The Blood of the Hydra Read Online Free Page A

us?”
    “You all were sleeping,” I jumped in. “And you’d all known about being witches for your whole lives. I’d only known for a few days. I needed the practice. I was just grateful that Blake had offered to help.”
    “The playground’s been destroyed for weeks—since those kids committed arson there.” Kate looked at Blake, and when her mouth dropped open, I figured she’d put it together. “The harpy said something about sending Orthrus after you. The two of you didn’t fight that thing by yourselves… did you?”
    “We did.” Blake nodded, his expression hard.
    “It took a lot longer than it did tonight, and there were a few times when I didn’t think we would make it,” I said, speaking quickly as I relived the terrifying night in my mind. “We didn’t have any weapons, but we did have Blake’s fire power. We were just trying to run away from the hound—we figured if we could get to the car, we could hightail it out of there—but we ended up trapped on top of the monkey bars. I asked Blake to burn away the wood to get one of the bars out, and then I threw it at the hound, right through its heart.”
    “Nice.” Chris grinned. “I wish I’d been there to see that.”
    “The hound flickered and disappeared, just like it did right now,” I said. “We thought we’d killed it. But apparently we didn’t. Because it came back.”
    “And when were you going to tell us?” Danielle asked, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. “Or were you going to keep this secret forever?”
    “We wanted to tell you.” I stepped back, out of range of her sword. I didn’t think she would take a swing at me, but it couldn’t hurt to be safe. “But since Blake and I had been out there alone, we didn’t want you to get the wrong idea…”
    “Trust me, I have the ‘wrong idea.’” She sneered, her voice filled with venom. “But it’s more than that. You guys killed a monster without us. And you didn’t think we needed to know?”
    I looked over at Kate, hoping she would be the voice of reason. But her lips were pressed into a straight line, and she refused to meet my eyes. I swallowed and wrapped my arms around myself. I hadn’t wanted to betray my friends. But by keeping this from them, I suppose I’d done exactly that.
    “We’re supposed to be a team,” Chris finally broke the silence. “We can’t be a team if we’re keeping things like this from each other.”
    “I know.” I shuffled my feet, hating that I’d let them down. “I’m sorry.”
    Blake stepped closer to me, his shoulder nearly brushing mine. Having him so close helped me relax. I wished more than anything that I could reach for his hand, to show him how much I appreciated his support, but of course I didn’t. That would only make Danielle more upset. But I did feel stronger with him nearby.
    “We didn’t want to upset anyone, so we thought it was best to just move forward,” he said, his voice calm and steady. “We thought we’d killed the hound forever.”
    “Well, you didn’t,” Kate finally said. “And if what you’re saying is true, and a shot to the heart didn’t get rid of Orthrus the first time, then I’m guessing there’s a good chance he won’t be gone for long this time, either.”
    “So, what now?” Chris asked.
    “We need to figure out a way to kill him—and all of the other monsters—permanently,” she said.
    “We do,” I agreed. “But if a shot to the heart doesn’t kill them, then what will?”
    “I don’t know.” Kate bit her lip and shrugged. “But Darius is out there in the van waiting for us. Our best bet right now is to talk to him. Hopefully he’ll have some answers.”
    With that, she used her power to upright a tree that had fallen in front of the door during the fight, turned on her heel, and led the way out of there.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    On the ride home, we filled Darius in on everything that had happened inside the Hemlock Center. Now we sat in his living room,