Prologue

Far from the world of man, hidden in an ocean of time, a lonely island shone in the sea like a steadfast emerald.

Themyscira.

It was the secret home of the legendary Amazons. These fearsome warriors had been created by Zeus to protect mankind from Ares, the god of war. With the last of his strength, the dying Zeus had hidden the Amazons away on Themyscira. There they waited, trained, and watched. One day Ares would return, and when that day came, they would be ready.

Once a year, the Amazons all gathered together in the huge stadium they had carved into the cliffside wall of the island. The Amazon Games.

Diana, the young princess of the Amazons, lived for the Games. And this year, for the first time ever, she was going to compete. Diana had been raised by her mother, Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, to be always aware of her station.

A great, deep horn blew. The sound echoed over the cliffs of Themyscira. Diana could feel it in the soles of her feet. She took a deep breath and strode to the starting line. She dug her toes into the soft dirt and tried to calm the beating of her heart.

The race was about to begin.

Diana’s aunt, Antiope, caught her eye. Antiope was Hippolyta’s sister, and the commander of the Amazon army.

“I’ve seen the contest humble even the most seasoned of warriors, Diana,” she told her niece.

Diana scowled. She would prove her aunt wrong. She would win the race. Then Antiope would see that she was a worthy competitor.

The herald standing by the starting line raised her giant mallet. It was time to focus. It was time to show everyone that she was ready to be one of the greats. She hunkered down, bracing herself, as the herald brought the mallet down on the huge gong.

BWAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

With the sound of the gong crashing in her ears and buzzing in her teeth, Diana sprang into a sprint. The first leg of the race was an obstacle course. It was arguably the most exhausting part of the race, but Diana had watched the race her whole life, and she knew every bit of strategy. She knew it was vital to gain the lead early.

Diana ran as fast as she could, scrambling, jumping, and swinging from obstacle to obstacle. But her shorter legs meant she was easily outpaced by the adults she was competing with. By the time she was scaling a sheer wall close to the end of the obstacle course, she was already falling behind.

But she wasn’t worried. Being small had its disadvantages, but it also had some major advantages that would come in handy later in the race. She just had to be patient. She leaped off the wall, landing neatly on one knee, and threw herself into a sprint to the next obstacle. This one was a long balance bar—a single log that spanned a deep pit. Another huge log, the same length, swung in a long arc just above it, hanging from two ropes. With each pass, the big log swept by the balance bar, about a foot above it.

Every Amazon in the race did her best to run the full length of the balance bar before the log swung back and knocked her off. But the balance bar was too long—it was just impossible to outrun the swinging log. And so Amazon after Amazon was knocked into the pit, and forced to scale the steep walls of the pit before she could return to the race.

But not Diana. She began her run across the bar, and then, as the log swept down toward her, she threw herself down on the log and lay flat. She pressed her cheek to the rough surface of the balance bar and squeezed her eyes shut.

The wind ruffled her hair as the huge log swung by her . . . but it didn’t touch her. Diana scrambled back up and sprinted the rest of the distance to the safety of the far side of the pit.

And now she was in the lead!

Diana ran full tilt toward the end of the obstacle course—a sheer drop down hundreds of feet into the ocean! She kicked off the edge of the cliff and fell, moving her body into a perfect arcing dive.

Splash! Diana knifed into the water, swerving up toward the surface as quickly as she could. As she swam toward shore, she heard the muffled splash, splash, splash of her fellow Amazons hitting the water behind her. She had the lead, but she couldn’t afford to slow down.

Waiting on the beach was a string of gorgeous horses, tacked up and ready to run. Diana charged out of the water and leaped onto her horse, giving it a sharp tap with her heels. It sprang into a gallop, and as it ran she leaned over in the saddle and grabbed a waiting bow. There were arrows in a quiver strapped to the saddle. Without hesitating for a moment, Diana nocked an arrow on her bow and stood up in her saddle to steady herself against the jolting of her galloping horse. In one smooth motion, she drew the string, aimed, and shot.

Thump. She hit her first target squarely. A plume of colored smoke rose. Diana’s plume was blue, while the other competing Amazons were assigned their own unique color. The idea was that when an Amazon struck a target, her smoke would rise high into the sky so the attendees in the stadium could see who was in the lead at a great distance.

Back in the stadium, the crowd cheered and her aunt and mother smiled with pride as the blue smoke rose high into the air.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Every arrow Diana fired found its target.

Diana guided her steed expertly, leaning forward as he leaped across deep gullies and swerved through dense forests. And as they galloped up the mountain, the other Amazons were never far behind.

Soon the path of the race swept along the side of the mountain, curving and heading back down the slope on a treacherous mountain road.

Sneaking a peek over her shoulder to see where the other racers were, Diana shifted her weight to the left just as her horse veered right. The world blurred and her stomach lurched as she sailed out of the saddle, hitting a tree branch with a bone-jarring thump.

Diana staggered to her feet. Her horse was unfazed, slowly coming to a stop a few paces ahead.

I want this, Diana thought. I want to win. I want it so badly, so I can show everyone how strong I am despite being small.

She watched as the other Amazons raced past her.

Diana couldn’t give up. She began to sprint toward her horse and in one motion grabbed the reins and lifted herself back onto the saddle.

Diana hunched over her horse’s neck as it lengthened its strides into the final sprint toward the stadium. Back in the stadium, they could see another target was hit in the distance . . . but Diana’s color was nowhere to be seen. Her family was growing concerned.

Diana was in last place. But it didn’t matter anymore. She just needed to finish. She couldn’t give up. Not now—not this close to the finish line. Her heart pounded jubilantly in her chest as she leaped from the saddle at the entrance to the stadium, to complete the race on foot, as was required.

The finish line was a large beaten-gold hoop hanging over the field. A line of spears were struck into the ground in front of the hoop. The spears loomed up and she slid by them, grabbing the one at the end of the line and heaving it into the air—

—Only to have her wrist caught in a viselike grip. Diana’s momentum swung her around. She slid to her knees, undone by despair, as one of the Amazons ahead of her, who had once been hot on her tail, plucked a spear out of the ground and flung it through the shimmering golden hoop.

The crowd of Amazons thronging the stands leaped to their feet, roaring in jubilation.

Diana’s whole body gave out. She had lost. She dangled like a puppet from the grip that was still firmly holding her wrist. Who—?

She looked up. Her aunt Antiope looked down at her steadily.

Diana dashed tears out of her eyes. When had she started crying?

“I wanted to win,” Diana whispered.

“But you didn’t,” Antiope said, still so terribly gentle. “You cannot be the winner, little warrior, because you are not ready to win. And there is no shame in that. The only shame is in knowing the truth in your heart and yet still not accepting it. No true hero is born from lies.”

She released Diana’s wrist and gathered her into a gentle hug. Diana watched from her aunt’s arms as the rest of the Amazon competitors gathered around the statue of the Fallen Hero in the center of the stadium. The Amazon in the statue stood proudly, her head held high. Her armor was shining gold, and a pair of magnificent stone wings sprang from her back.

“Your time will come, Diana,” a voice said. Her mother’s voice. Diana looked up as Hippolyta knelt down to face her. Hippolyta took Diana’s face in her hands, staring deeply into her eyes. “When you are ready. Consider the Golden Warrior Asteria.” She nodded toward the statue of the Fallen Hero. “She did not become a legend out of haste. She got there through acts of bravery . . . and the bravest thing of all is the courage to face the truth.”

Hippolyta helped Diana stand. “One day you’ll become all the things you dream of and more,” she told her daughter. “And then everything will be different.”

Everything will be different.