The Blood of the Hydra (23 page)

“Do we need to go over any parts of the plan?” Hypatia asked.

I shook my head no. We’d gone over the plan so many times last night that it had been drilled into my brain. Talking about it made my anxiety worse. I just wanted to go out there and get it over with.

Luckily, the others shook their heads no as well.

“All right, then,” Hypatia said. She gave us each a small smile, although her eyes brimmed with sadness. I supposed she was worried to send us out there. But she didn’t have a choice—this was what we’d come here to do—so she sat straighter, put on a brave face, and said, “Let’s do this.”

* * *

It was only a few miles walk to the swampland around what used to be Lake Lerna, but was now only a collection of springs. The swamplands were flat, brown, and mushy. I would have thought that nothing could survive here at all, if it hadn’t been for the pesky mosquitos that I had to constantly swat off my skin.

“Are we there yet?” Chris asked, reminding me of my younger sister Becca when we’d gone on road trips to the ocean when we were kids.

“The hydra lives in the Spring of Arymone,” Kate answered. “In a cave. Which should be right about…” She consulted her map, and scanned the area. “There.” She pointed to a hill straight ahead.

“So we head around the lake, and we’re there,” Ethan said, even though it wasn’t technically a lake anymore, but a spring. “Shouldn’t take long.”

“
Around
the lake?” Danielle scoffed. “Please. That’s hardly the fastest route.” She lifted her arms in the air, and the next thing I knew, the water in front of us parted like it did for Moses when he was leading the slaves out of Egypt. It crashed and roared, revealing the soggy sand underneath. It sort of reminded me of Charybdis. And right now, while she was controlling the water with a fierce expression on her face, Danielle looked every bit like a descendant of the gods.

Kate stepped forward, digging her walking stick into the ground. “Is it wise to use your power like that?” she asked Danielle. “We could easily walk around the lake.”

“Which would take us much more time,” Danielle said. “Wouldn’t you rather get this over with?”

“Danielle,” Blake said, stepping in front of her and leveling his gaze with hers. “It’ll take us time to walk through the lake, too. You would have to keep using your power that entire time. What you’re doing is impressive, yes, but your power will be much more useful when we’re actually
fighting
the hydra. Don’t waste it now.”

“Fine.” Danielle pouted and brought her hands down, and the parted waters crashed back together. A little bit of water splashed onto Blake, and I couldn’t help but suspect that she’d done that on purpose.

It took about an hour to walk around the lake. Once there, we stared up at the towering hill in silence. The hill looked so
normal
—with browned grass and a few trees growing on it—it was hard to imagine that an ancient monster lived inside.

It was also crazy to think that thousands of years ago, Hercules had stood in this same spot, about to embark on a similar mission. We just had to follow in his footsteps. After all, he was the only known person who’d slayed a hydra, so following his example made sense. And the first thing he was said to have done was lure the hydra out of its lair by shooting flaming arrows into the entrance of the cave.

Luckily for us, flaming arrows were my and Blake’s specialty.

“So, this is it, then?” Rachael asked. “
This
is where we’ll be fighting the hydra?”

I looked around the potential fighting ground—the bare trees, the spring behind us, and the hill in front of us. Rachael’s skepticism was understandable. The whole area was so… quiet. It was hard to imagine that such a gruesome fight had happened here thousands of years ago, and that it would be happening again here soon.

“Yep.” Kate nodded. “This is it. Or at least it should be, according to my map.”

I’d already examined the map when we were going over the plans, so I knew where we were supposed to be. “It’s right,” I confirmed. Ever since developing my powers, I’d also been blessed with a natural sense of direction. It was one of the perks of being the “central” element on the compass.

Blake moved to stand next to me, gazing at the hill, his eyes ready for battle. He reached for his lighter and flicked on the flame. “Are you ready?” he asked me.

I looked up into his eyes, and the entire world felt like it stilled around me. Blake had been off-limits to me for so long, it was hard to believe that if—
when
—we made it through this, all of that could change. I wanted to put my arms around him and confess my feelings to him right now.

But I couldn’t do it. Not now, not here, when we had a hydra to slay. So I pushed the thought away. I would tell him afterward, once the mission was complete, like I’d decided last night.

But everyone was waiting for me to say something, and I couldn’t just stand there like a complete mute. So I drew an arrow from my quiver and strung it through my bow. “Of course I’m ready,” I said, steadying my stance and eyeing up the cave. My hands shook from the anxiety of what we were about to do, and I had to swallow down the fear that felt like it was about to burst right out of my skin, but I added, “Let’s let the hydra know that we’re here to fight.”

Blake lit my arrow on fire, and I sent it flying into the cave. Then I sent another, and another, and another, until all four burning arrows had disappeared into the darkness. But despite our efforts, the hydra didn’t emerge.

I lowered my bow and turned to the group. They’d all gathered around me, their hands on their weapons, ready to fight. “I can’t use up all my arrows this way,” I told them. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to think of another way to get the hydra out here.”

“Or maybe we don’t need to get the hydra out here,” Blake said.

“What are you talking about?” Kate asked. “We
have
to get the hydra out here. That’s what Hercules did when he slayed it the first time.”

“Maybe this hydra learned from that one’s mistake,” he said, glancing at the cave. “Maybe instead of getting the hydra to come out here, we’ll have to go to it.”

Kate’s eyes widened, and she backed away from Blake, looking at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You mean… you want to go
inside
the hydra’s cave?” she asked. He nodded, and her mouth dropped open in shock. “That’s insane!” she said. “You can’t be serious.”

“Why?” Blake asked. “What difference does it make if we slay the hydra out here or in there?”

“It actually might be
better
if we slay the hydra in the cave,” I said, stepping to Blake’s side. “Then we won’t have to waste more weapons or power trying to get it to come out here. We’ll save more energy for the actual fight.”

“I just don’t like it.” Kate wrapped her arms around herself, pressing her lips together as she studied the entrance to the cave. “Out here, I was planning on using the roots of the nearby trees to wrap around the hydra’s legs and secure it in into place—kind of like what I did to the children in the Land of the Lotus Eaters. If we go inside the cave, there won’t be any trees nearby, so I won’t be able to do that. The hydra will have freedom of motion to go wherever it wants.”

Rachael stepped forward, her hand on the hilt of her sword. “There are seven of us and one of it,” she said. “We’ll storm its cave and slay it, just as we planned. We’ve got this.”

“Yeah we do!” Ethan said, giving her a high five. “Out of all the things we could do on our first week after escaping the Land of the Lotus Eaters, this is by far the most epic.”

I looked at the twins and rolled my eyes. Were all of Zeus’s children this arrogant?

“Besides,” Ethan added. “We don’t have to worry about being killed. We have Nicole to heal us if we get injured.”

“I’ll do what I can,” I said. “But you saw what happened to Chef…”

“It was a shame that Scylla ate his arm,” Rachael said. “But if the arm had just been chopped off and we still had it, you would have been able to reattach it, right?”

“I don’t know,” I told her. “I’ve never tried to do that. Maybe it would work, but maybe not…”

“How about everyone tries to keep their limbs intact?” Blake suggested.

“Especially our hands,” Kate added. “Since we need our hands to use our powers.”

I shivered at the thought of losing a hand—or any limb at all. “Good plan.” I nodded, since I hated the thought of letting one of my friends down the same way that I’d let Chef down. It felt like a knife in the heart every time I thought about the pain and disappointment in his eyes when he realized that he would never have his arm again. “If anyone feels like the hydra might overtake them, move away,” I said. “Like Rachael said, there are seven of us. We need to trust each other. We have each other’s backs, no matter what.”

And so, with our hands on our weapons and the twins leading the way, we headed toward the hydra’s cave, ready to fight.

The entrance to the cave was as tall as a two-story house, and nearly as wide. Heat emanated from the inside and warmed my face—a stark difference from the brisk February air.

“So we just… go in?” Chris asked.

“I guess so.” Kate looked at us all, her expression serious. “But remember—do
not
cut off a hydra head unless Blake is ready with the flames. We need to cut off all of the hydra’s heads to kill it and gather its blood, but if Blake isn’t there to cauterize the neck stump, two heads will grow back in its place. So if Blake isn’t there, pull back, even if you have an opportunity to chop off a head. It isn’t worth the risk.”

“Got it,” I said, touching the sword strapped to my hip. We all carried swords today, along with our usual weapon of choice, because a sword was the best weapon to chop off a head. I wasn’t as proficient with the sword as I was with the bow, but I could manage. At least, I could in practice.

“I’ll fly Blake up there to cauterize the stumps,” Chris added. “I’ll make sure he’s close enough that he can still aim, but far enough from the other heads not to get attacked.”

“We’ve been through this a million times,” Rachael said, fidgeting as she peered inside the cave. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go inside.”

Without checking to see if we were coming, she led the march into the cave. Of course, we all followed her—I supposed she knew we would. And while it was brave that she didn’t appear scared, and there was a part of me that wished I could be as brave as she was, it also never hurt anyone to be a
little
bit cautious.

We walked for about five minutes, keeping watch for any sudden movements. I was trying to be so quiet that I was barely letting myself breathe.

Then we heard the sound of something banging, like a boulder falling onto the ground. It was followed by another bang, and then another, and another—in a pattern that sounded eerily like the footsteps of a giant animal. Then there was a roar so loud that it shook the walls, and a line of fire blazed through the cave.

“Everybody
down
!” Blake yelled, and we did as he said, the fire barely missing our heads. He had his lighter out and a ball of fire growing in his hand, ready to strike back. Another line of fire raced through the cave, but this time Blake raised his hands in the air like a shield, stopping the fire in its path. It singed the walls of the cave and disappeared. I was glad he resisted turning the flame back around at the hydra—we wouldn’t be able to get any blood from the monster if it was burned to a crisp.

More footsteps boomed through the cave, until the creature turned a corner and we were staring into the eyes of the biggest monster I’d ever seen. Dragons didn’t exist—at least, I didn’t think they did—but I would guess that this creature was where the myths had come from. It was so tall that its heads—all five of them—nearly brushed the ceiling of the cave. Pointed scales traveled all the way up each of its necks, like the scariest mohawk in existence. Its eyes glowed an eerie shade of greenish-yellow, and its mouths were all open, its fangs dripping with venom and ready to attack.

I backed up to the wall and glanced behind me. How long would it take to run out of here? Not long enough, as I doubted I could outrun this creature, whose legs were taller than I was. And I couldn’t leave now. I couldn’t desert my friends. They were counting on me, and I would never be able to forgive myself if any of them died because I was too afraid to fight.

Plus, while the hydra was terrifying, we weren’t without weapons either—the ones we carried with us
and
the ones we could create with our powers. I ran my fingers over my bow and took a deep breath. We could do this. The gods believed in us enough to send us here. If they believed in us, then I had to believe in us, too.

I steadied my stance and turned my gaze up to the hydra. It stared us down, as if challenging us to make a move first.

“Let’s first try to injure it from far away.” I spoke quietly and didn’t move, as to not encourage the hydra to pounce. “That way it’ll be weakened when we’re fighting from closer up.”

“Good plan,” Kate agreed. “On three, use whatever long range weapon you have, and aim for its legs. If we can injure its legs, it won’t be able to walk, and we’ll have a huge advantage. Blake—you keep on shielding us from the fire. Everyone ready?”