Like a paranoid bird, Theo swiveled his gaze from the wavering portal to the belching chasm and back again. He glanced at his watch, looking for answers he knew it couldn’t provide. Ten minutes had passed and the portal to Manhattan was about half as wide as it’d been at the start. Did he have another ten minutes, or would the closing accelerate? He couldn’t remember how it had worked on Mount Olympus.
I could jump down into Tartarus and try to speed things along, he considered, but he knew the gesture would be pointless. In this world, the goddesses’ powers so far outstripped his own that he’d have little to offer. He’d just be one more body to haul back up again.
The thrill and terror of finding himself in ancient Athens was beginning to wear off. It was just a barley field like any other barley field, and so far there was no sign of Zeus. The Acropolis was far enough away that the blur of grand buildings on its summit left his curiosity piqued but unsatisfied.
When this is all done, I wonder if we could just open up the occasional portal for research purposes, he mused. Take a little weekend away in the Classical Age. Of course, we’d be dodging Zeus all the way, but perhaps if we—
A whispered “Theo!” broke his reverie.
He looked through the portal to see Ruth, Gabi, and Minh standing on the New York side, peering at him with a mix of trepidation and fascination.
“What’re you guys doing? Get off the bridge!”
Gabi frowned at him. “Where are the big bad goddesses who are supposed to be protecting you in case Zeus shows up?”
He jerked a thumb at the smoking ravine. “Down there, doing what they said they would. I’m fine, okay? Just waiting for them to get back.”
“What does it feel like in there?” Minh asked, taking out her phone to video the portal.
“Hey! Do you really need to film this?” he begged. “Look, it’s hot, okay? Like Greece-in-summer hot, what do you expect?”
Philippe joined the women. He still looked unsteady on his feet. “Shouldn’t Mama be back by now? Do you need me to come in and help?” The God of Love looked like he could barely stand, much less rescue anyone from Tartarus. Theo could imagine the fight he must’ve had with Esme before she even allowed him to come at all.
“No, it’s fine. I just …” Theo began with a sigh, but he trailed off when he noticed the look of horror cross his friends’ faces. “What?”
Ruth pointed mutely over his shoulder.
A forest of spearpoints bobbed above the barley stalks. The grain waved and shuddered as if a hundred, a thousand, soldiers ran through it.
“Maybe they’re just doing some military training exercise …” he said weakly.
“Get out of there,” Ruth demanded, reaching out her hand to help him through.
“Not without Selene,” he insisted. “She can’t get back without me.”
He could hear the thunder of marching footsteps now, feel the vibrations beneath the soles of his sneakers. The promakhoi—the first rank of soldiers—appeared at the edge of the field, spreading out beside the smoking cleft. In their breastplates and greaves, with the long cheek and nose guards of their helms hiding their faces, they looked fearsome, inhuman. Yet Theo could hear them panting; he could see the sweat running down their oiled arms. They were men, just like him. Men in very good shape.
“Please,” Theo murmured to his friends without looking behind him. “Go now.”
Instead, he heard the clatter of metal as his own beloved promakhoi raised the shields Athena had given them.
He left his own shield at his side. He didn’t draw his sword. Perhaps he could talk his way out of this.
He offered a “Khairete!” in greeting. Beyond that, he wasn’t exactly sure what to say. He pointed at the smoking cleft and settled for, “Phylassesthe to khasma.” Mind the gap.
To his shock, the soldiers fell to one knee and bowed their heads.
From behind him, Theo heard Philippe’s smug chuckle. “I see they still know a god when they see one.”
Theo glanced around, but Philippe remained on the New York side of the portal. Handsome and well dressed—but godly? Not exactly.
“Shall I come through and give them a taste of my full glory?” Philippe asked eagerly.
“No—you may not be able to get out,” Theo replied quickly. “It looks like everything’s under control for the moment, so—”
An eagle’s cry split the air.
The soldiers shuffled apart to leave an aisle clear between their ranks.
A figure three times the height of a man strode through, his thunderbolt in one hand and a golden eagle perched on his shoulder.
The King of the Gods stepped up to the lip of the cleft and stared down into the smoke. Then he looked at Theo, his gaze as piercing as any raptor’s talons.
“Where are they?” he demanded, his voice rolling like thunder.
Theo forced himself not to cover his ears.
“Tell me!” Zeus commanded, louder this time. But his voice cracked like a desperate father’s when he added, “Without the rest of my children, I am incomplete.”
Theo’s mind whirled. If he admitted that Selene and the others were in Tartarus, Zeus would surely close the rift above them, trapping them for eternity. “They sent me in here to open the chasm,” he said, “but they’re still out there.” He jerked a thumb toward Manhattan.
Zeus’s lightning-stare bored into Theo. “My daughters are no cowards. Why send a thanatos to confront me alone?”
Theo let himself tremble in fear—it wasn’t hard. “It’s a trap,” he blurted. “They don’t really intend to rescue the others; they just want you to chase them back through the portal. They figured once you crossed over, you’d lose all your power again, and they could defeat you.”
A sly smile drifted across Zeus’s lips. Theo’s unease grew, but he plowed onward. “I told them it wouldn’t work—you wouldn’t be so stupid. But you know Athena and Artemis. They don’t take advice from a mere mortal like me.”
Zeus’s eyes flew to the portal. Theo’s friends stood steadfast behind their raised shields; he could hear Gabi’s muttered Spanish curses.
“They’re out there?” the King of the Gods asked.
“Yup,” Theo said with a contrite shrug. “And since you can’t pass through, I guess that’s where they’re going to stay.”
Zeus stared down at Theo. “I thought you were a scholar. Do you not recognize me?”
“Uh …”
The god drew himself up even taller than his already impossible height. He seemed to swell; his glowing aura burned a little brighter. “I am the Almighty. The Majesty of the Heavens. Lord of the Sky. The Omnipotent. I am the Maker of Laws! Do you really think I must follow yours?”
Theo wasn’t sure how to respond. Zeus just laughed, the sound a drumming roar. “I do not need to remain in the ancient world to be the King of the Gods,” he boomed. “I can bring the ancient world with me.”
He strode right past Theo and onto the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Athenian army marched through after him.