CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED SEVEN

Mist and Bone, Part 2

He dropped the walkie-talkie so his right hand could grasp Onus’ handle. Meanwhile, Jackboot scampered back to stand beside Sam. His finger pointed toward the mist a mere ten yards from where the Argo VII pulled to a stop.

“Someone was following us after all,” he confirmed.

Three soldiers stepped out of the mist. They were decked in white Greek-style armor similar to the Apollonian armor Sam wore. They were armed to the teeth; swords, spears, and shields, all sporting the same jagged bone design of the spear embedded on the Argo VII’s roof.

Jackboot raised an eyebrow at the new arrivals. “I didn’t know you had mummies in Olympian mythology.”

Their narrow faces were bone-white that looked to be a cross between human and lizard; white scales around high cheekbones, bulging eyes, and noses that were little more than a pair of slits.

“These aren’t mummies,” Sam said.

“That’s a relief,” Jackboot replied. “Three mummies together would have spelled doom for us.”

“Jack, they’re not mummies…” Sam repeated, his eyes narrowing at the approaching warriors while they marched toward the Argo VII. “These guys are worse… They’re Spartoi.”

“Sam, Jack”—Farsight’s voice was frantic over the walkie-talkie by Sam’s and Jackboot’s feet—“behind you!”

Her warning came too late though. Sam felt the bite of a blade pierce into his left shoulder, forcing him to drop the sunstone in his hand.

“Styx!” he cursed.

The sunstone fell with a thud on the Argo VII’s roof—and the school bus was suddenly engulfed by mist. It was as if the stone’s enchantment held back the mist from encroaching on the Argo VII. But now that its light had winked out, the mist was quick to reclaim the school bus into its wispy embrace, which meant even more trouble for Sam and Jackboot who found themselves blind in a fight against armed attackers.

“Sam!” came Thunder’s voice from the walkie-talkie. Sam, however, was quick to cut her off with, “Stay on the bus!”

He backed away from the spartoi that just stabbed him with its bone spear while letting Triple-A heal his shoulder wound.

“Jack, are you good?” Sam called.

Although he couldn’t see him, Sam could hear the flurry of movement he associated with the sounds of Jackboot’s powerful kicks whenever they swept through the air.

“I’m alright!” Jackboot called back. “Proportionate hearing of a hare, remember?”

Sam remembered, which is why he wasn’t panicking too much. Jackboot’s hare-like senses canceled out the mist’s obstruction. He would see the enemy coming and respond appropriately. As for Sam, well, he didn’t have heightened senses, but he did have Triple-A.

A virtual map appeared floating in the upper left corner of Sam’s field of vision to help him take stock of his surroundings.

“Thanks,” Sam whispered to the intuitive system. “I can manage with this.”

There were five red dots on the map. Three were moving swiftly toward the Argo VII, but there were two other dots already on the roof with Sam and Jackboot. One of these red dots was blinking next to the green dot Sam assumed represented Jackboot, while the other red dot was directly opposite Sam.

He tapped a finger on the right side of his mask, and his vision adjusted from normal color into shades of gray, but with three exceptions. Although faint, Sam could now see a softly glowing green Jackboot over by the left edge of the Argo VII’s roof. The hero had just kicked the chin of a glowing red spartoi. Meanwhile, directly in front of Sam was another glowing red spartoi—and Sam realized too late that he was still within range of this monster’s spear.

He felt the blade pierce into his right thigh before he could counter the spartoi’s attack.

“Ugh,” he grunted.

Pain flared across Sam’s right leg, but that didn’t stop him from stepping forward with that same wounded leg and then driving his hammer into the spartoi’s chest. It was a blow that sent the spartoi careening off the Argo VII’s roof to fall back on the asphalt below.

“Sam,”—Thunder’s voice came from the walkie-talkie that had miraculously stayed on the roof despite all the shuffling around between the fighters—“you can’t beat a spartoi… they’re immortal!”

Sam knew that fact as well though. There were very few members of the Greek pantheon’s roster of heroes who hadn’t heard of the supernatural warriors of Ares who carried the blood of dragons and men in their veins.

“They’ll fight you until you’re dead or until you can take down the one who summoned them,” Dr. Hearthstone’s voice chimed in.

“I don’t see a summoner nearby”—Sam was mid-swing against a spartoi that was climbing up to the roof from the front side of the Argo VII—“that I can beat up!”

Sam’s hammer smashed against the top of the spartoi’s helmet, driving the supernatural warrior back onto the asphalt below.

“Seriously…” He took a brief second to inspect his virtual map to make sure that there were only five hostiles within range. “…we’ve only got five spartoi here and no summoners within range.”

“If there’s no summoner then maybe these spartoi are here to guard the entrance to Ares’ sacred grove,” Dr. Hearthstone deduced.

“Which means we’ll need to make a run for it and beat them to the exit,” Thunder guessed. “Sam, we need the sunstone to light the way!”

Sam had been thinking along similar lines as he’d already dropped to the floor to look for the sunstone which he assumed had fallen relatively close by.

“Jack, keep them off me for a minute,” Sam pleaded.

“A minute’s”—Jackboot push-kicked his opponent off the bus and then immediately moved to block the path of a fourth spartoi who’d managed to climb up to the Argo VII’s roof from the rear—“about all I can give you!”

With a much-needed stroke of luck, Sam needed only ten seconds before his palm brushed against the sunstone’s rough-hewn surface.

“Got it!” he reported.

Sam raised the sunstone high just as the fifth spartoi approached his flank. A serrated-edged bone sword gleamed in each of its hands.

“Jack!” Sam yelled.

As the supernatural warrior swung his blades at Sam’s outstretched arm, Jackboot appeared from above. With one leg raised high, he yelled, “Guillotine!” and slammed it down on the spartoi’s shoulder, driving the monster to its knees.

“You found the sun yet?” Jackboot asked as he hopped back to Sam’s side.

“Working on it,” Sam said. “It would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to worry about that thing…”

“Don’t worry, mate—” Jackboot hopped forward—“I’ve got this!”

The spartoi was quick to get back on its feet, but Jackboot was quicker in unleashing a flurry of kicks that targeted each of the monster’s joints. One, two, three, and then a fourth ax kick at the spartoi’s right knee, forced the monster to tumble over the side of the Argo VII.

While this kickass martial arts display was going on, Sam managed to locate the sun in the mist-covered sky once again. With sunlight flaring out of the sunstone, the coils of must that curled around the Argo VII were driven back like shadows repelled by the light. The path ahead cleared as well, revealing the red tower of the exit just twenty yards away.

“It’s a straight shot to the exit, Ash!” Sam reported.

“Grab onto something, boys! We’re going for a ride!” Farsight replied over the walkie-talkie.

The Argo VII drummed to life beneath Sam’s feet, and he barely had time to grab hold of one of the solar panels attached to the roof before the school bus burst across the asphalt at Farsight’s usual reckless speeds.

Two of the spartoi were thrown off in that initial rush while a third spartoi was done in by another one of Jackboot’s spinning heel kicks. The British-born hero was also in danger of falling off the Argo VII, but Sam was quick to fire a grappling hook in his direction. Jackboot just managed to catch the line in his hand before he lost his footing.

As for the last two spartoi, they were climbing up the front side of the Argo VII where Farsight could see them. Sam heard her mischievous chuckle over the radio before she transformed the front bumper into a battering ram that pushed the invaders off. Then she ran them over while boasting over the walkie-talkie, “Easy-peasy.”

True to their nature, the spartoi didn’t die from getting run over. Nor did they give up the fight. These supernatural warriors chased after the Argo VII all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge’s red tower, and it was only after the school bus passed the tower that the spartoi ended their pursuit.

Sam glanced over his shoulder and saw all five spartoi standing shoulder to shoulder directly underneath the tower. They stared daggers at the Argo VII for a few more seconds before they disappeared back into the mist.

“Um, guys, I think we’re safe now,” Sam reported.

No one responded though, and this lack of reaction from Jackboot and the others forced Sam to look forward. That’s when he realized that he was wrong. The Argo VII may have left the danger of the mist-filled bridge, but they were far from safe. Because the foreboding atmosphere of the Golden Gate Bridge seemed like nothing compared to the hellish landscape they had arrived in.