Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(25)

Diana slid the lasso over the horse’s head, and Alia watched in wonder as Khione vanished. Magic. She was seeing real magic. The kind of magic in movies. No wands or wizards yet, but maybe if she stayed on the island long enough, a dragon would show up. It all feels so real, Alia thought as she followed Diana through the grasslands. But that was probably how delusions worked.

At some point she realized that the terrain was starting to look familiar. In the distance, she saw the sea. They’d returned to the cliffs.

“I’m not going back to the cave,” she said stubbornly.

“Not the cave,” said Diana. “The cove.”

Alia picked her way cautiously to the edge of the cliff and looked down. There was a small sandy beach carved into the coast, like the top of a question mark.

“Okay, but no way am I getting on your back again.”

“I can hitch up a sling,” said Diana, removing a length of ordinary rope from her pack.

“Not happening. I’m not going over that cliff.”

“I won’t let you get hurt.”

“You know what, Diana? We just met, so maybe you haven’t picked up on this, but I’m not made like you. I appreciate that you saved my life—”

“A couple of times.”

“Okay, a couple of times, but this day has been a lot. I don’t do miles of hiking or any kind of rock climbing that doesn’t involve a safety harness, an indoor wall, and some jacked-up guy on the gym floor shouting stuff like ‘Good hustle!’ I’m trying my best, but I’m about ready to lose it here.”

Diana studied her for a long moment, and Alia was pretty sure that the girl could simply throw her over her shoulder if she wanted to. But Diana nodded and gave a small bow. “Forgive me.”

Apparently, cult kids had really good manners, too.

“No problem,” Alia said, embarrassed by her outburst. At least this meant no more piggybacks. Diana led her along the cliff to the beginning of a steep, narrow path. Alia swallowed and did her best to feign confidence. “Much better.”

“My way would be faster,” Diana offered.

“Slow and steady wins the race.”

“That is almost always untrue.”

“Take it up with Aesop.”

“Aesop never existed. The stories credited to him were the work of two female slaves.”

“That sounds about typical. I’ll ponder it on the way down.”

Alia started along the path, carefully choosing each step, afraid she’d lose her footing and go right over the side.

“It’s going to take you an hour if you do it that way,” said Diana.

“I’ll get there when I get there. I’m not part goat.”

“Could have fooled me.”

At that moment another small tremor struck, and Alia pressed her body to the cliff side.

“You’re sure you want to take the path?” Diana said.

“Positive,” Alia squeaked.

“All right. Wait for me on the sand.”

“You aren’t coming?”

“I’ll go my own way.”

Diana tossed her pack over the side of the cliff to the cove below. Then, as Alia watched in disbelief, she sprinted the length of the cliff top. Alia clapped her hands over her mouth. She can’t mean to—

Diana leapt, silhouetted for a moment against the thunderheads, toes pointed, arms outstretched. She looked like she might sprout wings and simply take flight. Stranger things have happened today. Instead, her body arced downward and vanished over the cliff side.

“Show-off,” Alia muttered, and continued down the path.

As she shuffled along, she alternated between trying to find the next place to put her foot and gazing out to sea to try to locate Diana in the rocking gray waves. The surf was huge, beating at the cove with ceaseless rage. What if Diana had simply been dragged under? What if she’d cracked her gorgeous head open on a rock?

The farther Alia went, the worse her own head ached and the sicker she felt. By the time she reached the bottom of the cliffs, her thighs were shaking and her nerves had frayed to nothing from fear of the fall. There was no sign of Diana, and Alia realized she had no idea what to do if she didn’t return. Climb back to the top? She wasn’t sure she had the strength. Hope one of those hippie weapons collectors found her and was friendlier than Diana had suggested? And what about everything Diana had said about Greece and Alia being dangerous?

“Girl is addled,” said Alia decisively to no one. “That’s what growing up in a cult does to you.” Yeah, and you’re the one talking to yourself on a beach.

Even so, Alia felt the knot of worry in her chest loosen when she looked out to sea and saw Diana cutting through the ocean, her arms slicing through the water at a determined pace. There was something behind her, a massive shape that appeared and disappeared in the spaces between the waves.

When Diana reached the shore, she emerged with water streaming from her dark hair, ropes thrown over her shoulders, feet digging into the sand, every muscle in her body straining as she strode forward. It took Alia a long moment to understand that the ropes were rigging.

Diana had hauled the Thetis from the bottom of the sea.

A bone-deep shiver quaked through Alia. One of the masts was still intact; the other had snapped free close to its base. The prow was completely gone. The explosion had left nothing but a jagged line of wood and fiberglass where the rest of the boat should be. You are being hunted….Because of what you are.