Page 109 of The Catacomb King
Calix and his soldiers, about to be eaten.
Hades, lolling unconscious.
No. Wait. Where was Hades?
I couldn’t see him. Everything was moving so fast. The Lake’s surface rushed toward me like a wall. I squeezed my eyes shut —
And thunked into a pair of muscled arms.
Hades had woken up. He had worked free of his bonds. He had leapt forward when I had fallen.
And he had caught me.
We splashed into the water.
The King struck the water at the same time. The resulting wave carried us both back to the candlestick. Hades grabbed it. I didn’t. I couldn’t. I couldn’t hold onto anything anymore. One of my arms was bleeding and the other was dislocated.
My eyes filled with tears. To think, just two days ago I had thought that Hades would drown me with these arms. And here he was,savingme from drowning.
We both bobbed up and down, watching with horror as the King clawed at the crown in his face and screamed. He was moving in crazy circles, not twenty feet from us, but he took no notice of anything. He could not see us. I had blinded him.
Hades whispered, “What did you do?”
“I couldn’t get to his brain. His skull was too thick.”
“Persephone, that’s myfather.”
“No it’s not. It’s the Monarch.”
“What?”
“The Vizeking is bringing Him back. The Monarch. To earth. In the body of your father. Remember the book, the one we both have? It’s all in there.”
“That’s a fairy story,” Hades hissed, but I knew him too well at this point. I could see his mind working. The muscles in his face tightened. He knew I was right. He looked up at the King. He blanched
And then I had a thought that made my blood run cold, and I watched the realization dawn on Hades’s face at the same time:
Now that Elke and Calix had gotten my mother out, there was nothing left in this Lake to eat but us.
And I — a human woman — was the only one of us to the Monarch’s taste.
As if on cue, the Vizeking howled, “A meal, a meal! You don’t need your eyes! You need toeat! Eat the —” I heard his stuttering breath as he realized my mother was no longer floating in the Lake. But he changed tack fast. “Eat the girl! Eat the Prince! Eat anything!”
The King was not obedient.
But hewashungry.
He froze. Slowly, he lowered his hands from his eyes.
He turned his great face toward us. The punctured eyes. The rainbow blood soaking his spider-fangs.
His fangs twitched.
Hades and I did not move an inch.
For a breathless instant I thought we might get away with it. The blinded King would not find us.
Then the Vizeking shouted, “Yes, there! Right in front of you!THERE!”
