“We can’t be too late!” Emily lifted them into the air and flew toward Saturn’s palace. As they drew near, Emily saw Stella on the roof—and there was the golden box! But as she looked closer, she saw that Stella was in grave danger—two Shadow Titans were coming at her, their weapons raised.
Emily fired a blast of Flame that instantly destroyed the two Shadow Titans.
“Is the weapon still here?” Joel demanded as they landed on the roof.
Stella nodded. “It’s in the box.” She slid off the sealed box and dragged herself over to Agent B. She struggled to remove his helmet. “Help him!”
By the time the helmet came free, they could see that Agent B was already dead. Emily reached out and stroked the CRU agent’s face. “This isn’t over between us, Agent B,” she said softly. “I’ll see you again very soon.” She leaned forward and pulled the Pegasus pendant from around his neck and kissed his forehead gently. “I’ll give this back to you then.”
“Agent B stopped fighting to put the weapon in the box,” Stella said sadly. “He gave his life for the Olympians.”
“He really did change,” Joel said. “When it came down to it, he took the side of the Olympians.”
Emily knelt before the golden box and felt its weight with the stone sealed inside. She grasped her pendant. “It’s over, Pegs, and we’ll be home soon.”
“Over?” Prometheus said. “Far from it. There are still many Shadow Titans to be destroyed. And although you wounded Saturn, you did not defeat him. He will rise again.”
Joel reached out a hand to Prometheus. “Yes, he will rise, but Jupiter and the Olympians will put him down. Saturn is destined to stay in Tartarus.”
“How can you know this?” Prometheus said.
Joel looked at Emily and Stella. “Trust me. I know.”
They flew back to the battlefield where the last Shadow Titans had fallen.
Mike charged back to Emily, happily wagging his tail as he carried a Turtle’s helmet.
Jupiter embraced Emily tightly. “Thank the stars! We feared the worst. When Father took you, we did not know what would happen.” He lowered his head and gave a slight smile as his eyes twinkled. “Can you forgive me for not coming after you?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. You had to come for the weapon.” Emily pointed at the golden box. “And there it is, locked safely in the box thanks to Stella and Agent B.”
“Where is Agent B?”
“He died protecting you,” Stella said softly.
“Then he shall be remembered for all time as a Hero of Olympus.” Jupiter gave Emily a cheeky wink. “I wonder what the CRU would think of that.”
“I think Agent B would be thrilled. The CRU? Not so much.”
Joel put his arm around Emily. “Come on, Em, let’s end this. I don’t like having that thing hanging around. How about you destroy it and we can all go home.”
“Not yet, Joel,” Neptune said. “There is still one more thing we must do.”
38
THEY ARRIVED AT THE TEMPLE of Poseidon at Cape Sounio. Neptune had been right. There was one more thing to do. The past had been changed and the Big Three were still young.
“We must be the same,” Neptune insisted, “to avoid altering the future that you know.”
“Your age can’t make that much difference,” Emily argued. “Please just let me destroy the weapon.”
“No,” Jupiter said. “We must be how you remember us.”
Emily hated the thought of exposing them to the weapon again. It was dangerous and pure torture. But their minds were set. It was only the Big Three who needed aging, so it was time for the other Olympians to say their farewells and go.
“Are you sure you cannot stay with me?” Vulcan asked Stella. “I will be lost without you.”
Stella hugged the large Olympian. “I wish I could. But I need to go back to my family and my life. But I promise I’ll never forget you and everything you’ve taught me!” she told him tearfully.
“Thank you for everything, Vulcan. I’ll see you soon,” Emily promised.
“Soon for you, perhaps,” Vulcan grumbled. “It will be an eternity for me.”
“And me,” Chiron added. He bowed at the waist. “You are all strong warriors and have earned your place among us.”
The war was far from over, and the Olympians were needed elsewhere. Now with only the Big Three, Emily used her powers to open the hole in the ground where the box was to be buried.
Joel lifted out the gold box from Maxine and placed it on the ground before them. He undid the clasp and held the lid at the ready. “Okay, I’ll hold it open until you look the way we remember, and then I’ll close it again.”
Jupiter looked at his brothers. “We are ready.”
Joel opened the golden box, and the Big Three collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony as the Titan weapon affected them.
It took all of Emily’s willpower not to close it again as she watched the three young Olympians start to age.
As each second passed, their hair grew longer and went coarse and gray. Long beards appeared on their once-smooth faces. Their eyebrows grew bushy and long, and deep wrinkles cut across their skin. Their strong chests shrank back and revealed the bodies of much older men.
“Now, Joel!” Emily cried when Jupiter looked as she remembered him.
Joel slammed the box shut.
The Big Three were barely conscious. Emily touched each of them, hoping her powers would at least ease their suffering. It worked. Before long they sat up.
“This is how you knew us?” Pluto cried, looking at his brothers. “We are old men!”
Emily nodded sadly, already missing the young men she had come to know and care for. “But you are still very powerful.”
Jupiter tried to raise himself in the air. “I cannot fly anymore.”
Neptune tried. “And I cannot transport myself! We are but mere shadows of our former selves. How are we to continue?”
“You will always be the Big Three,” Emily said. “When you combine your powers, you are unbeatable. What you look like doesn’t matter. You taught me that.”
“Then I was a fool.” Jupiter sighed, but then started to chuckle. “Well, I guess there are some women who find older men more charming.”
“Indeed, brother,” Neptune agreed.
Needing to go back to the battle, Jupiter gave Emily a final, powerful hug. “I cannot tell you how grateful we are that you came to us. I will miss you all more than you can imagine.” Suddenly the young twinkle returned to his eyes. “Perhaps even more than I will miss my youth!”
“Please be careful,” Emily said, embracing each of them.
Before they left, Joel reminded them not to acknowledge ever having known them from the past when they first met during the Nirad conflict.
“I understand,” Jupiter said. “The future and your memories of it must be protected. But that does not mean I will not be counting the days until I see you again.”
With one final nod, the Big Three used a Solar Stream jewel to return to the battle.
“Now what?” Stella said.
“Now we destroy that weapon!” Emily said. “Joel, you open the box and I’ll fire all I’ve got at it.”
“Wait!” Stella cried. She pulled out the silver dagger she’d used on the Titan and handed it to Emily. “My parents found this dagger beside the box. When they open it, I want this to be inside instead of the rock. It stopped the Titans from sending the weapon to Olympus. Vulcan helped me make it, and I’ll want it back to remind me of him.”
Emily grinned. “Good idea.” She stood back as Mike sat down on the ground beside her.
Joel knelt down behind the box and reached for the lid again. “On the count of three. One . . . two . . . three!”
Emily summoned the Flame just as Joel open
ed the lid. She shot all she had at the Titan weapon. The stone glowed brilliant red and then disappeared with a snap. But in the instant the weapon was gone, Joel and Stella vanished.
“Joel?” Emily cried. “Joel, where are you?”
Panic gripped her as she looked around for Joel and Stella. Maxine was still there. On the ground where Joel had been standing, Emily found his clothes and Pegasus pendant. Stella’s things were sitting on the seat of her wheelchair.
“Joel!” Emily howled.
“Calm yourself,” Riza called.
“But Joel is gone!”
Yes, he is, Riza agreed. Do you not understand? This was Agent B’s reset button. Things have returned to the way they were before the weapon was found. Many thousands of years from now, Stella’s parents will open the gold box and find only the dagger you are about to place in it.
Without the weapon, life on Olympus, Xanadu, and Earth will continue as though this incident never happened. And without the weapon, there was no need for you to come back into the past.
When you return to Xanadu, you will find Joel and the others will not remember anything. For them there was no traveling into the past, because you have changed that time line. Only you and the Olympians remaining here will ever know what truly happened.
Emily was too confused to grasp what Riza meant. “But if this was the reset button, why are Mike and I still here?”
Riza laughed lightly. I told you, child, we are Xan. We live outside the boundaries of time or space. We are not bound by its rules. Mike was touching you when you destroyed the weapon. You protected him. He exists outside the boundaries of time too.
Now, Pegasus is waiting. Take us home.
Epilogue
EMILY AND MIKE ARRIVED BACK on Xanadu at the very moment when Apollo had returned from Olympus to tell them that Jupiter was very ill and that they must go back to Olympus.
But now everything was different, and instead Apollo announced that there was a feast planned to celebrate the discovery of Xanadu and that the Big Three were on their way.
Emily stood in stunned silence, unprepared for the reaction she received upon her return. Because there hadn’t been a reaction, except for the shock of the dog’s sudden appearance. As far as everyone was concerned, she had never left.
But Emily was knocked out of her stunned state as soon as she set eyes on Pegasus.
“Pegs!” she squealed, and ran to the stallion. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He was young, strong, and magnificent, just the way she remembered him. Emily swore they would never be parted again.
Emily was overcome with emotion when she saw Paelen, too. She hugged him tightly and nearly squeezed the life out of him.
“I love you too, Paelen.” She laughed. Then she hit him for being such a foolish hero in getting himself killed by dragons.
Paelen looked at Emily as though she had lost her mind. He checked her forehead for a temperature and suggested she might need a long break.
“I’m not crazy, Paelen,” she cried happily. “I’m just so glad that you’re alive and young again!”
Emily’s joy continued as she greeted each of the Olympians she had lost. Diana stood with Emily’s father, looking just as youthful and beautiful as she remembered. Apollo was strong and sure. They were all there, and they were all young.
Emily tried to explain everything that she had been through. But even with Mike at her side as proof and the Pegasus pendants, they still didn’t believe her.
For Emily, it was hardest to see Joel again.
Riza had warned her that there would be a heavy price to pay when she returned. Emily had just never imagined this would be it. No one believed her. Not even Joel.
Everything they had shared together in the past was lost. The kiss, finally admitting their feelings for each other—it was all gone. He didn’t remember, because for him it had never happened.
The Big Three arrived at the camp accompanied by the Olympians who had served in the war, including the Hundred-handers, the Four Warriors, and Prometheus.
Vulcan was with Seren and Jasmine and pushing Maxine. He charged up to Emily. “I have waited long enough! You must go back to Earth and fetch my Stella back. The forge has not been the same since she left.”
Emily grinned at the gruff Olympian. “I will, I promise.”
Vesta arrived and put her arms around Emily. “How I have waited to talk to you about this. The time has been eternal!”
Everyone in the camp listened in stunned silence as Jupiter finally told the full story of the Titan war—including the arrival of a group of time travelers, led by a certain young lady and powerful Xan, who saved them from defeat.
“I’ve been waiting an eternity to tell this tale.” Jupiter embraced Emily tightly. “Now that we have caught up with each other, we can finally speak of our shared past and let the true history be known to everyone!” He presented her with two very old books. “In the heat of the last battle on Titus, you left these behind.”
Emily’s eyes flew open. “The journals!” She held the books out to her father. “See, Dad, I told you I kept a journal of our time there. So did Agent B!”
“I’m so sorry we didn’t believe you,” Joel apologized when he and Paelen found a moment alone with Emily. “It was just such a wild story, and honestly, you never disappeared.”
“I understand,” Emily said sadly as she looked at the two young men who had both admitted to loving her but now didn’t know she knew. “I just wish you could remember so we could talk about it. We went through so much together.”
Joel stepped up to Pegasus and patted his side. “If Paelen and Pegasus really did die, I don’t want to remember any of it.”
Paelen grinned his crooked grin and shoved Joel. “You just do not want to remember that I was a dragon-fighting hero!”
“I bet I was a hero too!”
“You were both my heroes,” Emily said. She smiled at Paelen. “Even if you are still a thief.”
“I am not a thief!” Paelen insisted.
“Oh no?” Emily held up her hand and the sapphire ring. “Vulcan told me you stole half the tools from the forge. And then you took this from Minerva to give to me.”
Paelen studied the ring. “I do not remember this.”
“I do, Paelen,” she said as she kissed him on his cheek. “I remember everything.”
With the horrors of the war still fresh in her mind, Emily was finding it impossible to sleep. Her dreams were filled with Shadow Titans, dragons, and the death of Pegasus. Each night she would relive all the terrible things she’d seen on Tartarus.
After each nightmare Pegasus would come to her. Emily would climb on his back and lift Mike up with her. Together they would fly to the silver beach beside the calm lake. As the stars shone, casting their diamond sparkles on the water, they would spend the long nights walking along the shore. Emily would toss a stick for Mike to fetch while telling Pegasus stories of the past and how thinking of him and this silver beach had freed her from the Energy Void.
Emily was grateful to have Pegasus back in her life. “I missed you so much, Pegs. It was agony when you left me.”
Pegasus nickered softly and pressed his face to her. They sat together in calm, peaceful silence until Emily reached into her tunic and pulled out Agent B’s journal. Inside she found the agent’s Pegasus pendant, right where she’d left it so long ago. She held it up to the stallion. “He cared for you too, Pegs, and never took this off. I want you to know Agent B. I want you to understand what he did for us.”
She lit her hand and opened up the old, faded pages of Agent B’s journal. Until now, she hadn’t been able to look at it. But as she turned to the first page, she found a note to her.
My dear Emily,
If you are reading this and I am alive, shame on you! Close the book right now and pu
t it away. . . .
But if you are reading this because I am dead, please, keep going. . . . Emily Jacobs, you are perhaps the most stubborn girl I have ever met. You can be irritating beyond measure, irrational, and infuriating. But you are also one of the most loyal and caring people I have had the pleasure to get to know.
We have fought side by side for months now. We have suffered together, bled together, and at times we’ve even laughed together.
As we are facing our toughest challenge yet, I have the strangest feeling I won’t survive it. If I don’t, if it’s true that I am dead, I beg you, please find me in London. Find me and get me away from the CRU.
Let me know you again. Let me call you and Pegasus, Joel, the Olympians, and that mangy mutt Mike my friends. Please, Emily, find me and save me from myself.
Yours,
Benedict Richard Williams
PS Here is where you will find me.
Emily read the address in London. She looked at Pegasus. “His name was Benedict. After all that time, I only ever called him Agent B.” She reread his message. “We’ll do that, Pegs. We’ll go back and find him and get him away from the CRU.”
Emily leafed through the pages of the journal. She saw that Agent B had not only made written entries in the book, but he had also drawn beautiful pen and ink sketches. Emily started to smile.
Agent B had sketched a picture of the young and handsome Big Three, standing with Chiron. Another showed Paelen on Brue—the Mother of the Jungle had already started to change into her ferocious self, and the picture showed her shaggy hair and long, sharp teeth. Yet another revealed Emily and Joel in battle against the Shadow Titans. Old Pegasus was standing on one side of her with Mike on the other. She held up the page for Pegasus to see. “Look, it’s full of pictures.”
Emily found another sketch that caught her heart. It was a quiet moment between her and elderly Pegasus. In it Emily held a brush in her hand and gently groomed the stallion. She remembered doing that not too long before he died. Emily caressed the picture and sighed sadly. She closed the book and looked up into the strong, youthful face of Pegasus.