But her voice was cut off by the sound of Theo’s whoop as he ran past them stark naked and leapt off the rock. A tremendous splash sounded, and they raced to the edge to see him emerge in the frothing water and shake his head like a dog.
Did I really just see Theo Santos naked? Alia thought. Do not giggle, she warned herself, but it was really hard when her mind kept conjuring up the image of Theo’s starlit backside.
“Good news!” he called from below. “It’s deep enough!”
“He is unhinged,” said Nim.
Diana frowned. “How did he even get his clothes off that fast?”
“We don’t have time for this,” Jason grumbled.
“I don’t know,” said Alia. “We have to stop for the night, and that water looks pretty good.” Just for a minute, she wanted to forget all the horror they’d seen. She wanted to pretend she was an ordinary girl on a road trip, even if she knew the illusion wouldn’t last.
“Alia—”
“Jason, I am tired, sweaty, and grumpy.”
“That’s like three of the Seven Dwarfs,” said Nim. “I don’t want to know what happens when she gets to four.”
“I am part man!” Theo shouted from far below. “But also part fish!”
“Besides,” said Alia, nudging Jason with her shoulder, “we need something good right about now.”
“She’s right,” said Diana. “We can’t keep driving, so it’s not as if we’re losing time.” She unbuckled the straps of her top and pulled it over her head.
“What are you doing?” squeaked Alia, trying not to stare. “Why is everyone suddenly allergic to their clothes?”
“I thought you wanted to swim,” said Diana, untying her sandals and yanking her leather trousers down.
“You’re…you’re…,” said Jason. He looked at the sky, the rocks, and then somewhere just over Diana’s shoulder. “You don’t have anything on.”
A furrow appeared between Diana’s brows. “Did Theo?”
“I don’t…I mean—”
“Is something wrong?” Diana asked, planting her hands on her hips as if she were about to start a cheerleading routine.
“Absolutely not,” said Nim. “Jason, Alia, you shut your mouths. I fell out of a plane. I got possessed by a war goddess. I deserve some happiness.”
“A thing I thought,” babbled Jason. “I had a thinking—”
“You should swim, too,” said Diana. “You may be suffering heatstroke.”
She turned her back and strode to the end of the rock, raising her arms overhead, her muscles flexing, her hair a gleaming tide over her shoulders. “Come on!” Diana called happily, and then she leapt, her body forming a perfect arc, her skin shining as if lit by some secret source of moonlight. A splash sounded from below.
“I should exfoliate more,” said Alia.
“This is the best moment of my life,” said Nim.
Jason had apparently given up on speech.
—
They swam for well over an hour. Alia had been sure Jason wouldn’t join, but eventually he’d cannonballed over the top of the falls and made a very un-Jason-like splash.
Despite the laughter and Theo’s continued crooning of “Don’t go chasing waterfalls,” she was aware of how cautious everyone was being, the distance Nim and Theo kept from each other, the alert way that Diana and Jason watched them. And yet she was right: They’d needed something good, and this—lying on her back in the water, the stillness of the pond filling her ears, the spangle of stars so dense above her it felt like she was looking into time itself—was very good.
Tomorrow they would reach the spring. Would its waters feel different on her skin? Would she know something inside her had changed forever?
When they were all thoroughly waterlogged and pruny, Diana jogged back up the hill to retrieve her leathers and brought their clothes and a blanket down from the car. Since they were away from the road, it seemed safe to make a fire and, after they gathered enough kindling, Diana set the little pile ablaze with ease.
“If all the Girl Scouts looked like her, I would have joined,” Nim murmured.
“And worn that green uniform?”
Nim retched. “Never mind.”
Diana claimed there were rabbits in the woods and offered to hunt them, but Nim was a vegetarian and no one was quite hungry enough to go that rustic. They ate most of what was left of the snacks from the gas station, and warmed themselves by the crackling of the flames.
“I’m exhausted,” said Alia at last. “But I don’t know if I can sleep.”
“Theo and I will crash outside tonight,” said Jason. “You guys can take the car.”
“I know you’re not going to like this,” said Diana. “But we should probably restrain both Theo and Nim.”
“I don’t mind,” said Nim. “I really don’t want that thing in my head again.”
Theo shuddered and nodded.
“We can rig something up with the blanket for Theo,” said Jason. He paused. “Can you use the lasso on Nim?”
Diana’s fingers brushed the golden loops of rope at her hip. “It’s not really meant to be used that way. I’ve heard of people being driven mad when bound too long in its coils.”
“Why?” asked Alia.
“No one wants to live with the truth that long. It’s too much.”
“I’ll say,” said Nim. “Jason looked like his head was going to explode.”
“Nim!” said Alia. Did she really have to go kicking that particular beehive?
But Diana just looked Jason in the eye and said, “That was wrong of me. To use the lasso on a compatriot without his consent. I swear it won’t happen again.”
Jason held her gaze, and Alia felt a little like she was witnessing something private. “I should have told you. You gave me the chance, but I was too cowardly to take it.” Then he seemed to remember they were sitting around a campfire. “I should have told all of you. Mom and Dad had their theories about where my strength came from, that it was tied to the bloodline and had just somehow skipped Dad, but…I never really believed it all.”
“So that thing,” said Nim, pointing at the lasso. “It really compels the truth?”
“Yes,” Diana said.
“Had you used it before?” said Jason.
“No,” she admitted.
He raised a brow. “What if it hadn’t worked?”
The faintest smile tugged at her lips. “I wanted the truth. I was going to get it.”
“But where did it come from?” said Nim. “How did you make it?”
“I didn’t. It was woven by Athena on a spindle forged in Hestia’s fire, of fiber harvested from Gaia’s first tree.”
A few days ago, Alia would have laughed, but after tangling with a pair of spiteful battle gods, she wasn’t inclined to scoff.
“Big deal,” said Theo. “You can probably get one on eBay.”
“Off what coast is that located?” Diana asked.
Theo opened his mouth. Shut it. “Good question.”
“So it’s basically organic, locally sourced super string,” said Nim. “Athena is the goddess of war, isn’t she?”
“She’s the goddess of war, but also of knowledge, and the pursuit of knowledge is basically—”
“The pursuit of truth,” said Jason.
Diana nodded. “And like the truth, the lasso can’t be altered or broken. I think that’s why I was able to use it against Phobos. It’s true in a way that the terror he inspires isn’t.”
“Nothing’s indestructible,” said Nim.
Diana looped a coil around her hand and flung the rope into the fire, sending up a shower of sparks.
Alia gasped, but the lasso didn’t catch. It lay in the flames, unaltered, visible through the fire like a stone through clear water.
Diana drew it back and passed it to Nim. “See?” she said.
Nim squealed. “It’s not even warm!”
“We should try it,” Theo said.
“Jumping into the fire?” said Nim. “Definitely go for it.”
“The lasso, Nim.”
“It isn’t a toy,” Diana said.
“Come on,” said Theo. “One question each. Like truth or dare.”
“I don’t know…,” said Alia.
“Please?” Nim begged.
“You’re actually agreeing with Theo?”
“I’m curious! And Jason survived.”
Jason shook his head. “You don’t want to mess with this. I’ve felt the lasso’s power, and you’re not going to like it.”
“Meaning you’re tough enough to handle it, but we aren’t?” said Theo. His tone was light, but Alia could sense the tension in his words.
“That isn’t what I meant.”