The Blood of the Hydra (3 page)

He wouldn’t be so quick to think that if he knew what I could
actually
do with my element. That if I managed to get close enough to Orthrus to touch him, the hound would be dead in a second.

“My area’s clear,” Chris said, shutting the door. “At least what I could see of it.”

“Mine, too,” Kate said. “Nothing in there looked like in had been touched in years.”

Then I heard something from up on the balcony—a low, rumbling growl. I raised my bow up, an arrow ready to shoot in the general direction. “Did any of you hear that?” I whispered.

Chris stepped next to me, his knives ready. “Hear what?” he asked.

Another growl rumbled through the second floor, louder this time. Then the familiar figure of Orthrus stepped onto the balcony—all two growling, drooling heads of him. He snapped his jaw and narrowed his eyes at us, lowering himself down to the ground as if getting ready to pounce.

“Don’t even think about it,” Blake said, raising his gun and shooting straight at the hound.

The shot should have been perfect—straight in the chest—but the hound flicked its metallic scorpion tail forward, pinging it against the bullet and sending it boomeranging in our direction. I didn’t have time to process what was happening before Chris’s hands were outstretched in front of him, and the bullet was floating in front of my eyes.

He plucked it from the air and dropped it to the floor. “Lucky for you, I’ve been practicing that with Kate,” he said to me. “Because I’m not sure your healing powers would have been strong enough to fix a bullet to the brain.”

“Let’s not test it out,” I said, letting an arrow loose and sending it straight to the hound. It buried itself in its foot, below where its tail could reach, and the head closest to it let out a long howl. “No more guns tonight,” I said to Blake and Kate. “We can’t have bullets flying around everywhere.”

“No arguments here.” Blake shoved his gun into the holster and pulled out his lighter, flicking it on and balancing a fireball in his hands. “I’m better with my powers, anyway.” He sent the fireball flying at the hound, but the hound leaped off the balcony, and the fire hit the wall behind it instead.

The hound landed in the center of the floor, the tile cracking beneath its paws. It looked around at us again and growled. Then it darted for the broken window, preparing to jump.

“Not so fast.” Kate raised her arms, and a tree fell in front of the window, blocking the opening. “We’re not letting you get away that easily.”

Danielle was beside the hound in a second, swinging her sword in its face. But it flicked its tail up, the metal clanging with the sword instead. Then a knife came flying at the hound, hitting straight in its neck—Chris. It howled, and Danielle used the opportunity to make a huge swinging arc with her sword, right through the injured neck. Blood spurted around her, and the head plunked to the ground.

She stared at it, her mouth dropped open. But the hound was still alive with one remaining head, and it swung its tail at the sword again, sending it flying out of Danielle’s hands. The tail must have sliced Danielle’s arm as well, because she screamed and grabbed her wrist, which was gushing with blood.

Blake threw a fireball at the hounds face, and although it quickly fizzled out, it gave me enough time to run to Danielle and push her out of the way before the tail could take a stab at her again. Blake continued to throw fireballs at the hound, and Chris threw another blade at the stump where the second head used to be. But I couldn’t help them now, because I needed to heal Danielle. Hopefully they would be able to hold off the hound until we were ready to rejoin the fight.

I rushed to Danielle and pried her hand off her wrist, looking at the wound. “It got you in the vein,” I said, although it was hard to see, because of all the blood. “You’re losing blood fast. I need to heal you now.”

“Okay.” She nodded, her face pale and her breaths shallow.

I pressed my palm against the gash on her wrist and closed my eyes. I imagined what the cut must feel like on my own wrist—the split skin, the searing pain, the faintness she must feel as the blood left her body faster than it could be produced. Then I pictured white energy, until I could feel it radiating around me, and pulled it into my body. It charged through my veins, the light coming out of my palm and surging into Danielle’s wound. My hand warmed as the magic knitted her skin back together—I could feel the energy deep in my bones. Once it cooled, I lifted it and opened my eyes to inspect my work.

“Good as new.” I smiled at my success. “How do you feel?”

She held her cool gaze with mine, her face hard with determination, and said, “Ready to fight.”

We stood up, and I kicked the hound’s decapitated head out of the way like it was a soccer ball. Danielle grabbed her katana, and I held onto my bow, checking how the others were progressing. They were holding the hound off, but barely. Blake was shooting fireballs at it whenever he had a chance, and the stump where the one head had been was charred to a crisp. Chris was attempting to get close with his knife, but the hound was quick with its tail to fend him off. It knocked one of the knives out of the air, but Chris called it back using his power.

Kate stood back, staring intently at a marble column. She held her hands out to it and it tipped over, heading straight toward the hound, although the hound jumped out the way, skirting the column by inches. The column boomed when it crashed to the ground, pieces of the floor tile breaking off and flying up into the air. The hound used this distraction to run up the stairs, where it stared down at us from the balcony with its one remaining head, snarling and pawing at the floor.

I steadied my weapon, ready to shoot.

“Hey, Nicole,” Blake said, and I glanced at him to see what he wanted. “Catch.”

He threw a fireball at my arrow, setting it ablaze. The hound jumped over the railing, and with no time to waste, I released the flaming arrow, sending it straight into the hound’s heart.

It howled and crashed to the ground, its head bent at an unnatural angle, the light in its eyes gone. Blood pooled on the tile around it. Then, just like the first time we’d killed it—when it had been just Blake and me with a monkey bar in the playground—it flickered a few times and disappeared completely.

All that remained was the scorched arrow, alone in the middle of the floor. I walked to it, retrieved it, and placed it back in my quiver.

Danielle joined me and kicked around the air, as if she still expected the hound to be there. “It’s gone,” she confirmed, sheathing her sword. “That means we killed it, right?”

“We did more than kill it.” Chris laughed and gave Kate a high five. “We
vanquished
it.”

My eyes met Blake’s, my heart leaping into my throat when I saw that he was already looking at me, his expression grim. Because the flickering and disappearing was the same thing that had happened the first time we’d killed this monster. We’d agreed not to say anything about that night, but after what had just happened, the others needed to know the truth.

He nodded, which I took as a sign that he agreed.

“I don’t think we killed it,” I said, still staring at the spot where the hound had disappeared. “Because I’ve fought this monster before. We thought we’d killed it then. But somehow… it came back.”

“What do you mean that you’ve fought it before?” Kate asked. “That’s impossible. The only monster we’ve ever
seen
was the harpy. And we killed it together.”

“It’s a long story…” I said, not knowing where to begin. Because the story started with Blake asking me to sneak out with him late at night, on the week I’d first moved here. And during that week, he and Danielle had still been together. How could I tell them about what had happened without hurting Danielle?

Luckily, I didn’t have to, because Blake jumped in first. “Do you all remember the first night we met at my house, read the prophecy, and realized that the five of us had elemental powers?” he asked. “The night we went to Sophie’s diner, and she helped us decipher the prophecy?”

“Of course,” Chris said. “How could we forget?”

“That night, Nicole and I couldn’t sleep,” he continued. “We were texting, and we both wanted to practice using our powers. Instead of practicing alone in our houses, I suggested that we practice together. Since we didn’t have a training center back then, we went to the playground here.”

“Hold up.” Danielle held up her hand, her eyes narrowed. Another draft of wind blew in from the broken window, and her hair swirled around her face, making her look even witchier than usual. “The two of you snuck out to practice in the middle of the night without inviting the rest of us?”

“You all were sleeping,” I jumped in. “And you’d all known about being witches for your whole lives. I’d only known for a few days. I
needed
the practice. I was just grateful that Blake had offered to help.”

“The playground’s been destroyed for weeks—since those kids committed arson there.” Kate looked at Blake, and when her mouth dropped open, I figured she’d put it together. “The harpy said something about sending Orthrus after you. The two of you didn’t fight that thing by yourselves… did you?”

“We did.” Blake nodded, his expression hard.

“It took a lot longer than it did tonight, and there were a few times when I didn’t think we would make it,” I said, speaking quickly as I relived the terrifying night in my mind. “We didn’t have any weapons, but we
did
have Blake’s fire power. We were just trying to run away from the hound—we figured if we could get to the car, we could hightail it out of there—but we ended up trapped on top of the monkey bars. I asked Blake to burn away the wood to get one of the bars out, and then I threw it at the hound, right through its heart.”

“Nice.” Chris grinned. “I wish I’d been there to see that.”

“The hound flickered and disappeared, just like it did right now,” I said. “We thought we’d killed it. But apparently we didn’t. Because it came back.”

“And when were you going to tell us?” Danielle asked, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Or were you going to keep this secret forever?”

“We
wanted
to tell you.” I stepped back, out of range of her sword. I didn’t think she would take a swing at me, but it couldn’t hurt to be safe. “But since Blake and I had been out there alone, we didn’t want you to get the wrong idea…”

“Trust me, I
have
the ‘wrong idea.’” She sneered, her voice filled with venom. “But it’s more than that. You guys
killed a monster
without us. And you didn’t think we needed to know?”

I looked over at Kate, hoping she would be the voice of reason. But her lips were pressed into a straight line, and she refused to meet my eyes. I swallowed and wrapped my arms around myself. I hadn’t wanted to betray my friends. But by keeping this from them, I suppose I’d done exactly that.

“We’re supposed to be a team,” Chris finally broke the silence. “We can’t be a team if we’re keeping things like this from each other.”

“I know.” I shuffled my feet, hating that I’d let them down. “I’m sorry.”

Blake stepped closer to me, his shoulder nearly brushing mine. Having him so close helped me relax. I wished more than anything that I could reach for his hand, to show him how much I appreciated his support, but of course I didn’t. That would only make Danielle more upset. But I did feel stronger with him nearby.

“We didn’t want to upset anyone, so we thought it was best to just move forward,” he said, his voice calm and steady. “We thought we’d killed the hound forever.”

“Well, you didn’t,” Kate finally said. “And if what you’re saying is true, and a shot to the heart didn’t get rid of Orthrus the first time, then I’m guessing there’s a good chance he won’t be gone for long this time, either.”

“So, what now?” Chris asked.

“We need to figure out a way to kill him—and all of the other monsters—permanently,” she said.

“We do,” I agreed. “But if a shot to the heart doesn’t kill them, then what will?”

“I don’t know.” Kate bit her lip and shrugged. “But Darius is out there in the van waiting for us. Our best bet right now is to talk to him. Hopefully he’ll have some answers.”

With that, she used her power to upright a tree that had fallen in front of the door during the fight, turned on her heel, and led the way out of there.

On the ride home, we filled Darius in on everything that had happened inside the Hemlock Center. Now we sat in his living room, discussing our options. Danielle sat as far away from me and Blake as possible, and by the way she kept glaring at us, I knew we would have a lot of answering to do later.

“It seems safe to assume that a weapon to the heart doesn’t kill the monsters—it just makes them disappear for a while,” Darius said, running his thumb over his chin. “Which means there’s a chance of the harpy returning as well.”

I nodded along with the others, although I didn’t necessarily agree. Because they all believed the harpy had died because of the stalagmite I’d shoved into her heart. They didn’t know that she had
really
died because of the black energy I’d used on her.

I flexed my hand, remembering what it had felt like when I’d thrown black energy at the harpy. In order to do it, I’d had to collect so much hate and anger. It had felt so dark. Evil, even. I wanted to trust Darius and the others… I really did. But what if I told them the truth and they stripped my powers? Or worse?