He wasn’t alone.
Bach’uuk came running out of the heart of the pyramid. Marika came with him. She gripped Jake’s hand, all warmth and sunshine. Jake put his arm around Bach’uuk, too. He needed their solidity to remind him that the world was far more than shadows.
Together, they listened to cheers rising from the town.
“You did it,” Marika breathed.
“We did it,” Jake added, but his lips refused to add what he also knew to be true.
For now.
It did not take long for the skies to be cleared of the enemy. In a matter of minutes, only shimmers of emerald fire remained. Then even this blew out, and wide blue skies beckoned.
“We should get back to town,” Marika finally said. She lifted a hand and tested the shield ahead of them. Whispers of emerald energy danced over her fingertips.
“Can we get out this way?” Jake asked.
“I think so. We should be able to pass through to the outside.”
Marika stepped forward and drew Jake along. Jake felt the tingling sweep over his body—then they were through and stepped out of the shadow and into the fullness of the morning.
Bach’uuk followed after them.
Curious, Jake reached back toward the doorway again. The shield pushed against him, crackling with a fierce fire. It had let them out, but it wasn’t going to let them back in.
Satisfied the heart of the pyramid was safe for the moment, the trio hurried down the stone steps and reached the path that crossed the Sacred Woods. They hadn’t taken more than a couple dozen steps along the trail when they were surrounded.
He recognized the mix of Norse gear and Roman attire—battered, bloody, and torn.
“Jake!”
He turned to see Kady push forward. Of course, she hadn’t gone far. She must have thought Jake had been trapped inside the pyramid this entire time.
Jake let go of Marika’s hand and ran toward his sister. Kady ran toward him. They crashed against each other. Kady hugged him tight. They were silent for a full breath, allowing themselves simply to be brother and sister, to let the warmth of family melt away the rest of their fears.
“I thought…I didn’t know…” she said, squeezing the breath out of him.
“I know,” he gasped out. “Me too.”
She broke away and stared at him sternly. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“Do what?”
She seemed at a loss as to how to answer that. Her fear was nameless. She managed an exasperated “Scare me like that.”
But Jake knew the words failed to truly hold all she felt. He felt the same way, a swirl of emotions that could not be contained within words. It was relief and terror, chaos and security, happiness and tears. It was both the most painful thing and the most wonderful.
It was simply family.
With one final squeeze, they let go of one another. Everyone was watching. But Jake kept near her. He reached into his pocket and removed the gold watch.
“I found this,” he said, reverting to English, though it took concentration.
Kady’s face crinkled with mild curiosity—then widened and ran through a whole series of emotions, using every muscle in her face. Shock, disbelief, bewilderment.
“Is that—” She stopped, choking, unable to bring herself even to voice it aloud.
“Yes.” He turned and showed her the inscription.
She leaned close and read each word. When she lifted her face, there were tears in her eyes. “When…where did you find it?”
Jake didn’t think it was a good time to explain about the map of Pangaea and all he’d discovered and learned in the great temple, but he pointed his arm back to the pyramid. “In there.”
She turned her gaze to the steps leading to the round opening. Her brows arched in bafflement. “But how? What does it mean?”
“I don’t know.”
At least not yet, he added silently.
Kady’s eyes went into a thousand-mile stare, trying to fathom the implication of the watch’s discovery here. He imagined his own expression hadn’t been much different.
Jake remained silent. He had no words that would ease her heart. It would take time to absorb this shock.
Perhaps sensing Kady’s distress, Heronidus stepped out of the Roman group. He limped on his right leg, and the left side of his face bore a wicked scratch that looked like it had come close to taking out his eye. But before Heronidus could speak, a new blare of horns and bugles sounded from the other side of the city. It was a triumphant noise.
“Who is that?” Heronidus asked, cocking his head and listening.
“Pindor,” Marika said with a proud grin. “Leading the Ur forces.”
Heronidus looked at her in disbelief and turned away. “If you don’t know, just say so.”
He stalked off, collecting Kady gently under one arm. She leaned her head on his shoulder, needing consolation that Jake could not provide. Still, she took a moment to glance back toward her brother. She gave Jake a rare sad smile.
For the first time in a long time, Jake recognized how beautiful his sister was. He saw something beyond the usual lip gloss, eye shadow, and perfect hair (which was presently in shambles and with bits of leaves stuck in it). For just a moment, he saw who she might become. And a warm thrill of pride rushed through him. Along with a trace of sorrow. In that same brief expression of affection, he recognized one more thing: a ghost of their mother’s smile, shining from one generation to another.
As a group, they headed back to the gateway into Calypsos. Already cautious celebrations were under way. Though no one knew the source of their last-minute salvation, the empty skies and brilliant lightning display let them know the most important thing: they were safe.
Townspeople crept back out of fruit cellars and musty attics, where they’d holed up during the attack. Bells rang out, sounding the all clear from the castle. As Jake walked through the streets, calls and shouts echoed. But also tears and sobbing. Jake had passed only one body—and it had been a grakyl, lying broken in the street. But there were surely other casualties that struck closer to home and heart. How many had died? It might take days to discover that answer.
It also lightened Jake’s heart to see Saddleback riders dashing around town, carrying messages, spreading the word, rallying their scattered forces. The sky was also crisscrossed with winged raz. The People of the Wind were again in the air, ready for any sign of a secondary attack.
But Jake knew that would not come. At least not for a while.
Ahead, the castle of Kalakryss appeared. The courtyard was in utter chaos. People and beasts crowded the space. Tents were already being erected to shelter the injured.