When I step out into the open, I see an oasis from the dark. The yellow light glows from a massive bonfire at the center of the cave, casting a flickering light up onto the ceiling and out across the space. The ground here is softer, squishier. Like sand. There are some sad-looking plants, maybe something related to a cactus or a desert tree. A few makeshift shelters are clustered along the edge, made by leaning pieces of the trees up against a ledge in the rock wall.

There must be hundreds of creatures in this cave.

“What’s this?” a gruff voice asks as I walk out of the crack.

Two sets of hands clamp around my arms as a pair of guards who look like they’re carved from a polished version of the same stone that forms the cave walls hold me in place. Neither creature—obsidian statues come to life—has eyes. But both have long spears and bulging muscles, and if they don’t want to let me go, I won’t be going anywhere.

Thankfully, the golden maiden intervenes. “She is under our protection. She is a huntress.”

They immediately release me.

“Come,” the golden maiden says, “let us go to the fire and talk.”

I follow her across the sandy floor. As we get closer, I notice two unusual things about this fire. First, there is no smoke gathering below the ceiling above—there is no smoke, period. Second, even when I stand just a few feet from the licking flames, there is no heat.

“It is powered by magic,” she explains to me as she takes a seat on a stone bench before the fire. “To shine light against the dark.”

I sit, and Sillus sits next to me.

I stare into the dancing flames, marveling at the play of colors, at the swirling blues and greens and oranges and every color in the rainbow. It’s like someone took sunlight, broke it up into its rainbow parts, and then contained it all in this fire.

It’s beautiful. Far too beautiful to be part of the monster abyss.

“You have questions,” she says. “I will try to answer them. But first, can you tell me how you came to be in Abyssos?”

Drawing my attention away from the beautiful fire, I look at her. I have to figure out how to word this properly. I don’t want to put Nick in any added danger. If anyone thought I cared about him more than I do, he could be at even greater risk.

“A friend of mine, he was taken. A monster stepped into my world and dragged him back into yours.” I suppress a shudder at the memory of seeing Nick grabbed. “I followed after him.”

“To rescue him?”

“Yes.” I nod. “And for other reasons too.”

She doesn’t prod me for answers, waiting for me to continue.

“My mentor, Ur—” I begin, then correct myself. “The Gorgon Euryale, she was taken as well.”

“Yes,” the golden maiden says, “along with her sister, Sthenno.”

“You know this?” Hope rises in my chest. “Then you know where they are? Where I can find them?”

“I know where the Gorgons are,” she replies. “But you cannot find them. They have been taken to Olympus. To the dungeon of the gods.”

She practically spits the last word. I get the feeling she is none too fond of the gods.

“You have a problem with Olympus?” I ask.

“I have no love for the gods, no,” she says. “When they sealed the great door, after the guardian Medusa was slain, they had to decide who would be contained within Abyssos and who would be free to roam Olympus and Panogia, the human realm.”

Until recently, I would have thought this was an easy answer. Monsters in the abyss, everyone else not. But after meeting Sillus, a harmless cercopes monkey, hearing about the friendly janitor spider at Greer’s school, and now seeing these creatures here … Well, I’m starting to think the dividing line isn’t as well defined as I used to believe.

“They decided that any creature not of wholly human appearance or godly descent would be condemned to this life.” She sweeps her hand wide, shaking her head. “Even those of us with good hearts and kind intentions. Who wish only to coexist with humans and gods alike.”

“You could earn your freedom,” I say, testing the true goodness of her heart. “By turning me in, collecting the bounty. You could be out of here tomorrow.”

“That is not true freedom.” Her golden face falls. “Not when my brothers and sisters remain imprisoned.”

“Can’t you get out?” I ask. “Like the other creatures, can’t you come through the portal?”

“There is a hierarchy here, and those with the greatest strength and darkest power are in control. We are lucky to find enough food and water to live. We could never win favor enough to be granted a release.”

“Only sneaky one,” Sillus says, sounding proud of himself. “Sillus get through.”

We sit in silence for a minute. I can’t believe it, but I actually feel sorry for these creatures. I wish I could help them.

“We have heard,” the golden maiden says, “that the Key Generation has been born. That those in power on both sides are preparing for a war over the gate.” When I don’t respond right away, she asks, “Is this true? Have you two identical sisters?”

I hesitate only a moment before answering. My every instinct tells me these creatures are trustworthy, and I have to trust my instincts. They’re all I have in here. “Yes.”

“Then you—” She turns and looks me in the eyes, her shiny gold orbs focused on me. “You are our only hope. For you and your sisters to break the seal, to resume the guardianship that is the destiny of your line. That is the only way for us and our kind to be free.”