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Julia was so terrified she could hardly breathe. Still, she didn’t hesitate. “ Stop! ” she cried, leaping away from the time passage. “ It’s not Markos’ fault. We’ll stay. ” She glanced at Brody, but he appeared to be frozen in place. Julia couldn’t believe it. Was he thinking about stepping through the passage despite Hermes’ threats against Markos and his family? A second later she let out a sigh of relief as Brody stepped away from the passage too. “ It’s cool, ” he said. “ I didn’t really want to go anyway. I was totally looking forward to being in the Olympics. ”

茱莉亚被吓的几乎无法呼吸。尽管如此，她还是毫不犹豫。 “停下！”她喊道，从时间走廊中跳了出来。“这不是马库斯的错。我们会留下来的。” 她瞥了一眼布罗迪，但他似乎僵在了原地。茱莉亚简直不敢相信。 他是否在考虑不顾赫尔墨斯对马库斯及其家人的威胁而踏入通道？ 一秒钟后，当布罗迪也离开通道时，她松了一口气。 “这很酷，”他说。“反正我真的哪里都不想去。我非常期待参加奥运会。”

“ You have a funny way of showing it, boy, ” Hermes snarled, though he sounded slightly less angry already. “ Come. We need to have a talk about loyalty. ” As Hermes dragged Brody out of the room, Julia glanced at Markos. He’d taken a few steps forward and was staring through the passage. Julia glanced through at her own world just in time to see a car drive by. “ Oh! ” Markos exclaimed, pointing at it. “ What was that?” “ It’s a car, ” Julia said. “ It’s like a wagon, except you don’t need a horse or ox to pull it. ”

“你的表现很有意思，孩子，”赫尔墨斯低喝道，尽管听起来他似乎已经不那么生气了。“来吧。我们需要谈谈忠诚。” 赫尔墨斯把布罗迪拖出房间时，茱莉亚看了一眼马库斯。他向前走了几步，凝视着通道。 茱莉亚看了一眼自己的世界，正好看到一辆汽车驶过。 “哦！”马库斯指着它惊呼道。“那是什么？” “这是一辆车，”茱莉亚说。“这就像一辆马车，只不过你不需要马或牛来拉它。

Markos looked impressed. “ Never mind. Let’s step away from the time passage, shall we?” Caerus herded Markos and Julia into the outer room of the temple. The guard, now awake, was waiting there. “ I’m so sorry, master, ” he said, cowering in front of Caerus. “ I swear upon my life, I’ve never fallen asleep on the job before. It must have been some trick. Perhaps the mortals enlisted the aid of Hypnos or—” “ Silence! ” Caerus ordered, sounding annoyed.

马库斯看起来被深深打动了。 “别在意。让我们离开时间走廊吧，好吗？”卡埃罗斯把马库斯和茱莉亚赶到神庙的外室。 守卫现在醒了，正在那边等待。“我真的很抱歉，主人，”他在卡埃罗斯面前说。 “我发誓，我以前从未在工作中睡着过。这一定是什么把戏。也许是凡人寻求了修普诺斯的帮助，或者——” “噤声！”卡埃罗斯下令，听起来很是恼火。

“ I might forgive your incompetence just this once, mortal fool. But if you value your family and your sanity, you’ll guard this chamber with your life from now on. ” “ Of course. Thank you, Caerus! ” The guard said quickly, bowing. “ No mortal will get past me again! ” As he turned away, he glared at the kids. Julia’s heart sank. It was obvious that nobody was going to be able to sneak into the temple again before the Games. Besides, Hermes was aware of their plans now. If she and Brody escaped, Markos and his family would certainly suffer.

“我可能会原谅你这一次的无能，傻瓜。但如果你珍惜你的家庭和你清楚的头脑，你将从现在起用你的生命守护这个房间。” “当然。谢谢你，卡埃罗斯！”守卫鞠了一躬，迅速说道。“没有人能再越过我！”当他转身离开时，他瞪了孩子们一眼。 茱莉亚的心沉了下去。很明显，在奥运会之前，没有人能够再次潜入神庙。 此外，赫尔墨斯现在已经知道了他们的计划。如果她和布罗迪逃走了，马库斯和他的家人肯定会遭殃。

“ I guess we’re stuck, ” she thought with a shiver. “ We’ll just have to hope that Hermes will keep his word and let us go after the Games. ” The next day Julia sat on the bench beside Markos. They were watching Brody’s training session. He had already spent a couple of hours running and tossing the javelin. Now he was about to start practicing the long jump required for the pentathlon. That was a competition in which athletes competed in five different events.

“我想我们被困住了，”她颤抖着想。“我们只能寄希望于赫尔墨斯能信守诺言，让我们在奥运会之后离开。 第二天，茱莉亚坐在马库斯身旁的长椅上。他们正在观看布罗迪的训练课程。 他已经花了几个小时来练习跑步和投掷标枪。现在他即将开始练习五项全能所需的跳远。 这是一项运动员参加五个不同项目的比赛。

“ Hermes is working Brody harder than ever today, ” Julia observed. “ Does that mean he’s still mad at us for trying to escape?” Markos looked thoughtful. “ I doubt it, ” he said. “ I mean, of course he was angry at the time. You’re lucky he didn’t turn us all into frogs or something. ” He shuddered. “ However, I’m sure he’s mostly forgotten about it by now. ” “ Really?” Julia winced as Brody made his first attempt at the long jump and landed with a splat. “ But Hermes kept saying how Brody betrayed him. ” “ Yes, ” Markos said. “ But remember, the gods view us as mortals view dogs. Would you really bother to hold a grudge against a dog?”

“赫尔墨斯现在比以往任何时候都更努力地训练布罗迪，”茱莉亚观察到。“这是否意味着他还在为我们试图逃跑而生气？” 马库斯一脸若有所思。“我对此表示怀疑，”他说。“我的意思是，他当时当然很生气。你很幸运，他没有把我们都变成青蛙什么的。” 他不寒而栗。“但是，我敢肯定，他现在基本上已经忘记了这件事。 “真的吗？”当布罗迪第一次尝试跳远并且啪的一声落地时，茱莉亚吓了一跳。“但赫尔墨斯一直在说布罗迪是如何背叛他的。” “是的，”马库斯说。“但记住，众神看待我们就像凡人看待狗一样。你真的会费心去怨恨一条狗吗？”