The Daemon, in the meantime, backs away, but not by much. Awesome.
I can’t hear the exchange, but my owl must tell him the message, because Zai looks at me, dark eyes lit up, then sort of blinks to himself with a frown before leaning a bit to look around me. Rima seems to be focused on trying to solve the riddle, and the other three are yelling and gesticulating at one another. Is he worrying about this apparent alliance? Or is he part of it?
Then he nods at me, says something to the owl, then listens.
And that’s when I see it—the glint in his eyes matching the crook of his mouth.
Has he figured it out?
Zai talks to the owl some more. When the owl flies back to me, Zai closes his book with a snap I can almost hear, then waves a hand over it, which makes it disappear.
The owl swoops up to perch on my shoulder. He never opens his beak. Instead, I hear a voice in my head that isn’t quite mortal, but instead a sort of low trill like hooting but in words. “Ask this question…” The owl hoos the question from Zai in my ear.
I squint at Zai.
He rolls his eyes and points, and I get it. Just ask.
I hang on to the mountain. “Lachesis. Paris is the capital of France if and only if you are true, yes or no?”
“Yes,” the goddess says without hesitation.
My own plank moves out six inches. Someone yelps from my left, and I hope to Hades that the faint sound wasn’t me killing them. I didn’t hear a slide of rock or thudding body.
“Yes,” I yell and nod my head for emphasis.
Zai nods, then faces the Fates. Suddenly, our planks start to slide back toward the mountain again. Not one inch, not two, but a lot. I have no choice now.
I’m hanging by both hands and one foot while I search for another toehold and pray that Zai didn’t fall. I can’t turn my head to see.
“Congratulations!” Hermes’ voice booms from the sky. “The winner is my own champion, Zai Aridam!”
The god sounds so happy he could fly, but hopefully he’s not, because Zai needs those winged sandals right now.
I whisper to myself, “Come on, Zai. Please hurry. Keep your promise and don’t leave me here—”
“Right behind you.”
His voice is so close and unexpected that I yelp and almost lose my grip. Felix would be hanging his head in disgust if he could see me now.
Two hands land on my waist, and I can feel the way Zai lightly bounces up and down in the air thanks to the wings on his feet. “Can the sandals hold us both?” I ask.
“Sure.” He chuckles. A nice sound, surprisingly low and warm.
I won’t be laughing until I’m safely off this mountain.
“Now,” he says. “Let go with your right hand and try to wrap it around my neck.” I manage that much, and his left arm moves around me more securely. “When I say so, jump and swing your legs over my right arm. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“On three… One. Two. Three—”
Zai wheezes in my ear with the effort of lifting me, but I manage to wrap my arms around him like a baby sloth around its mama. When I’m against him this way, the frailty of his frame is even more obvious.
I’m safe.
Thank not the gods but Zai Aridam.
The relief that shoots through my veins might as well be a tidal wave, and the adrenaline makes me tremble.
“Zai, you have won the second Labor,” Hermes is saying. “As for the rest of you…”
The others. “Oh my gods. Who fell?”
“Amir. He’s moving, though.”
So not dead? Yet. No way did the kid not injure something. I push at Zai’s shoulder. “You should leave me and take him.”
“I’ll come back for him.”
“But—”
“I’ll be quick.”
He seems determined. I frown. “The others—”
“All made it,” Zai rushes to assure me.
I sigh on another whoosh of relief. “So far.”
