Page 37 of Monster Song
It was like this big blast of light exploded from Demeter’s temple. Someone was finally home.
“Well, you’d better do it now because Demeter is back at her temple, and she will figure out Persephone is missing, and we’ve stolen two of her guards,” I said.
Hades rushed to Persephone. Kimon shot me this pained look like he wanted to stay and protect me too. He couldn’t be in two places at once any more than I could, and I was still worried about everyone at the arena.
“Baby bird, come with us,” he pleaded.
I knew why he wanted me to, but I couldn’t do that to him. I had a feeling Hades was bringing Persephone to that chateau because it was isolated. We had no way of knowing if Demeter knew about it. She could travel with a thought like Hades did. If she came to that chateau, Kimon would have one of the weapons Hephaestus made to kill her, but he would have to make the difficult decision over whom to protect—Persephone or me.
I was cannon fodder to Demeter, and she would have known I betrayed her when she took me to Hephaestus. She might still hold fondness for her daughter and try to kill Kimon to take her alive. Me? She would kill me on sight. Kimon would attack and leave Persephone defenseless. It was smarter to stay here.
“I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “Protect Persephone. I’ll be safe here.”
Kimon gave me this tortured look, but Hades disappeared with him and Persephone before he could say anything. Hades exited stage right just before the shit hit the fan. A colossal demon portal opened, and monsters and demons started charging through.
I strained to look. Where weremymonsters? Were they okay? Where was my father? There were so many of them. When my father said he was bringing his army and a few he had borrowed, he wasn’t joking. The portal was the size of a skyscraper, and bodies kept spilling out.
Demeter’s soldiers noticed right away and started calling for backup. There were shadow demons like Solron, and it was dark outside. They appeared in the shadows of trees and slit the throats of Demeter’s soldiers before they could join the fight. They would just pop into a shadow, slit a throat, and disappear.
It was so strange. There was such a gun culture back where I lived, but not even the demons had guns. No one in the Underworld did either. They still fought with the old Greek style weapons. The demons all had sharp blades. I saw a few demons fall to an arrow from Artemis’s army, but most of the monsters who were rocking their monster forms just seemed irritated when an arrow buried itself in their bodies.
I could finally see a burst of bright orange fire in the sky. Demos was okay. He was dodging arrows and burning people alive. It looked like he was trying to get close to the temple, and I didn’t want him anywhere near Demeter. He couldn’t kill Demeter as a phoenix. I was guessing he had one of Hephaestus’s weapons in his claw, but she could kill him before he transformed to use it.
I spotted Tryphon. There wasn’t a body of water nearby big enough for his Kraken, but that apparently wasn’t an issue. He was back to back with Pavlina at the edge of a cliff. His tentacles were out, grabbing soldiers and just heaving them over the cliff. And his tentacles had a long reach too. He was supposed to have stolen armor off soldiers he killed so he could stand at the gate, but he must have taken it off. He was wearing his flowing robes again, and I knew if I were close enough, he would have changed his nail polish again and carefully chosen it for battle.
Pavlina wasn’t fighting as her spider. She had taken her armor off too and was shooting webs with her hands. She and Tryphon worked well as a team. Pavlina was blinding people with her webs, and Tryphon was snatching them with his tentacles. She was fast with her webs, and plenty of Demeter’s soldiers had dropped their weapons and were clutching their faces trying to tear webs away from their eyes.
They were sitting ducks. If Tryphon didn’t grab them and throw them over the cliff, one of the demons rushed to them and ran them through with their blades. Demeter’s little army was slowly thinning.
Hephaestus didn’t just make knives. The demons all carried them, but it looked like several of the monsters were competent with bows. The centaurs had formed a line and were aiming at the temple. They all had a string of demons in front of them to protect them.
I looked at what they were aiming for, and Demeter stood at the entrance of the temple, watching her army get slaughtered. She knew Persephone was gone, but she hadn’t gone to look for her just yet. What was she doing?
The centaurs launched volley after volley of God killing arrows at her. She turned them to flowers with a wave of her hand. If we would kill her, it would have to be up close and personal.
I saw something in the corner of my eye. Someone creeping through the trees that the shadow demons hadn’t killed yet. She raised her bow, and I saw she was aiming right at Pavlina and Tryphon. I could also see that they hadn’t spotted her yet. I couldn’t be heard from this distance, but I tried to scream to warn them just as she let her arrow fly.
Pavlina whirled around, but it was too late. The arrow buried itself in her shoulder, and she lost her footing. I cried out as she went toppling over the cliff. Tryphon couldn’t save her without taking an arrow himself. His only choice was to address the woman with the bow.
But they were a team, and they worked as such. I saw a beautiful sight. Demos and Pavlina might not like each other, but Demos wouldn’t let a teammate die. I saw a streak of fire as Demos zoomed over the cliff after her. I had no idea how far the fall was and if he would get to her in time, but I was calling in every ounce of good karma I might have built up in my life hoping he did.
The monsters and demons were practically slaughtering Demeter’s army, but plenty of them had died too. I didn’t want Pavlina to be counted in those numbers. It was agonizing waiting to see if Demos would fly back up alone, or if he would have Pavlina. Could a phoenix carry a person like that? Surely, he wouldn’t have dove after her unless he could save her.
I nearly burst into tears when Demos rose from the edge of the cliff with Pavlina in his claws. He beat his wings and rose high in the air. His flames were out because he had Pavlina, but he flew so high, he just became a speck in the sky. I lost him in the darkness until he finally flew lower, and I realized he was bringing her to me.
I could hear Solron talking, but it wasn’t to me.
“I’m coming to get you. You’re needed.”
I whirled around.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Charley. She’s a witch, yeah? They know healing magic. Your mate is hurt, so I called Charley.”
“Is she down there fighting?”
“Finn is. He doesn’t like it when she fights. She’s waiting to heal people. She’s needed here.”
