The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

thirteen

THE HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS COME TO THE RESCUE

Apollo knocked and fired at the chain.

His shot was ill-planned.

Peaches struggled and swung so much, his arrow sailed past his chain and felled a random blemmyae in the stands.

"Stop!" Meg shrieked at Apollo. "You might hit Peaches!"

The emperor laughed. "Yes, that would be a shame when he's about to burn to death!"

Commodus leaped from his box onto the racetrack. Meg raised her sword and prepared to charge, but mercenaries in the stands leveled their rifles.

No matter that Apollo and Ariana were fifty yards away-the snipers had aim worthy of...well, Apollo. A swarm of red targeting dots floated over their chests.

"Now, now, Meg," the emperor chided, pointing to Apollo and Ariana. "My game, my rules. Unless you want to lose three friends in the dress rehearsal."

Meg lifted one sword, then the other, weighing them like options. She was too far away for Ariana to clearly see her expression, but she could sense her agony.

As Meg hesitated, a pit crew in togas rolled another Formula One car onto the track-a bright purple machine with a golden number 1 on the hood.

Protruding from the roof was a wiry lance about twenty feet tall, topped with a wad of cloth.

Then Ariana looked again at the dangling karpos. In the spotlights, Peaches glistened as if he'd been slathered with grease.

His feet, usually bare, were covered in rough sandpaper-like the striking surface of a matchbook.

Ariana's gut twisted. The race car's antenna wasn't an antenna. It was a giant match, set at just the right height to ignite against Peaches's feet.

"Once I'm in the car," Commodus announced, "my mercenaries will not interfere. Meg, you may try to stop me any way you please! My plan is to complete one circuit, light your friend on fire, then circle back around and hit you and Apollo with my car. I believe they call that a victory lap!"

The crowd roared with approval.

Commodus leaped into his car. His pit crew scattered, and the purple racer peeled out in a cloud of smoke.

Ariana's blood turned to cold-pressed olive oil, pumping sluggishly through her heart. How long would it take for that race car to get around the track?

Seconds, at most.

She suspected Commodus's windshield was arrow-proof. He wouldn't leave them such an easy solution.

Ariana hesitated on using her powers - she had already used her shadows and she was scared from passing out after her water dragon stunt.

Meanwhile, Meg guided her ostrich under the swinging karpos. She stood on the bird's back (no easy task) and reached as high as she could, but Peaches was much too far above her.

"Turn into a fruit!" Meg shouted up at him. "Disappear!"

"Peaches!" Peaches wailed, which probably meant: Don't you think I would if I could?

Ariana guessed that the ropes were somehow magically restricting his shape-shifting, confining him to his present form.

Commodus was now halfway around the track. He could have gone faster, but he insisted on swerving and waving to the cameras.

The other race cars pulled over to let him pass, making Ariana wonder if they understood the concept of racing.

Meg leaped from the ostrich's back.