A new idea swept over me, and I knew it was probably my only chance. “Ernie, you know where Hercules has holed up, right?” One way or another I was going to face the hero and the Hydra.

He nodded, his face serious. “Yes.”

“Then we will go to him.”

The people around me cheered, but I couldn’t be happy, not when I knew what I was going to do. Or at least try to do. Death should never be cheered for.

A cop car pulled up, and a police officer stepped out, and for just a moment I thought it was Jensen. For once, it wasn’t, but that didn’t mean my plan changed.

I ran over to the cop car, and the police officer’s eyes widened. “I know you.”

“Bully for you. I need your car. Give me the keys.”

“I can’t do that.”

I stared him in the eyes, flexing my siren abilities. “You can and you will. Give me the keys.”

He tossed them to me and stumbled back. There was no obsessive love in him; I hadn’t made him love me. I’d made him do what was right, what he already knew was right. I took the keys and slid into the driver’s seat. “Ernie.”

“I’m here. You’ve got a better plan now. I can see it on your face.”

“Zeus was supposed to meet with those who were supporting him at his office; that’s what he said back at the cabin. They may still be there, and I need them. This is more their war than anyone else’s.” I turned the key over in the ignition and slipped the car into reverse. I hit the pedal and spun the steering wheel. The tires squealed, and the smell of burning rubber filled the air. I flicked it back into drive and hit the gas. We shot down the mostly empty street. Ernie leaned over and flicked on the lights and the siren.

“I always wanted to do a ride along.” He smiled at me, and I managed to give him a quick, albeit wobbly, smile back.

“Ernie. Tell me I can do this.”

He sobered up instantly. “If anyone can, it will be you. You’ve defied the odds so far; I can’t imagine this will be any different.”

I clutched the wheel, driving as if I truly were inside Gran Turismo. Tad would be proud of me. I blinked several times, thinking of the way my mother had looked in the underworld. “I saw my mom there.”

“You mean . . . back there?”

“Yes, she wasn’t being hurt. She seemed . . . happy. And she didn’t want me to bring her back,” I whispered.

“It has nothing to do with you.” Ernie moved so he sat on the dash, facing me. His wings were backlit by the flashing lights. “Look, your mom had been unhappy for a long time, stuck between protecting her husband and two kids, pretending to be one thing, while truly being another. It’s a shit way to live. I should know. I have to pretend to be working for two different sides all the time. I’ve never been happier than the last few days once I sided with you, Alena. And as for your mom, I bet it’s the same. A release, freedom in a weird way, even if it means she loses out in other areas.”

“But why wouldn’t she want to be with us?” The cry slipped out of me, and I bit down on my lower lip. “No, don’t answer that. I can’t deal with it right now.”

He answered me anyway. “It’s not you she doesn’t want to be with, Alena. It’s the world and the fear she’s lived with for so long. She probably doesn’t realize she can have her family and her freedom. Or she could have.”

I drove onto the highway and really pushed the gas pedal, staring hard through my tears. I wove the car around the few other vehicles that were there. Again, so few that I would have known something was wrong even if I didn’t know about the virus going viral. It wasn’t long before the Blue Box was there in front of us. I pulled into the parking lot, driving right up to the front doors. I pulled over and flicked the siren off, but I left the lights flashing. I took the keys and tucked them into my pocket.

“I’ve never seen Blue Box so empty,” Ernie said.

“Everyone is sick,” I said as I strode through the doors, surprised they were open at all. Not because of the lateness of the hour, but because there had to be a fair number of employees that hadn’t shown up to work. There had to be . . .

A greeter waved at me. “Welcome to Blue Box, deals of the day in the meat department.”

Meat department. I saw the sign, and my stomach rolled with hunger. I’d not eaten much the last few days.

“Where is the manager’s office?”

“Back of the store, behind the women’s lingerie section.”

Of course it was. This was Zeus we were talking about after all. I hurried toward the meat department first. I grabbed three packs of steaks and a package of hot dogs. “Ernie, grab me some milk.”

“Okay.” The uncertainty in his voice would have made me laugh another time. As it was, I was on a time limit. I ripped the packaging off the steaks first and crammed them into my mouth. My teeth cracked the T-bones, and I swallowed the steaks in big, bloody chunks. The hot dogs were next, mostly because I could eat them as I walked. Ernie caught up to me, carrying a jug of chocolate milk. I took it, cracked it open, and tipped it up to my lips. The few people in the store stared at me with wide eyes as I chugged the entire container.

“Shit, you really were hungry.” Both his eyebrows had disappeared into his hairline.

I tossed the empty container to one side and headed to the section where the shoes and lingerie were. “I’m going to fight, and I need all the energy I can get.”