Silas nodded, fumbling with something from his pocket, then fastening the band around his wrist.
“She’ll be with me,” Silas said. “If anyone needs to reach Alessia, go through me. We’ll be together until the end.”
It sounded like a threat and protection all at once, a promise of until death do us part—just not the sort of one I’d been ready to make to Simon at the altar just days before.
The promise of a mortal marriage felt so fickle at this moment.Until death do us part,sure, but that sort of death strolled up slowly. It was the sort of death in which old age would have claimed me or Simon and left the other behind by default in a natural way.
Thissort of promise took my breath away. It made me feel weak, like my insides were bathed in ice. My muscles trembled with nerves and terror and sadness and determination. Like if death did part me and Silas, the loss would be so great I’d feel it beyond this life.
I reached for Silas’s hand, squeezed it.
“Good luck,” Ranger X said.
I sucked in a deep breath. “We’ll see you on the other side.”
Chapter 15
“We need to makea stop first.” Silas didn’t make eye contact with me as he took long strides away from the group.
“Atlas,” I filled in. “You’re talking about your brother.”
Silas’s whole body was tense, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of what lay ahead of us or because of what lay behind.
I reached out, rested a hand on a bicep that felt more like a boulder. I wanted to offer a reassuring sentiment, but what would I say?Everything will be okay?It wouldn’t, and we both knew it.
Silas expelled a breath, a tight stream of air, but he managed to smile at me despite it all.
Then he extended a hand, and I took it. One fissure in time later, and we emerged out of thin air just steps before Wisteria Cottage. Silas blew open the gate built into the stone wall with unseen magic, and I went through first.
We found Atlas and Millie waiting anxiously in the garden. Millie was tidying up some rose bushes that hadsuffered damage from the Gladiator style smack-down between brothers. She sent routine scowls in Atlas’s direction. Meanwhile, Atlas lounged at the bistro table sipping an espresso like he was vacationing on the Amalfi Coast.
“We’re taking the wards down.” Silas ran a hand through his hair. “Get your ass up, brother.”
“Taking the wards down?” That got Atlas’s attention. “Theoriginals?That’s a death sentence.”
“We are out of time.”
Atlas’s laissez-faire attitude was vacuumed right up, leaving an intensity in its place I hadn’t yet seen. The confident Titan seemed so unfazed by anything that this change shook me deeply. If Atlas was concerned, that meant the situation was dire.
“It was her idea.” Silas didn’t quite look at Atlas. “As soon as the wards come down, we’ll be able to set up portals to usher people off the island.”
“The curse will run rampant if you take down the wards,” Silas said. “Have you located its power source?”
“The wardsarethe power source,” Silas said. “That’s the twist. We break the crystals, and we’re exposed, yes. The curse will lash out, but it will die off without its generator. Since the Spellbinders can’t come up with a way to dismantle the curse from the outside, it’s our only option. We need your help.”
Atlas stood still, but the strangest thing happened. His outline shimmered. Like his whole body was shivering,flickering in and out like a hologram. I looked in confusion at Silas. It seemed to me like Atlas was trying to use some form of magic. Silas didn’t look impressed.
“Even you can’t Phase out of here right now.” Silas frowned. “Olympus’s golden boy is stuck here, so you might as well put yourself to good use.”
Atlas looked resigned. “Tell me what to do.”
Except Atlas wasn’t looking at Silas. He was looking atme.
“I-I—” I hesitated. “Me?”
“This was your idea,” Atlas said. “Wasn’t it?”
Silas, too, waited for my answer. I wasn’t used to powerful people asking my opinion on important matters. Nobody had ever asked my opinion back home. In fact, those around me had actively tried to squash any opinion out of me until I had none left.
