Chapter 46 Interrogations
INTERROGATIONS
ALEXIS
Freezing water splashed across my face, and I struggled to breathe as someone pinched my nose. The pressure released. I coughed violently.
The room was dark.
Something cold dug into my skin—I shifted—chains were wrapped around my chest and legs, constraining me to a chair. My hands were at my sides, mostly free.
I was sitting in front of a metal table that was streaked with dried blood.
Skulls were stacked all around.
I’m in a crypt beneath the coliseum.
Marvelous. Not.
Nyx slowly slithered up to my shoulders, her invisible weight comforting. “Are you okay, kid?” she hissed, her tongue flicking against my cheek.
I coughed aggressively. “Hard … no.” My face and side were still throbbing. “How about you?” I whispered under my breath.
“Your power,” Nyx hissed with awe. “It healed me. There’s no pain anymore—I feel amazing.”
Not relatable.
Wiggling my shoulders back and forth, I dug my hand into the pocket of my toga and clutched my calculator with all my might.
“Alexis Hert,” Zeus said from behind me.
I flinched, then sat up as straight as I could. “Call me Hercules,” I said, cuts on my lips splitting open.
Zeus walked around the table, light crackling across his skin.
He stopped when he stood across from me, hands resting on the metal.
His scepter was gone.
The two of us were alone.
Perfect.
“What … do you know?” Zeus enunciated each word slowly.
I smiled. “Everything.”
Zeus slapped his hands and leaned forward. “You’re bluffing.” Electricity warmed the stale air.
I held his gaze, face throbbing.
“Vyco,” I said.
Zeus narrowed his eyes. “What … about him?”
“He was working for you.”
“So … what?” Zeus asked slowly.
“At the crucible graduation ceremony.” I cleared my dry throat, projecting my voice and reciting the facts that we both knew.
“Vyco said there was a Titan attack at the House of Zeus during the federation meeting, and that he grabbed a baby and leapt away, there was blood everywhere and he passed out. When he woke up, the baby was gone.”
Zeus leaned closer. “And …?”
I inhaled deeply. Everything from this point on was my own speculation.
“He lied.”
Zeus laughed, relief on his face. “Is that what this is all about—is that the secret you know?” He laughed louder, skulls rattling as his voice rang.
“There was an attack because you planned it!” I shouted my suspicions, gasping for air.
Zeus clutched his stomach as he laughed harder.
“You sent the Titans to attack the federation meeting. Not Medusa … You framed her. She didn’t do anything. You planned it all so Vyco could KILL ME!”
I struggled against my chains, trying to free my arms so I could show him the scar on my chest. It all made sense.
“Vyco took me and the echidna he’d illegally bonded with—he’d enslaved—to Montana!” I yelled, fury mounting, because it was so obvious in retrospect. “But even as a baby I must have fought—he cut me and my blood got into his veins. I incapacitated him before he could finish the job.”
Nyx’s cool scales slithered around my neck. “Kid—I didn’t know … you figured it out,” she hissed with wonderment. “My oath. I can’t hurt him.”
“I know,” I whispered to Nyx. I’d had my suspicions as soon as Vyco told his story.
Zeus looked amused, his posture relaxed.
He thought it was all genuinely funny.
“Vyco leapt away to get medical help.” My dry throat burned as I continued. “He technically wasn’t lying when he said he woke up and I was gone—I wasn’t there because he’d already left … He’d left a baby—me—alone to die!”
Zeus’s smile widened.
“Both the echidna and I were left in Montana.”
He didn’t react.
I gritted my teeth. “Tell me I’m wrong—I fucking dare you,” I goaded him. “You spineless, weak, pathetic, powerless coward.”
Gray eyes hardened.
“You’re correct.” Zeus made a mocking face down at me. “But is that it … is that your big secret? Is that all you knew? All this time I’ve been worried, and that was all.”
He resumed laughing.
I tipped my chair, trying to break free. “You framed Medusa and tried to have me killed—you ruined both our lives.”
Dark memories played: a trailer park; foster parents screaming at me; fists being thrown; years of starvation; shivering in the cold as I lay awake terrified of every sound; a woman screaming for help as men assaulted her.
Zeus rolled his eyes. “Grow up. This is Sparta—no one cares about little girls.”
I tried to kick my feet out, the urge to rip him to shreds burning me alive, but the chains held me tight.
“Well—this has been enlightening.” Zeus rapped the table with his knuckles. “Let’s move on, shall we?”
He stepped to the side and pulled the lever on the stone wall. A heavy steel door lifted, revealing a handsome male figure.
Vivid green eyes met mine.
Patro was surrounded by Olympian guards with sparking batons.
Zeus pointed at me. “Question her. Now.”
Patro didn’t move.
“Achilles,” Zeus said simply.
A long second passed, and I thought he was going to disobey, but then Patro walked stiffly into the room, the guards moving in tandem around him.
He stopped in front of me.
I opened my mouth—
He gripped my forearm, hard.
Blood filled the whites of his eyes.
“Alexis Hert—Hercules,” Zeus’s voice boomed, skulls rattling together. “Do you know the whereabouts of Medusa?”
I tipped my head back to Patro, silently pleading with him.
“No.”
Electricity sizzled as the silence stretched. Nyx stilled on my shoulders as she waited. The guards shuffled, jostling my chair because there wasn’t enough room in the small space.
“Well?” Zeus asked Patro.
“She’s telling the truth,” Patro said slowly, his voice monotone and expressionless.
Zeus punched the table, and the metal dented. “Alexis Hert—Hercules, did you in any way facilitate the escape of Medusa?”
“No.”
My bones creaked under Patro’s punishing grip, and his eyes widened for a split second.
“She’s telling the truth,” he said, the corners of his lips curling downward.
Zeus stared at both of us distrustfully. “Are you sure?” He gritted his teeth. “Remember, if you’re lying, Achilles will be incarcerated.”
Patro stared down at me. “I’m sure. She doesn’t know anything.”
I winced as he clutched me harder.
Thank you, I thought silently, emotions choking me.
“We have the closing symposium to attend to,” Zeus said as he fisted his hands like he was trying to get control of himself. “In the meantime, the guards will loosen her tongue—then … we’ll come back.”
It was a threat.
“Let’s go,” Zeus ordered.
Patro reluctantly released my arm, but he didn’t leave my side. He glanced at the guards.
The unthinkable was written all over his face.
He was about to risk everything.
For me.
“I won’t repeat myself,” Zeus said.
“Go,” I whispered.
Patro searched my face, a promise of we’ll talk about this later in his somber eyes.
He opened his mouth, like he was going to argue.
I shook my head no.
His jaw clicked shut, face twisting with pain.
I smiled sadly as he slowly backed away, out into the corridor.
“Remember—” Zeus looked back at me. “If you attempt to leap away before the interrogation is complete, it’s an act of sedition and the federation will find you guilty of conspiring with Medusa.”
“So guilty of … nothing?” I asked with disgust. “She’s innocent. We both know it.”
Patro looked deeply unsettled.
“Don’t worry,” Zeus said, not bothering to deny it. “I’ll be back.”
The metal door groaned as it lowered, blocking them both.
Crack.
Their feet disappeared as they leapt away to the symposium, smoke billowing into the crypt.
The hatch door slammed against stone.
I was once again sealed in.
But I wasn’t alone.
The half dozen guards were still inside—they raised sparking batons. One of them swung. My face exploded with agony.
Apparently, we’d reached the bludgeoning portion of tonight’s program.
It was too bad for them.
I’d had enough.
“Kill them,” I said.
Nyx hissed. “It will be my utmost pleasure.” Her scales slid off my neck as she sprang forward.
There was a loud snapping sound, then a grunt. The closest guard dropped like a rock with a bite mark on his neck.
I struggled against my binds. I’m so fucking tired of being tied up.
Fingers tingling, I pictured the rod.
Nothing happened.
I needed fresh blood.
The five remaining guards looked at each other with horrified expressions as they waved their batons at an invisible enemy.
A second dropped.
“It’s the girl!” Another baton slammed across my face, electricity scorching my skin.
Pain exploded.
I yelled out.
He stumbled back, screaming as Nyx attacked him.
There was a flurry of activity as the remaining guards focused on attacking me. Chains strained as I tried to shift in my chair and duck.
Blows rained down mercilessly. My nose crunched, blood splattering in an arc across the table.
I groaned, bright lights dancing in darkness as I struggled to stay conscious.
There was a flash of black.
Purple eyes.
Opal fangs went for the jugular.
The men screamed, pissing themselves with fear as Nyx became visible, and they understood the full extent of their doom.
“How dare you hurt her,” Nyx hissed as she reared back.
The last guards shrieked, skulls crunching around them as they clawed at the stone walls.
Nyx struck fast, a blur of death.
Gurgles of pain echoed, raspy final breaths—then silence reigned.
It was a crime scene.
The guards lay still, strewn around crushed skulls and stones, their eyes wide open, full of fear.
Nyx slithered back up around my shoulders, draping across me like a scarf. “I really needed that.” She sighed with satisfaction, her tongue flicking against my cheek.
I tipped my head back and gurgled, then leaned down and spit my blood onto my raised tingling palms.
A long glowing rod solidified in my hands.
I pulled my arm back until my hand was at the chain level—the razor-sharp point of the staff sliced through the metal like butter. I made quick work of the rest.
The chair tipped back, banging against a guard and bouncing onto the stone.