CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

RHODES

“BANKING LEFT,” TORQUIN said. His fleshy face distorted into some strange, frightening expression that must have been his smile. He was piloting the tiny, four-seater jet as if it were a dive-bomber. The plane dipped downward so hard I was convinced I left my brain behind.

“Glurrrp…” I held my hand to my mouth and breathed deeply.

Torquin’s antics had their advantages. They distracted me from thinking about Cass. He had been with the griffin for two hours. I worried he was going to lose his life before we found him. All I stood to lose right now was my lunch.

“Gate. Cave. Nasty trick…” Torquin murmured for about the tenth time.

I shared a baffled glance with Marco and Aly. “Yo, Sasquatch,” Marco said, “read my lips: They didn’t close the gate on purpose! It was a mistake. Understand? Or should Aly translate that into Cro-Magnon?”

Torquin banked again, rolling the plane a full three-sixty. “Banzai.”

“Will you stop that?” I shouted.

The plane leveled. I tried not to look down. Below us was the Mediterranean Sea. The choppy gunmetal water seemed to stretch to the horizon. I focused on the tracking device, which Torquin had mounted to the cockpit. Cass’s signal had passed east over Italy. A running line of LED text at the bottom, which had read SARDINIA and then SICILY for a long time, now changed to CORFU. “Where is the griffin is taking him?” I asked.

“Could be anywhere,” Aly said. “All the Seven Wonders were in Mediterranean countries.”

Torquin didn’t answer for a long time. His eyes were glued to the signal. The names began to change more rapidly as it now passed over solid land—SPARTA, CORINTH, ATHENS.

It emerged off the eastern coast of Greece, into the Aegean Sea. My eyes moved ahead. I traced out the trajectory—not where it had been, but where it seemed to be going. I focused on a tear-shaped island off the coast of Turkey. I leaned closer to read the label.

“Rhodes…” I said.

“That’s the site of one of the Seven Wonders,” Aly said, peering at the device. “The great Colossus of Rhodes! Supposedly the biggest statue ever built. It straddled the entire harbor, holding up a light for all the ships.”

I nodded, thinking back to a homework assignment that seemed centuries ago. “I made a replica of that. A G.I. Joe figure, wrapped in a toga. I put a toy flashlight in one hand and a pad labeled GREEK DICTIONARY in the other. I brought him to class on a Stratego board and stood him up in the Aegean Sea.”

“I must have been absent that day,” Marco said. “But weren’t the Seven Wonders all nuked, like, eons ago? Cincinnati Red isn’t going to like that.”

The plane lurched. The wings dipped to the left. We were hurtling down toward Rhodes.

“Sto-o-o-op!” Aly yelled.

“Dude, I am about to get immortal puke all over your plane!” Marco said.

Torquin grinned evilly. “Gate. Cave. Nasty trick.”

The plane went into a roll. My seat restraints dug into my body. We were all screaming now. The tracker, which was attached by one clip, went flying.

It cracked against the ceiling and went dark.

Torquin quickly righted the plane. He glanced at the useless device and flinched. “Oops.”

“Face it, Samson—you have to tell Professor Bhegad,” Marco said, leaning in toward Torquin, who was in the front passenger seat of a Greek taxicab. “He can FedEx you another device!”

“I don’t think the Karai Institute has a FedEx office,” Aly drawled.

“Worst-case, you let the KI do the tracking remotely,” I said. “They can report Cass’s location to you!”

Torquin was punching the buttons of the broken tracking device with his stubby fingers. “Fix.”

I couldn’t believe this.

Exhausted, I glanced out the window at the highway. We had spent the night on the airport tarmac, sleeping in the plane. We’d tried to convince Torquin to contact the KI about the tracker, but he had refused. He didn’t want to admit to Professor Bhegad what he’d done.

We had to humor him like a kindergartner—while Cass was in the talons of a flesh-eating beast.

Aly and Marco were looking at me helplessly.

Think. It’s the one thing you’re good at.

Hotels and restaurants raced by us on one side of the road, a beach on the other. It was hard to believe we were finally in the real world again, with streetlights, highway traffic, restaurants, houses, cell towers, people in normal clothes doing normal things. The taxi’s car radio was blaring ads in Greek and a news report mentioned “Nea Yorki.” We were home.

Yet somehow, all this reality made everything feel more unreal.

There had to be a way to find Cass. The griffin was programmed to find and protect its Loculus. Which meant that somehow, the magical sphere still existed. Even though its hiding place, the Colossus, was gone.

If we could find the Loculus, we would find Cass.

As we approached the port, I looked closely out the window. The sides of the harbor curved around in kind of a pincer shape, like two fingers about to snap. Fishing boats were returning with their morning catches, and people were already eating early breakfasts in a sprawling line of outdoor cafés.

It was supposedly the biggest statue ever built. It straddled the entire harbor, holding up a light for all the ships…

“Is this the main port?” I asked the driver. “Where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood?”

“Neh—yes!” said the driver with pride. “You know about Colossus? Greatest Wonder of all world. The big ships? They pass under legs. My brother Niko’s restaurant has view of harbor. Best food in Rhodos—”

“Wait. Passed under its legs?” Marco asked skeptically. “With those big old sails? That thing would have to be ginormous—like, carry the Statue of Liberty in its toga pocket.”

“Is why we call it Colossus!” the driver declared.

“So if the Loculus fell out when the statue was destroyed,” I said, “it would be underwater.”

Marco squinted, shielding his eyes against the morning sun. “I don’t see His Redness swimming out there, looking for it.”

Torquin looked up from the broken tracker and pointed toward the road that lined the harbor. “Stop there.”

“You like diving?” the driver said. “I bring you to my uncle Foti’s shop!”

“Drive.” Torquin went back to fiddling with the tracker. He crossed his legs, revealing a massive bare right foot.

The driver raised an eyebrow. “My cousin Irini? She has shoe store—”

Torquin brought his fist down on the dashboard, hard. The driver swerved toward the harbor.

In a moment he stopped on a cobbled road overlooking the water. A waiter, setting a table, waved to us from a nearby white stucco café. Soft bouzouki music came from inside, along with the crackle of frying foods. The smell made my mouth water. Torquin had given us some euros for pocket money. A bite of food would be great if we could do it without wasting time.

The driver held a business card out toward Torquin. “Call twenty-four seven. Taki at your service. You pay now, please.”

Ignoring the card, Torquin handed the man some money and walked away. Taki counted it quickly. “No tip?”

“Talk too much,” Torquin growled.

Aly glanced at him in disbelief. “He can’t get away with that.” Taking Taki’s card, she jumped into the front passenger seat. “Torquin, that was rude. I’m not moving until you give this man a tip!”

Marco shot her a thumbs-up. “Nice one, Norma Rae.”

Torquin turned. He muttered something under his breath that I’m glad I didn’t hear. Then he tossed a few coins at Aly, who handed them to Taki.

“You good girl,” the driver said, beaming. “I tell Niko give you free breakfast.”

As she got out, I saw her putting something into her pocket. I gave her a curious glance.

She put her fingers to her lips and walked toward the harbor.