Chapter 57 Keep Calm and Carrion
HOW…,” ARJUN STARTS, BUT THEN his voice trails off like he doesn’t even know what to ask.
I don’t blame him, because I don’t have a clue how to answer.
“Well, I certainly never expected that to happen,” Kyrian says as he continues to stare at the newest addition to the Hall of Legends.
“That’s because you’re a hot Hades boy,” Fifi tells him. “There’s not enough magic in the Underworld for you to understand what just happened here.”
“Oh, and there’s enough magic in this world?” he shoots back.
Fifi grins and gestures to Prometheus. “Obviously.”
Before he can say anything else, a strange hissing noise fills the air.
“Um, can anyone tell me what that is?” Arjun asks, sounding nervous.
“I don’t—” I break off, because at that exact moment, the vulture in the sky of the mosaic becomes three-dimensional and hops right out of it.
He stares at all four of us for a moment, then lets out a loud caw and flies up to land on Prometheus’s shoulder.
We watch for a few seconds, expecting him to become marble like the others. But instead he just stays a plain old, regular, alive vulture.
Arjun looks at me. “This is getting weirder and weirder.”
“True. Story,” Fifi agrees.
“Maybe he’s as sick of eating Prometheus as Prometheus was of being eaten,” I suggest. “Eternity is a really, really long time.”
“Another true story,” Kyrian agrees as he walks around to the front of the statue to get a better look at the vulture.
“Hey, is that what I think it is?” he asks, pointing to an object in Prometheus’s outstretched hand—which, it just so happens, now lines up with where Hera was pointing when I saw her in the tiles earlier.
I have no idea who she is, but I definitely want to find out. Something tells me she knows more than I could ever imagine.
I scoot closer to check it out. “If what you think it is is the unlightable candle,” I tell him after a second. “Then yes. That’s what it is.”
I swallow the sudden lump in my throat. I’m glad he and Pandora are reunited, but I’m really going to miss PT.
“Does this mean, after all that, we just won the scavenger hunt?” Fifi asks, her voice squeaking with excitement.
“Our very first year?” Arjun sounds overjoyed.
“I think it means a lot more than that,” I answer as I reach forward and pull it out of Prometheus’s hand. Sure enough, the moment I do, the candle catches fire.
Arjun’s face falls. “Does that mean it’s not unlightable?”
“I think it means only a very special person can light it,” Kyrian answers, his eyes full of admiration as he smiles at me.
I smile back, trying to ignore the way my stomach is flipping and flopping around inside me. “I think it means—” My voice breaks, so I clear my throat and try again. “I think it means I’ve got one more thing to do.”
“What’s that?” Fifi looks curious.
But I’m afraid I’ll cry a little bit if I say it out loud. So instead, I say, “Come with me to the amphitheater and I’ll show you.”
I reach out a hand and hold Prometheus’s for just a second. Thank you, my friend.
You’re very welcome.
This time I hear the answer in my heart instead of my head, and that’s good enough for me. I know it came from him.
“Are we headed there now?” Arjun asks.
“Yeah,” I tell him, giving Prometheus one last look. “Now seems like the perfect time.”
But as we start to walk out the door, Kyrian says, “What are we going to do with the vulture? We can’t just leave him here.”
He’s right. We can’t. “Anybody know how to whistle?” I ask.
“He’s not a dog,” Fifi tells me.
“Do you have a better idea?” I shoot back.
“Here, vulture, vulture,” she calls in a singsong voice.
He doesn’t move.
Arjun squeezes his lower lip and lets out a long, low whistle.
The vulture caws and takes to the air, flapping its giant wings.
“Problem solved,” I tell Fifi smugly.
She laughs. “Looks like you’re on a roll.”
“I do what I can,” I say with a shrug.
Fifteen minutes later we make it to the amphitheater, with the vulture flying right alongside us.
When we get there, the celebration is still going on and the games are in full swing.
But the four of us—and the vulture—ignore them as we move to the center of the orchestra where the cauldron sits, PT’s tools still scattered around it.
“Well, here goes nothing,” I say as I lean forward and press the candle flame to the wick inside the cauldron.
Long seconds pass when nothing happens, and I start to give up, thinking I’ve made a mistake. But then I decide to give it just a few seconds more.
One, Mississippi. Two, Mississippi. Three—the cauldron explodes into flame so fast that I almost lose the candle—and my arm.
“Hey!” Someone shouts from the beanbag-toss area. “Did you just see what Penelope did?”
Soon, half the school is gathered around the cauldron, and me.
I start to freak out—this is way more attention than I bargained for—but then I look up and see Dr. Minthe grinning at me. And I decide that maybe things are happening exactly the way they should be.