A strong figure on horseback, hands lifted toward the sky. The profile was familiar, and I turned to the others. “Pollux?”
“We have to get out of here,” Orestes said, voice shaking before he cleared his throat. I lifted my gaze to his, but his golden eyes were on the seal. They were wide, and his normally golden skin was pale.
His expression gutted me, because I didn't know if it was directed at me or what I held. Swallowing down the nausea still threatening, I leaned a little heavier against Paris.
He squeezed my waist and directed me back to the Via Ugo Bassi.
Orestes's footsteps pounded against the stones as he rushed to catch up. He jogged in front of us, holding out his hands to stop us. “I'm sorry, Leo. I'm not scared of you. I promise. Gods. I promise there is nothing about you that scares me.” He gripped my shoulders, staring hard into my eyes. “This was my fault. All of this.”
“Huh?” What an oh-so-articulate response.
“I should have known.Piazza del Nuttuno.I should have kept us away from any place the gods could be. Instead, I parked the bloody van a fucking kilometer from the god who hurt you. I put you right in his path!”
“Orestes...” Paris began, but his friend sliced a hand through the air, silencing him.
His golden eyes dimmed and filled with hurt as he dropped his hands and stepped back. “I should have known.”
My heart ached. It was so easy to put myself in his shoes. Guilt. Fear of doing the wrong thing, and having it held against me. Those were sentiments I lived with for years. “Athena brought me back,” I said, “to Connecticut.Connecticut,Orestes. Then appeared as a professor in Boston, Massachusetts. She showed us who she was in Oxford. It doesn't matter where we are. If they want to find us, they will. If it wasn't here, it would have been at another fountain. Hell, if he can magic out of water—” I wiggled my fingers like I was presenting a rabbit from a hat. “Poseidon could appear out of the fucking toilet.”
Achilles snorted, and Orestes’s face lost some of its desperation.
“She's right,” Paris said. “This was always going to happen. As a god, he went for...” He seemed lost for the word.
“Maximum drama,” I filled in. “Look around.”
The city was still quiet, but no longer with that unnatural silence that had descended before Poseidon appeared.
“I thought I was being careful.” Orestes said it to himself, studying the fountain. When he looked at me, his golden eyes were bright with hurt. “We're staying far away from Rome and any temples until we get to Corfu. That is the only risk I'm willing to take.”
“Orestes.” Needing to comfort him, I left Paris's arms and went into his. He hugged me, but it was loose. I hugged him tighter, using all the strength in my five-foot-two body. “Nothing that's happened here is your fault. And I'm okay.” I took a step back, laced our fingers, and held out our arms. “Look at me. I'm fine. I had snakes come out of my head, but I'm okay with it.”
Which was so weird, but I really was. They had been my companions when I was all alone in Athena's temple. The little creatures had truly been an extension of me, and it didn't freak me out that they'd returned to help me face Poseidon. Also—I squeezed the shard in my hand—we had something they didn't. Better that we’d found this than Athena. All in all, I guessed it could have been worse.
“I think I actually learned something today,” I told him, waiting until he met my stare to go on.
“What?” he asked.
“I scare the shit out of the gods.”
Orestes
Leo shouldn't forgive me so easily. I might not have originally planned to stop here, but I should have done more research before I allowed it.
I dropped Leo right into Poseidon's hands. Put a pretty bow around her and just held her out—here you go.
No one else blamed me. My friends didn't. Leo didn't.
But it would be a long time before I let this go.
“We can't stay here any longer,” I told them. “We need to drive.”
“We should take some time to regroup,” Hector said, but no.
“We can't hesitate,” I said. Anxiety filled my stomach, reminding me of the many times I'd been hounded by Furies.
Urgency.
Anxiety.