Sweet Legacy

Then, just as I’m about to shift my thoughts to Sthenno, my stomach swirls and my head explodes in pain. My vision goes black.

You have seen enough, the male voice in my head says.

“Leave her alone,” Thane growls. “Greer, get out now.”

No. I need to find Sthenno, too. She’s in here somewhere.

As I reach for her, the pain magnifies. I whimper, but I refuse to give up.

Yes, the female voice says. Push harder.

No! Thane’s voice says. Then he shouts, “Greer!”

Through the searing pain, a vision begins to form. I struggle to focus. Just as I make out the space—a hallway lined with the same stone as the rest of this awful place—the vision jerks out of reach, like someone yanked it away before I could see the whole picture.

The next thing I feel is Thane shaking me. I blink against the pain, relieved when I see Thane and the world as it is, not the imagined world of my vision.

I draw in a shaky breath.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod, even though I’m not really sure. I’ve never had that kind of feeling in a vision before. They’ve always come and gone without much fanfare, nothing more than an annoying dizziness before and a bit of fatigue afterward. The nausea and the headache aren’t exactly minor side effects. They’re not pleasant, but I’ve felt worse.

That pain was something else.

And the voices in my head—Thane’s and the other two—arguing over me . . . I don’t know if that was part of the vision or not.

“Yes,” I say, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves and my stomach. “I’m fine.”

“You saw how to get across.”

It doesn’t sound like a question, but I smile and answer anyway. “What do you think?”

Gretchen is back around the corner and at my side in an instant, an expectant look on her face.

“What did you see?” she demands.

As the monkey and the golden maiden join us, I tell Gretchen, and she takes off running for the spot I indicated.

It’s only a matter of moments before she’s directing Sillus up the wall, his little furry fingers gripping spaces between stones like it’s his personal climbing wall. He finds the hole easily enough.

I stand there, stunned. I can’t believe the vision was real. Other visions have come true, sure, but this is one I chose. I sought it out. I knew what I wanted to see, and then I saw it. And I was right.

Now I’m eager to try again. I wonder if there’s an easier way to get there than to go through the whole white-room visualization. Maybe it’s just a matter of practice. Hopefully practice will lessen the pain.

Knowing I can force visions of my choosing, I’m more than ready to try.

You must strengthen your mind, the female voice says. You must control the power unleashed by the pendant.

I blink and look around. No one else shows any indication of having heard the warning. But I heard her as if she were right here, speaking to me. Maybe I really am losing my mind.

“Gots it!” The monkey hops back down to the ground.

As he lands, a thunderous roar echoes throughout the dungeon. Stone screeches against stone and drowns out the sound of prisoners moaning.

I push thoughts of my fracturing mental state aside. As long as the voices aren’t telling me to become a serial killer, dealing with what causes them can wait until later—until after the gorgons are rescued and the world is saved.

I move to the edge of the moat to peer over, just in time to see the bridge from my vision lift up into view. Up, through the smoke, it glides until it’s level with the ground.

Gretchen looks at me, her silver eyes full of appreciation and gratitude.

That stuns me more than anything else. Gretchen isn’t one to give thanks easily. She’d rather do it all on her own and tell everyone else to go to Hades. That I could do something to make her grateful is kind of amazing.

In this moment, I truly feel like her sister.

I smile back.

Then she’s running across the bridge, shouting her mentor’s name. Sillus and the golden maiden hurry after her, and I’m about to follow until I see Thane hanging back.

“I’ll stay here,” he says. “In case there’s trouble.”

“Thank you.” I slip my arms around his neck before he can protest. “I couldn’t have done that without your help.”

He shrugs, like he’s uncomfortable with the compliment. But he hugs me back. He’s almost as closed off as Gretchen, so this is a major victory. It’s amazing how good that makes me feel.

“You’re welcome.”

“I—” I pull the image from the second part of my vision into my mind. “I couldn’t see Sthenno. I tried to go farther, to look for her, but it was too vague. Just a shadowy hallway.”

“You went after a lot for one vision,” he says. “You’ll get better with practice.”

I can only hope. If this is my power, my magical legacy from our ancient ancestor, I want to be able to use it to its full potential.

“At least now I know how to practice. You knew just how to help me get the vision.” I shake my head. “How?”

His entire body tenses. That small muscle along his jawline clenches and unclenches. Every last syllable of his body language says this is an off-limits topic of conversation.

I don’t believe in limits. I’m getting tired of having these questions and getting no answers.

“Are you even human?” I ask. A few weeks ago that would have been a sarcastic question. Now, I’m deadly serious.

His gray eyes flash. “Yes.”

“But you’re not just human,” I push. “You’re something more.”

His jaw muscle tightens and doesn’t release.

“You’d better go,” he says, not looking at me. “Gretchen will need your help.”

I study him for a moment longer, trying to find some clue about what’s going on inside. He’s conflicted, and maybe scared. Whatever he’s hiding, now is not the time for me to dig it out.

I’m not usually patient, but I am determined. Eventually, he will tell me his secrets.

Without another word, I turn and follow my sister and our friends across the bridge.

CHAPTER 11 GRETCHEN

The layout of cells on the other side of the bridge is a freaking maze—another labyrinth of stone and steel—and with the soundproof shields down, the groans and growls of the prisoners echo throughout the entire chamber. Euryale is being held in the outer ring, but we have to wind our way through all the others— past all the others—to reach her cage on the other side.

Between these cells and those beyond the moat, there must be two hundred prisoners being chained and tortured. And from what the golden maiden says, there are other dungeons, other labyrinths of cells, just as full. It’s horrifying. Whether they are guilty of some crime against the gods or are political prisoners like Ursula, the treatment is inhumane.

When I finally get to Euryale’s cell, I see her crumpled and beaten, hanging from her shackles like a piece of meat. My stomach lurches. If I’d had anything to eat in the past few hours, I’d be heaving.