“Send it to Caro,” I said. “I doubt Florian has a phone. He’s not exactly that generation.”
Ana grinned, then pulled her cell out of her pocket, started snapping away, and typed out a message.
“There are only two primary shapes,” I said. “The triangle and the thing that looks like a bent rake.”
“Hopefully Florian will recognize them,” Cade said.
Ana’s phone dinged and she grinned. “A video call is coming through.”
Ana held up her phone so we could see Florian’s excited face as he started to speak. “That is most interesting indeed! Normally, simple letters would not be much help. But the letters of the Phoenician alphabet are derived from words.”
“Which words are these?” I asked.
“Window and door,” Florian said. “The triangle is the door, and the bent rake is the window. So it looks like you have a pattern. You just need to figure out what it is.”
My heart sped up. “Thanks, Florian. We can work with that.”
Ana hung up.
“Good job recognizing the Phoenician writing,” Cade said.
“Thanks.” I peered at the letters. “Let’s just figure out the pattern.”
We circled the fountain, studying the letters. I pointed to one of the triangles that seemed to be out of line compared to the others. It was higher. “That one’s different.”
Cade squinted at it. “That could be our door. But which one does it represent?”
Ana pointed to a large mosaic flower that sat between the letters. “If we assume that this is the start of the line of doors, the one that we want is the third from the left.”
I paced around the fountain to see what she was talking about. It clicked into place. “Yep! I bet that is our door.”
“Let’s try it, then,” Cade said.
We hurried toward the lower level and found the appropriate door. It felt prickly and a bit miserable, like all the rest, but I trusted Ana’s judgment.
“Together?” I held out my hands.
Cade took my hand. “We’ll have to go in a line.”
True. The door wasn’t very wide.
He moved to the front. Ana took my hand, and we went through the door. Magic snapped against me like rubber bands, but the door wasn’t a portal. We didn’t get sucked into the ether and transported through space.
Instead, we stepped out onto the back side of the temple, right where it butted up against the large, man-made harbor. It was square, carved right out of the rock.
“Wow, this is old,” I murmured.
“Amazing,” Cade said.
Golden light glowed brightly from the door behind us, then lit up the stones at our feet. The shiny glow traveled through the stones on the ground, zipping across to the harbor into the water.
I hurried after it, following it to the edge of the quay. The golden glow sank into the water.
“Weird,” I whispered.
I could feel the golden magic in the water. It was like a call. But what was it calling to?
We all peered hard into the glowing water. It took everything I had not to lean too far out and fall in.
When the sea monster leapt from the depths, I screamed and stumbled back. Cade and Ana followed.
I landed on my butt, pain singing through me, then scrambled up. The creature hadn’t followed us onto dry land, but a splashing sounded in the harbor.
I called my sword from the ether. Cade and Ana did the same, each reaching for their weapons of choice. Shield for Cade and a sword for Ana. Though she might normally prefer daggers, this beast was big enough to require a sword.
“What is it?” I asked as I approached the edge.
“No idea,” Cade said. “Didn’t get a good look.”
We leaned over, careful not to get too close to the water. A weird animal swam at the surface, head out of the water and eyes keen on us.
“It’s a horse with wings,” Ana said.
She wasn’t wrong. The head was equine and the wings were huge.
“It has a fish’s tail, though,” I said. The scales gleamed green in the moonlight.
“It’s a hippokampoi,” Cade said. “Worshiped by the Phoenicians and Greeks alike.”
“Cool.”
The hippokampoi neighed at us, a weird sound that burbled like a fish but still sounded like a horse.
I reached out a hand. Valkyrie had winged horses. Maybe this winged horse-fish would like me. The golden light had called the hippokampoi to us, so I assumed we needed the creature’s help.
It sniffed at my hand, then backed up, shaking its head.
Dang. “If only I had a treat for it. Like Mayhem always has her ham.”
Mayhem appeared at my side, an excited gleam in her eye.
“Did she hear you?” Cade asked.
Mayhem gave a little bark in her throat. The ham clutched in her jaws prevented a full bark, fortunately.
“Hey, you have a ham,” I said.
She gave me a look that said, “I always have a ham.”
I held out a hand. “Can I have your ham? I promise I’ll get you a bigger one.”
She gave me a suspicious look, tilting her head and glaring hard with her left eye.
“I promise.” I pointed to the hippokampoi, who was now looking at the ham with interest. “I don’t know if winged horse-fishes eat ham, but I need him to be my friend, so I want to try.”
Mayhem sighed, then fluttered closer and handed over her ham.
“Thanks, Mayhem.”
She barked, a clear, “Keep your promise about that bigger ham, lady.”
“I will.” I turned to the hippokampoi and held out the ham. “There’s only a couple bites out of it. I think you might like it.”
The hippokampoi swam forward, sniffing delicately at the ham. Curiosity gleamed in the creature’s eyes, then it shook its head and swam backward.
“Dang it.”
“Hang on, I think it was interested,” Ana said. “Not that I’d expect a horse-fish to like ham, but there’s a first time for everything.”
“Hmmm.” I eyed the hippokampoi. “So this is almost to your taste, but not quite?”
“Maybe he doesn’t like cold ham,” Cade said.
Not a bad point. I turned to Mayhem and held out the ham. “Can you warm this up a bit?”
She nodded, tongue lolling out of her mouth, then breathed a blast of fire at the ham. An image of a dragon flashed briefly over her doggy face, then disappeared.
I rotated the ham so that she could warm it evenly, then withdrew it. “Thanks, Mayhem.”
She barked, something that sounded like, “Anytime, pal.”
I held out the slightly charred ham to the hippokampoi. The horse lunged for it, chomping it between big white teeth. The creature swallowed it whole, then swam up to the edge of the dock and snuffled my hand. Warm ham breath wafted over me.
“Hi, buddy,” I said.
The hippokampoi raised its back. Mayhem barked and flew down to sit on the creature. The horse-fish shook her off, then raised its back again for us.
“I think we’re supposed to get on,” I said.
“Agreed.” Cade frowned. “But aren’t we all too big?”
The hippokampoi snorted.
“Doesn’t sound like he thinks so.” I peered out into the harbor, noticing that the exit shimmered with gray light. I pointed to it. “I think that’s the portal to the stronghold in the ether.”
“We should deploy Hedy’s temporary portal here, then,” Cade said. “Last thing we need to do is get into the stronghold and lose our chance.”