Thane let out a sound that was half-cough, half-laugh. He scrubbed a massive hand over his face, leaving a streak of dirt. "Put like that... it does lack a certain romance."
"It lacks sanity," I argued, my legs trembling as the adrenaline crash deepened. "You say I need to be open? That I need to have 'no barriers'? Kaelen, I just had a goddess try to hijack my brain through a crab-squid monster. My barriers are the only thing keeping me from dissolving into a puddle of traumatized goo."
I scooted toward the amplifier, running my hand along the cold, slick surface of the obsidian. It hummed against my palm, a hungry, waiting vibration.
"If we do this now," I said, turning back to them, "if you pour that much power into me while I'm this unstable... I won't become a god-killer. I’ll detonate. Shatter. And I’ll take this mountain, maybe even this realm, but certainly all of you, with me."
Kaelen’s jaw tightened, a muscle jumping in his cheek. He looked at the amplifier, then at me, weighing the tactical advantage against the collateral damage. He was a warrior, first and foremost. He saw objectives and obstacles.
But he was also the man who had cooled my food so I wouldn't burn my mouth.
"She’s right," Elias said, wandering back toward the fire, his voice soft and melodic. "The connection is frayed. The psychic backlash from Hera left wounds. If we force the binding now, we risk a feedback loop. We connect to her, she connects to us, and Hera uses the open line to fry our brains from the inside out."
Kaelen let out a sharp breath, a plume of smoke curling from his nostrils. "We don't have time to heal."
"We don't have time to die, either," I countered. I twisted until I was sitting with my back against the amplifier. It was cold, but it was solid. "We need to regroup and breathe. Somehow, we need to stop reacting to every catastrophe and actually be able to think for five minutes. I can't remember the last time I actually slept and didn't just pass out. Plus, the last time I ate wasn't exactly successful after recounting my personal trauma."
Flynn moved instantly, scooting around until he was sitting next to me. He didn't try to pull me into his lap this time, but he sat close enough that our arms pressed together, a solid line of warmth. "Thinking is Elias’s job. I’m just here for the violence and the snacks."
"We’re fresh out of snacks," I muttered, leaning my head back against the stone. "And the violence seems to be finding us just fine on its own."
Thane lowered himself to the ground near the fire, looking like a weary statue. "The girl speaks wisdom. We have been running since the Sanctorum fell. And she has been fighting since before that. We are making mistakes. Sloppy mistakes."
"We let a goddess get within spitting distance," Kaelen agreed, his voice dark. He remained standing, ever the sentinel, watching the shadows as if they might sprout teeth. "Marissa..."
"You were trapped in a cosmic prison, what could you have done?" I asked, closing my eyes. "Besides, she played the long game. She waited for generations. Unless she literally just popped in and took over Marissa as soon as I messed with the gate."
"Which brings us to the questions," Elias said, sitting cross-legged and staring into the dying embers. "The ones Aria mentioned. The gaps in the tapestry."
I nodded, keeping my eyes closed because opening them felt like too much effort. "There’s too much we don't know. We're running blind. Why did the Sentinel try to destroy the Gate with you inside it? If you're the bait, destroying you defeats the purpose."
"Unless the purpose changed," Kaelen murmured. "Or unless the bait spoiled."
"Or," Flynn said, his voice dropping, "unless they have new bait."
My eyes snapped open. I looked at Flynn, then at Elias.
"The jars," I whispered.
"Exactly," Elias said grimly. "If they can force-grow a replacement, a controllable replacement, then we are obsolete. We are loose ends. Dangerous variables that need to be stopped."
"So they kill us," I deduced, the logic slotting into place like a key in a lock. "They wipe the board. They let Hera develop her little abomination in the dark, and they use that to lure the Devourer away from Olympus."
"Which means," Kaelen said, finally sitting down across from me, his golden eyes intense, "that we have a window. A very small, closing window. While they’re focusing on their science project, they might not be expecting us to knock on the front door of Olympus."
"But not tonight," I said firmly. "Tonight, we survive the hole in the ground."
"Agreed," Thane rumbled.
"Rest," Kaelen commanded, though the edge was gone from his voice. "We rotate watches. Thane and the... creature..."
"Steve," I interjected, having only just realized that the poor thing had not only survived its encounter with Hera, but had followed us here.
Kaelen just have me a pointed look. "They have the perimeter. Elias, sleep. Your mind is too loud when you're tired. Flynn..."
"I'm staying right here," Flynn said, grabbing my hand and interlacing our fingers. He brought my knuckles to his lips, his stubble grazing my skin. "The Pup runs cold. She needs a heater."
Kaelen’s eyes narrowed, but he didn't argue. He just settled in, sword across his lap, watching us. Watching me.
