107

107

Clerk, Ally, Friend

I don’t know how long it takes me to work my way around the amphitheater to the back side of the stage. A while. I can hear the sirens the entire time, keeping them to my left thanks to the terrain and buildings of the isle. Every so often, one takes off into the skies, and I have to duck into shadows or hide in doorways.

It’s not until I’m staring at the back of Jackie’s blond head that I actually believe I can pull this off.

The other champions are held in a small chamber with a door that leads to the sirens and a window—not big enough to climb through—at the back. I don’t want to startle them. If they make too much noise, it’ll draw attention to us.

I give a tiny whistle.

Two heads turn my way—Samuel’s and Jackie’s.

Jackie’s ocean-blue eyes go wide. “Lyra!” she whisper-screams. And I wince, waving at her to be quiet before we both go very still, listening for the sirens guarding the other side of the door. They don’t come. I check over my shoulder, and no one is in sight. But the tension already riding the muscles in my shoulders cranks down harder.

They come to the window. “Tell me you have a plan,” Jackie whispers much more softly.

I show them my pearl. “I need all of you holding hands tight, and for you to hold mine.”

Samuel nods. “Got it.”

They work fast, Samuel carrying the others, one by one, over to the window, and Jackie lining them up with hands held. They’ve got Dae and Trinica in place when a ruckus breaks out inside the theater, the sirens’ argument gaining steam. A few shoot up into the skies, their shadows passing over me. Then two sirens come running around the corner, out a side door from the amphitheater, and Jackie and I freeze.

Only…they don’t seem to notice me.

My heart is in my throat, trying to choke me, but that’s okay, since I’m holding my breath anyway…as they walk right past where I’m squatted, hand stuck through the window. Never even glance in my direction.

Somewhere, the goddess of irony has to be laughing her ass off.

Once they’re out of earshot, Jackie mutters, “What in the name of Hades just happened?”

“More like in the name of Zeus.” I hope that asshole is choking on frustration right about now. “Hurry.”

Samuel gets Amir in place at the end of the line, and Jackie checks all their handholds one last time, then comes to the window, taking Dae’s hand and mine, gripping tight.

Please, for the love of Hades, let me be able to take them all with me.

I set one pearl on my tongue and get two more ready in my hand, then swallow.

The weight of so many people with me pulls at my bad arm—the one the dragon burned—and even in the void of sound, a shout is pulled from my throat, cutting off jarringly when we land directly outside the final gate in a heap.

“Where am I?” I hear Dae groan.

Sharp relief hits me with an added burst of adrenaline. “Get across the finish line before the sirens can come for you again,” I tell them.

Then gulp down another pearl.

I materialize exactly where I pictured—right behind my kneeling friends in the center of the amphitheater.

It was a risk, but I figured it’s faster than sneaking in.

I hold very still and wait for the sirens to scream or attack or have any kind of reaction.

Nothing.

They are still arguing among themselves, and it’s like I’m not even here.

I lean over to Zai and whisper in his ear, “Take Diego and Rima’s hands.”

He sways away from me, frowning a little. “Lyra?” he asks. Not whispers. Says it right out loud.

One of the sirens in the throne-like seats up front focuses in on him, frowning a little.

“Did you hear Lyra?” he leans over to ask Rima.

“Who?” She’s even louder.

The siren watching sits a tad straighter.

Shit.

Think, Lyra, think.

The sirens have already shown how fast they are, but I can’t hold on to all three, and I don’t have enough pearls for an extra trip. I need a way to make my friends hold hands without making a scene.

Wait. Poison.

Didn’t Zai get a stone that’s an antidote to poison as his prize for Hera’s Labor? Please, please, please let siren song be included in that. Pickpocketing skills have never come in handier in my entire fucking life. I find the tiny, lime green, pea-shaped stone in one of his pockets.

“Zai,” I whisper again.

“Hey—” The second his mouth is open, I slip the antidote on his tongue, and he coughs a little. The effect is immediate. He goes dead silent, blinks, and then his eyes fly open wide.

“Don’t move,” I whisper urgently at him.

To his credit, Zai manages to stay still and say nothing. That siren is watching him carefully, though.

“Look dazed and happy if you can and don’t say a word,” I tell him. “They can’t see me, but they can see you.”

Okay. Now for the tricky part.

“When I say so, take Diego and Rima’s hands and hold on tight.” I wrap my arms around his waist.

The siren on the throne suddenly gets to her feet, prowling in our direction.

“Now!”

Like that one word sets her off, the siren coming our way suddenly screams and spreads her wings wide. The theater explodes in chaos as more sirens jump to their feet and take to the air. But at least he fucking takes Rima and Diego’s hands.

And I swallow one more pearl.

When we show up in the desert, someone—maybe Diego—knocks into me, and I end up flat on my back on the hard-packed ground, dust poofing up around me. Coughing, I scramble to my feet.

“Hurry!” I tug Zai up with me. “Get across the line before they come.”

The sirens are fast. They’ll figure out where we went and be here in no time.

Rima and Diego are up, all three of them confused but no longer dazed. “What happened?” Rima asks in a voice that slurs.

“Answers are for later.” I grab Zai’s hand and whirl away, intending to drag him with me if I have to, only to pull up short at the sight of the others—Samuel, Jackie, Trinica, Amir, and Dae—all lined up.

On this side of the gates.

My heart is like a trapped thing in a snare, beating to get out. “Have you lost your senses? Get over there!” I have my axes out in front of me in one hand, my back to the group in the next moment. Clearly, they’re still working off the effects of siren song. Maybe I can hold off the sirens until they are all safe. Eos’ tears are still helping me see, and none are here. But any fucking second… “They’re coming.”

“We want you to go first,” Trinica says.

“What?” I cast a frown over my shoulder to find them all still there. Her words make no sense. Still holding my axes out, I start dragging Zai with me. “I don’t have enough pearls to go and get you again.”

Zai pulls out of my grip. “Then you’d better hurry and win.”

Along with Rima and Diego, he joins the others. Waiting for me.

And my caged heart wants to burst at the show of solidarity.

For me.

They want me to win? Even after what Rima saw in her vision. Even after deciding it was dangerous. They weren’t wrong to fear that future. My lips twist around the emotion clogging my throat, around the urge to wrap my arms around them all. But there’s no time.

“Let’s all go together.” I hurry to them on the line, still facing away from the gate with my shield in front of us.

“You first.” Samuel gives my shoulder a gentle shove. But with the added strength Zeus granted him, the force has me tumbling backward through the doors of the gate.

I stumble to a halt and stare at the champions.

In the next breath, everything about the Labors disappears—the gates, the darkness, the monsters, even the dust filling the air. All that’s left is us—the surviving champions—in Death Valley, with the sun peeking up over the eastern ridges, turning the darkness slightly pink.

We did it.

We made it.

They’re all smiling at me, and my arms go limp at my sides, my mouth closing around whatever protest I was about to make. And, after a beat where my heart feels like it could fly, I smile back.

But then nothing else happens.

Where is Zeus? The Labor is over. Time to announce me as the winner and be done. Right?

I catch sight of two of my bone soldiers at attention in the distance. Shouldn’t they fall apart now? Their service to protect us from the monsters is over.

That’s when my friends, still standing before me in a line, all go deathly still, eyes wide, expressions turning to masks of unadulterated fear.

And a trio of growls sounds directly at my back. Close enough to feel their hot breath on my neck.