Page 54 of Scion of Chaos

Her eyes flash with determination, and we stare each other down for several seconds before Campe gives me a mental nudge.

“I like this one. She’ll fit in well.”

Nostrils flaring with a breath, I nod. “You come alone. We leave now.”

“We leave when I can gather my things and say goodbye to my daughter,” she counters. She narrows her eyes in a challenge for me to argue. Campe chuckles.

“Hurry up, then. We don’t have time to waste.”

She enters the enclosure and squats beside her daughter. A moment later, the little girl is in her arms and Erika carries her out, giving her a peck on the cheek before handing her off to Kol. “You’re going to visit your cousin Astrid. Would you like that? And when you come home, Papa will be back.”

“You promise?” the girl says, her lower lip quivering.

Erika gives Kol a pleading look and he squeezes the girl tighter.

“Astrid can’t wait to play with you, Gabby. Did you know she has a new kitten?”

This makes the child’s eyes light up and gives Erika the opening she needs to depart.

“Erika,” Kol calls after her. She turns back, and he says simply, “Be careful.”

She gives a curt nod and barely looks at us as she passes by to climb out of the dig site.

“On me,” I murmur, and the others converge, stepping into my body one by one as we walk until I’m whole once more. Their consciousnesses still lurk in my head, but their bodies have returned to the prison. Rather than walk, I transport myself in a blink to the campsite to wait for Erika to prepare for the trip.

She catches up and glares at me when she finds me leaning casually against the table in her command tent, poking at the dig site plans and notes that are scattered around. She disappears into her tent, then emerges a moment later, slipping on a leather jacket as she stomps across the campsite to me. I’m flipping through a soft, leather-bound journal, scanning a year’s worth of notes about her search for this place. She has information no human should be privy to, so I regard her with fresh respect.

My appraising look only makes her scowl harder. “You aren’t earning any points going through my research.” She snatches the journal out of my hand and stuffs it into her satchel, a drab canvas thing that looks a lot like the one Nemea carries.

“Just wanted to know a little more about the woman I’m trusting to help lure the Titans into a trap.”

“The only thing you need to know is that I’m seeing this through to the end. So I’m guessing we’re heading to Vegas first?”

“We see Fate first.”

“Don’t you work for Chaos? I figured he’d be the easy one for you.”

I grimace. “I already know what he’s going to ask for.”

Her eyebrows lift, but I avoid meeting her gaze. After a second, she lets out a soft snort. “I see how it is. Well, hopefully you come to your senses by the time we get to him. I’m ready to go.”

I hold out my hand, and she takes it. A second later, we’re standing in an empty waiting room. It’s a perfect cube of iridescent lavender walls with picture windows in the centers of three of them. Beyond each window, the view is a vast expanse of rolling fields, with perfect rows of trees loaded with white blossoms. Two low armchairs rest in the very middle of the room, facing a closed door.

Erika releases my hand and cranes her head around, taking it all in. “This can’t be real, can it?”

“It is, but it is not on the mortal plane. Only a handful of creatures know how to reach this place.”

She strides to the door and grabs the knob, rattling it. “It’s locked. So what do we do now? Were we supposed to make an appointment or something?”

“Fate doesn’t have a secretary. Now we wait.”

26

Nemea

The staircase at the bottom of the tower gradually widens as we descend, until it disappears into an immense cave, curving lazily into the darkness. Moist warmth radiates out of the opening, which is big enough for a creature ten times the size of Asterius to move easily through.

My pulse quickens when we step into the shadows and are greeted by the pleasant sounds of falling water, but we aren’t in darkness for long. Only a few steps down, torches flame to life along the walls, lighting our way.

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