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I linked my fingers together and gripped them hard, shifting to crack my knuckles. If we were in the car much longer, I’d lose it. My anxiety was building and building, and being cooped up here, in this quiet with only the sound of the wind and the engine, was too much.
Paris turned off the main road, onto a muddy road. He wasn’t as smooth a driver as Hector, but he seemed to be going faster, too. He hit the potholes, one after another, so the entire car bounced.
“I have a fucking rock on my lap,” Achilles ground out. “Think you could take it easy?”
There was no answer from the driver, but he did slow down. We came up over a rise, and the low sun shone in my eyes. I lifted a hand to block it.
Downshifting, Paris slowed, and soon the cottage was between me and the sunset.
They were waiting for us.
In my life, I took responsibility for my actions. I didn’t shift blame. I went headfirst into whatever I had to, but god help me, I didn’t want to get out of the car.
Pollux stood, hands deep in his pockets, coat only buttoned at the neck, so the wind made it fan out behind him. Hector had on the same thing from this morning. His sleeves were rolled up, and he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the cold.
Orestes stood a little behind the two others, arms crossed, staring at the ground.
All of them wore matching expressions—if having no expression was an expression. I couldn’t read a single thing from them.
“Chin up,” Achilles said lightly. “Surely you’ve had a dressing down before.”
I grabbed my bag from the floor and pulled it onto my lap. I had, but none of them had bothered me. I hadn’t deserved the ones from my parents or professors.
But this one? I had this one coming.
Squaring my shoulders, I pushed open the door and got out. I kept my gaze on the ground as I approached them, only lifting it when Achilles came to a stop in front of me. He moved a little bit to the side, rock back under his arm.
“That it?” Hector asked.
He wasn’t looking at me but at the rock. Achilles shifted it so the symbol was evident.
“It can take about ten thousand years for a sedimentary rock to form,” I said, “that’s what that is. It formed around the piece of the seal.”
Without bothering to look at me, Hector grunted. “And this was in Oxford, was it?”
Internally, I winced. “No.”
“Why did you go there?” Orestes came to stand in front of Hector. He met my stare, head on, without flinching. His golden eyes were accusative, flashing with anger. “You said you wouldn’t.”
“I had to.”
Shaking his head, he dropped his gaze and kicked a rock on the ground. “Youhadto? You have nofuckingidea what you’ve done.”
“Ease off, mate,” Achilles cut in, surprising the hell out of me. “Better her than the other one. At least it’s with us, and we can protect it.”
Orestes hissed, a sound made to shut him up.
Paris added, “She knows. She saw.”
“Did she?” Pollux asked, voice so deep, and so quiet it was hard to hear with the wind. “What did you see, Leo? What do you know?”
“Inside.” Hector’s directive didn’t allow for argument. I still hesitated, though.
I hated this feeling. Hated it. Especially since I had only done what I wanted to do. I was a grown woman with a Ph.D. I took care of myself. Paid my own bills. No one nursed me through illnesses, or helped me with a down payment on an apartment. No one bought my plane tickets, or helped me navigate a strange city.
I did it. By myself.
Feeling a little more sure of myself, and with my big girl pants hiked up, I walked in. They went right to the living room where Achilles put the rock on the coffee table. It was my first chance to see it out of the wall, and like earlier, I was drawn to it. Fingers outstretched, I reached for it.
