SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

42 - party time

BRIAR KNEW AN exit cue when she heard one.

Leo grabbed a flask of oil and splashed it in an arc in front of him, dousing the Maenads. He summoned fire into his hands and set the oil ablaze.

A wall of flames engulfed the nymphs. Jason and Briar did a one-eighty and ran. She heard Leo right behind them.

Briar expected to hear screaming from the Maenads. Instead, she heard laughter. She glanced back and saw the Maenads dancing through the flames in their bare feet. Their dresses were smoldering, but the Maenads didn't seem to care. They leaped through the fire like they were playing in a sprinkler.

"Thank you, unbeliever!" Babette laughed. "Our frenzy makes us immune to fire, but it does tickle! Trixie, send the unbelievers a thank-you gift!"

Trixie skipped over to the pile of boulders. She grasped a rock the size of a refrigerator and lifted it over her head.

"Run!" Briar screamed.

"We are running!" Jason picked up the speed.

"Run better!" Leo shouted.

They reached the edge of the clearing when a shadow passed overhead.

"Veer left!" Leo yelled.

They dove into the trees as the boulder slammed next to them with a jaw-rattling thud. They skidded down a ravine until Briar felt Leo crash into her and Jason. They ended up rolling downhill like a demigod snowball. They crashed into Brooke's stream at the bottom, helped each other up, and stumbled deeper into the woods. Behind them, Briar heard the Maenads laughing and shouting, urging her to come back so they could rip her to shreds.

For some reason, Briar wasn't tempted.

Jason pulled them behind a massive oak tree, where they stood gasping for breath. Briar's elbow was scraped up pretty badly. Jason's left pants leg had ripped almost completely off, so it looked like his leg was wearing a denim cape. Somehow, they'd all made it down the hill without killing themselves with their own weapons, which was a miracle.

"How do we beat them?" Jason demanded. "They're immune to fire. They're super strong."

"We can't kill them," Briar said.

"There has to be a way," Leo said.

"No. We can't kill them," Briar said. "Anyone who kills a Maenad is cursed by Bac — fuck, Dionysus. Haven't you read the old stories? People who kill his followers go crazy or get morphed into animals or . . . you know, Dionysus things."

"Worse than letting the Maenads rip us to shreds?" Jason asked.

"Weren't you the one that met him?" Briar quipped. "I vaguely recall that being you and Piper. I think that I was off on a date with Reyna. Something about a museum? Anyway, you were the one who met him, so you tell me."

"Fine," Jason said, rolling his eyes at her. "So we have to stop them without killing them. Anyone got a really big piece of flypaper?"

"We're outnumbered four to one," Briar said. "Plus . . ." She grabbed Leo's wrist and checked his watch. "We have twenty minutes until Bunker Nine explodes."

"It's impossible," Jason summed up.

"We're dead," Briar agreed.

"I've got it," Leo said suddenly. "Jason, you'll have to find Buford. You know which way he went. Circle back and find him, then bring him to the bunker, quick! Once you're far enough from the Maenads, maybe you can control the winds again. Then you can fly."

Jason frowned. "What about you two?"

"We're going to lead the Maenads out of your way," Leo said, "straight to Bunker Nine."