The Blood of the Hydra (29 page)

“A group of middle school kids tried to come in here to do who knows what, but I scared them away,” he told us. “But the cemetery won’t stay empty for long. Those wolves need to be taken care of before morning.”

“It won’t be a problem,” Blake said, stepping forward. “We’ve got this.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure about that?” he asked. “You all look like you haven’t even graduated high school.”

Blake didn’t reply—instead he flicked on his lighter, created three fireballs with the flames, and sent them all flying at a nearby tree. The witch on patrol stared at the blaze, his mouth dropped open in shock. Then a stream of water rushed towards the tree, putting out the flames in seconds.

“Really, Blake?” Danielle crossed her arms, glaring at him.

“What?” he asked, his face a perfect expression of innocence.

“That was completely unnecessary,” she said, motioning to the tree. “You used up energy you could have used fighting those wolves, and now that old tree is destroyed.”

“I was just showing our new friend here what we can do,” he said. “And besides, Kate can fix up the tree. Can’t you, Kate?”

“Trust me, I will,” she said. “
After
we take of those wolves.”

Something howled nearby, the call echoing through the air. It was unmistakably a wolf. A sound like that belonged in the mountains of Montana—not in our town outside of Boston.

“Come on.” I turned towards the sound and reached for my bow, wanting to be ready in case anything jumped out at us. “It came from that way.”

“There’s still five of them, right?” Chris asked the guard.

“Yes,” he said. “From what we’ve seen of their behavior so far, they stick with their pack. There are no lone wolves in this group.” He looked back at where the sound came from, and then eyed us up one more time. “Are you kids sure you’ve got this? You don’t want any help?”

“Trust me—we’ll be fine,” I told him. “These wolves have nothing on the monsters we’ve killed before. It’ll be easiest if you just let us handle this.”

He glanced at the tree again, where the smoke from the flames was still rising up, the smell of burnt leaves filling the air. “Be my guest,” he said, motioning us to go inside the gate. “If you need any backup, I’ll be here.”

I nodded at him, and the five of us marched towards where the howl had come from, ready for a fight.

The wolves were gathered in front of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia—a re-created monument in the center of the cemetery that had been built over a hundred years ago as a way to honor the gods. The statue currently had scaffolding around it, since it was under repair. According to the humans in town, the statue had been struck by lightning so strong that it had destroyed the stone eagle that Zeus had been holding. No one knew where the eagle had gone—some of the more superstitious suspected that the god had incinerated it himself.

We were the only ones who knew the truth of what had happened—how the eagle was part of a scavenger hunt set up for us by the gods. We’d had to remove the eagle from the statue to find the clue hidden inside. It was now displayed in our training center in Darius’s basement.

The statue had been peaceful then. Now, we formed a semi-circle around the wolves, backing them against the statue, giving them no place to run. They growled at us, their glowing yellow eyes staring us down. Their lips pulled up to reveal their teeth, which glinted white in the light of the moon. But I held their gazes, not backing down. If they thought they were intimidating us, they didn’t know who they were dealing with.

They must not like being backed into a corner, because the wolf in front—the biggest one, who appeared to be the pack leader—pulled back, snarled, and barreled toward us. He didn’t make it five feet before one of my arrows embedded itself into his heart.

“Three pointer for Nicole!” Chris called out, as if announcing a sports game. “Bullseye.” He threw a knife, and a breeze passed by my face as he used his power over the air to direct the weapon into another wolf’s heart. “These puppies are making this
way
too easy for us,” he said with a laugh.

At that moment, Blake and Danielle charged toward the remaining three wolves, holding their swords in front of them. They swung, and two more wolves were down, the swords were covered in blood.

Chris pumped his fist in the air, as if he were watching a game. “Blake and Danielle both go in for slam dunks, and they both
score
!” he said, still talking in his sports announcer voice. “This is getting good. There’s only one wolf left, and there’s five of us.” He rubbed his hands together, eyeing up the wolf. “He doesn’t stand a chance.”

The wolf must have agreed with him, because it backed itself into a corner, its tail down. I had my arrow strung, ready to shoot, but seeing the animal like that made me pause. Despite the unnatural yellow glow in its eyes, at that moment, it looked harmless. I didn’t doubt that it would attack if the odds were in its favor, but that wasn’t the case now. Without it going on the offense, it felt too much like killing in cold blood.

But that didn’t stop Danielle, who stormed up to it and ran her sword through its heart. The wolf let out a final whimper and collapsed at her feet.

“Danielle goes for the final point, and she takes the team in for a win!” Chris said, clapping and hollering in victory. “The wolves should’ve known that they had nothing on the Elementals.”

Within seconds, all five wolves flickered and disappeared, as if they had never been there in the first place. They’d been sent to limbo, where they would remain for the next year until being returned to Kerberos, thanks to the poisonous serum coating our weapons.

Danielle wiped the blood off her sword and held it up in the air, admiring the moonlight glinting off the metal. “Was that ridiculously easy, or are we just getting better?” she asked, slipping the sword back into its sheath.

“You’re getting better,” an unknown, female voice said from off in the shadows. The voice was soft, although it somehow managed to be clear and strong as well—as if I could hear the echo of it inside my own mind. “But that doesn’t mean that you have to be so full of yourselves. Especially given all of the challenges you have ahead.”

I turned toward the direction of the voice at the same time as a tall, ethereal woman stepped out into the clearing. Her black evening gown slithered around her like the shadows themselves, the fabric billowing around her and sparkling with the lights of the stars. Her long, black hair flowed all the way to her waist, her skin so pale that it seemed to glow with the light of the moon.

I blinked a few times, to make sure she was real and not a hallucination. She was there, but she was also slightly hazy, as if she wasn’t there at the same time. It was like she was a ghost, or a shadow.

“Who are you?” I asked softly, still transfixed by her otherworldly beauty.

“I am Nyx,” she answered with a smile, the stars on her dress twinkling as she spoke. “The primordial deity of night itself.”

* * *

Get
Elementals 3: The Head of Medusa
delivered to your Kindle on release day by going to Amazon and pre-ordering it NOW!
Click here to pre-order


The second book of the Elementals series was so much fun to write! Thank you, as always, to my family and friends. You know who you are! You all always loved Elementals, even when it sat on my computer for years. It was your love for this story that convinced me to put it out there and complete the series!

Danielle Barclay—thank you for all of your great advice, and for the time spent getting word of this series out to readers. The graphics you create are beautiful!

Cameron Yeager—you do such a fantastic job handling the details of the marketing plans I create. I know how much time that takes and how much work it is, and I appreciate every single second of it.

Benjamin Alderson—I’m so glad you love the Elementals series! I was so excited when you first messaged me to let me know that you wanted to read it. Thank you for spreading word of it through your social media accounts! You’re amazing!

Kim Killion—thank you for bringing the series to life through your beautiful covers. They truly represent this series PERFECTLY!

Elise Kova—thank you for being an amazing listener whenever I need to vent about anything in this crazy world of publishing! I’m so grateful to have you as a friend.

Derek Murphy and the Young Adult Author Alliance—I’m SO happy I found this group! Thank you, Derek, for starting it. Everything we discuss is so helpful and encouraging. It’s wonderful to have found such like-minded, business-oriented authors out there. I’m constantly learning from the group, and it’s helped me reach so many more readers!

My Street Team—thank you for being amazing and supportive. It means so much to me every time you share something about my books on your social media accounts. I love hearing from you and talking with you in the Street Team Facebook group!

Michelle Madow writes fast-paced YA (young adult) fiction that will leave you turning the pages wanting more!

She's always loved writing stories, but the possibility of being an author used to feel more like a dream than a reality. She didn’t share her stories with anyone until her junior year of college, when she signed up for an Intro to Creative Writing course. Her teacher and classmates read the first chapter of a book idea she had, and they loved it so much that they told her she had to finish the book so they could find out what happened next. By the end of the school year, Michelle finished that book, which would later be published as her first novel.

Michelle grew up in Baltimore, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida, where she writes books for young adults. Some of her favorite things are: reading, pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing. Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.

Visit Michelle online at
www.michellemadow.com

To get exclusive content and instant updates on Michelle’s new books,
CLICK HERE
and subscribe to her newsletter!

Follow her on:

Facebook:
/MichelleMadow

Twitter:
@MichelleMadow

Instagram:
@MichelleMadow

Snapchat: MichLMadow