Page 130 of The Court of the Dead
He snapped his fingers, and the goddess exploded into a cloud of lint.
Pirithous’s eyes widened. “Youdaredisintegratemygoddess?”
“Don’t be silly,” said Apate. “We can’t disintegrate goddesses. We just sent her to Mongolia. Or possibly Tanzania. Not really sure. She’ll find her way back eventually.”
“Now, then!” Dolus raised his voice so it echoed throughout the park. “Before I have to vaporize anyone else, what were you really trying to do here, Pirithous?”
The last remaining judge tried to stand straighter, to give the appearance that he knew what he was doing, but Hazel wasn’t fooled. He lookedterrified.
“I—I was hoping for Hades,” he said in a high-pitched voice.
Dolus’s smile filled Hazel with dread. “So, you didnotintend for us to arrive?”
“No,” Pirithous said. “That is the truth. But that doesn’t mean we can’t work together! I’m sure there is something I can do to provide both of you with what you want!”
“Oh, you can!” Apate glanced over her shoulder at Hazel. “What do you think, girl, Cajun spice, perhaps?”
The goddess lifted her arm and extended it toward Pirithous.
He backed away, his panicked eyes darting from side to side. “Kelli, now!”
The empousa cheerleader yelled, “RELEASE!”
The Laistrygonian giants and Cyclopes tipped over the entire wagon, spilling its contents across the steps of the museum. It sounded like a car being crushed in a trash compactor.
Pirithous’s secret weapon was an enormous chain. Each link was made of black Stygian iron and large enough that Hazel could’ve stepped through it easily. At either end was a stirrup-shaped shackle about four feet wide. Just looking at them made Hazel nauseated. As a child, she’d seen similar instruments of enslavement in museums in New Orleans. This chain was bigger and probably magic. But its purpose was the same.
Apate and Dolus had a different reaction. The two gods fell into each other’s arms, laughing so hard that tears rolled down their faces.
“He thinks…He thinks he can…” Dolus wheezed. “BWAHAHAHAHA!”
“With achain!” Apate howled in delight. “What a fool!”
Pirithous did not look offended or frightened. His expression hardened.
He seemed…certain.
“Laugh while you can,” Pirithous said, raising his hand. “I, too, know how to snap my fingers.”
Apate managed to catch her breath. “Yes, show us your mighty power, Pirithous!”
Dolus spread his arms as if greeting the chain like a friend. “Come forth!” he begged. “Amaze me!”
Pirithous snapped his fingers. “Dolus and Apate, I bind you.”
Nothing happened. The twin gods collapsed in another peal of laughter.
Then the chain lashed out like a rattlesnake. One shackle struck Apate in the neck, contracting until it had her in a choke hold. The other shackle did the same to Dolus. The gods crashed to the pavement so violently that Hazel winced. Dolus’s face smacked against the asphalt.
The twins tried to rise, but they couldn’t. The chain pulled them down, forcing their heads to the ground.
Dolus gasped. “What—what is this?”
Pirithous approached, once again in full command of the situation.
“I thought you knew everything about traps,” he said. “Or did I actually succeed in deceiving the gods of deception?”
Apate snarled, trying in vain to raise her head. “How?” she croaked. “How is it soheavy?”
