Page 273 of Bonds of Hercules
There were strange symbols written with ink across the walls, textbooks were strewn everywhere, pages pulled out, their margins covered in drawings.
A male voice shouted something vulgar.
“This isn’t good, kid,” Nyx hissed from my shoulders.
I turned toward the noise, the throbbing in my eye and side increasing—three people stood in the corner of the room.
Ceres tucked her left arm against her body, hiding it under the long sleeves of her oversized purple T-shirt.
Her cheeks were flushed with anger.
Patro was snarling in her face, his right arm pinning her against the wall.
They stood toe-to-toe, shouting.
Achilles stood sentinel behind Patro with his arms crossed.
Ceres had recovered to a healthy weight, but Patro still stood a head taller than her, dwarfing her curvy stature.
“Snake scum,” Patro snarled down at Ceres, his voice cruel.
There was a blur of purple—a loud crack echoed and we all gasped—she’d punched him in the face.
Patro touched his bloody lip. “Oh, youbitch.”
Achilles yanked Patro behind him protectively.
“Better a bitch … than a coward.” Ceres arched her brow, standing on her tiptoes to peer at Patro around Achilles. “You just hide behind him—he’s your little guard dog. All you ever do is corner me and accuse me of things you have no idea about. You’re all bluster.”
Atlittle, Achilles stood up straighter. Atdog, he cracked his knuckles.
Wait, Patro’s cornered her before?
“You have no idea how much worse I could be.” Patro bared his teeth. “Howdareyou speak to him with such—”
“How dareyou—” Ceres cut him off “—speak to me like you have some authority over me. You think you can just come in here and accuse me of—”
“I’m not accusing,” Patro said. “I know what you are. I’ve always known you were a dirty fucking liar who needed to be—”
“You play the fool.” Ceres pointed at him. “Careful, predetermination doesn’t smile kindly on those who spit in the face of people with the foresight to—”
“I knowallabout your kind,” Patro said, and for a second, his face twisted with angst, then he masked it.
Ceres sized Achilles up, like she was debating taking him on, so she could throw another punch at Patro.
Achilles arched an eyebrow, daring her to try it.
“What’s going on here?” Augustus’s voice cracked like a whip.
His voice startled me out of my shock.
“Move away f-from her,” I said.
Achilles stepped back—but Patro lunged forward, and my heart stopped in my chest—his fingers tangled in her hair.
He yanked.
Pink tendrils fluttered as Helen’s fuchsia wig dropped to the floor.
