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I didn’t think. “Attack,” I bellowed.
My friends shot into action, racing to—
“Sleep.”
Alex tripped over his feet, crashing head-first onto the floor.
“Sleep.”
Sirena dropped mid-change.
“Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.”
My friends fell like bowling pins, leaving me the last one standing—barely. My knees shook so hard they didn’t want to hold me while Vasili lowered his hood.
“Sir?” I whispered. “Why?”
He sniffed, hard frown lines etching his face. “I owe you no explanations, girl.
“Sleep.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Ibolted upright, head whipping around.
What’s going on? Where am I?
One question was answered straight away. Alex, Sirena, and my friends were not there.
I was alone.
“Guys?” I called. “Alex?”
No reply came. Standing up, I took in my new surroundings. I knew instantly that I was in a temple.
Grand columns held up a green and gold arched ceiling. They carried throughout a large chamber where, at the end, the statue of a huge and lovely woman surveyed her domain.
Soundlessly I padded through the columns, drawing closer to the depictions on the temple wall. There was a woman. The same woman? I couldn’t be certain. There was more life in these drawings than upon a stone face.
It showed a woman—pale, lovely, and born before time. She rose from the primordial pits and...
I continued on, following the birth of the world, the Olympian gods, and the human race. The woman stood apart from it somehow. Like a shadow in a painting—there but not there.
A calm settled over me—soothing my rage, washing away my panic.
I should be freaking out, raging, and demanding to be taken to my friends, but my heart refused to stir to such emotions. This was a good place. A safe place. What if I just... stayed?
“Beautiful, wasn’t she?”
I jumped, twisting around as a woman stepped out from behind the statue. She bore a bucket and rag in her left hand, explaining why the temple was spotless. Closing the distance, I read curiosity in her acorn eyes and kindness in her smile. Wisps of brown hair escaped from her veil.
A trick,I thought, tensing.You are not safe here, Aella. Be alert.
“Who are you?” I stepped back when she got too close. The woman got the hint and came no farther. “I was with my friends. We were betrayed and— and Vasili put me to sleep.” I meant to shout it, but I summoned no more than a slightly higher octave.
Anger didn’t belong here. Why was I angry again?
“You know who I am, girl. I have been your companion for many moons.” She smiled. “It is past time we met.”
