Page 210 of The Games Gods Play
I lean to look around him, and sure enough, I can see one about two football fields away. Hard to tell in the dark, but it looks like scrolling black iron bars with the doors open. Only, what’s the point? There’s no wall connected to it. It’s just standing in the middle of nothing. Beyond that, even farther away, is another. Are there more than two? I can’t tell.
“Three gates,” Zeus says.
That answers that.
“The person to pass through the final gate first wins this Labor. And…” Zeus holds up a hand, smile turning sly. “As an added bonus, this challenge will count as three wins added to your total score.”
I swallow a gasp as a murmur moves through the rest of the champions. I don’t dare look to my left or right.
Zeus just upped the stakes.
Anyone can win now, and without having to kill Diego to do it. Or tie him, at least, for those with no wins. But I have a win. I could beat him.
I could win.
Oh my gods, I could fucking win.
For Boone. For Persephone. For Hades—
No, damn it, not for him.
For me.
I just have to run the race. That’s it. Get through those three gates first.
“It won’t be easy, champions,” Zeus warns. “You may use your gifts and prizes to defend yourselves, but you may not use them to escape or skip any portion of this challenge. And to get to each gate, you must get past some of the most terrifying monsters of all the Labors in history.”
Terrific.
“Starting with…” Zeus turns, raising his hands to the skies as if he’s lifting something.
Lightning strikes the ground far out in the distance. Then again, closer. And closer. And the final strike is so near, the clap of thunder sends my ears ringing. Then the ground rumbles under our feet—a small vibration at first, then bigger and more violent until we are all struggling to stay upright.
A crack forms in the earth, splitting it before us in a long gash.
I almost expect steam or lava to erupt or, since it’s monsters, for something to come flying out. But there’s nothing.
With a final smile, Zeus disappears.
Still nothing.
We glance at one another. No way is any of us foolish enough to go stick our heads over the edge and look down. That’s the first rule in a monster movie 101 survival guide.
A snort is the first thing I hear, followed by what might be boulders falling, crashing against the walls of the crevice on the way down, and then a distinct, angry bellow.
Every muscle in my body ratchets tighter, already instinctively moving into fight-or-flight mode.
I’ve never been on a ranch in my life, but that sounded like a…bull.
Hands appear at the lip of the ripped earth first. Human hands, but not, with massive fingers tipped in thick, yellow claws. Then horns. Massive, bone-white horns that end in deadly points, so wide from tip to tip, the creature they’re attached to must be huge.
A minotaur.
103
Don’t Look Back
Zeus has unleashed a damned minotaur on us.
