Looked like my luck was not going to hold. Smithy, my old friend, strolled up to the car and peered in, his icy-blue eyes nailing me to my seat. He braced his hands on the edge of the window, his fingers digging into the metal with a low grinding screech. The smell of donuts rolled off him. “You.”

“Missed me?” I blinked up at him, batting my lashes with more than a little exaggeration.

“I’m taking you down to the station. Get out.”

I took a deep breath and pouted up at him, pursing my lips. That uncoiling sensation rolled through me and I put a hand on his. “Wouldn’t you rather help me?”

He shook his head and blinked several times. Confusion washed over his hard features. “What?”

“Wouldn’t you rather help me? There are worse people out there than me. I’m harmless.” The words flowed out of my mouth and seemed to tighten around him in a slow constriction.

His body stiffened and he began to tremble. Those blue eyes darted from me, away to the Wall and back again. “You’re going to stay on your side of the Wall from now on?”

I widened my eyes. “Of course. I don’t fit over in the human side anymore. They don’t want me. Maybe you know someone who does?”

His eyes softened and he leaned in toward me. “Maybe I do. But I have to . . . you’ll go down to the station on your own?” His words were tense but verged on slurred. I increased my hold on his hand.

“Of course. I’m free to go now?”

He pulled away from me, his hand red where I’d clung to him. He glanced back at his comrades. “This isn’t the Supe we’re looking for.”

He waved me through the gate while his buddies stared with open mouths, obviously recognizing me. But not one of them argued with him. I checked my rearview mirror. He stood in the middle of the road, staring after me while he shook his head as if trying to clear cobwebs.

I waited until I was out of sight of the Wall and the guard tower before I hit the gas hard. Screeching the tires, I hurried, knowing time slipped away faster with every second that ticked by. How long would Achilles hold off before he decided he didn’t want to wait on me? Before he would torture or even kill Tad? My throat tightened and I tried not to think about what might be happening to my brother. How hurt he might be. I had to do this right and plan his rescue right, or we’d both end up dead.

Merlin’s house was lit up like a beacon as I approached, and even from down the street the sound of music spilled toward me. I tightened my lips to keep from snarling. Here I was fighting for my life and for my brother’s, and Merlin was having another poker-night party.

I pulled into the driveway, stepped out of the car, and slammed the door shut behind me. I didn’t bother to knock on the house door. Just grabbed the knob and twisted. Locked.

I raised my knuckles, paused, and reconsidered. Really, if I was such a powerful Super Duper, I didn’t have to play nice. I took a step back, lifted one heeled foot, and snapped it forward, aiming for the knob. My heel caught in the keyhole, and the door burst inward, taking my shoe with it. I slipped the other shoe off so I didn’t walk in lopsided. No need to be undignified.

Two steps and I stood in the main part of the house, with every pair of eyes locked on me. A couple of vampires, including Remo’s man Max; the same werewolf as before; and two new girls were the full count. Max gave me a wink I didn’t understand. Maybe he was here on Remo’s request? Not that it mattered to me.

I didn’t recognize the two girls, but by the shell-shocked looks on their faces they were newly turned. One was dark-haired like me, her eyes pale enough they were spooky in their incandescent nature. The other girl was the reverse. Blond hair cropped short to her head and dark eyes the deep black of midnight. I turned my attention to the warlock who’d started all this.

“Merlin. You’ve been a bad boy,” I purred, the anger and frustration curling up through me. “You made me into a Drakaina. Do you know what that is? Do you understand what you’ve created?”

Merlin stood and made a soothing, flapping motion with his hands. “Now, Alena, my dear. Don’t get worked up. You could end up shifting into a monster, and you wouldn’t want that, would you? Remember, you asked to be special. I gave you what you wanted and then some. Don’t go and be a bitch about it now. Don’t make me think you’re not the nice girl everyone said you were.”

For just a split second shame ran over me, embarrassment that I would make a scene.

No. No, I would not be ashamed of standing up for myself.

“This was not what I asked for!” Sudden understanding tightened in my gut like a coiled knot of writhing snakes. “You turned me into this . . . because I was a good girl. Didn’t you? You thought I would be . . . what, easy to control?”

A flash in his eyes was the only clue that I was right before he shook his head. “Of course not—”

I took a step forward, my anger growing. “Because you thought I was weak.”

Zeus’s words came back to me. “That I’d be an easy kill . . . for Achilles.”

Merlin stepped back, the smile on his face not slipping for a second, but I saw the fear in his eyes. “Where in the world would you get the idea that I would want you dead?”

“Not you. Someone else. Someone you work for.” I closed the distance between us, or tried to. He scooted around the large table dominating the room. I put the pieces together. “For Hera, perhaps?”