Three days later, Skye stepped off the train at Litochoro station. It didn’t take her long to realise that she was in the middle of nowhere. The few other passengers who had got off with her had already vanished and there was no-one else in sight. A distant rumble of thunder made her jump and a few drops of heavy rain began to fall from the overcast sky.

Her heart sank further. Three days. Three nights. Interminable nights. Since the moment Coop had flown out of the window with those magnificent snow-white wings, there had been no sign of him. She’d spent the first few hours staring out into the night sky, expecting him to return. Then, when he didn’t, she had started to panic. The realisation of just how badly she had screwed up sunk in, along with the overwhelming sense of loneliness which suddenly pervaded the once warm and welcoming mansion.

It wasn’t until the following evening that she finally appreciated he wasn’t coming back. Skye had virtually ransacked the place searching through drawers and cupboards for a contact list. Coop had a mobile phone; surely Hermes would have one too. He would know how she could find him. But she’d come up empty. Even if Hermes was in a position to help her, she had no way of getting in touch with him. She had no way of getting in touch with anyone, apart from her own friends and family, and she knew that they would be unable to help her. She had created this situation herself; now she had to find a way to resolve it. Coop had asked for her promise to stay away from him while he was visible; she had broken his trust. She could only hope she could persuade him to give her a second chance.

Turning up the collar of her thin jacket and starting to trudge down a winding road, which she hoped led to the small town, Skye felt numb with weariness. The gates of Olympus were the only place she could think of to try but, without the magic of Coop’s godly powers, she was forced to find a way to reach them on her own. Unfortunately she had very little to go on. She knew from what Coop had told her that Olympus was somewhere near Litochoro, but she had no idea how to find it. Skye had spent several hours researching, and looking for some – any – kind of guidance. Nothing she had come across helped. She was banking on the thought that someone who lived in Litochoro would be able to guide her. Otherwise, all would be lost.

The looming mountain, which she presumed was Olympus itself, was shrouded in heavy fog. The wind had started to pick up but, instead of helpfully blowing away the clouds and clearing the sky, all it did was blow around her with increasing ferocity. Her eyes were starting to smart from the rain that was blowing into her face and her teeth were chattering. Skye was so lost in her own well of misery that she didn’t hear the car coming up from behind her until it was almost too late.

Half turning then registering the headlights that were beaming down on her, Skye’s heart leapt. Without thinking, she stuck out her thumb in the universal signal of a hitchhiker. Unfortunately, the driver either didn’t see her or chose to ignore her and didn’t slow down. The wheels splashed into a large puddle on the road, sending a wave of water in her direction. Skye tried to jump out of the way but it was to no avail and the cold, dirty water drenched her from head to foot. Rubbing at her face and eyes with the grubby sleeve of her jacket, she blinked after the car as it disappeared; yet again, she was alone on the miserable, grey road.

It was some time later, when Skye felt as if she’d been walking for hours, that a dim shape appeared on the horizon. Blinking at it and trying to work out what on earth it actually was, she picked up her pace. At this particular point in time, any form of shelter would be welcome. She wasn’t sure when she’d ever felt so cold. Surely Greece was supposed to be warm and sunny?It was if the gods themselves were against her. Coop’s unhappy eyes, with their unbanked fires of rage, flashed into her mind. Maybe they were. Maybe the gods of Olympus were going to do everything they could to prevent her from reaching Coop.

Instead of weakening her, however, that thought strengthened her resolve. Skye was going to confront the fact that she’d screwed up head-on and do whatever she could to make amends. She couldn’t imagine a life without him and she was damned if anyone was going to stop her. Until she saw Coop for herself and he said he wanted nothing to do with her, she wasn’t going to give up.

The poor visibility on the winding road was such that she was less than twenty metres away when a shape up ahead began to take form. It was a ramshackle stone building with one wall crumbling down on the north side and a wooden door hanging precariously off its hinges at the front. It didn’t matter. Shelter was shelter, and Skye ran inside, ducking her head and scooting into the dark interior. There was a strong smell of manure but at least it was fairly clean. She kicked away rotting wood and debris from one corner and slumped down against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. Outside, the wind howled as if in rage that she was no longer out in the open and the rain slammed down onto the tin roof, creating a thunderous racket. But she was safe and under cover. She’d just have to hope that Coop was somewhere nearby.

The truth was that Coop was barely five miles away, hammering on the door to his mother’s chambers. He’d spent the last three days trying to gain an audience with her. All he’d received in return were messages stating that she was too busy to deal with him but that in light of his recent actions, the invisibility spell was being lifted for good. He had the impression that she thought he should be grateful. As if.

‘Mother!’ he yelled through the massive doors. ‘You can’t ignore me forever!’

He kicked the door in frustration. If he could just speak to her, he’d have a better shot at persuading her this wasn’t Skye’s fault. He could hardly blame Skye for wanting to see him in person. Although he’d felt a wave of crushing disappointment to begin with, and a deep feeling of disquiet that she’d not trusted him, he realised she really did love him as much as he loved her back. She wouldn’t have left her friends and family to come back early to him if she hadn’t. He just had to keep remembering that. They’d been so close to the deadline. If only she’d hung on for a few more hours, everything would have been alright.

Not for the first time he cursed himself for falling asleep and not hearing her come back to the mansion. She was going to be punished for the vagaries of the gods and it just wasn’t fair. He replayed the look on her face when he had left over and over again. She’d been stunned when his wings unfurled but that expression had quickly turned to horror as he’d flown out of the window. She deserved a second chance. They deserved a second chance.

He began thumping on the door again.

‘Mother! Open the goddamn door!’

‘You do realise half the palace can hear your bloody caterwauling?’

Coop stiffened at the familiar voice and turned round slowly to confront the smarmy grin on Apollo’s face. ‘Yeah?’ he said challengingly. ‘Well, if you want me to shut up then tell her to come and talk to me.’

‘She’s your mother. It’s not as if I’d have any sway with her.’Apollo smirked.

Coop bunched his hands into fists and took a deep breath. ‘Of course you don’t,’ he said sarcastically.

The God of Light widened his eyes dramatically and clutched his chest. ‘Dear me!Are you trying to insinuate that this sorry mess you’ve found yourself in is my fault? I’m horrified.’

Coop began to turn away, disgusted, but Apollo wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

‘You know those humans are amazingly easy to manipulate. It took me barely a minute to, shall we say, encourage her mother to see you as a danger to her daughter. And the friend!Well, she was even more persuadable.’

Coop froze and spun back, taking a threatening step towards Apollo. ‘It was you!’ he spat. ‘I thought as much.’

Apollo grinned. ‘I watched her going back to see you. She looked so happy. It was as if she couldn’t wait to burst in and see you for the first time in person.’

Every muscle in Coop’s body bunched up. Unfortunately Apollo still wasn’t finished.

‘You know,’ he mused, ‘she actually looked rather pretty. All glowing and in love.’He raised his eyebrows pointedly. ‘Now that she’s free I may have to seek her out for myself. Considering, after all, that it was me she was initially interested in.’

Coop didn’t wait any longer. He sprang towards Apollo, fists flying in all directions, swiping at him with every ounce of energy he could muster. The Sun God dodged him, but Coop didn’t give up and barrelled into him, knocking him to the floor. He drew back one fist and slammed into Apollo’s face, enjoying the sickening crack as he broke his nose. Then he pulled back for another shot. Before he could launch his fist forward, however, an iron-clad hand gripped it, preventing him from moving.

Coop twisted his face upwards, wincing in pain as his fingers were crushed, determined to see who had dared to prevent him from smashing Apollo’s face. As soon as he registered who was interrupting their fight, however, Coop’s body went limp. Damn it all to hell, Hades and the Underworld.

‘Father,’ coughed Apollo.

There was a visible curl of distaste on Zeus’s lips. He tightened his grip on Coop’s hand, making him groan involuntarily. ‘What exactly is going on here?’

‘As you can see,’ said Apollo, clambering to his feet and ignoring the blood flowing freely from his nose, ‘the little cherub here has decided to go postal on me.’

Coop snarled, finally wrenching his fist free from Zeus, and sprang upwards.

Zeus’s face remained emotionless. ‘The little cherub?The God of Love?You allowed him to hit you?’

Two high spots of colour lit Apollo’s cheekbones. ‘He came at me from nowhere!’ he protested.

‘You little shit!’ spat Coop. ‘You wanted me to punch you. You were fucking asking for it.’

‘Be quiet,’ Zeus commanded. Although he barely raised his voice above normal speaking level, his authority and tone brooked no argument. He gestured towards Apollo. ‘Did you goad him?’

Apollo looked down at the floor and mumbled something. Zeus took a step towards him. ‘What was that?’

‘He started it.’

Zeus’s eyebrows shot up for a second before his face shuttered again. ‘He started it?’

‘He shot me with one of his damned bullets. He made me think I was in love with some stupid girl!’

‘She’s not some stupid girl!’ yelled Coop, unable to keep quiet.

‘Shut up!’ roared Zeus. ‘The pair of you are gods, for Olympus’s sake!And yet here you are behaving like a pair of three year olds. You,’ he jabbed his thumb at Apollo, ‘you are meant to be my son. You’re meant to hold yourself at a higher standard. And the best explanation you can come up with is “he started it”?’

Coop couldn’t help smirking, but Zeus turned on him too. ‘And you!You’ve been given the right to change people’s lives for the better. But instead of being proud to hold that honour, you’ve grumped and whined about it for years. And now you’re treating it as some kind of prank. What were you thinking, shooting him?’

Coop’s head drooped. ‘You’re right, I just…’

‘I know I’m goddamned right, you idiot!’

‘I messed up,’ Coop said honestly. ‘I realise that now. I’m not the person I was three weeks ago. I’ve changed.’He raised his eyes and stared at the King of the Heavens, unblinkingly. ‘You need to believe me.’

‘You’ve changed. After the years your mother has spent agonising over your childish behaviour, now you’ve changed. And it’s only taken three weeks.’ The sarcastic edge to Zeus’s voice was clearly audible.

Coop took a deep breath. ‘I fell in love. I am in love. She’s the most perfect person in the world.’

‘Except she can’t be trusted for even three days not to spy on you,’ interjected Apollo sneeringly.

Coop rounded on the Sun God. ‘You made that happen!And she wasn’t spying. She thought she was doing the right thing.’

‘Oh yeah? How do you know?She only thinks she loves you. Anyway, she’s human; she’ll have changed her mind by next week and moved on to someone else.’

Zeus reached out to Coop and placed a restraining hand on his arm to prevent him from going after Apollo yet again. ‘I know a little something about human women,’ he said gruffly. ‘Who is this one?’

Coop had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from retorting that the only reason Zeus knew a little about human women was because he’d spent half his life shagging as many as he could lay his hands on.

‘Her name is Skye,’ he said quietly.

‘And you should know, Father, that she colluded with Cupid to bloody shoot me so I’d fall in love with her.’

‘That’s not true!’

The tiniest frown marred Zeus’s forehead. ‘Let me get this straight. You,’ he pointed at Coop, ‘shot my son so he would fall in love with a human girl. Then you fell in love with her yourself.’

Coop nodded.

Zeus continued. ‘Then you,’ he pointed at Apollo, ‘did something to prevent this Skye from being with him.’

‘I didn’t…’

‘Be quiet, Apollo. I know what you’re like and I know what you’re capable of doing. Sooner or later you are going to need to learn some respect for others.’

‘None of this is her fault,’ Coop said desperately. ‘I’ve behaved like a world-class fool. I know that. I deserve to be punished. Just … just don’t punish her as well.’

‘You made the deal, Cupid. Three days. If she could have managed to avoid sneaking in to see you for three short days, then you’d have won. But she couldn’t. If she really loved you, she wouldn’t have done that, no matter how much I meddled.’

Coop ran his hands through his hair. ‘It’s not about winning any more, Apollo. Don’t you see that?This isn’t a competition. It’s my life. My happiness. Her happiness. We’re meant to be together. Just because she made one mistake doesn’t mean she should be punished for the rest of her life too. She had nothing to do with me shooting you. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Zeus pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘Does she love you?’

The door to Aphrodite’s quarters slammed open and she appeared in the doorframe looking somewhat tired. ‘She failed the test, Coop. She’s only human. You’ll end up getting hurt, sooner or later.’

Coop faced her. ‘I’m not a little boy any more, Mother. You have to let me make my own mistakes and stop interfering. Besides, this isn’t a mistake and she does love me.’

‘How do you know?You weren’t so sure before.’

‘Because if she doesn’t then I’ve got no reason to live,’ he said simply.

Zeus met Aphrodite’s eyes and a look passed between them. Apollo was staring at Coop, his mouth half open.

‘It does sound as if there’s an easy way out of this,’ Zeus began.

‘No.’Apollo shook his head fervently. ‘He gave his word. Either she passed the test and they could be together, or she failed and he never saw her again. And she failed. End of story.’

A growl rumbled in Coop’s chest and he pulled his shoulders back. A flicker of agreement crossed Aphrodite’s face. ‘It’s true,’ she admitted. ‘That was the deal.’

‘But…’ Coop began to protest.

Zeus held up a heavy finger in warning. ‘Then my hands are tied. The deal is done.’

‘You’ll get over her,’ Aphrodite said. ‘There are lots of human girls around. And lots of minor goddesses who would be far more suitable for you. Any of them would be thrilled to have you as their consort. Not to mention that you’ll know they have no ulterior motives in wanting to be with you.’

‘I will not get over her,’ Coop forced out. ‘Don’t you get it?’

Apollo’s eyes were lit from within with a malicious gleam. ‘It’s merely an immature infatuation, Cupid. You’ll feel better in a hundred years or so.’

Coop snarled. His mother shook her head. ‘You still have a lot of growing up to do, darling.’

Coop tightened his hands into two hard fists and tried to force down the painful knot that was gathering in his chest.

‘Don’t let me see you two fighting again,’ Zeus ordered. ‘Or the consequences will be dire.’

‘Of course, Father,’ stated Apollo, shooting a nasty sideways look at Coop.

Aphrodite turned and walked back into her rooms, closing the door softly behind her. Zeus raised his eyebrows meaningfully at Coop and strode off, Apollo trotting dutifully at his heels. Coop scowled after the pair of them, doing everything he could to quell the rage and hurt inside him, and forced himself not to run after them and throw himself at them in a suicidal attack. Instead he remained where he was, frozen, barely registering Hermes pad up to stand next to him.

‘So,’ his friend said, ‘neither Zeus nor your mother will listen?’

Coop grunted in response. Hermes looked at him worriedly. ‘You’re not planning on doing anything stupid, are you, Coop?’

A tiny muscle throbbed in Coop’s cheek. ‘No. That’s what they’re expecting. At least that’s what Apollo’s expecting. I could run out of here and find Skye and we could elope together. We could find somewhere to live out the rest of our days. Except I’m immortal and she’s not. And she deserves a better existence than one that means cowering against the retribution of Olympus for the rest of her life. No,’he repeated, shaking his head. ‘There’s a way out of this where I can get both Zeus and my mother to see past what I was like before and recognise that what Skye and I have is real. A way where they’ll let her in, let us be and see that I’ve changed – as incredible as that may seem.’

Hermes clapped his hands together. ‘Great!What’s the way?’

‘I don’t know,’ Coop responded glumly. ‘I haven’t worked that out yet.’