Sweet Legacy (Sweet Venom) Read online

  His little monkey face beams.

  I choose one of the big metal keys, shove it into the lock, and turn. Nothing. I choose another. The third key finally works. With a heavy clank, I feel the lock mechanism roll over.

  “Yes!”

  Everyone cheers.

  I yank the door open and dash to my mentor’s side.

  “Ursula,” I say gently, kneeling down at her side. “It’s Gretchen. I’m here. You’re safe.”

  She makes a sound.

  “What’s that?”

  I lean down closer, until my ear is right next to her mouth.

  “Not safe,” she rasps. “Too dangerous.”

  Yes, the world around us is dangerous and we won’t be safe until we’re home, but I can’t help but take a moment to look at my long-missing mentor. Seeing her in such an abused state hurts worse than the burn of monster venom in my bloodstream ever has.

  “Leave,” Ursula whispers.

  Warning tingles down my spine as everything falls quiet. Silence in a place like this is never a good thing.

  “We have to move,” I command as I unlock her chains. “Now.”

  Squatting down, I slip one arm under Ursula’s shoulders and the other under her knees. I stand too easily. She’s lost a lot of weight.

  “Why?” Greer asks, panic in her voice. “What’s wrong?”

  I turn to face her.

  “You hear that?”

  She tilts her head. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “Exactly.” I hold Ursula a little tighter. “This place just got deadly quiet.”

  “Time hurry,” Sillus says.

  Without bothering to agree, I take off through the maze, heading for the bridge. I hear the others following me, but I don’t take time to check. If something is happening, we don’t have a second to spare. Someone could be on the way to intercept us right now. With our luck, someone already is.

  “Oh noes.” Sillus skids to a stop as he emerges from the labyrinth first.

  Stepping out behind him, I see what’s waiting for us on the other side of the bridge: a group of soldiers, heavily armed with golden weapons. There are at least a dozen of them. They carry golden shields and wear golden helmets that clearly mark them as the Arms of Olympus.

  I mutter a string of curses.

  This is just what we needed.

  “Where’s Thane?” Greer whispers.

  He stayed behind to guard the bridge, but here’s the bridge being overrun by our enemies, and Thane is nowhere in sight. Did he abandon us? Or did he set us up? I don’t have time to wonder about his loyalty right now.

  How are we going to get out of this?

  Then, as I’m just about to formulate a plan, I see a flash of quiet movement behind the group of soldiers. It’s Thane, coming out of some hiding spot in the shadows. He takes a strategic position that puts the soldiers between us and him. I know exactly what he has planned. The boy has tactical skills.

  I quickly—and carefully—hand Ursula to the golden maiden, who nods in understanding. Stepping up to our end of the bridge, I shout across the moat, “What’s the matter? Afraid to come over here and fight a girl?”

  “You are no girl,” one of the soldiers yells.

  “Now that is downright insulting.” I squat down and pull daggers from my Doc Martens. “Looks like I’ll have to defend my honor.”

  I step onto the bridge, blades at the ready. I just need to draw them forward a few feet.

  A deafening roar echoes up into the chamber from the hallway beyond, shaking the very stone I’m standing on. The noise startles the soldiers, who look up and around as if the space has come to life, and I take advantage of their distraction. I rush forward, grab the lead soldier in a choke hold, and pull his back tight against my body.

  With a dagger to his throat, he’s not too eager to struggle.

  “Looks like I caught the prize,” I call out, taunting his soldiers as I back across the moat.

  They turn back around, and instinct—their desire to save their leader—overrides good sense. In a rush, they hurry toward me, out onto the bridge.

  Right where I want them.

  “No,” their leader shouts.

  But it’s too late. With a quick jerk, I spin him out of my hold and send him sailing off the bridge, into the fiery moat below.

  His soldiers realize their error and start to turn back, only to find Thane blocking them in from the other side. They’re trapped. Between my daggers on this side and Thane’s sword on the other, we quickly toss most of the soldiers off the narrow bridge. They don’t have much room to maneuver, and Thane and I have the tactical advantage. The soldiers never stood a chance.

  Still, Thane’s swordplay is impressive. For an ordinary boy, he is holding his own—and then some—against Olympic soldiers like he belongs in this world. He’s dispatched at least as many of them as I have.

  When it’s down to us and the last two, they look at each other before taking a crazy leap, following their comrades into the unknown before we can send them.

  Panting with exertion, I meet Thane’s gaze across the span of the bridge. Neither of us says anything; a nod is all it takes to thank him. No question where his loyalty lies now, is there?

  No, the question is, where the hell did he learn to fight like that? Not from his and Grace’s parents, that’s for sure. The boy has serious skills, but the interrogation will have to wait.

  “Let’s go,” I shout to the group, who are already stepping onto the bridge. “Time to get out of here, before reinforcements show up.”

  I just hope Ursula’s up to the task of autoporting us home. She’s our only way out.

  “What about Sthenno?” Greer asks.

  I freeze in my tracks. I’d been so focused on getting out of here and getting Ursula to safety, I’d completely forgotten our other immortal aunt. She’s somewhere in this horrible prison, too.

  I shake my head. “I thought they were supposed to be in the same cell.”

  “In my first vision,” Greer says, “they were, but Stheno was dragged away. When I sought out how to get to Euryale’s cell, I tried to see where Sthenno is too. It wasn’t a clear vision, but I’m sure she isn’t in this part of the dungeon. I think she’s down one of the other hallways.”

  I nod. “Let’s stash Ursula somewhere safe, and then we’ll start searching.” Quickly, before our bad luck sends another obstacle our way.

  The only safe hiding place is the closet where we hid from the Thespian dragon. I don’t like the idea of leaving Ursula here with nothing to protect her, but we have to find Sthenno. We need her, too, and I’m not leaving her behind.

  Besides, as weak as Ursula is right now, there’s no way she’s strong enough to autoport us home. She’s barely conscious. We’re stuck until she regains some of her strength.

  I manage to get her to swallow a few gulps of water and one bite of an energy bar. She is already improving.

  Eyes bleary but open, she says, “I told you not to come.”

  I smooth a hand over her greasy, dirty hair. “I know.”

  “Never did heed authority well,” she says with a small grin.

  That makes me smile.

  “We have to go find Sthenno,” I explain. “Then we can go home.”

  Her elegant brow pinches into a frown. “My sister?”

  “Yes,” I say. “Haven’t you seen her?”

  “No, not—” She hesitates. “I’m not certain. My memory is . . . incomplete.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I insist. “We’ll find her.”

  The look she gives me is so full of pride that I almost cry.

  “I know you will.”

  Emotion tightens in my chest. We’ve never been much for showing feelings, but I’m overwhelmed by a whole bunch of them right now. I don’t have time for that. I need to shove them away until later.

  I hand her another energy bar and a bag of trail mix.

  “You eat up,” I say. “Get your power back so we
can get home.”

  She takes the food. “Hurry.”

  I nod in silent agreement.

  Using one of Sillus’s other keys, I lock the door behind me when we leave. Trapping her in isn’t ideal, but keeping other creatures out—even if only for the space of time it takes them to go find another set of keys—is worth it.

  Thane and the golden maiden are standing guard while Greer digs through her backpack.

  “Let’s start searching,” I say, repocketing the keys. “Sillus, you go back over every inch of the area where we found Ursula. Check every cell, double-check them, just in case there’s some magic disguising her.”

  “Yes, huntress miss.” He gives me a silly salute.

  “The rest of us will spread out and search the rest of the dungeon. Those other corridors.” I drop to a squat and pull a handful of flashlights out of my backpack. “Maybe there are other holding cells, other areas where they might be keeping her.”

  I don’t like the idea of us splitting up, but I like the idea of wasting time even less. The faster we get out of here, the better.

  “I have not seen the gorgon before,” the golden maiden says. “Can you describe her?”

  I shrug and look at Greer.

  “She looks a lot like Euryale,” she says, “but with blond hair.”

  “And she’s wearing a light gray suit,” Thane adds.

  Greer’s eyes widen.

  I’m feeling full of questions myself, but later.

  “Good,” I say. “Anything else we need to know?”

  Greer shakes her head, like she’s regrouping.

  “We can use these”—she hands everyone a safety whistle on a lanyard—“to signal each other.”

  Clearly, she doesn’t like the idea of separating, either.

  Thane and the golden maiden slip theirs over their necks, and I do the same. Sillus swings his wide, letting the cord wrap around his waist until the whistle hits him in the backside, then swings it back around the other way. I ignore him.

  “Good idea,” I tell Greer. “When you find something, whistle once.” I demonstrate with a sharp trill. “If you find trouble, whistle twice. If you don’t find anything, then meet back here and wait for everyone else.”

  Hopefully Sthenno is being held in this dungeon, and not one of the others somewhere else on Olympus.

  Everyone nods. Greer doesn’t offer any argument or suggestion, which I take as a sign that she realizes how serious our situation is. Maybe she’s learning.

  “And don’t draw attention to Ursula’s location,” I warn as I hand flashlights to Greer, Thane, and the golden maiden. “If someone or something comes, hide elsewhere.”

  I want all of us out of here, safe and in one piece. That includes Ursula.

  Then, with my instructions delivered, we separate. Sillus heads back to the maze of cells to start his search. The rest of us each take different hallways. As my boots pound down the darkened corridor, I flick on my flashlight and cross my mental fingers, hoping that the search for Sthenno goes fast and easy. That would be nice for a change.

  CHAPTER 12

  GREER

  As Gretchen and Thane disappear down other hallways, I hesitate before moving. I might as well try to make my power more useful. I need the practice. Eyes closed, I focus, searching for a feeling—anything that will tell me which hallway holds Sthenno.

  “Sugar,” I whisper when nothing comes to mind. But then, as I open my eyes, I see a faint glowing light in one of the hallways—one not chosen by the others. It’s just a faint blue glow, but I figure it’s as good a sign as any.

  Ignoring the dull throb in my skull—I rarely get headaches, but lately I have had almost constant pain—I start forward, keeping to the side, near the wall. If anything shows up, maybe I will see it in the dim light before it sees me in the shadows.

  My hallway turns a corner, and what light there is all but disappears. It’s blacker than the abyss. I can’t even see my hand in front of my face.

  I tighten my grip on the flashlight Gretchen gave me. Dare I risk the glow?

  Then I remember a lesson from my self-defense seminar. If I’m shining the light, I’ll blind my opponents. I will be able to see them, but they won’t see me through the beam.

  I have to take that chance. Sthenno might be captive in here.

  Turning the flashlight over in my palm, I take a deep breath and hold it as I push the button.

  Light fills the space, which is just another hallway—another gray stretch of corridor with doors lining either side, like something from a psychiatric hospital.

  I shake my head. What had I been expecting? Monsters hanging from the ceiling?

  Doors are a good sign. That means prisoners might actually be held here.

  I walk over to the nearest door. It’s large and metal, a battleship gray devoid of anything resembling real color. At face level there is a window.

  There is no glass in the opening, just a grid of steel bars.

  I hear growling from within.

  “This can’t be good,” I mutter.

  Then I catch myself. I never mutter. I never back down. That is how I’ve succeeded at everything in my life, and it’s how I will succeed in this world of mythology.

  Being a good Morgenthal, I suck in a sharp breath, straighten my spine, and point the flashlight into the window.

  The flashlight clatters to the floor as I leap back in shock. The creature inside is almost as large as the small cell—a big mass of clumping fur, sharp teeth, and drool, something like a werewolf in a horror movie.

  “Definitely not Sthenno.”

  My headache builds and I take a moment to rub my temples, hoping to keep the symptoms in check. I seriously wish I’d thought to bring some painkillers.

  I retrieve the flashlight, quiet my shaking hand, and move on to the next cell, and the next, and every last one until the very end. Then I start back down the hall on the other side.

  Each room on the hall is occupied, filled with some creature or another. Most are more animal than human and only snarl and snap when the see my light. Some are almost half human, either on the bottom or the top. They don’t look any happier to see me.

  I’ve peered into every window, making sure Sthenno isn’t within, and am about to concede defeat and return to the meeting place when my light flashes over a small reflective surface back at the far end of the hall.

  I sigh.

  “This is the place in the movie,” I whisper, “when the audience yells for the heroine to run.”

  I don’t have the luxury of choice.

  Tracing my tongue over my teeth, I let my fangs drop as I make my way back down the hall. My headache grows into a persistent pulse, a throbbing pressure against my skull.

  The reflecting surface, it turns out, is a tiny metal door sunk into the stone at knee height. About a foot wide and a few inches high, it’s hinged along the top so an object can be slipped inside without risk of losing fingers or an inhabitant escaping, like an in-the-door mail slot.

  “Can’t turn back now,” I tell myself.

  Then, my hands shaking with fear of the unknown, I squat down on the balls of my feet and reach for the metal door.

  It squeaks on its hinges, like it hasn’t been used in a long time. Either the cell beyond is empty or the thing inside hasn’t been fed in ages.

  I carefully push the door up and shine my light inside.

  The opening is so small that at first I can’t see anything but the glow of the beam on the opposite wall. I move the flashlight to one side of the slot and maneuver myself into position to get a better view.

  I swing the beam around until I see her.

  Sitting in the corner, back to the wall, wrists draped over her knees, her dove gray suit marred by what looks like dirt and blood, is Sthenno. Our immortal aunt. Grace’s school counselor. The therapist who at one time banished visions of monsters from my mind.

  For an instant, I let myself indulge in the fantasy of having her d
o it again. I don’t even know if she could, but there’s a chance. The question is . . . would I want her to? After everything that’s happened in the past few weeks—monsters and sisters and ancient prophecies—do I want to make it all go away?

  The idea is tempting.

  But, as any one of my friends or my smooth-talking ex can attest, I never succumb to temptation. And I never shirk a responsibility.

  My light hits her eyes and she winces, holding a hand up to shield her eyes.

  “Sthenno?” I ask.

  “Who’s there?” She squints, trying to see through the light.

  “It’s Greer,” I say. “I’m Grace’s sister. One of the triplets.”

  She’s across the room and at the metal slot in a flash. And I thought Euryale was supposed to be the supernaturally fast one.

  “Are you all here?” she asks. “All three of you?”

  “No, Grace had to go back.” I kneel down, glad I decided to wear my least attractive jeans. I’ll be lucky if they survive all the wear and tear I’m putting them through on this expedition.

  “Good,” she says. “That’s good.”

  “Why are you in here?” I ask. “Why aren’t you in a cell like Euryale?”

  Her laugh is full of pride. “The shackles and steel bars were no match for my strength.” She demonstrates by yanking the metal flap off its hinges. “I broke out of three cells before they decided to contain me in here. If there was any exposed hardware, I’d have broken out of this place too.”

  “That’s really—”

  A sharp pain pierces my skull, right above my forehead. I rub at the spot, trying to do something—anything—to stop the pain. My migraines are usually triggered by bright lights—clearly not the case here.

  I just have to push through the pain.

  The pain is only the beginning, the male voice says.

  No, not now.

  Leave her, the woman says.

  You dare defy me? he roars. You dare violate the binds of ritual?

  No more than you fight the prophecy itself, she throws back. You mock your own rules and—

  “Enough!” I shout. Hands pressing on my temples, I try to push the voices out of my mind. “Leave me alone!”

  I clench my eyes shut, waiting for the argument to continue, but there’s nothing but silence—blissful silence.