hand on the wall, beneath the protruding bone, and it will open.”
I navigate around the mound she indicates and follow her instructions.
There’s the grating of stone against stone as some hidden machinery opens a door, a huge one, large enough for even Cerb. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but nothing he can’t handle. I grin in relief and send Apollo a silent ‘thank you’ for the loan of his bird.
“Let’s go,” I say as I hit the steps winding up to the surface.
Minutes later, we’re coming up from the ground and into a ruined courtyard surrounded by crumbling columns.
A gust of fresh air blows over my face, and I take a deep, invigorating breath.
Then, without warning, Nefeli launches into the sky. Before I can even ask where she’s going, she’s off, flying high in a circle over our heads, and there’s nothing left to do but hope she comes back.
Cautiously, I survey my surroundings. It’s evening, and although the sun is hiding behind a veil of clouds covering the sky, there’s enough light that Cerb growls and paws the ground, each swipe of his massive paws sending puffs of sulfur my way.
“Yeah, I get it,” I comfort him in soothing tones. “But you’re going to have to deal with sunlight for a bit. Sorry, boys.” No doubt, he’s recalling his first encounter with daylight when Hercules brought him out of that chasm from the Underworld. In fact, I’m counting on it. Not the light bit, but certainly the chasm. I need him to lead me back there once I’m done here, because that chasm is the fastest route back to the Underworld. But first things first. “Right now, we’ve got to focus on finding a way off this cliff so we can rescue everyone and deal with Clay.”
Cerb stops growling and follows as I step around a large chunk of fallen wall.
I’ve emerged at the edge of the temple ruins, near where the bridge collapsed, what, like a month ago? I sigh. It seems more like years than weeks.
“The sun will set soon,” I tell Cerb, dropping a hand on the nearest shaggy head. “You’d be impossible to hide if anyone looked our way. Stay here at least until it’s dark.”
I wait until all three heads settle down and then creep forward, past the broken columns, fallen masonry, and over crumbled tiles. I reach a half-ruined building and crane my head around the corner to peer at my palace on the opposite cliff.
Clay’s men are crawling all over the place, like termites scurrying over wood. Or maybe with Clay, cockroaches are a better fit. Near the palace entrance, several men are erecting pikes at the end of a line on top of the wall.
I squint, and three seconds later, I realize what I’m looking at.
Heads. Heads on pikes. At least a dozen. Their faces twisted in unrecognizable grotesque masks.
My people, I’m sure of it.
I want to vomit, knowing I’m looking at Clay’s handiwork. How could he? As Epimetheus, he’d always been greedy, and lately bad, but now, he’s downright evil.
“You’ll pay for this, Clay,” I vow, clenching my hand tightly around the shaft of my spear.
I whirl around. I have to get off this damn cliff. And fast. I survey the entire mesa, keeping out of sight behind the temple ruins, but I can see no way off this place.
“I’m out of here,” I announce to Cerb as I return. My voice is shaking with anger. Rage. Despair on behalf of my people. “I’m done letting Clay harm anyone else. This has to end. Now. I’ll have to go it alone, after all, I guess. You’ll have to wait.” It’s not my first choice, but it’s the only one I’ve got.
The sun is low in the sky as I step around a marble column and head back to the stairs leading into the Dungeons. I’m nearly there when I hear a raven’s caw.
The next instant, Nefeli is diving down from the sky.
She flies over my head in a swoosh of feathers, her wings widespread, but as she sails past, she drops something at my feet. It’s white, soft, and about the size of a ping pong ball. It bounces, too. I stoop and pick it up as she tilts her wings and returns, a white gleam flashing through the falling gloom.
I drop my gaze to the small ball in my palm. Prometheus has seen this before and I breathe in sharply. “Arachne’s silk.”
Arachne, the goddess of handicraft who changed into