Meg took a deep breath and inhaled the salty air as they took flight, letting it fill her lungs. The sound of the wind helped her heart slow, and for the first time she could remember, she wasn’t squeezing Pegasus’s neck. Maybe this flying thing isn’t so bad after all, she thought. Maybe I just needed to be in a panicked rage to enjoy it. Of course, Meg was not about to look down, but she certainly felt calmer and more in control than she had on the ground. The farther they flew away from Aegeus and her old life on that cliff, the more she felt something else: freedom. With Pegasus, she could go anywhere her heart desired and no one could follow. Meg felt a primal roar rise up from inside her.

“YESSSSSS!” she shouted into the clouds.

Peg neighed nervously.

“I’m fine!” Meg patted his mane. “Better than fine!” She started to laugh. She’d never felt more free. She could kind of see why Hercules liked riding Pegasus.

Hercules. Her hand went to the satchel and the orchid tucked inside it. It would be nice to hear his voice right about now, she thought. He is so much better at tapping into emotions than I am. Maybe he’d know how to handle the conversation she still had to finish with Aegeus.

“Peg, can you land somewhere Phil and Aegeus can’t find us?” The horse neighed again. “Not for good,” she clarified. “Just so I can take a breath. All this feelings stuff is exhausting.”

Pegasus seemed to understand, because he came in for a landing in a meadow blooming with hyacinth, orchids, and myriad other colorful blooms. The meadow was gorgeous and completely private. She didn’t see another soul around. Carefully, Meg removed her orchid and held it up to the sun.

“Ready to see your friend?” she asked Peg, and he launched back on his hind legs in excitement. “Here goes nothing.” Meg ripped the petal in half and watched as it blew away.

Seconds later, she saw a bright flash. She shielded her eyes as a glowing ball started to form in the air. In a moment, Hercules was standing in front of her.

“Meg!” He ran to her, scooping her up in his arms and swinging her around before pulling her in for a kiss. “Are you all right? What’s happened? Do you need my help?” He put her down and pulled out his sword in one swift move, his face darkening as he spun around.

She couldn’t help laughing. “I don’t need anything.” The lug was cute when he was in protective mode. It suddenly struck her that she’d not even thought to call upon him during her battle with the Empusa. “Well, that’s not exactly true. I could use your advice.” She touched his blond curls. “Plus, I just wanted to see you. Is that enough of a reason to call?”

“More than enough!” He pulled her into his arms again. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” She sank into his large glowing arms. She was still getting used to his being a god. They stood there for a moment, listening to the sound of the flowers rustling in the breeze and each other’s hearts. Then she heard a neigh.

Hercules turned around. “Pegasus?” Peg jumped around. “Hi, boy! Have you been taking good care of Meg?” He patted the horse’s side and saw the healing scar. “Whoa, what happened to you?” He noticed the bandage on Meg’s arm. “And you!”

“You’ve missed a few things while you’ve been upstairs,” she said, nodding to the heavens before quickly filling him in on their fight with the Empusa, finding Phil, meeting Athena, and her insistence that Meg talk to Aegeus. It was draining, rehashing it all. Maybe that’s why she left the most important part of the story out.

“Meg…wow, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that alone.” He held her even tighter. “Seeing Aegeus must have been rough.”

“Brutal.” She buried her head in his chest and wished she could just forget about the whole journey.

“Why did Athena want you to talk to him, anyway?” Hercules pressed. “Does he have anything to do with the rest of your quest? Which is what, actually? You never said what Athena told you my mother wants you to do now that you’ve found Athena’s flute.”

Meg sighed. There was no prolonging the inevitable. “You might want to take a seat for this next part.” She patted the lush grass beneath their feet and Hercules looked worried as he settled in next to her. Meg sat up straighter. She wanted to appear strong. She was strong. Still, her lower lip trembled. “I am supposed to retrieve a soul from the Underworld—the soul of Aegeus’s wife, Katerina, to be exact.”

Hercules jumped up. “Meg, no, she can’t make you go back there!” He tumbled over his own words. “Hades won’t let you go again! It’s impossible! And to save your former flame’s new wife? That’s mad!” Meg felt her heart warm. He really was something—immediately taking her side, not showing a shred of jealousy, even when they were talking about her ex. Then Hercules started to stride away. “I need to talk to my mother.”

“No!” Meg grabbed his hand and pulled him back down. “You know you can’t do that. This deal is between me and her, and besides, I’m not telling you all this so you can try to sweet-talk her on my behalf. I think I just needed to hear myself say the plan out loud.” She snuck a glance at him. “It’s as bad as it sounds, though, isn’t it?”

Hercules didn’t speak right away. “It’s…well…it’s not easy, but this is you we’re talking about. You can do anything you set your mind to. I’ll help you any way I can. Just say the word.”

This was why she liked this boy—er, god. She squeezed his hand. “Thanks.”

He leaned in and kissed her softly. “So what’s your next move?” he asked, his lips still close to hers. “Did you talk to Aegeus about Katerina? Maybe he can tell you a bit about her that would be helpful in tracking her down in the Underworld. It’s kind of a large place.”

“Oh, I remember.” She plucked a poppy growing near their feet. “I tried to talk to Aegeus, but our conversation didn’t go well.” She looked at Hercules. “I kind of bit his head off.” Hercules’s eyes widened. “I know! You don’t have to say it. I need his help. But just seeing his stupid face again got me so fired up! You don’t know what it’s like to stand in front of someone you thought you loved who betrayed you.…” Her voice died out and they looked at one another. Hercules couldn’t help a small smirk. Her cheeks began to burn. “Okay, I’m going to eat my own words now. It was just hard, okay?” She ripped the poppy into pieces that blew away in the wind.

“Of course it was,” he said gently. “But you still have to face him if you want to learn about Katerina. And who knows? Maybe he’ll surprise you.” He touched her hand. “People can do that, you know.”

Wonder Boy really was too good for this world. “True. But I’m not holding out hope for Aegeus. I was gone one measly week when he recovered from his illness, met Katerina, and completely forgot I existed.”

“A week? How is that possible?” Hercules plucked a new poppy and held it out to her. “I can’t imagine anyone forgetting someone like you, especially not in a week.”

“You should see him now,” she grumbled. “He’s married with a kid and everything.” She looked at him. “Not that I want those things with him, of course. It just sort of, well, stings.”

But Hercules seemed distracted. “A week…” he whispered to himself, shaking his head. “It doesn’t make sense.” Meg looked at him. “I’m not defending the guy or anything, but a week? Meg, are you sure?”

“Yes!” She took her anger out on the flower again, ripping apart its petals as well. “Hades showed me them together seven days after I got to the Underworld. After that, he’d make me watch scenes of Aegeus and Katerina together at night, like it was some sort of performance.”

Hercules sat up straighter. “Hades did that?” He looked out across the meadow. “Huh.”

Meg sat up taller too. “What do you mean, ‘Huh’?”

“I just mean, you believe him? It is Hades, after all, and he is the god of the Underworld. He’s played some pretty dirty tricks on both of us. What if he was lying?”

“Lying?” Meg dropped the flower stem. “But he showed me them getting close, falling for one another. And they did end up getting married.”

Hercules nodded. “I’m not saying they didn’t end up together, but Hades has his ways of distorting the truth. If you had to pick one person to trust, would it be him or Aegeus?”

“Neither!” Meg said, but she knew he was right. She hadn’t even really questioned the tricky god of the Underworld. She threw herself back on the grass and looked up at the clouds in the sky and groaned. “My gods. Now I don’t know what to think. Also, I pretty much just ripped Aegeus’s head off. Like clear off, as if he were Medusa and I had a sharp blade.”

Hercules lay down next to her. “I’m just saying, give Aegeus a chance to explain. Like I gave you.” He squeezed her hand and she laughed.

“Okay, yes, you’ve made your point. I’ll talk to Aegeus again.” She ruffled his hair. “Thanks for the pep talk. This is why I keep you around,” she teased.

He leaned his chin on her hand. “I’m glad you do. And just think: when you finish this quest, we get to be together for eternity.”

Meg’s smile fell slightly. There was that word again: eternity. That was a long time. But, she reminded herself, there was still a quest and a week left before she had to think about it. One thing at a time. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me, too.” He kissed her again. “I know this task isn’t as fun as mine was—beating up monsters and all that. But my mother must trust you if she gave you a quest as major as this one. There’s a reason she wants you to save Katerina. The gods don’t tell us everything. Or at least, that’s what they’re telling me in my Olympus training classes.” He rolled his eyes. “There are so many dos and don’ts and rules to this god thing. I had no idea.”

Meg put a hand to his lips. “Wait. Back up. What did you say about a reason?”

“You mean, the ‘the gods must have their reason’ part?” Hercules repeated.

“Yes!” Meg tapped her chin. “They must need Katerina for something. Do you know why?” He hesitated. “You do know!” She waved a finger at him. “Tell me!”

“All I know is what I overheard my mother telling Athena,” Hercules admitted. “They mentioned the name Katerina the other day after you left. It sounds like she’s important, but I’m not sure why. All I know is Father feels guilty about her death. I don’t think they intended for it to happen. Mother said something about a flood.”

Meg thought for a moment. “Flood, huh? Gods know, Greece has had a lot of those.”

“Maybe that’s how you handle helping Aegeus’s wife,” he suggested. “Keep thinking about how she wasn’t meant to die.”

“True.” Meg ran a hand through her red hair and thought of that wailing baby. She was so young to be without her mother. Even younger than Meg was when she had lost hers. She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face, then opened her eyes to look at him for as long as she could. A field of hyacinths swayed behind him. “I wish I could live here in this meadow. It’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah, it is,” Hercules agreed. “That’s Persephone’s handiwork,” he explained. “She’s the god of vegetation.”

“Demeter’s daughter, right?” Meg said. “I heard Demeter talking when I was on Olympus. Something about not knowing where the girl had run off to.”

Hercules nodded. “Yeah, Demeter keeps appealing to my father to find her. No one has seen her in months, and harvest will be coming before long.” He touched one of the hyacinths with his finger. “Every flower has its season.”

Suddenly Meg heard the distinctive chime of bells. She looked at Hercules.

He smiled sheepishly. “Uh…they’re ringing for me upstairs.”

Poof! Hermes popped up in front of them carrying a clipboard and a writing utensil. He stared at Hercules over the top of his glasses as his winged hat fluttered fast. “Hercules, your father wants you home immediately. Helios is threatening to walk off the job and refuses to race his chariot across the sky tomorrow. Something about lack of vacation time. Zeus wants you there to facilitate the argument.”

“Okay, I’m coming. Let me just say goodbye to Meg.” Wonder Boy turned to look at her. “Are you okay getting back on your own?”

“Of course,” she said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around him one more time. “I should get back, too.”

Hercules leaned in for one more kiss as his whole body started to waver. “Be safe, Meg! I love—” He disappeared before he could finish the sentence.