“What about your mom? Is she here too?” he asked.

“I’m here,” Mom chirped. “You must be the man Athena was blushing about.”

“Mom!” Athena felt her cheeks heating and was glad Derek couldn’t see.

“What? It’s true. Never seen you do that before,” Mom retorted.

“Hello, ma’am. What do you say we get out of here so we can actually meet?” Amusement hued Derek’s words.

“I was looking for something to smash the locks,” Mom explained. “Rogers has the key.”

“I can help with that. Athena, where are you?”

“Over here, honey. I take it Ares recruited you?”

“Yeah, he showed up at the farm looking for you and told us what happened to your sister and mom. Sorry we didn’t get here sooner. We had to scout the situation first to make sure we didn’t fail in our rescue.”

“Are your grandparents okay? Rogers and his goons attacked them.”

“They’re fine and in their glory. I’ve never seen them so excited. Gramps has been hoping he’d have a chance to use Bessie before he died.”

“Bessie?”

“Bessie is an armored vehicle he’s been tinkering on for years. Think of it as a Mad-Max truck made for the apocalypse.”

“Hold on. He’s here?”

“Grams too.” His voice sounded close. “Who do you think is holding off Rogers’ men?”

Selene started laughing. “Oh my God, you didn’t mention how cool his family was.”

“Very cool, with the exception of his ass of a cousin,” Athena muttered.

“Grams almost killed Frank. She still might after this,” Derek replied from right in front. Close enough that when she ran her fingers over the bars, she found his hands.

He clasped them tight and whispered, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, sugarplum.”

“You’re here now. You couldn’t have known.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be better once I’m out of this fucking cage,” she grumbled.

“Stand back while I shoot the lock.”

Athena shuffled to the back of the cage, and her ears vibrated when he fired.

“Hold on while I… Got it. Come on,” Derek ordered.

“Coming. Help my sister. She’s right across from me.”

He slipped away, and she aimed for the front of her cage, her hands feeling to find the opening and stepping out.

Bang.

Selene crowed, “Freedom!”

“You and that movie,” Athena huffed but good-naturedly. Maybe they would escape this place alive.