Page 74 of The Shadow Gods

He was twisting a knife in my gut. I held myself personally responsible for what happened in Bologna. I should have been able to stop Poseidon.

“You're the general,” I answered. We'd discussed this last night when Orestes and Leo hadn't been with us. All of us agreed that the best way to keep Leo safe was to fight the gods ourselves. I didn't give a fuck that she scared Poseidon enough to run him off. She wasn't immortal, and I wouldn't risk her life.

With a decisive nod, he got in the driver's seat, and I climbed into the back. Leo watched me as I did, studying me. I wrestled with the guilt that came from keeping this from her.It's for her protection.

Still didn't feel right, though.

Cars and trucks were lined up by the ferry entrance and beginning to curve down the street. The ferry anchored in the water rolled with the waves, massive compared to the vehicles waiting to drive aboard.

I didn't feel good about this, but I swallowed all my doubts. It was pointless to voice them when each of my friends shared them. We all knew this was the only option besides flying.

“Does anyone else feel this sense of urgency?” Leo asked. “This whole time, I've—not enjoyed, that's not the right word but I’ve—known we were doing the right thing and that whatever happened on this journey, we could handle it. But now I just want to get there. I wish there was a speedier ferry.”

Leave it to this brave human to give voice to what we all feared. But like cowards, none of us answered. I turned to study her, but she was looking down at her hands.

“I don't mean to make you panic,” she added. “It's the right choice, I know that. Seeing the ocean and the ferry, it's real.”

Reaching across the van, I took her hand in mine. She was sitting beside Paris, but I wanted to drag her next to me. With a quick look at Paris, who—thank the gods—understood, we switched places. I put my arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. She smelled like the soap from the hotel, and I didn't like it. It was too strong and unlike her usual scent. I sniffed her hair and could barely make it out, but it helped. Having her in my arms eased my worry. Here, she was safe. I wouldn't let anything get to her.

“If Poseidon comes back, I'm going to sink him and make him into an anchor. Or my own personal Greek statute. I'll hang my umbrella on the stupid trident.”

Her harsh tone surprised me. And worried me. If she was already planning on going head-to-head with Poseidon, we were going to be in trouble. Because it was my sole purpose to keep her away from him.

“What if he's stronger?” I asked.

She didn't answer. Instead, she twisted until she was hanging over the back seat.

“Hey!” Achilles called out. “Seatbelt!”

“We're stopped!” her muffled voice yelled back.

In a minute, she'd flipped back into the seat, holding a paperback. She held it up and I read the title:Metamorphoses.“When Perseus takes Medusa's head, he uses it to defeat Cetus, a gigantic sea monster. Not thekraken, like my first-year students would have you believe, thank you very much, Hollywood.” She blew her bangs out of her face with a frustrated breath. “I can do this, Pollux. I know I can.”

“You don't do anything alone,” Hector said decisively. “We're not hiding. I told you that.”

Leo's face paled and she bit her bottom lip, but she didn't give in. “I'm not hiding, either. And if I haven't told you that before, I'm saying it now. Either we do it together or not at all. I'm part of this.”

“No, you're not,” he replied. “You're not part of this. No matter what visions you've seen or memories you have of another life, it didn't happen to you. Not you, Leonora Ophidia.”

Her quick intake of breath was the only sign of how much it hurt her. The change that came over her was instant. Every emotion disappeared, leaving only a pale, blank face.

Rather than answer, she opened the book and began to read.

Paris punched Hector so hard the van shook, but Leo didn't lift her head. None of us said anything, which was the absolute worst thing to do. Even in those moments when the silence was so thick you could slice through it, I knew I just needed to say,Don't listen to him.

But I didn't, and I couldn't say why. It wasn't because I agreed with Hector. I didn't. Shewaspart of this because she was part of us. If we were the body that stood between her and danger, she was the heart.

And I'd seen those visions, and she'd been Medusa. There was no viewing things from outside her body, like someone watching a movie. Everything had been real, and it had happenedtoher.

A sudden knock on the window startled us. A man in a uniform waited for Achilles to roll down the window. Orestes had purchased the tickets online, so all he had to do was show the receipt on his phone. Soon, we were coasting onto the ship.

“Leo,” Hector began, “You have to understand...” He trailed off when she lifted her head and met his eyes.

“Do I? I have to understand? I know I've been trying to understand. I know I care enough to understand. But do you? Do you have any idea how wrong you are?” Her brown eyes turned gold as they filled with tears. She wiped away any before they could fall.

Turning around, she went into the back again. I heard her digging around, but I didn't expect what happened next. In one motion, she grabbed Hector's hand and slapped a shard of the seal against it. “You need to see it to believe it.”

Hector's face went white the second the seal touched his skin, reminding me of that awful time after the death of his son, when he hadn't cared if he lived.

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