“I probably would have,” Kieran murmured. “With enough time, I probably would’ve turned to the only thing I knew—my training. My father’s training. But Alexis keeps me level. She and her wards keep all of us sane. What makes me different? She does. She makes me a better man, and that makes me a better leader.”

“Kumbaya, my lord,” Bria sang softly. “Kumbaya…”

“Get the woman a lighter, Jerry,” Donovan called out.

“Where’s the campfire, eh, Jerry?” Thane said.

“This is unraveling fast.” I rubbed my eyes, swore, then remembered I hadn’t put on makeup that day. I rubbed them a little more. “We need to head down the mountain before dark. I am not staying in that cave with the poop and the bones.”

“I don’t eat the trespassers,” Jerry said. “That’s a rumor. Those bones are from mountain goats and deer. I have a car around the other side of the mountain. I’ve always wondered who would be smart enough to grab me when I go down for supplies—vegetables and fruit. The people in the village at the base of the mountain are good people, though. They clearly haven’t told anyone about my habits.”

Silence again fell over everyone as the sun kissed the horizon, Jerry looking out over the valley, Kieran letting him mull things over.

The wait didn’t do kind things to the two punch-drunk members of the Six.

“Join our party already, Jerry,” Donovan called out.

“Sorry about throwing rocks at your head, Jerry, okay?” Thane said.

“I don’t think Kieran realizes how different he is from other Demigods,” Bria said, pushing up to standing and taking a place at the stone rail. “I’ve worked for a few of them here and there, and seen even more in action. He’s the only one I like. Literally the only one. Regardless, hurry up and make a decision so we can get out of here. Your life right now sucks, bud. I don’t want to spend any more time in it.”

Laughter shook Jerry’s shoulders, but it was short-lived. “If Miss…”

“Just call her Alexis,” Bria said. “Formality makes my ass clench.”

“If Alexis hadn’t spoken to Caily, we’d all be dead,” Jerry said. “I would’ve brought the mountain down on top of you, and she would’ve killed me in the process. I would be with my sweet rose right now. But I cannot ignore Caily’s wish for me to do more with my life. I will join you. I will take the oath. Most importantly, I will help protect Alexis so that Demigod Drusus never has to endure what I have.”

“Thank fuck.” I heard a slow clap and some shuffling within the stone hallway. “Let’s get out of here,” Donovan said. “This place is doing my head in.”

Jerry didn’t want to bring anything, maybe because all of his belongings had gone to seed, or maybe because they reminded him of the empty years he’d spent seeking revenge. Either way, he left everything behind. As we made our way out a side exit, a large cave used as a garage that was blocked off with a stone slab only the giant could move, Harding fell in beside me.

“I am thoroughly impressed,” he said as the giant hopped into an old Subaru, the seat pushed back so far that no one would be able to fit in the rear.

“About which part?”

“All of it. Everything. The way you all worked together, your collective courage in the face of danger, your ability to get the guy no one else was able to get—you pulled it off. I’m impressed. I’ve said it before, but this has cemented it in my mind—you and your Demigod are something special. Add in your team, and you’ve got something magical.”

“Thanks.” We made our way down the road, no one riding with Jerry, who lead the way slowly, lifting the rocks out of the way. I suspected that was Kieran’s way of extending trust. If Jerry wanted to take off, he could. But if he chose to follow us back to our lodgings, his decision would be set in cement.

At this point, after everything we’d been through, I couldn’t find the energy to care.

“I will tell you a secret, but you can’t tell anyone it came from me,” Harding said, putting out his hand to slow me. Zorn, at the back of the group, gave me a hard stare, but let me fall behind him. “There is a recluse I know of with fantastic power. Most of the living world thinks he is dead. Like your new giant, this recluse is hiding in a mountain, but the mountain is not his protection. His ability to disappear and don a non-magical identity has kept him safe.”

“What is his magic? Espionage?”

“That’s not an actual magic. Have you ever heard the term”—Harding paused for dramatic effect—“Lightning Rod?”

“No. I mean, I know what a lightning rod is, but not the magical kind.”

His expectant expression fell. “No? You’ve never heard the term Lightning Rod? Really? Crack a book.” He sighed. “It’s like how they call you a Soul Stealer instead of your actual magical name. This magical worker is of Zeus’s line. He’s a level-five Thunderstroke. He entered into a blood oath with a Demigod of Zeus, Gianna. Rumor has it that he was then forced to be her sex pet, sometimes chained to the bed for days on end. She died of poisoning, and the world believes that he died right beside her. Though a few people prospered because of her death, your father included, it was never discovered who actually killed her. It couldn’t have been the Thunderstroke because of the blood oath. Regardless, he is not dead. He is not in the beyond. I wonder if he would be amenable to entering magical society again. Chester life can be so dull. It would do anyone’s head in. But he’d need magical protection. His power is nearly as rare as yours, though far less elusive and terrifying. All of Zeus’s line will want to have it, just like Hades’s heirs want you. Wouldn’t it be a grand joke if one of Poseidon’s line had the monopoly on rare, cool magic? That watery bastard doesn’t deserve it, but you’re shacked up with one of his kind, so here we are.”

“Why are you telling me this now? Why not when we started the hunt for a larger magical defense?”

“Lightning Rods are incredibly dangerous, and this man was done all kinds of wrong by a Demigod. Gianna was a big lover of BDSM—do you know what that is?”

“Yes. I don’t live under a rock.”

“Do you like it?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Hurry up. We’re almost to the SUVs.”

“I’ll take that as a maybe. Well, she didn’t believe in safe words. She beat him bloody, I’ve heard. Cut him. Tortured him. By now, I imagine he is severely mind-fucked, and won’t trust easily. He’ll be more dangerous than the giant. He might be a death sentence. But maybe, just maybe, with all of you working together…all of you…” He paused, his gaze pounding into mine, trying to get his meaning across. He meant the kids, obviously. I shook my head, but he continued before I could object. “Maybe you’ll have a shot. He would be the ultimate score for your party. With his ability to detect and counteract Zeus magic, he’d sufficiently cover your Zeus blind spot.”

The various rocks and boulders littering the way lifted into the air as we walked down the mountain, the giant clearing the road for his car. The SUVs were parked just up ahead. Donovan would have to lift the cars and turn them around.