Page 245 of Bonds of Hercules

---

Everything hurt.

I throbbed, an aching carcass of agony.

I’ll just rest here.

“I killed it,” Nyx hissed from somewhere nearby. “Move!”

I shoved against the crushing weight, but it didn’t budge. Panic set in. Tears of desperation blurred my vision as I wiggled and pushed. The beast didn’t budge an inch.

I sobbed.

Pinned to the sand by a—

The weight lifted off and I gasped, sprawled limply. Everything was blurry, my vision a tiny slit.

I squinted as Fluffy Jr. dropped … a lion’s leg?

He’d saved me.

It’s a miracle.

Nyx hissed from nearby and Fluffy Jr. growled.

Three Nemean lions were still circling us.

Not a miracle yet.

Everything slowed as I lay spread-eagle in the sand—half comatose—my body weak from being crushed. A euphoric sensation washed through me. I was spinning with the earth.

I felt nothing.

“Alexis … I’m … injured,” Nyx hissed weakly from somewhere nearby.

Motion restarted, my hands were buzzing like they were on fire, the burning unimaginable.

Pain throbbed in my side. The stadium was chanting “Hercules!”

Nyx and Fluffy Jr. were in danger.

Get up.

They needed me.

Get up now.

Barely able to see, I rolled to my side, desperately searching the sand with my hands.

Something splashed as my fingers dipped into thick, viscous wetness. A metal pole was buried in it.

I squinted down.

I was lying in a puddle of my blood—my palms were coated in it—the tingling intensified.

A lion’s growl echoed through the air and my hair stood on end.

Help them.

Fingers slipping, I gripped my spear and staggered to my feet; agony made me weak; bile dripped from my lips as I tried to breathe but heaved.

---