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“Do you need to be protected?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say no. I’d be fine. The truth was something different, though. “I think we all need protection at different times in our lives. I’ve definitely had times when I desperately needed protection that never came. I wouldn’t want anyone, especially not a friend, to feel like no one cared, that no one was coming.” I squeezed my hands together, not wanting to remember. “I don’t think we’re meant to go it alone in life. Meg, my friend—it feels like she’s been going it alone for a very, very long time. I guess I’m here so she knows she doesn’t have to.”

The woman pushed back and her chair started rocking. My gaze went to the legs and, sure enough, there were rockers. How odd. I’d thought the chairs at her table had all been the same.

“And what about you?” she asked. “Who will protect you on this journey?”

I thought it funny that she used the same word I’d been using in my own head when thinking about this possible rescue mission. We were going on a journey.

“To tell you the truth, I was quite nervous, so I asked some friends to come with me.”

She looked through the window again. “Which ones?”

I looked too. Clive and the barman had left. “Um, the woman at the end with the long curly hair.”

The old woman sneered. “That one,” she muttered.

If this woman knew who Stheno was, this might get ugly fast. Stheno wasn’t universally loved. “The older gentleman writing in his journal. That’s my great-uncle. And the tall Black woman sitting by herself on the stool. She’s a friend.”

The old woman nodded her approval of Bracken and Coco. I guess she only had a problem with Stheno. When she turned back to me, her eyes were different. They’d been a cloudy brown before. Now they were a bright, clear blue.

“I, too, am here to help a friend,” she said. “I don’t understand why you were chosen, but I’ll do what I can to help you.” When she stood, the rags that had been covering her fell away and she walked toward me, strong and beautiful, in robes of silvery white.

She placed her hand on top of my head, and I felt a rush of warmth and energy. “Where you are going, the moon cannot touch you. I have given you a piece of the moon to take with you and help you on your journey.”

I looked up at her glowing beauty and knew Artemis had given me a divine gift. “Thank you, my lady. I am forever grateful for your generosity.”

She nodded and then went into a silver bag at her waist, one that hadn’t been there a moment before. She pulled out four little bundles and handed them to me. “You cannot eat or drink from the Underworld or death will begin to leech your life away. The barman will take care of drink. These unleavened cakes will fortify you. Each day, they will replenish, so you will have nourishment on your journey.”

Amazing! I looked down at the little packages wrapped in grape leaves. This was like the lembas bread in The Lord of the Rings. “Thank you, my lady. This is a wonderous gift.” When I looked back up, she was gone. Holy crap.

I got up, brushed myself off, and went back in, finding Clive arguing with Vlad and Stheno again. I hurried over and pushed my way between them all. Stheno sneered over my shoulder at Clive, while Vlad rolled his eyes.

“What? What’s going on? We’re all friends here.” I put my hand of Clive’s cheek, trying to calm him down.

“Darling,” he said, his voice like steel. “I don’t trust Stheno. I’ll go in her place. I’m stronger than others of my kind. You know that. Whatever happened to the others, it’s no guarantee it will happen to me.”

“Fuck you,” Stheno snarled, using her middle finger to drive home her point.

Clive’s eyes went vamp black and his fangs descended. Vlad stepped in front of Stheno, eyes black, and pointed a finger at Clive, warning him off.

When Stheno reached for her eye patch, I shouted, “Stop! We’re not doing this. Everyone stand down.” A thought occurred to me. “We have powerful forces helping us, but that probably means we have powerful forces trying to derail us as well. You three need to get it together. We’re here to help Meg.”

Stheno scoffed.

I spun around. “I mean it. Enough. You didn’t want to come, and you don’t want to be here. Just go. Take Clive’s plane and fly wherever you want, but stop bitching and moaning about being here.”

“Yes, exactly,” Clive said. “I’ll take her place.”

The two men at the front table stood and seemed to keep standing. How had they grown so tall?

Coco flinched. “Where did they come from?” she whispered.

“No,” the one on the left said. “You will forfeit your half-life if you enter the Underworld.” The men shared a look. “Personally, we’d prefer fewer bloodsuckers in the world, but she would not,” he said, pointing at me.

The twin on the right looked at me and said, “You’ve assembled a strong fellowship. These two,” he said, gesturing to Coco and Bracken, “will be excellent companions. We agree with Lady Artemis, though. You don’t need that one.”

Stheno’s one eye narrowed. “That bit—” Vlad’s hand flew over her mouth, cutting off the insult.