Page 106 of Flame and Fury

I look around the bar. Jerry is laughing at something Greer said that was undoubtedly rude. Lark and Jasper are handing out stickers with a smile. Drake, Estella, and Nico are enjoying a drink after a long day, hell long years, of working for change.

A year ago, I never would have imagined this was what my life would look like. I was lonely, unfulfilled, frustrated. Who knew getting thrown into the Olympus Games would change my life for the better.

“We all made that happen.”

EPILOGUE

WREN

ONE YEAR LATER

“That’s the last one,” Atlas groans, setting down a box full of textbooks.

For the last year, we’ve been working to help modernize schools around the restored territory of North America. Bringing in much-needed supplies and textbooks that are more recent than the fifty-year-old versions I grew up using. This trip is extra special because it’s the place where I went to grade school. It’s also where my parents worked.

The school library is now overflowing with computers and enough new books for each student in every grade. After Kat won the election and became president, she made education one of her primary focuses. There are still a lot of things that need to change, but the clerics have lost their power. Many of them are in jail and waiting for trials for their crimes committed against humanity. Local governments have been elected. It’s not perfect, but things are slowly getting better.

“Are you ready for this?” Atlas dusts his hands off on his pants. He’s cropped his hair close again, and he looks so much like when we first met, it makes my heart skip in my chest. Except he smiles so much more these days. At least for me. Everyone else can go fuck themselves.

“Personally, I think the teacher is crazy, but who am I to deny a request like this.” I shrug, trying to downplay my nervousness.

“Come on. Show me where we’re supposed to go.” Atlas grabs my hand and tugs me out into the hallway. From there, he lets me take the lead. The hallway is tiled in a checkerboard pattern of pale blue and off-white. The lockers are short to accommodate little kids. If I wanted a drink from the water fountain, it would require some extreme bending. I shouldn’t be nervous, but I am.

I push open the door to the room where I had kindergarten. Twenty-five wide-eyed faces stare back at me from where they’re sitting in a circle on the floor. The teacher beckons me inside with a genuine smile.

“Class, we have a very special guest today. This is Wren Torres, and she’s going to talk to us about how the Furies helped change things for the better.”

Atlas sits cross-legged on the floor with the kids, leaving me to take a tiny seat at the front of the circle. The kids immediately flock to him, touching his shoulder, and hanging off his arms. A smile that I now know is genuine lights up his face as the kids pester him with questions. He lifts a finger to his lips and nods toward me. His hazel eyes are just as rapt with attention as the kids’ when I begin to speak.

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl who had to hide from the world.”

“I love hide and seek.” A little boy with big brown eyes smiles at me.

“Did she do something bad?” One of the girls hanging on Atlas’s arm asks.

“My mom says I should be proud of who I am.”

The teacher claps her hands. “Children, please. We have a friend in the classroom. Let her tell her story.”

I bite back a smile and nod in thanks. “This girl was different, but she was scared to show her true colors. The world was told to hate her for what she was.”

Atlas squeezes my ankle like I need the support to tell my story to a bunch of five-year-olds. He knows me too well.

“My mom says hate is a bad word,” the little girl whispers the word like she’s going to get in trouble.

I nod. “It’s hurtful and dangerous. This little girl was a Fury.”

The kids gasp and the teacher hides a smile behind her hand.

“All the stories she heard about her kind said that Furies were old and ugly, with floppy gray skin and wings like a bat.”

“Were her wings slimy?” one little boy asks as though that would be amazing.

“No,” Atlas answers with his deep warm voice. “They’re beautiful. And that Fury helped bring freedom to this territory. She’s pretty incredible.”

“I wish I could see her wings.” A sweet little girl with dark curls sighs wistfully.

Atlas raises an eyebrow, and I grin at him.

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