The God's Reign: Book one, The Knowing

Chapter 18- running through the park made stressful by your local policemen

I had climbed on the roof of the Parthenon, hoping that Hepheastus would come and join in "the fun", but he hadn't come yet. At least, that's what I thought.

A hammer flew toward my head from the back side of the roof. I ducked instinctively, but I lost my balance. My ankles twisted and I slid down the dip in the entrance. I heard Hillary and the others  scream my name, but I wasn't dead yet. I gripped my hands around the very edge of the roof, wincing at my almost death. Then, I heard police cars and fire trucks zoom in on the scene. One of the police officers came out of his vehicle and yelled at me. "Get down from the roof, miss. Or we'll have to come and get you ourselves!" Well, I could if I wasn't trying to kill a god over here!

I looked up to see Hepheastus looming over me with a triumphant expression. His eyes still flicked around the roof in panic, but his pride seemed to overwhelm his fear. Hepheastus grinned and threw his head back. The mentally ill god cackled and emitted fire from his fingers spontaneously. I flinched, but I realized that one wrong flich could make me fall. So I held it together best I could. The fire from his fingers sailed downward thanks to the howling wind. Underneath me, I realized that the pavement below began to burst into flames. 

"Nice try for escape, but no one can escape death- you, as a daughter of Hades, should know that," he mused. "Are you just going to hang there or am I going to have to push you off."

I ran over the plan in my head, hoping to the dead and insane gods that it wasn't going to be a flop. My eyes bore into Hepheastus, trying to match his intensity. "How about we go together?" I panted. I swiftly grabbed one last mechanical spider from my pocket and I itched its abdomen. The spider shot its golden webbing at Hepheastus, who swat away the webbing, but the string had wrapped around him like a secure lasso. Once that was set, I squinted my eyes, letting go of my grip. This all happened very fast- but here is the jist of what happened.

As I was falling, I felt the sensation of gravity schlepp me back to the ground. My limbs began to lose feeling, but I flexed my muscles. No way I could fail now. Hepheastus was attempting to shimmy out of the webbing, I yanked the webbing down, which tore him off the roof as well. Since he was heavier than me, he fell faster, catching up to my descent. I reached over and climbed on his back, pinning him in midair while also making him break my fall. He squirmed in his gold bindings, but that didn't matter any more- he was falling and there was nothing he could do about it. He shouted from fear and anxiety, his godly rage dissipated.

The yelling god landed with a ploomph! We lay there on the brick sidewalk, everyone around us silent as the grave. I felt the blistering heat from the flames around us, but because of our fall, we had put out the flames within a three yard radius. The impact sent a surge through my body- knocking the breath out of me temporarily. Even with Hepheastus breaking my fall, my ears rang and my bones felt shattered. Hepheastus.

Despite my muscles having the strength of a squished banana, I leaped off of Hepheastus's back, preparing for him to bounce back. And a good thing too: Hepheastus quivered up to a stand, grunting in pain and relief that he had survived the fall. I then noticed that his stomach and chest were rotting from flames that ate away his insides. His bones popped and started to crack under the heat; all of this and Hepheastus didn't seem to notice. He had landed on top of the fire... maybe the fire god isn't so fireproof. 

The god had no regard for his inner roasting. He picked up his hammer and began to below in rage. I flinched back and went for my sword ring. But then Hepheastus froze in midbellow as his eyes widened. His chest inferno spread and crackled along his limbs. His skin blackened and crumbled horrifcally into ash. As the godly cremations fixated into a pile on the pavement, I clenched my heart,feeling the same excruciating pain whenever something immortal entered the depths of hell.

The god was defeated. Now that wasn't so hard (complete lie).

I ran out of the fire zone and panted over to Hillary and the others. My blue-haired bestie hugged me so hard my lungs were being grinded by my own ribs. She yelled in my face of how never to do that again, and what was i thinking- but I knew was happy as hell to see me survive that. Caleb and the others stared at me, speechless.

We heard a police officer blow his whistle. "Hey you kid! Stay right there!"

"Let's scram," Hannah suggested. We sprinted past the fire and into the ceremonial park. The officer, along with several of his co-workers, frantically shouting at us to stop and alerting other units. So far, we were outrunning him, but that wouldn't last for long.

"Where's Lucifer?" Hillary shouted to me as she swerved around a picnic table. 

I whistled for the hellhound, who then came galloping toward us in hound form. He panted happily and allowed us to climb on to his back. 

Caleb skid to a halt. "Whoa!" He screeched in surprise. "This is your ride?!" He started to back away.

"You have two choices as a way out- the dog or a police car." Ethan remarked.

Caleb looked behind us- several cops were running closer, waving their tazing patons. "Dog," he decided. Hillary offered him a hand and pulled himup on Lucifer's 20foot long spine. I hoisted myself onto the back of the hellhound's neck. "Take us away from here. Hellhound, Pa-" I froze. Something caught my eye.

Back at the Parthenon, the firefighters were showering the pavement and the inside of the temple with fire hydrant water. On the side of the pavement, a familiar figure stared directly at us. His eyes full of hatred as he galloped toward us- Chiron. Not again. Not right after I thought we were going to be safe.

"Pao," I whispered. Then, out of panic, I consistently hit Lucifer on the shoulderblade. "Pao Pao Pao Pao!!!" I screeched frantically. Lucifer yelped, breaking into a run, knocking a tree down in the process.

The speed made my hair fly wildly around my face. I gripped Lucifer's black pelt until my knuckles turned white. Behind us, a raging Chiron hightailed through the park. He was ten yards from us.

"Now would be a good time to disappear, bud'!" I told my hellhound. He barked in response, gaining more . It felt like I had my head out the window of a car driving 70 mph. The wind hurled so fast it hurt to open my eyes.

Instead of attempting to keep up, Chiron grimaced in frustration and loaded his bow with three arrows. He released the string. With well-marked accuracy, the arrows flew and stuck into Lucifer's leg. The hellhound howled in pain. But before he could collapse, he entered the void of darkness and transported us into an entirely different place.