Furious

Chapter Thirty-Four

Authoritatively she stopped the small caravan at the mirror. Gregory beside her made the mistake of looking up into her face; she stared at him expectantly for a moment before jerking her head towards the portal. Gregory ducked his head and shook it spitefully indicating that no, he could not open the doorway. I could feel Alecto screwing up my face in displeasure and I wasn't about to tell her that Gregory just didn't want to help her. She was but seconds from removing his shaking head from the rest of his body when Alex touched the glass.

The hot wave of anger boiled away. Alecto muttered at Gregory—"What good are you, dragon?"—before we moved forward.

He didn't give any verbal indication of having heard. I imagine he counted how many creative ways he could flame broil her, using her cleaned boned as toothpicks.

We all stepped through without a word. Alecto walked through first, leading the way into the unknown. Had she not taken control of my body, I would have needed to hold on to someone in the portal; as it was, Alecto didn't need anyone's help.

On the other side of the portal I could smell the River before I could see it. We marched through another decorative hall and through a set of huge, heavy wooden doors. We let the creaking of the old hinges announce our party.

Perhaps the stench was coming from the army that had amassed at the entrance of the fortress—much more organized than they had been when last I'd seen the Frankenstein army. They stood at attention only ten feet from where we emerged. Waiting.

I couldn't see Alex, Gregory or Lindsay behind me but I could hear their surprise as each one witnessed the immense army before us. Sure, I knew that Hector had an army, but I wasn't expecting this.

The Underworld forces had grown in the past several days. It was huge; it was bigger than huge. I couldn't see where it ended; there were so many people and creatures standing before us in rows upon rows of beings with the conviction to kill. Where did Hector even find all of them?

Sure, there were humanoid creatures out there. But what I noticed first were those that weren't human in any way, shape, or form. Six hulking men, for lack of a better term, towered over the rest of the army, standing out in their fleshy, wrinkled bodies. I would recognize a giant anywhere, even if I'd never come across one before. Amidst the unmoving army of Hades stood a creature much like a bull, though it walked on two legs like a man. Women with snakes in their hair, beasts with heads of goats and snakes writhing from their tails, lions with great wings... monstrosities like I had never seen before. I saw creatures with wings like Alex and I saw nightmares of unnatural melding of animals. Thousands and thousands of creatures stood silently on the banks of the River Styx, waiting for the command.

If Gregory said we were outnumbered and this was our army, what would the Olympians bring to the table?

In the first row, right in the center of the army, stood half a dozen Furies—next to Coleman the satyr. I recognized them after seeing Lindsay's transformation so many times. They too possessed the snake tattoo and wings and wore minimal armor.

The army shuffled slightly, unsure of this new player. Alecto smiled with my mouth before she spoke using my voice.

"Today we prove to the ambiguous gods of Olympus that we are stronger than hiding, stronger than pretending not to exist!" The army roared. When the cheers died down, Alecto continued. "Today we remind the world what it means to have power! We will defeat the armies of the gods and as victors share in the ambrosia!" The army cheered with each statement but a thousand beings before me lost their minds at the prospects of victory and ever-lasting life.

Hector had no idea what was coming—the betrayal he would walk into when he joined us.

"We take the battle to Olympus!" Alecto thrust her fist in the air and the army followed by example. Weapons, paws, fists, all pumped above the heads of the army.