Page 40 of The Stars

Dante chuckled softly beside her. “Smart kid.”

Theo stood up, dusting his hands on his clothes.

“What do you want?” he asked, though there was no suspicion in his tone. He was curious, just like before.

“We need to know if there’s somewhere else where we can learn more,” Amy said, glancing at Dante. “You know, like a place where the gods talk to people?”

Theo thought about it for a moment before his eyes lit up. “There is!” he said, excitement flashing across his face. “High up on the mountain. There’s a place where the gods talk to man.”

Amy felt a flicker of hope. Maybe this was it—the place that could give them more answers. “Do you know how to get there?”

Theo nodded. “You can’t miss it. You just have to follow the trail that starts at the edge of town. It’s almost a day’s walk though.”

Amy exchanged a glance with Dante. They were getting somewhere. “We’ll go tomorrow,” she said, already planning out the next day in her head. But then Theo’s voice cut through her thoughts.

“Can I see your magic box again?” he asked. “I’ve been thinking about it.”

Amy blinked in confusion before realizing what he meant. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and showed him the screen. Her battery was close to being gone so she reminded herself to turn it off when they were done.

The boy’s eyes lit up with fascination as she swiped through the photos, his small fingers tracing the light on the glass screen.

“It’s not magic,” she said with a smile, showing him a picture of the sea. “But I guess it might seem like it.”

Theo’s wide eyes darted between the images. “It shows the world, though. Like it’s all inside there. The good. The bad.”

Dante chuckled beside her. “Pretty much.”

As Amy swiped through a few more photos, Dante leaned in close. “So, we head up to the mountain tomorrow?”

She nodded, her eyes still on Theo. “Yeah. It sounds like our best shot.”

Theo handed the phone back to her, still staring at it like it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. “You should go soon,” he said, his voice turning a little more serious. “Before it’s too late. I’m told you must return to the temple each night and remain there until it’s time.”

Amy raised an eyebrow at that, but before she could ask what he meant, Theo smiled again and turned back to his goats.

“Well, thanks for the tip, kid,” Dante said with a nod as they turned to leave.

“Good eve, Pandora, Epimetheus,” he called over his shoulder.

Amy froze for a heartbeat. Then she turned to Dante. Dante’s brow furrowed as he looked towards Theo. The kid had already disappeared behind the hillside.

Pandora and Epimetheus.

Amy’s stomach twisted, the implications of the names sinking in.

Dante met her gaze, his expression a mirror of her shock. “Even he thinks that’s our names.”

“Then maybe the myths were never just stories—they were about us all along,” she whispered.

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Dante woke up early just as the cool morning air slipped through the open windows, carrying the scent of wildflowers from the mountain. He lay still for a moment, his arm wrapped around Amy as her body warmed his.

“Today’s the day,” he murmured, more to himself than her, though Amy stirred slightly. She didn’t fully wake, so he kissed the top of her head before slipping out of bed and stretching. His muscles ached from the tension coiling inside him. Today, he hoped, would bring them some answers.

By the time the sun had fully risen, they were on their way, following the old path Theo had mentioned. It wound steeply up the mountainside. The pathway cut through the wild brush, its dusty surface littered with small stones that crunched beneath their boots. The morning air was crisp at first, but as the sun climbed higher in the sky, it grew hotter and more intense.

The view of the village and sea below expanded and changed the higher they went. The ancient path felt almost untouched, forgotten by time, as if very few people had ever passed this way.