‘Dad!’ Emily responded. ‘Dad, we’re here!’ Weak with relief, she reached forward and patted Pegasus’s neck. ‘It’s all right, Pegs,’ she said. ‘It’s my dad.’
Forgetting her wounded leg, Emily slid off the stallion’s back. But when her feet hit the ground, her leg gave out and she fell. Her father was at her side in an instant, taking her in his arms.
‘Oh, Em, I’ve been so worried about you!’
Emily put her arms around him and immediately felt better. ‘Dad, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you what was happening.’
‘What is happening?’ he asked. ‘Em, the city’s in an uproar!’ He looked at her bandaged leg. ‘And what happened to you?’
‘Do you remember the night of the big storm?’ Emily asked. ‘Not long after the Empire’s top blew up, Pegasus was hit by lightning. He crashed down on our roof. That’s how I got my black eye. When I went to help him, his wing accidentally hit me.’
‘Pegasus?’ her father repeated. ‘That winged horse I heard about was the actual Pegasus from the Greek myths?’
‘Roman,’ Joel corrected, stepping out of the shadows. ‘And they aren’t myths, they’re all real. I’m Joel, sir. A friend of Emily’s from school.’
Emily’s father shook Joel’s hand. Joel indicated Diana. ‘Officer Jacobs, I’d like to introduce you to another Olympian. This is Diana.’
‘Diana? The Great Hunter?’ Emily’s father asked as he studied the tall woman.
Diana nodded formally. ‘Officer Jacobs. It is an honour to meet the father of Emily.’
‘Call me Steve,’ her father said a little helplessly. He looked back to Emily. ‘I don’t understand any of this,’ he said. ‘What’s happening here? How and why are there Olympians in New York?’
Emily and Joel tried to explain as best as they could, right up to the point of being in the park.
‘It’s hard to accept any of this.’ Steve stared at Pegasus and shook his head. ‘I’d heard it was a white stallion you were riding today. What happened to him?’
‘He was white,’ Emily said. ‘Too white. As he got better, Pegasus was starting to glow. So we dyed him black to try to hide him from the CRU.’
Emily kissed the stallion softly on the muzzle. ‘Pegs, this is my dad,’ she said. ‘Dad? I’d like you to meet Pegasus.’
Emily’s father cautiously stroked Pegasus’s muzzle. He lifted the edge of the blanket to see the glowing white feathers of his wings resting on the dark body. ‘I’m seeing you, but I can’t believe you’re here.’ He patted Pegasus’s strong neck. ‘Even touching you doesn’t seem to help.’
‘He’s real, Dad,’ Emily said. ‘And he’s broken his wing again. But now there are these awful creatures after him.’
‘Nirads,’ Diana corrected.
‘I – I still don’t understand.’ Steve shook his head. ‘How can any of this be real? What can it all mean?’
‘It means that the war in my world has sprung forward into yours,’ said Diana. ‘And unless we get the golden bridle back, neither world will survive.’
Emily explained to her father about the golden bridle – how it killed Nirads – and about the history of the Flame and how Pegasus had to find the Daughter of Vesta to relight it.
Steve combed his fingers through his hair and cursed. ‘I held that bridle in my hands a few days ago. If only I’d kept it!’ He looked at Diana. ‘Why don’t you make more golden weapons?’
‘Minerva made the bridle for Pegasus,’ Diana explained. ‘But we do not know how she created it or what other metals she used. She was one of the first captured by the Nirads. Vulcan tried forging other Olympian gold.’ She showed everyone the golden tip of her spear. ‘It can wound the Nirads, but only the special gold from the bridle can kill them. We must get it back if we are to defeat them.’
‘That won’t be easy. I met the kid who stole it from Pegasus. The same night he arrived, the CRU were informed. They took him and everything with him away. I don’t even know where they are holding him. They keep their locations quiet.’
Pegasus neighed behind Diana.
‘Pegasus says our main concern is the Daughter of Vesta,’ said Diana. ‘We must get her back to Olympus.’
‘But we’ve got to wait for his wing to heal first,’ Emily pointed out, ‘which means we need somewhere safe to hide until then.’
‘Well, we can’t stay here,’ Steve said. ‘You’ve seen the helicopters. By dawn, this entire park will be crawling with CRU agents and the military. We’re going to have to keep moving and try to stay one step ahead.’
‘How do we hide a large horse in the middle of New York City?’ Joel asked. ‘No offence, Pegasus, but you know what I mean.’
The stallion remained silent as he rested his head on Emily’s shoulder. She suddenly had a thought.