"Do you have the key?" Mars asked.
I nodded, and under my breath whispered, "A caelo usque ad centrum." It was the last thing Horatio had said to me before he sent me into the amphitheater, and what Crispus had said in memory of his father.
From heaven to the center of earth. That was the meaning of the words. When Horatio had spoken them, I had thought he was beginning to understand that his life was in danger, and it was a sort of prayer to the gods. Maybe it was, in his own way, but it was also the key. The power of the gods came from the heavens and much of it had been stored at the center of earth: in Caesar's cave in the mines, and here, in the catacombs of a former vestalis.
Crispus had reminded me of it last night, when Livia and I talked with him in his fields.
And upon my words, a light formed in front of me. Whereas before, only I could see the temple, this time I knew it was visible to the Praetors because they gasped and fell on their knees.
When I stood, a door appeared directly in front of me. There was no handle, but it was open, beckoning me inside.
No, I was not going in there. The Praetors would, while I got my mother to safety. Then I would use magic to destroy the temple, sealing the Mistress inside the tomb forever.
I turned to Brutus, who had come near me, his jaw open wide as he gazed over the temple and its beckoning door. "Release my mother," I said. "Now."
"Your mother has one last job to do," he said. "As my slave, I order her into the temple to get the Malice. When she brings it out and puts it in my hands, then she may go."
"No, I will not agree to that," I said. As long as he controlled my mother, he controlled me. I was willing to risk my own safety, but never hers.
"I don't need you to agree," Brutus said. "Those are my orders, and she will obey them."
"No, she won't." I glanced over at her, but she was too far away to hear us or to have any idea of the danger she was still in.
"Are you challenging my authority, slave?" he asked. "Because if I recall, the last time you started a fight with us, we nearly killed that sewer girl. The time before that, we did kill Valerius. Do you doubt that I will harm your mother, if necessary?"
"I'm not challenging your authority," I said. "I'm denying that you have any authority, at least over me. I will go in my mother's place. I will go into the temple."
And collapse it from within. And hope to survive.
He smiled. "I thought you would offer that. And I accept, though I don't trust you, no more than you trust me. So you will not go in alone."
"You want to come in with me?" I said. Fine, he could remain in that temple forever, keep the Mistress company while the walls crashed in on them both.
"Yes, I will come." Brutus nodded to the men still holding my mother. "And so will she."
"No!" I raised a hand, and then heard Crispus running toward us, completely out of breath and calling my name. He must've left the circus the moment I disappeared.
"I need to speak with Nic!" Crispus said. "In private, before anything else happens."
"Whatever you have to say should be for everyone," Brutus said.
Crispus turned to him, almost violently. "You murdered my father and dare to stand on my land! I will have my revenge on you, Decimas Brutus. You and Nic are not on the same side of this quest, and so if I want to speak to him in private, then I will!"
Brutus chuckled, giving off every impression that he was unconcerned, but the look in his eyes said something else entirely. He knew with one hand on my flesh, he could stop me. But Crispus was a judge now within the empire. He had ways of stopping Brutus that were far beyond what I could do.
Brutus nodded, and Crispus pulled me aside. I had no doubt that it was important -- the tense expression on his face told me that. But with my mother only a short distance away and magic filling me, his timing couldn't have been worse.
"What is it?" I hissed when we were alone. Not alone really, but at least we were out of earshot from any of the Praetors.
"The temple was here all the time?"
"Did you come here to chat? Because I'd rather do this later."
"No, I came to help you. I owe it to my father to fight them."
"Not this time. I'm either about to end a war on this earth or start one in the heavens. Whichever it is, I don't want you here."
"It's my property!"