passing it to each other like an Olympic torch, until the sta-
dium was filled with that low tone.
“There’s no one else out there,” Zeus said. “What other lies
do you have for us?”
Gonzalo tried to struggle to his feet, but hands still held
him down. He felt like he was sinking deeper into the mat-
tress, like his bones were softening, like his muscles were
dying.
“Let go of me,” Gonzalo said.
“Take him away,” Zeus said.
Thunder hands lifted Gonzalo to his feet. His mind swirled
like a flushing toilet.
“My power protects us all,” Zeus said to his followers. With
his next sentence, every Thunder in the stadium spoke in uni-
son. “Trust in Thunder. Believe in Zeus. Be free.”
Blazing-red Thunder shoved Gonzalo away fromZeus, walk-
ing him toward the edge of the bed. What had to be twenty
pairs of red hands were pushing him, gripping him, as the
ground wobbled under his feet and the crowd hissed.
“Where is she?!” Gonzalo shouted. He wrenched his arms
from the Thunder’s grasp and threw them off. Nude red bod-
ies toppled away from him. He whipped around to face Zeus
again, but to his horror and shock, Zeus had grown. He was
taller than a telephone pole now. His head was so high that
the surrounding fires’ light didn’t even reach it. Everything
above his shoulders was darkness.
274
