Page 28 of Phoenix Chosen 2

Then I remember the automaton insect I’d killed in the marketplace. If that had been a child’s plaything, then certainly the tools of grown men were capable of incredible power.

We’re now at the lip of a great stone aqueduct empty of water except for a narrow green stream trickling down the center of the channel. Tyler looks up into the sky. I hear it too—a low thudding, like a distant rapid drumbeat.

“We need to hide now,” he says. “That bridge!”

The bridge is about one stadion further down the channel, and the encroaching thudding is growing closer by the second. There’s only one choice. I grab Tyler’s hand and stop the flow of time, and we scramble down the embankment and sprint through the channel, weaving around the piles of refuse that sit like deposits from a flash flood. The boost of stamina from the god nectar has all but vanished, and every step I take feels like my feet are sinking into thicker and deeper mud. Tyler is ahead of me, pulling me by the hand. I’m gasping for breath by the time we reach the bridge, and I drop to one knee as time wrenches itself from my grasp.

“I’m sorry,” I breathe. “It’s so much heavier here.”

Tyler puts his arm around me and guides me further into the smelly dark underbelly of the bridge. The dull thudding is now like pulsing thunder, moving directly overhead.

“What is that?” I ask.

“A police helicopter,” he says. “An eye in the sky. I can’t believe this is happening. You are a bad influence, Kalistratos.”

“Glad to be of service,” I say, getting to my feet. “Now what?”

“You ask like I’ve done this before. I’m a good boy, remember? I’m not used to the criminal life like you are.” He stares at the ceiling of the bridge as the flying eye rumbles somewhere above us. Then it sounds as if it is moving north, away from us. We wait there for a while, silently listening. Then Tyler nods his head. “I think we’re good. Let’s get out of here.”

We climb up the other side of the channel and come up to another fence, this one made out of thin strands of steel woven together, crowned with a twisted nest of metal thorns.

“There’s gotta be a way through somewhere,” he says. “Look for a hole.”

I wrap my fingers around the metal strands and set them ablaze, and in a few seconds, they snap and fall away like burnt rope.

“Hell yeah!” Tyler says.

As I’m burning away more of the strands, the air is filled with what can only be the roar of a titan. The ground is trembling, and on the other side of the fence I see it—a cyclops wyrm chargingstraight for us, its terrible single eye flashing in the daylight like an evil sun. Tyler looks up but is not alarmed.

“It’s a train,” he says, touching my arm with gentle reassurance. “It’s like a giant bus. We’re good, don’t worry. It’s going to pass right on by.”

I fight the urge to flee as the cyclops wyrm grows closer, clearly coming to trample us down—but then it turns, and I realize that it’s following a path cut along the dirt. The sound of it is immense and terrifying.

Finally, I’ve burned away enough of the fence that we’re able to pull it back, making a hole big enough for us to fit through. Tyler goes first and holds the flap back for me.

“Oh shit!” he shouts.

I look over my shoulder and see two guards on the opposite side of the channel. They’re already running down the embankment, coming for us.

Tyler has no fear of the roaring cyclops. He runs right up to its side, but there’s no way past it. Its massive body is a moving wall that stretches far in both directions, creating a wind that tugs at our hair and clothes. We sprint in the direction of its tail. Behind us, I see the guards have already made it to the fence. It won’t be long until they’re through the hole.

No choice. I use the last reserve of my powers and halt time again. The earth-shaking pounding of the titanic wyrm grinds to a low vibration and then is silent. Can’t hold on for very long.

Tyler leads me through a gap in its vertebrae, and right as we leap down, time explodes back to full speed. We hit the dirtand roll. The guards on the other side are staring at us with jaws agape, and as we clamber to our feet, Tyler holds his fist into the air with his middle finger extended and waves it at the two men.

“This means ‘fuck you,’” he tells me.

“I like it,” I say, and do the same.

We hop over a low hedge and run across a small road into a labyrinth of connected buildings. Tyler guides us through, taking turns seemingly at random. A shadow falls across our path. The sky, which had been bright and clear, was filling with thick gray clouds. Were Alyx here, he’d probably call it a bad omen.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“To where I hope Jeff is waiting for us,” he says. “Or else we’re screwed.”

We swing around a corner and freeze. Crawling slowly down the road directly in our path is one of the black and white kah beasts. It sets itself ablaze in a blinding blue and red light.

“Oh, we’re screwed,” Tyler groans.

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