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“I may know someone who can show me how.”
“Convenient,” I say with a laugh. “Forget it.”
“Hold on, Kalistratos,” Tyler interrupts. “I know you and Alyx don’t have a clue how to read the map. Don’t you think we should go into Athenos with more than just crossed fingers? Maybe he can help us.”
“You want to trust this guy after what he did? What makes you think he’s really going to help us?”
“Just a gut feeling. I think we were meant to meet him.”
“A gut feeling,” I mutter, shaking my head. Tyler is right. We were counting on a massive stroke of luck, andthe truth is that we could easily be stuck in Athenos at a dead end with no answers and a map we couldn’t read. Airos is Phoenikos—that can’t be a coincidence.
I sigh. “Alright, fine,” I say begrudgingly. “But I’m watching you.”
Airos bows again. “I beg your forgiveness for trying to kill you.”
“Aw, don’t worry about it,” Tyler says, and he picks up Airos’s staff and hands it back to him. “It happens all the time. Non-stop death threats since the moment I arrived here.”
“From where?”
“Oh, boy. It’s a crazy story, Airos. I don’t know if you’ll believe it.”
Airos sweeps his hand out, inviting Tyler to walk beside him. “We have a few hours until we reach the city. I’d love to hear it.”
I pull up my hood and walk after them, annoyed. I trust Tyler’s intuition, and so I trust that Airos is sincere in his offer to help. But that doesn’t mean I want him anywhere near Tyler.
11
TYLER
The Athenos Gate looks like something that would surround a medieval castle. High stone walls surround the city, paced at the top by soldiers in gleaming bronze and leather armor. There’s a steady flow of traffic in and out of the main gate. We enter behind a herd of ox shifters hauling massive satchels of grain on their backs, and behind us walk a group of rabbling businessmen arguing about prices in the market.
For a moment, it feels oddly like I’m going into Disney World surrounded by costume characters. But instead of Cinderella’s castle lying beyond the gate, there’s a sprawling city centered around a hill capped by a grand building adorned with towering stone columns. Above us, massive blimp-like versions of the vehicles Kalistratos called flyers hum through the air. One covers us in shadow as it cuts in front of the sun. A flock of birds flutters off the outstretched hand of a statue of a wolfman and flies overour heads.
I follow Kalistratos as he leads us into the bustle of the city. Just past the entrance, a stretch of merchant stalls lines both sides of the road. Humans and creatures hawk a wild variety of goods: bolts of colorful cloth, massive piles of fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, wine, flowers, aromatic oils and salves, piles of sandals, live birds, and even trinkets like palm-sized miniature carvings of various animals. I pause to look at an intricate wooden carving of a bird with long tail feathers and a crested plume on its head.
“Is this a phoenix?” I ask the shopkeeper.
“Yes, yes, phoenix. Beautiful, no? Yours for two drachmae.”
“Oh, I don’t have any money,” I say.
“Two drachmae?” Kalistratos scoffs. “You have to be joking. That thing’s worth no more than a couple of obols.”
Airos appears on my right and produces a little bag from his sleeve. “I may just be a traveling monk, but two drachmae is a small price for something you find beautiful. I’ll buy it for you.”
“You don’t have to do that, Airos,” I tell him.
Kalistratos leans in front of Airos and holds up some coins. “Here, four drachmae for it.”
“Six,” Airos says to the shopkeeper with a smile.
“Sell it to me for ten,” Kalistratos says, pushing Airos with his shoulder.
There’s a mild gasp from the people around us. My face goes hot. Everyone is staring at us. “Guys…”
Kalistratos and Airos go back and forth on it and the shopkeeper looks like he’s having the best day of his life.
Suddenly, a black cat falls onto the table, knocking all of the little figurines over. It’s Alyx, and just before he leaps away to dodge the shopkeeper’s stick, he gives us a hard look with his green eyes.
