Chapter 25
Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger
LYRA
Boone has to swerve wide to give space to the team and chariot that immediately appear.
They’re gorgeous creatures of bright turquoise waters that swell, crest, and crash within and without themselves—their manes and tails, but also as part of their feet, as if they are running through those ocean waves. Salty mist sprays up and over us.
Without taking a breath, I start to climb the chariot’s side, only to have Boone grab me. “What are you doing?” he asks.
“Making sure you win.”
“Fuck.” Boone snarls the word, but then he drops the reins, letting his horses drive where they will, and I find his hands at my waist, helping me up, keeping me steady.
The horses must not like the zombies any more than we do, because we swerve away from the water horses only to swerve back in.
This happens two more times while I’m balanced precariously on the edge before Boone swears again, grabs the left rein, and gives it a yank, forcing his horses to trample another few zombies rather than avoid them, bringing us closer.
“Now!” he shouts.
I jump, and he heaves, and somehow, I manage to land in the ocean chariot I’m aiming for. Of course I come down skewed and with one leg straddled over the side bar. Pain explodes through me, probably worse than it seems in the moment, thanks to adrenaline.
“That’s going to leave a mark,” I groan as I force the now throbbing leg up and over, into the basket with the rest of me.
“I hope to Had—” Nope, can’t hope to him right now. Whatever. This better damned well work. “Splash Hades’ horses,” I command my team.
Immediately, water rises out of them. Not in a whip like the smoke horses, but larger waves that rise and crash toward the charging animals.
Those poor fiery horses sizzle at the contact and scream in pain.
I grimace at the sight and sound but harden my heart when tendrils of smoke whip out at us.
Over and over, the two teams duel as we race around the track.
We scream past the owls that let out their trill of sound, one more falling over. Five laps down, two to go.
And I’m starting to smile as Boone pulls farther and farther away, moving in front of us when he gets enough distance and beating us to the turn by a healthy margin.
Of course, that’s the instant that two zombies burst from the ground on either side of him, pitching themselves into the spokes of his wheels.
Body parts are thrown everywhere, but it’s enough to wrench both his wheels off. The bottom of his cart hits the ground hard and shatters around him. When the parts clear away, I can see that Boone is being dragged through the dirt by the reins he had looped around his waist.
I think I scream Boone’s name as I helplessly watch his body skid and bounce along the ground behind his team.
But as his horses start to slow and we get closer, I can see him thrashing, struggling to free himself.
Can he not reach his knife? I pull mine out again, hoping I’m not going to regret this.
It’s not the same as throwing axes. As I pass him, I chuck the weapon.
It flies end over end, striking true and severing the reins.
Boone’s body tumbles to a stop, but his horses disappear entirely.
Holding on with a death grip, I am facing backward in the cart as I watch Boone’s prone form on the ground. Just as I hit the far turn, he pushes to his feet.
Relief surges through me. “Thank the gods.”
I lose sight of him and twist around in the cart, needing to focus.
My own horses are locked in a nasty battle, exchanging vicious blows with Hades’ team.
The noises all around me—the horses’ hooves and screams, the groans and yells of the zombies—almost cover the sound of the owl as we pass the center, where Hades still sits shrouded in darkness.
Last lap. Winning is up to me now.
My horses are holding their own, but is that enough? As I duck to avoid taking a smoke-whip to the head and then hold on as we hit yet another zombie, tossing me around in the cart, I am scouring my memory. What other god’s or goddess’s power can win this for me now?
Which is when the strangest sound comes from behind me. Not that of an animal. More…elemental.
“What now?” I snap as I look over my shoulder. My jaw drops at the sight of Boone coming at me fast.
Just Boone.
No horses. No chariot.
He’s standing upright, a foot or two over the track, and is just floating along at incredible speed, his thick hair whipping around his head. Realization strikes. One of the winds. He harnessed the power of the Anemoi, the four winds who are also called the unseen ones.
That’s got to be it.
His horses are invisible. Like wind.
Which means he could win. I just need to slow down Hades’ horses more than I already am.
That gods-awful howling noise Boone’s wind horses are making grows louder and louder as he closes in on us. All while I’m mentally discarding power after power. I need something guaranteed to stop Hades’ team of stallions dead in their tracks.
Wait.
Stallions… They are made of smoke and don’t seem to be able to die. Water is only slowing them slightly. But they have beating hearts and can be made to feel pain. What if they could feel…other things?
Animal instinct?
The first clue that I’m in danger is the feel of hands wrapping around my legs. That’s all the warning I get before I’m flung from the cart.
I land flat on my back in the soft dirt hard enough to knock the wind from me for a second. But I’m on the side of the track with the most zombies. Even as I’m gasping, I scramble to my feet just as Boone manages to avoid trampling me, blasting past.
“Go!” I yell after him. Because I know him. He’ll stop. “I’ll slow Hades’ horses down for you.”
Staying aware of my surroundings, I spin on my heel and run in the opposite direction. If I’m going to slow down those damned horses, it’s got to be before the finish line, and I’ve only got so much time before they round that last turn.
It only takes me about five steps before I really start regretting throwing away my knife. We have mauled and mowed over many of the zombies. A grotesque array of body parts litters the track like gory confetti. But some of those things are still up and moving.
So I run.
Fast.
Or as fast as I can through the thick dirt. And dodge a lot, dealing with an obstacle course of flesh-eating corpses. I’m almost distracted by the sight of the replica Hades—he’s out in the opening, leaning forward to grip a rail as he watches.
Breathing hard, coated in blood and brains, and honestly secretly terrified I’m not going to make it, I don’t get nearly as much distance between me and the finish line as I would like before the two teams round the turn.
“Damn it,” I mutter as I dodge another zombie.
I have one shot at what I’m thinking…
“This better work,” I say under my breath. I check around me to be sure that no zombies are too close, then raise my voice. “I need horses made of Aphrodite’s lust. Mares who are in heat.”
Immediately, I’m standing in the chariot behind a team of cotton candy–pink horses. The mares knicker, cantering forward with a sashay to their steps and their darker pink tails swishing. I swear they give those smoky stallions come-hither looks, batting ridiculously long eyelashes.
Hades’ steeds immediately slam on the brakes, skidding to a halt, dirt and smoke flying up around them.
Their attention is entirely focused on the creatures of lust I’ve presented in their path.
And it only just occurs to me that I could also be slowing Boone’s horses down in the same way.
Hopefully having a driver in the chariot makes the difference.
Boone blows past them, and Hades’ horses jerk and jolt in their traces, clearly torn between two strong desires—win for Hades or take the mares.
When they start running again, I snap the reins, urging my team to trot straight at the coal-black stallions, adjusting course to stay directly in their path. All four rear up, and I can see their nostrils flaring as they catch the scent of the mares. They go wild, but not to run and win.
Boone blasts past me on a gust of wind so hard it lifts my chariot off the ground—and me with it.
I come down with a jolting thud just as all the horses disappear entirely, which means I end up in a heap in the dirt. The tremulous trill of a screech owl sounds, and the seventh onyx owl statue turns down.
“Ha!” The laugh bursts from me as I scramble to my feet.
All the zombies are gone, too. Thank the gods. Unfortunately, it looks like Boone’s momentum pitched him through the air. But it only takes him a few seconds to get to his feet and start walking in my direction, a grin slowly spreading from ear to ear.
“We won!” I shout.