“Juno,” I said.
“Now?”
I nodded.
“Then go.”
He bent, picked up the apple, and put it back in my hand.
His fingers lingered against mine for half a breath.
“If Juno sends you anywhere tonight,” he said, “don’t go alone.”
“Is that advice or prophecy?”
“Experience.”
I tucked the apple back into my pocket.
“You still owe me the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Soon.”
No smile to hide the pain this time.
“Soon,” he said.
I left him on the roof with the wind and the pain he would not name.
By the time I reached Room 114, the basin was already lit.
Silver-white light gathered under the water, thinner than a summons and steadier than a warning.
Three words formed.
Juno. Now. Alone.
Then, beneath them:
Do not be seen.
I looked at the apple in my pocket.
Then at the door.
“Of course,” I said to the basin. “Now you have timing.”
27
Ireached Juno’s chamber with Kieran’s apple still in my pocket and my wrist aching from the summons I my body I hadn’t known was possible until today.
Juno opened the door as soon as my foot hit her hallway.
Her gaze went first to my face, then to the apple in my pocket, then to my wrist.
“Inside.”
