The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

“It’s been so long,” she says. “I wasn’t sure I would ever see you again. And then I heard about the ceremony…” Her hands squeeze my shoulders. “Look at you. You’ve grown so big! Like your uncles.”


My first thought is, she knows my uncles? But then I realize the comment about my size was meant to change the subject. She knows about the ceremony. About the gates of Tartarus. We’ll get to that in a moment, I decide. “Have you been treated well?”

“Well for a prisoner,” she says. “And better than most. I’ve learned all about the society here. The rules. The things you endured. I have it easy by comparison. If I do as they ask. I study. I teach. And fill my free time how I might have before—reading and knitting, though I do miss baking.”

“I remember your cookies.”

She smiles. Her kind eyes, broad grin and dark skin reminds me of Mira. “You remember everything.”

I look around. There is no trace of another living thing in this library. I see nothing, hear nothing and smell nothing other than old books and dust. “You aren’t guarded?”

“They took me to Olympus once. The journey took two weeks, each way, and I got a look at the creatures that live outside. I wouldn’t last a day. So there is no concern about me escaping. And there is nothing I can do to them here. I’ve decided to learn everything I can, and maybe, someday, my knowledge will serve some good.”

“You could come with us,” I say.

She shakes her head. “I am dreadful in the underground. Claustrophobic it turns out.” She looks around. “These giant halls are fine, but in the tight squeezes you hunters use to move about, I’m cryolophosaurus food.”

This name isn’t familiar. “Cryolophosaurus?”

“The dinosaurs. With the crests on their heads. It’s the technical name for them.”

“Oh,” I say. “I call them cresties. I named one of them Alice. A thirty foot female.”

Aimee cringes. “Sounds dreadful.”

“She’s dead,” I say.

“You?”

I nod. “She was going to eat Kainda.”

Kainda’s name removes every trace of happiness from Aimee’s face. It’s easy to see that not everything here has been pleasant.

“Might have been a good idea to let the dinosaur eat that one.”

“You’re not the first person to tell me that.”

“Making friends, are you?” She looks around me, to Em.

I stand to the side. Aimee looks her up and down and then looks back to me. “You’ve taken a wife?”

Em tries to stifle a laugh, but fails.

“We’re in disguise,” I explain. “Aimee, this is Emilie. Em, this is Aimee.”

Aimee’s eyes widen. “Ahh, Emilie. Daughter of Tobias. Bonded to the Nephilim, Tyr.”

Em shifts uncomfortably in the gaze of Aimee, who knows a surprising amount about her.

Aimee notices our confused looks and says, “I’m sorry. They’ve had me creating a chronological history of the house of Odin. You are to be admired, Em. Few have ever broken the bonds and freed themselves from this place. Even fewer have survived as long. Is Tobias with you?”

“Slain,” Em says. “By Ninnis.”

“Keep away from him,” she says. “The man thinks of nothing but—” Her hand goes to her mouth. “You’re going, aren’t you? The ceremony. I had hoped you didn’t know. That it was a trick of some sort. But it’s real. You’re to be bonded with Nephil?”

“I have no choice,” I say.

“There is always a choice!” She sits down, shaking her head. “Why would you do such a thing? Without you, there’s no—”

I crouch in front of her. “Mrs. Clark,” I say. The use of her last name brings her eyes to mine. “Ninnis has her brother, Luca. He is unspoiled by this place, with hair as white as the snow.”

The news softens her resolve, but she is not yet convinced.

“Tobias took me in, and died as a result. Em is a sister to me now. And Luca, Aimee, he’s…he’s like a brother to me, but…” I can’t think of a way to say this and have it make sense, so I just spill it. “He’s me. A little me. Created from hair stolen from Clark Station One.”

Aimee’s head lowers toward the floor. “I know,” she says.

“You know?”

“One of many awful secrets I have uncovered in this place. I had hoped you would never find out.”

This information stings. That Aimee would keep anything from me feels like a betrayal. I stand and take a step back. “But why?”

“Because of what you are about to do,” she says. “Your bond to family has always been strong. I believed they might influence you.”

“Influence me?”

“Not all of them are unspoiled,” she says, looking me in the eyes. “You would do well to avoid the others.”

“If any part of me resides in them, then there might be a chance—”

“No,” she says. “Don’t even think it.”

I decide to drop the subject. The fate that awaits me at the gates makes it a moot point. Unless… “Do you know their names?”

“I will not tell you,” she says.

“Is one of them Xin?” I ask.

“Xin?” Em says, her voice full of shock and revulsion.