topmost letters on Castor’s desk, but a quick glance told her that what she was looking for wasn’t there. She knew Tantalus’s handwriting like she knew her own, and she didn’t see it anywhere. Then she realized that although Castor was the smartest and the bravest of the Delos clan, he would be the last person Tantalus would contact. She went over to the other side of the library and began another search in another desk.
She saw a safe under the other desk, put her hand on the spin dial and hoped that it wasn’t designed by a Scion. After a few moments on her knees listening for the click inside the tumbler, her search was abruptly ended. She felt the hot, thick jab of a needle invading the vein in her neck. She gasped, recognizing the drug cocktail she used on other Scions. She dimly remembered that when she had subdued Helen, she had left a spare syringe in her bag, loaded and ready, just in case. In seconds, her field of vision shrank to nothing.
When she woke, Daphne could feel that her hands had been shackled with something metallic. As she blearily tried to focus her eyes she saw that she was on a dark beach. She heard the jingling of chains as she moved her hands closer to her face, and saw that her wrists had been cuffed. There were deep vertical slashes on both her forearms that were still leaking fast-pumping blood even as they healed. She was thirsty from the blood loss, but she ignored that and summoned a bolt.
The cuffs heated up until they glowed so bright Daphne had to turn her closed eyes away or be blinded by the light. The brightness was nearly unendurable, but the cuffs didn’t melt, not even as she drained the last of her volts. There were few substances that could withstand so much heat at normal atmospheric pressure without turning into a liquid or a gas.
“Tungsten,” she whispered through her dry, cracked lips, angry with herself for acting without thinking first.
The white-hot links of nearly unmeltable metal led to a lightning rod that was jammed into the ground like a stake. Not only was she immobile, but any attempt she made to throw a bolt at an enemy would only end up dissipating in the sand.
“I wouldn’t have thought you had any bolts left,” a woman’s voice called from down by the waterline. The crouching shape rose and walked over to Daphne. “I took a lot of your blood to dehydrate you, or at least I thought I did.”
“Why are you doing this?” Daphne asked softly. “You’re not a killer, Pandora.”
“I know I’m not,” Pandora admitted with a humiliated nod. “I tried to kill you while you were unconscious, but I couldn’t do it.”
“Then let me go,” Daphne said with a sad smile. “I know why you’re doing this. Denial is a powerful thing, and grief can make a good person evil.” Daphne hauled herself up onto her knees. “But why don’t you believe me? Or if not me, why not Lucas, your own nephew? He’s a Falsefinder.”
“Lucas has every reason in the world to want your version of the story to be true,” Pandora hissed, kicking at the sand as she began to pace. “He is blinded by his love for Helen, and he would do anything to keep her. Maybe even lie to his own family.”
“First of all, Lucas can only have half of Helen,” Daphne said darkly. “And second, you know there are easier ways to see if I’m telling the truth about who killed Ajax than kidnapping me. Have you ever asked Tantalus why he’s still in hiding?”
“Probably because he knows you can look or sound like anyone!” Pandora shouted back, furious. “The only thing you can’t do is fake someone’s handwriting. That’s why he’s only communicated through letters—to protect himself because he knows you want him dead!”
“And why would I want him dead?” Daphne’s own temper rose. “If it’s a Triumph I wanted, why wouldn’t I have killed any one of you Theban rats as soon as I saw you? Why would I want Tantalus, and Tantalus alone, unless he stole something precious from me?” she asked, her voice breaking at last.
Pandora watched Daphne as she settled back into the sand, turning her back on the ocean she dreaded, to stare slack-jawed at her own feet. Pandora moved away from her and crossed her arms, tilting her face into the wind. She