“Thank you.” He awarded the group with an arrogant bow.
I shook my head and laughed. It felt good to laugh, especially now.
When it was my turn, my heart pounded so hard in my chest I could barely breathe. The whistle blew, and I picked up the bow and arrows and ran for the stable. Revana and I were neck and neck. She went straight for one of the griffins; I’d see, her practice with them, but along the way she kicked at all the other stall doors, which sent the occupants into a tizzy.
As she mounted her griffin, I couldn’t even get near the other beasts. The unicorns were flailing their heads, their horns now a lethal weapon. The other griffins were stamping and snorting, clawing the air with their giant talons. I could forget about the Pegasus; she’d put her back to me, and I wasn’t about to approach her. The fire-breathing horses were all skittish, some blowing smoke out of their nostrils. That left one beast—one of the fire-breathing horses, the biggest of them. His name was Aethon, and he was Ares’s personal mount.
He stood there staring at me, his tail swishing back and forth, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He was huge; my head didn’t even come up to his back.
“What do you think there, handsome? Want to go for a ride?”
He snorted, smoke curling out from his nostrils, but then he shifted just slightly, giving me access to his back. I couldn’t believe it.
I ran toward him, jumped, grabbed a handful of long, black mane and mounted him. Then he was out of the stable like a thundering storm cloud. I heard a collective shout and gasp from the crowd, as I rode the huge beast to the obstacle course. We had some ground to cover, as Revana had already started through the course.
I sat up high on the horse, aimed and hit the first target, which was high in a tree, even before we entered the circuit. Aethon made short work of the jump over the logs then I hit the next target, which was low on the ground. As I rode through the sparsely wooded course, I could hear the squawks and wings flapping of Revana’s griffin. Despite the griffin’s speed and agility, I knew she was going to have a hard time because of its vast wingspan. It wouldn’t be able to get as low as she’d want it to be for a few of the targets. Lucian wouldn’t have had a problem with the Pegasus because she was also a horse and was comfortable on the ground, whereas the griffin was clumsier on the ground than in the air.
After hitting six targets straight on, we rounded the corner and ran into Revana and the griffin. It screeched at me, but Aethon wasn’t concerned. He kept to the trail, thundering down it like a locomotive. I didn’t think anything would stop him, let alone some angry griffin and an even angrier girl upon its back.
I hit the seventh target, which was precariously close to where Revana hovered.
“You could’ve hit me!”
“But I didn’t.”
She knocked her arrow in her bow, drew it, and swung around toward me. I looked around, but there was no target close to me.
“You’re going to waste your arrow.”
Her glare sharpened. “It won’t be a waste.” She let it fly.
The arrow whizzed by my head. I could feel the displacement of the air, and the sound of it buzzed in my ears. I knew she was angry. I knew she wanted to see me fail. But to actually want to kill me? I didn’t think she had it in her. Obviously, I’d been wrong.
Aethon wasn’t having it. That arrow could’ve hit him, too. He reared up, and blew a stream of fire from his mouth. Flames tickled the tips of the griffin’s hooves, and he reared back, swooping to the right, and Revana nearly fell off his back.
As we galloped past her, I turned and flipped her the middle finger.
Aethon snorted, and I almost swore he chuckled.
I hit the last of the targets, not missing one, and then we thundered out of the course and back to the finish line. I was greeted to some claps and cheers. Revana flew in a few minutes behind.
After I dismounted, Aethon snorted then nuzzled my head from behind, knocking me off balance. Then he trotted back into the stables on his own.
Artemis brought her horse alongside me. “No one has ever ridden Aethon before.”
“Don’t tell Ares,” I said.
She grinned. “I won’t.”
As Revana brushed past me, I grabbed her arm and leaned into her. “Don’t push me, Revana. I’ll let this one go because of what happened in prophecy, but next time… I will retaliate.”
She jerked out of my grip and stomped away.
Georgina was next to race. I hugged her. “Good luck. Take a unicorn, the griffins are too hard to maneuver.”
She nodded then the whistle blew. She sprinted into the stable. A minute later, she rode out on a unicorn, and it sprinted toward the course. She was ahead of Isobel by a few seconds, who came out on one of the griffins. Within seconds, she fell off and had to scramble up onto the beast’s back. But the griffin wasn’t having it, and it flew away to return to the stable.
Isobel let out an exasperated scream.
Artemis rode up to her. “Do you wish to try another mount?”
She shook her head. She knew it was pointless. Her time would’ve been bad and she’d fail anyway.
“You’ve forfeited. You’re an automatic fail.”
When Georgina rode back in, she was all smiles. I hugged her after she dismounted. “Yeah, I’m so proud of you.”
“I wouldn’t have done it without you.”
Arm in arm, we stood back and watched as Jasmine made her run. She rode out of the stable on one of the fire-breathing horses and sped toward the course. When she returned in great time, she wasn’t happy.
“I missed three targets.”
“Oh, Jas, I’m sorry.” I hugged her. “But it’s only one trial. You got the rest.” I gave her a reassuring smile, but I wasn’t so sure about Poseidon’s trial. She was pretty good in the water, but I’d heard rumors the water God was infamous for his difficult tests.
After everyone went through the course, Artemis let us know the results. I’d placed first, with Lucian a few seconds behind. Georgina, Ren, and Mia had passed. Revana had passed but barely. Isobel failed, and Diego was part of the twenty-five who had failed.
It was getting close to the end. We only had four trials left—Poseidon, Ares, Zeus, and the last one was for Athena. These ones were going to push us to the limits of our abilities. I was afraid, not for me, but for my friends. I didn’t want to lose them. They were all I had left in this world.
Chapter Twenty-Four
MELANY
As I stood on the shore of the lake—that Lucian and I had discovered during one of our flights around the grounds—with my friends beside me, I couldn’t stop shaking. I wasn’t scared, well not entirely, but had adrenaline racing through me in anticipation of the trial. We all wore red and black wetsuits with the option of wearing goggles. I opted to wear them, as did Jasmine and Georgina. I noticed that both Ren and Lucian went without.
Poseidon stood proudly in front of us, the water of the lake lapping at his bare feet.
“This trial will test all your limits. This is a four-mile wide lake, and you will have three hours to swim from here to the opposite shore. There is a rest station in the middle for those who need it, but remember that you are competing against your peers. The first twenty-five swimmers to hit the opposite beach pass this trial. The rest will fail.”
I glanced at my friends. This was it; this was going to be a real test. But I wasn’t going to leave any of them behind. I reached for Lucian’s hand and tugged him closer. Frowning, he looked down at me.
“No matter what, don’t stop for me.”
“Blue…”
“I mean it. You need to pass this trial. Please just concentrate on that.” I squeezed his hand. “Promise me.”
After a few seconds, he nodded. “Okay, I promise.”
I let go of his hand, turning my attention back on Poseidon.