Page 84 of Blood of Hercules
Like he was hunting me.
A heart attack ripped through my sternum, and everything got hazy.
I struggled to breathe.
The water swallowed me. When I resurfaced, Kharon’s eyes were filled with blood, and his long pale finger was touching Christos’s forehead.
Christos let out a hideous shriek, like a single touch had ruined him, and he splashed wildly as dozens of birds flew off a tree on the riverbank.
Kharon smiled, pulled his hand away, and stood up in his boat.
He stared down at the drowning boy dispassionately.
Christos wailed like he was being torn to shreds from unseen forces. Blood poured as his skin was ravaged.
Foam dripped off his lips like he was a feral creature.
His shouts got more desperate.
More hopeless.
Stabbing agony skewered my chest.
Christos disappeared under the water—he didn’t come back up.
I wanted to cry.
“We’re going to be friends.” Why had I refused to talk to him?
Kharon Artemis slowly raised his cloaked head and stared directly at me, sharp blood-filled Chthonic eyes glowing.
The son of Artemis and Erebus was evil incarnate.
Kharon’s lips pulled up into a knifelike smile, and the nose of his boat turned in my direction. Water splashed all around the vessel.
His smile was that of a predator who’d locked on his kill.He’s headed straight for me.
My eyes widened.
“Swim, Alexis,” Nyx hissed from somewhere nearby. “As fast as you can,right now!”
I didn’t need to be told twice.
Kicking with everything I had, arms slapping at the water, head downward, I didn’t breathe for minutes at a time.
I swam like the devil was chasing me.
He was.
The world blurred in a frantic haze.
Finally, knees sinking into warm mud, I crawled out of the water across the riverbank. Vorex pointed at a pile of foil blankets, and initiates scrambled for them, but there weren’t enough for all of us, and I wasn’t fast enough.
Icy scales slid up my torso as Nyx wrapped herself around my neck.
Numbly, I staggered to my feet. Dripping water, convulsing with shivers, I limped behind the group.
We formed a line in front of the academy entrance.
