Aidan grabbed Cassandra and pulled her behind him.

“What?”

“I know those eyes. Even half mad and sick with disease, I would know them anywhere. Aphrodite.”

Cassandra looked toward the car. Andie and Henry stood behind the wide open door, their faces scared and confused. She tried to drag Aidan away, but he wouldn’t budge. He grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him around the side of the Sunoco station. Cassandra hesitated, then followed. She rounded the corner just in time to see the man’s body buckle at Aidan’s feet.

“No,” she breathed. He took her by the arm.

“Walk, don’t run.”

“Where are we going to go now?” Cassandra asked, just before the vision struck.

It sent her to her knees. Pressure squeezed down hard on her arms, hard enough to crack the bones. The world went by in flashes, whipping from right to left. She saw trees, a flash of blue sky. Ice-blue eyes beneath a crown of dark gold hair. Hera laughed as she wrenched her back and forth and lifted her up high. The sky whipped past, like leaning her head back on a playground swing. Panic took hold and her fists connected, digging into Hera’s strange surface, soft and hard, warm flesh dotted through with granite. And then the ground rushed back. She felt her head strike pavement and heard something crack. After that, everything went dark.

“Cassandra.” Aidan shook her gently. They had to move; people had seen her fall from inside the gas station and were starting to come out to help. The clerk was on the phone.

She gripped his arms and let him pull her up. Her head felt heavy. It seemed like she could feel the blood sloshing around inside it.

“We’re okay,” he called to the people coming toward them. “She’s okay. She just slipped.”

“Aidan. I saw.”

“What? What did you see?” He watched in horror as blood began to drip from her nose.

“I saw Hera. I saw her kill me.”

He scooped her up and ran to the Mustang. “No. Everything’s going to be fine. She’s not going to touch you.” He shouted at Andie and Henry to get in the car, and put Cassandra gently into the passenger seat. The tires squealed as he pulled out onto the on-ramp.

“What? What’s happening?” Andie gripped the back of Cassandra’s seat.

“They found us. So easily. They’re stronger than I am. Stronger than Athena is.” Aidan mumbled. He drove too fast; the Mustang surged forward. “I don’t understand it.”

“You’re babbling. Cassandra, he’s babbling.” That seemed to scare Andie worse than anything, but Cassandra couldn’t reply. She was numb. Shocked and outside of herself. When Andie put a tissue to her nose and held it there to catch the bleeding, she barely noticed. She’d seen herself die. She’d felt it.

“I should’ve been faster. Smarter. You won’t die. I swear that you won’t.” He reached over and touched her, twisted his fingers into hers. “I won’t let her touch you. Don’t be scared. Please, believe me.”

I want to. But my visions are never wrong. And now I’ve seen it. So now it will be.

Everyone in the car was silent and bleach white with fear. Aidan watched the passing road signs and gritted his teeth, then took the next exit ramp hard and turned around, back to Kincade.

“Athena … it was a mistake to leave you.”

* * *

They were going to need a car. That was certain. Hermes would have to steal them one. But a car didn’t solve the problem of deciding which direction to drive in. The world had become so busy and vast. Even a god could get lost in it.

“Maybe they headed for the Canadian border,” Odysseus suggested.

“That’s no better than a guess,” said Hermes. “He’s evading Hera, not the Feds.” They were starting to snipe at each other, pacing in their cages. Only Athena stood quietly, leaning up against the wall.

As hard as she tried, she couldn’t zero in on Apollo. He wasn’t even a blip on her radar. Of course, eventually her radar would light up like a circuit board. As soon as Hera and Poseidon found them, their combined presence would be a flashbulb behind her eyes. And then it would be too late. Hera would render Apollo into pieces. She’d kill Andromache and Hector, and take Cassandra, while the bits of Apollo screamed impotently in her wake, dragging themselves along the ground.

And if I face her, she’ll really kill me.

Athena snorted bitterly. How she’d loved to watch her heroes fly into battle to meet the end of a spear or a sword. The glory and valor was breathtaking. She’d never figured on doing it herself.