Her eyes blazing with fury, she stood toe to toe with him. "You're not going without me. I won't allow it."
Dev growled, knowing she wouldn't give even an inch. So he turned to a reinforcement she had to listen to. "Ash, tell her to stay put."
"Can't." Ash had drifted to the desk to look over the riddle Dev had written down.
"What do you mean?" Dev asked.
Ignoring the question, Ash picked up the paper. "Are these your clues?"
"Yeah."
Ash rolled his eyes and let out a short, bitter laugh. "Of course they are..." He locked stares with Dev. "Thorn set your ass up, Bear. You guys don't have to search Hades for the girdle. I can tell you right now exactly where it is."
"And that would be?"
"Down the street."
That news hit Dev like a punch. "Excuse me?"
Ash read the clues out loud. "In plain sight on the banks of the Champs-Elysees, the girdle lies hidden away. At the brink of the darkest night, the location fills your sight. To see what can never be found, look for the circle round. To reclaim that which the gods rescind, you must face mightiest Whirlwind." He turned his gaze to Sam. "You should know who the mightiest Whirlwind is. At one time, she was the guardian of the girdle."
"Aello?"
He inclined his head to her.
Dev was more confused than ever. "Who's Aello?"
"My grandmother's right hand and bodyguard. She was the first one to fight Herakles when he came for the girdle and she was the first one he killed."
Dev gestured for her to elaborate. "And that's important to this how?"
Ash returned the paper to the table. "She's basically invincible."
"Apparently not if Hercules handed her her lunch."
Ash followed the line of his eyebrow with his middle finger. "That's because he was wearing the skin of the Nemean Lion at the time. Anyone care to venture where they think that trophy currently is?"
Dev didn't need to guess. He already knew. "Somewhere not good or handy and I'm sure retrieving it would be a death-defying act of courage."
Ash sarcastically rang an invisible bell with his hand. "Ding, ding, ding. Give that boy a trophy." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And without it, you won't be wearing a cloak of invincibility when you face her like old Herc was, and I should probably add that you won't be fighting her while she's human.... She's now a man-hating, angry spirit who craves blood and can't be killed."
Dev rolled his eyes. "Well, thank you Mr. Cranky Pants, but right now, I think a more optimistic outlook would be more productive. Unless you know some way to schmooze Thorn into freeing Sam and letting me off the hook, we have to try something and as bad as this is, it's all we got."
Ash rubbed his head like he was contracting Dev's earlier migraine. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Thorn's not real fond of me.... Fine. There's nothing to be done until sunset."
Dev didn't understand that. "You said it's just down the street. Why do we have to wait?"
"In another dimension, Sparky. One you can't access until sunset, hence the darkness line on your page."
Oh, that made sense...now. Funny how riddles seemed easy when you knew the answers. And since Ash was being so chatty..."Anything else we need to know?"
"Yeah. The circle round part?"
"What about it?"
"It refers both to the location you'll need to travel to and to the shifting cycle."
Dev's gut clenched at something he was sure wasn't going to be pleasant for them. "Shifting wha--?"
Ash glanced at each one of them before he came back to Dev. "You guys are going to head into a trap maze that will constantly shift and you'll have to navigate it to the center where Aello will be waiting to battle. Think of it like a bad video game. Just when you think you're all right, the floor will drop out from under you and the walls will shift and leave you dizzy...or dead...and all without the extra life points."
Fang rubbed his hands together. "And will you be joining us on this fun suicide run?"
"Love to, but can't."
"Why not?" Sam asked.
"If I go, Thorn will cry foul and refuse to honor his part of the bargain by saying you cheated with me."
Dev frowned. "Won't he do that with Fang?"
"No. Fang's not omnipotent. There's a good chance Fang could get killed. With me, not so much."
Sam screwed her face up. "That's just sick."
Ash shrugged. "No one's going to argue anything else. Thorn doesn't exactly have many friends."
"I've noticed," Fang said under his breath.
Ash inclined his head to Dev. "Remember, you have to get to the center and defeat the guardian."
"How do we get back?"
"No idea. I've never been inside the maze."
Dev sighed. "This would be funny if it wasn't pathetic."
Ash cut a wide grin. "Welcome to my existence. Now if you'll excuse me?"
"Wait!" Sam stopped him from leaving. "We still don't know what to do to get there. You said it's another dimension?"
Ash nodded. "Drive to the end of Elysian Fields where it connects to UNO. There's a circle there. Stand at the outer edge, facing Pontchartrain and--"
"Won't the Research and Tech Park interfere with the view?" Fang asked, interrupting him.