CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIVE

The Way Forward, Part 2

“Why do they keep doing this to me…?” Sam wondered aloud.

Sam shoved the phone back into Thunder’s hand without reading the rest of the article. He felt certain that whatever else was on it would only piss him off more.

“I can’t believe Mr. Kim would let them write that crap about me…” Sam sighed. Then he shook his head. “No, it’s probably Marie’s doing… but why is she trying to make things harder for me like this?”

“Maybe this is her way of toughening you up,” Thunder suggested.

“Bad press and fake news are supposed to toughen me up?” Sam asked, his eyebrow arching.

“It worked for me,” she replied.

“Um, yeah, I remember…” Sam recalled the first days of Thunder’s debut which were mostly awesome reviews all around, but she also got compared a lot to her cousin, and that made her mistakes seem even bigger than they were which led to some bad press. “But they can’t stop praising you now, can they?”

“You should have read more of the article.” Thunder flashed Sam a teasing grin. “They credit me and my team for, in the Herald’s words, accomplishing the impossible and finding the exit of the Endless Maze.”

“Your team?” Sam wanted to frown but Thunder’s smile made him too giddy inside. “I’m guessing Herculean wasn’t part of this team?”

“Nope,” Thunder admitted. Her smile was still up.

Sam sighed. “I hate the news…”

“Says the former journalist who risked his life to save mine…” Thunder stepped forward. Her face turned serious. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

Her face was so close. Close enough that their noses were almost touching.

“I…I can’t die without keeping my promise to you,” he replied.

“You’re so lame, lame-brain.” Thunder’s hand bridged the distance between them to rest on Sam’s chest. “I can’t believe I missed you.”

“Y-you missed me?” Sam repeated.

Thunder nodded.

Sam gulped. He didn’t expect her to admit it so easily, and now he wasn’t sure what to do.

“I…I missed you too,” he blurted out.

Sam immediately regretted saying it out loud, but then Thunder smiled the kind of smile that usually lit up a room—and relief flooded his chest. With that relief came a tide of feelings that goaded Sam into telling Thunder everything he’d been through since their parting on the bridge.

“When I was lost in that… place…” Sam had to try hard to repress the shudder that came with the remembrance of that abyss as he didn’t want Thunder to notice how the memory of it frightened him even now. “I almost couldn’t remember who I was… but I couldn’t forget you, and remembering you was what kept me alive.”

Truthfully, this would have been the perfect lesson number thirty-five moment, and Sam knew it too. He wasn’t clueless. But, somehow it still didn’t feel like the right moment to him.

Not yet, he thought. Not until I’ve healed her…that’s the only way forward for us.

A second later and Thunder stepped away. Their moment passed. And, as Sam followed her wordlessly out the door, he couldn’t help but wonder if he hadn’t just blown his only chance to confess his feelings to her. It was all he could think about while they joined their friends who were waiting for them outside the school bus. Sam was so lost in thought wondering if he and Thunder would ever be alone like that again that he didn’t even notice a new crisis had already befallen them.

“Sam?” Thunder called.

“Y-yeah?” he replied.

“I was asking you if you were sure about this,” Thunder repeated.

The team was gathered next to the Argo VII which Farsight had parked just off the road leading into one of San Francisco’s most famous landmarks. They all wore matching blue cloaks enchanted with [Disguise] charms to help keep civilians from noticing the suits underneath. Discovery wouldn’t be much of an issue though because the heavy mist settling over the surrounding area had also driven away the throng of tourists who usually came to visit this place.

“A great golden band that stretches across Poseidon’s domain,” Jackboot repeated. “It makes sense now, doesn’t it?”

They were all looking up at the red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge which was noticeable in the sky despite the mist hovering around them even though everything else—including the sun— was hidden from view.

“I hate how easily you solved this riddle, Sam,” Farsight grumbled.

Over their ten-hour ride from Oregon to San Francisco, Sam had shared the clue Chiron entrusted to him with his team.

Through Golden bands that stretch across Poseidon’s domain

Sleeps the grand treasure only the worthy can attain

We left it there in the blessed folds of War’s embrace

Protected by the guardian of Colchis one must face

Yet to open its bright Gates one requires the keys

Found in the Tribulation hidden among the trees

“I can’t say I agree… The word choice might make this a likely candidate, but people have been crossing this bridge since it was built, and no one’s ever reported anything strange about it,” Dr. Hearthstone said.

“This is the place,” Sam insisted. “Or haven’t you guys noticed how unnatural this mist is yet?”

No one could argue that. The heavy mist had snuck up on them pretty quickly just as they neared the bridge almost like it was barring the Argo VII from moving forward.

“You’re saying the mist appeared specifically because we came here?” Farsight asked.

Sam nodded.

“Why though?” Thunder pressed.

A thoughtful expression passed over Sam’s face. “You know how in some games the path forward doesn’t open up until you’ve fulfilled certain conditions?”

“Like the secret cow level in Diablo Two?” Jackboot guessed.

“Exactly like that.” Sam nodded enthusiastically.

“The secret cow level,” Thunder repeated, sighing afterward. “Can someone explain for the non-nerds of the group?”

To everyone’s surprise, it was Dr. Hearthstone who explained, “There’s a secret level in the game that you can only get to if you combine Wirt’s leg with a Tome of Town Portal in the Horadic Cube while in the Rogue Encampment.”

Everyone stared dumbfoundedly back at the physically imposing veteran hero, and he just shrugged back at them.

“I like classic games,” he reasoned.

Thunder let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m surrounded by nerds.”

“It’s more significant than just a simple gamer reference,” Jackboot chimed in. “Diablo II’s secret cow level is a seminal example of an Easter egg.”

“And it illustrates my point really well, too,” Sam added quickly. “Just like with the secret cow level, I think this mist only appears when someone fulfills a condition that activates it.”

“What sort of condition?” Farsight asked.

Sam pulled out the murky white crystal from one of his belt’s pouches and showed it to his friends.

“Chiron said that the Vikings used a sunstone to navigate the seas whenever it was cloudy.” Sam’s gaze drifted left and then right. “And this is exactly the kind of scenario where this thing would be useful.”

“So, you’re saying the mist appeared because we brought the sunstone to the bridge’s entrance?” Thunder asked.

“That must be the first condition,” Sam agreed. He glanced over at Dr. Hearthstone and added, “It’s also probably why no one else has found the path in the last seventy years.”

“I see.” Dr. Hearthstone beamed at Sam. “Once we brought the sunstone within range of the enchantment, we opened the path to finding the gate that leads to—”

“The blessed fold of War’s embrace,” Jackboot finished for him. “Which, based on how the W was capitalized, probably means Ares, your god of war.”

“Ares…” Thunder said, sighing afterward. Surprisingly enough, the other three heroes of the Greek pantheon sighed along with her. It seemed they were all in agreement that they wanted nothing to do with their God of War.

“It would have been nice if we were in London where the gods of Egypt have a stronger influence, wouldn’t it?” Jackboot commented. “I think any one of the Egyptian war gods would be preferable to your Ares.”

“I can’t argue that, Jack,” Farsight shrugged. “Ares isn’t exactly what you’d call respectable.”

At her words, Sam warily glanced up at the clouded sky, but no angry peel of thunder reached his ears to suggest that one of their invisible spectators had been offended by the seer’s candor. Perhaps Farsight and her gifts were far too important to the scheme of the Fates for any god to blast her into oblivion on a whim.

“Let’s get on with it then, shall we?” Jackboot asked.

“It’s your show, Sam.” Thunder patted him gingerly on the shoulder. “So, how do we open the gate?”

To answer her question, Sam raised the sunstone high—and that’s when the way forward finally appeared.