Diana couldn’t breathe; the water had her, the current driving her forward with impossible speed. She kept her arms straight before her, her body taut as she arrowed through the dark, the rush of the water like thunder in her ears. Some part of her ached for the friends she’d left behind, trembled with fear at what might lie ahead, but she refused to be distracted. There could be no mistakes this time.
She shoved all of her will into the heartstone, her only thought: Home. The bright shores of Themyscira, the little cove that cut into the northern coast, the cliffs that rose above it, the landscape of her heart.
Behind her closed lids, she sensed light, but she could not open her eyes against the force of the water, and then, with a tremendous burst of speed, she was hurled ashore. She slammed against the sand with enough force to rattle her bones and send her head spinning. No—not sand, stone. She was lying in the blue-lit hollow of the Oracle’s temple, sprawled wet and bedraggled in the moat that ran along the bramble walls.
The Oracle sat beside the bronze tripod, a slender curl of smoke rising from the brazier into the night sky.
Slowly, Diana pushed the heavy tangle of her hair back from her face and rose. She didn’t know what to say. It had been hard enough facing the Oracle before, but now she knew she was in the presence of the very goddesses who had founded Themyscira, who had given her a second chance to save herself, to save Alia. What did you say to a goddess when you had no tribute to offer? Maybe a simple “thank you.”
But in the next moment, she heard voices. They were coming from the tunnel she’d braved to visit the Oracle only days ago.
“This was inevitable.” Tek’s voice. “We’ve been living on borrowed time since—”
“Do not say my daughter’s name again,” said Hippolyta, and Diana’s heart squeezed at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Not in this place.”
“Let us hope the Oracle accepts our sacrifices,” said another voice, familiar but less well known.
Diana froze, unsure of what to do. Hide? Face them here in the Oracle’s sanctuary? The Oracle extended her arm, one long finger pointing, and Diana heard a whispering behind her. The brambles parted. She hesitated for a moment, then hooked her hands into the twisting gray vines and climbed into the wall.
The brambles closed around her, but Diana felt only the briefest panic. There was something gentle in the movement of the branches now, in the way they shifted so she could turn and peer through the spaces between them into the Oracle’s chamber.
Diana could see her mother and Tek emerging from the tunnel with Biette, Sela, Arawelo, Marguerite, and Hongyu—all members of the Amazon Council. It was Hongyu’s voice she’d heard.
The Amazons waited in respectful silence on the other side of the moat.
The Oracle rose. Her hood slipped back, revealing the face of an ancient crone. “Sisters of the Bow and Spear, have you come to make your offering?”
“We have,” said Hippolyta. “We bring you gifts and pray you find them wor—”
“I will accept no offering this day.”
The members of the Council exchanged stricken looks.
Hippolyta shut her eyes briefly. “Then we’ve come too late. The island’s sickness, the earthquakes—”
With a start, Diana realized her mother wore the same purple silks and amethysts she’d been wearing when Diana had left. The Council had been meeting to decide whether to consult the Oracle, and this must be the delegation they’d sent. That meant only hours had passed on Themyscira. If that was the case—Diana tried to temper her hope and failed. She’d been sure she would return to exile and punishment, but what if they didn’t know she’d gone? She could slip back into the city and be at Maeve’s bedside in under an hour.
“Why did you wait so long to visit my temple?” asked the Oracle.
A crease appeared between Hippolyta’s brows. “The Council meeting was unusually contentious. At one point, I feared we’d come to blows.”
Could that have been Alia’s power? Diana wondered.
“Is there no way to save Themyscira?” asked Tek impulsively. “Can we not—”
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled through the temple. “I have accepted no offering, and yet you dare to speak these questions?”
Tek bowed her head, her hands clenching into fists. She wasn’t particularly good at meek. “I beg your forgiveness. I seek only to protect our people.”
The thunder faded, and the Oracle’s voice calmed. “You need not fear for your people, Tekmessa.” Tek’s face snapped up. “Nor for the island. This time of trouble has passed.”
Though they held their tongues, the Council exchanged worried looks, and Diana sensed their confusion.
The Oracle made a disgruntled humming noise. “And still you wait for explanations.” She waved a gnarled hand. “The island was thrown into imbalance by a disturbance in the World of Man, but the unrest is at an end.”
A slow smile spread over Hongyu’s face, and a sigh of relief seemed to pass through the Council members. Hippolyta blew out a surprisingly un-queenlike breath, and Tek grinned, slinging an arm around her shoulders. Hippolyta reached for Tek’s hand and let their fingers entwine.
“I was so sure it was something worse,” she murmured. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Just be glad it’s over,” said Tek. “Can you do that?” Hippolyta returned her smile.
But the Oracle spoke again. “Do not think to rest, Daughters of Themyscira. I have looked into the waters and seen a battle waged in the World of Man. One of your own will wade into the mortal fray to face this turmoil, a trial that will test her and decide the fate of this island and us all.”
Tek squared her shoulders. Hongyu lifted her chin. Even in her mother’s eyes, Diana saw the light of battle burning. Diana wondered which of the Council’s great warriors would face the challenge the Oracle described.
“Go now,” said the Oracle. “Rebuild your walls, set your cities to rights, and trouble me no more.”
The Amazons made their bows and departed silently through the tunnel of brambles. Diana was afraid to watch her mother go. She wanted to run after them, offer some foolish explanation, hold her mother close. She even wanted to hug Tek. Instead, she forced herself to wait.
When their footsteps had faded, the Oracle turned to Diana and the vines parted, allowing her to pass from the wall.
“So you see, Daughter of Earth, I have kept your secret.”
Diana longed to ask why, but she knew any question to the Oracle would come at a price.
“You are one of them now,” said the Oracle. “Battle-tested. Even if they do not know it, you do.”
Battle-born at last. They would never know what she’d done, the quest she’d completed. There would be no songs sung about it, no stories of glory shared. It didn’t matter. She knew who she was and the ordeal she’d faced. She was an Amazon. The knowledge burned like a secret flame inside her, a light no one could extinguish, no matter what names they called her. Diana knew that she deserved her place here—and she knew there was more than just this life on this island.
“Thank you,” Diana whispered.
“You took the chance as we hoped you would,” said the Oracle. “We did nothing.”
But that wasn’t quite true. “When I came to ask about Alia, you told me I wasn’t a true Amazon.”
“Did we?”
Well, not exactly, but the meaning had been clear. “You told me I would fail.”
“We couldn’t know you would succeed.”
Realization struck Diana with the force of an unexpected wave. “You wanted me to go. That’s why you said those things.”
“Better to choose a quest feeling you have something to prove than take it on as a burden. We needed a champion, and you needed a chance to learn what you are capable of.”
“But I almost failed!” Diana said, her mind reeling. “The world was almost plunged into an age of warfare! What if I’d lost?”
“But you didn’t.”
“What if I’d chosen to come back to Themyscira when you offered me the chance, instead of facing Jason?”
“Then we would have known you aren’t the hero we hoped for.”
“But—”
The air rumbled with distant thunder. Diana ground her teeth in frustration. Maybe the Oracle was right. Maybe she’d needed to choose the path for herself. Maybe she’d fought harder because she’d known she had no one else to believe in her. Then she remembered Nim at the gala, saying, Oh man, do you have one of those tough-love families? I just don’t buy into that.
“Nim had it right,” she muttered.
“Oh, very well,” said the Oracle. “Draw closer, Daughter, and never say we are not generous in our gifts.”
The waters of the moat shimmered, and in them, Diana saw a great swath of green set like an emerald into the gray spires of a city. The park, Diana realized. The one she’d seen from the windows of Alia’s bedroom. The image shifted, and she saw a stone terrace marked by arches, a circular fountain with a winged woman at its center. Two figures sat at the edge, their faces turned to the sun.
“Alia,” she whispered. Alia was holding Theo’s hand. They looked older somehow, and Diana wondered what time she was peering into, how long it had been since the fight at the spring, if all those memories had faded for them.
Another figure appeared—Nim zooming by on roller skates, a pink bandage on one of her dimpled knees. She turned in circles before them, her flowered skirt flaring. She was saying something, but Diana couldn’t make out the words.
Another girl whizzed by on skates. She was tall and blond with a pretty—if somewhat weaselly—face. She snagged Nim’s hand, and they spun away, laughing.
Theo and Alia rose, ready for whatever adventure Nim had suggested, and as Theo lifted Alia’s hand to plant a kiss on her knuckles, Diana saw something on her wrist—a red tattoo in the shape of a star. The heartstone. Promise me you’ll come back someday.
Diana reached toward the water, and the image faded.
Was it a promise she could keep? It seemed impossible, but she’d thought so much was impossible, and again and again she’d proven herself wrong.
“I miss them,” she said. Her voice sounded small beneath the stars of the Oracle’s sky. “They’re worth fighting for.”
“Princess,” said the Oracle. For a moment, she took a new shape, one Diana had never seen before—a soldier standing with sword and shield in hand. She wore an armored breastplate, a lasso at her hip. Her blue eyes flashed, her black hair lifted by a distant wind. There was something familiar in her features. “You will have the chance to fight for them again.”
The soldier vanished, replaced once more by the crone. “Go home, Diana,” said the Oracle. “Maeve will be waiting for you.” Grateful tears pricked Diana’s eyes—her friend was well. The Oracle nodded at Diana’s bracelets. “Just make sure to stop at the Armory first.”
Diana smiled. She thanked the Oracle and hurried through the tunnel, her steps hastening, her heart full of joy. She did not know what the future held, only that the world—full of danger, and challenge, and wonder—was waiting to be discovered.
She ran to meet it.