The Promise of Hades (The Hades Trials #3) - Eliza Raine Page 0,28

I guessed some must still have their throats intact. I let a green vine snake from my palm, aiming it towards the ceiling. The closest pillar was about a foot taller than the one I was on and a three feet leap away. I felt a thud beneath me, and my stomach lurched as a rotten hand appeared over the edge of my pillar. The undead were climbing.

My lip curled back as I kicked out at the hand, and I watched in muted fear as the corpse fell back onto the mass of skeletons below it. Another corpse replaced it immediately.

Minthe was right. I needed to get the fuck on with it.

My vine wrapped itself around the ropes holding Minthe up, and I tugged experimentally. The vine held firm. So I could jump, and the vine should hold me if I missed. Like a safety rope. A safety rope over corpses that would tear me apart before my flesh was eaten.

My hands were shaking as I bent my knees and gripped the vine, preparing to jump. Just a few weeks ago my knees would have given out already, but I was different now. I was strong. And I had to win. Filling my mind with Hades' face, I jumped.

I landed easily on the next pillar, the vine helping me get the height I needed, and a cry of triumph escaped my lips.

'There's like ten more! Gods help me, stop celebrating and hurry up!' shouted Minthe. I threw her a glare, and found the next easiest pillar to get to. They seemed to be in no order, but there was one about four feet away that was higher than mine. I felt the rock pound beneath me, and didn't need to look down to know that it meant the undead were still trying to get to me.

'Did you know that's how Spartae Skeletons were made?' Eurynomos' hissing voice filled my head. 'They are what's left when I've finished with the flesh.'

'Lovely', I muttered, crouching for the next jump.

'Hades lets me have the bad ones, you see. The ones who have sinned most foully.'

'That's nice,' I replied, and jumped. I didn't land so easily this time, the pillar higher and further than before, and my insides lurched as my back foot scrabbled on the edge of the rock.

'I don't miss him, you know. Hades never lets me have any fun, and I'm bound to his will. This Zeus character who controls me now though...' The demon tailed off and I couldn't help my interest.

'What about him?'

'He doesn't have what it takes,' Eurynomos hissed. 'He has power, but it's not dark enough to contain me. Not for much longer anyway.'

A shudder ran through me at his words. Could he really break free of Zeus' power?

'Hades would just take control again,' I said flippantly, and decided on my next pillar. It was only a couple of feet away, but it was much higher than mine. A bony finger crept over the edge of my own pillar as I bent my knees, and I kicked at it. Eurynomos sighed loudly in my head.

'Yes, he would. But I might get a few brief seconds of blissful freedom first,' he said more brightly.

'And what would you do with that?' I leaped for the next pillar, and realized with a jolt that I wouldn't make it. Instinct took over and my vines shortened fast. Too fast. I flew up and over the pillar, dangling from my vine, the sense of weightlessness nauseating. I couldn't help looking down as I swung and black dots instantly clouded my eyes. Swarms of undead surged between the uneven pillars below me, and the thought of falling to them was the only thing I could process.

'Just pull yourself up, you idiot!' shouted Minthe. Her voice cut through my panic, and I did as she said, shortening the vine further. I began to zoom upwards, and I kicked myself mentally. Why the hell didn't I do this before?

'Oh no, no, it can't be this easy,' hissed Eurynomos, and then searing heat flashed down my vine towards me. One of the blackened fingers on the ceiling that had been tormenting Minthe was gripping my vine, burning through it. Revolting images of the decomposing dead flashed through me as my vines turned black, the dark power of the Underworld filling me.

And then I really was weightless, the vine severed by the demon's touch. I whipped a new vine from my other hand out blindly, praying as