he didn't have a lot of room to swing, he was getting nowhere fast.

When he spotted us, he paused.

"Hey! Get us out of this!" he ordered.

I glanced at the crude train-sized hole that'd been cut through the bamboo just a little to the right of where Lityerses and the Germani were trapped. Then back at the prefect, who was waiting for me to answer or start swinging.

"Who's useless now?" I asked before continuing forward, into the tunnel behind the bamboo.

Lityerses shouted after me, but I ignored him. The tunnel wasn't very long, but longer than I expected for a tunnel in a zoo that housed a train that probably didn't reach speeds higher than 5 miles per hour, if that.

When we exited the tunnel, however, I was surprised to find a turned-over train in a gravely area to my left. Because that indicated it had been traveling at a great speed after all.

To my right—

I jolted (my prickles also bursting), recognizing the arena Commodus had taken us to; where he'd shown me Audrey II. Had those train tracks been there this whole time? Had we been at the zoo this whole time? How had Commodus set up this arena in the zoo? And the tunnels? They led all the way to the zoo? Or perhaps his palace was closer to the zoo than I realized?

With a grunt, I shook off those thoughts. Those questions didn't matter right now.

I glanced back through the tunnel. No sign of Lityerses or the Germani.

This was my chance!

Completely ignoring Apollo and Calypso on the other side of the arena, I pinpointed Commodus's seat in the stands and ran over to where I knew Audrey II was being kept in relation to that.

Of course, there was the plexiglass wall blocking my way. But inside, it was unmistakable, it was Audrey II. Though, much, much bigger than I was used to. I vaguely recalled what Commodus had told me about her breed of dragon, but I'd been so lost in pain and shock, it felt more like a fever dream.

Seeing her now solidified everything in a horrible way. Guilt wrenched in my gut at the thought of them torturing her for months now. Over my ignorance of the truth getting her hurt and held captive for so long.

I let out a harsh breath. Now was not the time to be fucking crying!

"How can we help?" Huixing asked, breaking me from my thoughts. She stood on my left, Ellery on my right.

"Th-the lever," I stuttered, pressing my palms to the plexiglass, my arms protesting at even that in the state I was in. "We need to get this open."

"I could vault Huixing up," Ellery suggested.

I shook my head. "That'll take too long. Did either of you get a look at what lever closed this cell?" Ellery nodded. "Point me to it."

We turned to look at Commodus's seat. Ellery moved behind me, raising his arm and pointing, so I could see it in my line of sight.

I nodded. "Got it." Ellery stepped away as I grabbed one of my throwing knives and threw it at the lever he pointed out, which would be faster than my bow right now. I could feel the throw was slightly off, because my whole body was begging me to rest again, but my knife still impaled the handle, swinging the lever back. Behind us, the plexiglass wall fell with a loud ka-chunk.

I spun around again, about to sprint in, but remembered Audrey II hadn't recognized me at first, and stopped myself. This time, if she blew fire, I probably wouldn't be able to leap back, and avoid being burned.

At all the noise, she stirred, blinking sleep from her eyes.

When she first saw us, she hissed and pressed herself back into the cell. I quickly held up my hands in surrender.

"It's just me," I said. "It's Tori, remember?"

Audrey II's head perked up at the sound of my voice.

"That's right," I said, a relieved laugh bubbling up from my chest. "It's me. I'm going to get you out of here."

I turned to Huixing. "I need—" I began but she was on top of it, tossing me her case of lock-picking tools (which I nearly dropped). "Thanks."

I entered Audrey II's cell, going first to the shackle around her neck, which she lowered her head for me to reach.

"That prefect is here," Ellery said from just outside the cell, brandishing his pugio.

"I can be quick," I said, working on the lock. At least, I hoped I could, seeing as my hands were trembling now.

"Looks like he's more focused on Apollo and Calypso at the moment," Ellery relayed.

"Though he gave us quite the glare when he finally got to the arena," Huixing added. "I'm worried about what Commodus will do."

I let out a small breath as the shackle fell with a loud, echoing clang. I winced at the sound but swiftly went to the one around Audrey II's back ankle.

"Let me worry about that," I replied. "The worse he'll do is probably assign you guys more chores. Which is better for us. You can investigate his palace more."

"And you?" Huixing asked pointedly.

I was glad she couldn't see my face then, or the way my hands faltered, forcing me to start picking the lock over again. My chronic pain burst and began to steadily rise again.

"I'll keep Commodus's attention off you guys," I finally responded. I could tell Huixing wanted to object more, but I quickly said, "I have to focus, please." And that ended that. For now.

It took longer because my vision would occasionally blur and my hands were trembling pretty bad now, but the shackle finally released, clattering to the floor. I huffed a breath of relief and quickly put Huixing's tools back in her pouch. I looked at them over my shoulder.

"What's going on?" I asked, standing and tossing Huixing her pouch back.

"A little girl showed up," Ellery said. "She's fighting the prefect."

"We should go help her!" Huixing said. "She's—"

"No," I snapped. They both looked at me in shock. I jolted a little at my own intensity, echoed back at me from the concrete cell walls, but shrugged it off. "If you guys help, you'll only get into more trouble." I hated saying that, truly I did, but I was afraid of what Commodus might do to either of them when Lityerses told him what happened. If it really became dire, I would step in, but since I knew just how protective Apollo was of Meg, I knew he would never leave her behind.

"But—" Huixing began but was interrupted this time by all the plexiglass cell doors falling into the floor.

I ran to the entrance to see what was going on. Apollo and Calypso were now riding the two griffons I'd seen them with earlier, flying in circles around the arena. Apollo had just dive-bombed Lityerses, the griffon scooping up Meg in one of its talons as it went by.

Lityerses looked genuinely at a loss for words. Beat in another battle, two days in a row. Both by girls, one younger than him. That ought to be a hard hit for the Reaper of Men, I was sure.

"Good trick, Apollo," he called as Apollo flew higher. Or at least, as high as the net would allow. "But where will you go? You're—"

I jumped when a herd of armored ostriches cut him off, trampling him. The prefect hit the floor with a guttural yelp, curling into the fetal position to protect himself from the onslaught of large birds and other monsters that came to join the fray, angry from the mistreatment and torture they'd endured.

I couldn't blame them.

"What now?" Ellery asked.

"I guess try and keep the monsters away," Huixing said, watching the monsters and animals converge on Lityerses and wincing.

"From the prefect?" Ellery raised an eyebrow.

Huixing frowned. "He hurt that little girl. No way."

I snickered but quickly turned back to Audrey II.

"Alright," I said looking up at her, "time to get you out of here." With the huge commotion, this was the perfect time to set her free.

"Come on, Audrey II," I coaxed, waving my hands and backing out of the cell.

Audrey II followed, cautiously looking out at the arena. Her head swung side-to-side as she shuffled forward from her cell. I felt another pang of guilt shoot through me, followed by my pin-pricks. They had put her through so much, and I hadn't been there to protect her.

Just as Audrey II had fully exited, a guttural scream came from the air. My head shot up just in time to see the net over the arena blast upward—completely ripping away from its moorings—getting tossed into the sky before being pulled away like tissue in a hurricane.

Cold air blasted my face and I gasped at how it stung (today was not a good day for my prickles; guess sleeping through an entire day only did so much for them). But this was perfect. I looked back down at Audrey II, still trying to catch my breath. My knees felt weak. I didn't have much time left, myself.

"Go!" I gasped, gesturing to the sky. "Get out of here!"

Audrey II looked up, and I could tell from the way she stretched she wanted to. She shook her wings and shifted from foot to foot. But she hesitated, looking back down at me. She bumped me with her snout, nearly knocking me over—probably not used to her large size—and let out a mournful growl.

I swallowed hard and pushed her away, nearly falling over again.

"No, you have to go. I don't want them to hurt you anymore. I'll find you again, I promise. Please," I begged. Tears welled in my eyes, my throat began closing. "Please, go now. You have to go. Right now."

She huffed, stepping toward me. I shook my head and stepped back.

"I'll be okay," I lied. "Go. I promise, I'll find you again."

Audrey II stared at me for a long time. At first, I was afraid she was going to be as stubborn as me and stay. But she looked at the sky again and I could tell how much she wanted to be far, far away from this place. And I couldn't blame her.

She gave me one last look. Nudged me one more time. Then launched into the sky. It was a little wobbly at first, probably getting used to her new size. But she was a fast learner, and once she'd gotten the hang of it, and she was free of the arena walls, she veered right and quickly disappeared out of sight.

I let out a sob of relief. And then promptly collapsed, my vision going dark.

A sharp smell assaulted my nose and I jerked up with a gasp before having a coughing fit. I felt hands grasping my arms, holding me upright, but my legs felt like deadweight.

It took me a moment to push aside my prickles, which were fighting to completely overwhelm me. When I did, I was able to stand on my own, but my head still felt like it was trying to float away. The hands on my arms released me but I wobbled a little as I tried to balance. My vision was still a little blurry, going in and out of focus but I could tell—at least I thought—I was in Commodus's throne room.

This was confirmed to me when I felt a large hand wrap around my throat and saw Commodus's face suddenly take up my entire visual field. On instinct, one of my hands went to grab one of my throwing knives, but Commodus's free hand grabbed my wrist and twisted it until I was forced to drop my knife, then held it so I couldn't do anything else. My other hand was grasping the one at my throat.

I didn't think I'd have any adrenaline left in me, but it flooded through me. My prickles responded in kind, which kind of defeated the purpose, but my vision snapped into focus and I was suddenly extremely aware of where I was, how close Commodus was, the feel of his hand around my throat and at my wrist. He was firm, and threatening, but he hadn't constricted his hand enough I couldn't breathe. Yet.

"Lityerses tells me that, not only did you let Apollo and Nero's girl get away, but you freed your pet," Commodus growled.

"Apollo and Meg getting away was all Lityerses," I snarled back. "If he can't even capture a child and a former immortal then he's not a very good prefect, is he? Some Reaper of Men he is."

Commodus chuckled but I could tell he wasn't amused at all. His hand at my throat tightened, but I could still breathe.

"And your little pet?"

"No so little anymore, thanks to you."

His hand tightened a little more. Enough that I was starting to have trouble breathing, but could still breath enough to speak.

"You were hurting her," I choked out.

"And, pray tell, why would you risk my wrath to save a monster?"

As he spoke, his hand constricted tighter and tighter around my throat. I could barely think past my growing chronic pain.

But I had just enough air, and wherewithal, to reply with, "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand." before his hand completely closed around my throat.

I could see the rage in his eyes at my comment, but my vision was going fuzzy again. This time from the lack of air. Black spots followed and soon filled up my entire vision. Right before I was sure I was going to pass out, I felt air rush into my lungs. I coughed and sputtered until my head stopped pounding and the back of my throat stung. I tried to push away my prickles, not having a huge amount of success.

Never one to catch a break, just as I was gathering my bearings again—I had somehow ended up on the floor, a few feet away from where Commodus stood, his back to me—two Germani grabbed my arms and hauled me to my feet.

"Take her to the oracle," Commodus said. He turned to look at me, grinning sadistically, his blue eyes looking a little…fractured. "Daughter of Apollo; let's see how she fares."

Dun dun dun! I honestly did not mean to leave it at a cliff-hanger, but this is just how the cookie crumbled this go around. At least I didn't end it on her passing out again? lol

as always, i hope you enjoyed! comments are appreciated!

thank you for reading,
thebrightestnight