“No, I’ll go,” Thane says. He scowls at Nick. “Gretchen might need you here.”
Clearly he’s not ready to trust Nick quite that much.
“I should be the one to go.” Greer pushes unsteadily to her feet. “The boys will be far more useful down here than I am. Besides, you might need my . . . special skills to find her.”
“Sillus stay,” the little monkey freak says, moving closer to my side. “Help here.”
“Nick and I will be fine,” Grace insists, ignoring Thane’s scowl. “Gretchen will need your muscle,” she tells her brother. “And give me ten minutes online and I’ll be able to find our mother.”
Good, because Thane is keeping secrets. I don’t really want to interrogate him in front of Grace—she loves him and might not like what he has to say—so his staying behind is a double win. It will separate them for a while, and it will keep him in my sights.
I meet Grace’s gaze. “You’re sure? I’m not alone down here, you know.” I nod at the friends filling the cave around us. They might not be able to take on the entire Nychtian Army, but they’re more than adequate backup.
“I know,” Grace says, laying a hand on my shoulder. “I think you need at least one of us down here with you. And I’ll feel better knowing Thane is at your side.”
“Fine,” I say. “If you’re sure.”
“More than ever.” She smiles, and I can’t help but smile in return.
My little sister, all grown up—although maybe she just feels like my littler sister.
“Hey, which one of us is oldest, anyway?” I ask.
She frowns, probably wondering why I’m asking now of all times. “Greer,” she says, “and then me.”
I nearly choke. “I’m the baby?”
“I knew I had to be oldest,” Greer says. “I’m the most responsible.”
I roll my eyes.
“Then make yourself useful by being responsible for divvying up the supplies,” I say, pushing to my feet and getting to work. “We won’t need to keep rations for five. And you two will need some of the weapons back in our world. As soon as Greer is strong enough to continue, we’ll move.”
“I’m strong enough now,” she insists, and proves the truth of her words by hefting two heavy backpacks off the ground and carrying them to a nearby table.
Our super healing powers must be taking care of the poison quickly.
My gut clenches at the thought of my sisters and me splitting up. Both missions are important, though, and I know how Grace feels about finding our mother, so of course she wants to go after her. It’s the best option. Doesn’t mean I like it.
I quickly join Greer at the table of backpacks and start digging through to separate out the things we won’t need anymore. If our initial encounter down here taught me anything, it’s that we need to move light and fast if we’re going to get through the abyss, get into Olympus, and get the gorgons out without launching into all-out war. We don’t have the numbers for that right now. We’ll save the war for later.
As I start pulling things out, Nick steps up next to me at the table and helps.
“I’ll protect her,” he says quietly, “with everything I am.”
I don’t pause in my work. “I know.”
“You’re so sure of me now?” he asks with a smile. “What changed?”
I shrug. “Nothing. Everything.” I flick him a glance. “It just changed.”
He nods and reaches for the six-pack of water bottles in my hand.
“Promise me one thing,” he says.
I keep my eyes on the backpack. “What’s that?”
“That you’ll protect yourself”—he rests his hand over mine—“until I’m back at your side to do it myself.”
I snort—partly because the request is ridiculous, but also because the undertone of feeling in his request is too much. I don’t deal well with emotion. I don’t like the idea of separating from him, either. “In case you hadn’t noticed,” I reply, “I’m pretty good at taking care of myself.”
“I noticed,” he says, without moving his hand. “Promise?”
Something in his tone makes me look up. His midnight blue eyes are steady and intense. I want to make light, but I think we’re long past making jokes about serious situations. In the end, I nod. “Promise.”
CHAPTER 4
GRACE
The creatures around me are beautiful—not like supermodel beautiful or even bouquet-of-flowers beautiful. I try not to gawk at them slack-jawed like a total idiot. I mean, in the past few weeks I’ve seen a lot of weird things I’d never seen before. But these creatures, Gretchen’s friends, are in a class by themselves.
They are unique.
Some of them are beasts I’ve studied in mythology, like the pegasus with its breathtaking wings and the centaur guy with the body of a horse. Others are completely new and surprising. The golden maiden and the twin guards—shiny black stone, like they were carved from the world around us—are especially intriguing.
I don’t want to stare, but I can’t help it.
I force my attention back to Greer.
“Do you need anything before we go?” I ask. “More water? Some food? An emergency blanket?”
She seems so much better now after a few hours of rest, but I can’t get the image of what she looked like immediately after the attack—eyes glazed over and skin inflamed and an angry shade of red—out of my mind. She would have died if Thane hadn’t given her the antidote. That moment terrified me. I was frozen and I didn’t know what to do. Thank goodness Thane was there, that Greer encouraged me to let him come.