Sweet Legacy

“It does sound crazy,” he says, his pale eyes watching me, “but you’re not. You’re as far from crazy as anyone I’ve ever met.”

I swallow hard, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“So if you’re telling me this is true”—he lifts his brows—“then it must be true.”

I shake my head. “Are you . . .” Surely I heard him wrong. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Maybe.” He stands and tugs me up and forward. As he leans over the table, he whispers, “Definitely.”

His lips are soft and warm and everything I need right now. They’re a gentle connection to something real, something not dangerous or deadly or out to kill me, my sisters, or my friends—something . . . perfect.

When he pulls back, his eyes are glowing—like a normal, excited human glow, not a demon monster from the abyss or anything.

“Now,” he says with a dimpled smile, “what’s the plan?”

CHAPTER 14

GRETCHEN

When I hear the whistle, I run.

There was only one short burst of sound, which means someone found Sthenno, and it echoed all the way through the dungeon.

My hallway was a dud—nothing but empty cages and cells filled with crates of supplies or something, most of them with bright yellow Xs spray-painted on the sides. No gorgons hidden there. No prisoners at all.

When I get back to the fork where Thane, Greer, the golden maiden, and I split up, I pause to listen for another whistle burst. I hear nothing except the echoing sound of booted feet running on stone. I back myself up against the nearest wall and wait until I see Thane emerge from his hallway.

“Was that you?” I ask.

He shakes his head.

The golden maiden arrives, looking just as expectant.

Thane and I simultaneously say, “Greer.”

“You stay with Ursula,” I tell the golden maiden. I toss her the keys. “She needs to be ready.”

Thane and I take off running down the hall my sister chose.

Behind us, I hear metal clanking against stone—a whistle dragging on the floor—and Sillus calling out, “Wait, huntress, wait.”

I don’t stop.

“Hush, little one,” I hear the golden maiden say as I race out of earshot.

Greer’s hallway is dark, with no torches or lights or magical whatevers to illuminate it, but there is a low beam of light spraying across the floor at the far end of the hall—her flashlight on the ground. I break into a sprint.

Thane beats me to her.

He skids to the ground on his knees right next to her head, reaches under her shoulders, and cradles her in his lap. I kneel at her side.

“Greer,” he says, gently shaking her. “Greer, wake up.”

She doesn’t move.

A scratching clank announces Sillus’s arrival. “Oh, no, huntress.”

I ignore him, scanning my gaze over Greer, looking for an injury or a wound. She doesn’t look hurt, and there are no signs of—

“Gretchen?”

I twist around at the sound of my name, searching for the source. There are doors on either side of the hall, so I grab Greer’s flashlight off the ground and peer inside.

“Down here,” the voice says. “The door is hidden.”

“Here, huntress,” Sillus cries out. “Look here.”

I spin back, the flashlight beam swinging back and forth as I follow the direction of his excited gesture. Then I see it, just a couple of feet off the ground, in the middle of the wall that ends the hallway: fingers reaching out and wagging at me from a narrow opening. Non-monster fingers.

“It’s me,” the voice says. “Sthenno.”

“Sthenno,” I whisper, relief washing through me. I drop to my knees in front of the opening. “What happened?”

“I’ll explain that later,” she says, “once we’re out of here. Apollo will have raised the alarm. The soldiers won’t be long now.”

I scan my gaze over the wall around the opening, tracing the beam of light over every stone, every joint of mortar. There is no sign of a door at all, let alone a way to open one. It’s like she’s sealed in.

“How?” I ask. “There’s no door.”

“One of the stones is a false front.” She gestures to the left of the door. “Somewhere over there. It pushes in to release the catch.”

With the flashlight in one hand, I start running my other hand over the wall. I push on every stone, waiting for one that gives way. Push after push, and nothing.

Finally, I get to the smallest stone—only about four inches square—and when I press on its surface, it sinks back into the wall.

“Got it,” I exclaim.

The words are no sooner out of my mouth than I hear a metal-on-metal sound and the entire wall around the opening—maybe four feet across and six feet high—pops out from the rest. Thane gets to his feet, Greer hanging limp in his arms, and moves them out of the way. I try to get a handhold on the stone edge to pull the door the rest of the way open.

“Stand back,” Sthenno says.

Sillus scrambles to my side.

I find a rough spot where I can get a grip. “I’ve almost—”

The door moves suddenly, swinging open like a tetherball on a string. It knocks me a few feet to the left, but I manage to keep my balance.

Sthenno appears in the doorway, dirty and bedraggled but otherwise intact. That was an impressive display of strength.