by Diana Tyler
Chloe wanted to tell him everything, from Orpheus and the tragic creatures on Circe’s island, to Charon and Cerberus and the River Styx. Maybe one day they could have that coffee date at Astrolux…when they weren’t on the Fantásmata’s wanted list. Right now, that prospect seemed next to impossible. As long as Mania was on the warpath, Chloe knew she would never lead a normal life back home. If she couldn’t change the past, her future would bring nothing but death.
“It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.” Ethan’s eyes stared into space, focusing on nothing except the memory of moments that had turned his life upside down. “After the wolf left him for dead, your dad sat up like he’d just been sleeping. All his wounds closed up on their own.” He touched his elbow again. “And then he healed me.”
“I wonder what my dad was doing out there. He was supposed to be at work.”
“He was exploring. My mom showed your brother and me seven jars that he found in Cave One. Each one was connected to a color of the Moonbow.”
“Orpheus told me the Moonbow’s appearing was an omen or something.”
Ethan nodded. “‘The warning and the way,’ is what your dad told me.” He turned to her, his hand nearly meeting hers in the middle of the space between them. “He wanted me to tell you that. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long.”
Chloe hardly heard his apology. Her mind was still stumbling over “the warning and the way.” She understood what “warning” meant. The Moonbow was how the Fantásmata knew that the “Vessel” had arrived. They knew the prophecies, too. After all, they were the ones who’d been hoarding them all these thousands of years. But what about “the way”? The way to what? She could think of only one option for getting answers.
“We have to go back there, Ethan.”
“Back to where?”
“Back to Cave One, where my dad found the jars. We have to talk to him and find out what they mean and what the Moonbow has to do with any of this.”
Ethan’s knee began to bounce. “And what if that wolf’s there and for some reason your dad’s doma doesn’t work?”
Chloe looked down at his baldric. “Then I hope you know how to use that thing.”
As if able to detect Ethan’s agitated nerves, Artemis stirred and wagged her tail at him. He stared down at the sword, then looked through the tent flaps at the pebbly path and the dusty feet passing by.
Chloe couldn’t tell if he was giving himself a mental pep talk or trying to figure out how best to tell her he wasn’t going. “If you don’t want to go with me, I understand,” she said, “but you can’t talk me out of it.”
“No, I’m going with you. That’s not the issue.”
“Then what is?”
“Your brother. Damian’s life is in danger every second he’s with Mania.”
He had a point. The only thing she or anyone else seemed to know about this rogue Asher, Mania, was that she was, well, maniacal. The prophecy said she considered every other Asher a threat, so what would stop her from harming Damian…or worse?
“You said yourself we need a strategy,” said Chloe. “Mania has to have her own, don’t you think?”
Ethan’s face brightened as an epiphany hit him. “She’s probably using Damian to lure you and Iris to her.”
“Exactly. And we’re no match for her.”
“Not yet.” Ethan smiled. “I have a feeling those jars will be more useful than the sword.”
Chloe laughed. “But it does make you look significantly more intimidating.”
“That’s all that matters then,” he said, in his signature deadpan way.
“You ready to go?”
Ethan stood and held out his hand for her. She took it and pulled herself up, then gave him a funny look when he didn’t let go.
“I have to touch you in order for this to work, right?”
Chloe could feel her hands get clammy. “Good call.”
Then she closed her eyes, took a breath, and focused on her father’s face as she said the words: “Cave One.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AISON
The salty breeze was the first thing Chloe felt as sunlight flooded the spinning darkness. Whatever wormhole was responsible for transporting her through time, it was anything but cozy; it was pitch black, damp, and emitted a soft buzzing noise like a lightbulb about to burn out. Her inability to see only worsened the queasiness brought on by what she guessed was her body trying to cope with the inexplicable mechanics of time travel. She would get used to it eventually—at least that’s what she told herself.
She felt Ethan lift his hand from her shoulder. Had she only imagined that he’d held her hand?
“We made it,” she said breathlessly, and then bent over to wait for the nausea to subside. “I knew I shouldn’t have eaten any of that boar.” She groaned and tried not to focus on the surplus of saliva pooling in her cheeks. “What’d you think of the ride?”
When Ethan didn’t answer, she looked up and gasped. Damian was sprinting away from her, turning invisible as he did. Ethan was nowhere to be seen.
“Damian!” She took off after him, but she knew it was foolish to try and catch up; he was a cross-country all-star after all and already she had a stitch in her side.
Chloe’s mind was racing so fast she could barely keep up. Should she use her doma now to go back to the past and stop Damian from sabotaging her trip? What was he doing here anyway? She wished she could go to the future to find out what he was planning, but Carya had made it clear that traveling forward wasn’t part of the arrangement.
She stopped running, partly because she wanted to and partly because she thought a lung was about to collapse, then turned to gaze at the Great Sea. The only time she’d ever seen the ocean was in ancient Petros, as Petrodians were rarely permitted to venture outside their own cities. Why had her father been out here exploring anyway, and how had he managed to do so unnoticed? But then again, he had been noticed, hadn’t he, by some kind of mercenary wolf, a wolf that might be nearby, even now…
“Just breathe,” Chloe whispered as her heart beat faster. “You have a doma. You have a brain. Use both of them.”
It only took a single long exhale for Chloe to realize what Damian was up to. He wanted to save their parents, an act that, if successful, would undo everything. From Chloe learning the reality of heaven and Hades, to her and Damian hearing a two-thousand-year-old prophecy about their critical role in history, rewriting the past would assure victory for both the Fantásmata and the rulers of hell that controlled them.
Chloe knew what she had to do. When her heart rate finally normalized, she closed her eyes and visualized the tent along with Ethan and Artemis’s faces. She waited for her heart to leap into her throat as the feeling of weightlessness replaced gravity. But her focus was interrupted by a low growling sound not ten feet away.
Don’t open your eyes, don’t open your eyes… She pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth and tried to concentrate on the sound of the surf.
“Where did you come from?” came a young man’s voice.
Chloe tried her doma again, but as she did, the man let out a blood-chilling bark, and she knew he wasn’t just any man.
“I know what you are,” he snarled.
Every muscle in Chloe’s body tensed as she heard him coming closer. Where was that sword when she needed it? Desperate, she plunged her hand into the hidesack and pulled out the first piece of fruit her hand touched.
“Here,” she said, tossing it toward the wolf. “I promise it tastes much better than I do.”
The creature laughed, and a few seconds later, Chloe heard the scratchy Velcro-like sound of an orange being peeled.
“A kind gesture,” he said, taking a bite. And then a firm human hand grabbed hold of her wrist. “If you’re planning on going anywhere, you’re taking me with you.”
Chloe opened her eyes and was astonished to see a familiar face standing beside her, his wide eyes fading from orange to yellow to h
azel.
“Aison?” she said. The last time she’d seen Aison he had been serving her ice cream with Orpheus.
“Answer me, Asher.” Aison bit off a chunk of the fruit, tossed the skin onto the sand and tugged on her hidesack.
As she stumbled into him, Chloe thought he smelled like fresh laundry, with just a hint of citrus and sweat. Had she only imagined that he’d growled and barked at her?
“You can move at the speed of light, is that it?” he said.
“How about you tell me why it matters so much to you?” she rejoined as she jerked away from him.
Little by little, patches of tawny hair began to sprout along his arms and cheeks, and his angry eyes glowed orange again.
Chloe commanded her feet not to move. Running would only rile him further. “You really are the wolf.”
Aison growled as the orange fell to the ground. His fingers stretched five inches past their normal size and sharp claws ripped through the tips. “How do you know what I am?”
Chloe stared past him, hoping she would see her dad approaching in the distance.
“Answer me!” Aison roared, his neck lengthening as four of his teeth transformed into long incisors. “Or are you that eager to die?”
A seagull squalled as it circled overhead, as if searching for a carcass to feast on.
“You said it yourself,” said Chloe. “I can move fast. And you can turn into a wolf. Your secret is my secret.” She pretended not to notice his dissatisfied snort. “Now, if you don’t mind giving me some space, I need to go—”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Aison hunched over and fell to all fours as a repulsive series of cracking noises accompanied the appearance of canine vertebrae through his white T-shirt. His nose elongated into a grizzled snout, and with a shrill howl, his jeans ripped from his body as he kicked off his sandals, making room for furry legs. From his paws to his shoulders, he stood at least four and a half feet tall.
Chloe had to admit she was relieved to see that, unlike her prison guards in Hades who were horrific mishmashes of creatures, Aison was just an old-fashioned, regular wolf. Granted, he was three times the size of any dog she’d ever seen, but at least he wasn’t part lion.
“Can you speak properly when you’re all wolfed out like that?” Chloe was sure her fear was making her delirious. This wasn’t a joke, after all. Aison could take her down with a single pounce.
“Of course I can,” he answered, his voice just the same as it was before.
“Great news. The conversation was starting to get good.”
Aison’s fur bristled. “You’re lying.”
“Of course I am. You really think I enjoy talking to shapeshifters?”
“Not about that.” He walked in circles around her, sniffing her jeans and tennis shoes. “You lied about your doma.”
Chloe didn’t make a peep: there was no way Aison could know that unless his nose was a lie detector.
“You reek of Molossus.” He tucked in his tail and snarled. “The Molossus has been extinct for fifteen hundred years.”
“I don’t even know what a mo-whatchamacallit is.” Chloe wasn’t lying about that one.
Aison’s eyes, level with her chest, squinted up at her. “It’s a hunting dog. An ancestor of the mastiff.”
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken.” She paused and put a hand on her hip. “How would you know what a Molossus smells like, anyway?”
Aison lowered his eyes and fixed them on the surf lapping against the coast. She’d backed him into a corner, but she knew it was only a momentary advantage. She reached into the hidesack, rummaging for a knife or something else that was sharp. And then came a boy’s voice shouting at the top of his lungs.
“Get away from her, you big ugly dog!”
Chloe stopped breathing as her hand clamped onto a worthless lemon. She pulled it out and turned her head slowly toward the boy, the boy she knew was Ethan at ten years old. He was just as lanky and pale as she’d remembered.
“Ethan, go back to your mom,” Chloe said as calmly as she could. “The big ugly dog just wants a snack.” She threw the lemon at Aison, hitting him lightly in the ribs. Aison crouched low, cocked his tail and bared his fangs, preparing to attack Ethan.
“How do you know my name?” The boy seemed more troubled by that question than having a wolf stare him down as though he were a T-bone steak.
Chloe extended her arms, one toward Aison, the other toward Ethan, and stood between them. “Aison, look at me,” she whispered, hoping Ethan couldn’t hear.
Aison glanced up, but didn’t speak. It was clear he didn’t want the boy to know who and what he really was.
“I’ll tell you who I am,” Chloe whispered. “I’ll even show you. Just let the boy be.”
Aison gave a slow nod, but his body didn’t relax, nor did he tear his eyes from Ethan.
“Aison…”
The animal barked and curled his lips higher, exposing mottled gums and hungry teeth. Then he shifted his weight onto his hind legs and sprang forward, covering five yards easily with a single bound.
He was going after Ethan, and there was nothing Chloe could do to stop him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
DISCORD
This was Chloe’s chance to go back to the past, to totally erase this entire encounter and start from scratch. If she could only concentrate, this trip would soon be nothing more than a bad dream.
But she couldn’t go back. Something inside her wouldn’t allow it, was telling her to wait. Was this the moment in time when her father and Ethan were both attacked? She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer: Duna, don’t let them die today.
“Trying to leave without me, are you?”
Chloe’s eyes flashed open to see Aison back in his human form, complete with a fresh T-shirt and jeans.
“Where’s Ethan?” Her voice was breathy with panic. She spun in circles, expecting to see Ethan’s crumpled body lying somewhere along the beach.
“I chased him off. He needs to learn to mind his own business.”
“One could say the same about you.” Chloe took a deep breath, ripples of relief replacing the tidal wave of anxiety.
“I have a feeling our businesses are intertwined.”
Chloe’s chest filled with heat as she fought back the impulse to punch him in the face. She’d never been one for violence, but she could make an exception for assassins.
“My business has nothing to do with murdering innocent people,” she said, glaring at him with more hatred than she’d ever felt before, even in hell. This man had attempted to kill both her father and her friend. She wanted nothing to do with him, and yet that voice inside her was telling her otherwise.
“I have murdered no one.” Aison came closer and whispered, “Hold up your end of the bargain and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
Chloe snapped her elastic against her wrist. She didn’t have time to argue with him. Who knew what damage Damian would do if she didn’t get out of there soon. She would have to take her chances bringing a shapeshifting wolf back to Ourania.
“I hope you’re not afraid of the dark,” she said. Then she clapped Aison’s shoulder and closed her eyes once more.
“Damian!” Chloe yelled even before her eyes had fully adjusted to the light inside the tent.
“What in Hades is he doing here?” Ethan drew his sword. He was sitting on the settle, just as he had been before she’d left, only now, there was visceral aggression burning in his eyes. “You brought back Aison? The ice-cream guy? Is this a joke?”
Artemis sat wagging her tail on the bed she’d made of Iris’s chiton.
“Molossus,” Aison muttered.
“Long story. Keep your sword out,” Chloe told Damian. “I don’t trust him.”
“Nor do I trust you,” Aison retorted as he strode out of the tent, leaving Chloe no choice but to follow.
“Wait, we’re not done in here!” she yelled, nearly bumping into him as he
stopped abruptly outside the door. She stepped around him and stood in his way, as if she’d be able to detain him for even a millisecond were he to try and proceed.
But Aison didn’t appear to be in a rush to go anywhere. A look of incomprehensible peace settled over his features. His strong, square jaw relaxed slightly and his gray-green eyes became misty. “It’s been two thousand years,” he said softly.
Ethan brushed past Aison, eyeing him closely. “Why is he here, Chloe? And where did you go?”
“Where’s Damian? I’ll let him explain.” Chloe pressed the sides of her hands around her mouth and resumed yelling Damian’s name. “Damian! I know you’re here. I know what you’re planning.”
Aison pointed at a wooden shed not a hundred meters away. Men and boys were having lunch outside it, their hoes and mattocks strewn on the ground between them. “There’s a guy dressed like you over there,” he said to Chloe. “The one who ran away the second you appeared on the beach. If I’m not mistaken, it’s your brother.”
Chloe looked, but everyone she saw was wearing chitons and straw sunhats. “Where? I don’t see him.”
Aison stabbed his finger at the shed. “Right there. Wearing jeans and a dark blue jacket.”
“How can you see him?” Ethan asked, dumbfounded.
“How can you not?” Aison’s exasperated face turned red. “He’s right there, plain as the nose on your face.”
“He’s invisible to us,” said Chloe, “but obviously not to you. Where exactly is he standing?”
“Now he’s walking down the road. And now he’s running.”
Chloe followed Aison’s gaze down the hill and groaned. She hated running, a fact Damian knew better than anyone. “Ethan, you run faster than me. Mind catching up to him for me?”
“Sure,” said Ethan, a question in his voice, “but I can’t guarantee I could take him in a fight if he started one.”
Chloe stared at Aison a moment, trying to weigh whether or not she could trust him not to take things too far were he to confront her brother. But she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t let Damian escape that wall again, not without resolving a few things first.
