If we thought things were dangerous before, when we were just beginning to figure things out, then it’s going to be all-out war when the factions involved find out we’ve found the door.

There is no place more dangerous for me and my sisters to be.

So, without sparing the three trees another glance, I lean back on the bench, drape my arms over the back above Sillus’s snoring body, and wait for my sisters to return.

“Nothing,” Gretchen says with a huff when she and Nick return. “All normal doors and architectural details. This is a waste of time.”

She flops down on the bench next to me while Nick stays standing in front of us. Sillus sits up at the sound of her voice and climbs over my lap to cuddle into hers.

I can barely contain my excitement. Her hand moves to pet Sillus’s furry head.

“Um, Gretchen?” I ask offhandedly.

She turns her head to look at me.

“Don’t look,” I say, moving my lips as little as possible, “but the door is right in front of us.”

She immediately looks. “Where?”

“Gretchen,” I growl.

She quickly turns back to me. “Right. Where?”

“There—”

“I found several likely candidates,” Greer says, stepping in between me and Gretchen and the three trees. “We will have to test them to be certain. Though I’m not really sure how to do that.”

I glance up and give her a try-to-be-subtle look, but she’s not paying attention.

“We should narrow it down before we attempt anything. The rotunda would be a prime candidate,” she explains, “but there weren’t any noticeable threes. They could be hidden, of course, so we might as well start there.”

When Thane nudges her, she looks at him. Then, following his gaze, she finally looks at me.

Gretchen cuts to the chase. “Sit down, shut up, and act like nothing’s happening.”

Sillus lifts his head. “Huntress quiet.”

Greer purses her lips like she’s irritated, but then Gretchen gives her a fierce glare and her eyes widen as she sits down on my other side. I lean back and stare off to the south. Nick stands casually in front of Gretchen, while Thane—more relaxed than usual, but still way more tense than Nick—stands practically at attention between me and Greer.

“Directly in front of us,” I whisper, “is a triangle of trees. Three trees.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Gretchen subtly scan her gaze over the trees, checking it out. She returns her attention to me.

“You think that’s it?”

I shrug and shake my head. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure until we try.”

“Of course. It makes perfect sense,” Greer whispers. “It’s outdoors, under the sky.”

“And it would be easy enough to be three within three,” I explain.

Gretchen scowls, like she’s thinking it through. “And trees could be here forever and no one would notice.”

“Three tree,” Sillus whispers reverently.

“They look like they could have been here since the time of the gorgons,” I say.

Greer nods. “This must be it.”

“Agreed,” Gretchen says.

“So . . .” I look from one sister to the other. “Now what?”

CHAPTER 29

GREER

All my years of service in student government, mock United Nations, and various leadership roles in clubs and activities have trained me to step up and take charge. So that’s what I do.

“First,” I say, standing and stepping away from the bench, “we need to go somewhere else.”

The last thing we need to do is have a brainstorming session right here in front of the door, where anyone and everyone can see. We need to plan and strategize without worrying that one of the factions is going to burst in on the scene.

Gretchen and Grace stand with me while Nick and Thane flank us on either side, like bodyguards.

“The marina is two blocks that way,” I say, pointing to the northeast. I smile tightly. “It’s a lovely day to watch the boats sail by.”

And figure out how to save the world without getting ourselves killed in the process. Dying again would be so anticlimactic.

We walk in silence, lost in our thoughts. I don’t know about my sisters, but my heart is racing. I feel like all of a sudden this is all too real. Certainly I’ve seen monsters before. I have been in the abyss and the dungeons of Mount Olympus and fought creatures most humans have never even imagined. But this? It’s the gold ring. It’s what we’ve been talking about, what we’ve been trying to do. What we’ve been risking everything to make happen. What we were born to do, literally.

It’s fairly overwhelming.

If it weren’t so important or so immediate, I might stop to wonder if we can really do it. There is fear and doubt, no matter how much I tell myself I don’t believe in either. The truth is, it doesn’t matter if I think we can. We don’t have a choice. A lot of lives are depending on us, on our success. We have to do it.

We reach the corner of the marina, the spot where sailboats sleep and waves from the Bay gently slap against their hulls. It’s quiet, peaceful. And we’ve come here to talk about war.

I’m not certain whether that’s ironic or simply sad.

“Before we do anything else,” Gretchen says as soon as we’re settled, “we have a decision to make. Are we opening the door?”