Arjun looks at me. “This is getting weirder and weirder.”
“True. Story,” Fifi agrees.
“Maybe he’s as sick of eating Prometheus as Prometheus was of being eaten,” I suggest. “Eternity is a really, really long time.”
“Another true story,” Kyrian agrees as he walks around to the front of the statue to get a better look at the vulture. “Hey, is that what I think it is?” he asks, pointing to an object in Prometheus’s outstretched hand—which, it just so happens, now lines up with where Hera was pointing when I saw her in the tiles earlier.
I have no idea who she is, but I definitely want to find out. Something tells me she knows more than I could ever imagine.
I scoot closer to check it out. “If what you think it is is the unlightable candle,” I tell him after a second. “Then yes. That’s what it is.”
I swallow the sudden lump in my throat. I’m glad he and Pandora are reunited, but I’m really going to miss PT.
“Does this mean, after all that, we just won the scavenger hunt?” Fifi asks, her voice squeaking with excitement.
“Our very first year?” Arjun sounds overjoyed.
“I think it means a lot more than that,” I answer as I reach forward and pull it out of Prometheus’s hand. Sure enough, the moment I do, the candle catches fire.
Arjun’s face falls. “Does that mean it’s not unlightable?”
“I think it means only a very special person can light it,” Kyrian answers, his eyes full of admiration as he smiles at me.
I smile back, trying to ignore the way my stomach is flipping and flopping around inside me. “I think it means—” My voice breaks, so I clear my throat and try again. “I think it means I’ve got one more thing to do.”
“What’s that?” Fifi looks curious.
But I’m afraid I’ll cry a little bit if I say it out loud. So instead, I say, “Come with me to the amphitheater and I’ll show you.”
I reach out a hand and hold Prometheus’s for just a second.Thank you, my friend.
You’re very welcome.
This time I hear the answer in my heart instead of my head, and that’s good enough for me. I know it came from him.
“Are we headed there now?” Arjun asks.
“Yeah,” I tell him, giving Prometheus one last look. “Now seems like the perfect time.”
But as we start to walk out the door, Kyrian says, “What are we going to do with the vulture? We can’t just leave him here.”
He’s right. We can’t. “Anybody know how to whistle?” I ask.
“He’s not a dog,” Fifi tells me.
“Do you have a better idea?” I shoot back.
“Here, vulture, vulture,” she calls in a singsong voice.
He doesn’t move.
Arjun squeezes his lower lip and lets out a long, low whistle.
The vulture caws and takes to the air, flapping its giant wings.
“Problem solved,” I tell Fifi smugly.
She laughs. “Looks like you’re on a roll.”
