The Search for Juno

Chapter XXX

Clio awoke to a living hell.

Her lungs and nose stung with stringent saltwater, her eyes watery and red. She struggled to her hands and knees, palms pressing against damp concrete. It was dark now, the sun replaced by the moon; she could hardly see in front of her, but could see just enough to make out the shadow of the overturned SUV. Her heart hammering inside her chest, she called out, "Hermes? Angie? Where are you?"

She wanted, needed, to hear their voices. To hear, I'm right here. But all she got was silence.

Something brushed her shoulder. With a scream, she scrambled backwards, whirling around. Alex Morganthau half-crouched before her, silvery hair slick against his forehead, his hand extended in her direction. "Clio, right?" he said, and Clio could not reconcile this clement, soothing voice with the man who had shot Hermes just before. "Are you okay?"

"Don't touch me," she snapped, smacking his hand away. "And I'm fine. Where's Angie? Hermes? What the hell did you do to them?"

A starkly regretful expression flickered across his face. He dropped his hand, lowering his gangly form to a crouch instead. "Conny and I didn't do a thing," he said, and even before he told her, she already knew. "You didn't see? It was Poseidon. He took them."

Clio, unconvinced, inched away from him, raking wet hair back from her face. "You told him, then. Y-You must have. You told him who she really was and you told him she would be here. It's all your fault—"

"Clio, I get that you're pissed, okay? But I'm telling you, Conny and I didn't do anything. We're just as confused as you are."

"That isn't to say Artemis had nothing to do with this," said another voice, and Clio's gaze flicked up, barely making out Conny's face in the darkness. A steady stream of water dripped from his trench coat, his pale hair a deeper brownish-gold where it fell, lank, into his eyes. "Apollo did say she's been on Olympus for some time now. I just wish she would've told us beforehand; now my coat's going to mildew."

"Your coat's going to—" Clio shot to her feet, eyes flashing with rage. "Angie and Hermes are missing and you're worried about your stupid coat?"

"Oh, come on, little elf," said June Dolinski from where she leaned against the totaled SUV's side. "Like you actually expected us to just let you win? I don't know what fantasyland you've been living in, but that's not how it works here."

"June," Alex said, warning.

"What?" June frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"

Above them, the parking garage's emergency lights finally flicked on, flooding the area with an eerie white glow. Clio winced, her eyes stinging as she looked around. Alex was right. There was no Angie, no Hermes. They'd vanished without a trace.

Alex let out a lengthy sigh. As he shook his head, he scattered water droplets across the concrete. "It doesn't make sense why Artemis would just—do that. We had a plan; we were going with that. It doesn't make sense for her to switch up on us."

"Maybe she just got tired of waiting," June suggested.

"No. If she wanted the gold that badly she would have just taken Angie herself." Alex squared his shoulders, as if bracing for an impact. "Something else is going on here."

Any mirth in Conny's expression disappeared; he frowned at his brother instead, his unease settled deep in the downturned line of his mouth. "Like what, Al?"

"I..." As Clio, Conny, and June watched, he started to pace around in circles, his leather footfalls bouncing off the walls in a distinct, agitated rhythm. "I think..."

"God, Alex," Conny gasped, throwing up his arms. Alex's circles started to get narrower and narrower, till he was nearly jogging. "You think what—"

"I think they're all in danger," Alex said, grinding suddenly to a halt. His face was flushed, but what worried Clio the most was that harried look in his eye, like he was barely holding on to a worn thread.

"Who?" Clio demanded.

"Artemis, Hermes, Angie: all of them. If what I'm thinking is true, then we need to get to Mount Olympus right this second."

"And what?" June scoffed, her hands resting on her hips. "Play hero and rescue them, or something? Why should I care if they're in danger? That shit's got nothing to do with me."

"For fuck's sake, June," Conny muttered, shooting her an acidic glare. "Artemis has done a lot for you. You don't care about returning the favor?"

"Done a lot for me?" Now June cackled, hard enough to send her keeling over, grasping at her stomach. Clio's lip curled in disgust. "Right. Hermes and that other chick framed me. And Artemis failed, obviously, because now that Poseidon's got who he wants already, I'm not getting that gold. So no, I don't care about returning the favor, because none of them ever did shit for me anyway!"

Conny's face pinched into a scowl. "June, you—"

"Fine," Alex said, his voice as steady and gelid as an iceberg, "then you can stay here. But I'm not comfortable with letting Artemis get hurt, and honestly? I'm not comfortable with something awful happening to Angie, either. So if you're not going to help, you can stay here and keep your mouth shut."

June's blood red lips, the same lurid shade as her hair, twisted into a harsh glower. She stepped forward, her whole body tense, a rubber band seconds away from snapping. "Or what?" she hissed, her face inches from Alex's. "You'll kill me, with that gun your little friend sliced in half? You're nothing without a pistol in your hands. So what will you do, Alex? You can't kill me. You need me, right? Or else you and mój skarb will just be one of Bernard Dolinski's filthy dogs for the rest of your miserable lives—"

June cut off with a frightened yelp as she was yanked from her feet. A knobby tree limb furled, taut, around her ankles, flipping her upside down and dragging her towards the ceiling as she squealed in protest.

Pleased, Clio dusted off her hands.

Conny and Alex both turned to her, the shocked expressions on their faces almost comically similar.

"What are you staring at me for?" she said, ignoring June's frustrated screams. "You said we need to get to Olympus, right?"

"Uh. Yeah," Alex agreed, worrying at his earring, "but the thing is, I have no idea how to do that."

"Nice," said Conny. Alex punched him in the shoulder.

"Good thing I do," said Clio, taking both of them by their sleeves and leading them towards the parking garage's exit, June's vehement cursing getting softer and softer as she did. "Now listen. There's someone we have to see, and you can explain to me what's going on on the way there."

They burst out into the night, the sudden mixture of damp clothes and cool air making all of them shudder. Hugging his arms around himself, Conny said, "Yeah, Alex. You never bothered to tell us what your big break was."

"June interrupted me," he said, as Clio paused a moment, eyes scanning the pier for the nearest grove of trees. When she started forward again, he added: "Besides, it's just a theory."

"You figured out June was being framed, didn't you?" Clio said, glimpsing him over her shoulder. "Wasn't that just a theory at first?"

A riverboat horn split the air, thunderous and startling.

Alex nodded his head.

"I think," he said, "that Apollo has something to do with this."