Standing still in the chaos wasn’t an option though, and I wound up sandwiched between two Japanese businessmen in black suits, both carrying briefcases and chatting in a language I didn’t know. However, like in Africa and Greece, even though I didn’t know the words, I understood them anyway.
“...morning meeting with the executive from San Francisco?”
“Indeed, but wouldn’t you say—”
“James!” I shouted, struggling against the flow of the crowd, but it was useless. With less than ten minutes left before Cronus’s deadline, I couldn’t find James anywhere.
The businessmen on either side of me gave me a dirty look, as if they’d only now realized I was there, and they shifted until I was behind them. Fine by me.
“James!” I shrieked again as I reached the sidewalk. Elbowing my way through the crowd, I reached the glass face of a building and leaned against it, directly underneath a neon sign advertising electronics. This was insane. How could there possibly be this many people in one place at one time?
“First time in Tokyo?” said an amused voice beside me. James leaned casually against the wall, and he held a bowl of noodles with his right hand while he maneuvered a pair of chopsticks with his left.
“Very funny. I’m leaving now.” I closed my eyes and started to slip away, but James’s hand on my shoulder stopped me.
“I will,” he said around a mouthful of noodles. “I’ll find someone as long as you promise me this isn’t forever.”
I touched his hand. “I promise. I’ll see you on the other side of this war, James.”
“And maybe with a little luck, we’ll both be alive.”
I kissed his cheek one last time and stepped back, giving myself enough space to go. This wasn’t the end. If I couldn’t make sure of it, then James would.
“Wait,” he said again, and with a wave of his hand, his noodles vanished. “How do you intend on getting Milo back to Henry?”
I stared at him. What else was he going to come up with to get me to take him with me? Regardless of how much of a manipulative jerk he’d suddenly decided to be, however, he had a point. I’d taken for granted that Cronus would let me bring Milo to Olympus myself, or that he would send him to Olympus—but Cronus had no way of getting there, and once I landed on the island, I was positive I would never be able to leave. At least not until this war was over.
“You’re infuriating,” I muttered, holding out my hand. With a smug look, James took it. “I don’t know how to bring you along.”
“You’ll figure it out,” he said. “I trust you.”
“Trusting me has nothing to do with what I can and can’t do.”
“Do exactly the same thing you did when you took me to see Milo and Cronus,” he said. “Don’t even think about it.”
Easier said than done. The cacophony of noise around us made it difficult to concentrate, but if I didn’t, then there was no telling what Cronus would do if he thought I’d backed out of our deal. So I had to. No waffling allowed.
I focused on my body, becoming aware of every inch of it, and I extended my reach to James as much as I could. It felt forced, as if I were doing nothing more than imagining it, but James knew the stakes. If he was willing to risk it, then I was willing to try.
The noise of Tokyo funneled around us, a wall of vibrations that sounded like everything and nothing at all. The roar grew louder until finally it overtook me completely, and then—
I was drowning.
Water filled my lungs as I struggled to do the human thing and breathe. I tasted salt and flailed, my hand still clasping James’s, but that didn’t help. He was as much of a rock as I was, and together we sank deeper and deeper into the pitch-black ocean.
We were going to die. Or at least be trapped at the bottom of the sea for the rest of eternity. Seaweed would wrap around our limbs, holding us down until the ocean was ready to pull us farther into her depths. By the time we managed to escape, time would be up, and Cronus would believe I’d abandoned him completely. Millions more would be dead, and nothing I said or did would convince Cronus to stop.
Nothing.
Chapter 12
Drowning
I opened my mouth to cry out for help, but I had no more breath left in me. I couldn’t see the surface. Everything blended together in a nightmare of darkness, and terror seized me so completely that I couldn’t think.
This was it. This was the end.
I really should’ve let Ava teach me how to swim.
“Having trouble?” said a gruff voice beside me, as clear as if we were talking on the surface. I twisted around and nearly fainted with relief.
Phillip, Lord of the Oceans, floated beside us, looking as if he were walking on dry land. I didn’t care that he must have known what we were doing or what I’d planned; I didn’t care that if he knew, Walter must, too. As long as I didn’t spend the rest of eternity at the bottom of the sea, that would all be worth it.
Help us, I mouthed, gesturing to the hand that held James’s. The water was so dark that I couldn’t see him anymore.
“Of course,” said Phillip, and he looked in the direction that must have been up. A strong current caught the three of us, carrying us toward the surface with formidable speed. As soon as the blue sky became visible through the water, the tide dragged us to the side, and I clawed my way toward the surface. Just a few more inches.
“Your stop, I believe,” said Phillip. “Be safe.”
I nodded and mouthed my thanks. I could see James through the water now, and he was grinning at his uncle and giving him a stupid wave. Figured. We’d nearly drowned, and he was smiling.
Finally we broke the surface, and I coughed up an impossible amount of seawater. Somehow my feet found the shifting sand, and I stood shakily, my knees knocking together. But we were out of the ocean and still had a few minutes left before Cronus expected me. That was the important part.
Something flashed at the edge of my vision, and I looked around wildly, my heart pounding. For a split second, I thought I saw a dark-haired figure looming on the cliffs, but I blinked, and it was gone.
Deep breaths. We were out of the ocean, and I had nothing to panic about anymore. Unless an eternal Titan hell-bent on destroying everything I loved counted.
Cool waves lapped at my shins, and James stood beside me, shaking like a leaf. “All right,” he rasped. “I admit that—that asking you to do that without practicing first was a—a mistake.”