Page 114 of Hades' Shadow
The branch creaks under our weight but it’s still holding, for now.
Jayden’s shadows slither up his arms and pool at his feet as he calls the onyx fire he only recently gained.
His eyes turn black as the golem roars. Jayden is losing control of his magic again.
The golem’s head thrashes as he continues to search for us.
“Hey, up here,” I shout and his head spins to my voice. “Get him, Jayden.”
Jayden’s black eyes meet mine as he growls angrily.
I’m guessing he doesn’t like the fact that I drew attention to myself.
Oops.
The golem roars and the tree shakes violently as he stomps toward us. My arms flail as I search for a branch to steady myself.
Jayden throws out his hellfire chains and they wrap around the golem’s neck. The golem flinches and thrashes but the chains don’t do much more than piss it off.
“Hellfire isn’t working,” I sing as an idea forms.
Jayden is going to hate it and his magic will probably be even more uncontrollable, but we have little choice.
We are all worn out and the fucker just keeps coming.
Raven shouts as the golem reaches up to bat Jayden out of the tree and I jump onto the golem’s outstretched hand and scramble up his huge arm.
“Beth, what the fuck are you doing?” Raven yells.
“The chains aren’t working. This is plan B,” I say loud enough for them all to hear.
Jayden retracts his chains with a menacing growl. “That was not plan B, Beth.”
“I had to improvise. Now quiet. I need to concentrate.”
A huge stone hand swats at me but I’m faster and able to run up its bicep to its shoulder.
I call my whip again and turn to Jayden. “Be ready to catch me.”
Jayden nods once but his eyes are still black and I’m not sure if that means he’s about to do something stupid or not.
Shit. I need him to pull this off. I just have to hope he trusts me.
Previous experience tells me he doesn’t, but I can hope, right?
“Trust me,” I say to Jayden and some of the black leaks out of his eyes, turning them a beautiful midnight blue.
I flick my whip out around the giant’s neck. It’s white-hot with my newfound power. Bolts of electricity slam into the golem’s neck and the stone cracks and burns there.
I pull tighter as the golem thrashes, and I nearly fall from the crumbling shoulder.
Beth,” Jayden’s panicked yell reaches me at the same time his shadows wrap around me in a comforting embrace.
I tug harder on the whip, pulling it as tight as it can go, and the huge head tumbles from its body and slams into the ground by its feet in a cloud of dust and rubble.
For a blissful second the body doesn’t move, still standing tall, but cracks form beneath my feet.
“Raven, run. It’s going down,” I scream.
