Then Mila screamed.
I turned my head, and she charged at Achilles with a piece of rebar. She swung it at his legs, and the metal rang off his shin.
"No!" I tried to get up, but I collapsed under my own weight.
Achilles caught her by the throat with one hand and lifted her off the ground. Dios mío. She clawed at his wrist, and her face went red.
"Mila!" I dragged myself toward them. My ribs had gone from burning to a sick grinding, the kind that meant something had broken inside the cage. My vision kept sliding sideways, but I kept crawling. I would not let him take her.
Achilles looked down at me. Then he started to squeeze.
Mila kicked his chest. She opened her mouth, and nothing came out.
"Let her go!" I was still crawling. The stones tore at my knees, and I couldn't close the distance fast enough.
Then Jasper was there.
He came out of the smoke, moving fast despite the gash still open above his eye. He gripped the katana with both hands and drove it through Achilles's back.
The blade burst through his chest. Blood sprayed across Mila's shirt.
Achilles's mouth opened in something that wasn't quite human. He dropped the sword, but he kept his grip on Mila. Even with a blade through his chest, he tightened his hold on her throat.
"Let. Her. Go." Jasper twisted the katana.
Achilles laughed. Blood bubbled from his mouth. He squeezed harder, and Mila stopped kicking.
Shotgun shells lay in the rubble where they'd scattered when I fell. I grabbed them. Blood slicked my fingers, and I almost dropped them. Blood slicked my fingers, and I almost dropped them.
Come on, Diego. Load the fucking gun.
I shoved the shells in. I shook so badly the first shell went in crooked and I had to pull it out and try again.
Mila's face turned purple.
I got both shells loaded and snapped the gun closed. I raised it, and the barrel wobbled.
Achilles turned to look at me. He had a katana through his chest, red spilling from his mouth, and he was still holding my girl by the throat. He was still smiling.
I aimed for his head and pulled the trigger.
The blast caught him in the face. His head came apart. Blood and bone sprayed across the stones.
His body dropped.
Mila fell, and Jasper caught her before she hit the ground. They went down together, Jasper's arms around her, his back against the rubble. Even concussed, even bleeding, he caught her.
Then he rolled back and collapsed.
I tried to get to them, but I couldn't stay upright. I hit the stones and couldn't get back up.
The courtyard went quiet. Just the crackle of the flames and the ringing in my ears.
A shape moved through the smoke at the far end of the courtyard. Rhadamanthys. He climbed over a collapsed wall with blood on his hands and dust in his hair. He reached the center of the courtyard and turned in a slow circle. Then he went still.
I crawled. My ribs ground with every reach forward, and my leg left a wet trail on the stone behind me, but I kept going. I had to get to them.
Mila sat up when I got there. She had Jasper's head in her lap, and silent tears ran down her face. Her throat had already started to bruise, the marks turning dark against her skin. She had a man's blood on her shirt, handprints on her neck, and she held her father's head in her lap like she'd been doing this her whole life.
