Chapter Six

Pit

In a split second, several images—no, memories—whirled through Andy’s mind.

First, Andy was flying toward the Olympian palace. Then he was sprinting through Olympus’s halls in search of Zeus so he could confront the King of the Gods about what he’d done to Calliope. Andy found him in the palace garden, but he sent Andy hurtling toward Earth . . .

Anteros’s voice rang in Andy’s head. As the god spoke, Andy’s memories liquefied and faded into the darkness like ice melting in boiling water. “Before we think about any of that,” Anteros began, “there’s something we must do.”

Involuntarily, Andy’s eyes opened, and he took in the scene before him. It seemed to be unfolding in slow motion. Circe’s wolves and lions charged toward him, Darko, and Kali. Against his will, he clapped his hands. In another flash of silver light, a bow and a quiver of arrows appeared in his grip.

“Holy crap!” Andy exclaimed.

“Yes, it is quite exciting,” Anteros said, though the words were coming from Andy’s mouth rather than sounding in his head. “Didn’t I say I would save us all?”

Not of his own accord, Andy slung the quiver over his back and nocked an arrow. The first predator approached him. A massive wolf. He was forced to aim and release the arrow, and it pierced through the wolf’s throat. Scarlet fluid splattered out behind the creature. It dropped to the floor, gurgling and writhing about in pain until it went still.

Next came a lion. It rushed toward Andy, fangs bared, claws extended. Just a few feet from him, it leapt into the air, prepared to pounce. Against his will, Andy launched another arrow. The projectile whizzed straight into the lion’s skull. Blood and brains spewed from the predator’s wound as it plummeted to the ground.

Two more animals rushed forward, a second wolf and lion. In several fluid motions, Andy was forced to shoot two arrows at them. One missile impaled the wolf in an eye, the other spiking the lion in the heart. As the lion fell lifeless, the wolf whimpered and wailed, pawing at the object lodged in its hemorrhaging organ.

One after another, the wolves and lions sped toward Andy, Darko, and Kali, but Anteros made Andy kill or incapacitate them all with arrows. Soon, none were left standing, the quiver slung across Andy’s back empty. Against his will, he clapped his hands. More silver light nearly blinded him. In an instant, the bow and quiver were gone, and something else was in his hands: a heavy, solid golden club.

Andy turned to Circe not of his own accord. She shot him a fiery glare. “Go ahead, witch,” Anteros said through Andy. “Call more of your pets in here, and let us see what happens. Oh, I know, why don’t you summon a few of those little nymphs of yours, hmm? I’m sure they’ll put up a good fight!” He let out a cruel laugh. “You must have forgotten my father is the God of War. Battle is second nature to me.”

Circe raised the Trident. “I didn’t want to use this in my palace. However, you’ve left me no choice.” She started to bring it down, but her arms froze midair. She let out a shriek and jerked around as if wrestling with an invisible force for the weapon.

“That must be Calliope,” Anteros said through Andy, to Andy. “Shall we help her?”

The question must have been rhetorical, because Anteros didn’t give Andy a chance to reply. Not that he would have argued against helping Zoey, anyway. But suddenly his wings were flapping, and he soared forward. When he got within arm’s reach of Circe, Anteros made him smash the golden club into the side of her skull.

Circe tumbled to the side, the Trident flying from her grasp. At the same time, the Helm of Darkness clattered to the floor, and Zoey appeared next to it, sprawled out upon the tiles. She groaned in pain, pressing her hand against her forehead. No, no! Andy thought. Did I hurt her? He wanted to go to her, to scoop her up in his arms and ask if she was okay. To round up Darko, Kali, and the objects of power and get out of here as fast as possible.

However, when he tried to jerk himself toward Zoey, when he tried to fly to her, he found himself soaring in the direction of the Helm of Darkness and Poseidon’s Trident, and then he was snatching them up. With one hand, Anteros forced him to grip the Trident tight; with the other, the god made him slip the Helm over his head. Chills rushed through him as the object of power cloaked him with invisibility. Finally, against his will, he flew to Circe and landed before her.

Circe pressed a hand to her head, golden liquid dribbling from a fracture in her skull. Legs shaking, she climbed to her feet. “I know you’re there,” she said. “And I know it’s the real you, Anteros. Not some cheap imitation who has the gall to call himself your reincarnation. So, now that you have the Helm and the Trident in your possession, what kind of horrible fate do you have planned for me?”

Andy wanted to say that he was the real him, that he was Andy Regan and there were no cheap imitations present, and that she was immortal so there really wasn’t anything horrible they could do to her—not permanently, at least. But when he opened his mouth and spoke, he heard Anteros’s voice and words rather than his own. “I plan to perform the Descent Spell, casting you far from here. You might be a minor goddess, but I’m sure you’ve heard of the enchantment before, considering your knowledge of magic.” He released a volley of malicious cackles. “Funnily enough, Calliope is the one who told me about the spell in the first place, years ago.”

Circe screamed. It was a high-pitched, earsplitting, hair-raising shriek, one that Andy imagined was powerful enough to shatter glass. Internally, he cringed at the sound, but externally, he stood perfectly still, as if Anteros had him frozen in place.

When she finished her screeching, she fell to her knees and clasped her hands, tears of orange fire rolling down her cheeks. “Please, Anteros. I loved you. And I know that at one time, you loved me back. Before Calliope came and ruined everyth—”

“None of that matters anymore,” Anteros replied calmly, casually. “Even if I did love you once, Circe, you cannot go unpunished for this transgression.” He made Andy raise the Trident. Bring it down against the floor. And then chant something—something foreign and ancient and magical sounding—that must have been the spell he was talking about. As if in response to the chant, the ground shook violently, then split open beneath Circe to reveal a black abyss so deep Andy couldn’t see the bottom.

Circe screamed as she tumbled down. She clutched onto the edge, dangling over the abyss, and ribbons of bloodred smoke curled up and around her from within the pit.

Worried for Zoey’s safety, Andy managed to sneak a peek out of the corner of his eye at her. She was scrambling away from the pit. Behind him, Darko and Kali were squealing in terror. At least they’re safe, he thought. Anteros forced him to focus solely on Circe again.

“Please, my dearest Anteros!” Circe shouted. “Mercy! Have mercy!”

Anteros chuckled coldly. “Mercy? Were you planning to extend mercy to the mortals you transformed into swine? What about to my vessel? To Calliope’s?”

“I thought—I thought—”

“Whatever you thought, you were wrong.” Anteros chanted something else. Circe begged him to stop. He didn’t listen. Instead, he made Andy ram the Trident against the floor again.

As Anteros went on incanting, the edge that Circe was holding onto began to crumble. She screamed as bits of floor and earth rained down on her head. Then she lost her grip and plunged into the pit.

Once Circe disappeared, her screams no more than echoes, the ground shook again, the earth beginning to seal itself together. When it finished, all that was left to suggest the floor had opened at all was the dirt scattered about and the remnants of the bloodred ribbons of smoke as they evaporated into thin air.

It was then that Andy realized how nervous he was right now, his heart pounding, his palms slick with sweat. The buzzing in his chest had returned, accompanied by a strange new burning sensation.

Andy dropped the golden club and pulled the Helm off his head, tossed it aside, and turned around—this time all of his own accord. He faced Zoey. “Andy?” she said, her voice hoarse. “Andy, are you okay?”

He parted his lips to reply but found he couldn’t speak. “Apologies,” Anteros said in his head. “I overexerted our body when I performed the spell, but it will be all right. We must take a while to rejuvenate.”

As Anteros finished speaking, the ground seemed to shift beneath Andy, and the room began to spin. “Andy!” Zoey shouted. She leapt to her feet and ran toward him.

The hot vibrations in Andy’s chest grew ever stronger, his vision becoming blurry. He staggered forward, intending to go to Zoey’s side, but tripped and fell face-first instead.

Distantly, Andy could hear Zoey crying out for him. Soon, however, the cries ceased, and darkness consumed him.

Zoey had no idea how Andy had done it. Had no idea how he’d opened the ground, sent Circe down into the pit he’d created, and then sealed everything back up again. Sure, she figured the phenomenon had something to do with the powers of the Helm of Darkness and Poseidon’s Trident. Not only because he’d been in possession of both items when he’d done it, but also because of what Circe had said earlier about tapping into the objects’ true potential. Even still, she had no idea where to begin to start understanding the logistics of what had just occurred.

The process must have also had quite an effect on him, because when he’d taken off the Helm and she could see him again, his face had been deathly pale, sweat seeping from his pores. He’d stumbled forward and fallen to the floor, and now he lay unconscious on the soil-covered tiles at her feet.

Heart racing, she knelt by his side and checked his pulse and breathing. His heart’s beating, and his breathing seems normal. That’s good, right? God, what I wouldn’t give to have Diana’s healing powers right now.

Several squeals interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to see Darko and Kali—who were both still pigs—trotting toward her. Crap. Yet another problem I’m going to have to take care of, and fast. What if more wolves and lions or even the nymphs in the palace come in here, before Andy wakes up? Before I can find an anecdote for Darko and Kali?

“Anteros will be fine, just as you already suspect,” Calliope said in Zoey’s head. “It might take a bit, but he’ll wake. Even so, you need my help.”

Zoey huffed, though she was finding it rather difficult to stay frustrated considering Calliope had confirmed Andy was going to be okay, and also considering Darko and Kali had reached her side and started licking her hand and arms affectionately. In this state, they almost reminded her of her childhood dog, Daisy. “Oh, yeah?” she responded to Calliope. “And how do you propose to help me? If it’s by taking over my body, like what Anteros did to Andy, you better believe it’s not happening.” She grimaced, trying not to imagine what Calliope would make her do with Andy if the goddess took over her body.

“As much as I would love to control our body, I’m not sure whether I’m powerful enough to do so yet.”

“You keep saying we’re the same person, but I’m not convinced.” Zoey went back and forth between petting Darko and Kali behind the ears. “How did you reach that conclusion?”

“I have no time to answer such maddening philosophical questions! When Circe tells whatever gods of the Underworld who took over in Hades’s absence how she arrived there, they will be in contact with Zeus immediately. We must make haste! We must change the mortal and the satyr back into their true forms and escape this island before—”

“Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second. Did you just say Circe is in the Underworld? Is that—is that what Andy did to her? Sent her there? Is that what the gaping hole in the palace floor was all about?”

“You have always been quick witted. Perhaps you’ll listen to reason, then, if I take a short time to explain a few things to you.

“Yes, Anteros sent Circe to Hades, and he used the Helm of Darkness and Poseidon’s Trident coupled with the Descent Spell to open and close the portal. But if we don’t escape this island as soon as possible, I can assure you his efforts will have been for nothing. Once Zeus discovers we’re here, either he will send his minions for us, or he will come for us himself. And despite the resilience and strength you have demonstrated not only recently, but also over the years, you’re still no match for the King of the Gods. Not yet.”

Zoey rubbed her temple. This is a lot to take in. I need to focus on the task at hand and try to figure out everything else later. “Okay, for the time being, I won’t ask any more questions about Circe and the Underworld. Now, how do I turn Darko and Kali back?”

“You cannot do so by yourself. You must transform them by channeling me, by using my magic.”

“Don’t I already have magic? When I use my voice-powers and whatnot? They seemed pretty otherworldly to me, at least.”

“Yes, that is true. You already have a small bit of magic—this is what others recognize in you as your divine essence, and what you know as your powers. Anteros, as well. You see, the convergence began for Anteros after he touched his statue in Aphrodite City; this is because the statue held remnants of his old magical energy, and he absorbed some of it by coming into contact with it.

“Your convergence began later that day when Anteros touched you after your fight with the astynomia in Aphrodite City. When he came into contact with you, you absorbed some of the magical energy he’d absorbed earlier. You felt it happen in the form of an electric shock. But, although you’ve both begun your convergences—and although you grow stronger each day—you have still not reached full power. Therefore, you must channel me to save your friends.”

“Andy and I began our . . . convergences?” Zoey asked, raising a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We are running out of time. We must make haste! You must channel my magic! Please, close your eyes and find me in the labyrinth of your mind. I wait for you at the entrance, where I’ve been waiting for you for years. In the past, you couldn’t see me, but now that the convergence is progressing and I can speak with you, I suspect you will spot me easily.”

As much as Zoey didn’t want to admit it, Calliope was right. They were running out of time. Once Circe explained to any god aligned with Zeus what Andy had done to her, someone would be on their way here.

So she did as the goddess said. She closed her eyes and began to search the darkness of her mind.

It happened quickly. Zoey caught sight of Calliope standing at the opening of a cave-like structure, and she was immediately struck by how much she resembled the goddess. Not that they appeared exactly alike, because they didn’t. Calliope stood much taller than Zoey, her features more chiseled and more classically beautiful than Zoey’s. Still, they shared several defining characteristics—they had similar tan skin, bright-blue irises, and long, curly brown hair. Calliope wore a turquoise dress that was stunning on her, and Zoey noted that turquoise was one color she also looked great in. If someone told her Calliope was her long-lost aunt or cousin, she certainly wouldn’t discredit them.

Calliope must have seen Zoey, because the goddess ran toward her. Zoey ran toward Calliope as well. Something told her they’d have to be touching if whatever it was Calliope wanted to do was going to work.

Moments passed, and they reached each other. Calliope snatched Zoey by the arms, and a strange buzzing sensation began humming in Zoey’s chest. The sensation grew stronger, stronger, stronger, until Zoey could hardly bear it any longer, but still she did not pull away from Calliope.

The buzzing spread throughout the rest of Zoey’s body. Glowing light the color of a clear midday sky flashed, and then Zoey felt herself merge—felt herself become one—with Calliope.

The blue glow faded, and in a split second, what could only be memories flooded Zoey’s mind.

First, Zoey was in her bedchamber on Olympus, concocting a speech she planned to give to the minor deities of her pantheon. The speech was meant to convince them that they needed to rebel against the Olympians. When it was over, she also intended to educate them about the Descent Spell.

Then Zeus was there with her, and he snapped her neck, and she “died.” When she finished regenerating and awoke, Zeus was carrying her through the Garden of Olympus. Finally, the god sent her barreling toward Earth . . .

“Ah, yes,” Calliope said, still in her mind. “You’re finally recalling bits and pieces of our past. Even so, we have no time for memories.” Compelled by an urge not her own, Zoey blinked her eyes open. Andy lay unconscious before her, Darko and Kali pacing nervously at her feet.

Suddenly, and very much unlike before, Zoey was undaunted by the task at hand. Suddenly, she felt as if she knew not only what had to be done, but also exactly how to do it.

She snapped her fingers, though she wasn’t sure if she’d wanted to do so or if something else had forced her to. A flash of bright-blue light emanated from her hand, practically blinding her. Although she wanted to close her eyes, she found she could not. Something was keeping them open. She tried to cover them, but her arm wouldn’t budge. Had Calliope taken over her body despite promising not to?

“Calliope!” she shouted. At least I can still talk, she thought, her eyes watering. “What’s happening?”

“Be quiet, or else you’ll break my concentration.” Calliope’s clear, regal voice rang all around Zoey, no longer only in her mind, but what was strange was that the words came out of her own mouth. And yet, the distinction between their two different voices was clear as day. While Zoey sounded every bit like an eighteen-year-old girl, Calliope sounded just as Zoey imagined a powerful, ancient goddess would.

Zoey pressed her lips into a thin line; even if she wanted to interrupt whatever Calliope was doing, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to. A familiar tingling sensation started up in her throat, and she suspected Calliope had just used her own voice-powers on her.

When the blue light finally faded, Zoey blinked hard—this time of her own accord—trying to clear her vision. There was a slight burning in her chest, different from the buzzing sensation, but it quickly subsided. “We’ll talk again soon,” Calliope said in her head. “But for now, I need to rest. It’s been years since I last counteracted another goddess’s magic, and Circe’s is strong.” She released a soft, sweet sigh. Zoey’s vision cleared.

As Zoey took in the sights before her, she blinked some more. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Andy lay unconscious on the floor and Darko and Kali stood before her still, but Darko and Kali were no longer pigs. Darko had been returned to his satyr form, and Kali was human again. They appeared just as they had before.

Kali smiled at Zoey while Darko poked and prodded at his horns, arms, and hooved legs in disbelief. “What happened?” Kali asked. “We were pigs, but then Andy wasn’t and I thought I saw him kiss you, and then I’m pretty sure Circe fell down into a pit, and you were petting us, and—”

“Andy!” Darko cried, racing to Andy’s side. When Kali noticed Andy lying unconscious on the floor, she raced to his side as well.

“He’s okay,” Zoey said. “He’ll wake soon. He just—he exhausted his body, I think. From sending Circe down to the Underworld.”

Darko looked up at Zoey with an incredulous expression. “Huh?”

“He did what now?” Kali asked.

Zoey briefly explained how Anteros had taken over Andy’s body and, after turning Andy back into a human and defeating Circe’s pets, used the Helm and Trident to open a portal to the Underworld and sent Circe there. Then how Calliope had taken over Zoey’s body, and how the goddess had transformed Darko and Kali back into their normal selves by counteracting Circe’s magic.

“Despite everything, Circe will be back,” Zoey said. “More of her wolves and lions could come after us, too. Maybe even her servants. We have to find a way off this island, stat.”

Several roars and howls came from somewhere in the palace. The sounds of paws hitting the floor followed.

“Those seem like they’re coming this way,” Darko said.

Zoey nodded. “They’re after us.” She picked up the Helm and handed it to Kali, then seized the Trident. “Kali, put on the Helm, and both of you carry Andy. Since you’ll all be connected, you’ll all be invisible. Meanwhile, I’ll use the Trident and my voice-powers to hold off anyone who tries to stop us. I doubt Circe’s pets and servants can dodge them the way she did.”

Kali put on the Helm and disappeared, and Darko grabbed Andy under the armpits. Kali must have picked up Andy next, because both he and Darko disappeared with her. All the while, the roars and howls continued.

“C’mon,” Zoey said, running toward the kitchen’s exit. She held tight to the Trident with her hand, gesturing at the others to follow her with her handless arm. “Let’s get outta here.”

She passed through the door. Once she determined the hall was clear, she hurried into it, the sounds of feet falling and hooves clacking following her. She veered right, away from Circe’s other pets. They came from the direction of the palace’s entrance; surely it had an exit too, right? Hopefully on the opposite side?

They reached a curve in the hallway and Zoey went along with it. But when she saw what awaited her and her friends beyond the bend, she stopped dead.

What could only be four forest nymphs—Dryads, Zoey thought—and five ocean nymphs—Nereids, if she remembered correctly—blocked the group’s path. The greenery-clad Dryads had long grapevines like tentacles twisting and curling all around them, while the blue-skinned Nereids had whips of water ready to strike in their nimble hands.

The one thing both types of nymphs had in common, though, was that they glared at Zoey, their narrowed eyes filled with hatred.

One of the Nereids stepped forward, snapping her water-whip against her palm. “We heard screaming. The palace was shaking horribly. And now we sense our mistress’s absence.”

A Dryad came up beside the Nereid. Her vines snaked around her arms. “Where has she gone, exactly?”

Something bumped into Zoey from behind, knocking her forward a few feet, and Kali cursed under her breath. “Stop, stop, stop,” Darko whispered frantically.

The nymphs cocked their heads. “What was that?” another one of the Nereids asked.

Zoey cleared her throat and thought about what she could say to convince these nymphs that Circe was fine, that their mistress wasn’t gone, and that they should let Zoey and her friends pass. She focused on her voice-powers, focused on the tingling in her throat that would inevitably come . . .

Except it didn’t.

She closed her eyes and focused on her voice-powers again, harder this time, but still the familiar tingling sensation did not come.

“Umm,” she started, and not very eloquently, for a supposed goddess of eloquence, “not to worry, my . . . friends. Circe is just, uh, out.”

The nymphs shot her disbelieving scowls, and she thought, Calliope! What’s happening? Are my powers stalled because you turned Darko and Kali back to normal or something? The goddess didn’t respond.

The Nereid who’d initially stepped up drew closer to Zoey. “What have you done with our mistress?”

Zoey backed away, gripping the Trident so tight her knuckles went pale. What was she supposed to do? To say? If her voice-powers weren’t working, and if the nymphs already suspected something was up and the rest of Circe’s pets were after her and her friends, how were they supposed to get out of the palace? Not to mention off the island?

Could she perform the spell Anteros had done on Circe? The Descent Spell or whatever he’d called it? Could she send Circe’s pets and servants down to the Underworld to buy herself some time?

She knew the spell must involve the Helm and Trident, but didn’t magic like that require words too? When the Fates had cast their cloaking enchantment, they’d definitely incanted something, though Zoey couldn’t remember what. So, what were the words Anteros had used when he’d done the Descent Spell?

She racked her brain, trying to recall what he’d said, but it had sounded so strange. So ancient and otherworldly and—

Wait a second, she thought as an idea struck her. Maybe Prometheus could help us out of this if he escaped the Labyrinth and avoided getting caught. How did Spencer and Diana say a god can be summoned, again?

“Tomorrow we’ll gather some berries and build a small fire as a sacrifice to summon her,” Spencer had said. That was when they’d initially called on Persephone for help into the Underworld so they could steal Hades’s Helm of Darkness.

Gods and demigods are also strongest when they’re near something that gives them power, Zoey remembered. Prometheus is a Titan god of fire, so if we made one and offered a sacrifice in his name, maybe he could muster the strength to help us!

More of the nymphs stepped forward, brandishing their water and vines like weapons. “Well, mortal?” barked a Dryad. “Are you going to answer the question, or do we have to torture you to get you to talk?”

“Kali, Darko!” Zoey yelled over her shoulder. “My voice-powers aren’t working. Take Andy and run back to the kitchen as fast as you can, then make a fire and grab some food to sacrifice. I’m right behind you!” All she heard in response were Kali’s feet and Darko’s hooves striking the floor as they hastened away.

The first Nereid practically growled, lunging toward Zoey and snapping her water-whip. Zoey darted to the side, but she wasn’t fast enough. The whip grazed her shoulder, hot pain searing the impacted flesh. She cried out. Almost lost grip of the Trident.

A Dryad came forward next. With a vine, she slapped Zoey off her feet. Zoey landed hard on her spine. The Trident tumbled out of her hand and slid a few yards away.

Another Nereid charged toward Zoey, water-whip ready. As the nymph brought down her weapon, Zoey rolled sideways toward the Trident. The water smacked a tile uselessly. The Nereid shrieked in contempt, rushing after Zoey. Two Dryads ran up behind the Nereid to help her, vines ready.

As the Nereid brought down her water-whip a second time, Zoey snatched the Trident. She propelled herself into a crouched position, then thrust the Trident’s prongs into the Nereid’s stomach.

The other nymphs halted in their tracks, gasping as scarlet liquid trickled from the Nereid’s wound and mouth. Her water-whip de-solidified and splashed to the floor, and she fell limp.

The nymphs stared in wide-eyed shock at their lifeless companion, and Zoey ripped the Trident from the Nereid’s body. Mustering all her strength, she slammed the object of power against the tiles before her feet.

Tremors arced through the floor from the point of collision. The nymphs screamed, quakes tossing them backward.

Zoey didn’t waste any time. She had to take advantage of the disorientation. She swung around and bolted back toward the kitchen.

Moments before she reached the chamber, several lions and wolves barreled out of another room at the end of the long hallway. When the predators spotted her, they roared and howled, hurtling toward her.

To make matters worse, the shouts of young women echoed behind her. She chanced a glance over her shoulder; the nymphs must have recovered quickly, because they were chasing her now, and they were catching up fast.

Heart racing, Zoey spun around to face the nymphs. She rammed the Trident against the floor again. The vibrations sent them spiraling through the air.

Pivoting toward the wolves and lions, she brought the Trident down a third time. The convulsions took a bit longer to reach the animals than they had the nymphs, but they still did the trick. The creatures went flying backward, yelping and yowling all the while.

Zoey hurried into the kitchen and quickly assessed her surroundings. For the most part, it looked just as she’d left it, except Darko and Kali worked at a stove in a frenzy as they tried to build a fire. They’d piled a bunch of fruits and vegetables on the counter beside them, and the Helm and a still-unconscious Andy lay at their feet.

Using the Trident, Zoey yanked several racks of jars of food and glowing goo in front of the doorway. The jars shattered, their insides and loads of broken glass spreading across the floor. Hopefully, that would keep Circe’s pets and servants busy for as long as it would take Zoey to summon Prometheus.

“Oh, good,” Kali started, her voice laced with sarcasm and panic. “You made it back. Care to explain what exactly we’re doing here?”

As Zoey ran to them, Darko did something over the stove, and orange flames crackled into existence. Kali backed up while he tossed their pile of food into the fire. “We’re making a sacrifice to summon Prometheus so he can help us get out of here,” he said.

Zoey stopped at Darko’s side and leaned on the counter, trying to catch her breath. “Exactly,” she replied.

“Aren’t Prometheus’s godly abilities limited?” Kali asked. “Because of Hephaestus’s chains?”

“Yeah,” Darko answered. “But I bet he can still make it. He has to. Because unless Zoey can get her voice-powers to work on these guys, we’re dead.”

The smells of smoke and burning fruits and vegetables filled Zoey’s nostrils, and she thought back to what Spencer had said to summon Persephone. “Persephone, it’s your one and only stepson, Spencer. Please accept my sacrifice and make yourself present to me. I need your guidance.”

Zoey stood up straight and closed her eyes. “Prometheus, it’s me. Zoey. It’s also Andy and Darko and Kali. Anyway, please accept our sacrifice and make yourself present to us. We really, really need your help. Seriously, if you don’t show—”

She never finished her sentence, a volley of animalistic snarls sounding behind them. She swung around and saw the wolves and lions scrambling over the fallen racks, trying to make their way into the kitchen.

“Shit!” she shrieked, turning back to the fire. “Prometheus, please! Help us!”

Several more seconds passed. Nothing.

“Okay, he’s obviously not coming,” Kali said. “He’s not strong enough, because I’m sure if he could, he would. What about someone else?”

“Who else is there?” Darko cried. “The Fates said they aren’t going to help us anymore, Apollo was captured by the other gods, and—”

There was a loud crash as a few of the wolves and lions knocked racks aside to get into the kitchen. They careered toward Zoey, Darko, and Kali, but they couldn’t run more than a few feet. They slipped and slid on broken glass and glowing goo.

Kali snapped her fingers. “The goddess who visited Andy in his dream when he was passed out and his wings were growing!”

Darko snatched more fruits and vegetables. “That’s it, that’s it! She can help us! Prometheus said she’s a goddess of prophecy, right? But what was her name? There are so many deities who deal with prophecy!”

“Asteria,” Zoey replied. “I think her name’s Asteria.”

A lion and two wolves gained their footing. They snarled and bounded for the group.

Darko chucked the food into the fire. “Asteria, great goddess of prophecy, please accept our sacrifice and get us out of here!”

Zoey wasn’t sure whether Asteria would come. She wasn’t even sure whether that was the goddess’s name; it had just been a best guess.

The fact of the matter was, Zoey couldn’t count on anyone else to save them now. If no one made it here, it was up to her.

After all, she was a Chosen One.

She spun around and leapt in front of her friends. I’ll protect them, no matter what. She raised the Trident.

The predators were thirty, twenty, ten feet away.

Zoey brought down the Trident.

Just as the prongs rammed into the floor, something strange happened. Something she’d never expected.

Thousands of shimmering miniature stars materialized in front of her. They encircled her, ensnared her and her friends and all their possessions. Then there was a flash of blinding light, and next thing Zoey knew, they were all soaring across the night sky.