“I guess we’re walking.” Ren got out of the back of the car.
I stayed put as despair took its hold on me. We weren’t going to make it. There was no way we could get to Pecunia and then back to a portal in three hours. I questioned if I wanted to bother going back. They couldn’t expel me if I wasn’t there, could they? I mean, what would be the worst thing that could happen?
But I wanted to go back. I wanted to complete my training and become a demigod. I wanted to see Georgina. And I desperately wanted to see Lucian again. I rubbed my fingers over my lips, thinking about when he’d kissed me.
Frustrated, I leaned against the steering wheel. There had to be a way to get to Pecunia faster. As I leaned forward, the scent of old cheese wafted to my nose. The super energy ball in my pocket.
I reached in and pulled out the bundle. Georgina said it was like drinking ten Red Bulls. It was a pick-me-up. It had to be a worth a try. I unwrapped it and pinched it into three globs. I handed one to Jasmine.
She wrinkled her nose. “What is it?”
“Georgina made it. Supposed to give us a lot of energy and strength. Maybe we can run to Pecunia.”
“Too bad we haven’t had flying class yet. We could’ve flown there.” She opened her mouth and plopped the wad of green dough inside. “Here goes nothing.”
I got out of the car and walked over to Ren and gave him his piece. He put it in his mouth and chewed. He grimaced. “It’s really gross.”
I ate the last piece. It was gross. Tasted like dirt mixed with some dried grass. It was also gritty, as if it actually had some tiny bits of gravel in it. But almost instantaneously after swallowing it, I felt something inside my body. Spreading out from my stomach was a soothing heat. It soaked into every single muscle.
Ren grinned at me. “I feel pretty good.”
Jasmine got out of the car. “Do you guys feel like you could bench press an elephant right about now?”
I nodded. I moved my legs up and down; they felt really strong. Energized. “I think we could run to Pecunia.”
And we did. What would’ve taken us forty minutes to drive and hours to walk, we made it to my town in twenty-five minutes. Every muscle in my body tingled when we came to a stop in my neighborhood. It was amazing what Georgina had concocted. A superpower pellet.
As we approached the Demos estate, my guts churned. The front cast iron gate was still standing, but it hung open, holding on by one fastener. The beautiful trees lining the driveway were all broken and lying on their sides. I had faith the house would be somewhat intact. It was solidly built. But when we crested the hill, I saw I was wrong.
It was in shambles. Not one wall stood erect. It looked like a giant had taken his fist and smashed it. My heart leapt into my throat as I crossed the grounds toward the cottage. I’m sure she got out with the rest of the family. That thought spun around and around in my head like a carousel.
I was so anxious to get there I almost started to run, but I froze when I heard voices coming from the garden. I also heard the squawk of a police radio.
Ren and Jasmine came up beside me, and we all crept over to the hedge that was still in one piece, so we could see what was going on. There were three men dressed in black, and they had flashlights sweeping over the area. They were looking for survivors.
One of them walked over to the pile of stone and wood that would’ve been the cottage, casting his light over the debris. Then his light stilled as did my heart.
“I’ve found someone. I’ve found a body.”
Chapter Fifteen
MELANY
My knees buckled, and I would’ve fallen if Jasmine and Ren hadn’t grabbed onto my arms and held me upright. Before I could form a coherent thought, a loud moan erupted from my throat.
“Noooo!”
Several flashlights swung toward the hedge we hid behind.
“Who’s there?” one of the officers demanded as he walked toward us.
“We need to go.” Jasmine pulled on my arm, but my legs weren’t working. I wanted to beg her to just drop me and leave me here. She wasn’t going to do that. Instead, she grabbed my hand and yanked me with her as she and Ren ran for the road.
The officers were in pursuit.
“Grab them!”
With a renewed energy, I made my legs obey me. We sprinted toward the main gate and the road.
Misjudging the debris on the ground, I tripped over a piece of one of the stone statues and fell hard to my knees. Scrambling up, I spied something shiny near my hand. I reached for it. It was a piece of a rope, a golden rope. I shoved it into my pocket as I clambered to my feet and continued to run.
Georgina’s energy ball still lingered in my system, and I felt it powering up my muscles. I assumed it was the same for Jasmine and Ren, as it didn’t take all of us long to dash through the iron gate and sprint down the road, the officers struggling behind us. They wouldn’t be able to catch up on foot.
After we’d ran for twenty minutes, we stopped and took a breather near the destroyed strip mall I’d seen on the news report.
“Are you okay?” Jasmine put her hand on my shoulder.
I didn’t know how to answer that. I wasn’t okay, but I knew they both needed me to be if we were going to make it back to the academy. For now, while I didn’t have time to process what had happened, I nodded. When I was alone, I knew I was going to fall apart.
Ren kept watch on the road. “Do you think they’ll follow us?”
We got our answer when two armored cars came roaring down the road with a huge floodlight sweeping the area. We ducked into one of the shops that still had one wall standing.
“Damn it. What are we going to do? They’re the blocking the road to New Athens.”
I gestured to another road, the one leading out of Pecunia. “We could go to Cala. It’s closer. Maybe the portal’s still open.”
“Why would it be?” Jasmine asked.
“I don’t know, but we have to do something.”
Ren’s brow furrowed ,as if he were deep in thought. “If it’s not open, I might be able to create one. Poseidon’s been teaching me.”
We all agreed that was the best course of action, considering we didn’t have many options and were running out of time. Although I was past believing we were going to get back to the academy undetected.
While the two vehicles drove slowly around, we kept to the dark shadows and were able to get out of the area and onto the road. Once on the open highway, we ran as fast as we could, still powered by Georgina’s superpower concoction. She’d make mad money if she ever decided to mass produce and sell it in the health food industry.
We made it to Cala as the sun stained the horizon pink. Dawn was fast approaching, and we didn’t have much time. The first thing I noticed as we made our way to the pier was the town had been seemingly untouched by the earthquake. They still had electricity and all the houses and buildings were undamaged. Considering that Cala was only one hundred miles away from Pecunia and New Athens, it didn’t seem possible they wouldn’t feel the effects in some way.
The dock was eerily quiet when we arrived, not even the waves from the ocean seemed to be making noise. In fact when I stood at the end of pier nine and looked out over the water, it seemed unnaturally calm.
“Are we ready for this?” Ren asked.
“At this point, I don’t think we have a choice.”
Ren dove in first, Jasmine and I followed. The water was as cold as I remembered it from the night of the invitation—maybe even colder as it was the end of November. This time we didn’t have a light in the water to guide us, so we were basically swimming blind. I hoped Ren knew approximately where he was going because I didn’t have any sense of direction. We be swimming in a circle for all I knew.