“We must hurry,” she says, stepping into the hall. “They know you’re here, and they’re coming.”
We run down the hall, the light from Greer’s flashlight guiding our way. Sillus’s whistle drags on the ground, but I don’t yell at him to pick it up. We’ll be gone before it matters.
The golden maiden is waiting for us at the fork, a serious look on her face.
Gesturing at us to be quiet, she hurries to meet us. She whispers, “There are soldiers guarding the closet door.”
“Ursula?”
“They know someone is inside,” she says, “but the door is locked. They have sent someone to retrieve a key.”
Hugging the wall, I move to the end of the hall and peer around the corner. There are only a few of them, but they are bigger than and just as armed as their friends who took a dip in the moat earlier. It’s only a matter of time before they open the door. Ursula is so weak, she’s virtually helpless. We have to get the soldiers away and us back home.
“Maybe,” I say, thinking out loud, “if we—”
“As soon as they are gone,” the golden maiden says, “get to the closet and get home.”
Then, before I can ask her what she means, she’s stepping out of the hallway and calling out to the gathered soldiers.
“Great Zeus,” one of them says when he sees her. “It’s a golden maiden.”
“There hasn’t been one on Olympus for centuries,” another says.
A third grins. “Not since Hephaestus threatened to melt them all down for their insubordination.”
“Those are the lies he spread,” she mutters quietly. The golden maiden places herself between the soldiers and the staircase that leads back up to the shining halls of Olympus. “What was his offered bounty again?”
“A sword that never misses its mark,” one shouts.
“And, as I recall,” she says, with a teasing tone, “a helm of immortality.”
In a glint of gold, she’s racing across the hallway and disappearing up the stairs.
The soldiers chase after her, abandoning their posts for the promise of reward. She’s fast. I’m sure she can outrun them. I hope she can.
We don’t have time to wait around to find out.
The golden maiden has bought us a few precious minutes, a narrow window of opportunity. I rush to the closet door and unlock it. Ursula steps out, looking far more like herself. Guess I come by my fast healing honestly.
She looks at her sister. “Are we too late?”
Sthenno shakes her head. “But we must hurry.”
“I’m not sure I have the strength.”
Sthenno steps up to her and places a palm on either side of her face. “I shall give you the strength.”
“What about her powers?” Thane asks. “Are they still tethered?”
Sthenno studies him appraisingly. I can’t guess her judgment.
“No,” Sthenno says. “Once free from the cell, her powers are released.”
“Hurry,” Ursula says. “Everyone gather close. Make sure you are touching one of us.”
I start to pocket the dungeon keys, but something stops me.
“Give me a sec,” I call out over my shoulder as I head down the hall toward the maze of cells.
“Gretchen,” Sthenno shouts, “we haven’t the time.”
I don’t stop to argue. They won’t leave without me, and this will only take a moment.
Back in the vast, smoke-filled room, I hurry to the cell of the man who talked to me earlier. He looks up as I toss the keys into his cell.
“Everyone deserves a trial,” I say.
I don’t wait for a response before sprinting back to the group.
Sthenno scowls at me, but we’ll have that discussion later.
Sillus jumps onto my back as I wrap a hand around Sthenno’s forearm. I can feel power—strength—surging through her beneath the fabric of her jacket. Thane steps to my side, Greer still cradled in his arms. He turns to press his shoulder against Ursula’s.
I’m not convinced that’s enough, so I grab Greer’s hand with my free one.
“It will not come.” Ursula’s voice is weak, and she sounds like she’s given up.
“It will, sister,” Sthenno says. “Concentrate.”
Ursula opens her eyes. “It is no use. I am too weak.”
I’m not sure what scares me the most: the threat of our enemies coming back for us, or the defeat in Ursula’s gray eyes. Since that day four years ago when she pulled me off the street, talked me out of the warehouse I was calling home, and gave me a bed, a future, and a destiny, she’s been nothing but strong—nothing but certain that I can succeed in whatever I try.
To see her give up like this ignites a fire in me.
“The hell you are,” I shout.
She looks at me, eyes wide.
“You are going to get us out of here,” I say. “You’re going to autoport us the hell out of this mountain. Right now.”
Her gray eyes light up and I see the first spark of hope—of belief.
She closes her eyes again, focusing, and I tighten my grip on Sthenno’s arm. I channel whatever powers I have into Ursula. Together, we can do anything.
The bright light is already blinding me before I remember to tell her not to autoport us to the loft.
When the world stops swirling, I open my eyes. We’re standing in the hollow shell of what used to be our home. The building still smells like barbecue and burned rubber.