by Raye Wagner
Hope gawked at an all-too-familiar sight. Moving boxes. Everywhere. “You guys are moving?”
Mr. Stanley blinked but said nothing.
“Hope!” Haley jumped the last two stairs and ran to her friend. “I’m glad you’re here.” She offered a brief hug and then pulled Hope toward the stairs. “Dad, can Hope stay a little bit? Please?”
Mr. Stanley gave a wave of his hand. “Five minutes,” he said, then he disappeared into the bowels of the home.
“What’s going on?” Hope asked as they climbed the stairs. “You didn’t tell me you were moving.”
“Yeah, I know.” Haley opened the door to her bedroom and stepped in, motioning Hope to follow. The sun streamed through the window, slashing the room in half, and labeled boxes were stacked by the closet and bathroom door. “Dad wouldn’t let me tell anyone.” She glared at the door as she closed it. “Like no one.”
“Why?” Hope sat on the floor and crossed her legs. The sun’s rays warmed her, making the chill of her heart that much more pronounced.
Haley threw her hand up in the air. “Get this. I don’t even know. He came home from work two days ago, shut himself in the basement for hours while talking to himself, and then came upstairs and announced we were moving. He wouldn’t even let me go to school yesterday.” She sunk to the floor. “Ever since you left, he’s been all weird.”
“Does he hate me?” The idea made Hope’s heart hurt. Mr. Stanley had been the first friendly face in Goldendale. He’d shared riddles with her, saved the best cuts of meat for her.
Haley frowned. “No. In fact he always asks how you’re doing.” Haley studied Hope. “How are you doing?”
Hope shrugged. “Okay, I guess. My aunt—”
Mr. Stanley opened the door. “Time to go, Haley.” His gaze settled on Hope. “You should go too. Best for you to not be in Goldendale any longer.”
Haley rolled her eyes. “Come on, Dad. Quit being—”
Mr. Stanley silenced her with a glare. He went to the window and pulled the drapes shut. Then he went to the door, looked into the hall, and closed them all into the room.
HOPE’S HEART STARTED TO POUND. What did he know? This was a mistake. She shouldn’t have come.
Haley opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Mr. Stanley spoke.
“Don’t.” He held up his hand. “I’m going to tell you, but I want you to listen, okay?” His gaze darted back and forth between the two girls.
Dizziness washed over her, and she braced herself physically as well as mentally for what could only be horrible.
“Hope, you need to leave Goldendale and never come back. Do you remember those boys? The ones who moved in at the end of the year?”
Hope remembered. She’d seen them at the Red Apple the last time she’d gone grocery shopping. Mr. Stanley had warned her to stay away from them, and Haley had said they were jerks.
“They are here hunting the Sphinx.”
Hope’s heart stopped. Her mouth fell open, and her breath caught as she wanted to defend herself, scream, and run all at the same time.
“Don’t say anything, Hope. I mean nothing.”
Her mouth snapped shut. She needed to leave. She stood, but Mr. Stanley’s next words made her freeze.
“They know about Athan and that you two were involved.” He took a deep breath. “They know you’re a demigod, and they know I’m one too.”
Wait. What? Mr. Stanley was a demigod? And he thought she was one, too? She looked at Haley, who was directing all her attention on scuffing her shoe. Haley knew? Why hadn’t she said anything? Hope faced Mr. Stanley, who held up his hand.
“No questions. Please, just listen.” He rubbed his thick hand over his bald head. “The problem is they want to question all of us to find out what we know about the monster. They know we’ve been in the area since she started making an appearance.”
“So what? Let them question you.” Moving seemed awfully drastic for another demigod. Hope, however, did need to get out of there. Unless, maybe they would take her to a conservatory.
Almost as if answering her unasked question, he continued, “I have my family to protect. These boys, they don’t talk. They interrogate. My father, Hephaestus, warned me, and . . .” He gestured at Haley. “My family means everything to me.”
His father was Hephaestus? Oh, gods!
His gaze fell on Hope with sad resignation. “I’m sure Athan knows something; he’s Psachno, after all. If he told you anything, please keep it to yourself. But you should know, Athan came by the store after you left. He’s out there searching for you. For what it’s worth, I think that boy really does care for you.”
Her heart swelled then contracted. It didn’t matter even if it were true. Which it probably wasn’t.
“The best thing you can do is get in your car—”
A booming voice yelled from outside, and Mr. Stanley flinched. Seconds later, a pounding on the front door commenced.
Haley stood up, and Hope saw her own fear mirrored in her friend’s eyes.
Peter Stanley grabbed at Haley and pulled her to the door. He motioned for Hope to follow, and then put his finger to his lips.
The beating got louder, and a man swore.
Mr. Stanley held his daughter’s arm in a firm grip, his face blanched with fear. “Go out the back and cross into the Williamsons’ yard. I’ll meet you at the store, Haley. Hope, you’d better get out of here.”
She didn’t need to be told twice.
All three ran downstairs, but Mr. Stanley went to the front door, getting there in time to stop his petite wife from opening it.
“Soo-Jin, go with Haley,” Peter whispered.
Hope could hear Haley’s mom behind them as they went through the kitchen. Haley reached out to open the back door, and Hope snatched it back. Check first, she mouthed, pointing at the curtain on the door.
Soo-Jin frowned at the girls, then peered out the window. She drew back with pursed lips.
“No one,” she whispered.
Hope took a deep breath, trying to steel herself for what was to come.
“Stop pounding on my door!” Peter roared.
It was as good of a distraction as they would get. Hope yanked the back door open. The three of them took off at a run. Hope flung herself at the chain-link fence separating the yards. There was a shout behind them and then the pounding of feet. A glance over her shoulder revealed a tall, blond man closing the distance. There was no way Haley and her mom would both get away from him.
If there was time, Hope would weigh her options. But really, there was no option. She leapt from the fence, her face contorted in anger, and she screamed her rage and fear. The man grabbed at Soo-Jin’s shirt and pulled the petite woman to the ground. Hope tackled the bigger man, and as they went down, Hope capitalized on her momentum with several hard punches.
“Coward! Bully!” She struggled to her feet and kicked the man again and again.
Soo-Jin scooted away, her eyes wide. Haley grabbed her mom and backed away from the beating Hope was delivering.
“Go!” Hope yelled at them. “Go now.” She waved at her friend and prayed they would be safe.
She watched as the two women climbed the fence and then dropped to the other side. When they disappeared the next street over, Hope thought of Mr. Stanley and the other men. She hoped he made it out okay. She would have to trust that he did.
And she’d better go now, too.
She kicked twice more, once to the man’s face and the other to his midsection. The hulking figure was still, and Hope knew she would have to take her chances at some point.
She darted to the side yard, climbed the fence, and dropped into the neighbor’s yard. Another fence and another yard, then into the alley. Before crossing the street, she regarded the surroundings. A familiar truck sat outside the Stanleys’ home. Athan’s obnoxious vehicle screamed betrayal. Had he told those demigods about the Stanleys?
Her car was parked on the other side of
the truck. She’d need to walk past it. It’d be okay. She smoothed her hair back, and pieces of leaves and grass fell out. Great. Her clothes were rumpled, and her jeans had mud caked to the knees. She brushed off the worst of it, but much of the mess transferred to her hands.
She needed to leave. Hope took a deep breath and tried to act natural as she crossed the street. Her heart pounded. Fear danced up her spine and pricked her neck. The sensation of being watched was a physical gnawing, clawing its way to her chest.
Two blond men tumbled into her path, one of them bumping into her.
“Out of my way, Gorgon,” he hissed.
“Excuse me,” she replied as she stepped back. She inched around, keeping them in her peripheral vision.
These were the same men she’d seen at the Red Apple months ago, before she left Goldendale. The more muscular one unlocked the door to the truck, and the other young man grabbed a handle and froze.
“Where’s Prax?”
The other boy swore and opened the door. He poked his head in the interior of the cab and swore again.
Hope reached her car, her heart thudding. With a click of a button, she unlocked the door.
The truck door slammed shut.
Hope opened the door and slid in her seat. She heard yelling as she started the car. And even more yelling as she pulled off the street. But she didn’t look back. Even if it was for her, she wasn’t going to stop. And she’d never come back.
When she got back to Seattle, Priska was still at the office. For once, Hope was glad.
THE NEXT DAY, HOPE received a text from Haley to say they were fine but that she was going to “disappear” for a while. She apologized, but Hope understood. She completely understood.
Priska also seemed to disappear. Not literally. She continued to attend school with Hope and hover around Hope in the mornings and evenings, but she was busy with her “after-school” job at Mr. Davenport’s office. Outwardly, Priska was present, but, when it was just her and Hope, she was jumpy, paranoid.
While Hope adeptly slid back into shunning any and all of her classmates’ attention at school, Priska reveled in the attention. Oddly enough, her ability to become the top of the social ladder was similar to Athan. Priska had the same confidence of one that knew how to play a part. But while Priska would defend Hope, she made no effort to pull her into the students’ activities.
The days added up into weeks, and Hope didn’t see Xan or Dahlia again. She wondered if they’d moved, or maybe they had only been here visiting. Any hope that they were demigods disappeared. Nothing was working out. Nothing.
“Hope?” Priska stood at the stove, making dinner. The smell of garlic and onion permeated the air.
“Yeah?” Hope stopped randomly skipping through channels on the television and glanced toward the kitchen, but she didn’t get up off the couch.
“Did you get your homework done?”
Hope snorted in response and went back to flipping through the TV channels. Talk show, talk show, news, rerun of sitcom. Ugh. The channels were almost a blur.
“Hey, I asked you a question.” Priska poked her head out and pinned Hope with a glare.
Hope avoided meeting her aunt’s eyes but turned off the TV.
“Yeah. I’m done with it.” She wasn’t really lying. She hadn’t even peeked at it, but she was done with it.
“Okay. Well, if you need something to do, maybe you could go read some of your history.”
Irritated with the push, she stood. “Yeah. I’ll go to my room and get on that.”
Hope could hear the heavy sigh before she closed the door.
Whatever.
She fell on her bed, frustration and hopelessness filling her. Picking up the large leather volume from the Fates, she opened it to the middle so she could have the pretense of reading when Priska came to call her for dinner. Hope stared out at the gray Seattle sky, and, when her eyes grew heavy, she gave in to the pull of slumber.
The sense of falling jerked her awake. The sky was dark, and the large tome rested heavily on her chest. The clock’s red numbers noted it was barely shy of midnight. Her stomach gave a rumble. Why hadn’t Priska gotten her for dinner?
Priska’s voice hissed like steam as soon as Hope opened the door.
“No, you don’t understand. You don’t even know her. She’s not doing well, and I’m not going to have her whisked away by the most irresponsible people on the face of the Earth. She will know no one, and who would watch after her?”
It was quiet, and in that moment Hope realized Priska was on the phone. Hope slid to the floor and listened.
“You’re right. I don’t trust you.” A brief pause, then, “Don’t be ridiculous. You think you’ll keep her safe? You aren’t exactly stable, and your family is just as bad, if not worse.”
Hope had never heard Priska talk to anyone that way before.
“Ha. Like that would ever happen. No, you listen to me. I told your sister—” Pause. “Whatever.” Another pause and then, “You listen to me because I won’t say it again. Don’t even think about coming around here. If you so much as make contact . . .”
There was silence, and then Priska let out a stifled scream. Something slammed onto the counter. Footsteps and then the restroom door closed.
She wondered if Priska or the other person had hung up first. Hope put her money on the other person. If anyone spoke to her that way, she would’ve ended the call. Well, she would’ve wanted to. This new Priska scared her. Despite her diminutive stature, power radiated from the pixie-like demigod, but that wasn’t new. It was the anger that flashed and flared in an unpredictable pattern that was frightening.
Hope climbed back in bed, her hunger forgotten as she digested what she’d overheard. If that conversation was about her, then someone was looking for her.
No. Someone had found her. Someone Priska thought was unsafe.
As Hope lay back down, her mind reeled, and she tried to process what this could mean.
It was still dark when she woke up to Priska banging on the door.
“Time for breakfast. We’ve got twenty minutes before we need to leave for school.”
Hope groaned. “I don’t think I can go today.” Who knew what time she’d finally fallen asleep. Besides, she couldn’t face Priska. Not yet.
“Are you sick?”
The question was ridiculous. An immortal couldn’t get sick.
“Uh, sure.” The response was laced with sarcasm.
“Fine,” Priska said. “We’ll call it a mental health day. You can stay home.”
Hope couldn’t believe her luck. Once Priska left for school, maybe she could—
“Do have anything you want to go do?” Priska asked.
Surely, Priska was kidding. There was no way she would let Hope leave the apartment. She cracked the door. “What?”
Priska leaned against the wall as if it were holding her up. “On our mental health day . . . is there something you want to do?”
Hope caught the pronoun and what it inferred. “You don’t need to stay home with me.”
“I’m here to protect you. I’m not going to let you stay here by yourself.” Priska’s tone was resigned.
Hope was safe in the apartment with the statue of Hecate, and they both knew it. “But—”
“No, buts. If you want to stay home, that’s fine, but I’ll be here, too.”
Hope glared. “What happened? Why don’t you trust me?” Even as she said the words, she knew this wasn’t about not trusting her. She staggered back as if struck as the pieces came together. “Oh gods. That was them? The demigods found us, and you . . .” She couldn’t even make the words come out. The accusation sat bitter on the tip of her tongue.
“Oh, Hope.” Priska’s severe expression fell, and her shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry you heard. I can’t let you go with someone who I know can’t keep you safe. We will find someone else.”
She scowled, the betrayal swelling until it threatened to consume her. “How
could you?”
“I have to keep you safe.”
“No! Demigods were here. They found me, and you . . .” Hope glared. The whole plan hinged on her getting to the conservatory, and it was right there. Priska was the one holding it up!
“I would let you go if it wasn’t them. Anyone but them. They will—”
“Don’t.” Hope held her hand out as if to push the words away. “Just . . . don’t.”
Priska took a step toward the door, but Hope closed it before her aunt could cross the threshold.
An icy chill settled over the apartment.
HOPE GRABBED HER BACKPACK to leave. Two days. It almost felt like she was going on vacation. She was so excited to get away from her aunt and out of the tension-filled apartment that she was practically giddy. It would give her time to think of a plan to find the demigods.
“Where do you want me to take you?” Priska asked, breaking the three day, mutually imposed silence.
Words lodged in Hope’s throat. “I . . . I’m going to change.”
“I know you’re going to change. We’re going to go somewhere safe, you can morph, and we can hang out ’til you change back.”
“Are you kidding me?” Hope’s mind stuttered over Priska’s outlined plan. No way. “I’ve been doing this by myself for a year.” Almost. “I don’t need you to tag along.”
“What’s your problem?” Priska pursed her lips as she inhaled through her nose. “Why are you copping an attitude?”
Hope coughed, and her chin dropped. She wasn’t trying to cop an attitude, but she needed a break from Priska and her hovering.
“None of this is for me.” Priska’s eyes flashed fire. “I’m trying my best to keep you safe. Doing everything in my power . . .” She waved her hand. “I’ve killed three Skia this week. This week! And we are staying in this cracker box for you, with a scheme that borders on ridiculous. Because this plan might lead you to an answer that none of your ancestors could figure out, despite the fact that your grandmother was brilliant. Somehow your strategy will work. Maybe. If we’re really, really lucky.”