CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

PLAN C

“GET…ME…OUT of here…” Aly said faintly.

“Um, wasn’t expecting that,” Marco murmured.

I couldn’t move.

The eyes of the Colossus turned from the griffin, took in its surroundings, and stopped when they reached Marco, Aly, and me. It was a blank stare—alive but not human, moving but bloodless.

Its head moved, groaning like the gears of a rusty engine. It seemed to be taking in its environment, looking for something. It ignored the caws of the injured griffin, which hung like a rag doll from the glass.

The giant statue leaned toward the center of the greenhouse, letting its left foot slide. A pile of rocks was kicked aside like so much dust. Then it lifted its right leg slowly, as if testing it. A metal, sandaled foot about the size of a moving truck came down on a stack of discarded statue pieces, instantly pulverizing them.

The plateau shook like an earthquake. Outside the monks were frantically scurrying away. In a few thundering steps, the Colossus had turned completely around and was facing the harbor. It began to walk away from us, shattering what was left of the glass wall in one step. The entire outer structure collapsed along with it, sending the griffin down into a pile of glass and stone.

Its body twitched and then went still.

The Colossus strode out onto the plateau. It turned toward the city of Rhodes.

“It’s going home,” I whispered. “To the harbor.”

“I hope it has insurance,” Marco said. “It’s a long way down.”

From above us came a rhythmic chopping noise. “A helicopter?” Marco commented. “What are those boneheaded monks doing?”

I thought about the domed structure above us. We never saw what was inside. “That big building?” I said. “It must be a hangar.”

“In a monastery?” Marco remarked.

“A Massa monastery,” I reminded him.

In a moment, the chuck-chuck-chucking of rotors was unmistakable. The helicopter rose, banking high above the Colossus. I could see Brother Dimitrios at the controls. “Guess he recovered,” Aly murmured.

The statue stared at the chopper, its bronze neck creaking. A red glow radiated from behind its eyes.

I looked over my shoulder toward the cliff. The sun was high overhead but starting to set. If we could save Cass, he’d need his treatment in fewer than twelve hours.

We will save Cass, I told myself.

“The Loculus is out of reach, in the Colossus’s torch,” I said. “The griffin is dead. Cass has to be back at the KI by midnight. Does someone here have a Plan B?”

Before anyone could answer, a searing orange beam shot out from the chopper’s passenger side. It connected with the Colossus’s torch, tracing a fiery line across it.

The Colossus retracted its arm. As it glanced up at the chopper, another laser beam hit it in the forehead, creating a pool of molten metal.

“What are they doing?” Marco said.

“I don’t know!” I replied.

“They want the Loculus,” Aly said. “That’s why Brother Dimitrios told you to touch the flame. He knew that if he brought one of the Select and the Loculus together, the sphere would activate. But I bet he didn’t count on the Colossus reappearing and taking it away.”

“We made the Colossus appear,” Marco said. “Brother Jack, Sister Aly, and the Kid Who Faced Down Death.”

A loud midair crunch made us look up. The Colossus had taken a swipe at the helicopter, destroying one of its landing feet. The chopper was pitching in the air, losing altitude. “They’re going down!” I shouted.

The Colossus turned and began heading for the edge of the cliff. Its footsteps thudded heavily. Chunks of the cliff edge began falling away. The chopper whirled wildly, lurching toward the statue.

The top of the torch had melted from the laser hit, and from this angle I could see the Loculus floating inside. With its other arm, the Colossus reached upward and tried to grab the helicopter’s whirring rotor.

The blades sheared off instantly, flying in all directions. We all hit the ground just as one of them spun past, inches away. Shrieking, Brother Dimitrios and his copilot tumbled out. They landed hard on the lowest ledge of the monastery.

The Colossus batted the empty chopper over the edge of the cliff. It hurtled out into the Aegean Sea. From above came the cracking noise of rifle shot. Bullets ricocheted off the bronze surface of the statue, leaving sharp dents.

“Oh, guns, great idea,” Marco said. “Very effective against a giant metal man.”

The statue turned. It stepped back toward the monastery wall, its head peering directly at its attackers.

The men bolted as fast as they could.

Marco grabbed me by the collar. “Let’s bail!” he said. “Forget about the Loculus. That thing can have it. Plan B, we go back into town and find someone with climbing equipment. We search every one of those caves until we find Cass.”

“That’ll take days!” I said.

“Do you have a better idea?” Marco asked.

“We created this thing,” Aly said. “It’s about to destroy this monastery. Then what? It walks into town and flattens Rhodes? We can’t let it do that.”

“We can’t abandon Cass,” Marco said.

I eyed the Colossus, who was now trying to get up to the top of the cliff. But the ledges were too high for it to simply use them as steps, and it didn’t seem coordinated enough to climb. It was scrabbling at the cliff, scraping layers of rock loose. Before long the monastery walls would collapse.

I looked up to the first level, where the dome had been rolled back to let the chopper fly out. I thought about the monastery that was about to be trashed. The portraits on the wall, which would be crushed in the debris—the devastated old man, looking back at a life of regret. His cocky younger self, sitting on a white sphere suspended in midair.

In midair…

“We need that Loculus,” I said. “That’s how we’ll get Cass.”

“Say what?” Marco said.

“Just follow me,” I said, running toward the stairs. “This is Plan C. For Colossus.”