My feet felt like lead as I dragged them forward through the path made by the Minotaur. Despite my injury, I thought I was moving pretty fast, but the fire moved faster. I was barely keeping ahead of it as it raced through the corn maze, licking at my heels as I drove myself on. Just a little further.

Then, up ahead, I saw a shimmering wall like the surface of a bubble. Beyond the final wall of the corn maze was the barrier between the labyrinth and reality. Through it, I could see Alexei, Christoph and Nico waiting for me in the ruins of Knossos. They could see me and were shouting, urging me on, though I could not hear their voices. Still, the sight of them redoubled my resolve - they were my goal, my reward. As I watched them, I saw Nico start forward to help me. I frantically held up my hand to stop him, but, fortunately, he was held back by the others. Any mistake now could cost humanity dearly, and I had to finish this on my own, unaided. But for the first time today, I was really thinking that I might actually do it. I could finish this. I had done the hard bit. All I had to do was keep going. I passed through the final hole in the maze left by the fleeing Minotaur - for whom I kept a watchful eye. Now, there were only a few feet between me and the barrier. Through that was victory and a future for mankind. I clamped my hand harder to the wound in my side, fixed my eyes on the guys who were waiting to grab me and heal my wounds, and drove myself on.

Then, from nowhere, a black swirl of cloth swept in front of me, blocking my passage. I stepped back, the pain flaring up afresh, and gazed at what was blocking my way. The cloth twirled in mid-air, dancing as if caught in the wind before resolving itself into a human shape, a hood forming to reveal a human face.

"Hera?" I gasped. The Queen of the gods stared at me with ice in her eyes and I knew at once that she was not here to congratulate me on my victory.

"Setting fire to the maze? How clever. And how very human. Something in your way? Just burn it down. All you people know is destruction."

When I had met Hera on Mount Olympus, her feelings for me had been somewhat ambiguous but I had quietly hoped that she was on my side. For a grifter, misjudging a person to this extent is something you often pay for.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Despite the pain in my side, and the devastation at the happy ending denied to me, I wasn't just going to back down. "You're the one who's been trying to stop me."

"Not much of a revelation at this point."

"Why?" I didn't much care, but I needed time to think.

Hera's eyes turned black and her cloak swirled about her more violently. "Because I will not play second-best to your filthy little race anymore," she snarled. "My husband spends all his time watching you meat bags, wishing you'd all pay him tribute like you used to, having his sordid little affairs with you, trying to twist your unimportant lives into stories like the good old days. I thought that now time has moved on and the world has forgotten us, he might forget them back, but no. As long as your petty race and pathetic planet exist, then he will have more time for you than me, and I am done waiting for you to kill yourselves with bombs and global warming - this way is quicker."

I wondered about telling her that a woman who sets out to destroy an entire species because her husband wasn't paying attention to her was an insult to feminism, but decided that might not make things better.

Hera went on. "I didn't think a runt like you would have any chance of completing the tasks, let alone survive the wolves and the shark - how did you escape a shark? - and the fire escape."

"You did all that?"

Hera rolled her eyes. "Do you really not understand yet? I am your nemesis. I am your doom. I would have liked to stop you in the course of the tasks but beggars can't be choosers, and however lacking in subtlety it is, I have little recourse left but to crush your pitiful head and blame it on the Minotaur."

I sank down to my knees, still clutching my side. I was afraid - this was a god, after all - and still in pain, but through that my fury rose. I had done everything right and this bitch had made my life hell every step of the way. I wasn't going down without a fight. My grifting skills might have been useless against a Minotaur, but I had a hunch I could get under Hera's skin.

"What happens when Zeus finds out that you cheated?"

Hera snapped out a humorless laugh. "He hasn't noticed so far, and I got him tanked up on booze so he won't be watching now."

"Boy, you really are under the thumb," I commented.

"What?"

"You're jealous of humanity, you can't get your own husband to pay attention to you without exterminating a species, and you don't even dare kill me unless you've put him out of the way first. I guess we know who wears the toga on Mount Olympus."

The black of Hera's eyes flashed red for a second as her anger flared once more.

"How dare you speak to me like that? You pathetic little..." She stepped forward and leaned over me, lulled into a false sense of security by her power and my apparent weakness, hunched on the ground. But, weak though I was, I still had one trick left to pull, and now the Queen of the gods was in my reach.

I sprang forward, catching Hera unawares and off-balance as she stooped over me. With whatever strength was left to me, I pushed her backwards and she stumbled through the shimmering barrier between the maze and reality. The moment Hera's arm passed through, the guys grabbed hold of it and pulled her the rest of the way, keeping her away from me. I followed her through, more from weight of momentum than by taking steps, practically falling through the barrier then dragging myself the last few faltering feet to make sure I was completely clear. Looking around, I saw that I was in the ruins of Knossos - the burning cornfield had vanished back into whatever dimension it had come from. I was on my hands and knees, I was bruised and bleeding profusely from the wound in my side, but I had completed the final task. Mankind was safe.

But as Hera screamed her displeasure, it became obvious that I wasn't.

"You'll die for this. All of you."

Hera might have lost the war but that didn't mean she was going to stop fighting the battle. Humanity had been saved but she was determined to punish those who had saved it. Nico had been holding her but now she shrugged him off, a simple gesture that sent the enormous Nico flying into a wall. Hera rounded on me where I lay, too weak to get up, and strode towards me. Instantly, Alexei and Christoph put themselves between the Queen of the gods and me, but Hera did not even break in her stride. Christoph reached out to stop her but Hera took his hand and flung him over her shoulder so he landed hard on the stone floor. She didn't even touch Alexei but simply raised a hand and a rush of sudden wind slammed the big man back into a wall. She took another step towards me and suddenly Nico leaped onto her back. It was a ridiculous sight, as Nico dwarfed the god - it looked like a toddler giving a piggy-back ride to a horse. But Hera just laughed, grabbing both Nico's arms and flinging him bodily over her head, over me and over one of the broken walls of the old palace.

She shook her head in amusement. "Everyone's in such a hurry to die. Don't worry, you'll all get your turn, but this one goes first." She pointed at me.

I met her gaze, showing none of the fear I was feeling - another essential skill for a grifter. I noticed the star sapphire hanging around her neck and recognized it immediately.

"Oh, that's sad," I said, pointing to the jewel. "He can't even be bothered to get you jewelry himself, he gets humans to do it for him. 'I've got this thing leftover from one of the tasks, I suppose I might as well give it to the old ball and chain - that'll keep her mouth shut for a bit'. You're bought and paid for, Hera. I'm about to die and even I feel sorry for you."

The rage in Hera emanated from her now like heat. Maybe making her angrier wasn't the best idea but she was going to kill me no matter what, and at least this way I gave the guys time to regroup. They all attacked her at once this time, careless of the beating they had already taken. For a moment, the strength of all three of them seemed to be enough to hold her, but in the next moment, a bright flash of light burst from Hera's body, sending all three of them flying. This time, they would not be getting up in a hurry.

"Nice try." She actually sounded a little impressed. Which changed nothing. "Any last words?"

I thought about it for a second. Did I have anything profound to say? Anything emotionally satisfying? Or did I prefer to die as I had lived; as a wise-ass?

I smiled at Hera. "You can kill me, but I still won. That's gotta suck."

Hera snarled. "I'll admit it hurts, but not as much as this is going to."

She raised her hands above me, but as she did so, a flash of lightning rent the sky behind her, followed by a peal of thunder louder than any I had ever heard. Through the bright split that had opened up in the heavens, I saw two silhouettes of chariots, galloping down from the sky towards us. The cavalry had arrived, but I had no idea whose side they were going to be on.

Zeus and Poseidon landed and stepped out of their chariots. I could see the anger on their faces and wondered if it was directed at Hera or me. I soon found out.

"How dare you interfere in my game?" growled Zeus at his wife.

Game? I was dying over here and he was calling it a game? Even though Zeus had apparently saved me, I was still pretty pissed.

"You interfere with mortals all the time," Hera countered.

"Interfering with mortals is one thing," said Zeus. "We're gods, it's what we do. But you interfered with my affairs, and that is something else entirely."

"It was Dolos who interfered first," Hera argued back again. "I was just stopping him from affecting the outcome of your game. Your brother will back me up."

I looked at Poseidon. When I had visited Olympus, he had been the one with the most animosity towards me – frankly, I had thought him the most likely candidate for the god who was trying to kill me. If my fate now rested with him, then I was as good as dead already.

But, to my surprise, the god of the sea shook his sea weedy head firmly. "No. Dolos did interfere but only to counter the interference of Hera, to redress the balance as she tried to kill the girl, Cat."

Even through pain and the gradual seeping away of my life, that made me sit up and take notice. Dolos, my father, had been helping me. The truck that had saved me after the fire escape came crashing down, the dog catcher who had mysteriously appeared and disappeared - those had been him. Perhaps I should have been less surprised - the god of tricksters was bound to appear in disguise - but my opinion of him had been so set on hatred that I had never really considered the possibility that he might help me in any capacity.

"Is this true?" asked Zeus.

I wasn't sure who he was talking to at first, but then I saw a bird - a crow, I think, but I'm no ornithologist - perched on one of the walls. As I watched, the bird grew and changed shape. Its feathers retreated to be replaced by clothes until there, seated casually on the wall, was a man - a god - and one that I recognized, as his portrait hung in his apartment back in New York. That was the first time I saw my father in the flesh.

"It's true, mighty Zeus," said Dolos. "I helped my daughter, but only to level the playing field after Hera's meddling."

Zeus looked back at his wife. "Go back to Olympus and wait for me. I shall decide how best to punish you for your actions."

Hera looked crestfallen as she vanished, and for a brief moment, I felt sorry for her - being married to Zeus probably wasn't easy, and Olympus struck me as a pretty sexist place. On the other hand, she had tried to destroy the human race and kill me.

"Women," muttered Zeus, after his wife was gone, reinforcing my opinion about Olympus and its inhabitants. "Now, Cat, I... Are you alright down there?"

"She has been injured, mighty Zeus," said Alexei, only just managing to get back to his feet after Hera's last assault.

"Oh," said Zeus, quite surprised. "She should have said something."

He waved a hand and my pain vanished. I looked at my side as I sat up and found the wound gone.

"How did that happen?" asked Zeus.

"The Minotaur," I replied.

"Oh, yes, almost forgot." Zeus's arm stretched out across the sky and dipped down to ground before retracting, holding the Minotaur between finger and thumb. "Home you go." He pushed the Minotaur towards the basement of the palace and it vanished.

"The maze burned," I volunteered.

"Another will appear," replied Zeus. "Labyrinth's grow to suit the Minotaur. He brings his home with him. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. You won."

Although I had known that the tasks were completed, I was still waiting for some other trick, some small thing I had done wrong, some technicality on which I might have failed. To hear Zeus say that I had won was a moment of pure elation.

"Earth may have another hundred years," Zeus continued. "For the sake of humanity, I hope another hero like you can be found then."

"Is there nothing we can do in the meantime to prevent another set of tasks?" I asked.

Zeus looked surprised. "Well, I suppose if you started taking better care of the world then, maybe, I might consider it. It would be nice if you all went back to sacrificing to your gods but I suppose that's too much to hope. But do you seriously think you can change people's attitude to the world they live in?"

"If anyone can, she can." To my surprise, it was Poseidon who spoke. He turned to me. "I saw you with the orca. I felt your love for it. If a human can feel that way then perhaps there is hope for you yet."

Zeus nodded his head solemnly. "Well, then. Cat, you are by birth a demi-god, you will now be recognized as such. It is a status that comes with great responsibility. You must earn it by your actions. You have the power to make the world a better place, use it wisely." He glanced at Alexei, Christoph and Nico, who stood nearby. "I also give you these human effigies as your companions, to do with as you please and help you in your quest. You have taken on a task far larger than those which I imposed upon you, I hope you will rise to it. Come, brother."

Zeus and Poseidon started back towards their chariots.

"Wait!" I yelled. The gods turned back. "I need a favor."

Zeus's eyebrows raised. "I have saved your life, granted humanity a respite and made you a demi-god, and you're asking for more?"

"Yes, please," I said. "My mother was driven insane by the actions of Dolos..."

"Then Dolos can fix it."

Dolos got down from his wall to speak. "I would if I could. But my powers do not extend that far."

Zeus shrugged. "It sounds as if your argument is with your father. It is not the first time his arrogance and ego have gotten him into trouble and I doubt it will be the last. I am not a coin-operated wish machine, here to put right the mistakes of Dolos."

"But... please..." I begged, but Zeus simply shook his head.

"Mighty Zeus," as I was giving up all hope I saw my father drop to his knees. Zeus looked almost shocked at the action. "I know my actions have angered you over the years. I have not shown you the respect due to your exulted station. Now, I will. I prostrate myself before you." He dropped to his belly. "I have been selfish and stupid, I have put my own pleasures before the dignity of Olympus and before my duty to you, my King. But please, I beg of you, do not let my actions stop you from helping one who asks so little. A human only gets one mother. And with a father like me, she needs hers all the more."

Zeus stared at the prostrate Dolos awhile, then looked back to me. He then gave a little movement of his head, barely even a nod, and said, "There. Her mind is her own again."

With that, and without another word, he and Poseidon rode off into the sky, leaving me with the guys and with my father.

Alexei read my face accurately. "We'll wait by the car."

I turned to face Dolos. Then, I slapped him, as hard as I could.