Page 214 of A Touch of Chaos

Her three-headed monster gave a low growl, his massive paws clawing at the earth, sending it flying in all directionsas he charged at the enemy army.

Then the demigods were before them, and all around, the sound of weapons clashing was thunderous. It shook Persephone to her core, but soon her attention was directed to the demigod before her—a woman she did not recognize, but her eyes were Poseidon’s.

She cut her blade toward Persephone with an angry cry, but Persephone blocked the blow with a thicket of thorns and then blasted her with shadow magic. She staggered back and blasted her again.

Then Persephone felt a shock of pain at her back, and she arched against it, gasping. When it released her, she whirled to find no one.

She waited, her magic creating a barrier, knowing another attack would come. Within moments, she felt the disturbance and whirled, a series of black spikes bursting from her palm. They hit her target, who, as she had suspected, was invisible and wearing Hades’s helm.

She called to her magic and turned the earth beneath his feet into mud. As he went to attack, he slipped and fell, and before he could react again, Hermes appeared and drove the sharp end of his caduceus into his back. Persephone pulled the helm from the demigod’s head.

It was Damian, the son of Thetis, and he was dead.

“One down,” said Hermes.

Persephone handed him the helm.

“Get this to Dionysus,” said Persephone.

“You got it, Your Majesty,” he said, scooping up the helm and vanishing in a blur of golden light.

As adrenaline coursed from her system, Persephoneremembered that she was injured. She felt like she was drowning, as if her lungs were full of blood. She pressed a hand to her chest, and it came away bloody.

She turned toward the sky, searching for Artemis, but she only managed to catch sight of Ares’s brutal attack on Macheon before she felt the approach of another. As she turned, Kai raced toward her. The earth gave way beneath his feet, but he didn’t stumble, navigating the ground with ease, weapon raised. Persephone staggered back, but she was not quick enough, the edge of his sword cutting into her chest, though she could barely feel the pain, too distracted by her wet breathing.

Then she watched through blurry vision as Kai lifted his blade, preparing to deliver the killing blow when he was stopped by two sharp prongs exploding through the front of his body—the tips of Hades’s bident.

The demigod fell to his knees and then on his face.

“Hades,” Persephone said, but her words were slurred. She knew the Hydra’s poisonous venom was racing through her veins.

“Artemis!” Hades’s command sounded far away, but she could feel the vibration of it in her chest. “Now!”

Something sharp pierced her chest, and then a blissful warmth spread, and suddenly she could breathe again. When her vision cleared and she could see Hades’s face she threw her arms around his neck.

“Hades!”

“Are you well, darling?” he asked as he held her tight.

“I am now,” she said.

He helped her to her feet just as the ground began to tremble.

“What is that?” Persephone asked. She looked atHades and then at Hecate, who appeared beside her. It was different from before when New Athens shook during the funeral games. It wasn’t one continuous vibration. Instead, it was an interrupted shudder that reminded her of…footsteps.

Then Persephone saw it—a creature she only knew from history, a son of Gaia, a serpent-like monster. He walked on all fours, his body like that of a reptile, armored with scales and a long, lethal tail, but it was his head that terrified her the most. It was made up of hundreds of snakes. He was huge, and she knew that if he rose onto his back legs, his head would brush the stars.

“Typhon,” Hecate whispered.

A terrible cry escaped from the creature, though it sounded unlike anything Persephone had ever heard, a high-pitched roar with a strange hiss. As it bellowed, poisonous venom rained down on the land and their army, melting them where they stood.

Those who were not hit by the venom were crushed beneath his feet and thrown with a swipe of his great tail.

“Cerberus!” Hades said, his voice a command, and the monster launched himself at the giant, the teeth of all three heads sinking into different parts of the creature—his hind leg, his back, and his neck. Typhon bellowed, and the snakes that made up his head hissed violently, spewing more venom. Cerberus yelped as the spray stung him, burning him to the bone.

“Cerberus!” Persephone cried as he retreated and came near so she could lay her healing hands upon him. The wounds from the venom healed, but Typhon had turned his attention to them, his many serpent heads shrieking.

But then there was a flash of light as Hermes ran past, swinging his caduceus, decapitating several of the snake’s heads. Hephaestus did the same with his whip, and then Aphrodite with her sword. Athena lodged her spear into the creature, striking Typhon’s back repeatedly.

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