The judge shrugged. “It’s a family feud, that much is obvious to me now. Families have a strange way of exaggerating things when they are angry at each other. And while I don’t like supernaturals, I can’t argue with what he’s suggesting.” He pointed at Merlin. Who’d essentially saved my bacon.
After I’d poisoned him with a cupcake. Why did that make me nervous? Merlin smiled and blew me a kiss. My stomach fell to my feet.
Theseus pulled a sword. “Then I say we need a new judge.” Watts’s face went white as Theseus pulled his arm back, prepping to throw the sword. The sword Beth had pointed at me with Athena’s crest on it.
I pushed with my good leg and landed in front of Theseus as he swung. I took the blow to my right shoulder, stopping it from hitting Watts. “No, I won’t let you kill anyone!”
The blade nicked me, cutting through both human skin and snakeskin, but it was a glancing blow, barely a scratch.
I shoved Theseus hard, sending him flying through the air. I glanced back at Watts. “Go, while you can!” He didn’t hesitate, but scrambled away, his black robe flying around him and flashing a pair of bright-orange undies.
I glanced at Remo.
“Run!” he yelled.
I bolted from the courtroom—okay, limped—bowling over several vampires, and then I ran into my Aunt Janice as she attempted to escape.
“Outta my way, brat!” she snapped, shoving a clawed hand into my chest that sent me flying down the hall. Away from the exit. Remo leapt over her and reached for my hand, pulling me to my feet. “We’ll find another way out.”
The ping of metal slamming into the ground at my feet drew my eyes. A perfectly formed metal feather quivered where it stuck. The screech of a Stymphalian bird snapped my head up. I didn’t know which of the girls it was, but a good guess was Beth was the one shooting at me.
I scrambled to my feet, and Remo helped me as we whipped around the corner. Beth was right behind us, slinging feathers like a machine gun. Remo grunted as a feather hit him in his right side, slicing across his ribs.
He healed, though, as fast as the cut appeared. At least my blood was good for something. We raced through the halls, Beth tailing us. Driving us.
“You’re going to have to fight her,” Remo said as we slid through a door and slammed it behind us. The thud of metallic feathers hitting the door echoed through the room.
Behind us came the shuffle of several sets of feet. I spun around, unsure of exactly what I was looking at. Cameras pointed at me, reporters held microphones toward me, and one brave reporter cleared her voice. “This was a landmark case. How do you feel about losing?”
Hold the powdered sugar, what in the world was going on?
CHAPTER 20
“I didn’t . . . lose,” I stuttered. Not really. Though I really hadn’t won either. The case with Roger wasn’t what they meant, of that much I was sure. This whole situation had been all about Theseus proving I was a monster, that I was worth killing. These were his final moves on the chessboard.
I stared at them, beginning to see just how he’d put things in place. “Theseus set you up here?”
The three reporters nodded and pushed their microphones closer. The one who’d spoken tried again, her eyes filled with what could only be fascination. “This is a live feed. Do you have something to say? The entire city is watching.”
Several more thumps hit the door, making me jump. Remo pressed a hand to my back and lowered his voice. “Talk to them, and make it juicy.”
I glanced at him and then back to the reporter. To the side of her was a sink. I hurried to it, limping. “My name is Alena Budrene, and I contracted the Aegrus virus four weeks ago. I didn’t want to die. While I was on my deathbed, my husband left me for another woman. Apparently he’d been boinking her long before I got sick.” I took a breath and gripped the faucet handle. With a quick twist, the water was running. I lifted my leg and jammed it under the flow of water as I went on, talking as fast as I could. I only had so long before we would be interrupted. Maybe I would die at Theseus’s hand, but at least the world would know something about me.
“So I took a chance and let a warlock turn me into a supernatural; that’s the only way to survive the Aegrus virus, you know. But now the courts say my two-timing loser of a husband gets everything. My bakery, Vanilla and Honey. My inheritance from my grandparents. And even the house my grandparents left me.” The door behind us shuddered.
The reporter nodded. “Go on.”
“I only want it to be fair. I want what is mine, nothing more. I’m not dead; I’m still me. I’m still a person too. Just because I’m different on the outside doesn’t mean anything.” I stared into the camera, begging. “I want to be acknowledged, no different than anyone else, and be able to say that I fall under the same rules and legislation, not some trumped-up ridiculousness saying that I”—I took my hands out of the water and touched my chest—“don’t exist.”
The blinking red light on the camera behind the reporter went off, and she nodded at me. “Well, that’s going to be quite the piece. Thank you.”
Behind us, the door busted open. I was thrown forward with the explosion. The news crews all yelled and ducked. Except for one of the cameramen, who held steady. The red light above the lens came back on, blinking. I stared at the open door but couldn’t see through the smoke that filled the space other than the flicker of movement. Shadows that shifted, lurching toward us.
This was what Theseus wanted: an audience—not just the judge and a courtroom full of people, but the world too. He was far more organized than Achilles had been.
Remo looked at me. “Run, you need space to fight him. I’ll hold them back.”
I nodded and pushed myself up. The window over the sink beckoned. It had worked for me before; no need to change methods. I leapt up and crashed through the window, falling to the cool grass outside.
My leg that had been hit with the fennel oil buckled under me, weak. Above me came the hunting cry of a bird. I ran around the side of the building. Lights blazed to life, blinding me. I threw a hand up to block the lights. More reporters, cameras, and microphones at the ready. In front of them stood Theseus. He had his hands in the air, as if soothing them all. Not a single strand of his hair was out of place. Of course not; he hadn’t been fighting me, chasing me. He had Beth and Santos for that. He’d sat back and put his pawns into play.
He spoke to the reporters in a booming voice that echoed with a confidence and power even I felt vibrate along my skin.
“Justice will be served. I will not allow a monster of the Drakaina’s size to terrorize anyone a second longer than I must.”
Enough of this nonsense. “I am not terrorizing anyone, you dumb jock!” I limped toward them. Theseus held a hand out to me, as if that alone would hold me back, then he swept a sword up into the ready position.
“Stand back,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll protect you.”