When I dared to raise my head, nothing was left of the blemmyae but piles of dust and clothing. (Which, in retrospect, I have to admit felt a wee bit satisfying.) We tumbled off the bulldozer as the crossbows fired in a flurry of sharp hisses. I tackled my friends for the second time that day. I, however, didn’t need to be an archery god to know what would happen next. Perhaps they were waiting for the gray-haired woman to say please. Each one scissored open like the iris of a camera and turrets sprang up-mechanical crossbows swiveling and sweeping red targeting lasers in every direction. The gray-haired woman shouted, “Hit the pavement!”Īll around the plaza, manhole-size circles appeared in the asphalt. All the Olympian fashion magazines will tell you that four thousand is the new one thousand, but she simply wouldn’t listen. I’d told her countless times that beauty was ageless. Artemis would never appear in such a form.įor reasons she had never shared with me, Artemis had an aversion to looking any older than, say, twenty. My heart leaped, thinking that my sister Artemis had come to help me at last! But no…this woman was at least sixty years old, her gray hair tied back in a bun. On her back, a quiver bristled with arrows. In the middle of the plaza, standing atop the fountain, a woman crouched in faded jeans and a silvery winter coat. But I was fairly sure I hadn’t fired that shot.Ī shrill whistle caught my attention. She went cross-eyed trying to see it, then tumbled backward and crumbled to dust. Suddenly an arrow sprouted between Nanette’s eyes. I knew it was hopeless, but I slipped my bow from my shoulder and began to unwrap it. The girl…Did she mean Meg? Otherwise I heard only blue-die-slave, which at the moment seemed an accurate summary of my existence. I was too terrified to fully process her words. The naming celebration is in three days, and you and the girl were supposed to be the main attractions in his slave procession!” The emperor has it too well guarded! A shame you have to die, though. “You never would have gained access to the blue cave. “Don’t feel too bad, dears,” she told us. She opened her mouth and swallowed the fireball, showing no sign of distress except for a small burp. Leo tried to blast her with flames, but this time Nanette was prepared. Nanette leaped onto the hood of our bulldozer, giving me a ghastly view straight up her nostrils. Oh, that my glorious life should end this way-crushed by polite headless people in the American Midwest!
My hands shook so badly I doubted I could unwrap my bow even if I tried. Instead, my bones seemed to liquefy and pool in my shoes.
I could have waded into battle, tossing my enemies aside like rag dolls. This would have been an excellent time for my godly strength to return. The metal pole pierced the bulldozer’s chassis in a burst of steam and grease, and our getaway ride shuddered to a halt. Nanette threw her street sign like a harpoon. Unfortunately, that opened us up to a different attack. Leo swerved just in time to deflect a wrought-iron bench off our dozer blade.
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