elseâs.â
âThatâs flippinâ right,â Ash said, punching fists to her waist.
Apollo rubbed the fur of his new coat and stared into the morning light spilling from the window. âZeus will never let Artemis win. Once he finds out her planâand he willâheâll swarm this realm. Heâll have no tolerance either for the Wild Child community.â He turned back to Ash. âThen youâll all be Goners, for real.â
âWe can hide from Zeus,â Ash said. âWe can live in the Perimeter Lands.â
âHe empties them out once a year and tosses people off The Edge. Do you want to float to death in the Great Beyond?â
âWeâll cross into another realm then; keep moving if we have to. We can hide in the red desert canyons of the Dred Realm or in the Argos Realm where it never snows.â She threw her hands out to Apollo. âWe built all this. We can build it again.â
âYouâll still be living under Zeusâs rules for Nostos wherever you go,â Apollo said. âWe all will. And he wants the Oracle as badly as Artemis,â he shot me a look, âand for similar reasons: to control the Oracle. Zeus rules all of Nostos with a heavy hand, but if someone with the power of the original Olympians were to rise, theyâd be a threat to him. Some Nostos rulers want Olympian powers and some want things to stay the same.â He lowered his voice. âWe are a world divided.â
âZeus didnât stop Hekate in the Lost Realm when she took over King Apollo,â I said. âWhy now?â
âHe doesnât care about the realms fighting each other,â Apollo said. âBut if he finds out the Oracle is here and someone else is after him, heâll hunt them both down.â
He let these words hang in the air. I scrunched my shoulders in with them all looking at me as if I was the answer.
âThen Zeus will do what?â I said to Apollo.
His black eyes fired into mine, his jaw twitching. âKill them.â
Ash bent her head, her long hair hiding her face. âMy Leaving Day is coming. Someone else will lead the Wild Childs soon.â
âWhy donât you escape on Leaving Day and head into the Perimeter Lands? Bribe someone to help you get to Earth,â I said. âMy grandfather did. My mother did.â
She crossed her arms. âIf we donât honor our deal, the queen rounds us all up for the hunt. Itâs happened once before. No member since has put our people in such danger. One group of Wild Childs tried to escape all at once. Too many died and the survivors returned to their home here.â
âItâs been the way of the Wild Childs for hundreds of years, Joshua,â Apollo said matter-of-factly. âItâs how our world works.â
âYour world stinks, King-man,â Charlie said.
Agreed.
âAsh, what about Leandro?â It hurt to say his name.
âHe wonât get grounded.â Ash shook her head. âHe knows how to stick the beasts good. Some animals may fear him, and Artemis has a weakness for him too. After all, her daughter was fathered by a Wild Child.â
âWhat happened to them?â
âThe father got grounded on his Leaving Day. The beasts got him before he reached the WC. Artemis found his torn apart body in the woods. Her daughter died years later in a hunting accident.â
âHow do you know all this?â I said.
She waved a hand. âWe see a lot from these treetops ⦠I see a lot. Like Artemis visiting the Black Heart Tree and sharing secrets with that evil tree monster.â
She shook her head as if tossing those thoughts away. âEnough gossip. Youâve overstayed your welcome.â
She turned to leave when shouts burst from nearby.
Artemis and her men were back!
Chapter Eighteen
âS cram and cram!â Ash pulled at me. âWe have to get you out of the Wild Lands.â She
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