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“What the fuck,” Dare breathed, yanking me a few more steps backwards as something emerged from the pit. Somethinghuge. I stared at the dark mass for a long moment before realizing what I was looking at washair. Thick, dark, hair matted so tightly it looked more like a blanket sitting atop anenormoushead. The tops of wings followed, covered in dark red and black scales that looked sharp enough to cut through steel, but I didn’t even have a chance to be terrified of that because thething’sface appeared. And its eyes…
Its eyes wereflames. Twin pools of fire, staring right at me. The creature grinned, exposing rows of sharp teeth, and as its wings carried it further into the air, I was vaguely aware that it had a human-like torso, but its legs were two coiled serpents, the same black and red as its wings.
The beast was the size of a building, casting us all into shadow as it hovered above the opening to Tartarus, grinning at me.
And not in a friendly way.
The others were running, their screams of terror catching the creature’s attention. It twisted its head towards my friends, and a deep sense of calm and purpose washed over me.
Gaia had called me “the perfect mixture of tragic and desperate,” and maybe she was right. Maybe thatwasall that was special about me.
It was all Ineededto be special about me.
“Hey!” I yelled, slipping out of Dare’s grip and rushing for the pit. He cursed, his footsteps thudding against the dirt as he ran after me. “Hey! Over here!”
The monster turned its hungry gaze back on me, flame-eyes flashing even brighter. Dare planted himself firmly at my side, linking our fingers together.
“Who are you?” I called, mustering all of my bravado. “Why did you come here?”
The creature watched me in silence for a long moment, before tipping its head back and spewing a stream of fire into the sky.
