Since the others had arrived at the facility, Agents J and O seemed to have lost interest in him. They were spending less and less time trying to get him to talk. He could go a full day without seeing anyone. This gave him the time to slip out of his room to go searching for Diana and Pegasus.
But as Paelen made his way through the long maze of ventilation ducts, he still had no clue where they were keeping the others from Olympus. He only managed to find Emily’s room because it was just down the hall from his own and he’d heard the doctors speaking about her though the air vent.
In the tunnel leading to his own room, Paelen saw Mercury’s sandals lying just ahead of him. He pushed them aside to get past and muttered, ‘Diana, where are you? I have to find you.’
Paelen was still touching the sandals as he spoke. The tiny wings burst to life and started to flutter and move. Paelen jumped and nearly screamed in the tight confines of the air vent as they beat against his hand. He instinctively threw them away. The wings stopped moving at once and returned to their normal quiet state. Paelen reached forward and cautiously poked the nearest one. Nothing happened. He gave it a second poke. Still nothing happened. He reached forward and picked it up. The wings remained still. He then picked up the second sandal. Again, the wings remained quiet.
‘Find Diana,’ he said softly.
The wings started flapping wildly again as the sandals sprang to life. Paelen clutched them tightly. But he was unprepared for the sudden twisting and bending in the tight area. If he hadn’t had the talent for stretching out his body, the power of the sandals would have broken his every bone as they turned him around in the tight duct area and lunged forward to obey his command.
Biting back his cries of pain and shock, Paelen was wrenched forward. Barely able to see, he was dragged noisily and uncontrollably through the long maze of ductwork in the facility. He held on for dear life. One moment they were going left. Then at another junction, they darted right. A moment later, the sandals dragged him to the edge of a long, deep drop.
‘No, please wait!’ Paelen cried when he saw what Mercury’s sandals were intending. ‘Nooooo …’
Without pause, the sandals drew him over the edge and plunged downward. Paelen screamed and heard the echo of his terror flooding throughout the endless tunnels. But still they would not stop. Banging his elbows, his shoulder and knees on the walls of the ductwork, they were falling.
The sandals weren’t obeying his command to find Diana. They were trying to kill him!
But long before they hit bottom, the sandals changed direction again. They dashed into a new series of ducts that led away from the long drop. Finally they turned down another long tunnel that ended abruptly in an exit air vent.
‘Stop, please!’ Paelen begged just before they smashed into the vent cover.
They immediately obeyed his command and stopped. The sandals folded their tiny wings and became still. Paelen lay unmoving as he tried to catch his breath. That had been the worst ride of his life. Worse even than the time he’d stolen the sandals from Mercury and had tried to use them. The evil winged monsters had flown him straight into a pillar and knocked him senseless. When he finally awoke, Mercury was looming above him and furious.
But even that hadn’t been like this ride of terror. As he panted heavily, Paelen was sure he was going to be sick. Rolling over on to his back, he took several deep breaths and forced his pounding heart to calm.
When he could think clearly again, he turned over on to his hands and knees. He crept forward and up to the louvred vent cover directly in front of him. He gasped when he saw Diana lying on a narrow bed. Thick, heavy chains wrapped around her waist. Other shackles bound her wrists to her waist chain. From what he could see through the vent, her ankles were also shackled to the waist chain. These chains were then secured to the wall behind her.
‘I can hear you in there. Show yourself if you dare.’
Paelen paused. This was Diana, Daughter of Jupiter. She was renowned for her ferocious temper. On more than one occasion, he’d seen her bring Hercules to his knees with her biting tongue and vicious strength. Ever her uncle Neptune was frightened of her and did his best to stay on her good side. The only one who could control her was her twin brother Apollo. But Paelen had watched him die in Olympus.
Paelen himself had spent most of his life trying to avoid Diana. If she knew what he’d done to Pegasus, he doubted even those chains could restrain her.
Taking a deep breath, Paelen pushed against one edge of the vent cover. When it gave, he poked his head through cautiously. ‘Diana?’
‘Paelen!’ Diana said furiously. ‘I was told you were in this world. You stole Pegasus’s bridle! You foul little thief! Do you have any idea what you have done?’
‘Please, Diana, forgive me,’ Paelen pleaded as, painfully, he stretched out his body to fit through the small air vent. He returned to his normal shape as he knelt before Diana’s bed. ‘I know it was wrong. I am so sorry. I just wanted to make a better life for myself.’