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“Theron!”
“Let me go,” Theron shouted, turning white in his strain to be free. “Don’t!”
They swung.
“Argh!” Theron snapped up. Their fists connected in mid-air, and exploded.
The rubble that used to be the statue’s arm scattered across the table. Bursting into action, Theron grabbed a flying wrist, struck its stomach, and blew a hole through it.
My eyes were glued, and it was still too fast for me to see. He grabbed, punched, chopped, and exploded the six to bits—reducing them to nothing but stone dust.
“Arggh!”
Light, heat, and godly power ignited, blowing me off my feet. I dropped flat on my ass—blinking away bright spots as Theron kicked away the last bits of table, chair, and poisoned food. One-handed, he ripped off the remains of his tunic, exposing his ripped, glistening chest to our wide eyes.
“Shall we?” he asked, storming past.
Daciana stared after him, jaw hanging open. “Wow,” she breathed, biting her lip.
I could almost hear her mentally change her stance on the slut party ho-down.
Nitsa and Ionna helped me up and over to the door.
“There’s a symbol for wheat on this key.” I showed them. “The other has a caduceus. Hermes and Demeter.”
“Makes sense,” Tycho said grudgingly. “Hermes was the only god other than Hades who could travel freely to and from the underworld. Easily enough for him to get his hands on Lethe water.”
“And an ever-flowing cornucopia of food that never spoils is well within Mother Demeter’s power,” Ionna agreed.
“Hold on,” Nitsa cried, throwing her hands up. “You’re not saying... Twelve gods. Twelve keys. Twelve traps.”
I nodded, expression grave. “I believe so.”
“But we only got through the first trap thanks to Dimitri. Also, anyone other than Theron would’ve been beaten to deathby now, and—oh, yeah—we’ve all got trace amounts of poison in our system that’s slowly killing us as we speak,” Nitsa dropped. “How are we going to get through ten more of these?”
“Coming up with some kind of plan wouldn’t be a terrible idea,” Tycho agreed.
“How can we?” I glanced at the keyhole. “We won’t know what’s coming until we’re literally dropped in it.”
“We stick together,” Daciana announced, hooking her arms through mine and Ionna’s. “We keep each other in sight at all times. We don’t make a move without discussing it, and we leave no one behind. That’s the plan. Agreed?”
We nodded as one. “Agreed.”
“All right, Aella.” Ionna dipped her chin. “Do it.”
I did it.
Inserting the key, I welcomed the stomach-thumping sensation of the ground disappearing beneath me. Tumbling through the air, we were gone.
MY FEET HIT THE FLOORtoo hard. Knees buckling, I tipped over, crashing into... no one.
“Guys?” I whipped around. “Tycho? Daciana? Ionna?”
No one met my eye, or responded to their name. I was alone.
I pushed up, taking in my surroundings. I was in a library. Stacks of books towered over me from the right and left, rising as high as the paneled, dome ceiling.
“Hello?” My voice echoed among the tomes. “Is anyone there? Guys, can you hear me?”
