Styx (Goddesses of the Underworld #2)

143. Hollowed Mountain

Hollowed Mountain

It was as though the whole mountain

was carved out on the inside.

The caves descended downward

forever. But we could tell

someone had certainly been here.

Torches hung across the uneven walls

shone the way for us

through the darkness.

A thought occurred to me.

If something malevolent is present,

how would I protect my child?

I laid a hand on my stomach

and felt the life inside me move.

The answer came to me.

You have always known how to fight.

Just when I began to think

that we had been descending

for too long and that maybe

Eurus’s oaken spies were wrong,

we heard it. A loud crack.

And then the sound of Metis’s laughter.