Seven Wonders Book 1: The Colossus Rises (24 page)

I
CRAWLED NEARER
. The membrane was translucent, and in the flashlight beam I could see Cass’s form inside. He seemed to be floating, head tilted upward. His chest rising and falling.

“He’s alive!” Aly shouted.

“Brother Cass, hold tight!” Marco said. He tried to dig his fingers into the membrane, but it wouldn’t give.

The griffin did not digest human flesh raw…Hid its prey in caves…cocooned it…macerated it with saliva
…

“It’s a cocoon,” I said. “Like the one Bhegad described.”

Marco recoiled. “Ugh! The griffin has been cooking him in its spit.”

A crash made me jump. Aly turned, having battered her
flashlight against the rock-embedded wall. Its top was jagged and sharp. “Not a knife,” she said, “but it’s the closest thing we’ve got.”

She plunged it into the skin of the cocoon.

A blast of foul air blew me back. Cass fell in a heap, his torso hanging limply through the rip in the membrane.

“Cass, it’s me, Jack!” I yelled. “You’re going to be all right!” I pulled him out, setting him down gently on the cave floor. His head lolled to one side. His mouth opened once, twice.

“I’ll take him,” Marco said, slinging Cass over his shoulder. “I can hold on to the Loculus with one hand and him with the other. We’ll get him back to Rhodes and book it out of here. Somehow.”

“Good,” I said, snapping off the flashlight. I didn’t even want to think about what we would do about Torquin. “Come on.”

We crawled back into the outer chamber. As we gathered around the Loculus, the cave juddered.

The griffin’s unearthly squawk was weaker but unmistakable. Its face was in the entryway, its yellow eyes desperate and angry. The truck door, which had scraped the beast’s neck raw, was preventing it from getting in.

As the griffin fell away, I shouted, “Move! Let’s get out of—”

The cave shook again as the beast made a second attempt.
This time it didn’t fall away. It planted its feet against the cave, sprang back, and flew directly in again.

Rocks fell from the ceiling. “It’s going to keep trying until it breaks its neck or widens the hole!” Marco said.

WHAM!

A low creaking sound echoed through the chamber, as a crack spread across the wall.

“Looks like the griffin’s winning,” Marco warned.

“What do we do?” Aly shouted.

“Protect Cass!” I said.

The griffin flew toward the cave again, at full speed. The crash knocked us all to the floor. As the opening busted wider, the beast tumbled in. Quickly it righted itself onto its haunches. Seeing the Loculus in my arms, it lunged.

Marco stepped in front of me, but the griffin swatted him aside.

From behind, Aly tried to stab it with the only thing she had—a broken flashlight. But the beast flicked her aside with its tail.

It lurched toward me, the truck door still affecting its balance. I stepped back, holding tight to the Loculus. “Lateral pass!” Marco called out, but the idea was insane. There was no room. The griffin was going to kill me for the Loculus. It would kill all of us.

My back was to the wall. I had no room to move. I had run out of ideas. Aly and Marco were both shouting my name.

The griffin crouched low, eyeing me with triumph. There was no retreat now, no surrender.

It knew it finally had me.

“S
TOP!
”

My voice rang out in the cave. I almost didn’t recognize it.

I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I didn’t know what else to do. But I was staring into the creature’s eyes, my hand thrust out in front of me, palm out. I knew I shouldn’t be looking at the thing as it killed me. It was somehow unnatural.

The griffin cocked its head. I couldn’t read the expression on its face. Maybe it thought I was the stupidest human being in the world. Maybe it wanted a good laugh before killing me.

The Loculus was tucked under my left arm like a beach ball. I could feel it warm against my side. Hadn’t it been
cool before? It was giving me something I couldn’t describe. A kind of strength. A realization I had nothing to lose.

I stood, eyes locked on the griffin’s.
Sure, take me
, I thought. Marco could steal away the Loculus while this thing was snacking on my bones. I was living on borrowed time anyway.

“Just stop,” I repeated. “You don’t need to guard this anymore. I will give it to Marco, and you can do what you want with me.”

The griffin sat back on its haunches. Then it sprawled on the ground with a submissive whimper.

“Jack…?” Aly said in a hushed voice. “What did you do?”

I swallowed hard. “I…I don’t know.”

As I sidled away, the griffin’s eyes followed me. “Take this,” I said to Marco. “Now. Before this spell goes away.”

I could see Marco loading Cass’s unconscious body back over his shoulder. “Not without you, brother,” he said.

“Take it!” I repeated.

Aly grabbed me by the arm, pulling me past the lion-bird. As we stood by the entrance, it followed us with docile, sad eyes.

“Hands on,” Marco whispered, holding out the Loculus.

I said a silent prayer. And we jumped.

As we soared into the clear afternoon sky, the anguished roar of the griffin bellowed from the cave. The sound made the cliff wall shake.

From just above the opening, a large section of rock and soil broke loose. It crashed downward into the opening, billowing a cloud of gray-brown debris.

As we gained altitude, it looked like a bomb had gone off inside the cave. We circled, trying to get a glimpse.

But when the noise stopped and the dust settled, there was nothing.

No hole, no sign the cave had ever been there.

The griffin, finally, was silent.

“D
O YOU THINK
anyone saw us?” Aly asked, trudging along the beach.

We had landed on a deserted stretch, a few hundred yards short of the hotel strip. The Loculus was tucked safely under my arm as we rushed along the sand.

“The monks did,” Marco said, walking with Cass slung over his back. “They’re probably talking with the cops already.”

“No one will believe them,” Aly said.

“But Greece is tolerant of eccentrics,” I pointed out.

I looked at Cass’s limp body. He reeked of griffin saliva.

“No words yet,” Marco said, catching my glance. “Forward
or
backward. He’s breathing, though. And he needs a good shower.”

We had a good couple of miles to go before we reached the center of town. Once we got there, our problems didn’t end. We had to spring Torquin from jail and get ourselves back.

I glanced up at the nearest hotel, the Rhodean Manor, a high-rise with a small pool. “We have some money,” I said. “Let’s pool it and get a room. Use a different name, just in case the monks heard us using our real names and convinced the cops to look for us. Aly and I can figure out how to spring Torquin, and we’ll come back to get you. Make sure no one sees the Loculus.”

Marco stopped, raising a dubious eyebrow. “How do you know I won’t take it for a spin back to Ohio?”

“Marco, that’s not funny,” Aly said, continuing to walk toward town. “And one other thing. No phone calls. There’s probably a police alert on your home number. You have to keep your call to less than twenty seconds to avoid a trace, and you won’t be able to. Trust me.”

“You tried?” Marco asked.

Aly kept walking. I gave him a look that said
off limits
.

“I’ll zip it, promise,” he whispered to me. “Scout’s honor.”

The police station was two blocks up and one block over from the Colossus Diner. As we entered, a gale of laughter greeted us from down a corridor.

I walked up to the front desk and said, “Do you have a
prisoner here by the name of Torquin?”

The officer behind the desk smiled. She gestured for us to follow. Aly and I gave each other wary looks. I still didn’t know how we were going to talk our way out of this.

We took a right into a hallway lined with jail cells. It appeared that they were all empty except for one at the far end.

Two police officers sat at a desk in the hallway outside the cell, sipping coffee and eating baklava. They were speaking in Greek to the prisoner.

All at once they burst into laughter.

From inside the cell came a retort. The officers laughed some more.

“Torquin?” I said.

We picked up the pace. I nodded to the cops and then peered inside the cell. Torquin was sitting on a padded bench, sipping his own cup of coffee. An empty plate, full of crumbs, sat on the bench next to him.

When he saw us, he sat up straight. “Late!” he said.

“We’ve had a busy day,” Aly said. She turned to the officers and said, “Um, any English speakers? If so, listen up. If you don’t release this man, someone will die. I will march right to the American consulate if I have to in order to free him. I will contact the ambassador and the president, and you will have an international incident on your hands.”

“I’m impressed,” I murmured.

The two Greek officers stood. One of them bowed politely and pulled on Torquin’s cell. It swung open. “I am Detective Haralambos. He is yours, young lady. No need to summon your Congress. If only all Americans were like this fascinating gentleman! He should be allowed a brief moment of temper.” He smiled. “Between you and me, Kostas, the owner of the Colossus, is a bit of a crank.”

Torquin stood. With a swagger, he padded out of the cell. “
Yia sou
,” he said.

“Later,” answered Detective Haralambos.

Torquin was waiting in the taxi outside the hotel when Aly and I knocked on the door of Marco’s room.

“It’s open,” said a groggy voice.

Cass’s voice.

I pushed open the door. Aly and I ran in. Cass was lying on the bed, a wet washcloth on his forehead. He was in a bathrobe, looking all cleaned up, but his skin was mottled from what had happened in the cocoon.

“I don’t believe this!” Aly gushed, leaning over the bed and giving him a gentle hug.

Cass winced painfully. “Ouch.”

“Sorry!” Aly said, springing back. “Are you all right?”

“I feel like gnicnad,” he groaned.

Aly shot me a smile. Cass, we knew, was going to be fine.

“I brought you some clothes,” I said, laying out a T-shirt, pair of shorts, underwear, and flip-flops I’d bought in town. “Greek sizes. I hope they fit.”

“Anything’s better than what I had,” Cass said. “It was embarrassing flying over the KI in
Simpsons
boxers.”

Aly looked around. “Where’s Marco?” she asked.

“Was Marco here?” Cass asked.

“Marco brought you here,” I said. “With the Loculus. And now we have to go. Torquin’s waiting outside.”

I stood and glanced around the room. The only sign of Marco was a plate with chocolate crumbs and three candy wrappers. I figured he was out getting a soda or something.

“Jack?” Aly said. “Where’s the Loculus?”

My body stiffened.

I looked under the bed. I pulled open every drawer. I checked the bathroom.

No Loculus.

“What are you guys talking about?” Cass demanded. “We have a Loculus?”

As Aly explained what had happened, I sank onto the bed. Marco’s words were spinning in my head.
How do you know I won’t take it for a spin back to Ohio?

Could he have done it?

Marco the Immortal…the Kid Who Faced Down Death
…

“Jack…?” Aly said. She and Cass were both staring at me now.

“Marco thinks he’s okay,” I replied. “Immortal. He doesn’t believe what Bhegad said about the finger prick. He isn’t scared about missing the treatments anymore.”

“You think he…?” Aly said.

“Gamed us,” I said, staring out the window into the blue Greek sky. “Yes.”

“I don’t believe it, Jack,” Aly said. “What if he just decided to fly back to the Karai Institute on his own? To race us. That’s his style.”

“How would he know where the island is, Aly?” I asked. “Even Cass couldn’t find it.”

“Maybe I could,” Cass said. He sat up, the washcloth falling from his head. “Oww.”

“Get dressed, brother Cass,” I said softly. “We have a long ride back.”