let out a little grunt, and I couldn’t help the smoke that blew out my nose. I needed to get her to that keypad soon before I did something I regretted.
As much as I liked this, I moved her towards the keypad.
“Let’s get Demos out of here before they discover us.”
Her delicate fingers pressed the keypad. It was odd. No one thought to upgrade this passage with electricity, but the keypad was more modern than electric lights. The door was also electric too. It swung open with a click.
If it didn’t mean leaving Pavlina and Tryphon behind, I would have gotten my baby bird out of there. I couldn’t. They were my friends, and we were a team. If we weren’t trapped like this, we could have snuck out this door and ended this.
There would be retribution against Pavlina and Tryphon if we left. They’d be fought every night until they were too tired and someone killed them. We’d avoided having to fight each other so far, but that was because we’d played Demeter’s game, but would eventually happen.
Demos showed he cared just a little bit. I knew it.
“I’ll be back in three moons. Be there to open the door for me. Keep River safe until I get back and protect her if Hades goes into a rage. Pluck a feather from my tail. It’ll light your way back up. Find a torch next time.”
Something must have changed in Demos. He would never have offered one of his precious tail feathers to light our way. I was as gentle as possible when I plucked his tail feather. He didn’t even react.
“Three moons and then you let me back in,” he said, flying out the door.
I just needed to have faith that Demos was the best scout we had.
Chapter 27
Demos
I
t felt so good just to spread my wings and fly. I might not trust that green fire of hers, but River was proving to be pretty resourceful. Plus, I hadn’t forgotten the stink she put up about taking the blame when Hades found out. He had a temper, and without Persephone there to stop him, he would have punished us. He might have thrown us back into the pits with the other monsters.
That tiny girl was willing to bear his wrath so he didn’t punish us. Was she insane? She had to be just a little if she would risk it. But I had a mission to do. I was the best scout the team had, and everything was riding on this. Persephone could be in danger if they spotted me.
I could fly as just ashes. I shook my wings and let myself transform. It was a three-day flight to where River said they were holding Persephone, but for a phoenix, it was nothing. I could make that in a few hours. I could use that few hours to figure out that perplexing woman who walked into my prison.
I had no idea what that huge contraption was that she had brought in, but she turned it on and showed me how it worked. I could admit it was lovely. It wasn’t quite like the sun, but it was close. I could lie in there and get nice and toasty. She had her uses, but she also had that strange, green fire, and I didn’t know what she was.
Still, I could admit she was fascinating and quite pretty. I was dying to know what she was that she could talk to monsters. How could she speak to me when I was trapped as a phoenix? The only people I could talk to like that were other monsters. We’d already established her father was from Hell. Was her father some sort of Hell monster?
I was approaching my territory, so I flew high and sharpened my gaze. That was the thing about phoenixes. We had excellent vision. I could see it in the distance. Demeter had a temple built by the river. It was typical Demeter. All columns and statues. I could see several warriors milling about, but no one ever came out here, so she wasn’t worried about being found out.
The front door was steel and didn’t match the rest of the wood. There were two sentries posted at the front. But was there another way in? I flew lower and circled the building. I was mere ash in the wind. They’d never be able to see me.
There it was. She couldn’t help herself. At the back of the temple was a large,