Jason emerged from the back of the plane. Somehow he managed to look as formal in jeans and a T-shirt as he had in a suit. He retrieved two bottles of water from the bar and offered her one, then took the seat across the aisle from her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
He didn’t look at her when he said, “I owe you an apology.” He turned the bottle of water in his hands. “You put your life at risk to save Alia. All of us. We never would have made it out of the museum without you there.” He paused, took a breath. “And I guess I should say that I’m sorry she was at the party in the first place. I’m trying to protect Alia. I’m trying to protect the Keralis name. I don’t seem to be doing a good job of either.”
“You’re doing your best.”
To her surprise a slight smile tugged at his lips. “High praise.”
Diana couldn’t help but smile herself. “I’m sorry. I forget the way people coddle one another here.”
Jason barked a laugh, then stifled it as Alia stirred in her sleep. “I’d hardly call it coddling.”
“You made a mistake. You acknowledged it. I respect that. Mitigating the repercussions of those choices or their outcome would be a lie that served no one.”
He leaned back in his seat and cast her a sidelong glance. “You’re right. I’m just not used to…people being that straightforward.”
Diana remembered Nim’s description of Jason. “Because you’re rich and handsome?”
Now he grinned that startling, deep-dimpled smile. “Exactly.” He gestured to the open laptop on the seat beside Diana. “My parents raised me on those stories. I thought that’s all they were. Tales of gods and monsters and heroes.”
“Heroes?”
“Theseus—”
“A kidnapper.”
“Hercules—”
“A thief.”
Jason’s brows rose. “Well, you know what I mean. In the books they’re heroes.”
“I think we were raised on different tales.”
“Maybe,” he said. “When I got older, I forgot those stories, and it was all about the comic books. Put on a cape, rescue the girl.”
“Which girl?”
“The girl. There’s always a girl.”
Diana snorted. “We definitely grew up on different stories.”
That grin again. “Did you have a favorite?” he asked.
“Probably the story of Azimech, the double star.”
“I don’t know that one.”
“It’s not very exciting.” That wasn’t true, but it also wasn’t something she wanted to share. “There’s another story I liked, one about an island,” she said cautiously. “A gift from the gods, given to their favored warriors, a place that could never be touched by bloodshed. I liked that story.”
“Now that’s definitely fiction.”
And there was that smug tone again. It made her bristle. “Why?”
“Because no one can stop war entirely. It’s inevitable.”
“In your world, maybe.”
“In any world. The problem isn’t war; it’s what humanity has made of it.”
Diana folded her arms. “I imagine all wars look the same to those who die in them.”
“But it’s so much easier now, isn’t it?” Again, he gestured toward the laptop. “In the old stories, war was a hero striding onto the battlefield with a sword in his hand. It was a monster to be vanquished. But now? It isn’t even a general commanding armies. It’s drones, nuclear stockpiles, air strikes. Some guy can push a button and wipe an entire village off a map.”
Diana knew those words and the horrors associated with them. She’d been schooled in all the ways mortals had found to destroy each other.
“You sound a little like my mother,” Diana conceded. “She says people find ways to make life cheap.”
“And death.”
“Are you afraid to die?” Diana asked curiously.
“No,” said Jason. “Not if I die well. Not if it’s for something I believe in. My parents…” He hesitated. “Keralis Labs isn’t just their legacy. As long as it thrives, their names live on and they do, too.”
Jason really had taken the old stories and legends to heart. It was the way the ancient Greeks had viewed the afterlife. “Being remembered is a kind of immortality.”
Jason looked at her sharply, surprised. “Exactly,” he said. “That’s what I want for them.”
“And maybe for yourself?”
“Is that stupid?” he asked. It was the first time she’d seen him look anything less than sure of himself. “To want a chance at greatness?”
Diana didn’t think it was stupid at all.
But before she could say so, Ben’s voice came over the speaker. “We’ve entered Greek airspace and are beginning our descent. We should be on the ground in Araxos in about twenty minutes. I’m expecting a bumpy landing, so please do buckle up and keep your prayer beads handy.”
Whatever spell had been woven in the sleepy cocoon of the jet had been broken.
Jason shifted, his expression shuttering. “Not long now.”
Alia and the others stretched and yawned. Nim hardly looked like herself in her Keralis Labs sweatsuit, her face scrubbed free of makeup. Theo smacked his lips and ran a hand over his crest of dark hair. He still wore his shiny suit trousers, but he’d abandoned the jacket and tie for a Keralis T-shirt.
“Are we there?” Alia asked, voice muzzy with sleep.
“Almost,” said Jason.
“What happens when we land?” asked Theo, abandoning the banquette to plunk himself down in a seat and strap a seat belt across his lap.
“Ben will put us down near Araxos. We’ll have to find someone to drive us south, but from there it’s only about four hours by car to Therapne. It would have been faster to set down in Kalamata, but I was worried about landing at such a busy airport.”
“Still,” said Alia, “we’ll be at the spring in a matter of hours.” Her gaze met Diana’s, and Diana felt a spark of excitement pass between them.
She stretched and wiggled her jaw, trying to ease the uncomfortable pressure in her ears.
“Never been on a plane before?” asked Jason.
“No. I—”
Suddenly, an alarm blared through the cabin.
Nim clutched Alia’s arm. “What is that?”
“Get in your seats, both of you. Now,” Jason ordered.
“What’s happening?” said Nim as they threw themselves into the row behind Theo.
“We have a problem,” Ben said over the speaker, an edge to his measured voice.
“The jet is equipped with an early-warning system,” said Jason.
“Someone’s firing on us?” Theo said incredulously.
“I don’t suppose we can fire back?” asked Alia.
Jason gripped the armrests. “We don’t have that particular upgrade.”
“Deploying flares,” Ben said.
Diana shoved up the window shade. She heard a thunk, and in the glare of the afternoon sky she saw two bright bursts of light followed by trails of white smoke. She glimpsed something shooting toward the flare on the left, and then boom.
The little jet shook and tilted wildly.
Theo swore. Alia shouted. The jet righted itself. The flare had drawn off the missile, but the alarm was still sounding.
Jason tore his seat belt from his lap and lunged toward the back of the plane, emerging seconds later with what Diana realized were parachute packs. She’d seen them on the bodies of downed pilots.
“You can’t be serious,” said Alia, eyes bright with panic.
“Put it on,” commanded Jason, shoving a pack at her. “You’ve jumped out of a plane before.”
“For your stupid eighteenth birthday!” Alia said, but she was already reaching for the straps.
“Listen to me,” he said as he hurled packs at Nim and Theo and shoved another at Diana. “Get your goggles on. We’re at about ten thousand feet. As soon as we get below seven thousand, we’re going to jump. We go five seconds apart. Count it out so you don’t crash into each other.”
“Ai meu Deus,” said Theo.
“What about you?” said Alia.
“Ben has a pack in the cockpit. We’ll go in tandem. As soon as you jump, I want you to get stable and belly down, then deploy the main canopy. Try to face upwind and be prepared to duck and roll when you hit the ground.”
“This isn’t happening,” said Nim, wriggling into the parachute harness.
“It is,” Alia said, and Diana was struck by the steadiness in her voice. “But we’re going to be okay.”
“Liar,” moaned Nim.