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He blinked at us dazedly. “Guys, I’m... I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I replied. “We’re all okay. That’s all that matters.”
“What also matters is that you have the most amazing power there is, Tycho,” Nitsa said. “I’ll punch the next person who calls you useless.”
Tycho chuckled hoarsely. “I’m going to cheer you on when you do, because we’re getting out of here. All of us are getting out of here.”
“Yes, we are.” Daciana nodded sharply. “Because Theron’s going to get us out of here. Come on. You can do this.”
“Okay, okay.” Theron tossed his head. “If it’s not A-flat, the next note is F. Aella, that’s you.”
I hit F, and away we went, playing out the final notes of the ballad. As the last chime lingered in the air, the piano disappeared, and a single gold key lay on the platform in its place.
Within minutes, we were whisked away and dropped on a field.
Literally dropped in Tycho’s case. His sphinx didn’t make the journey with us, leaving Tycho to hit the ground and crumple immediately, clutching his stomach.
Ionna and I ran to him, helping him up.
Sunlight beat on the back of our necks, raising my body temperature a hundred degrees. I was sweating in seconds, and not a single breeze or bee cough tickled the endless waves of grass.
The field had nothing to show for itself, except for the fifty-foot-tall pole towering before us, and the bow and arrow placed at its base.
“A pole?” Daciana craned her neck looking up. “What’s up there? Is it on fire?”
“A flaming target.” Theron circled it. “I think we have to shoot the arrow through it. A challenge fitting Apollo’s twin, Artemis. All right, guys, who’s the best— Hey!”
Cow Nitsa blew past him and rammed the pole headfirst. She hit, pounded, and headbutted it—wobbling it in the breeze, until the ground gave way and down it came, slamming to the ground with aboomthat shook our boots.
Nitsa changed, snatched up the arrow, marched to the fallen target, and stabbed it in. The key fell out of the dying flames.
We were a gaping, silent bunch when she stomped back.
“Here.” She slapped the key on my palm. “I’m sick of this shit, and I’m sick of this place. When we find your mom, we’re kicking this Selene bitch’s ass for dragging her, and us, into this nightmare.”
A chuckle was Selene’s only reply. She wasn’t saying it. She wasn’t saying much of anything, but I could sense it. The closer we got, the more triumph radiated from her parasitic presence. She cared not for our threats. She welcomed the final battle that awaited the end of this prison.
She’d been preparing for it for three thousand years.
“That’s done,” Daciana said as a door appeared before us. “On to the next.”
We stepped through and went spinning away. My feet touched the ground—alone.
“Guys?” I twisted, squinting past the trees. “Daciana? Nitsa? Are you there?”
Buzzing cicadas called back to me joining a chorus that smothered my ears as oppressively as the muggy, humid heat filled my nose, lungs, and blanketed my skin.
I fanned myself with my hands, grimacing under the pinpricks of sweat popping all over my skin. I’d gone from an open field to a verdant, hot jungle. Swaying fronds made the sunlight dance on the tree roots. The sweet scents of fruit and eucalyptus carried on the scant breeze.
I turned around and came face-to-face with trees, dirt, vines, and more trees.
“Hello?” I called again. “Is anyone there? If someone is, now’s a good time to show yourself. None of these hide-and-seek games. Come out and attack me already. You think you’re being clever with these traps, but I’m starting to figure you out, gods of Olympus. This is a living, breathing place—effused with the essence of gods—and you’re unlocking our weaknesses as quickly as we’re unlocking these gates.
“That’s why Mom was able to fight her way through when everyone else failed. She’s a mortal with no power. You sized her up and down, realized she was no threat, and let her pass. Another prisoner in this nightmare.” I spun and directed my rant at a banana tree. “You’re sizing us up too. Splitting us when you think it’ll be easier to pick us off. Throwing us back together when you thought of something horrible enough to break our spirit.
“I’ll tell you right now, it’s not going to work,” I bellowed, shooting up on tiptoe. “Why? Because we’re on the same side.You have to protect the prison. You have to keep that monster goddess in. Guess what? We want the same thing! So think about that while you’re prepping your next horrible trick or trap. We want her to stay the fuck here just as much as you do.
“All we’re trying to do is save my mom,” I said. “If you’ve been paying attention, then you know she’s the best person in the world, and she doesn’t deserve this. Stop fighting me, and help me. If we work together, I can get my mom out, and you can keep Selene in. Without my mom as hostage, she has no power over me. The prophecy is dead.”
