They had all retreated to the lake after Danae destroyed the stone hut. Metis alone had remained on the hilltop to sleep beside the wreckage of her home.
Danae missed the protective warmth of Pegasus’ wings all those nights they’d huddled together in forests, caves and abandoned dwellings while seeking the entrance to the Underworld. An ache of worry shivered through her. The horse had flown away and not returned to the island since she’d lost control and obliterated the hut the previous night.
She crawled to the water, splashed her face, drank, then eased herself to her feet and rubbed her arms. Her head pounded as though she’d consumed a whole amphora of unmixed wine. Sighing, she cast her gaze towards the hill.
In the aftermath of her rage, she could not recall the detail of all that had been spoken outside the collapsed hut. But one sentence was branded across her memory.Perhaps Gaia made a mistake.
Danae set her jaw. ‘You’re wrong,’ she muttered and strode towards the hill. She was loath to face Metis, but the crest would give her the best view across all sides of the Aegeanand surrounding land. The sooner she could find Pegasus and they could leave this cursed isle, the better.
She avoided the usual route towards Metis’ hut, clambering over lichen-stained boulders and picking her way between prickly cushions of spruce, the peach-gold light brightening as she climbed.
She was halfway to the peak when a flurry of loose stones tumbled down to her right, swiftly followed by Metis hurtling towards the bay. Danae caught a flash of sunlight glinting on metal. Something bronze was clutched in the woman’s outstretched hand.
Anger once again licked its heat across Danae’s skin. She turned and scrambled after the woman, sprinting as soon as she reached the ground. Ahead of her, once Metis reached the bay, she called to the gulls nesting on the earthen rock opposite the beach. As one they rose, buffeted by the wind as they soared to her. One landed on her outstretched arm and finally, Danae saw what the woman had been holding: the medallion Metis had shown her when she first arrived on Delos.
Metis slipped the amulet around the bird’s neck, cooing as she stroked its wings, before launching it into the sky. The gull did not return to soar with its brethren, but climbed up towards the sun, before careering east.
‘Metis!’ Danae doubled over, sucking the sharp air into her lungs. ‘What are you doing?’
‘What I should have done a long time ago.’ Metis strode towards Danae and grasped her arm, attempting to drag her off the sand. ‘You must hide, quickly.’
Danae did not move. In the distance, a dark shape floated atop the glinting sapphire waves. It was the strangest vessel she’d ever seen, the size of a great warship, yet the oars looked thick as tree trunks, the helm bulbous rather than tapering toa sleek point. She could see no crew moving aboard the boat, but in the centre stood a figure who appeared to be cast from gold. Then the curved end of the stern flexed, and her entire body ran cold.
It was no ship. It was alive.
‘Poseidon has come,’ hissed Metis, redoubling her efforts to drag Danae from the shore.
She wrenched her arm from the woman’s grip. ‘You summoned him here!’
‘No.’ Metis looked worn through. ‘I swear on Athena’s life, on the Mother herself. Go, find the others, hide by the lake until I come to fetch you. Now, before he sees you!’
Despite all that had passed between them, Danae believed her. She had never seen Metis look so afraid.
‘I can fight. I’m ready.’
‘No, you are not.’
‘I faced Hera, I sent her flying back to Olympus!’
‘Poseidon is something else.’ Metis took her by the shoulders. ‘If you fight him now, you will die, and so will your friends.’
The clarity in the woman’s eyes stilled her. Just for a moment, Danae saw a flicker of her mother.
She hesitated for a heartbeat, then turned and ran.
‘Poseidon is here!’ Danae yelled as she thundered towards the lake.
Telamon and Atalanta leapt to their feet, then Heracles’ gaunt face appeared behind the upturned rowing boat.
‘My uncle?’ he croaked.
Danae’s lungs ached as she gasped, ‘And a fucking great sea-monster. We have to hide, now!’
Telamon and Atalanta looked at one another, sword and bow clutched in their hands.
‘We hide from no one,’ said the warrior.
Danae slicked back the flyaway hairs plastered to her brow. ‘Metis says he is too strong.’ She clenched her teeth, casting her mind back to the Underworld. ‘And she’s right. If Poseidon’s power is anything like Hades’ we are not ready to fight him. Not as we are.’ Her eyes flicked to Heracles. ‘We must conceal ourselves.’ Then she added, ‘That’s an order.’
