I took a deep breath and caught him up to speed, knowing we were short on time. To help me best, he needed to know everything that had happened. So that he would know if it tied into any of his… lies of omission. The schemes they had set up. He would be the most help if he knew the full story, so in quick strokes, I told him everything.

My mother and Carl joined us not long after I began, so didn’t miss much. Carl and Talon remained silent, seeming absorbed in Charon’s lava-boarding skills as he zipped back and forth before us like a frat boy showing off to a sorority. It gave my eyes something else to focus on as I spoke, which was better than staring into my parents’ faces, which were full of pain and guilt.

At all the pain I had been forced to endure because of them. They didn’t look regretful of their decision, only resolved to hear every dark detail. What they had put their son through. Like spanking a disobedient child – hating every second of it, but knowing that the child needed to learn this harsh lesson in order to grow.

Even if delivering the punishment made the parents cry with guilt for the rest of the night in the privacy of their own bedroom.

When I finished, they shared a thoughtful look, as if silently discussing what they needed to say and how it fit into what I had told them. They didn’t bother apologizing, or commenting on my new friends, asking about my love life, or anything like that. But I could tell they wanted to – desperately wanted to hear of at least one happy, frivolous moment in my life. But they knew that all my hardship was a result of their choices – and that it had led us to this cliff, me risking my soul to find them in the depths of Hell to finally get the answers I deserved.

The answers I needed.

“You’re glowing…” my dad finally said. “It’s beautiful.”

I nodded. “Apparently, not enough,” I sighed, feeling a brief flash of despair. Had this all been for nothing? What had Anubis been looking for? Keys? The Godly power flowing through my veins not being enough. Enough for what? Was he trying to use me? Take something from me? There was only one way to find out. I’d have to ask him.

My father interrupted my thoughts by suddenly grabbing me by the shirt under my jacket. He ripped it away in one swift motion and I gasped. Like yanking a table cloth from under a table set with china – not disturbing a single dish – my jacket remained in place. He tossed the shirt into the lava far below and then pointed at my chest. I looked down and saw the golden glow was much more prominent around… my heart. Still not strong, but definitely concentrated there.

“Follow your heart, my son,” my father whispered sadly. “It is stronger than it seems…”

“Right. My heart,” I mumbled with a frown. It sure didn’t look like there was enough of the golden light to make a difference. And make a difference with what, anyway?

My mother placed a hand on my thigh. “Have you met a boy all alone? One unbroken by hardship?” She sounded resigned – as if hoping and fearing the answer at the same time.

I thought about her question. Who did I know that hadn’t survived hardship? Tory had a whole school of kids who’d survived a terrible existence. I frowned as another face came to me. “Alex?” Pandora had sure been interested in him, and my parents had sure been interested in Pandora. I told them about Alex, what he’d been through in Fae. How I had kind of adopted him.

She sighed, drooping like a kite with cut strings. “This… Alex is vital to everything. Much like you, his situation is more than mere happenstance, whether he knows it or not.”

My dad spoke up, absently scratching the ground with a loose rock. “Family can save you. Protect your family, always. You never know when they will return the favor.” I frowned at his doodle, my skin suddenly standing up on edge.

Sorry. They’re listening… was scratched into the rock. My mother pointedly ignored it, gesturing at Charon as he did a barrel roll in the air. Only I had seen the message. My dad scuffed it out with a frustrated gesture, watching me out of the corner of his eyes.

We were being watched? I wasn’t that surprised, really, but it pissed me off. That here I was, having risked it all to talk to my parents, and that now that they were finally willing to speak openly, they feared doing so. Meaning whatever they were not saying was very, very important, and must be kept secret. I paid very close attention.

“Like a later inheritance, for example,” my dad continued in the same tone. “Passing on your wealth to your offspring like we did with you. Gives you a leg up in the world. And your inheritance is vital. Is Temple Industries doing well? It’s important. I put my life into that,” he said in a warning tone. In the dirt, he had scratched another message.

Fuck the company.

I blinked rapidly, trying to keep up. “I… lost it. With the Brothers Grimm…”

He growled, kicking out a leg in frustration, conveniently scuffing his message.

My mother sighed empathetically, squeezing my thigh. “Well, don’t waste the rest of your inheritance. You should have plenty to rebuild as needed.”

Her eyes flicked to my satchel, but the rest of her body didn’t move. “I wish you hadn’t come to this hellish cave. This ocean of stone. This mausoleum…” she said sadly, wiping her nose for effect. “I didn’t want you to see us like this… In the House of the Dead…” her eyes again touched my satchel, but she disguised it well.

Those words… were specifically chosen. We had often played games like this. Hiding conversations within conversations. A family pastime.

Cave. Ocean of stone. She was talking about our cave in Fae, where I had been born. Where we had watched thunderstorms rolling in over the ocean of rock. Where Pan had given me the War Hammer.

And the House of the Dead. Mausoleum. She was referring to the Temple Mausoleum… Where they had left the Hourglass and the Hand of God for me.

Inheritance, indeed.

I squeezed her thigh in a specific pattern, trying to calm my racing pulse. “I had to see you again.” My squeezes spelled out YES in Morse Code. She sobbed at the gesture and message, placing her hand atop mine. If I had been wrong about the secret conversation she would have looked at me strangely, for squeezing her leg in such an oddly specific sequence. “As painful as this is, I will hold this memory close to my heart for the rest of my life,” I said, letting my hand – seemingly coincidentally – brush my satchel. They will always be safe beside me, the gesture said. “I always hoped I would see you again,” I added with a faint smile.

She nodded sadly. “Hope… such a small word. And, of course, the first letter has three parts, like you three heroes. Three lines that form something greater, a cornerstone. A foundation. Strong enough to come down to even this place…” She blinked as if at a new thought, then smiled. “Not unlike our family, back together against all odds,” she smiled, nudging both mine and my dad’s ribs playfully. She leaned forward, making a show of picking up a rock.

“Oh, not your doodling again. He’s not a child, Makayla,” my dad complained tiredly.

“Hush, Calvin,” she chided sternly. “This is about how we met. I’ve always wanted to tell him myself.” My father sighed in resignation, but his eyes were tight with concern. She turned back to me. “Humor an old mother for a moment, Wylde.” She started, as if the name had been an accident. And perhaps it was. Or perhaps it wasn’t. “Two arrogant wizards with the same goal, but not romantic together.” She drew two parallel lines. “Then…” she added a horizontal line connecting the two, and forming an H. “You came along and brought us all together… Made us a family.” Her eyes confirmed to me she wasn’t just talking about us three. Or even Carl, Talon and me.

Was she referring to my inheritance? The three things they had given me?

The Hand of God.

The Hourglass.

The War Hammer.

“Three lines… Three… Such a powerful number,” she mused, sounding lost in her thoughts. “Like a pyramid or tripod, perhaps…. It can’t stand without that third leg, can it?” she murmured absently. The Hand of God was shaped like a pyramid… Or was she talking about Talon and Carl keeping me balanced? She drew the letter A into the rock, making it look like she was just fidgeting to avoid looking in my eyes.

She was trying very hard not to say something. A for… Alex? Arete?

“All vital. Without one, the tripod falls. A strong blow from a hammer can knock these sticks down, of course.” She scored a line through her drawing, but her eyes flickered to where Anubis’ throne sat in the distance, making her warning obvious. Anubis was a hammer that could destroy them. But… why didn’t she hide this warning?

“But the right hammer can also forge things together with the right heat. Three legs… A young man can be equally important,” she said, jerking her chin towards Talon and Carl. “But I guess it all depends on what the leg is made of. An empty pyramid wouldn’t be valuable without treasure inside, of course. Bah, I’m just babbling now.”

My dad spoke gently, placing an arm on her shoulder. “I think what she means is that you three are important. Friends are important. Family is important. Keep each other safe, and your heart will never be empty.”

My mother nodded in embarrassment, but I was getting confused. Were we talking about us or the inherited gifts? Or both? At least I knew that if I was confused, anyone watching had to feel drunk. My mother smiled at us warmly. “My Three Musketeers. All for one and one for all.” I glanced down at the dirt where my dad was scratching absently, but not looking at his hand.

For = are.

I kept my face blank. Switching words? I replayed my mother’s statement, replacing the word for with are. All are one and one are all. I had no idea what it meant, but if I ever got out of here, I was going to have a migraine.

“We love you, my son. My Wylde…” she laughed messily, ruffling my hair. “I’ve wanted to call you that again for so long…”

“Never fear for us, Wylde. We love you, even if we never showed it properly. We gladly accept the consequences. Temples always pay the piper. No one else pays our debts.”

I barely concealed my jolt at the phrase. Pay the piper…

As one, their gazes locked across the ocean of lava towards Anubis’ throne, and they evaporated into puffs of smoke.

A moment later, we were suddenly standing before the throne again.

“So, your parents want you to pay the piper, do they?” Anubis said, sounding amused.