Keepers of the Labyrinth Read Online Free

had been tucked in the corner of the box, and he gently lifted it, unwinding it. He picked up the phone, noting the dial tone before he punched the numbers.
    The line rang twice.
    â€œCome on, come on,” Ares said, taking a breath, willing Horatio or Felice to pick up.
    Rrrrrrrrring.
Rrrrrrrrring.
    â€œHello?” a voice said.
    â€œFelice?”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œIt’s Ares. Meet me at the ward. It concerns the Icarus Folio.” He heard a gasp at the other end.
    Yes, it would be easy to persuade them to go on a sacred quest. He had guided them, prepared them for this from youth and he knew their faith was deep. He knew they had nearly memorized the writings of Hexalodorous. He knew their childlike zeal. Especially the eldest. “Bring Horatio and Byron. Call the others.”
    He hung up the phone and reached for his jacket. He did not need food now. This. This could sustain him forever.

3
    A fter nineteen hours of travel, Lil found herself foggy-headed, tired and boarding a shuttle bus with the initials FLI on the side. She went to the back and jammed her duffel underneath the seat in front of her before sitting down.
    â€œWe’re going to be full, everyone, so please make room in the seat beside you,” the man in the front said. “My name is Aestos, and I am your guide to Melios Manor today. You will be seeing me around the manor all weekend, and you should not hesitate to ask me for something if you need it. It is our duty to make your stay here in Crete one you will never forget.”
    He clasped his hands together and repeated what he had said in French, German, what sounded like Spanish, then choppy Chinese and finally Greek.
    She recognized a little bit of Greek, her mother’s accent ringing in her ears. But she was unable to understand anything but a few words. It wasn’t like she hadn’t asked to know more, but her mother had been somewhat reserved about it. “You are an American,” she would say to Lil. But Lil had not ever been so sure of her identity. The kids at school had families who had been in Vermont for generations and seemed to think she was foreign even though she had been born there. And yet, Lil thought she certainly couldn’t be Greek. She had never even been here before. It was like wearing a pair of mismatched shoes. Neither fit exactly right. One unwelcoming and uncomfortable. The other like no shoe she had ever seen. Greek, her heritage and her mother, were a mystery to Lil. One she desperately wanted to unravel.
    Lil looked out the window, wondering if anyone else had come from the United States. Moments later, one last girl got on the bus. She was short, and her hair was loose and long but sprung out around her head in uncontained twists and curls. A pair of purple glasses framed her brown face, and she had a crease between her eyes. The kind one might get from considering the world for too long. She stopped near the front and struggled to put her suitcase in the luggage hold, then continued to the back.
    â€œMay I sit here?” she asked as she approached the vacant seat next to Lil.
    â€œPlease do,” Lil said, happy to hear words she could understand.
    â€œI’m Sydney,” the girl said as she sat down and swung a backpack from her left shoulder into her lap.
    â€œI’m Lil,” Lil said.
    â€œNice to meet you,” Sydney said, unzipping her backpack and pulling out a handheld device that looked like an inside-out walkie-talkie. Lil could see wires running across a computer chip at the front. Sydney flipped it, revealing a gray, pixelated screen. Then she hit a little button on the side, and the screen glowed green.
    â€œCommence trilateration,” Sydney said into the side of the device.
    â€œWhat’s that?” Lil asked.
    The device beeped and then displayed a little winding line across the screen. “Essentially it’s a homemade GPS,” Sydney said, holding it out to Lil.