Page 60 of The Stars

He hugged her. “Thank the gods.” He sighed into her hair. “I love you.”

“I love you,” she replied as his second alarm went off.

He groaned. “Tonight,” he promised her. “We’ll have a proper first dinner together in our home.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Chapter Twenty

Amy stood at her cabin door, keys in hand, looking at the small place she had called home for less than two months. It felt surreal to pack up her few belongings, knowing that she was moving in with Dante.

She opened the trunk of her car and carefully stacked the last of her things inside. She wasn’t surprised at how little she had. Once she and Ryan had called things off, she’d left most of her old things in the city. She’d taken only what she could fit in her car after Joe had driven her back to her small apartment to get her things. She had wanted to start fresh when returning home and now she was thankful for it.

Funny, she’d been so broken over Ryan breaking up with her back then. Now, of course, she realized that technically she was the one who had called things off.

With one last glance at the cozy cabin, she drove off, excitement and nervousness swirling in her chest. As she drove into town, the beautiful fall colors surrounded the roads, making her nostalgic for her favorite season of the year.

Fall in Hidden Creek was stunning. The bright orange and red leaves covered the trees and roads. There were signs of the coming Halloween season everywhere. Homes and businesses were decorated with fun skeleton scenes or seasonal flare, even though it was a little over a month and a half away still.

When she pulled into the Coffee Corner, she could see that Xtina, Jess, Mia, Brea, and Liz had already gathered, talking and laughing at a table by the window. The moment Amy walked in, they waved her over.

“Amy.” Jess grinned and pushed a cup of coffee towards her. “Your favorite. How was your first night back?”

“Thanks, it was wonderful.” She took a sip of the coffee. Jess had a strange power to know what everyone wanted. Then again, she was a witch and the owner of the coffee shop.

As they sat down, Amy pulled out her phone. “Okay, so you won’t believe this. But I got photos of our trip. I forgot to show everyone last night because my phone was dead and, well, there were a lot of other things going on.” She scrolled through the pictures she had taken of the mountain temple, the carvings, the statues, everything. She passed her phone around the table, and their eyes widened as they flipped through the photos.

“That’s insane,” Mia breathed, staring at the intricately carved walls. “This is… ancient writing and a temple, right?”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, it was surreal. The carvings, the architecture… all of it.”

“What does any of it say?” Xtina asked, looking down at the phone.

“You can’t read it?” she asked.

“No,” Xtina said, along with the others.

“I guess I’ll have to translate all of it.” She paused, biting her lip.

Xtina furrowed her brow. “You can read all of this?”

“It’s part of the powers we unlocked,” Amy explained, leaning in. “Prometheus said I have omnilingual abilities. Apparently, all gods and demi-gods do. I’ll need to spend some time translating what each of these says.”

The group was quiet for a moment.

“Who is this?” Liz said, turning the phone around to show a picture she’d taken with Theo when he’d told them about the temple.

“That’s Theo.” Amy smiled. “A boy who helped us while we were there.”

“Theo?” Xtina frowned.

“Yes.” Amy quickly ran through what had happened, how the boy had found her on the side of the mountain and taken her into town. How he had helped them find the temple and then how they had saved him from Thanatos.

“Of course,” Jess said, snapping her fingers as she picked up her own phone and typed something in. “Theogony.” She smiled and turned her screen around to a sketch of an older Greek man. “In the 7th century BCE, Theogony wrote several epic poems titled ‘Days by Hesiod.’” She paused. “The story of Pandora and Epimetheus.”

“What? Seriously?” Amy took Jess’s phone and quickly scanned the page. “Wow, way to go Theo.” She laughed.

“We wouldn’t have most of the stories of the Greek gods if not for him,” Jess added.