Hunter

Chapter Forty Seven - One Step Closer

The portal was several flights of stairs beneath us, and I knew for a fact that Hephaestus was there. The question was, where was his dragon? We stepped down the stairs carefully, and the closer we got, the darker it was. Along with less light, the temperature dropped dramatically. It was cold enough that I could feel it, so I wondered how Dee and Jas must've felt. I could hear their teeth chattering as I just began to shiver. I limped on forward. Living in the Midwest meant winter nine out of twelve months in the year.

"Well done, Hunter. You've single handedly managed to destroy Olympus and my robot army."

"I'm going to destroy you next."

"You seem to forget that I am immortal, and I am increasingly powerful."

"You seem to forget that I'm Hayley Hunter... with the necklace."

"You don't frighten me, little girl. You have one more obstacle to climb over. Only then will I be worried."

When my foot landed on the last step, the ground moved and raised. Spikes tore out of the earth and extended into the air. I grabbed onto the nearest one, trying to regain my balance. The spikes were rough and grooved, providing handholds for me. Dee and Jas were gripping on for their dear lives as the monstrosity beneath us unfolded. Whirring and clicking surrounded us as the robot transformed into something bigger than I could have ever imagined. Large wings sprouted out of the dragon's back, tossing us several feet below. I spotted Dee and Jas falling around me, and grabbed them out of the air with wind, using resistance to soften our fall. We landed on the ground with a gentle thud at the feet of the dragon.

I was scared.

I actually admitted to myself that I was terrified.

The dragon resembled several military tanks that had been glued together. It's dark metal was indestructibly solid, like nothing could penetrate it. There was no way my stupid dagger would be able scratch its surface. Hephaestus cackled, the sound making me cringe.

"Yes, Hunter. This... is what I'm capable of."

"Hayley!" My head snapped to left, paying attention to Dee.

"What?"

"Aiden managed to break through the force field! He has the effects reversed in a way that Hephaestus won't notice. He wants us to stall until the gods have regained their power so that they can get down here." She spoke hurriedly and in a low voice. She relayed the same information over to Jasper, and together, we came up with a plan that would get us out unharmed, but still do the job. Once we understood the strategy, Dee and Jas rushed off in opposite directions while I stood in the very center, facing the dragon head on. It didn't attack, and I wasn't going to make the first move. Hephaestus was still talking in the background, but I was watching his pet's frosty blue eyes.

Its large jaws opened, and I braced myself for a blast of heat, but of shot of cold spread out around me. Snow swirled in sharp shards, slicing at my skin. Pulling up a slab of earth, I built a wall behind me to protect myself from the cold. The frost seeped into my skin, into my blood, and straight in my heart, numbing and paralyzing me. The flurries dashed around, almost as if they had a mind of their own. I tried to focus on staying alive. Pushing forward, the wall heightened, reducing the burn of the ice. I extended the wall left and right, hoping that it would reach Dee and Jasper. Pulling another slab of earth up, it connected with the first diagonal slab, closing me in a triangle. The result was long passageway that extended to my left and right..

I didn't know if Dee or Jas were in there, but I needed to find a way to help them if they weren't. I dug a tunnel into the ground by pushing the rocks out of my way. I moved quickly, only stopping when I heard a loud thud above my head. I created a large hole in the ground and receded into my tunnel. Waiting, the second thud landed, and a large metal foot crashed into the hole. Throwing my hands forward, the earth closed around the dragon's foot, trapping it in the ground. I unearthed myself, seeing the beast struggling to remove its metallic paw from my trap.

Sprinting to the opposite hind leg, I swiped away layers of the ground from underneath that foot. It started to sink deeper into the ground, but my luck had run out, and I was slapped to the side by a huge piece of metal. I skidded across the snow, the white fluff sliding underneath my clothes, chilling me even more.

"I could have killed you by now, Hunter, but I enjoy taking my time." The dragon pulled its leg out of the earth, sand and rocks flying everywhere. I caught a glimpse of Jasper and Dee on the other side of the rock passageway that I had created. Standing, I faced the dragon, electricity balled in my hands. Attacking it would keep Hephaestus distracted, so that's what I did. I threw lightning bolts at the beast, small chunks falling off. Experimenting with my power, I flew into the air, holding my electricity like it was a sword. I long broad strip of power extended from my hands, working as a makeshift weapon.

"Now you're nothing but a little mosquito in the face of death."

"More than a million people die from mosquito bites a year!" I charged for the eyes, seeing that to be the most vulnerable part. Frosted glass orbs stared at me as I shot a bolt right through the ball. Shards fell to the ground from thousands of feet up, and I went for the second eye.

"Not. So. Fast." Giant metal teeth bit at me in the air, and I was swallowed whole into the mouth of the dragon. Metal scraps began to shift inside, blades ready to shred me to pieces. I shot bolts at every little machine, trying to prevent myself from becoming ground beef. I tried to fly backwards and away from impending doom, but something kept pulling me closer to the back of the throat. I was hyperventilating, breathing hard and fast the closer that I came to death, but I did not stop fighting.

If I was going to die, I would die the way that I lived: fighting for what I wanted.

In the midst of my attack, a blast of heat in the cold hit the back of my body. I fell out of the dragon's mouth and caught myself in the air before I fell to my death. Aiden! Aiden was there, smelting the dragon with his flames.