Prime (Book 1 of the Godling Trilogy)

17- Six Heads are Worse than One

Let's face it; we all want to be the hero of our own story. I'm not saying it's impossible but in my case it's very unlikely. I am heroic? No. Valiant? Not so much. Vaguely courageous? That's a stretch. Would I take a bullet for a friend? Duh, but if I did it probably wouldn't help much because then my friends would just have to use their energy to heal me so they could keep the quest going. I was a burden here, I know they didn't think that but I knew it. Don't get me wrong, being a burden doesn't make me want to mope around and complain about it, well, maybe a little. But after I'm done throwing myself a pity party with confetti and all, I work to change.

I was done being the girl who needed her friends to save her every time things got a little scary. I had a sword and I knew how to use it. I'm not The Chosen One but I sure as hell can be the one who helps to save the day.

As we followed a local's convoluted and extremely confusing directions to Building #6 which was basically directly on the other side of San Francisco, the team chatted about the plan.

First things first, we had to get the sword. It was the key to defeating Nyx, and it hopefully would make taking down a goddess easy. If you couldn't loose while holding it then there was no way she could defeat us.

Louis brought up a good point, "Eros said he would summon the monster that swallowed it. He never said where he would summon it to. I think we should hang around the warehouse but not go inside until the monster is defeated we don't want tit to wreck out hang out before we can spend the night there."

The group agreed that this was a good idea, so we stopped at a café and got lunch. Just as I had finished my panini Gwen sat down across from me and slid me a little pastry bag that said in thick cursive, 'You deserve a donut'.

I wasn't sure what I had done to deserve a donut, but I wasn't going to argue. I smiled at her and opened the bag to find powdered sugar donut holes. We sat in silence, looking out towards the bay, sharing the donut holes. It seemed too peaceful and normal for a girl who could fly and a girl who could put people to sleep.

After we finished eating, we followed the others out to the nearest Pier. I think it was number 14 but I'm not entirely sure. I do remember passing a large silver spider statue so if that's on Pier 14, than I remember correctly.

The Pier was long and empty; it jutted out into the bay like pointer on a hand with way too many extra fingers. There was a good view from the end of it: the Bridge, the islands, the six headed monster that erupted from the surface.

When I say 'six headed monster' I'm being very literal. It came crashing out of the water with sound like Niagara Falls. It's necks lengthed about thirty feet and each head was the size of a large piece of furniture, like a cabinet or something. It had beady black eyes that flashed with green as it saw us. It was a steely blue color, reflecting the hue of the sky. Each head had a mouth full of spiky jagged teeth that jutted out in all directions. The thing seriously needed braces.

"Haaa-Hydra," said Gwen from beside me. She seemed just as distressed as me.

Just when I thought that spiky birds and buff people were scary I had to deal with a monster with more heads than what is natural and necessary.

"What do we do?" I spoke softly but hastily to Gwen.

"Run and regroup!" she shouted.

We sprinted back the way we came, the rest of the group following suit.

The hydra snapped at us with its multiple heads, but it merely nipped at our heels as we dart away.

We'd have a few seconds until it figured out its next move.