揥hat did you hear??I asked. The ropes of philodendron roots upended him, dangling him by his ankles. He squirmed like a fish on a hook.
揟hey were going to a lighthouse! A lighthouse!?
揘ot helpful,?Marie said.
Even as he was hanging by his ankles he managed to give Marie the dirtiest look. 揟he Great Eye.?
Circe let her gaze drop to the ground and then turned around to look at me. 揥e need to go. Now.?
She ushered me toward the door.
揥ait. What about him??I willed the branches to let go, and Lou dropped to the floor like a sack of bricks. He groaned and rolled over on his back. I hoped he broke something.
揑 got it,?Marie said. She was gathering him up before I could blink. She pulled him down the steps that led to his basement workspace and returned a few seconds later ?alone.
揇id you kill him??Circe asked.
揘o,?she said. 揑 put him in the freezer where he keeps the bodies. I slipped his phone into his pocket. When he figures out he has it on him he can call somebody to let him out.?
揑s he gonna be able to get a signal down there??Circe asked.
Marie shrugged. 揑 don抰 know and I don抰 care.?
There was a long silence. I thought of Lou feeding information to Mrs. Redmond. How that had led her to hunt the Colchis women down and murder Selene and my mom. If he died in that basement, I wouldn抰 be upset.
We piled into Marie抯 car, and this time Circe slid into the front seat next to me. I scooted closer to Marie.
揥ere you able to get anything booked??Circe asked Marie. 揊lights? Hotel? Anything??
揑t抯 going to be two weeks at the earliest,?Marie said.
揟wo weeks??Circe asked. She pressed the back of her head into the seat. 揥e don抰 have that kind of time.?
揥e抮e flying to Turkey,?Marie said. 揟hat means we need passports, which you can抰 get because technically you, me, and Persephone aren抰 even supposed to be alive.?
揙kay??Circe asked.
揟hat means I gotta find a document specialist who can arrange everything,?Marie said, slight edge of annoyance in her voice. 揟hen we have to charter flights from people who don抰 care what we抮e up to. It抯 not gonna be easy and it will take time. I抦 sorry. This kind of thing would normally take six months to plan, and we have to do it in a few weeks.?
揧ou抳e done this kind of thing before??I asked.
揝ort of,?Marie said. 揑 usually use somebody like Phillip to do the traveling when I抦 returning looted pieces. I have the resources to travel by myself if I need to but I抳e never had to arrange it for more than one or two people.?
揥hat do we do when we actually get there??I asked. I didn抰 want to think of all the ways this could go wrong before we even got started, but I couldn抰 help it. 揙nce we抮e there we still have to find the island. Are we positive that抯 where the last piece is??
Circe hesitated. There was still doubt.
揑抦 going,?I said.
揥e just had this conversation,?Circe said.
揑 know. But I抦 going. You抮e right about Mo. She can抰 go, but I have to, and we can try to convince her but even if she says no, I抦 going.?
Circe ran her fingers over her forehead. 揧ou understand how dangerous this will be??She glanced out the window. 揂nd it just got potentially more perilous. You heard what Lou said about the Great Eye??
I nodded.
揑t抯 a lighthouse from the myths,?said Circe. 揙ne of the older stories that isn抰 as well-known as some of the others.?She rubbed her temples and leaned forward in her seat. 揥hen Zeus freed the Cyclopes from their imprisonment in the Underworld, they gifted him the lightning bolt to use in his war against the Titans. They also forged Poseidon抯 trident and Hades抯 helmet. Zeus had his weapon but he needed more than that to overthrow the Titans, and so he forged an all-seeing eye and placed it at the top of a tower梐 lighthouse. It allowed him to see across land and sea, even time.?
I didn抰 know for sure what that meant, but I was not about to question it. 揂nd we know where it is??
揘o,?Circe said flatly. 揃ut it sounds like this Redmond woman and her son did. They were chasing the pieces of the Heart, and if her son still has that information, if he has help條ike those people who were trying to get the pottery shard梩hey might already be making their way there. They could use it to find the location of Aeaea.?
揅an they??I asked. 揅an they use the Great Eye to find it??A new fear gripped me. They get there before us. Even if they didn抰 reach the last piece of the Heart they could make it impossible for me to reunite the pieces in time and get my mom back. I felt sick.
揑 don抰 know,?said Circe. 揑f they抎 figured out where to look, then maybe. But we抮e talking about something lost to time. I don抰 even know where to start.?Circe turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes. 揌ow will we convince Mo to stay behind??