“Oh, lovely.” I shook my head. “Refreshing, and I did get some good info.” I told him about Poseidon and what he’d said about Hades. It wasn’t a lot, but it might come in handy.

Ernie tossed me my clothes, and I struggled to get them on over my still-damp skin. I slipped the jacket back on, and Remo nodded. “Ready?”

“As long as no more of the pantheon shows up, I should be good to go,” I muttered.

Ernie barked a laugh. “Optimistic, I like that about you.”

The three of us hurried up the slope that led away from the water. We actually weren’t far from the ferry docks and had a taxi within a few minutes. I wrapped my arms around myself as we drove, unable to keep from thinking about what was coming. I just assumed that I would be able to get to the underworld. I had to believe Merlin would help me, even if it meant I had to beg.

The taxi pulled up to the hospital, and Remo paid the fare. I was already out and ahead of him, unable to slow my feet. The first time I’d come here I’d been on a gurney, barely able to lift my head, never mind keep my feet under me. The exterior walls were the same slate-gray cement that had been hurriedly put together when the Aegrus virus had first appeared. What was different, though, were the people who were now outside the hospital.

Camped all over the sparse lawn were people lying on the ground; there were some even sitting and leaning against the building. I took my time, and with my feet slowing I strained my ears. There wasn’t a single heartbeat coming from the group of bodies in front of us.

“They aren’t vampires, are they?” I asked Remo. He shook his head, but I already had the confirmation I needed. The smell of death filled the air like the stench of burning fish, a scent that clung to you, one that no matter how you washed your hands and clothes, it was still there, lingering, telling me they were gone.

I hurried between the bodies and kept my eyes glued on the front doors. I pushed on them, but they were locked. I thought about just breaking them down. I took a step back and looked at the cement walls again. Here and there were cracks from the hastily made building, which, along with the rough window ledges at intervals, would make for easy grips. “I think we can climb this.”

“Good call. Merlin won’t expect us to come in this way,” Remo said, and we started up the side of the building. Ernie flew above us, giving directions where he could. I’d done this before, climbed the CenturyLink Field wall when I went to rescue Tad from Achilles. But this was different. This didn’t feel at all like the wild rush of learning how strong I was, how fast, how agile. This felt like . . . going into battle, a battle I could very well lose if I wasn’t careful.

We reached the tenth floor, and I found a window that was open. I pushed it, and we slipped through, Ernie right with us. We were in a small bedroom, and there was a body covered with a sheet. I didn’t need to lift the sheet back to know what was under it.

I drew in a breath, the smells in the room rolling back over my tongue, but I didn’t pick up on anything but death. I shook my head and rubbed at my nose.

“Use your tongue. It is more sensitive when you flick it out,” Ernie said.

I walked to the door, opened it, and found myself in the main hall. No nurses waited at the station, no lights blinked on and off. This was a true tomb now, not just one in theory.

I stopped the direction of my thoughts and flicked my tongue out. Scents flowed back to me and triggered images in my brain. The nurses who’d been on last were the one with the southern drawl that I’d suspected of being an elf—I’d been right—and the gargoyle nurse who was kind but had big clunky hands. They’d been holding out as long as they could, no doubt.

On the nurses’ station was a vase of flowers, most of them drooping. Except for one. A single peony, pale pink and still tightly closed around its bud. I moved, barely realizing it. Ernie asked me something, but his voice was a buzz inside my head.

Peonies were my mom’s favorite flower, and she had them planted all over the backyard. I pulled the flower out of the vase, and a shiver went through me. Maybe it was a sign.

Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to hang on to it, right? I slid it through the top button hole of the leather jacket.

“You okay?” Ernie was in front of me, snapping his fingers. I nodded.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry.”

Remo offered me his hand. “Let’s find Merlin.”

I turned my face away from him and flicked my tongue out again. I picked up all the same scents as before, and now one more.

Merlin. Not that far off from my dad’s own unique scent, Merlin smelled like dusty old books and the sharp tang of expensive cologne. I followed his trail down to a room number I would never forget. I pushed the door to my old room open and stepped inside.

Merlin sat on my bed, his legs stretched out and a pillow behind his head. His eyes rolled to me, and he winked. “I knew you’d find me. Too smart for your own good.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps that’s a problem that runs in the family, yeah?”

He snorted and rubbed the end of his nose. “Ah, so you figured that out too? See what I mean about too smart?”

“Are we seriously related?” I blurted out. Sure, the world was going down like a falling soufflé, but I wanted to know just how we were connected. Part of me was horrified because he’d tried to kill me, even though he was family. The other part was morbidly fascinated. Just why had he wanted to kill me, or been willing to have me killed, when we were related?