“Have you seen Eliza Masters?” James asked a random passerby fretfully, probably for the hundredth time. The girl shrugged and walked on. Seeing a friendly face, he ran over, desperate. “Ricky, you seen Eliza?” The dark-skinned boy bit his lip. “Um . . . not that I—“ Ricky’s eyes flashed in remembrance. “Oh, wait. I did see her heading to the valet parking lot. Does that help?” “Yeah, thanks,” James declared anxiously as he jogged out the door. He sprinted up and down each row of the car-filled lot, the heels of his dress shoes clacking loudly on the pavement. But it was all to no avail. The Fiat was nowhere to be found. I really screwed up this time. James pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to her. In only seconds there was a reply. It read: Leave me alone. He clenched his jaw and cursed himself as he sent another text. This time, there was no further response. His heart felt as if an Olympic strongman was crushing the life out of him with their bare hands. Once agai

The building where Eliza was being held turned out to be some kind of old factory or manufacturing plant from the early 20th century, only it looked more like a stone castle than a factory. The drive had taken almost two hours in a general northern heading, into the heart of rural Pennsylvania. The place was huge, and the only vestiges of a plan that they’d developed was for Oliver to take the search on the upper floor, Blakeney going through the main and largest level, while James would take the basement. Infrared imagery from a passing satellite had revealed only two human-sized heat signatures—and some kind of large heat blob, likely a heating source for the building—but when dealing with Hades, anything was possible. No kind of advantage could be seen as they made their way to the outskirts of the property. The Academy’s Mercedes was parked a half-mile back. Blakeney held up a corner of the dilapidated security fence. “Go on through, you two,” he whispered, following right after.

The setting sun created a beautiful mosaic of reds, oranges, yellows, and violets as James stared across the waterfront. As the light played across the water as if flames were dancing on the current, he thought about all that had changed in the past few months. He had set out on just another fork in life, or so he thought, but now he had discovered more about himself than he had ever known. He’d also gained more of a family than he had ever had before. His heart had grown as if by magic, and he cared for more people than he ever thought possible. James breathed a heavy sigh. That train of thought brought the tearful goodbye with Eliza this morning to the forefront of his mind. She had been through more than any one person should ever have to go through, kidnapped, tortured, and in fear for her life. He tried to be helpful and sympathize with her, but in truth he knew he couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what she had been through. He just didn’t have any experiences to com