Page 29 of The Shadow Gods

But I was held suspended, and then so very gently, my feet touched the ground.

“Gods.” Achilles was on his knees, movement uncoordinated as he tried to get to his feet. “Leo.” His hazel eyes were wide as he held out a hand to me.

His voice, filled with fear and confusion, slithered past the hissing filling my head.

Worried I had hurt myself and hadn't felt the pain yet, I examined my body. But no. There was nothing. I wasn't hurt. I blinked to clear my head and wobbled a little.

Hector slid his arm around my waist, holding me up. “You're okay?”

“Yes,” I answered, but the word came out strange.

After a long moment of just staring at me, Hector asked, “You're not hurt?”

The percussive wave must have knocked me senseless, because it was taking me a long time to process his words. “Did I hit my head?” I asked, freezing as it dawned on me. I wasn't speaking English, either.

I could read ancient and dead languages, but it was beyond my ability to speak them. With no recordings, it was impossible to know for sure what they sounded like. Somehow, though, I knew what I had spoken.

I swallowed hard, focusing on Hector. “Am I speaking Greek?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No.” He watched me, blue eyes seeming to sum up what I could and couldn't handle. “You're speaking a language I haven't heard since I left Troy. I don't believe it has a name.”

Don't panic.

I pictured the words I wanted to say in my head, concentrating hard before saying, “This is weird.”

When I lifted my eyebrows, Hector's shoulders slumped. “English.” Drawing me closer, he held me against him and dropped his forehead to my shoulder. “It's okay.”

I wasn't hurt. I was just freaked out, but even that was hard to hold on to when his arms wrapped around me like this. Breathing him in, I tucked my hands between us and let him embrace me.

“That was a bad idea,” I admitted.

“I agree.” He pushed my hair behind my ears. “Do you feel back to normal?” He said it weirdly, like there was more to his question than he was coming right out with.

“Yeah. Speaking another language is pretty weird. It must have knocked something loose.” I tapped my forehead with my index finger.

Slowly, he drew back. He slid one hand behind my neck while the other went to rest on my lower back. “It was more than that,” he said, watching me closely. “You flew.”

“Flew through the air,” I clarified, picturing what happened to him and Orestes.

“No,” Paris said from nearby. “Flew. Or maybe, hovered is a better word.”

“Floated?” Achilles offered.

None of those descriptions were especially comforting.

“For real?” I had an image of me flying through the air, end over end, and landing like a superhero.

“Yes,” Hector said. “It pushed you back, but rather than fall, you looked a little like a puppet.” He held his arms up and sort of waggled them up and down.

It was an ungainly movement and was way more like me than a Wonder Woman impression. “I'm sure that was the power of the seal.” Because, let's face it. I wasn't like them. I couldn't do anything physically impressive.

“Ever since Athena gave you your memories back, things have changed,” Hector countered. “The boat?”

The others nodded, but I was lost. “What about the boat? It was my fault?”

“No.” Holding me at arm's length, he dipped down until we were eye-to-eye. “It wasn't your fault. But something happened to save us. It surrounded us. Protected us. I'm starting to wonder if that was you.”

The idea was fantastical, and as much as I wished I could be more of a help than a hindrance, there was nothing to base his theory on. “It could have been the seal too. Look at what just happened. It protected itself when you tried to destroy it. Maybe that's what happened on the boat. Rather than be swamped, it blasted whatever was trying to drown us.”

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