Page 347 of The Spider Queen
“How did you get here before he did?” I asked.
“I had a head start.”
“How did you find me?”
“When I tore Lucifer’s mark from your body, I swallowed some of your blood and since then I’ve been able to sense you.” He cocked his head to the side. “Why are you tied up here?”
“Can I answer that as you spring me?” I demanded. “There’s a giant due back any moment and—”
“Giant? Did you say giant?” Jax’s naturally gray complexion seemed to turn even grayer. He flapped his wings, flying forward so he could disentangle me.
He scooped me into his arms. “We have to get out of here,” he said, looking around, unsure.
“We can’t. He has the last pearl. And if I don’t get it—”
Jax cursed.
“Why are you so afraid of a giant?”
“Wait, is he a giant or a Cyclops?” Jax demanded.
I blinked. “There’s a difference?”
“Yes. Giants are stupid. Cyclopes—”
“Are brothers of the Titans,” boomed a terrible voice so loud it hurt my ears.
“Oh God,” I whispered, my eyes widening as I took in the cyclops that was trekking across the meadow toward us at an astounding rate.
Cyclops’s hand whipped out, disturbing the air, forcing Jax to steady himself, but he wasn’t fast enough. Cyclops hit Jax’s wing, which fractured and crumpled.
We fell from the sky. Jax somehow maneuvered his body beneath mine. He hit the ground first. My skull reverberated and I bit my tongue, tasting blood.
“I’ve got to stop doing that,” Jax moaned. His stone body and wings were broken. “Sorry, kid. I’m out. Run, Stella.”
“Stella?” Cyclops thundered. “Your name is Stella?”
“Run,” Jax urged again.
I scrambled up off of my broken friend and darted for the jungle. Cyclops was trailing me and I heard a sickening crunch. He’d stepped on Jax, silencing him. My friend, a gargoyle, had sacrificed himself a second time. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t dead; he’d saved me more than once.
I sprinted as fast as I could, but it didn’t matter. My tiny legs were no match for Cyclops and his size. He caught up to me with ease.
“I’ve been banished to this island,” Cyclops yelled as he approached. “Zeus killed one of my brothers. And your father killed the other. Now, I will kill you!”
I felt his brawny fingers wrap around my body and start squeezing as he lifted me in the air toward his face.
“You can’t kill me,” I gasped, feeling the bones of my ribs digging into organs and flesh.
Cyclops grinned, his white, pearl eye iridescent in the light. “Maybe not. Maybe I’ll crush you until you die, wait for your bones to heal, and then crush you again.”
He brought me to his mouth.
“Or maybe I will swallow you whole. Let’s see if you can find your way out of the dark.”
Why were monsters so obsessed with the idea of eating me?
His breath smelled like death and rotten meat.
