Page 26

Her fingers absently stroked a sleeping Sprig, his head peeking out of her bag. Still in a honey coma, he woke up long enough to get a granola bar down his throat before he passed out again. He stuck close to AB as if he knew she needed him, needed his comfort.

Never in a billion years would I ever admit it to a living soul, but I was glad he was here. At least for Annabeth—one of those comfort animals for the sick. And I guess every once in a while, he was handy to have around.

But that was it.

Jumping from AB, my gaze met with Cooper’s. His eyes were flickering red, a sign his beast was close to the surface. The magic down here had to affect his DNA, which was made to hunt and kill any threats.

His nose flared, sniffing the air, black fur growing on his arms before it receded.

“Croy—” I didn’t even hear the rest of my name, my head snapping to Kat. Apprehension flooded me, raising my defenses up through my shoulders. But it washerunease,herfeelings. I felt them broadcast through me like a radio, like I had my own private channel to her.

Given no time to even contemplate whatever the hell that was, my own instincts picked up on something as the old man veered us around the corner. Everything in my body rang with alarm, screaming something my brain had yet to understand, but my gut knew. A smell, an intuition, a recognition deep in my subconscious. It sucked the air from my lungs, locking up my muscles with a trauma I buried deep.

Before I could place my finger on the trigger, a horde of figures pulled away from the walls, their bodies almost invisible in the sheer darkness, coming at us in a blink. Guns went to our heads, halting us in place.

“Don’t move.” Sharp teeth snapped near my ear, his nasal voice turning my blood to ice. More things moved around, relieving me of my gun but not bothering to procure the blades attached to my hips. They were no threat to them. Behind, I heard Cooper roar, Kat trying to fight back while AB and I stood frozen. Shock held us prisoner, wrapping us in terror.

No. There’s no way.

My eyes took in what my brain didn’t want to compute, disbelief and fear spinning the room as less and less oxygen seemed to reach my lungs.

The old man stopped, turning slowly around, a strange smirk on his mouth as his gaze glided over the stocky, strange physiques around him. More of the forms moved up to him like they were his warriors.

“You were right to mistrust me.” His friendly attitude and perfect English dropped away slightly, his shoulders pinning back, standing him up straight. “You thought I was your hostage when all along you were mine. Lambs to slaughter.”

My lungs pumped, spots dotting my vision—I was close to passing out.

“I know who you are, who most of you are.” He glanced from me to AB, to Cooper. “I’ve been waiting for you to finally make it down here. We all have.” The man smiled, gesturing to his men. “They are eager to be reacquainted. One especially.”

An enormous figure stepped forward from the shadows, his thick tail dragging along the dirt, almost dropping me to the ground.

It wasn’t his barbed scorpion tail or his deformed human body that had terror flooding my veins; it was the piercing green eyes and the familiar heart-shaped face.

Zoey’s eyes and face.

My body jolted back, vomit pooling in my stomach at seeing the scorpion tail.

Oh. Holy. Fuck.

I knew him.

Annabeth screamed beside me, a shrill, agonizing cry which cut through my heart. I tasted her pain, the nightmare she was experiencing right now, because I was in it too. We were both taken back to the underground labs and the castle where we fought against these things… lost loved ones.

My gaze moved around, taking in more creatures with Zoey’s features, though some had dark hair and eyes, resembling their “mother,” Sera. She was also part of DMG, another Seer like Zoey. They harvested eggs from her before she died.

The true originals.

The creatures that should never have existed.

Abominations.

I couldn’t move as bile burned up the back of my throat, my head still trying to deny, to shake off what was in front of me.

This can’t be happening. They were supposed to be dead.Killed after our battle with Stavros and the Stone.

But I couldn’t deny Zoey was in a lot of these faces. Her DNA.

Dr. Rapava’s experiments—his Frankenstein-like monsters were here.