Page 116 of Ares' Shield
I grip Jayden’s arm, my eyes wide.
“He really fucking did it,” I breathe.
I can’t believe he actually did it.
Both of the lions are frozen in the water and Raven sags, dropping into the water. Greyson is right there and picks her up in his arms and rushes her to the edge of the fountain.
“I’m okay,” Raven says and rests her head on his shoulder.
“Can you control them long enough to get them back to the MGM?” I ask Draven.
“I think so.” Draven’s brows pinch in concentration.
Jayden runs a hand down his face. “How are we going to do that without causing more destruction or the humans seeing us, though?”
“The humans don’t appear to see any of this.” I wave a hand at the destruction all around us.
“It’s weird,” Raven mumbles. “Why can’t they see the destruction? Is it even real or was it an illusion to draw us out?”
“Well, if it’s not real, then we don’t have to worry about them doing it again.” I turn to Draven with a raised brow.
“I can do it.” Draven lifts his hand, and the lions stand in the fountain.
“We’re just going to walk two giant-ass golden statues through the Las Vegas Strip and return them?” I ask.
Still not the weirdest thing I’ve ever said.
Jayden shakes his head. “The humans are going to freak out if they just show up again. The police were everywhere.”
“There’s a lot of magicians in Vegas, right? They will just think a magician made them disappear and reappear.” I hope.
“You think they will really explain it away with fake magic?” Jayden asks.
“How do you know it’s fake?” I loop my arm through his and walk away from the destroyed fountain.
That definitely isn’t an illusion and I have no idea how the humans will explain that away. They’ll probably say it was vandalized, but if humans got video of us, we could be the suspects.
“Human magicians use sleight of hand, not actual power,” Jayden says.
“They could be Hermes descendants or the children of other minor gods.” I tug him along to the rumbling of the lions’ paws as they step through the street.
No one seems to notice the giant statues following behind us and if they do, they don’t acknowledge it. Have weirder things walked down the street in Vegas?
We pick through the rubble that in no way feels or looks like an illusion but that could be the point of the illusion.
I don’t even know what to believe at this point.
When we finally get back to the MGM, the lions bound away and the huge fifty-foot one leaps on its pedestal.
People cheer and search for the person who made the lion disappear as the lion becomes visible again to the human eye.
“How the fuck?” I whisper.
Jayden steers me around the building to the parking garage. “I guess you were right about the magician thing. Everyone thinks it was a huge stunt.”
“Humans are simple. The simplest explanation is usually the right one for them.” I stride to the black SUV and wait for Jayden to unlock the door.
He opens the door for me and drops my bag on the floorboard. Jayden kisses my head and then shuts the door behind me.
