Free The Secret Fire by Whitaker Ringwald Page B

to a rock. During the day, an eagle ate his liver. During the night, the liver healed so it could be eaten again and again.”
    I’d heard this story, but that’s all it had been—a gross, impossible story. But as I watched the tension on Pandora’s face, I realized that the story was true.
    Pandora continued. “Epimetheus grieved for his brother. He pleaded with Zeus to offer mercy. He petitioned the Mount Olympus council. But Zeus’s ruling stood. Epimetheus could not free his brother, but he was determined to help him. So he visited his brother each day, bringing him water laced withpoppy to make the pain bearable. When Zeus heard of this compassion, he ordered Epimetheus to cease. But Epimetheus continued, so Zeus created a magical barricade so that no one could pass. Without the poppy water, Prometheus suffered, day after endless day. Epimetheus could do nothing. He began to hate Zeus, and that hatred grew with each sunrise until it became a ferocious, unyielding beast.”
    I would hate Zeus, too, if he’d tortured my brother , I thought.
    â€œWhen I married Epimetheus, he tried to hide the fact that he hated Zeus. He tried to live within Zeus’s laws and he fooled most of us into believing that he’d forgiven Zeus. But Zeus was still angry with both brothers for their disobediences, so he decided to punish them yet again.”
    â€œOh, that’s where the wedding present comes in,” Tyler said. “Pandora’s box. I mean, your box.”
    Pandora didn’t seem to mind that Tyler kept interrupting her. I didn’t dare say a word. Her story filled my head with all sorts of images, and I tried to imagine Ricardo as a person who had once been caring and nice. Who’d once loved his brother.
    Then I felt a flash of hope. Maybe there was still some kindness inside him. Maybe he wouldn’t hurt Jax after all.
    â€œTo punish my husband for his disobedience, Zeus gave us a wedding present,” Pandora explained. “A lovely box, but we were told to never open it.”
    â€œThat’s like when our parents put gifts under the Christmas tree and tell us not to open them until Christmas morning.” Tyler frowned. “I always hate that. So I always open a few. Because how can you resist?”
    â€œLike you, Tyler, I could not resist.” Her voice had lost all of its musical qualities. It was clearly a memory that still brought pain. She touched her temple, as if a headache might be starting. “I was young and curious. I wanted to know what was inside.”
    â€œAnd that’s when evil was unleashed,” I said quietly.
    â€œYes.” She sighed. “Zeus told everyone that I had unleashed evil into the world.”
    The moment turned awkward. What could you say after that? Unleashing evil was a pretty bad thing to do. It wasn’t like she’d opened the box and a mouse got out. Or a plague of locusts. It was evil .
    Tyler’s stomach growled.
    â€œWhere are my manners?” she said with a graceful wave of her arm. “This way, please.”
    We followed Pandora into a dining room where a long wooden table was covered with platters of food:almonds and salty olives, loaves of crusty bread, cheese curds speckled with herbs, and roasted meat. Pandora washed her hands in a bowl of water, then dried them on a linen towel. Tyler and I did likewise. The water was warm, with flower petals floating in it. Pandora sat in one of the chairs, then she motioned for us to sit.
    Tyler threw himself into a chair. “Uh, do we have time for this?” I asked. “What about Jax and Pyrrha?”
    â€œI am just as concerned as you are about your cousin and my daughter,” Pandora said. “But there are details we still need to discuss. Besides, heroes cannot undertake quests on empty stomachs.”
    â€œYou got that right!” Tyler said.
    Is that what we were? Heroes? I had more questions, but at that moment,