Page 151 of Ares' Shield
“Is Hephaestus here preparing for war?” I ask, staring at the creature.
“Why would he be preparing for war? Aren’t all the gods weakening?” Raven steps toward the thing.
Greyson pulls her back as the automaton stumbles a bit and crashes to the ground.
“The gods are weakening.” Jayden runs a hand down his face. “We need to look around. Artemis wanted us to come here for a reason and we’re wasting time.”
“There’s a door.” Adrian points to the back wall in the left-hand corner.
I grip my whip, never taking my eyes off the baby automaton as we move closer to the door. It may not try to hurt us, but it was still made by the mastermind behind the demon pigeons and bronze bulls, so I’m not letting the thing get the jump on me if it decides to attack or accidentally explodes.
Jayden is the first one to the door and pulls it open as he grips his sword in his other hand. The room is packed with inventions, and scrap metal lays on every surface. It’s darker in here but about as hot as the volcano back at the academy.
“Don’t touch anything,” Jayden says.
“Yeah, no shit.” Raven snorts. “Everything in here could be used as a weapon or be weaponized.”
We move between the tables and keep our eyes open for anything we might need to see when the clang of metal on metal blasts through the room, startling me. I jump back into Raven.
“Sorry,” I say, but my scare has a ripple effect and Draven trips into a creepy lizard thing and his hand lands on the button, turning it on.
Fire spews from the creature’s mouth as it hisses at Draven. It scuttles on four legs, turning so we can see the lion head let out a mechanical roar. Flames burst from its mouth as well and we all duck out of the way, jumping in different directions and splitting up.
What the hell was Hephaestus thinking creating a mechanical Chimera? That’s like the worst thing he could have done. Now, we may pay the price.
29
The Chimera lunges at me with fire pouring from its mouth and I roll to the side, flicking out my whip filled with my electricity. The lion head roars as a mechanical hiss comes from the snake.
“Why?” Raven yells from her hiding spot behind the table across from me.
“I’m asking myself the same question. The actual Chimera was bad enough.”
I flick my whip at the creature again in an attempt to hold it back. Metal clangs against metal and the thing leaps back with a yelp of pain.
“Who’s here?” a booming voice bellows.
Is that Hephaestus? Do we want to see the blacksmith god? What if he’s the one behind the missing students?
He’s here in the forge preparing for war and appears to have been preparing far longer than we have known it was coming.
The Chimera advances on me again, but when I try to flick my whip, my body is frozen and unmovable. Did the Chimera thing do that or was it Hephaestus? Shit. We’re in some serious trouble if Hephaestus is behind this.
A huge man with Mediterranean features and more muscles than Dax could ever dream of steps in front of me. A smile blooms on his face as he stares down at me still frozen under the table.
Hephaestus waves a hand and the Chimera thing freezes, closing all of its eyes like a powered-down laptop. “Bethany, little sister.”
Hephaestus lifts me off the ground like a rag doll and pulls me into a bear hug complete with twirling me around.
“Hi,” I squeak.
“I have been dying to meet you and the young heroes you travel with. I’m glad Artemis sent you all my way.” He sets me back on my feet and I stumble to the side.
“Can you unfreeze them so you can meet them?” I ask tentatively.
“Right, right. Sorry about that. People are always trying to break into my forges. I have to take precautions.” He waves a hand.
Raven crawls out from under the table and dusts herself off. “That was freaky and I didn’t like it at all.”
