Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
It’s me who puts the last piece of the puzzle together. “She’s can power them.” Everyone looks down at me.
Star smiles. “You’re OK!”
“I’m OK.”
Aric offers me his hand. I take it, and he pulls me to my feet. “What were you saying now?”
I point at Star. “Her hidden magic. I think you unlocked it.”
“Unlocked it how?” Quaid asks. “Aric didn’t do anything but bring us to this ridiculous room filled with holographic strippers. I’m the one who put the collar on her.”
“You’re wrong,” I say. “He did something very important.” I point at Star again. “He knew your song. He said the words. And that’s all you needed to hear to come into your true power.”
Quaid almost snorts. “So what? You’re missing the point, Declan. Who cares about the song?” He looks at Aric. “You wanna know why I’m here?” He pans his arms wide, motioning to Star. “There is it. She’s a power source and Apollo wants to add her to his collection.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“How do you think he got so powerful, Declan? Come on, use those two brain cells inside your head. He steals it. Star is just one of many astral maidens who can control the movement of the constellations.” He reluctantly looks at Star and shrugs. “It’s kind of a big deal. That’s why it brought my glasses back online.”
“I don’t understand,” Star says. “How did I do that?”
“Emotions,” Quaid says. “You got emotional and it affected the tech inside the glasses. That’s not the only way to manifest your power, but exciting you is the easiest way.” Now he looks at me and Aric. “If we can work her up a little, maybe I can get enough time to run a diagnostic and fix them. And if I can fix them,” he locks eyes with me. “I can travel and take everyone with me.”
I shrug. “So. I can do that too.”
“So do it,” Aric says. “Get us the fuck out of here.”
Star rushes up to me, grabbing my arm, like I might leave her behind and she’s gonna make sure that doesn’t happen. And I notice, out of the corner of my eye, that this makes Quaid’s glasses flash again. It doesn’t come with darkness, but I see it. Her fear of being left behind sparked up his glasses.
“All right,” I say, blowing out a breath. “Everyone skootch in.”
Aric and Quaid come closer until we’re all pressed together, and I close my eyes and manifest a park I saw in the mortal realm.
Nothing happens.
I try again, this time manifesting my home in Olympus.
Nothing happens.
“As I was saying,” Quaid sneers. “We’ve all lost our powers.” He looks at Aric. “Well, I don’t know what your power is, so maybe you still have it. But something tells me this place is your weakness.”
Aric doesn’t admit it, but we all know Quaid is right.
He’s right about all of it.
Star is the power he needs to get his glasses working again.
Star is the power I need to be able to travel again.
And if the maze is Aric’s weakness, then Star must be his strength.
And getting her excited about things is how we get our powers back.
12 - QUAID
“What the hell are those glasses anyway?” Declan asks.
I hesitate, wondering if I should tell them or not.
Of course, the answer is no. Absolutely not. But there’s no way not to. If I don’t get a hold of my anger and calm down, they won’t help me convince Star to get what I need. Apollo will punish me for giving away his secrets like this, but I’ll deal with that later.
So I say, “They’re a cheat for the underlying divinity that runs through the fabric of the mortal world. They can rewrite reality. A little bit, anyway. That’s how I popped opened the jail cells.”
“They can turn walls invisible too,” Star says. “We walked through them!”
“That’s right,” I say. “They seem to work particularly well here in this space. Probably because it’s neither Olympus nor the mortal realm. It’s something in between. And if we can go through walls, we can get out of here. But only if they’re working.” I side eye Star. She doesn’t like me. Not even a little bit. So she’s not gonna like what I’m gonna say next. “I need to… touch her.”
“What?” She’s appalled. And maybe a little disgusted. “Touch me how?”
I make a face of come on, complete with an eye roll, which everyone can see because my sunglasses are no longer dark. But I’m looking at Aric now, not Star.
Aric is the one who has the most control at the moment. I hate that, but it’s true. Somehow, he brought us here. Which means, he’s got a very big say in how we get out, even if he doesn’t realize that yet.