Page 209 of Bonds of Hercules
They walked out onto the blood-splattered sand.
They stood silent and soaking wet as they watched Achilles with inscrutable expressions. Something was off about them—none of them have a weapon.
Twenty feet of sand, and four dead wolves, stretched between them.
Nero backed up, his tail tucked between his legs, and Achilles moved to stand in front of him protectively.
The stadium went quiet as murmurs of confusion spread.
Charlie stiffened beside me, but I couldn’t see his face, his head still resting on my shoulder.
I turned to Drex and asked, “Who are they?” Rain sputtered off my lips.
“No idea.”
Kharon swore violently.
Drex and I shared a glance of confusion.
A hair-raising rumble echoed through the coliseum.
Shadows crawled across their four faces, skin rolling, their pale chests widening, layers and layers of muscles bulking onto their figures as they grew in height.
Their faces changed—features morphed—distending and warping.
Thick, curved horns grew out from their shaggy heads as they tipped their heads back and roared.
Sparta screamed.
The Chthonic leaders had all jumped to their feet. Persephone was the only one who remained sitting. She glanced back at me, her eyes full of pity.
I opened my mouth to ask, but she’d already turned back around.
What was that look?
“Are those …” Drex trailed off in shock.
I turned to the Chthonic flags whipping back and forth in the aisle—the House of Ares flapped the fastest.
It was fitting. He was the son of the House of Ares.
“Minotaurs,” Drex said.
Charlie’s arm trembled, and I squeezed him tighter as Kharon swore louder.
“What the fuck is the federation thinking?” Augustus spat.
Zeus stood on the platform at the edge of the arena, watching the sands with hard eyes. Water sizzled as it touched his skin, his scepter sparking.
The four Minotaurs stood in the middle of the arena, almost as tall as the Cyclopes, but much more muscular. Deadly hornsprotruded from their beastly skulls and their quads bulged obscenely.
There were hooves where their feet used to be.
Augustus’s lesson came back to me.Minotaurs are stronger and faster than Spartans. With a single kick, they can explode all your organs. Their punch—decapitates.
They were infamous creatures of destruction.
And four of them were here.
