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Kicking It Faith Hunter 27530K 2023-08-30

"Now, ry" She raised a hand dramatically in the air and let it fall A door slid back across the arena fro, and so s and bodies that I couldn’t tell one froetting any closerfor thethat held them back Of all the ways to die, spider swarm had never even been on my radar, but now that it was, I realized there had to be at least half a o And only one solution: I had to win

"I had a ladiator has valiantly decided to stand in for hiestured dra a man wrapped in a web like a cocoon I wondered if he could even breathe with all the spider silk over his face I had to look hard to see his chest still rising and falling I couldn’t tell if it was Gareth, but whoever the poor bastard was, I was getting him out Somehow "If she loses"--the crowd cheered in anticipation--"not only are their lives forfeited, but I collect this sweet speciht a hooded figure forward, but I could tell from the breadth of the shoulders and the narrowness of the waist who it was even before the hood was ripped away Apollo, looking stunned His gaze didn’t immediately drop down to ed Or mesmerized I couldn’t look for any help froa her ar above her head like alass fell rather than slid away and they swarmed over it A spike of panic drove into my heart like a needle jam-packed with adrenaline, like the heart-attack scene from Pulp Fiction I sawh to see Apollo’s whole body jolt, as if his heart had been goosed by my very own shot of adrenaline He looked tomore

The army was als, raking et my point across Some obeyed, but they were only shaken off or overrun by the others, who kept on coer than my hand, they raced for me

Frantic, I hopped on one foot as I pulled off a boot and swung it like a bat, heel out, at the onco tide I swept a few aside, but others i to the heel and started a slol my way I yelped and dropped the boot, htest moment

"FREEZE!" I yelled again It was all I had, but a tone sounded at almost the same time, and I could barely hear more than the first letter of the wordfork and hit whatever frequency canceled s reached out for racefully, like I’d been taught in kickboxing Not effectively This had to stop Already one spider climbed Another leaped for me I plantedthe ju it on my stiletto heel Others were iroove now, but for as many as I knocked aside or i and biting My bare foot was going nuood to me at all, before I lost my balance and fell to the floor, only to be overrun by spiders

Not going to happen I still had ear If only I could

I batted away the spiders that had crawled the highest and looked toward the stands, trying to catch Apollo’s eye

"Apollo!" I yelled "The sun?"

He looked desperately around, and I thought I saw hi skittered acrossdesperately at theexplode and forced lass rained down froht itself flared I swatted and bashed and whirled, noting thatat that h of ht I felt like a Dutch oven as I started to heat up There were inhuman shrieks from the arachnids all around, and I whirled like a possessed disco ball, throwing off light and spiders in equalliterally So hot I had no idea whether it was the lights on ave out, and I went down hard, falling at an aard angle, li jumped on my face, and in a moment I realized that the tone had ended and that the spectators were on their feet, roaring with elation or angerI didn’t know Didn’t care

But I looked up at the dais and saw through swollen eyes Apollo, still standing, looking down at me with sadness and approval

Arachne rounded on hiht between the eyes, snapping the bridge of her glasses so that they fell to the ground along with her Spider lady was down for the count, which I thought meant that I could finally pass out

No, I couldn’t There was still Gareth to save I had toso well I felt hot and slow and numb and hurt all at the same time, but I forcedbootclumsily It took me three tries before Apollo was there to help me

"You okay?" he asked

It was a stupid question and I didn’t dignify it with an answer Instead I pointed at the man cocooned in the web He rushed to Gareth, and I saw hi away, saw Gareth’s face start to appear and could confir scientist Then I passed out

--

I woke some time later in Apollo’s armsin Apollo’s bed, even, when he shook me aith, "Here, eat this"

I blinkedto stay that way It didn’t ht to know that what he offered was ambrosia and that it would heal hly addictive, and that like any addict, I was always ready to quit, but not right now Not when I needed it so badly I didn’t fight it