“Why didn’t they shoot?” Shane gasped when they finally stopped running. “They were carrying guns.”

Avery leaned against a tree while she caught her breath. They had run into the woods surrounding the little train station and were pretty sure they had lost any pursuers. At the very least, she thought they were out of the jurisdiction, and she hoped the police of the small town were overworked enough to let them go.

Which brought her back to Shane’s question. “I don’t think they were after us because we’re demigods.”

“But they were monsters.” Shane pointed out. “Why else would they be after us?”

“Monsters wouldn’t have used a photo to find us.” Avery countered. She bit her lip, hesitant to say more. But if they really were going to travel with Shane, then he deserved to know.

“The police are looking for me and Noah.” She confessed, wrapping a protective arm around her brother.

Shane stared at her. “Why?” To his credit, he didn’t immediately back away.

“We ran away.” Avery sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “If they catch us, they’ll send us back to our mom.”

“Oh.” Avery could tell Shane didn’t get why that would be a bad thing. She guessed he had always wanted to meet his mom. He hadn’t known she was a goddess until recently.

“She wanted to send Noah away.” Avery explained.

Shane looked at Noah. “Away?”

Noah nodded. “There’s this school.” He picked up the explanation. “She said I’d have an easier time there.”

“But he’d be alone.” Avery cut in before Shane could ask why it was a bad idea. “We can’t leave him stranded among strangers!”

Avery grit her teeth and clenched her fists. She felt like she was having the argument with her mom all over again. That argument had never gone her way.

But Shane nodded. “So, even though those where monsters back there, they were acting in the capacity of the police. They just wanted to take you back to somewhere you don’t want to be.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Shane sank to the forest floor and buried his face in his hands. “Which means that I just attacked a police officer with a sword.”

“Oh.” Avery kneeled beside him. “Um, I guess you kind of did.” She thought for a moment. “But you didn’t slice them up or anything.” She offered a smile. “Didn’t even knock them out. Just sort of winded one of them.” She patted him on the back. “You did good.”

Shane returned her smile, but it looked forced. “Thanks.” He let her help him to his feet.

“Uh, guys?” Noah was fidgeting nervously. “Do you hear birds? Like, a lot of birds?”

Avery looked around. Now that Noah mentioned it, she did hear a lot of odd squawking. They were in the forest though, weren’t birds to be expected?

Then she saw them. All around them, filling the trees, were birds the size of large pigeons. The sheer volume of birds seemed unnatural to Avery. Even worse, they all seemed to be watching her, Noah, and Shane.

One of the birds shifted and the light glinted off something. Avery wondered if the bird had collected something, the way crows did. Then she realized that the light was glinting off the bird itself.

These birds had feathers made of metal.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder and Avery turned to find Noah facing her. He was terrified.

“Stymphalian birds.” He breathed.