“The scavenger-hunt object for death?” I finish for him. “Yeah, I think it is.”
“And we needed to go to the Underworld to find it?” Fifi squeaks. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
“They actually said we had to find the replica,” I correct her.
“Yeah, well, that one definitely isn’t fake.” Arjun sighs quietly. “I can feel the power from three feet away.”
“I know. It’s…a lot.” Something tells me I shouldn’t go any further. I should just close the book and put it in the Pandora’s box chest in the lobby. There’s no rule that says I actually have to look at it.
But there’s also no rule that says I can’t. It’s right here on my lap, after all, and I can practically hear it calling to me to turn the page.
So that’s what I do.
The second page is so thin it’s practically translucent,with a bunch of words written in a language I’m pretty sure is ancient Attic Greek.
I can’t read it at all. But somehow, as I touch the corner of the page, I know exactly what it says.
49.Where You Chew I Will Follow
IS THAT ATTIC?” FIFI ASKS,leaning over to get a better look at the page. “It’s a shame we can’t read it.”
But Arjun is looking at me, his eyes thoughtful as he glances between me and the book and back again. “Can you read Attic, Ellie?”
“I can’t,” I tell him. And it’s the truth. I have no idea what the letters on the page are, let alone what words or sounds they make.
The fact that that doesn’t stop me from knowing—with soul-deep certainty—what this says scares me. But it also makes me want to turn the page and see what else is in this book.
“Of course she can’t!” Fifi tells him with a roll of her eyes. “So what do we do with it? It doesn’t seem right to just put it in the box in the lobby.”
My hands clench the book as everything inside me reacts to her words. “We definitely can’t do that.”
“Okay.” Arjun is still watching me curiously. “Why not?”
“I can’t explain it. But what I do know is that when I look at this page, I see her.”
“Her?” Fifi looks mystified. “Who?”
“The woman I told you about earlier. With the peacock feather in her hair.”
Arjun’s brows shoot up. “The one you saw when you were falling?”
“Yes. And later, when I needed help. I don’t know who she is, but I do know this story is about her.”
I wait for them to ask me how I can be so certain, but I can’t tell them that. Because, the truth is, I don’t know myself. I just feel the connection so clearly that I know these words—this story—can’t be about anyone else.
I half expect them to make fun of me—or, at least, to tell me that I’m being fanciful and I can’t actually know if what I’m saying is true or not. That’s what my mom and dad would do in this situation—what they have done in the past. And it’s one hundred percent what Paris would do too.
But Fifi just nods like what I’m saying makes perfect sense, even though I know it doesn’t. And asks, “What’s her name?”
“It’s H—” I break off as my mind suddenly goes completely blank.
“It’s huh?” Arjun looks confused.
“No, it’s H—” Again the word—her name—disappears from my mind, like water through a sieve.
I try not to panic, but it’s hard not to when my brain just suddenly stops cooperating.
Fifi gets serious fast. “What’s going on, Ellie?” She reaches over and squeezes my hand.
