by Linsey Hall
“At least three thousand pounds.” He scoffed. “But you can’t lift that.”
“Sure I can.” I poured some of my potion onto an empty shelf. The whole thing began to levitate, but it stopped abruptly only an inch off the ground.
“See!” he crowed. “I told you!”
“It levitated,” I said. But not as high as I’d expected. Which was weird.
“Not high enough,” he said.
“We didn’t establish those rules,” I said. “It just had to levitate. You can’t change the rules partway through so that you get what you want.” But why didn’t it go higher? It really should have gone higher.
Maximus crouched low on the ground and peered under the shelves. He made a disgusted noise and stood. “Cheater.”
“What?” I crouched low and checked. There was a hollow space in the bottom of the shelf. At each of the four corners, a heavy chain connected the bookshelf to the floor. I looked up at Snakerton, disgusted. “It’s not even clever. You should have made the chains invisible.”
His jaw dropped.
I drew my electric sword from the ether and sliced through each of the chains. The bookshelf floated higher.
I stood, grinning. “There, I officially win. Now give me the hespodel.”
He glared. “Fine. You owe me eighty-five dollars.”
I really didn’t want to pay this dick, not after the trick he’d pulled. After cheating, he didn’t deserve it. But I wanted to get out of here without a fight, so I pulled a wad of cash from my pocket and walked toward the door. He followed.
I stepped outside and retrieved the hespodel, making sure it was still the proper ingredient and that a trick hadn’t been pulled. It looked fine. I gave him the bills.
Quickly, he fanned through them, then squawked. “There’s only sixty here!”
“Yeah, I docked your pay for cheating.” I grinned. “See you later, Snakerton.”
We walked out into the rain.
“Nice work,” Maximus said.
“Thanks. I hate it when cheaters like him win.”
“Don’t we all.”
Together, we hurried out of Blackburn Alley and onto the main street. The rain had lightened to a drizzle by the time we approached the Apothecary’s Jungle where Aerdeca and Mordaca lived and worked. I climbed the narrow stairs as the sign over our heads swung and creaked in the wind.
Quickly, I knocked on a door that had probably once been purple but was so thickly covered in dark magic residue that it was hard to tell.
Beneath my hand, the door creaked open.
I looked at Maximus. “That’s weird.”
“They normally open it themselves?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been here once. But yeah, I would think they’d normally open it themselves. They’ve got a lot of valuable stuff in here. Plus, they live here.” I turned back to the door and squinted through the gap. All I could make out was a dark foyer with cobwebs in the ceiling.
Then a scream tore through the house.
12
My heart leapt into my chest at the sound of the scream, and I sprinted into the foyer, skidding on the black and white tiles. The ornate black velvet wallpaper sucked up all the light from the dusty old chandelier, and I had to squint to find an exit.
The scream sounded again, one of rage rather than terror.
“It’s coming from that way.” Maximus pointed to a narrow hall that led off of the foyer.
We sprinted down the hall, past old oil portraits that seemed to watch us.
Another scream. Then another.
I rushed into an ornate living room just in time to see Aerdeca and Mordaca throw a bucket of gray water on a poltergeist. The creature looked enraged, its transparent face twisted in a snarl. When the water hit it, the beast hissed and disappeared, driven off by whatever was in the potion.
Aerdeca and Mordaca stood in the middle of the living room, panting.
“Glad I got here in time to help,” I said.
They turned, each wearing their signature outfit. Mordaca’s midnight hair was done up in a bouffant, rising high toward the ceiling. It matched her slinky black dress that revealed so much cleavage she could probably rest her chin on her boobs if she tried. Okay, exaggeration. But not by much.
The black tips on her nails and the heavy black makeup around her eyes completed the look. Elvira-chic, I liked to think of it. She smiled a wicked smile, her red lips parting to reveal white teeth that might as well have been fangs.
Aerdeca was her opposite, in a sleek white pantsuit with blonde hair that flowed like water over her shoulders. Her makeup was natural and her expression serene. Nude polish on her nails would have looked like something on the girl next door, except that they were filed into vicious points. All in all, she looked cool as hell.
The uninitiated might think that Aerdeca was the nice one because she wore white and had a sweeter voice.
They’d be wrong.
Neither of them was nice.
But you could count on them to do what you paid them for. And in a pinch, they’d have your back. I’d heard whispered rumors of them in battles, fighting on the side of right, but hadn’t seen it myself.
“I thought you specialized in potions,” I said. “Not poltergeists.”
Mordaca got a slightly shifty look in her eyes, which surprised me.
“Of course we do.” Her voice was whiskey-rough and low.
“Just a little trouble with an unwanted guest,” Aerdeca said.
Hmmm. From the glance they shared with each other, there was more to the story. But no way I’d press for it.
Their secrets were their secrets, after all. Just like mine were mine.
I held up the little box. “I got the hespodel.” I hiked a thumb toward Maximus. “And this is my friend Maximus. Maximus, this is Aerdeca and Mordaca.”
“Delighted, friend.” Aerdeca’s brows rose appreciatively. She gave him the up and down and wasn’t subtle about it.
“Keep it in your pants,” I said.
She just laughed.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Mordaca said. “I have a party to get to.”
“This late?” I asked. It had to be near midnight.
“The day has just started, honey.” Mordaca grinned.
“Don’t listen to her,” Aerdeca said. “It’s past my bedtime. We need to get this over with.”
I followed them through the living room, which looked a bit like a fancy gothic funeral parlor.
Their workshop was different, though. Lighter, with a big wooden table in the middle and shelves on the wall that were stuffed full of potion-making supplies. An enormous hearth burned away at one end, and dried herbs hung from the ceiling.
Aerdeca and Mordaca turned to me.
“That’ll be three grand,” Mordaca said.
I winced. “Do you take card?”
Fates, how long would this take me to pay off?
Maximus was quick, though, handing them his card.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said.
“This isn’t a date. We’re saving the world.” He smiled down at me. “But I would like to take you on a date eventually. After the world has been saved.”
I grinned stupidly, and I swore to god I heard Mordaca sigh. It sounded like a noise a high school girl would make, and was so out of character that I goggled at her.
She shrugged a shoulder clad in black satin. “What? I’m a romantic.”
“And I’m a businesswoman.” Aerdeca swiped the card through a little machine. It beeped a few times, then she handed the card back.
Mordaca rubbed her hands together. “Let’s do this.”
“Can I see the original instructions?” Aerdeca asked. “I hate working off a phone.”
I dug into my pocket and handed them to her, then set the box of hespodel on the table.
Mordaca joined Aerdeca, and they both bent over the piece of paper, reading quietly. Occasionally they’d jostle each other and
someone would get an elbow in the side, but eventually they looked up.
“This won’t take long, but it might not be fun,” Mordaca said.
“What do you mean, not fun?” Maximus asked. “Dangerous?”
Aerdeca shrugged, clearly unconcerned. “Maybe. This stuff usually is. And this spell? Well, it’s a tricky one.”
“What does it involve?” I’d read it but had only understood the potion bit. I didn’t get the rest of it.
“The goal is to induce a trance that will show you where to go to find Atlas,” Mordaca said. “But it can be, ah, stressful to the body.”
“It’ll hurt like hell.” Aerdeca didn’t sugarcoat it.
“I’ll do it, then,” Maximus said.
I grabbed his arm. “No. It has to be me.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“This is part of my journey as a DragonGod. Anyway, it might help that I’m the Greek DragonGod and I’m seeking a Greek titan.”
“She has a point,” Mordaca said. “I do think that her connection to Atlas will make it more effective.”
Maximus frowned. “More effective? So it would still be mostly effective if I did it?”
“We can’t risk it.” I squeezed his arm. “We need to find him. There’s too much at stake. But thank you for wanting to do it so I don’t have to.”
He looked at me, his gaze intense. “Always.”
I wanted to kiss him, but was one hundred percent sure that would get us a whistle from Mordaca.
I turned to them. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“You can sit in front of the fire.” Aerdeca dragged a heavy wooden chair and positioned it in front of the flickering flames. Orange and red danced within the hearth, along with hints of white and blue.
I did as she commanded, letting the heat warm me. They began to bustle around the room behind me, and I turned to watch them combine various ingredients in a bowl. The last addition was the hespodel, which they dropped in without cutting up. The bowl smoked and fizzed.
Mordaca picked it up, while Aerdeca grabbed a long silver blade. I swallowed hard.
They approached, the firelight glinting eerily on their faces.
“Raise your hand,” Aerdeca said.
I did as she asked.
Mordaca held the bowl under my hand, while Aerdeca sliced the knife across my fingertip. Pain flared.
“As you bleed, think of your intentions toward Atlas. Really focus on it,” Aerdeca said.
I closed my eyes and imagined meeting him and asking him how to stop the Stryx and heal the Amazons and himself. It was easy to play it out in my mind, and I wondered if someone could fake this process. Probably not.
“That’s enough.” Aerdeca handed me a small white cloth, and I pressed it to my fingertip.
Mordaca withdrew the bowl and took it back to the table. I turned to watch her and Aerdeca stand over it, their hands outstretched to hover over the top. Light flashed at their palms, and they began to chant.
Magic filled the air, rolling over me. It brought with it the burn of whiskey from Mordaca and the sound of birds from Aerdeca. The liquid in the bowl bubbled up to the surface, smoking violently.
The chanting stopped abruptly, and the smoke died down. The scent of lavender filled the room.
“Looks like it worked,” Aerdeca said.
“Now for the shitty part.” Mordaca picked up the bowl and walked toward me.
“You really know how to put a girl at ease, Mordaca.”
She grinned widely, her red lips glinting in the firelight like fresh blood. “What can I say? I’m a people pleaser.”
“Surrre.”
She handed me the bowl. “Drink most of it, then toss a bit in the fire. Whatever vision you see afterward is where you’re supposed to go to find Atlas. So try to remember it all. Pick up any details you can.”
I nodded, then tentatively sniffed the liquid. Still smelled like lavender. Not so bad.
I raised the bowl to my mouth and gulped.
Ugh.
Tasted of old fish. I nearly gagged, but forced myself to swallow the majority of the potion. Sweat popped out at my temples from the nausea roiling within me. I leaned forward and tossed the last bit of the liquid into the fire, then handed the bowl to Mordaca.
“So, when will these visions st—”
The fire flamed high, and I snapped my mouth shut. It blasted forward, enveloping me. Pain streaked through me as the heat snapped at my skin.
“You’re not really burning!” Mordaca’s words filtered through the agony that made me want to curl up in a ball and die. “Don’t be afraid.”
Afraid?
I could barely process her words, it hurt so bad. I tried to scream, but the noise was trapped in my throat. I was frozen solid, unable to move. Agony like I’d never known tore through my whole body.
“Stop this!” Maximus’s voice broke through the pain. “She’s screaming. This can’t be right.”
“She’s fine. Shut up!” Aerdeca’s voice cracked like a whip, though I couldn’t see her. All I could see was the flame. “Let her finish. She needs to see where Atlas is.”
Atlas.
I clung to the name like a lifeline. The agony still tore through me, but I had to focus. They said this would suck; I’d known that going in.
Every muscle in my body ached and my skin felt like it’d melted off, but I tried to push it from my mind, focusing only on thoughts of Atlas.
I have to find you. I have to save you.
A vision blasted into my mind, a mountain range soaring toward the sky. An ancient Greek ruin sat at the top, marble columns and blocks scattered across the mountaintop—the remains of a once great temple.
Seek the Oracle at Delphi. The words resounded through my mind, and I imprinted them in my memory. I used the pain as fuel, determined to get something out of this misery.
The fire faded away, and I sagged, flopping to the floor like a dead fish. Though the heat was gone, every muscle in my body was on fire from going rigid during the worst of the pain.
Maximus fell to his knees at my side, his face so white I thought he might pass out. His eyes were stark, pupils blown out. “Are you all right?” His voice was rough when he spoke, as if he’d been shouting.
“Fine.” I blinked, trying to clear my blurry vision as I sat. The movement took everything I had, and by the time I was sitting upright, I was sweating.
Maximus supported me. “What can I get you?”
Mordaca knelt in front of me, her black dress pooling on the ground. She thrust a cup at me. “Here, drink this. It will make you feel better.”
Maximus nearly snarled at her. “What’s in it?”
“A restorative potion.”
I grabbed it, not the least bit concerned. Maximus might have trust issues with Mordaca, but I’d asked for that misery. Insisted on it, in fact. I felt like a bit of a moron now, but it’d had to be done.
I raised the glass and sucked down the liquid, which didn’t taste like dead fish, thank fates. There was a nice hint of grapefruit and rosemary, and as the potion filled my belly, warmth and strength rushed through my limbs.
It felt a bit like sucking the life out of plants. Though I was grateful to get the benefit without actually having to do the plant murdering.
I drank the last sip and lowered the cup. “I know where to go.”
Mordaca and Aerdeca leaned forward, their eyes bright. “Where?”
“Delphi. We have to see the Oracle.”
Aerdeca’s brows rose. She was clearly impressed. “Wow. She’s quite famous. Been dead a while, though, I thought.”
“A couple thousand years, at least,” Mordaca said. “But that won’t stop a proper Oracle. You’ll have to let us know what she’s like.”
I nodded and started to stand. Maximus was quicker, rising to his feet and pulling me up. I smiled up at him, trying to look healthy and hale. “Seriously, I’m fine.”
“You didn’t look fine.”
“T
hat was then; this is now. And we’ve got to get to Greece.”
As it turned out, the best way to get to Delphi was by motorcycle. There was the Delphi that the humans knew of, the place that was frequently flooded with tour buses and cameras. But the real Delphi—the one with the Oracle and the biggest temples—was located on another mountain, far from the prying eyes of humans. None of them had ever seen it, in fact.
Fortunately, Maximus had a friend in the area. Axios the cheetah shifter had hooked us up with two motorcycles and directed us to the remote mountain road that led up to the real Delphi.
It was a sunny afternoon in Greece. I couldn’t believe it was the same day that we’d departed the forest. Wind whipped through my hair as we took the curves at sharp angles, speeding up into the mountains. I’d never ridden a motorcycle before, but it turned out I was a natural.
I pressed on the gas and sped ahead of Maximus.
“Be careful!” His voice was a whisper behind me, drowned out by the engine and the wind and my sheer joy in the ride.
When I crested the hill and spotted Delphi on the next ridge over, I grinned. It looked just as it had in my vision. Dozens of white columns speared the sky, surrounded by thousands of massive marble blocks that had once made up the many buildings at the sacred site. Most of those buildings were in pieces now, but there were a few left standing.
It didn’t take long to reach the main gate, which soared high, white marble against blue sky. I stopped my bike and stared at it. Maximus did the same, his brow furrowed as he inspected the marble gate.
There was no door, just an archway of marble, but it sure felt like something guarded it.
“There’s something off,” Maximus said. “We shouldn’t just walk through. There’s something tricky about this.”
“Agreed.” I eyed the gate, feeling the protective magic prickle toward me. I wasn’t sure what would go wrong if I entered without an invitation, but I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out.
To the right of the gate was a flat marble slab. A sculpture of a man loomed over it. He carried a lyre and wore a wreath around his head. At his feet, there were a few bundles of dead flowers, a couple candles, and a few coins. I pursed my lips.