Page 77 of The New Gods

“The seal is broken, though,” I asked. “How did that happen?”

Shrugging, Paris glanced at Orestes, who mirrored the action. “We dropped it into the ocean. All our power, and theirs, was in that seal. We thought it would all sink to the depths of the ocean and remain there. Eventually, we’d die—and they’d die—and that would be it. But maybe it was too much power in one place. Maybe their power battled with ours, but whatever it was, the seal shattered.”

Orestes picked up where Paris left off. “We think each piece of the seal contains a measure of their power. I pictured it forming a web—or a shield—around the gods. The power stretched around them, holding it in place. And as long as each piece remains separate, the gods will stay trapped.”

Hector cleared his throat and pushed his hair out of his face. “There’s no logic to the gods or their power. But I know what I felt before the seal exploded. The gods were fighting to escape, and nearly did. If the seal hadn’t broken, I don’t know what would have happened.”

My stomach clenched. “Should we just drop the piece we have in the ocean now? Why risk it? And if you knew it was bad for the pieces to be found, why didn’t you hide them better?”

At that, Paris laughed. He dragged his hands over his hair, looking so much like his brother, it was crazy. “We didn’t hide them at all, Leo. When they shattered they went to all ends of the earth. Or so we thought. No one found them before you.”

I didn’t know what to think beyond,get that thing hidden.

Hector sighed. “Finish carving that shard out of the rock, Dr. Ophidia. When you’re done, we’ll know for sure what we’re dealing with. Then we’ll sink it and hope it stays hidden for another hundred thousand years.”

A plan. Okay. I could go with it. “I—” I didn’t really have anything to say after that except, “Thank you for trusting me.”

“I’ll bring you up a cup of tea,” Pollux told me. I got the sense I was being dismissed, which was ironic since I sort of thought I was in with them.

“Coffee,” Hector interjected. “I’ll bring it up.”

Pollux turned slowly to face him and the two locked eyes for a long moment. I stood, using the wall to help me stand. My butt was numb from sitting on the hard floor, and my foot was a little bit tingly, but I could hop up the stairs if I needed to.

Leaving the group,I’m not a part of and never will be—Jesus, I could be bitter. They’d only known each other since the dawn of time, so if I wasn’t part of the cool kid group—get your shit together, Leo. You’re a god damned Ph.D.

With only a little bit of a hobble, I went upstairs to Hector’s office. Everything was just as I left it, including my phone, which I’d forgotten I’d plugged into the surge protector next to the desk. It had been dead when I started examining the stone, and when I was working, I’d completely forgotten about it.

Fully charged, it blared that I had a dozen missed calls and more text messages and emails than I could count.

I didn’t have to read more than the first three to see there was a theme.

Diana.

Not only did Dr. Merton and the Ioannou Centre want to know about her find, but the British Museum did as well. And National Geographic.

Shit.

After replying only to Dr. Merton, and putting him off with a very vague answer, I scanned my emails. The little crimson H in the corner of one message made my stomach clench.

Diana.

There was no text, only a photo. It wasn’t the one in the article Hector had shown me. This one was much more candid. Lit by a bright Egyptian sun, Diana, wearing white from head to toe, and a wide-brimmed hat, held the shard of the seal in her hand, image facing the camera. In the corner of the photo, clearly not meant to be in the frame, I could make out a black, scuba suit clad arm.

She hadn’t found it. She wasn’t diving into the ocean to search the floor for the shard. She hadn’t put in the work.

God. I wanted to reply to her. I wanted to take a photo of this stone and send it to her and then I wanted to take a picture of my middle finger, and sendthaton, too.

But I didn’t.

And I never would.

No one, not Diana, or Dr. Merton, or National Geographic, or anyone at the Ioannou Centre would know what I’d found.

Shutting off my phone, I dropped it into my bag and opened the notebook I kept. In it, I’d sketched what I believed the vessel would look like, back when I’d only had one piece.

And last night, I’d made notations and sketches of what it did so far. It hurt that I’d have to burn this book after. I’d considered entering the data points into my laptop, but my fear that Diana had somehow infected my computer made me go old school with just a pencil and notebook.

I couldn’t even keep that.

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