28 Ariadne
28
Ariadne
Asterion hangs up before I can ask any questions, but it’s just as well. There’s no time. If he was anyone else, I might assume that he was overstating the danger. He’s not. I knew that there was a good chance I’d have to escape in a hurry, so I already have my bag packed. I’m just vain enough to mourn leaving so many of my gorgeous new clothes behind, but I have to be able to move quickly, and I can’t be weighed down. Asterion might be a machine, but Icarus and I are hardly people capable of long-distance cardio. Better to plan to carry my own shit.
It’s tempting to start for the street, but with Dionysus’s security in place, the penthouse really is the safest place for me to wait. Maybe. Hopefully. He did mention increasing security after…last time. Surely it’s enough to deter whoever my father has sent.
If Asterion has my brother, that means he’s coming from our father’s apartment. It’s a good ten-minute walk, give or take, depending on if they’re running or trying to move stealthily.
I drop my bag on the floor near the chair by the entrance and pull out my laptop. It takes seconds to let myself through the back door I created in the building’s security system. I make a mental note to tell Dionysus about it after I’m gone so that he can fix the problem—or to just fix it myself—as I pull up the feed from the security cameras.
I may not have had much interaction with my father’s people aside from Theseus and Asterion, but I know most of them on sight, thanks to my research. I click through the feeds of the entrances, wondering who my father will send to kill me. There’s a small possibility it will be one of Circe’s people they snuck into the city, but I don’t think so. Admitting his daughter turned traitor and that he needs help to deal with her is far too much weakness for my father’s liking. No, he’ll deal with this in-house.
It’s entirely possible that I’m being paranoid. A smart assassin will try to draw me out from my defensible position or simply wait for the perfect opportunity. But my father is frustrated with his recent failures, and he’ll be looking for a win. Since Asterion and Icarus are together, that means… Honestly, I’m not entirely certain what that means.
Asterion went to the apartment to keep my father happy so that he can maintain access to the team planning the bombing of Dodona Tower. If he is warning me off, it means something went wrong. It means he took my brother and they’re running, and he wouldn’t have done that unless he had to. There was a fight, maybe. Definitely a confrontation with my father.
If that’s the case, then my father knows he’s lost his pet monster and likely both his children as well. He won’t want to wait. He’ll send his pet assassin now, and it won’t be with some clever ploy to pry me out of the penthouse.
Tension courses through me as I flip through the security screens again. Maybe it’s paranoia, but I’m certain I can feel the hunter closing in. The desire to run is almost overwhelming. I breathe deeply and slowly, but it only makes my brain buzz harder.
I catch a familiar face just as I’m clicking away from the current screen of the hotel lobby. I click back and lean closer. The cameras are only slightly higher end than what you can find in generic buildings, which means zooming in will cause too much pixelation to see the person clearly.
They walk across the lobby in a loose, ambling gait. I click through the cameras situated around that space, but they always seem to have their face averted.
As if they know where the cameras are and they don’t want to be seen.
The small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The sensation only gets worse as they chat with the security guard and pass over what appears to be an ID. There’s nothing overtly wrong, and yet I can’t shake the feeling that I’m staring at a predator.
The security guard laughs at something they say and waves them toward the elevator. The person turns, and I finally get a proper look at their face. All the blood rushes from my head. Phaedra . They grin at the camera and give a little salute.
As if they know I’m watching.
They don’t hesitate in their path to the elevator. It’s only when the doors slide shut behind them that I realize what’s happening. They’re taking the damn elevator directly to the penthouse. “Shit!”
I slam my computer shut and shove it into my backpack. I can’t afford to assume that Phaedra doesn’t have access to the penthouse. Asterion sure as fuck did.
I have to get out of here, and I have to do it now. The elevator is now closed to me, and the main stairwell doesn’t go all the way to the penthouse. But there has to be another way. Fire codes are a thing, and they require there to be an emergency exit with stairs on every floor.
In the hours I’ve spent in this place, I’ve been over every inch of it, and I’ve seen no sign of a staircase or a door that leads where it shouldn’t. The only room I haven’t explored is the primary bedroom.
I rush into the room now. I only got a glimpse this morning, and I don’t slow down enough to appreciate the cool and soothing space Dionysus has created for himself. There’s no door to be seen, just an open archway leading into the bathroom. With nowhere else to go, I step through it.
The bathroom is lovely, decorated in the same cool gray tones, but what catches and holds my attention is the door I can see peeking through the clothes in his closet though a second archway. “Thank the gods.” I hurry to it and shove the clothes to the side. It’s fancier than any emergency exit has a right to be—and it’s locked. “ Shit .”
I turn around, panic flaring, and stop short. Dionysus obviously never expected anyone to come in here, because the key for the door hangs on a hook tucked right inside the archway. “Fuck the gods; thank you, Dionysus.”
I grab the key, but my hands are shaking so much, I can barely fit it into the lock. I just manage to slide it home when, in the distance, I hear the front door crack open.
Phaedra is here.
As if thinking their name summoned them, their melodious voice rings out. “Ariadne. I know you’re here, love. I have no interest in hide-and-seek. Your father would like a word.”
I bet he would . But if they think dangling my father’s orders in front of me is going to do anything but cause me to flee, they have another think coming.
I turn the key as silently as I can. The penthouse is large, but it’s not that large. I’d expect Phaedra to systematically clear the space, which means they’ll reach the primary bedroom last. That only means the difference of a few minutes, but it’s all I have. There’s no time to go back to lock the bedroom door. It won’t slow them down much anyway.
Bless Dionysus or whoever maintains the door, because it opens soundlessly on greased hinges. I slip into the dim stairwell and ease it shut behind me. There’s a lock on this side, too. I’ve never seen that before in an emergency exit door, but then I’ve never seen one that leads directly into the bedroom of a penthouse. I force my hand steady and lock the door behind me.
If I’m lucky, Phaedra will assume that I slipped out without them realizing it. If I’m not, they’ll simply be waiting for me on the ground floor when I finally make my way down this narrow stairwell. And it is narrow. It’s nothing like the wide public one. There are no cameras in here, either.
In fact, as I descend flight after flight, I realize there are no other doors in here to the other floors. Which means this isn’t an emergency exit for the entire building—only for Dionysus.
I send a quick text to Asterion telling him that I had to leave the apartment and then I’ll meet him when he gets close. He doesn’t answer, and the text doesn’t switch over from delivered to read. Worry worms through me. He’s okay. He has to be. But I can’t spend any energy worrying about him right now. My own life is in danger.
I force myself to listen over the pounding of my heart as I descend the stairwell. Dionysus living on the top floor meant great things for the defensiveness of his penthouse, at least in theory. It also means that I have dozens of flights to conquer. If Phaedra comes through that door at the top of the stairs, I’m fucked.
Worst of all, I have to keep pacing myself, because my thighs are shaking and my breath is harsh daggers in my lungs. And still, Asterion doesn’t text me back.
Halfway down, I pause to catch my breath, and guilt has me texting Dionysus a warning. He’s not the target, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t end up as a casualty. He’s taken great care with me, and he might be one of the Thirteen, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to be cut down for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, he doesn’t respond to my text, either. Because of course not.
I nearly weep at the sight of the door that leads out of the stairwell. It has another lock that I assume matches the key in my hand. It’s tempting to unlock it and run for my life, but I force myself to sit down and pull out my laptop. I have a pretty good idea where the stairwell leads—to an exit on the north side of the block—but there’s no reason to get sloppy now. The lack of cameras in the stairwell suggests there should be a lock on the exit, but if there’s not, I’m practically jumping around and waving my arms until someone notices me.
Not to mention I just pushed myself to the edge of exhaustion coming down the stairs. I’m not going to be able to outrun anyone in this state. I’m in the process of pulling up the security feeds when my phone buzzes at my hip.
Asterion: We’re a block north. Where are you?
I make a sound perilously close to a sob. He’s okay…unless something’s happened to him and his killer stole his phone.
No. Damn it no . I can’t afford to believe that—but I can’t afford to ignore the possibility, either. I glance at the security feeds and go still. Phaedra stalks through the lobby, their casual ambling gait turned into something fierce and angry. I hold my breath, but they don’t exit. Instead, they check themselves, seem to recenter, and wave cheerily at the security guard. Then they head down the hallway deeper into the first floor.
In my direction.
Damn it. I have to move now. I shove my computer back into my bag and rush for the door. I type a quick text as I unlock it.
Me: Meet me where we had a special meal.
It’s a risk. The Dryad is farther away from my current location than Asterion is right now, but I have to believe that he’ll know what I’m talking about and meet me there. If it’s really him. I take a deep breath and pull open the door.
I expected it to lead into a hallway or maybe the basement. It doesn’t. Instead, I am on a little landing just below street level. I can see slices of pale-blue sky in between skyscrapers and hear traffic and people walking. My legs almost can’t conquer the twelve steps it takes to get to street level, but I force myself forward through sheer willpower alone.
I couldn’t run if I wanted to. It’s smarter not to anyway. Instead, I fall into step with a group of what appears to be college girls. One of them shoots me a strange look, but there are enough people out and about that they don’t say anything about it.
It takes everything I have not to glance over my shoulder every other step to see if Phaedra is following. If they were savvy enough to realize I managed to escape through the stairwell, then it’s only a matter of time before they start tracing my steps. Calling a car might be smart, but it would require waiting in one location for it to arrive. As exhausted as I am, it’s still better to keep moving on foot.
The group I’m walking with splits off after two blocks, and only then do I allow myself to look behind me. The sidewalks are busy at this time a day. It’s hard to pick out just one person from the crowd. Phaedra could be ten feet behind me and I’d never know. The thought makes me shudder.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and it startles me so intensely, I almost drop it. My breath catches in my throat when I read the words there.
Asterion: Go through the door on your right.
I turn to my right. At first glance, I have no idea what the store sells. The windows are clogged with everything from wine to blankets to stuffies. Olympus doesn’t get tourists because of the barrier, so I don’t know why they have what appears to be a souvenir shop here, but I duck through the door all the same. Inside, it’s even more claustrophobic. The aisles between racks of clothing and other paraphernalia are so narrow that my body brushes them as I pass.
There’s no one at the counter, and I don’t know if that’s comforting or worrisome. Again, it strikes me that someone could have taken Asterion’s phone. But the only reason I would be on this street at this time is if I was heading from Dionysus’s building to the Dryad. And the only way they would know that is if they understood my reference earlier. There’s no reason to think someone who isn’t Asterion would know. No one saw me with him that night.
I think.
When a familiar shadow falls across me, I almost sob in relief. “Asterion.” But then I get a good look at him. He’s wavering on his feet a little, carrying himself with a brittleness that would be familiar if I could just focus long enough to understand. “What happened?”
“Not here,” he rumbles.
I swallow down the questions bubbling up in my chest and follow him deeper into the store. He has an even harder time with the narrow aisles than I do. But at least with his bigger body knocking the clothing racks out of the way, I’m brushing against fewer of them.
We duck into an employee break room. There’s no employee to be found, but my brother sits in one of the folding chairs with his head in his hands. He looks up as we walk through the door, and a storm breaks across his expression. “You made it.”
My knees choose that moment to buckle. Asterion sweeps me into his arms before I have a chance to make contact with the floor. His grunt is almost silent, but it goes through me like a rocket. “Put me down. You’re hurt.” That’s why he’s moving so stiffly. I should’ve recognized it. I would have if I wasn’t so exhausted.
“Hurt.” My brother gives a mirthless laugh. “That’s one way to put it. He got shot. By our father.”