Page 54 of Artemis' Bow
Raven screams, “Greyson, watch out!”
He didn’t move far enough out of the way and Cerberus’ right head slams into him, dazing the power hellhound for a second as Greyson flies into a nearby tree.
“Jayden,” Raven snarls. “Get your mutt under control.”
“That’s not nice. He’s just a big puppy that wants to play and doesn’t realize his own strength,” I say.
“That is not a puppy; that is a menace,” Greyson groans.
“You forget he’s going to be stored in something tiny for who knows how long. Show some damn compassion.” I stomp over to Spot.
His three huge heads are all fighting over the ball and growling at each other.
“Where’s the compassion for my broken bones?” Greyson grumbles.
“Quit being a baby. You’re fine, you’re agods touchedshifter.” Raven helps the whiny baby to his feet. “I’ll kiss your booboos later.”
“I’ll give you something to kiss,” Greyson whispers, but I hear it.
Maybe there is something to this running theory that my senses are sharpening. I shouldn’t be able to hear them whisper from fifty feet away. Everyone else is oblivious to their hushed conversation.
Jayden stalks closer to Cerberus, using his shadows to sneak up on the hellhound. He snatches the ball when he materializes in front of them and then runs away. Cerberus howls and takes off at a lumbering pace, nearly tripping over his own paws at one point.
“Jayden, here,” Thad calls.
Jayden launches the ball his way and just before it reaches him, I use my transport power to appear before Thad and snatch the ball out of the air in front of him. I transport back to my previous spot and the hellhound spins in a circle, chasing his tail until he spots me. He lunges for me, but I disappear again.
Jayden is next to me when I blink back to existence. I toss him the ball and blink out again until I’m behind the beast. I laugh as the dog spins again, feeling more carefree and happy than I think I ever have.
An arm snakes around my middle and Jayden materializes from the shadows. His grip is like iron as he throws the ball back to Thad who catches it and carries it like a football. Thad bobs and weaves between the three heads, spraying them with water if one of the heads gets too close to the ball.
Cerberus whines and shakes his head, spraying us all with the excess water from his fur. I laugh again as I wipe the water from my cheeks.
“Spot,” I yell with a giggle. “You got me all wet.”
“Um, B, I get he needs this, but you need to look at this,” Raven calls.
I turn to see what’s happening and gasp. Orpheus is holding Adrian up as his eyes flash white the way they do when he has a vision.
“What new fresh hell can we expect now?” I ask but no one responds.
No one can because nothing good comes from Adrian’s visions. Nothing.
14
“What is it?” Jayden asks. “Another vision? Shit.”
“Yeah, shit is right. What else is going to go wrong?” I sigh.
Adrian gasps and scrambles to get his feet under him. “We need to leave right now.”
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“If we don’t leave now, we won’t be getting out of here. Orpheus, you need to close the portal and guard it even more carefully than normal. Something is coming,” Adrian hisses.
“Is it coming from the underworld?” I turn to Spot. “Sorry, buddy, playtime is over.”
The hellhound whimpers but lies down in the grass to wait to be put back in the little tube.
