Chapter Text
We wait for Lu in the cistern. “We” only includes Selena and me because the second Meg brought us here, she vanished, claiming her siblings needed her.
It was probably a lie. She just didn’t want to be around you. She has a new family now.
I shake my head to get rid of the thoughts. My fight with Meg isn’t the worst thing I have to deal with.
It’s Selena.
I watch her stare at the clear blue water of the cistern. She’d taken off her boot and dipped her feet in. I didn’t stop her, even though I knew better. I only watched her tuck pieces of her long silver hair behind her ear. I have a strong impulse to brush the silver strands away from her face. I ignore the impulse and settle for nudging her shoulder instead.
“Talk to me,” I say.
I’d learned that if I kept her talking, she stopped disappearing into herself. Well–“talking” wasn’t the right word.
She didn’t want to talk.
She wanted to argue.
She looks at me. Her eyes are deep pools of ink—distant, but sharp enough to cut.
“Are you going to explain why that happened?”
“Nope.”
She looks away. “Then there’s nothing to talk about.”
I take a deep breath. “You could always tell me what you're thinking about?”
“I'm thinking about the easiest way to get you to leave me alone.”
“How about this?” I stick my hand out. “If I can guess what’s bothering you in three guesses, you have to talk to me, but if I can’t guess, I’ll leave you alone.”
She stares at it. For a second, I think she won’t take it—like Meg didn’t.
Then she does.
The moment our hands connect, a chill runs from my fingers down my spine.
She lets go after one shake. “Deal.”
“Alright, let me think…” I look up at the ceiling to focus. I replay everything from yesterday. The forest. The prophecy. The way she looked like something had already gone wrong before we even stepped out of camp.
“You’re scared about Greece. About Asclepius. About the prophecy.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not afraid of quests.”
Of course she isn’t.
That was the safe answer. Selena didn’t do safe. She ran toward danger like it couldn’t touch her.
Which meant whatever this was… she didn’t think she could fight it.
I try again.
“This is about Chiron. Your conversation right before we left?”
Her fingers clench the stone edge of the cistern, just barely.
“Chiron worries too much,” she says flatly, “I’ve learned how to stop him from affecting me.”
She definitely looked shaky after that conversation, but I don’t argue with her.
I think about last night, when we discussed the prophecy with Chiron. I remember how much she knew about him. She knew about his old injury. Chiron was being very protective of her.
People weren’t usually terrified of the ones protecting them.
At least… they weren’t supposed to be.
My chest tightens. “It’s someone else.”
She freezes.
I scoot closer to her. “It’s not Chiron, it’s someone you’re afraid of. That’s why you panicked.”
She glares at me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Am I wrong?”
She doesn’t speak.
That’s enough for me to push.
“Do you think they’re following you? Are they the reason why you were in the forest?”
“Stop.” Her voice sharpens.
I don’t.
“Who is it?”
“I said STOP!”
The word slams into the stone walls and comes back louder.
Shame settles in my chest, silencing me.
“You don’t get to do this!” she snaps, turning to face me fully. “You don’t get to pick apart my life like it’s some kind of puzzle you can solve in three guesses!”
“I am trying to help you!”
“By interrogating me while you keep your own secrets?!”
That hits.
Hard.
I don’t think before I answer.
“At least I’m not pretending mine don’t exist!”
I went too far.
I wish she would look away, so I didn’t have to see her fade away again.
“Fix your own mess instead of trying to solve mine.” Her tone didn’t match the emptiness in her eyes.
The door clicks open behind us.
“Well,” a woman says dryly, “this seems friendly.”
Both of us jolt.
Lu leans against the cistern entrance, her prosthetic arms crossed.
She looked older, her dark hair streaked with grey.
Neither of us speaks.
“Meg leaves you alone for ten minutes, and suddenly the girl gets her flavor back.” Lu tilted her head at Selena, “Welcome back to reality.”
I hated how easily Lu talked about it.
Like Selena disappearing into herself wasn’t unusual.
Like this had happened before.
Selena’s lips twitch. Barely. But it’s enough.
“I’m assuming Meg told you about our situation?” Selena responds.
Lu lets out a breath. “She did, very emotionally. Unfortunately, I have information that can help you with that.”
“Information?” I ask, having no clue how she would be connected to our prophecy.
She walks over and sits behind us, leaning in to whisper, “Mellie has heard rumors about the sanctuary from her cousins.”
For one second, hope sparks in my chest. Information could mean my son is ok. Chiron will be ok.
But then Lu hesitated.
“What’s wrong with the Asclepion?” I can’t stop the wave of panic that crashed into me.
Lu sighs. It takes too long. I’m not sure if my panic is distorting my sense of time or if she really is sighing to delay her news. Both are bad.
“Apparently, Epidaurus has been drenched in rain for the past…who knows how long. The storms are so bad that no human has been able to actually see the ruins. Only the aurae can get close, but they can’t get in.”
My stomach sinks. I know exactly who is behind it.
My father.
Selena bites her nail while asking, “Why can’t the aurae get in?”
“According to Mellie’s cousins, every time they try, they’re sent back to where they came from. Like an invisible wall is in front of it.”
Or someone is controlling them.
“Those storms aren’t natural,” I said quietly.
Selena lowered her hand from her face and suddenly looked composed again. Too composed.
Like the argument never happened.
She zipped her emotions away before anyone could see all of the damage.
I should’ve been relieved she looked normal again.
Instead, it terrified me.
Nobody rebuilt themselves that fast unless they’d been breaking apart for a very long time.
I know because I’m the same.
She studied my expression. “You know what they are then?”
“It has to be…” The rest gets stuck in my throat.
Lu raises her eyebrow, “Has to be…?”
They’re both watching me, waiting for me to finish, but I can’t.
I can’t say his name.
“What is it?”
“Just tell us!”
“My father!” I look down, and suddenly I can breathe again. I didn’t realize how hard I was gripping the edge of the cistern until I finally let go.
I don’t look up. I don’t want to see their pitied faces.
Lu pushes forward, like I didn’t just reveal that the king of the universe was literally preventing us from finishing this quest.
“If Ze–”
“–Don’t!” Selena and I snap in unison. I look up, shocked to hear her say it.
Selena didn’t look at me with pity, and somehow that was even worse. She looked at me like I was another problem she had to shoulder.
I’m not trying to be a problem.
“What–”
“–You don’t know who’s listening,” Selena chides.
Lu’s expression sharpened immediately. “If he sealed the sanctuary, brute force won’t work. The place will fight you before you ever reach Asclepius.”
“Then we don’t enter,” Selena says immediately.
My eyes briefly meet Lu’s. We raise an eyebrow at each other before turning back to Selena.
We both say, “Explain.”
Wow, the second time I was in sync with someone else today. Was I really that predictable?
“We can’t enter the Asclepieion physically, your father–”
My whole left side flinches when she talks about my father.
“–made it practically impossible.” She tilts her head at me, taking note of my reaction.
Shame is back to torture me, in a different situation, but for the same reason. I hate how much my walls are crumbling. And I hate how she’s watching them fall from the safety of her own.
“But we don’t need to be there to communicate with him. We just need to find an enkoimeterion and then–”
“No!”
Selena frowns, “You didn’t even let me finish!”
“I know exactly what you are thinking. It’s too dangerous,” I argue.
“Only one of us will have to–”
“–Hold on.” Lu interrupts, “What is…?”
“The enkoimeterion?” Selena finishes.
I stare at the water instead of them. “It’s a part of a healing sanctuary where patients undergo a dangerous medical process that could destroy your sanity, which is one of the many reasons people don’t do it anymore.”
“What’s dangerous?” All three of us whip our heads toward Meg, who was leaning against the wall in the same position Lu was earlier.
Lu jumps hard enough for her prosthetic fingers to click together.
Selena nearly falls into the cistern.
I clutch my chest. “Did you suddenly gain the ability to teleport?”
Meg replied flatly, not really looking at anyone specifically. “No, all of you were just so focused on planning our quest without me, you didn’t notice. Now what dangerous idea are you guys talking about?”
Selena spoke quickly, as if she went any slower, she’d lose our argument. “Apollo’s being dramatic. The enkoimeterion is the only place we can contact Asclepius and get the cure.”
Meg nodded along, “Then we should go there.”
The idea of Selena walking into a dream sanctuary alone makes something ugly twist in my chest. “She forgot to mention the part about the intense purification rituals you have to do before you can even step inside, plus the fact that Asclepius might not even visit your dream, and when he does, it’s always super hard to interpret.”
Selena scoffs and crosses her arms, “It’s not like you had any better ideas.”
Meg stares at me too carefully. Like she’s trying to figure out whether I’m worried about the quest or worried about Selena.
I open my mouth but then immediately close it because she’s right. I don’t have another plan, period. As much as I hate her plan, I can’t ignore the fact that it might be the only way to get the cure Chiron needs.
“Fine.”
Selena’s arms uncross, surprise flickers in her gaze, “Really, you’ll let me do it!”
Shame sinks its claws deeper into my heart. I shouldn’t be allowing this to happen. I shouldn’t be this helpless.
But I am so, I say, “We should start preparing.”
“Wait a minute,” Meg pushes past Lu, who had been quietly trying to follow our conversation, and stands in between Selena and me. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
“It’s not like you’ll be in danger. I’ll go in and spend the night, and hopefully by the morning we’ll have our cure, and we'll go home.”
Selena, once again, made it sound simpler than it actually was to convince Meg to agree with her.
“Sounds great to me,” Meg said with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
Lu sighed, standing up, “Listen, I don’t understand exactly what the plan is, but all I know is that this quest seems very…important for all of you. I’ll do my best to help you in whatever way I can. Ok?”
We all nod slowly, but I can't help but wonder if she meant important because she knows this affects Chiron, or if she thinks the quest will change us.
“Get some sleep,” Lu says as she walks away.
The rest of us stayed still long after she left.
We had a plan now.
It should have made me feel better.
Instead, my insides churned harder than ever.