‘It’s not here,’ Emily said. ‘Another Olympian called Paelen stole it from Pegasus right before they were both hit by lightning. He’s got the bridle. But now the CRU have taken him.’
‘Paelen?’ Diana’s face darkened. ‘That foul little thief! Even he would not keep the bridle if he knew what it could do for our people.’ She looked back to Emily. ‘What are the CRU who have captured him? Where do I find them?’
‘You can’t,’ Joel warned. ‘They are too dangerous.’
‘I have fought the best armies of Greece and the Romans. I do not fear these people.’
‘You should,’ Emily advised. ‘They’re really dangerous.’
Joel looked at Diana. ‘How long has it been since you were last here?’
Diana paused and considered. ‘Many ages. Your people did not have devices like those in the sky. You travelled on horseback and fought with swords.’
‘Then this isn’t the same world you knew,’ said Joel. ‘We’ve changed.’
‘Yes,’ Emily agreed. ‘These days, people don’t even believe in you.’
‘That’s right,’ Joel said. ‘And we have new weapons that can hurt you. Look at Pegasus. He broke his wing, and even though it’s healing, he needs time. If he can be hurt, so can you.’
‘It is not your world or those noisy flying vehicles that can wound us,’ Diana said, suddenly sounding very defeated. ‘The death of the Flame of Olympus has weakened us.’
‘What’s the Flame of Olympus?’ Emily asked curiously.
Diana looked over at Emily and sighed heavily. ‘The Flame is the source of all our power and strength. It has burned in Olympus since the beginning. But recently, its strength has diminished. As it became weaker, we did also. The Nirads used this weakness to launch an attack on us. If the Flame had been at its full strength, we would have fought them off easily. As it is, the Nirads reached the Temple of the Flame and extinguished it completely. We all believed we would perish without it. But we haven’t.’
‘But you’ve lost your powers?’ Joel guessed.
Diana nodded. ‘My father hoped to use the gold from the bridle to defeat the Nirads and relight the Flame,’ she said. ‘Moments before he was captured, he used the last of his powers to send me here to collect the bridle and help Pegasus on his quest.’
‘What is his quest?’ Emily asked. ‘He can’t tell us.’
Diana looked at Pegasus. ‘Why did Father send you here?’
Both Emily and Joel stood in silence as Pegasus started to nicker softly. It continued for several minutes.
‘I never knew any of this,’ Diana said in a whisper. ‘None of us did. Only my Father, Vesta and Pegasus knew.’
‘Knew what?’ Emily asked impatiently.
‘Please get off your wounded leg and sit down,’ Diana said as she helped Emily settle under a tree. Joel, still a little starstruck, sat beside her.
‘Pegasus is on a precious quest,’ she started. ‘He says it is doomed to failure without your help. That the survival of Olympus and your world rests entirely with you.’
Emily was suddenly unsure she wanted to hear this.
‘Long before I was born, at the end of the Great War between the Olympians and the Titans, a Flame emerged in the heart of Olympus,’ Diana continued. ‘It was Vesta’s duty to ensure the new Flame was kept alive and strong. For its power was our power. Its life was our life. A wondrous temple was built around the Flame and it has burned brightly in Olympus ever since.’
‘Vesta?’ Joel said suddenly. ‘The Goddess of the Hearth? She used Vestal Virgins to keep the flame alive at a temple in ancient Rome.’
Diana nodded. ‘That was the symbolic Flame of Olympus. Those virgins were the servants of Vesta. The real Flame has always been in Olympus. But right from the beginning, my father worried that if this Flame were ever extinguished, we would lose our powers. So he sent Vesta to Earth with the heart of the Flame and commanded her to hide it in a human child. A girl child. This secret Daughter of Vesta would carry the heart of the Flame within her, without ever knowing it.’
‘But that was long ago,’ Emily said, frowning. ‘She’s got to be dead by now.’
‘She is,’ said Diana. ‘But Vesta made certain that upon her death, the heart of the Flame would pass to another baby girl being born. It would go from generation to generation, across all the waters of the Earth.’
‘So out there right now,’ Joel said, working it out, ‘there is another Daughter of Vesta carrying the heart of the Flame of Olympus.’
‘That’s crazy,’ Emily said. ‘How can a flame have a heart?’
‘Emily—’ Joel warned.
‘No Joel, this is getting too much,’ said Emily, cutting him off. ‘First Pegasus is real and crashes on my roof. Now Diana, also an Olympian, is here and telling us that a flame has a heart and that it goes from girl to girl. I can believe a lot of stuff, but this is just too crazy. How can you accept it so easily?’