Sophie smoothed out one of the balls of paper and found half a word on it. Leaving the glowing crystal where it was, she took all the yellow papers into her living room and spread them out on the big Oriental rug her parents had given her as a housewarming present. The papers were a puzzle. Aaron had always liked puzzles. Sometimes, mostly during high school, he’d sent her letters in code, and it had taken her weeks to figure them out. This didn’t look nearly as complicated, which meant he’d done it in a hurry.

In the end, heart racing and hands shaking, Sophie pieced together Aaron’s message on the dozens of torn and crumpled pieces of paper. The scribbled writing only made sense to her in one order, and even then, she didn’t understand much of anything.

Don’t let Novalight get the Shard of Olympus. Too much power. Unstoppable. If it glows for you, you’re Heracleidae. I KNOW you are. The Greek gods are REAL. Contact Athena and GIVE THE SHARD BACK TO THE GODS OF OLYMPUS.

Sophie swallowed hard, not wanting to believe a word she was seeing or how much danger Aaron must be in if he stole this precious, priceless, powerful object from his ambitious and frankly terrifying employer. How much danger she might be in.

Why would he do this to her? Because she had Greek origins? So did millions of people. Even Aaron, somewhere way back when on his mother’s side. They’d thought it was cool they could both trace ancestors back to the Peloponnesus.

So then why…

She glanced toward the entryway for the millionth time in the past hour. The shard still glowed across the hallway from her, even brighter in the twilight of a December afternoon in New England. She felt the shard’s cold, primordial power deep in her bones and knew that things weren’t at all as they seemed. That maybe she wasn’t.

Sophronia Iraklidis. Her first name meant sensible or wise. Her last name meant son of Heracles. Sure, she was a daughter, but whatever. The name was her father’s. Most people knew the Roman version now—Hercules. The Heracleidae could be any of the ancient Greek hero’s children and other descendants. And according to legend, he’d had plenty. Sophie’s father had always insisted it was true, that they descended from gods, and she’d always thought he was full of it and kind of funny.

She wasn’t laughing now.

In fact, she was terrified.

CHAPTER 1

Where am I? Why am I here?

Two questions Piers didn’t like asking.

At least he still knew his name, although even that felt a little hazy at the moment.

Standing perfectly still, he looked from side to side, his eyes narrowing on the unfamiliar surroundings. No, not just unfamiliar. Totally and completely foreign.