The Secret Fire (4 page)

W
e drove in silence for a long while. Ricardo was busy texting. He sure had a lot to say because his thumbs were flying. With his gaze focused on his screen, I took the opportunity to sneak a closer look at him. He didn't have any wrinkles on his face, and no crow's-feet around his eyes, so even though I knew he was Pyrrha's dad, he seemed young. My mom has a special cream she puts on at night, to fill the lines around her eyes. I guess being immortal meant you didn't need to worry about things like that. As I thought about
my mom, an ache spread across my chest. Would I ever see her again? Tears waited, pushing at the corners of my eyes. I clenched my fists, refusing to cry. I would get out of this situation. I
would
see Mom again.

“It's stuffy in here,” I complained. “Can we roll down the window?”

Without looking up, Ricardo tapped on the driver's glass screen. A moment later, my window rolled down two inches and a breeze trickled in. I felt like a dog, pointing my nose at the crack, and inhaling the cool air. I hadn't realized how much I'd been sweating.

Pyrrha was sitting quietly, also watching her father. “Mother misses you,” she said. He didn't respond. “She wants you to come home. She is going to speak to Zeus and—”

“Zeus?” He looked up. His eyes were freaky. They seemed to change color with his moods. At that moment, a gray storm churned around his pupils. “Zeus is irrelevant. He banished himself from this land. The people no longer worship him. In this world, Zeus is found only in museums.”

“And in books,” I said. I'd checked one out at the Chatham Public Library. Not my usual reading
material but hey, when you're thrust into a Greek god soap opera, you might as well do some research.

He dismissed my comment with a wave of his hand. “Once I have claimed this world, Zeus's name will be erased from history. All images of him will be destroyed. All literary references will also be destroyed.” He sounded totally confident. As if Zeus were a bug on the sidewalk and all he had to do was step on him.

“Uh, just so you know, burning books doesn't work around here. People keep trying it, but the stories always survive.”

He finally blinked. Had I struck some kind of nerve?

Then his voice turned so cold, I swear the air turned cold too. “I shall be victorious, and the memory of Zeus will dissolve like dust in water.”

Wow, he really hated Zeus.

Greek mythology had never meant that much to me. Tyler was the expert on the subject. Most of the games he played had something to do with the mythological world. Even that card game tournament he'd won, Magic: The Gathering, was full of Greek gods and monsters. Tyler and his friends played the game at Merlin's comic-book store.
They'd be devastated if Ricardo burned the place down. “No matter how much you don't like Zeus, you can't erase history,” I said.

Was that a smile at the corner of his mouth? “Of course I can,” he told me, as if speaking to the stupidest person on Earth. “Civilizations are erased by conquerors and new civilizations arise time and time again.”

I was beginning to realize that Ricardo was actually crazy.

Pyrrha had been quietly observing her dad. Was she also realizing that he was crazy? Or maybe she already knew. “What about Mother?” she asked sadly. “Do you not miss her? Do you not want to see her again?”

“Pandora is free to come here and join me.”

“You know she cannot do that. It is against Zeus's laws.”

“In this new world, only my laws will matter.” Then he looked at his phone and began texting again. It was weird to see a villain do something as commonplace as send a text. But I suppose his texts were anything but commonplace. They probably included the words
destroy
,
terrorize
, and
doom
. Pyrrha sighed with frustration. There would
be no reasoning with him.

As much as Ricardo hated Zeus, I was beginning to hate Ricardo. Not just because he was hurting people; he'd kidnapped me, and he was planning on taking over the world. But also because he'd hurt my own family in a very personal way. While I was seriously afraid of him, and knew I should probably shut up, I wanted to know the truth. “Why is my dad in jail?” I asked.

He stopped texting. An eyebrow raised, but no answer came. Was he going to pretend he didn't know what I was talking about?

“My father, Isaac Romero, is in the Brookville Federal Prison Camp. He was working for the International Society of Archaeologists, with my great-aunt, and then he was arrested for theft. But he didn't do it.”

Up until last month I hadn't known my father's name. Mom thought he'd abandoned us when I was a baby. Before she had her stroke, Great-Aunt Juniper told me all about him. He was called the Locksmith because he was an expert on creating elaborate security systems. But he'd been unfairly arrested and had spent most of my life in prison. Because I was curious about him, and because he'd
worked with Great-Aunt Juniper, we'd driven to Brookville to meet him and to get information about the urns.

“He's in prison because of you. You set him up,” I said. Part of me was really scared at that moment. I'd just accused a madman of sending an innocent man to jail. But the other part of me wanted justice for my dad, so I looked Ricardo right in his immortal eyes. “Why?”

His mouth tightened and that vein appeared again. He knew exactly what I was talking about. “The Locksmith is a brilliant man,” he said.

He was complimenting my dad? I hadn't been expecting that reaction. “Are you telling me you set him up because he's smarter than you?” His eyes flashed again and I cringed. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

He sat back against his seat, crossed his right leg over his left, and gave me his full-on attention. I suddenly felt very small. “You are a talkative creature,” he said.

“So I've been told.” I stuck my hands into the pockets of my purple jacket, so he wouldn't see that they'd started trembling. “But I want answers.”

Pyrrha was listening, but remained silent.

A strand of black hair fell across Ricardo's forehead. He pushed it aside. “The Locksmith was assisting Juniper, making it difficult for me to retrieve my urns. I needed to
relocate
him, so he could no longer interfere with my quest.” A pang of sadness hit me. Tyler loved that word—
quest
. Would I ever see my cousins again? Ricardo sneered. “I needed to eliminate him.”

Relocate? Eliminate? “So it's true. My dad didn't steal anything.”

One corner of Ricardo's mouth turned up. Just a little. Just enough for me to know that he was proud of himself. He pressed his fingertips together. “How very easy it is to control the minds of mortals. When the Mask of Agamemnon disappeared from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, it took little effort to convince the Athenian police chief to put a few fingerprints exactly where they needed to be
placed
.”

Of course! Ricardo had used the urn of Faith on the police chief. He'd sent my father to prison.

My face felt real hot and my vision got blurry as tears stung my eyes. Ricardo had ruined my dad's life! My mom's life! My life!

Pyrrha reached out to touch my shoulder but
I pulled away. I stared out the window. We were still on the freeway. It was starting to get dark. I'd missed dinner and my stomach felt hollow. How long had we been driving? I wasn't wearing a watch and couldn't check the time on Ethan's phone.

I rested my head against the glass. At the first chance, I'd make a run for it. As soon as that door opened I'd bolt out of that limo at lightning speed. But if I had to defend myself, I would. When I was in third grade I went to martial arts camp. We learned a few things, like how to do a roundhouse kick. And we learned that there are three places on the body that are super vulnerable: the eyeballs, throat, and crotch. If I had to poke Ricardo in the eyes, I would. Even though that sounded gross. I'd do whatever it took.

But would Pyrrha try to stop me? Was she really on her dad's side? Was she willing to help him take over the world or was she just trying to save him? I had no idea. I didn't want to hurt her but if she got in my way . . .

If you push a wolf into a corner, you're gonna get bitten!

I curled up in the seat, trying to get comfortable. What were Tyler and Ethan doing? Were they
trying to figure out how to rescue me? Even if they had both urns, they'd never give them to Ricardo. That wasn't even an option. Would they remember to talk to my mom so she wouldn't worry? She'd be home right now, waiting for me to call after a long day of work at the diner. I thought about the diner's pancakes. And the fluffy scrambled eggs and hot chocolate.

My eyelids felt heavy. My head snapped forward. Crud, I'd almost fallen asleep!

There was no way I would let myself fall asleep. I had to stay alert. Had to listen to everything Ricardo said. Had to watch where we were going so that when I texted Tyler and Ethan, I could tell them everything.

But it was so hard to keep my eyes open. Maybe I could close them, just for a moment.

Only a moment.

        
FACT:
When people die and are brought back to life, they often talk about seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Some believe that the light is heaven. Some say it has to do with the brain's electrical impulses. When somebody is having a difficult time, they might get the advice, “Oh, don't worry, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel,” meaning things will get better.

I'm not so sure about that.

W
e stood in what looked like a long tunnel, but I couldn't be entirely certain because it was very
dark in there. A pinprick of light glowed at the end, far away.

Here's what I knew. My shoes and socks were soaking wet. And I could barely see Tyler standing next to me, but I could hear him breathing.

“Where . . . ?” That was the only word I was able to utter. It felt as if I'd been punched in the stomach and I couldn't quite find my breath. That one word echoed down the stone walls.

Where?
Where?
Where?

“We're not in Kansas anymore,” Tyler whispered. Then he let go of the bag and whipped around. “Hey, wait a minute. What are you doing here?” His booming voice echoed so loudly, I winced.

“I don't know,” I said. “The bag was vibrating and I tried to hand it to you. And then . . .” I looked at my hand. “We were both holding on to it. Oh. My. God.” My heart started to pound in my ears. I'd gone through the portal. The portal!

“You were supposed to stay in the park. This is supposed to be a solo mission. I can't believe you messed this up,” Tyler grumbled.

“I didn't mess it up. You're the one who forgot the bag.”

“Oh really? Just like I
forgot
to fill the gas tank,”
he said. I waited for the name-calling. Tyler preferred names that made it perfectly clear he believed he was my intellectual superior—moroon, brainsap, idjot were a few of his favorites. But this time he didn't insult me. Instead, he cleared his throat. “Okay, so maybe I did forget the bag, but you shouldn't have come with me. Jeez, Ethan, what's going to happen if we both get stuck here? Who's going to help Jax?”

“I don't know!” I yelled. “And stop yelling at me!”

Me. Me. Me
.

I took a long breath. “I think we should stop fighting and figure out where we are.” We both turned and faced the pinprick of light. I swallowed hard. “What do you remember?” I asked.

“The ground gave way,” Tyler said. “It felt like I was falling.”

“Me too.”

“Vertigo is a classic symptom of interdimensional travel,” Tyler said. “Or so I've read.”

“Maybe we actually fell. Maybe we're below the fountain.” I wanted desperately to still be in Boston.

“You mean like a trapdoor?”

“Yes, a trapdoor! Maybe we're under the park. This could be a drainage pipe, or an engineering tunnel, or something like that.”

“There's only one way to find out.” He handed me the urn of Love. “Carry this, will ya? It's making me sweat.” Then he started walking toward the light.

“What are you doing?”

“I'm going to see what's at the end of this tunnel. But keep your voice low. If this is the Realm of the Gods, we don't know who might be out there. We'll have to sneak in.”

Was it possible to sneak into the Realm of the Gods? “Don't you think the gods have special hearing powers? Besides, we
want
to find Zeus, remember?”

“Zeus, sure. But I don't want one of the monsters to find us first. Got it?”

Monsters? Plural?

As much as I didn't want to reach the end of the tunnel, I didn't want to be alone, either. I set the urn of Love into the leather bag and slung it over my shoulder. Then I followed my brother.

The tunnel went on forever. The light didn't seem to get any bigger. It was difficult to see and I kept tripping over stones. “You're walking too fast,” I whispered. I thought about using the flashlight app on Tyler's phone, but I didn't want to attract any attention. Our wet sneakers made annoying squelching sounds but there was no way we could
walk barefoot over the stones. My breathing began to sound wheezy. There was probably a lot of dust in the tunnel. Or mold spores. Or vermin dander. My skin prickled at the thought. Throughout history, rats have been the deliverers of plague. Whether I was still in Boston, in a tunnel below the fountain, or at the entryway to the Realm of the Gods, I didn't want to run into any rats. Or anything else that might like cold, damp places.

“Tyler? Do Cyclopses live in tunnels?”

“No. They're cave dwellers. Jeez, haven't you been paying attention to Cyclopsville?”

“What if this tunnel leads to a cave?” I imagined the Cyclops who ripped Acis apart and the torrent of blood that became the Acis River. It would be nice to have a river named after me but not under those circumstances.

“Shhh,” he scolded.

I couldn't shake the feeling that something could sneak up on me at any moment, so I darted in front of Tyler. “No,” he said, pushing me behind him. “It's safer back there.”

He was right. I'd never been surprised by Tyler's ability to win math competitions or gaming tournaments, but his courage during this whole thing
had shocked both me and Jax. He'd sacrificed himself to the urn of Hope to protect us. And now he was leading the way, into the unknown. He'd either wind up at the end of a drainage pipe in Boston Harbor, or he'd step into a realm that wasn't supposed to exist.

We had no plan. That's where it stood. We had goals—don't let Ricardo get the urns, and save Jax. But how were we going to pull them off? If we couldn't find Zeus, what would we do? Or worse, what if Zeus didn't want to help us? He probably had a very busy schedule overseeing the pantheon of gods. We didn't even have an appointment. If you want to see my allergist, you have to make an appointment at least six weeks in advance.

My legs started to get tired. I checked Tyler's phone to see how long we'd been walking but the clock wasn't working. And there was no way to make a call because there were zero bars. No surprise. Without a watch or the sky, it was really difficult to know how long we'd been inside the tunnel. It felt like hours had passed.

Finally, the light began to grow larger, and brighter. Tyler raised his hand to shield his eyes. Then the light seemed to envelop him and he disappeared. I reached out an arm. “Tyler?” I whispered. I took
a few more steps, reaching, hoping to find Tyler's shoulder. But there was nothing. Had he fallen off a ledge? Or into the water? It was so bright I closed my eyes. “Tyler?”

A hand grabbed mine and pulled me forward. I stumbled over a few rocks, then stopped.

A warm breeze stroked my face and a lovely scent reminded me of summer. I opened my eyes.