“Heaven?” Sienna’s melodic voice comes, and I turn to see she’s stopped halfway down.
I stand up, my mask back on and smile at her before skipping down the steps.
Race you to the bottom!I write when I reach her before I skip off ahead. She laughs as she follows, reaching the bottom a second after me.
We smile at one another before we all turn and look back up the steps.
“It’s done,” Jayce murmurs. “Let’s head home.”
“Right, everyone holds on to each other because there’s a lot of us to teleport,” Ahren says, taking Sienna’s hand and placing a hand on Carter’s shoulder. Carter reaches for me, and Sienna reaches out, hesitating when she realises Jayce is closest to her. He doesn’t look in her direction, but also doesn’t move away. He takes hold of Allie’s wrist with the other.
I hide a smile when his other hand wraps around Sienna’s wrist. Allie holds onto Ares, who has Renji in a rough grab.
Theo yawns as he steps between Renji and me, placing his hands on both our heads. “Right, let’s do this,” he says.
I’m going to miss having so much time with him – wait, no! I will not, I do not like him!
Ahren nods, and then there’s a puff, and I feel my body being sucked away, but it’s for a fraction of a second before we land in that same deserted place we had been when we first arrived.
Our amulets glow on our chests, and I can sense the power from them. I carefully hold out the amulet for Sienna, which I had held onto carefully.
Wear it,I write.
She nods and puts it on. I glance at our surroundings, waiting for the portal.
“Any minute now,” Theo calls into thin air. “I swear he knows we’re here.”
He’s talking about Hades.
My heart is pounding, knowing what is to come the moment I cross back to Earth. I exhale slowly.
Breath.
I am in control.
Iamcontrol.
Jayce’s eyes snap to mine, narrowing sharply.
“You alright?” he asks.
I nod with a toss of my hair, silently frustrated with myself for slipping.
“Think Helios will honour the duel?” Ares asks, breaking the silence.
“I think so,” Jayce says, and Renji and Carter nod in agreement.
“And we humbled him up a little. Ahren, you should have been there. It was fucking epic,” Theo says.
“I’m sure it was,” Ahren smirks. “We can get Aunty Ri to play it out!”
“Yes!” Theo says, “But not from my head.”
Allie snickers. “Why?”
Before Theo can reply, a portal suddenly opens in front of us, and we fall silent.
“Let’s go,” Ahren says. He steps back as Ares leads the way out, followed by Carter, then Allie, Renji, and Sienna.
