❝moon dust in your lungs, stars in your eyes,
you are a child of the cosmos and ruler of the skies❞
⤷ trenzalours
△△△
Out of all the states, Kira found it odd that their dragon hated Indiana. When Festus declared war on the state, she knew it would be a rough day.
The four been traveling west for six weeks, and Festus had never shown such hostility toward a state. New Jersey he ignored. Pennsylvania he seemed to enjoy, despite the battle with the Cyclopes of Pittsburgh. Ohio he tolerated, even after our encounter with Potina, the Roman goddess of childhood drinks, who pursued us in the form of a giant red pitcher emblazoned with a smiley face.
Yet for some reason, Festus decided he did not like Indiana. He landed on the cupola of the Indiana Statehouse, flapped his metallic wings, and blew a cone of fire that incinerated the state flag right off the flagpole.
"Whoa, buddy!" Leo pulled the dragon's reins. "We've talked about this. No blowtorching public monuments!"
Behind him on the dragon's spine, Calypso gripped Festus's scales for balance. "Could we please get to the ground? Gently this time?"
Kira said nothing, holding onto Leo's waist so she didn't plummet to her death. In the very back of the dragon, Apollo spit Calypso's hair out of his mouth. Festus's claws scrabbled for a hold on the green copper dome, which was much too small for a dragon his size.
Leo glanced back, his face streaked with soot. "Apollo, you sense anything?"
"Why is it my job to sense things? Just because I used to be a god of prophecy—"
"You're the one who's been having visions," Calypso reminded him. "You said your friend Meg would be here."
Kira sighed sadly at the name. She remembered dragging Apollo and Meg to Camp Half Blood, her kicking Sherman Yang in a private area, and Connor in his eyes. Good ol' times.
"That doesn't mean I can pinpoint her location with my mind! Zeus has revoked my access to GPS!"
"GPS?" Calypso asked.
"Godly positioning systems."
"That's not a real thing!"
"Guys, cool it." Leo patted the dragon's neck. "Apollo, just try, will you? Does this look like the city you dreamed about or not?"
Apollo fell quiet, and Kira assumed he was searching the horizon. Turning around, she was met with Calypso's glare. She turned back around fairly quickly.
"This is the spot," Apollo said. "Before this dome collapses under us, I suggest we get to the ground."
Calypso grumbled something in a language Kira couldn't understand. Her and Apollo began arguing in the language, and Leo turned to face Kira helplessly.
"Hey, you two," Leo said. "No ancient dialects. Spanish or English, please. Or Machine."
Festus creaked in agreement.
"It's okay, boy," Leo said. "I'm sure they didn't mean to exclude us. Now let's fly down to street level, huh?"
Festus's ruby eyes glowed. His metal teeth spun like drill bits. But he flapped his wings and leaped from the dome. The group hurtled downward, landing in front of the statehouse with enough force to crack the sidewalk.
Festus whipped his head from side to side, steam curling from his nostrils.
Kira saw no immediate threats. Cars drove leisurely down West Washington Street. Pedestrians strolled by: a middle-aged woman in a flowery dress, a heavyset policeman carrying a paper coffee cup labeled CAFÉ PATACHOU, a clean-cut man in a blue seersucker suit.
The man in blue waved politely as he passed. "Morning."
"'Sup, dude," Leo called.
Calypso tilted her head. "Why was he so friendly? Does he not see that we're sitting atop a fifty-ton metal dragon?"
Leo grinned. "It's the Mist, messes with mortal eyes. Makes monsters look like stray dogs. Makes swords look like umbrellas. Makes me look even more handsome than usual!"
Calypso jabbed her thumbs into Leo's kidneys.
"Ow!" he complained.
"Stop it, gods," Kira grumbled.
"Excuse me?" Calypso asked, turning to Kira. She bit her lip, facing the ex-goddess. They had a lot of that going on. Her glare was hard, but Kira didn't back down.
"I said stop it," Kira told her. "Or can you not hear? Did you lose that ability too?"
Calypso sneered, getting ready to tackle her, but Apollo held her back. Leo rubbed his eyes tiredly, and Calypso held herself back from punching Apollo. Kira shot Apollo a grateful look. She was tired from the fight with Potina, where she had to defend all three of them, who none of them were fighters.
"Don't touch me," She growled. "I know what the Mist is, Leonidas, but the Mist must be very strong here if it can hide a monster of Festus's size at such close range. Apollo, don't you find that a little odd?"
He studied the passing pedestrians.
Their faces were too placid. Their dazed smiles sent a chill down Kira's spine.
"We should get out of the public eye," Apollo suggested. "Perhaps—"
Festus stumbled, shaking like a wet dog. From inside his chest came a noise like a loose bicycle chain.
"Aw, not again," Leo said. "Everybody off!"
Leo offered a hand to Kira, helping her off.
Leo ran in front of Festus and held out his arms in a classic dragon-wrangler's stance. "Hey, buddy, it's fine! I'm just going to switch you off for a while, okay? A little downtime to—"
Festus projectile-vomited a column of flames that engulfed Leo. He could generally prevent his outfits from burning up simply by concentrating. If he were caught by surprise, however, it didn't always work.
When the flames dissipated, Leo stood before the three wearing nothing but his asbestos boxer shorts, his magical tool belt, and a pair of smoking, partially melted sneakers.
Kira coughed back a laugh at her half-naked boyfriend.
"Dang it!" he complained. "Festus, it's cold out here!"
"Don't make fun of him," Calypso said, turning to Kira again.
"Seriously?" Kira shot at the ex-goddess. "I can't do anything, huh?"
Apollo walked in between the two girls. "Girls, girls, maybe we should-"
Kira brushed off his hand near her. "Go away, 'Pollo."
She turned to Leo, who was trying to keep the dragon upright. The dragon stumbled. Leo lunged and flipped the lever behind the dragon's left foreleg. Festus began to collapse. His wings, limbs, neck, and tail contracted into his body, his bronze plates overlapping and folding inward. In a matter of seconds, our robotic friend had been reduced to a large bronze suitcase.
He scowled at his new piece of luggage. "Man...I thought I fixed his gyro-capacitor. Guess we're stuck here until I can find a machine shop."
Calypso grimaced. Her pink ski jacket glistened. "And if we find such a shop, how long will it take to repair Festus?"
Leo shrugged. "Twelve hours? Fifteen?" He pushed a button on the side of the suitcase. A handle popped up. "Also, if we see a men's clothing store, that might be good."
Kira smiled, amused.
Then, from the direction of the sidewalk, a voice called, "Hello!"
The woman in the flowery dress had returned.
She smiled vacantly. "Beautiful morning!"
Kira and Apollo both gave the absent-minded woman a polite wave.
She strolled forward and planted herself in front of the group. She wasn't particularly large, but something about her proportions seemed off. Her shoulders were too wide for her head. Her chest and belly protruded in a lumpy mass, as if she'd stuffed a sack of mangos down the front of her dress.
"Oh, my!" She gripped her purse with both hands. "Aren't you children cute!"
Her lipstick and eye shadow were both a violent shade of purple.
"Madam," Apollo said, "we are not children. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a suitcase to repair and my friend is in dire need of a pair of pants."
He tried to step around her. She blocked his path. Kira's hand hovered over her ring.
"You can't go yet, dear! We haven't welcomed you to Indiana!" From her purse, she drew a smartphone. The screen glowed as if a call were already in progress. "It's him, all right," she said into the phone. "Everybody, come on over. Apollo is here!"
"Madam," Apollo said, "I'm afraid you have mistaken me—"
"Him?" Kira pointed back at him. "Apollo?" She forced out a humorless laugh, but Apollo just glared at her.
"Don't be modest!" The woman tossed her phone and purse aside. She grabbed his forearm. "Our master will be delighted to have you in custody. And please call me Nanette."
Calypso charged. Either she wished to defend him, or she was not a fan of the name Nanette. She punched the woman in the face.
Kira sighed at the girl who didn't think of the consequences. She drew her sword, glancing sourly at the event.
There was a loud CRACK her fist made against Nanette's face—the sound of finger bones breaking.
"Ow!" Calypso stumbled away, clutching her hand.
Nanette's head slid backward. She released Apollo to try to grab her own face, but it was too late. Her head toppled off her shoulders. It clanged against the pavement and rolled sideways, the eyes still blinking, the purple lips twitching. Its base was smooth stainless steel. Attached to it were ragged strips of duct tape stuck with hair and bobby pins.
"Holy Hephaestus!" Leo ran to Calypso's side. "Lady, you broke Calypso's hand with your face. What are you, an automaton?"
"No, dear," said decapitated Nanette. Her muffled voice didn't come from the stainless-steel head on the sidewalk. It emanated from somewhere inside her dress. Just above her collar, where her neck used to be, an outcropping of fine blond hair was tangled with bobby pins. "And I must say, hitting me wasn't very polite."
"A blemmyae," Apollo said.
Nanette chuckled. Her bulging midsection writhed under the honeysuckle cloth. She ripped open her blouse—something a polite Midwesterner would never think of doing—and revealed her true face.
Where a woman's brassiere would have been, two enormous bulging eyes blinked at me. From her sternum protruded a large shiny nose. Across her abdomen curled a hideous mouth—glistening orange lips, teeth like a spread of blank white playing cards.
"Yes, dear," the face said. "And I'm arresting you in the name of the Triumvirate!"
Up and down Washington Street, pleasant-looking pedestrians turned and began marching in their direction.
Kira twirled her sword, walking to the front of the group to defend her friends. "Get behind me." No one argued.
"Leo," Apollo said, "activate the dragon."
"I just put him into sleep cycle."
"Hurry!"
Leo fumbled with the suitcase's buttons. Nothing happened. "I told you, man. Even if Festus weren't malfunctioning, he's really hard to wake up once he's asleep."
Calypso hunched over her broken hand, muttering some obscenities. Leo shivered in his underwear. Apollo wasn't even Apollo, just a guy named Lester Papadopoulos, which meant Kira was really the only one well enough to fight.
"Get back!" She yelled, swinging her sword through the air.
"BEGONE, foul Nanette!" Apollo tried to muster his old godly wrath voice. "Lay hands upon my divine person again and you shall be DESTROYED!"
Nanette just blinked her cow-brown eyes.
"Don't fuss, now," she said. Her lips were grotesquely hypnotic, like watching a surgical incision being used as a puppet. "Besides, dearie, you're not a god anymore."
More locals converged on their position. Two police officers trotted down the steps of the statehouse. At the corner of Senate Avenue, a trio of sanitation workers abandoned their garbage truck and lumbered over wielding large metal trash cans. From the other direction, a half dozen men in business suits tromped across the capitol lawn.
Leo cursed. "Is everybody in this town a metalhead? And I don't mean the good kind of metalhead."
"Relax, sweetie," Nanette said. "Surrender and we won't have to hurt you much. That's the emperor's job!"
Despite her broken hand, Calypso apparently didn't feel like surrendering. With a defiant yell she charged Nanette again, this time launching a karate kick toward the blemmyae's giant nose.
"Don't!" Apollo blurted out, too late.
Calypso's foot connected with its target, and her ankle bent with a nasty pop. She collapsed, gurgling in pain.
"Cal!" Leo ran to her side. "Back off, chest-face!"
"What is wrong with her?" Kira said, exasperated.
"Language, dear," Nanette chided. "Now I'm afraid I'll have to stomp on you."
She raised one patent leather pump, but Leo was faster. He summoned a globe of fire and threw it like a baseball, hitting Nanette right between her huge chest-level eyes. Flames washed over her, setting her eyebrows and flowery dress ablaze.
As Nanette screamed and stumbled, Leo yelled, "Apollo, help me!"
Kira ran into battle, slicing at the metal woman. She shrieked, but Kira had to move her sword to avoid being turned to molten metal.
Apollo helped get Calypso to her feet (her one good foot, at least). The two boys slung her arms over their shoulders and began hobbling away. Calypso screamed when Apollo touched her broken hand.
"Kira!" Leo yelled. "Let's go!"
Kira got another jab in before running behind them. Looking back at it, she should have held the ground for the three to get to safety, but she had listened to Leo without thinking.
Thirty feet across the lawn, Leo suddenly stopped. "I forgot Festus!"
"Leave him," Apollo snapped.
"What?"
"We can't manage him and Calypso! We'll come back later. The blemmyae might just ignore him."
"But if they figure out how to open him," Leo fretted, "if they hurt him—"
"He'll be okay, Leo!" Kira promised, a promise she didn't know if she could keep.
"MARRRGGGGH!" Behind them, Nanette ripped off the shreds of her burning dress. From the waist down, shaggy blond fur covered her body. Her eyebrows smoldered, and two slices were drawn across her face. She spat ashes from her mouth and glared in our direction. "That was not nice! GET THEM!"
The businessmen were almost on top of them, eliminating any hope that they could make it back to Festus without getting caught.
Kira bit her lip, hating the options she she calculated in her head. She hated running for fights, but as the crowd thickened, she was forced to yell "RUN!"
Calypso tried to help, kicking along like a pogo stick between Leo and Apollo, but whenever she jostled her broken foot or hand, she yelped and sagged against them.
Kira tried not to get annoyed at the girl for not only breaking her hand, for when he saw that that hadn't worked, the best option she had somehow thought would be is to kick the woman. Now, they were slowed down, and more in a vulnerable position.
Kira took up the back of the group, so she could fend off any blemmyae that got too close.
"S-sorry, guys," she muttered, her face beaded with sweat. "Guess I'm not meant to be a melee fighter."
"Neither am I," Apollo admitted. "Perhaps Leo can hold them off while—"
"Hey, don't look at me," Leo grumbled. "I'm just a repair guy who can throw the occasional fireball. Our fighter is stuck back there in suitcase mode and the one behind us."
"I got you guys," Kira said from behind him. She wasn't sure why Apollo had looked to Leo to defend them instead of her, but as soon as she offered, both boys screamed no.
"Hobble faster," Apollo suggested.
Kira frowned. "Seriously!" She told them. "I'm the only one who can fight. Let me at them!"
"Then we loose our only protection," Leo told her. "Besides, I told you! I'm not letting you out of my sight!"
Kira huffed, but she listened.
"Good morning!" A police officer appeared on the right, his firearm drawn. "Halt or I will shoot! Thank you!"
Leo pulled a stoppered glass bottle from his tool belt. He tossed it at the officer's feet and green flames exploded around him. The officer dropped his gun. He began tearing off his burning uniform, revealing a chest-face with shaggy pectoral eyebrows and a belly beard in need of a shave.
"Phew," Leo said. "I was hoping he was a blemmyae. That was my only vial of Greek fire, guys. And I can't keep summoning fireballs unless I want to pass out, so—"
"We need to find cover," said Calypso.
Kira tested her sword, hoping to scare away the blemmyae with her presence, but no avail. She had been practicing her Ares abilities, which included being able to make people fearful or angry. She didn't like using it, but it was a good tool against monsters
The regular mortals—at least, those who did not seem interested in killing the group at the moment—went about their business, making phone calls, waiting at traffic lights, sipping coffee in nearby cafés, completely ignoring them. At one corner, sitting on a milk crate, a heavily blanketed homeless man asked Apollo for change.
A construction worker stopped to rip the fender off a Ford pickup, then rejoined the parade, his new chrome club slung over his shoulder.
"There!" said Calypso. She pointed with her chin to what looked like a service alley behind a hotel.
"What if it's a dead end? The last time I found myself in a dead-end alley, things did not go well." Apollo told her, and Kira kept back a snort, remembering that story that Meg had told her.
"Let's try," Leo said. "We might be able to hide in there, or...I dunno."
Kira could clearly see an exit at the far end of the alley, but the loading bays along the back of the hotel were locked, giving them nowhere to hide, and the opposite wall of the alley was lined with Dumpsters.
Leo sighed. "I guess we could jump in—"
"No!" Apollo snapped. "Never again!"
They struggled through the alley as fast as we could, Kira yet again falling back and becoming their defense. She was turned to the way they came, so she didn't realize what was happening until Calypso gasped.
Leo halted. "What the—? Hijo."
The apparition glowed with a faint ginger light. He wore a traditional chiton, sandals, and a sheathed sword, like a Greek warrior in the prime of life...except for the fact that he had been decapitated. Unlike the blemmyae, however, this person obviously had once been human. Ethereal blood trickled from his severed neck, splattering his luminous orange tunic.
"It's a cheese-colored ghost," Leo said.
The spirit raised one hand, beckoning the group forward.
Behind them, the voices of the blemmyae grew louder. Kira could hear them calling out "Morning!" and "Excuse me!" and "Lovely day!" to their fellow Indianans.
"What do we do?" Calypso asked.
"Follow the ghost," Apollo said.
"What?" Leo yelped.
"We follow the cheese-colored ghost. As you're always saying: Vaya con queso."
"That was a joke, ese."
The orange spirit beckoned again, then floated toward the end of the alley.
Behind them, a man's voice shouted, "There you are! Lovely weather, isn't it?"
Kira turned in time to see a truck fender spiraling toward her.
"Down!" Kira tackled Calypso, Apollo, and Leo, provoking more screams of agony from the ex-goddess. The truck fender sailed over their heads and slammed into a Dumpster, sending up a festive explosion of garbage confetti.
Kira jumped up, prepared for a fight, but the others struggled to their feet. Calypso was shivering, no longer complaining about the pain.
"Don't touch me," Calypso grumbled.
"Sure," Kira said in a sickly-sweet voice. "Good idea, next time, I'll let the fender smack you in the face, yeah?"
Leo made his way to Kira's side. "Hey, babe," He whispered. "Take a breath." If anyone had told her that, she might have impaled them, but she just nodded, taking in a shaky breath.
Leo pulled a staple gun from his tool belt. "You guys go ahead. I'll hold them off as long as I can."
"Leo-"
"What are you going to do?" Apollo demanded. "Sort and collate them?"
"I'm going to throw things at them!" Leo snapped. "Unless you've got a better idea?"
"Absolutely not!" Kira told him. "I'll hold them off. You three go ahead."
"Stop," Calypso stammered. "We d-don't leave anyone behind. Now walk. Left, right, left, right."
They emerged from the alley into a wide-open circular plaza.
In the middle of a ring-shaped drive stood a fountain surrounded by dormant flower beds. To the north rose the twin towers of another hotel. To the south loomed an older, grander building of redbrick and granite—perhaps a Victorian-era train station. On one side of the edifice, a clock tower soared roughly two hundred feet into the sky. Above the main entrance, under a marble archway, a colossal rose window gleamed in a frame of green copper.
Kira scanned the plaza, prepared. The ghostly guide seemed to have disappeared.
The blemmyae surrounded the group before Kira could think of what had happened.
The mob burst out of the alley behind them. A police car swerved into the roundabout next to the train station. A bulldozer pulled into the hotel's driveway, the operator waving and calling out cheerfully, "Hello! I'm going to bulldoze you!"
All exits from the plaza were quickly blocked.
"Who has an idea?" Apollo asked. "Please, any brilliant idea."
Calypso looked like her most brilliant idea at the moment was trying not to throw up. Leo hefted his staple gun, which didn't seem to frighten the blemmyae. Kira twirled her sword, practically asking for a fight.
From the midst of the mob, their old friend Nanette emerged, her chest-face grinning. Her patent leather pumps clashed terribly with her blond leg fur. "Gosh darn it, dears, you've made me a bit miffed."
She grabbed the nearest street sign and single-handedly ripped it out of the ground. "Now, please hold still, won't you? I'm just going to smash your heads with this."
"Bulldozer," Leo whispered.
"Is that a code word?" Apollo asked.
"No. I'm going to sneak over to the bulldozer. You three distract the metalheads."
He shifted Calypso's weight to him.
"Are you crazy?" she hissed.
Leo shot her an urgent look, like Trust me! Distract them!
Then he took a careful step sideways.
"Oh!" Nanette beamed. "Are you volunteering to die first, short demigod? You did hit me with fire, so that makes sense."
"I volunteer!" Kira shouted, taking the attention off of her boyfriend.
The entire mob turned to look at her. She shot them a nervous smile.
Beside her, Apollo yelled, "Me too! But first," he said, "hear my plea, O, merciful blemmyae!"
The policeman whom Leo had torched lowered his gun. A few green embers of Greek fire still smoldered in his belly beard. "What do you mean, hear my plea?"
"Well," Apollo said, "it's customary to hear the last words of a dying man...or god or demigod or...what would you consider yourself, Calypso? A Titan? A demi-Titan?"
Calypso cleared her throat with a noise that sounded suspiciously like idiot. "What Apollo is trying to say, O, merciful blemmyae, is that etiquette demands you grant us a few last words before you kill us. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be impolite."
The blemmyae looked aghast. They lost their pleasant smiles and shook their mechanical heads. Nanette shuffled forward, her hands raised in a placating manner. "No, indeed! We are very polite."
"Extremely polite," the policeman agreed.
"Thank you," said Nanette.
"You're welcome," said the policeman.
"Listen, then!" Apollo cried. "Friends, frenemies, blemmyae...open your armpits and hear my sad tale!"
Leo shuffled back another step, his hands in the pockets of his tool belt. Another fifty-seven, fifty-eight steps, and he would arrive at the bulldozer. Lovely, that wouldn't take long at all.
"I am Apollo!" he began. "Formerly a god! I fell from Olympus, cast down by Zeus, unfairly blamed for starting a war with the giants!"
"I'm going to be sick," Calypso muttered. "Let me sit down."
"You're breaking my rhythm."
"You're breaking my eardrums. Let me sit!"
Apollo eased Calypso onto the fountain's retaining wall. Kira noticed how he didn't give Calyspo to her to hold. Not that she was complaining.
Nanette raised her street sign. "Is that it? May I kill you now?"
"No, no!" Apollo said. "I am just, ah, letting Calypso sit so...so she can act as my chorus. A good Greek performance always needs a chorus."
"Ready."
Kria oggled at the two, having no idea what they were doing, but Apollo nodded at her as well, as if telling her that she was apart of this as well. She groaned.
"Lo!" Apollo said. "I arrived at Camp Half-Blood as Lester Papadopoulos!"
"A pathetic mortal!" Calypso chorused. "Most worthless of teens!"
Apollo glared at her. Kira wished he still had is old godly powers, and could turn her to dust, or something more enjoyable. "I overcame many challenges with my companion, Meg McCaffrey!"
"He means his master!" Calypso added. "A twelve-year-old girl! Behold her pathetic slave, Lester, most worthless of teens!"
The policeman huffed impatiently. "We know all this. The emperor told us."
"Shh," said Nanette. "Be polite."
Apollo put his hand over his heart. "We secured the Grove of Dodona, an ancient Oracle, and thwarted the plans of Nero! But alas, Meg McCaffrey fled from me. Her evil stepfather had poisoned her mind!"
"Poison!" Kira echoed, glancing at Apollo, to make she she was doing this right. He gave her a wobbly thumbs down.
"Like the breath of Lester Papadopoulos, most worthless of teens!" Calypso cried.
Meanwhile, Leo was making his way toward the bulldozer under the guise of an interpretive dance routine, spinning and gasping and pantomiming Apollo's words. He looked like a hallucinating ballerina in boxer shorts, but the blemmyae politely got out of his way. Kira prayed to the Olympians to give her a camera, but none came.
"Lo!" Apollo shouted. "From the Oracle of Dodona we received a prophecy—a limerick most terrible!"
"Terrible!" Kira repeated, awakrdly hiding her sword behind her back, as if the monster's wouldn't see it.
"Like the skills of Lester, most worthless of teens." Calypso chorused.
"Vary your adjectives," Apollo grumbled. "We traveled west in search of another Oracle, along the way fighting many fearsome foes! The Cyclopes we brought low!"
Leo jumped onto the running board of the bulldozer. He raised his staple gun dramatically, then stapled the bulldozer operator twice in the pectorals—right where his actual eyes would be. That could not have felt good. The operator screamed and grabbed his chest. Leo kicked him out of the driver's seat.
The police officer yelled, "Hey!"
"Wait!" Apollo implored them. "Our friend is only giving you a dramatic interpretation of how we beat the Cyclopes. That's totally allowed while telling a story!"
The crowd shifted uncertainly.
"These are very long last words," Nanette complained. "When will I get to smash your head in?"
"Soon," he promised. "Now, as I was saying...we traveled west!"
He hauled Calypso to her feet again.
"What are you doing?" she muttered.
"Work with me," Apollo said. "Lo, frenemies! Behold how we traveled!"
The two of them staggered toward the bulldozer. Apollo glanced back, motioning for her to hurry up. Kira followed them into the bulldozer. Leo's hands flew over the controls. The engine roared to life.
"This isn't a story!" the police officer protested. "They're getting away!"
"No, not at all!" Apollo pushed Calypso onto the bulldozer and climbed up after her. "You see, we traveled for many weeks like this..."
Leo started backing up. Beep. Beep. Beep. The bulldozer's shovel began to rise.
"Imagine you are Camp Half-Blood," Apollo shouted to the crowd, "and we are traveling away from you."
"Stop them!" The police officer raised his gun. His first shot ricocheted off the dozer's metal scoop.
"Listen, my friends!" Apollo implored. "Open your armpits!"
A trash can sailed over their heads. A businessman picked up a decorative stone urn from the corner of the fountain and tossed it in their direction, annihilating the hotel's front window.
"Faster!" Apollo told Leo.
"Trying, man," he muttered. "This thing wasn't built for speed."
The blemmyae closed in.
"Look out!" Calypso yelled.
Leo swerved just in time to deflect a wrought-iron bench off their dozer blade. Unfortunately, that opened us up to a different attack. Nanette threw her street sign like a harpoon. The metal pole pierced the bulldozer's chassis in a burst of steam and grease, and their getaway ride shuddered to a halt.
"Great," Calypso said. "Now what?"
Nanette leaped onto the hood of our bulldozer, giving them a ghastly view straight up her nostrils. Leo tried to blast her with flames, but this time Nanette was prepared. She opened her mouth and swallowed the fireball, showing no sign of distress except for a small burp.
Kira leapt at her with her sword raised, but Nanette just swiped at her, and she went flying.
"Kira!" Leo cried.
Nanette made her way to Kira leisurely, standing over the wounded girl.
"Don't feel too bad, dears," she said. "You never would have gained access to the blue cave. The emperor has it too well guarded! A shame you have to die, though. The naming celebration is in three days, and you and the girl were supposed to be the main attractions in his slave procession!"
Suddenly an arrow sprouted between Nanette's eyes. She went cross-eyed trying to see it, then tumbled backward and crumbled to dust.
In the middle of the plaza, standing atop the fountain, a woman crouched in faded jeans and a silvery winter coat. A white birch bow gleamed in her hand. On her back, a quiver bristled with arrows.
The gray-haired woman shouted, "Hit the pavement!"
Kira was already sprawled on the pavement, but she didn't make any moves to stand, pressing her head to the concrete.
All around the plaza, manhole-size circles appeared in the asphalt. Each one scissored open like the iris of a camera and turrets sprang up—mechanical crossbows swiveling and sweeping red targeting lasers in every direction.
The blemmyae didn't try to take cover. Perhaps they didn't understand. Perhaps they were waiting for the gray-haired woman to say please.
The three tumbled off the bulldozer as the crossbows fired in a flurry of sharp hisses, lying on the ground next to Kira.
When Kira finally looked up, nothing was left of the blemmyae but piles of dust and clothing.