Diana stepped back and Alia’s brother turned, straightening the collar of his shirt.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Reassured.”
She expected another round of recriminations, but instead Jason turned to Alia. He crossed the short distance between them and pulled her into a tight hug. “I thought…We had word the Thetis had lost contact. I didn’t know what to think.”
“I’m okay,” Alia said, but Diana could hear the wobble in her voice.
Diana was embarrassed by the acute pang of envy she felt. She would have liked someone to lean on, to tell her she hadn’t made a terrible mistake, that she wasn’t in this alone.
Then Jason broke the hug and held Alia at arm’s length. “How could you be so stupid?”
“I’m not stupid,” she said, knocking Jason’s hands away and folding her arms.
“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? The Thetis lost radio contact almost a week ago.”
“A week?” said Alia.
Diana’s heart lurched. A week gone? They must have lost time when they left the island. Hekatombaion began with the rise of the first visible new moon after the summer solstice—the slender white scythe of the reaping moon. How long did they have?
“When was the last full moon?” said Diana.
Jason stared at her as if she’d gone mad. “What?”
“I need a calendar.”
He scowled and handed over the boxlike device she realized was his phone.
She touched the screen tentatively. “I don’t—”
He snatched it from her and jabbed at it a few times before holding it up. They’d reached the end of June. According to the screen, the last full moon had been on June twentieth, and that meant Hekatombaion would begin on July seventh. They had less than a week to get to the spring.
Jason shoved his phone back in his pocket. “You disappeared,” he said to Alia. “They sent out search parties. I thought…” His voice broke. “For God’s sake, Alia, I thought you were dead.”
“But I’m not, Jason. I’m here.”
“How is that even possible? They said you boarded the boat in Istanbul. Did you change your mind?”
“I—”
“Everything okay up here?” The Bulgarian from the front desk stood panting at the end of the hall. It had taken him long enough to come investigate.
As one, they moved to block his view of the demolished door. “Everything’s great!” said Alia.
“You bet,” said Jason.
“Vsichko e nared. Molya, varnete se kam zanimaniyata si,” said Diana as reassuringly as she could.
The Bulgarian made an unconvinced “huh” sound and started back down the stairs.
“Should I even ask?” said Alia.
“I just told him that all was well and instructed him to return to what he was doing.”
“Not suspicious at all,” said Jason. Diana saw Alia bite back a smile.
She bristled. “It was a perfectly reasonable thing to say.”
“Let’s get inside before he changes his mind and comes back to take a closer look,” said Jason. “Help me with the door.”
“Diana can just—” Alia began, and Diana gave a frantic shake of her head. It was one thing for Alia to know how strong she was, but the less Jason knew about where she was from or what she could do, the better.
“Just what?” said Jason, already hefting one side of the door.
“Just help,” Alia finished weakly.
They shuffled into the passageway and got the door wedged shut behind them. Somehow the room looked smaller and shabbier with Alia’s brother standing inside it. Despite the fact that he’d just been in a fight, he looked unrumpled and immaculate, the white of his shirt unsullied, a heavy watch glinting at his wrist. Could she convince this boy of her cause? Could she convince Alia? She’d thought she would have time to make her case and get them to Greece. Now she had only a few days.
Jason turned a slow circle, taking in the room’s bleak furnishings, the plastic bags of candy. “I’ve been trying to call in favors with the Turkish government, and you’re having a slumber party.”
“That’s not what this is,” Alia objected.
Jason threw his hands up in exasperation. “Then what is it? What are you doing in a place like this, Alia? And how did you get here?”
Diana sat down on the bed. Alia had lied to her. “You said you wouldn’t call him.”
“I didn’t,” said Alia.
“But you knew he would trace you.”
“I thought he might.”
“What difference does it make?” asked Jason irritably. He turned to Diana, touching his hand to his shoulder as if it still pained him. “Who are you? And what right do you have to keep my sister from contacting me?”
Diana felt her temper rise. “It was for her own protection. Gods,” she said shooting up from the bed as realization struck. “You could have been followed. We should leave this place immediately.”
“Gods?” said Jason. “Plural?”
“No one is looking for me,” insisted Alia. “They think I’m dead.”
Jason released a growl. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?”
Alia bounced nervously on her heels. “Can we all just…sit down for a minute?”
Jason glanced at the nearest bed, his lip curling slightly. With a disdainful flick, he shoved a pile of sweets away and sat down at the edge of the bed. He glanced around. “Do you have anything to drink?”
“Warm soda?” Alia said, offering him a bottle of cola.
“I was hoping for something stronger.”
Alia raised a brow. “Seriously?”
“I’m twenty-one—”
“Barely.”
“And I just got pounced by this…person.”
“My name is Diana.”
Jason took the soda bottle from Alia. “Diana what?”
She answered without thinking. “Diana, Princess of—”
“Diana Prince,” Alia said hurriedly. “Her name is Diana Prince.”
“Yes,” said Diana, grateful for the rescue, even if she was still angry at Alia. “Diana Prince.”
Alia sat down on the other bed and gestured for Diana to join her. Reluctantly, Diana settled on the farthest corner.
Jason took a gulp of soda. “Start talking, Alia.”
“There was an accident.”
Diana held Alia’s gaze. They couldn’t afford this pretense. “It wasn’t an accident.”
Alia took a deep breath. “Okay, there was an explosion aboard the Thetis. Someone…” She hesitated, and Diana realized this was the first time Alia had spoken the words out loud. She’d let Diana make the claim, agreed with her as far as she was able, but she’d never acknowledged the fact of what had happened herself. “I think someone tried to kill me.”
Jason set down the bottle with a loud clunk. “I told you not to go. You know what kind of threats the Foundation gets. I told you how dangerous it was for you to be without security.”
Alia dropped her eyes. “I didn’t think—”
“No, you didn’t. You could have been killed.”
“I would have been. But Diana saved me.”
“How?”
“I saw the explosion from shore.”
“And you brought her all the way back to New York?”
“It seemed the safest thing.”
Jason’s expression was sour. “Well, at least someone was thinking.”
“That isn’t fair,” Alia said quietly.
“Fair?” Jason leaned forward. “You almost died. I almost lost you. After what happened to Mom and Dad—”
“I—”
“If you wanted to go so badly, you should have talked to me. We could have arranged an expedition.”
Alia sprang to her feet. “I didn’t want a Keralis expedition,” she said, pacing back and forth in the tiny room. “I wanted to be a student. Like a normal kid. Like everyone else.”
“We aren’t like everyone else, Alia. Our family doesn’t have that luxury.”
Diana hadn’t meant to speak. This wasn’t her battle. But she still found herself saying, “She was right to try.”
“Excuse me?” said Jason.
“It’s not just to ask someone to live half a life,” Diana said. “You can’t live in fear. You make things happen or they happen to you.”
Jason turned his cold, angry gaze on her. “People died. Alia could have been killed.”
“And if she’d remained in New York, she might have been targeted here.”
Now Jason was on his feet. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’ve had about enough of being scolded by a teenage girl.”