Spartan Heart (Mythos Academy: Colorado #1)(15)

I looked at first one case, then another, searching for a ranged weapon to use against the chimera. A spear, maybe, or a bow and a quiver full of arrows. I had zero desire to get close enough to the creature to stab it with a sword—

Babs sucked in a startled breath. “Watch out!”

A shadow moved across the floor, springing toward me. That and Babs’s cry were all the warning I had, but my Spartan instincts kicked in, and I whirled around and threw myself forward, sliding across the slick stone floor. My left shoulder slammed into the bottom of Babs’s display case, rattling the entire thing and making the sword shriek in surprise. Pain jolted through my shoulder, and I grunted at the hard, bruising impact.

Behind me, I heard the scrape-scrape-scrape-scrape of claws against stone, and I knew what was coming next. I grabbed the top of the case and pulled myself up and onto my feet.

Babs’s green eye widened. “Look out!”

I pushed off the case, whirled around, and threw myself down and forward again, doing another slide across the floor and going back in the opposite direction. And not a moment too soon.

Crash!

Something slammed into the spot where I’d been standing, shattering the glass display case and sending Babs flying. Emerald-green sparks shot out from the sword’s blade and hilt as she tumbled end over end along the floor. I hit Sigyn’s statue with my left shoulder and bounced off. More pain radiated from my shoulder, but I ignored it, gritted my teeth, scrambled onto my feet, and whipped around to face this new danger.

A Typhon chimera stood in front of me, its teeth bared, black smoke dripping from the corners of its mouth. The monster’s eyes burned a bright crimson, and its black tail snaked back and forth in the air above its head, the scorpion’s stinger on the end pointed at me like an arrow seeking a target.

I stared at the creature, studying every single thing about it, from the way its crimson claws dug into the floor to the ripple of the muscles in its broad, powerful back to its long, sinuous strides as it paced back and forth in front of me. My Spartan instincts took over, and that movie started unspooling in my head as I thought about and discarded various plans of attack.

I had to stay away from the chimera’s teeth and claws, or the fight would be over in seconds. The same thing went for that stinger attached to its tail, and forget about bashing it in the head. Those ram’s horns were much too hard for that.

I had to go for one of the chimera’s weak spots, like its stomach. If I could get underneath the creature, then I could cut open its belly. I didn’t know if that would be enough to kill it, but it would be a good start.

Another inhuman scream ripped through the air, and I glanced over the balcony railing. Down below, Amanda was running around, putting more and more study tables between herself and the first chimera, which was yelling out its frustration at not having killed her yet. The Amazon would have to take care of herself right now.

I couldn’t help her if I was dead.

I looked at the creature again, which was still stalking back and forth in front of me. My gaze moved past the chimera, and I scanned the balcony for something I could use as a weapon. I could try to topple one of the statues on top of it, but I doubted I had the necessary strength to move the heavy stone, and the chimera could easily claw me to death while I tried. The flimsy ink pens in my messenger bag wouldn’t even scratch through the creature’s thick fur and skin. Even the heavy reference book I’d been reading earlier wouldn’t so much as stun the monster if I threw it at the chimera’s face.

That left me with only one option: Babs.

The sword was lying off to my right, closer to the chimera than to me. Her eye frantically swiveled around as she looked from me to the creature and back again.

“Hey, Babs!” I called out. “I hope whoever put you in that case remembered to sharpen your blade.”

“Oh, no!” she called out. “Don’t you even think about using me!”

“Sorry. Not a lot of other weapons lying around here.”

“Why?” she wailed. “Why does this always happen to me? All I want is a nice, quiet life in a museum somewhere. Is that too much to ask? Is it?”

The chimera grew tired of waiting for me to run, and it hissed and sprang through the air, its claws outstretched, ready to pin me to the ground and rip me to pieces. I darted forward, running straight at it.

At the last possible moment, I threw myself headfirst, diving across the floor for the third time. The slick stone helped me slide right on past the creature, which hit Sigyn’s statue and bounced off, much the same way I had done earlier.

As I slid, I stretched my hand out toward Babs’s gleaming silver hilt. The sword’s eye widened.

“No!” she yelled. “You don’t know what you’re doing! Don’t pick me up! Don’t pick me up! Don’t pick me up!”

I frowned. What kind of talking sword didn’t want you to use her in battle? But I didn’t have time to puzzle it out. My hand closed over the sword’s hilt, right over her mouth, muffling her frantic cries.

The chimera bellowed out a loud scream that made the hair stand up on my arms. I knew what was coming next. I flipped over so that I was lying on my back on the floor and snapped up the point of the sword. A shadow fell over me, blotting out the overhead lights, and all I could see were the chimera’s crimson claws, zooming toward my throat—