Page 40 of Wild Hunt
Some of the students I didn’t recognize from the training roster looked confused. One girl spoke up and said, “This is just the arena. Won’t we run out of room?”
Thor gave her a knowing look. “Those of you who haven’t had my class may be at a disadvantage. The simulation is both practical and magical. There will be plenty of room for you to maneuver and the audience will be able to watch all of it.”
That meant my mother was watching. Chronus too, even though he had remained sequestered in his private box ever since his heavily secured arrival. I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get the “honor” of meeting my future father-in-law, but I wasn’t super eager.
“That’s not fair,” another boy said.
Thor snorted, already walking through the trees. “Life’s not fair. Welcome to the Games.”
All eyes were on us, along with the group from his other training class, but I was used to being a target. “Come on,” I said, urging Dionysus and Daphne to follow me deeper into the forest before we could get pounced on.
“Where are we going?” Daphne asked, running alongside me. “We need to form a plan.”
“We have no weapons,” I said. “Right now, the plan is just to get away from the others.”
“I’m good with that plan,” Dionysus said, running faster.
It didn’t take long before we heard an explosion across the forest, still too close for comfort.
“What the hell was that?” Daphne asked, looking over her shoulder.
“I’m guessing it’s the fireworks guy from the preliminaries,” I answered.
“This is crazy,” Dionysus muttered after we’d been running for a while. We were both breathless even though Daphne seemed to fare better with endurance tasks. “How were we even supposed to know when we’d reached the end?”
“Right now, I’m more concerned about living,” Daphne said, pointing up ahead. I followed where she was pointing to at least a dozen sets of glowing red eyes in the darkness.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, taking a step back. “What are those?”
As if in response, a huge, batlike creature flew out and swooped down, narrowly missing my head. The others poured out in droves and began forming a cyclone around us. Their wings were flapping so fast that the wind actually began to pick up and it was all we could do to stay in a tight group.
“What are those things?” Dionysus asked, sounding both grossed out and terrified. “Someone’s power?”
“They’re hell bats,” Daphne answered, shielding her face. “They’re part of the sim.”
“Can’t you stop the wind?” Dionysus cried.
“I can’t,” Daphne said through gritted teeth. “It’s too strong.”
I knew I had to do something, and my powers were the only ones that would be of use in this situation. I could call up a shield of roots, but that would take a lot of energy and the bats would surely chip away at it no time. I already had gashes from the sharp talons that had managed to catch me so far.
Instead, I made a single vine with a weighted bulb at the end and cast it up into the cyclone of monstrous creatures. “Duck!” I cried, hunkering down to shield my head. The others did the same and I heard the whipping sound of my makeshift mace turning against the bats in their own tornado.
The pained shrieks spread throughout the forest as the flock scattered and a few severed wings dropped to the ground.
For the moment, we were safe.
“Holy shit,” Daphne breathed. “Good thinking.”
“You guys okay?” I asked, looking around. They both seemed as scratched up as I was, but none of us had any major injuries.
“I’m not going to be okay until I can take a seven-hour shower,” Dionysus answered, shuddering as he got to his feet. He offered a hand to help me up and smiled. “Nice job.”
I smiled back, hoping I wasn’t blushing is obviously as it felt. We hadn’t talked much lately, and I missed being close to him, even if the circumstances were insane.
“Okay, you two,” Daphne said in a dry tone. “Quit making eyes at each other and let’s get a move on before someone else finds us.”
I was speechless for a second, but when I looked over at Dionysus, he seemed equally flustered. I decided to hold my tongue and just focus on getting through the challenge.
