On the other side of the portal, I was immediately locked in a fierce fight with the shadow woman. A sharp blow struck across my cheek and I stumbled back a few feet before lunging forward again.

Whatever the woman had taken out of Titus, I wanted to get it back. If that meant fighting her, so be it. My body was thrown to the ground, but I bounced back up. The bright green glow that had streamed out of Titus was still swirling around in front of the woman, and I reached. My hand moved through warm air and a strange feeling rushed through me like ice.

Somehow, I managed to grab the woman, gripping tightly around her shoulders and forcing her to remain still. She was under my control, I thought, but then she broke free and took several steps back. Her eyes locked with mine, a swirling storm within them. She looked confused, shocked, and even afraid.

“How did you get here?” Even as she spoke, she remained shadowy. Occasionally, a glimpse of skin or a flicker of something metallic gave more detail to the vague silhouette I saw. “How did you get through the portal?”

“You dragged me through,” I said. “And now I want my nephew back, you—”

“But you survived,” she interrupted, almost as if she wasn’t believing this was happening.

I stepped closer to her. “I saw what you did to my nephew.”

“None of this should be possible.” She looked me over, as if seeing right through me. “There's something about you... an internal power that could help you to do great things.”

“What are you talking about?” I snapped. “I don’t care about any of that. I saw what you did to my nephew, and you are going to give him back. Now.”

“I can’t,” she answered matter-of-factly.

My mind couldn’t process this answer, my nostrils flaring and breaths coming hot and heavy as rage boiled up within me. I took a step toward her, fists forming and eyes narrowed as I tried to not completely lose my shit. “What do you mean you can’t? You took him. I watched you. You can give him back.”

“No. I can’t. But you can.”

“What?”

“If you made it through the portal…” She shimmered, a movement like she was uncertain, but then continued, “You can get the life-force back and restore the boy.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I shouted, but even as the words left my mouth, I forced back the rage. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself further. If there was something I could do for my nephew, I would damn well try. “Tell me how.”

“Challenge the gods. Destroy the one who has claimed his life force, and you will have your nephew back.”

“This is… this is fucking crazy.”

“To save the boy, challenging the gods is the only way.”

My rage burst forth again as I spat out, “I don’t believe in any gods.”

I only believed in myself. It was all I could believe in. After all I had seen and gone through, there was nothing in me that allowed me to rely on anything else. Watching Brian die, and feeling his blood soak into my uniform was enough to take away any belief that there was anything more out there watching over me or controlling what was happening. My time in the mountains, honing my control over my mind and my reliance on myself, just cemented my belief that I was all I had.

Around me, everything started to fade. The shadowy figure became even less tangible, and the light surrounding her dimmed. The shade of her head snapped around as she seemed to watch our surroundings disappear.

“No,” she murmured. She looked back at me. “I can’t linger here. If I do, I will get caught and killed. But I want to be free. I want to be free.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“When you’re ready, call my name, and I will be here.”

I was disoriented and confused. I felt like I’d been thrown into turmoil, unable to tell what was real and what wasn’t.

“Your name?” I asked.

“Cleopatra. Servant to the gods.”

A powerful force in the middle of my stomach made me feel like I was being sucked backward, and everything around me went black. Seconds later, I opened my eyes again and found myself surrounded by almost blinding light. Everything was white and glowing, and sharp, steady sounds were all I could hear. It took me a few seconds to realize I was in a hospital bed. Shaking my head, I wondered if anything I’d just seen and experienced had actually happened or if it was all a dream.

I heard another sound beside me, a hushed gasp that made me turn my head toward it. My other sisters were gathered around Lila sitting in a blue-cushioned chair, her face in her hands as her shoulders shook with sobs.

“Lila?” I asked.

Chloe looked up at me. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and the remnants of tears clung to her cheeks.

“Steve,” she said in a weak voice.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “What happened?”

My chest felt tight as Chloe looked back at Lila. I knew she wasn’t crying for me. I wasn’t attached to anything more than a blood pressure monitor, and those weren’t the tears of a woman crying for her brother. Something was much more seriously wrong.

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“Titus is in a coma,” she said.

“What?” I gasped.

“They said you were coming to, so I ran in here, but…” Lila lifted her head to look at me. Her head shook for a few seconds, like she could barely bring herself to say the words. “My son… They don’t know why he won’t wake up.”

No fucking way. Not on my watch. I made my way out of there and convinced the doctors to let me out of the bed so I could go down the hall to Titus’s room.

My heart broke when I stepped inside and saw him lying there on the bed. He looked even smaller surrounded by all the machinery and wearing the hospital gown that swamped his little body. His face was pale, and it only made the bruises and scrapes from the road stand out even more. Looking at him made the moment of the crash come back to my mind. I could hear the smash of the metal and the shattering of the glass.

Pulling a chair up beside his bed, I sat down and reached over to rest my hand on his. My sisters had said he was in a coma, and one thing I remembered from my time spent in the military hospital was that nobody knew what people actually went through in those types of situations. People who were in comas for years came out of them and said they heard people talking to them, or knew they were in the room with them. I didn’t know if Titus could tell I was there, but just in case he could, I wanted to let him know I was thinking about him.

“You’re going to be okay, buddy,” I said. “I’m sorry you’re having to go through this. But just think of the story you’re going to tell your friends back at school.”

I forced a laugh. This was one of those situations you couldn’t possibly prepare yourself for. There’s no way to know how you’re going to react, or even how you think you should react. I was alone in the room with my nephew, my sisters out in the hallway beyond the room, speaking with the doctor again.

I couldn’t stop myself from talking. Part of me felt like I was talking to him, but there was another part that just wanted to drown out the beeping of the machines and fill the silence that surrounded them. I looked at the monitors; all of Titus’s vital signs looked strong. It was reassuring, but at the same time confusing. If his signs were so strong and he seemed like he was doing so well, why couldn’t he wake up? What was keeping him in the coma?

Outside the door, Lila’s voice got louder. She was talking to the doctors and demanding to get more information about her son and what he was going through, but they weren’t able to tell her anything. I couldn’t even imagine what she was feeling. It was infuriating enough for me to feel so helpless as I looked down at my nephew. I couldn’t even begin to wrap my mind around what his mother must be going through.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Lila stepped inside. I stood and walked up to her with my arms open, and she almost fell into them. Her arms wrapped tightly around me, and she rested her head on my shoulder. Even though she was older, I had been taller than her for many years. Just as Titus looked tiny surrounded by machines and his oversized gown, Lila felt smaller under the pressure of her grief.

“Did you find out anything?” I asked.

She stepped back and wiped tears away from her eyes as she shook her head. “Nothing new. Every test they’ve run has come back fine, even the brain scans. He should be awake. He’s banged up and should be sore, but that’s it. He shouldn’t be lying there like that.”

“He’s going to be all right,” I reassured her. “He’s a strong little guy.”

She smiled through her tears and walked up to the side of his bed. Running her fingertips along the side of his face, she nodded. “He is. He’s so brave.”

“He’s amazing, Steve. I wish you were able to be here more to see him. There’s never been a challenge or an experience Titus wasn’t up to. He’s always the one who wants to try out the new bike, or ride the bigger rollercoaster, or stand up to the bully who’s picking on the little ones at the playground.”

I processed this, hating the situation we were in. Blaming myself.

“He talked about you all the time,” she said. “Not a single day would go by when he didn’t mention his Uncle Steve and talk about how much he missed you and couldn’t wait to see you. He’s been telling everybody who would listen for the last three months that you were coming home. He wants to be just like you.”

My heart constricted in my chest as the words hit home hard. In that second, everything was completely clear. I knew what I had seen and experienced had to be real. I couldn’t explain it, but that didn’t matter. I had to save my nephew. Taking Lila by the shoulders, I looked directly into her eyes.

“I’m going to bring Titus back,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me questioningly. “What are you talking about, Steve? What do you think you’re going to be able to do?”

“Listen. I’m going to bring him back. It’s going to be all right.”

She was looking at me like I had lost my mind.

“Steve, I think you need to get some rest. Maybe you should go back to your room and let the doctors check you out again.”

I understood her reaction. I probably did sound like I was going crazy, but I didn’t care. Did I really have a chance of saving my nephew? I didn’t know how, but I sure as hell was going to try whatever I could.

“I don’t need to talk to the doctor,” I said. “I need to go, but I’ll talk to you later, okay? Stay here with Titus. Talk to him. I’ll be back.”

I gave her another hug and rushed out of the room, making my way through the hospital until I found a room that was empty. Slipping into it, I stepped behind the privacy curtain and drew in a breath. How was I supposed to do this? The shadowy figure had said to call her name and she would be there. I would give it a shot.

“Cleopatra,” I whispered. The name felt strange coming out of my mouth. Before today, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d said it. It was probably a middle school history class. It took only a matter of seconds before the air in front of me seemed to shimmer and then took the form of the shadowy silhouette. I still couldn’t see her clearly, but the curvy figure was the same as earlier. The hazy form of her face made the impression of a frown as she looked around the room.

“I can’t be here,” she said. “It’s too dangerous.”

I didn’t know what she meant by that, and she didn’t elaborate. It made me feel like there was something she wasn’t telling me that was looming over both of us. I was being drawn into something I didn’t understand, but it was the only way I knew to save my nephew.

“I’m ready.”

The words were no sooner past my lips than I felt a hand close around my wrist, and Cleopatra pulled me close. A bit too close. Her body still looked ethereal, but I could feel it against my own. It was lush and warm, and I felt an awkward rush move through me.

“Are you certain?” she asked.

It was hard to decipher the emotion in her voice.

I nodded but didn’t try to move away from her. “Yes. I need to do this.”

“It could be dangerous.”

“I’ve faced plenty of danger before. I’m not afraid.”

“It could get very… intense.”

I tried to ignore the slight lowering of her voice as she said it.

“I can handle it,” I said. “This is something I have to do. I have to save Titus. My family needs him back. He has so much more life to live, and if I’m the only one who can save him, that’s what I’m going to have to do. Whatever it takes.”

“It’s not going to be like anything you have ever done or experienced before. You can’t imagine what you will face if you go along with me.”

It felt like she was warning me, trying to convince me to change my mind and turn away, but the way she held me against her said she didn’t want me to follow it.

“I understand,” I said. “But I am absolutely sure. There’s nothing that can stop me.”

Cleopatra laughed. “We’ll see about that.”