The Demigods of Olympus: An Interactive Adventure (6 page)

“A ch-challenge!” I managed to shout, wracking my brain for facts about lions, hoping they would also apply to
leontes
.

He stopped, the hint of a smile flitting across his massive jowls. “What do you mean, ‘a challenge’?”

“Your sister challenged me with a riddle and promised to let me go if I answered it correctly. I answered it and the gods struck her down.”

The
leonte
looked around nervously. “You lie.”

Sam sidled closer to me and whispered, “I think you’re thinking of the sphinx.”

“You’re the king of the jungle, aren’t you? Everyone knows kings must be stronger
and
smarter.”

“That’s true,” said the
leonte
. “But I am sure my sister did not offer you a challenge. And if she did, you certainly did not outwit her. She was the cleverest daughter of Atalanta.”

“And I suppose you’re the cleverest son?” I tried to remember a riddle—
any
riddle.

“Of course,” he said, sitting back on his haunches, licking his lips mightily. I heard Sam squeak.

“Then you wouldn’t mind proving it,” I said. “After all, the gods
are
watching…even Aphrodite.”

The
leonte
leapt to his feet and growled. “I will accept your challenge. And then I will destroy you,
demigod
.” He began to pace the room, waiting.

I walked over toward the locker, keeping my back to it and my eyes averted. “I’ll ask you the same riddle your sister asked me. If you answer it correctly, I will kneel and accept my fate. If you fail, you kneel in front of me.”

“Zane,” said Sam, his voice quivering,
“what are you doing?”

“Ask it, then,” snarled the
leonte
.

“Okay,” I said, clearing my throat. “Here is your riddle. Um…

“Hurry,” snarled the
leonte
. “Ask it just as she did.”

“What is the only thing you can see in the dark?” I blurted out.

“In the dark?” asked the
leonte
, pacing the room. I edged closer to the closet.

“Yes. In the dark. Exactly as your sister asked me.”

“And you answered this correctly?”

“In seconds. I just closed my eyes to look in the dark and I saw the answer,” I said with as much bravado as I could muster.

“Hm,” the
leonte
said and sat, thinking.

Sam looked at me and I nodded with what I hoped was confidence as I moved a few steps closer to the locker.

The
leonte
glared at me, then at Sam. After a moment, he carefully closed his eyes and I lunged for the locker, unsheathing the sword and slashing the blade across the monster’s chest. He collapsed, howling in pain. The blade glowed with a faint bronze light.

“Miserable demigod!” The lion’s fur disintegrated. His limbs crumbled into columns of yellow powder. “You will never succeed! Your quest will not…”

He collapsed into a pile of dust.

For a moment, the library was as silent as…well, a library.

Sam let out a delayed bleat. “Wow! That—that was—”

“Terrifying?” I asked. My hands shook. My legs could barely hold up my weight.

I had officially reached
maximum weirdness overload
. I wanted to crawl into Sam’s secret storage cabinet, close the door, and cry for a week.

Instead, things just got weirder.

YOU HAVE DONE WELL.
A woman’s voice echoed around the abandoned room.

Wind swept through the broken window, ruffling the open books, blowing torn pages across the floor.

Dust motes swirled in a shaft of sunlight, solidifying into the form of a woman. She wore luminous white robes covered in intricate black patterns…
words
, I realized, as if her clothes were woven from e-reader screens. Dark hair curled around her timeless face. Her eyes bored right through me.

Sam bowed. “Your—Your Greatness. Your Most Well-Read Majesty.”

“Mnemosyne,” I guessed. “The goddess of memory.”

The goddess inclined her head. “And you are the hero I have heard so much about.”

I realized I was pointing my weapon at the goddess, which probably wasn’t a smart idea. I lowered it. “You’ve heard about me?”

“Oh, yes.” Mnemosyne sighed. “I never forget a story, or a name, or a face. Actually, I never forget anything. Being the memory goddess can be quite annoying. I saw this
horrible
Ben Stiller movie fifteen years ago and I
still
can’t get the dialogue out of my mind.”

“Uh, okay,” I said. “But getting back to me…”

“Yes,” the goddess agreed. She scanned the ruins of the library. “You did me a service, cleansing this place of the monster’s filth. Once, this was a holy site of learning, reading, and free Internet. Alas, the mortals consider such things of little value. You, my young hero, have many adventures ahead of you. Your quest will be remembered for centuries, written about in many books…assuming, of course, you survive. To aid in your journey, I offer you a gift.” The goddess swept her white robes aside to reveal a small wooden lectern with three items on top of it. “Depending on how well you know yourself, it may help you. Or not. Choose wisely.”

What kind of gifts would a goddess give?
I thought.
Gold? Frankincense? An iPod?
I walked excitedly over to the lectern, but my heart sank when I scanned the items: an old library card, a battered pair of glasses, and a small section of white cloth.

I looked to Sam, but he only nodded encouragingly and echoed her words, “Choose wisely, Zane.”

Very helpful
, I thought. I guess he was serious about me making all the decisions.

Slowly, I extended my hand and took the library card.

The goddess nodded and her robes swung forward, enveloping the lectern. “An excellent choice, my young hero,” she said. “I wish you well.”

“Wait!” I gulped. “Do you—do you know who my godly parent is?”

“Ah…” The lines around the goddess’s eyes tightened, almost as if she felt sorry for me. “That you must learn for yourself. I can only set you on the path.”

She turned to Sam. “My young satyr Greenwood, you must lead your friend to Austin. There you will find the answers you seek.”

“Austin, Texas…?” Sam’s face blanched. “But Austin has, um, those
special
monsters…”

“Yes, it does,” said the goddess. “Your quest will not be easy, but it
is
necessary.” She looked at me again. “If you would know your true parentage, go to Austin. Seek out the river god Barton. Do not forget me, hero. Rest assured, I will not forget you.”

The goddess dissolved into sunlight.

Sam made a small whimpering noise. “Austin…oh, I still have nightmares about Austin.”

I tried to control my racing heartbeat. I couldn’t quite believe I’d had a conversation with an immortal goddess. “What—what happened to you in Austin? What kind of river god is named
Barton
? And what are those
special
monsters you mentioned?”

His lower lip quivered. “I’ll tell you all that when we get closer. I promise. If I have to talk about it now…”

His eyes welled with tears. I realized Sam was even more shaken up about today’s events than I was. So yeah, maybe he knew all about this weird world of gods and monsters. And maybe the gods had assigned him to protect me. But he was still my friend, and I would have to step up and protect him, too.

I looked around at all the scattered books, covered with dust. Mnemosyne had claimed that my deeds would be written about someday, assuming I survived. I didn’t care about being famous. I
did
care about surviving. If I had to be in a story, I didn’t want the ending to read:
And he died painfully.

“It’s going to be all right,” I told Sam. “We’re in this together. I don’t like the idea of staying here overnight, though. How about we get going?”

Sam took a deep breath. “Yeah. It’s a long way to Austin.”

“Then let’s get started.” I grabbed one of the hiking packs and slung it over my shoulder. “Let’s go find out who my godly parent is.”

“Woods,” I said slowly, worrying that the
leonte
was simply waiting at the edge of the tree line for us to come back.

Sam nodded, thinking. “Maybe that’s a better choice.”

“Has to be better than this one,” I said, starting back toward the forest.

“Not necessarily,” said Sam.

Together we carefully entered the woods. Not seeing any sign of the
leonte
, we sprinted through the trees until we reached the edge of the river. I was having second thoughts as we stared at the frothing water, the swirling eddies, the sharp-edged rocks…until a loud growl brought me back to my new reality.

Sam shuddered. “Give me your folder. Just in case.”

I hadn’t even thought about the red folder getting ruined. I handed it to Sam, who pulled a Ziploc bag out of his backpack. He wrapped up the folder and stuffed it in his bag.

“Why do you always carry Ziplocs?” I asked.

“They make great snacks.”

I hoped he was kidding. Then again, I had no idea what satyrs considered tasty junk food.

I took a few steps back and inhaled deeply.

Another roar, this time much closer.

“Go!” said Sam, and I sprinted for the river. When I reached its bank, I planted my foot in the soft mud and took a wild leap. I knew immediately that I’d misjudged the distance, and I flailed my arms as I crashed near the opposite bank.

I landed hard in the shallow water, a small boulder high-fiving my chest and smashing the wind out of me. I moaned as I clung to the slippery rock and tried to catch my breath, the howls of the
leonte
growing closer.

Two hooves landed with a
thump
right in front of my face, and I looked up to see Sam there, staring down at me with a concerned look. “Not sure this was the best decision,” he said, reaching down and yanking me to my feet. I winced, ignoring the pain shooting through my limbs. “We’re stuck with it, though, so come on.”

He took off running through the woods, and I did my best to follow. My knee ached from the fall, and I was sure my chest was bruised. Five minutes…then ten. How far
was
this place?

Sam had to keep stopping to wait for me. “I think the
leonte
ran downstream,” he said, anxiously looking behind me. “Probably looking for a better place to cross. That’ll buy us a little more time, but we really, really have to hurry.”

Too winded to speak, I nodded and gulped as much air as I could. Sweat poured down my face and my thighs screamed in protest. Twice I fell and had to be hauled to my feet by my satyr protector.

I was contemplating whether death by lion would be more or less painful than a heart attack when we burst into a clearing behind the old public library.

“Yes!” said Sam. “Let’s get inside!”

The town library had been shut down several years ago—something about state funding cuts. With its red brick facade, white columns, and clock tower, the library had always been the nicest building on Main Street. Now that it was closed, it felt like the town’s heart had stopped beating.

The windows were dark. The main entrance was boarded up. Taggers had spray-painted neon graffiti across the front steps.

“How do we get in?” I asked.

“Around the side.” Sam led me to a storm cellar entrance half-hidden in the bushes. A big padlock hung from the latch, but Sam produced a key from his backpack and opened the lock.

“You’re full of surprises,” I noticed.

Sam shrugged. “It’s nothing fancy inside, but at least the goddess might protect us.”

“There’s a goddess…?”

Sam nodded and descended into the cellar. I didn’t feel so sure about following him into the dark, but I also didn’t want to wait around for the
leonte
to catch up. I climbed down the steps and closed the door behind us.

That’s when I heard it…the rustle of little feet scurrying across the floor. And
squeaking
. Lots of squeaking.

“S-Sam? What’s that?” I whispered, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

Sam paused to listen before taking his next step down. “Oh, I’m sure it’s just—”

“Rats,”
I blurted, a shudder running through my body. “Oh, no. I can’t go down there, Sam. I can’t.”

“Oh,” said Sam. “That’s right.” He pulled a flashlight from his backpack, wincing as the beam swept across rows of moldering cardboard boxes, stacks of folding chairs…and a moving, furry floor. There were rats
everywhere
—hundreds of them. My chest clenched up, and I felt like the walls were closing in. I turned and started back up the stairs, but Sam grabbed me and shook his head. “The
leonte
,” he whispered.

“But you
know
how I feel about rats,” I said.

“You’re going to have to get over it,” said Sam. “There’s really no other choice.”

I took a deep breath. The basement smelled of mildew and rust and wet fur (though I guessed that last smell could be from Sam). He panned the flashlight over the writhing, squeaking floor, landing the beam on a small set of stairs directly opposite us. “There,” he said. “Those stairs lead to the main reading room. If we can make it across, we’ll be safe.”

“But how?” I said. “There must be a million of them!”

“Maybe you can get on my shoulders?” said Sam doubtfully.

“And risk you dropping me in the middle of the rat ocean? Fat chance.”

“Well, do you have any other ideas?” asked Sam, shining the light around the room.

Something brushed against my leg and I jumped straight up in the air, trying not to scream. This was literally my worst nightmare come true.

“There’re no other options?” I asked, angry that my voice sounded so weak and frightened.

“Um,” said Sam. “Not really, no.”