There was no time to say anything else before the Fury’s heavy body struck the side and the car started to spin.
Thanatos swore and squeezed the brakes, trying to steer into it. Dust and grit from the shoulder of the highway flew up on all sides and hit the window in a rain of pebbles. Cassandra’s head spun as the car twisted and fishtailed. She gripped the door handle hard, knowing the impact would come in the next moment. One hard jerk and one black thud, and maybe she would wake up afterward and maybe she wouldn’t.
The dark part of her mind clicked open: she saw the car spinning as if from above, as if she was outside of it, and saw not one but two Furies latched onto the roof, wings unfurled like sails. Two more sets of wings flapped into view. If they attached, the car would flip.
“Two more!” she shouted. “Get them off the roof!”
The car slowed, but Thanatos couldn’t do much besides control the fishtail. Cassandra fumbled for the window button and failed, but Calypso got hers down and snaked her torso through, knife in hand. She cut one of the Furies and it tumbled off of the car. With it gone, Thanatos hit the brakes hard. The car careened to the side as they stopped. Cassandra was thrown against the door. Calypso was thrown out.
“Calypso!” Cassandra wrestled with her seat belt.
“No! Stay inside!”
“But—” Before she could protest, Thanatos was out and over the hood. He dove for Calypso and scooped her up. She had her right arm gripped tight to her body, but otherwise seemed all right. Cassandra tried to catch her breath. Every inch of her felt as though it was made of loose Jell-O. Her heartbeat vibrated in her ears.
“Where are they?” she asked, and in answer, heard a boot heel stomp on the roof of the car. She looked out the back window, into the weak red of the taillights.
Two Furies walked the road. They weren’t in their creature form. They wore the same short black dresses and tall boots that Megaera had, when she hadn’t been sporting claws and leathery wings. The Fury that Calypso had knocked off the car followed behind, still hideous, perhaps too injured to affect the change. One of her legs dragged as she crawled and scratched toward them.
“Thanatos,” the first Fury said. “What have you done with our sister?”
“And not only our sister, but one of the Erinyes,” said the second.
A third voice came from the roof of the car.
“Return Megaera’s body and her blood. Give us the nymph. They are ours.”
Thanatos shook his head. Beside him, Calypso grimaced and let go of her hurt arm. Her small knife glinted in the car’s headlights. It wouldn’t do much if one of the Furies decided to rush her. This time they weren’t shackled to a wall.
“The blood I keep,” Thanatos said. “I went to enough trouble to get it. And I’m keeping the nymph as well. The body, though, you’re welcome to. It’s buried in my basement.”
Every Fury seethed. They hissed and roared. Wings popped through the skin of their backs and veins bounced across their cheeks and arms.
“Quit while you’re ahead,” he went on. “And don’t take it so personal. Furies can die. I’ve killed you before.”
But not her. Not Megaera. Cassandra could see the rage unspoken on the faces of every one. That had been the wrong thing to say.
Two of the Furies rushed Thanatos, claws digging into his chest and shoulders. They dragged him away from the car in a storm of beating wings. Every time the light caught their claws, they were covered with more and more blood. His arm lifted; he had one of their heads in his hand and crushed it. The Fury dropped, twitching, and the roof of the car bounced as the Fury on top of it flew to take her place.
“Thanatos!” Cassandra cried.
“Not me!” he shouted. “Calypso!”