When the Minotaur saw me, his eyes burned with hate. He bellowed — a sound that

was somewhere between a yell, a moo, and a really loud belch.

 

"Hey, Beef Boy," I shouted back. "Didn't I kill you already?"

 

He pounded his fist into the hood of a Lexus, and it crumpled like aluminum

foil.

 

A few dracaenae threw flaming javelins at me. I knocked them aside. A hellhound

lunged, and I sidestepped. I could have stabbed it, but I hesitated.

 

This is not Mrs. O'Leaiy, I reminded myself. This is an untamed monster. It will

kill me and all my friends.

 

It pounced again. This time I brought Riptide up in a deadly arc. The hellhound

disintegrated into dust and fur.

 

More monsters surged forward — snakes and giants and telkhines — but the

Minotaur roared at them, and they backed off.

 

"One on one?" I called. "Just like old times?"

 

The Minotaur's nostrils quivered. He seriously needed to keep a pack of Aloe

Vera Kleenex in his armor pocket, because that nose was wet and red and pretty

gross. He unstrapped his axe and swung it around.