The sense of foreboding didn’t disappear as Rowan drove us through the arch. When we arrived on the other side and the whole valley looked almost the same as when we’d left it, I was almost surprised.

Except that the air felt different, I realized. Like we were in another realm. Death Valley but not.

“I was expecting something worse,” Rowan said.

“Perhaps it has yet to reveal itself,” Lachlan said.

I thought he was probably right, but like Bree had said, we didn’t have much choice. This was the only way to get to Hider’s Haven and getting to the haven was the only way to save our friends and hopefully learn who’d abducted the rest of them.

“Keep going,” I said. “We’ll keep a wary eye out but be ready to hit the gas.”

“On it.” Rowan pressed the pedal, and we rolled forward, picking up speed. Slow enough to spot oncoming danger that might pop up, but not so slow that it was boring.

The sun pounded down as we went, and eventually I climbed into the cockpit to fish around for a couple gallons of water. I handed them around and we chugged.

Bree lowered a gallon jug and wiped her mouth. “I’ve gotten too used to Scotland already. It’s hot as blazes here.”

I swallowed and handed my jug to Lachlan. “No kidding. I’m losing my desert lizard skin.”

Lachlan shot me a confused look.

“You know, like sea legs. But for the desert,” I said.

Lachlan chuckled and drank.

Once I’d finished the water, I climbed back onto the platform and clipped off my safety harness once again.

The valley narrowed up ahead, with a great crevasse right in the middle. It plunged deep into the earth, a death trap if I’d ever seen one. There was a thin strip of land on either side, butting right up to the steep mountains that bordered the valley.

“Left or right?” Rowan asked.

“No idea,” I said. “Never seen anything like this.”

“Right it is, then.” Rowan directed the buggy toward the right, avoiding the deep gorge right in the middle. As we passed close by the mountain, I caught sight of a few caves scattered here and there.

“Cliff dwellings?” Lachlan asked.

“Maybe. Not as fancy as the ones in New Mexico, where they’ve got huge villages, but they’d do in a pinch.”

“There’s a big one up ahead.” Rowan pointed over the steering wheel, indicating a cave that was at ground level. The black maw opened up to the sunlight but revealed only darkness within.

“Uh, guys…” Nerves sounded in Bree’s voice. “Do you see the heads nailed around the outside of that cave?”

The hair on my arms stood on end as I squinted, trying to spot the heads that Bree could see with her eagle eyes. Eventually, I could. “Ah, crap. Now I do.”

“Me too,” Rowan said. “I was hoping you were screwing with us.”

“Would I screw around about severed heads?”

“Yeah,” Rowan and I said in unison.

“Fine. I would. But I’m not, as you can see.”

“Unfortunately.” I looked at Rowan. “What do you say? Want to try to speed by it?”

“We can try, but when has that ever worked in the valley?”

“Just about never,” I said. “But there’s a first time for everything.”

“I like how you think.” She pressed her foot on the gas, and Mini Mouse sped forward.

I glanced at Lachlan, who stood with total confidence on the back of the speeding buggy. He looked like he’d been born to ride Death Valley.

Had to admit, I liked that.

I turned back to the cave. We were nearly there, only a hundred yards away now.

“Shit, I hear footsteps,” Bree said. “Big ones.”

As soon as she said it, a massive giant appeared at the mouth of the cave. He was fifty feet tall if he was an inch, with a squashed face and dirty hair. Small horns protruded from the tangled mess, and his worn-down teeth looked like he used them to chomp bones. He wore a bright white robe edged in red, along with leather sandals.

Chills raced over me, and not because of his size. “He looks like a freaking Roman.”

“The Fates,” Lachlan said.

It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. A Roman giant shouldn’t be here. This place was full of Native American mythical monsters, not Roman.

The giant opened his mouth and expelled a massive blast of fire and smoke right at us.

Ah, shit.

Rowan stomped on the brakes, and I flew into the safety bars in front of me, pain flaring in my ribs. The fire plowed into the ground in front of us, heat searing my face. The car stopped dead, right before we were burnt to a crisp.

Fire breath. That was the giveaway. He had to be Cacus, the fire-breathing giant who had fought Hercules.

Bree’s magic swelled on the air, and thunder cracked. Lightning shot from the sky immediately, striking the giant on the head.

He laughed.

Then seemed to grow a couple feet taller.

“Crap, not doing that again!” Bree said.

“Don’t shoot him with fire, either,” Lachlan said. “He might like it.”

“I’ve got a plan!” Rowan jumped up, leaving the keys in the buggy. She pointed to some enormous boulders that sat perched precariously on the mountainside between us and the giant. “Knock those onto him.”

Before we could agree or discuss, she jumped out and ran for the demon. I unclipped my harness and scrambled into place behind the steering wheel.

“Ah, hell,” Bree muttered. “She wants to be bait.”

The giant took it, immediately. He lumbered toward her, clearly wanting to grab her up and maybe make a snack of her. But Rowan was fast. She darted circles around him, drawing him closer to the spot where I could use my earth magic to get the rocks to fall on him. Hopefully they weren’t too big.

The giant was stubborn, though, or lucky. He never got right where we needed him, and Rowan looked like she was tiring.

“I’ll help her.” Lachlan stepped forward, the pine scent of his magic filling my nose.

Immediately, the air cooled. Fog began to form around the giant, Lachlan using his weather magic to obscure the beast’s vision.

Soon, the area around the giant was completely surrounded by white. Lachlan kept the fog tight around the giant, so it was easy to see where he was, but the giant was blinded.

He roared, his rage shaking my bones, and spit a blast of fire and smoke that cut right through the fog and nearly turned Rowan into his dinner.

“Crap!” Bree’s wings flared behind her back, silver and bright. She crouched, then took off into the air. “Rowan! Back to the buggy!”

The giant was nearly to the spot right under the boulders, and Bree flew right for him. She was going to give him an extra little push. With her super strength, it’d probably do a hell of a job.

I called on my earth magic, getting ready to command the boulder. It flowed through me, strong and fierce.

The boulders proved to be difficult, though. They were massively heavy, which made it harder, but finally, I got a grip on them.

Just as Bree neared the fog-shrouded giant, she shifted in the air, flying with her feet out first. She kicked him square in the chest, sending him flying backward.

I used my magic to shove the boulders right off the cliff. They rolled down toward the giant, smashing into him and throwing him to the side.

Rowan was nearly to the buggy, now. She leapt up onto the front wheel and scrambled onto the platform.

I cranked the ignition. “Let’s go!”

The buggy leapt forward when I pressed on the gas. Bree flew to join us and landed on the back platform with Lachlan. We zipped past the fallen giant, who was already rising to his feet.

“Faster!” Bree shouted.

I pressed harder on the pedal, begging the vehicle to pick up the pace.

We sped away, the tires eating up the ground, and the giant’s roar of rage followed us.

By the time we could no longer hear him, the adrenaline had faded and my muscles were trembling like crazy. I slowed the buggy a bit as we drove across a larger swath of land. The mountains were farther apart and the crevasse in the middle of the ground was gone—no doubt it had been there to force us near Cacus’s cave.

We had a moment of safety and quiet in the wide-open desert, and everyone collapsed, sitting on the platforms at the front and back.

Eventually, Bree and I traded spots, because she wanted to drive.

“What the hell was that?” Bree demanded. “How did the Fates get into Death Valley?”

“We don’t know it was them. But I think that was Cacus, the giant from the Hercules tales.” I’d read about him in my research into Roman myth once I’d realized that we were fighting the Fates. “So yeah, we don’t know it’s the Fates, but I bet it is.”

“Somehow, they’ve gotten into Death Valley,” Lachlan said.

“They know we’re here,” Rowan said. “Or they’re trying to get to the Protectorate members who are hiding out in the haven.”

“Maybe both.” I frowned. “Roman myth often intertwined with Celtic myth, because the cultures were so close for so many years, always fighting over the same land.”

“You mean, while the Romans tried to steal Celtic land,” Bree said.

I grinned. “Yes, that’s what I mean. Thieving bastards. Anyway, I think maybe they found a way to join up with Native American myth. At least, enough to get into the valley and cause problems.”

“Fate knows they shouldn’t be here,” Lachlan said. “Cacus, in Death Valley?”

“Not for long. Not if we defeat the Fates,” I said. “If they created the magic that brought him here, getting rid of them should get rid of him.”

“All the more reason to defeat them,” Bree said.

“If it really is the Fates, like we think, why the hell are they abducting Protectorate members?”

Silence met my question.

I didn’t know the answer either.

Bree stood and peered ahead. “Something’s coming up.”

I squinted ahead but wasn’t able to see what it was for another few minutes.

“Arches,” I said. “Dang.”

“Like the ones we’ve gone through before?” Rowan asked.

“Maybe.” We’d driven through some pretty dangerous arches in the valley before. “But they look a little different. Actually, this whole place looks a little different.”

“Like another realm?” Bree asked. “Because that’s the impression I’ve been getting.”

“Exactly.” Lachlan nodded.

“Get ready for the arches, then,” I said. “Because I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”

Everyone took up fighting positions as Bree drove us toward the arches. They were massive stone things. Though they looked like they’d been naturally formed thousands of years ago, I knew the truth. They’d been put here by magic.

Lachlan and I took the front, while Bree took the back. I clipped my harness to the safety bars and waited, the wind blowing my hair back from my face. I drew a dagger from the ether, uncertain of what I’d need in there but wanting to be prepared.

Next to me, Muffin appeared.

I looked at him. “Oh, crap.”

That’s no way to greet your savior.

“Exactly. You only appear when I really need help.”

Princess Snowflake III and Bojangles appeared next to him. The wind blew Princess’s fur back from her face, making her look like a weird little alien.

“And you brought the big guns?”

I’m the biggest gun.

Princess hissed at him.

“Fine. But it’s about to get bad, isn’t it?”

Yep. Don’t know what’s coming, but it’s not pretty.

“Well, thanks for coming.”

“Feel that?” Lachlan asked.

“Yep. Dark magic.” I shivered as it scraped against my skin. I turned back to Bree. “As fast as we can, don’t you think?”

“Couldn’t agree more.” She stepped on the gas, and Mini Mouse leapt forward, entering the maze of stone pillars and arches. Bree weaved expertly around the stone.

When the first creature stepped out from behind a stone pillar in the distance, I squinted.

“A faun?” Lachlan said.

The creature was about as tall as me, with the bottom half of a goat and the top half of a man. Great, twisted black horns rose from his head, matching the black fangs that extended from his mouth. His eyes looked like black saucers in his face, far too big for the size of his head.

He opened his mouth and hissed, white foam spilling out from behind his fangs.

I shuddered. “A rabid faun.”

“Definitely Roman.” I could hear the scowl in Bree’s voice.

The faun ran for us. I drew back my dagger and threw. The steel flipped through the air, end over end. When it was nearly to the faun, the little monster dodged, avoiding the blade entirely.

“Holy fates, he’s fast!” Rowan shouted.

He was almost to us—only twenty yards away. He raised an arm, and his claws grew long, over twelve inches.

“Protect the tires!” Bree shouted.

More fauns crept out from behind the pillars, each as evil and rabid looking as the one who had almost reached us.

Ah, fates. If they took out our tires, they could overrun us.

Lachlan drew his sword from the ether and yanked on his safety harness, breaking the line. Quickly, he climbed over the railing, keeping his feet on the hood of the buggy while he hung on with one hand, leaning far out over the dry ground beneath.

“Head right for him!” he shouted back to Bree.

She veered slightly right, lining Lachlan up with the oncoming faun, whose face was drawn back in a ferocious snarl. We were nearly to him, only feet away. Lachlan swiped his sword at the faun, an expert blow that took off his head.

“Nice!” Rowan shouted.

It was, but there were more of them. So many more.

Lachlan shifted over to the front corner of the buggy, hanging off and waiting.

I took up the far-left corner, calling upon my fire magic, feeling it grow inside of me, warm and bright.

“Punch it!” I shouted.

Bree picked up speed, weaving through the pillars of stone. We were so close to the fauns now that I could see the hairs on their legs. Dozens of the monsters rushed toward us, claws glinting in the sunlight.

I released the fire that was filling up my chest, shooting it toward the fauns who were only ten feet away. They shrieked and shrank back, hissing wildly. To my right, Lachlan swung his sword in clean arcs, taking off the heads of any who got too close.

I kept up the barrage, creating a wall of flame between us and the fauns. But one was sneaky. While I was shooting my fire toward the front, he came up from behind, grabbing onto the side of the buggy and nimbly avoiding the poison-coated spikes.

He climbed toward the front tire, his claws ready to slice.

Crap!

I couldn’t divert my flame from the front. There were far too many, and they’d be on us in an instant. So I shifted back, kicking out at the faun, who hissed. He was near Bree now.

“I’ve got him!” she shouted.

Quick as a flash, she drew a dagger from the ether and stabbed, sinking the blade into his neck. I spared one glance backward, spotting the faun as he tumbled off the vehicle.

On the back platform, Rowan fired arrows at the fauns who tried to climb on from behind. They were so damned fast, able to move faster than the buggy, even.

See you later! Muffin jumped off the buggy, careening toward the back to help Rowan. His two companions followed. They sprinted toward the crowd of fauns. Bojangles disappeared right before one of the fauns began to shriek, blood spraying.

He was effective, that cat.

Princess Snowflake III shot fire from her mouth, a look of glee on her face when she turned briefly to face us. Muffin used his wings, flying up to attack the heads.

“Almost there!” Bree shouted.

I turned back to the front, spotting wide-open space between the last of the arches. Bree stepped on the gas even harder, taking advantage of the straight shot toward freedom. I crouched low, keeping my balance as I fed more power to my flame.

“There’s more!” Lachlan shouted.

I glanced right, spotting a horde of the fauns, so many that we could never fight them off if they caught us.

I searched for Muffin. “Get back here, Muffin!”

The cats were deep in the crowd of fauns, wreaking havoc, blood and burned flesh flying left and right. But there were too many fauns. The cats streaked away from the monsters and raced for the car, then leapt onto the back platform to join Rowan.

“Give it everything!” I shouted to Bree.

The buggy made one last jump in speed, and we careened out of the arches. The fauns followed, racing behind us, gaining speed with every step, and Muffin climbed up to join me on the front platform.

I like this place.

I shot him a sidelong glance. “You’re crazy.”

“There’s a ravine up ahead!” Lachlan shouted.

“I see it!” Bree veered the buggy toward a ramp of land on our side of the ravine, which had to be forty feet wide if it was an inch.

Holy fates.

She was going to jump it!

We’d practiced the maneuver in our own buggy, but never in Mini Mouse. I didn’t even know if the vehicle was capable.

But one look back at the horde of rabid fauns made it clear—we didn’t have a choice.

“Everyone, hold on!” Bree shouted.

Lachlan climbed back onto the front platform and crouched low, hanging onto the safety bars. I did the same, gripping tightly.

This was dumb as hell, but I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. Wind tore at my hair as we approached the natural ramp, driving up over the sloped earth.

Then we were airborne.

My stomach dropped as we sailed over the giant ravine.

Come on, come on!

The other side looked so far away. Would we make it?

Muffin meowed. I think I’m going to lose my tuna.

The buggy started to drop, gravity taking its inevitable toll.

Oh fates, we were still so far away.

We’d never make it. Not at this rate.