The Earthly Olympians
Book 2
A NEW JURISDICTION
Copyright Porter Weeks 2012
Published at Smashwords
PART 1
Chapter 1
Summer is Shortened
All right, I’m just saying, if you haven’t read the first book in this series yet, put this book down right now and go read it. You’ll be completely out of the loop if you don’t. Now that that’s out of the way, I just want everyone to recall that at the beginning of the previous book, Paul and I were just a couple of normal, antisocial teenagers…not anymore.
As Paul, Aeola, and I walked down the street of my past in Boston, MA, I realized just how much I had changed in the last few months. Even more, I was skeptical of how my parents would react to my new way of life. Hopefully, they would be so afraid I would vaporize them that they wouldn’t say much.
“Aeola,” I said. “…I’m not sure how my parents are going to react.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure I can handle it.”
“Well, this is my stop,” Paul sighed as we stopped at his house, the site of Paul and I’s first magical encounter. “I hope my parents are back by now.”
“They will be,” Aeola gave him a hug. “Come hang out with Henry and I, okay? It’ll be best if we all stick together this summer.”
“Will do,” he smiled as he walked up and tentatively knocked on the door. There were shuffling footsteps inside and the door swung open to reveal Paul’s mother.
“Paul!” she embraced him. “Thank god you’re all right…and, Henry!” She came running out and gave me a hug as well.
“Hi, Mrs. Iden,” I said. “Don’t worry. We took good care of your son.”
“I’m sure Paul’s looking forward to explaining everything to you,” Aeola laughed. “Henry and I are going to be just down the street. Have Paul come visit us every once in a while.”
“I will,” she replied before walking back to the house and ushering her son inside.
“You think he’ll be okay explaining all of this shit to them?” I asked as we continued our path to my old house.
“He’ll be fine,” she waved it off. “His parents seem pretty level-headed. They’ll believe him.”
“All right,” I sighed as we arrived at the horror of my childhood. “Are you ready?”
“Sure am,” she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. I picked up mine and gingerly knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” the infamous voice of Dave exclaimed.
“Uh…Santa Claus,” I called.
“Nice job thinking on your feet,” Aeola laughed. “Very convincing.”
“What the hell---” The door flew open and there stood Dave, staring in awe at the child he thought he’d gotten rid of. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you ‘grounded yourself’.”
“I did,” I retorted, pushing past him. “If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been gone for six months. That long enough for you?”
“Henry, is that you?” my mother’s voice came from the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Hi, mom.”
“Who’s this broad?” Dave gestured to Aeola, who was standing just outside the door.
“That ‘broad’,” I fumed. “Is my girlfriend, Aeola.”
He laughed. “You’re kidding me, right? Honey, why are you with Henry, here? He’s a low-life idiot.”
“I think I can make my own decisions, thanks,” she replied calmly.
“Okay,” he shrugged. “It’s up to you. By the way, Henry, what makes you think we’ll LET her stay here?”
“You don’t have to,” I smiled. “We’re WILLING to try staying here at least until I can restrain myself from murdering you in your sleep! But, if you want, we can just go stay with Paul!”
“Fine!” he yelled. “Then, go! Get out of here! We’ve been doing great without your disrespectful ass!”
“Okay,” I shrugged. “Aeola, let’s go.”
“So, we’re leaving?” she smiled.
“Yeah,” I said. “Right now.”
“Cool,” she shrugged. Suddenly, she turned and kicked Dave where it hurts. He crumbled to the ground. “If you ever call me a broad again, you will cease to exist! Got it?”
He gave her a thumbs up. After that grand exit, we turned and left, walking back towards Paul’s house. “He’s gunna be singing soprano for a little while,” I laughed.
“I hope so,” she whipped her hair out of her face. “You weren’t kidding when you said your stepdad was an asshole.”
“Told you,” I sighed. We walked up to Paul’s door and rang the doorbell. Paul opened the door almost immediately.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” he smiled. “Get your asses in here.”
We happily walked into Paul’s house and Aeola and I put our things in Paul’s room, where we would be staying. “So, have you made any progress with the explanation?” I asked Paul.
“Nah,” he shook his head. “You guys have only been gone like five minutes. I haven’t even had a chance to say hi to my dad yet.”
“We’ll help you out,” Aeola put her hand on his shoulder. “You go see your dad. We’ll get ready for dinner.”
He nodded. “Sounds good. Dinner’s in about fifteen minutes.”
“Works for me,” I shrugged. When he left, Aeola turned to me.
“So, do you like this life better than your life before…even if you do risk your life every day?”
“Of course,” I exclaimed as I unpacked my armor and weaponry, placing it on the floor next to the bed. “It’s not even a competition, babe.” We got ready for dinner and got downstairs just as it was being put on the table.
“Just in time,” Paul’s dad smiled. We all sat down and started to eat the meatloaf. It wasn’t as good as Art’s food with Bella’s seasoning, but it was pretty fucking good, nonetheless.
“So, let the explaining commence,” Mrs. Iden put her hands out. We’ve been worried SICK about you three for months! Where exactly have you been?”
“Okay,” Paul sighed. “Where do I start? I know a good place. Did you adopt me when I was a baby?”
“Yes,” she replied plainly. “So, what? What were those disgusting things that came to our house that night?”
“Mom, dad,” he began. “This is going to be a bit of a shock, but you have to believe me. I am the son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the Sea. Henry is the son of Helios, the god of the sun, and Aeola, here, is the daughter of Aeolus, the god of the wind.”
They stared blankly at him. “…Okay,” his father continued after processing that for a while. “Again we ask…where have you been?”
“There’s a group of us,” I began. “Half-gods, that is. We trained and fought enemies very similar to the ones who came here that night. Mainly, though, one of our friends went missing and we had to go get her from the Underworld.”
“The Underworld?!” Paul’s mother exclaimed. “How the hell did you get out of the Underworld?”
“It’s a long story,” Paul explained. “But, basically, all three of us are now talented warriors who have to go to Egypt in September for another mission.”
“All right,” Mr. Iden put his hands up. “I’m just going to say I believe you and leave it at that because I’m obviously completely lost here.”
“Don’t worry,” Aeola laughed. “It took these guys a few WEEKS to get the idea of it.”
The rest of dinner went by fairly uneventfully and we went up to bed afterwards.
“Aeola,” I said. “Should one of us go patrol the house for a few hours and then switch out? You know, just to be safe.”
Paul nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. Henry, you wanna take the first shift?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going with you,” Aeola announced.
“Uh…why? Get some sleep. I’ll be fine.”
“I know you will be,” she sighed. “I would just rather spend time with you than sleep. So, I’m coming too.”
“Okay,” I smiled, picking up my armor and throwing Aeola hers. After we suited up, I led the way down the stairs and out the door into the darkness.
“I’m a little worried,” I admitted as we started to walk around the house.
“Why?”
“We’re separated. And, I highly doubt that Hades will wait…especially if he knows we’re weaker than usual. I just---“
“Shhh,” she ordered. I listened carefully and heard a soft rustling behind us that I recognized as the sound of footsteps on the grass.
“Freeze!” I ordered, turning around and pointing my sword into the blackness.
“It’s okay,” a familiar voice whimpered. “It’s just me.” Right in front of me, a muddy-faced Katie appeared.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” I breathed again, sheathing my sword.
“I’m sorry,” she said as Cerberus gave her a kiss.
“What’s wrong?” Aeola asked. “Why are you here? Did you come from…Florida?!”
She nodded. “Cerberus moved fast, but it’s been about three hours.”
“Since what?” I egged her on.
“Since they came. Adam woke me up just in time so I could get Cerberus and disappear…he and Juno are being held captive at my house now…the monsters killed my parents.”
“Fuck,” I mumbled. “I knew it. I knew it.”
“We need to move,” Aeola ordered.
“No shit!” Katie exclaimed. “Where’s Paul?”
“Upstairs,” I replied. “I’ll go get him.” I ran upstairs and got Paul, who moved faster than I thought he could and we were back down there in a matter of minutes. We set off for Florida…so much for a summer off.
Chapter 2
The Master Plan
Yep. On the road again…riding a ten-foot mythical dog, of course! “Katie,” I yelled over the howling wind. “Why didn’t you just release Cerberus on them?”
She shook her head. “There’s a lot of them and they’re holding them in different rooms. Cerberus would alert all of them and they’d kill Adam, Juno, or both. We need to make a coordinated attack.”
“We don’t have enough people for a coordinated attack,” Paul pointed out.
“We’re about to,” I replied, taking out my cell phone and dialing Hermes’ number.
“Henry. What’s up?”
“Adam and Juno are in trouble! Take Snowball and get to Orlando as fast as you can! Bring Brad! Meet us where we camped last time!”
“All right,” he replied. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up and I immediately called Bella.
“Hey, Henry. How are you?”
“Bella, where are you?” I asked urgently.
“With Art,” she said tentatively. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Juno and Adam need help! Everyone else is on their way to Orlando. You and Art need to take Cery and get there ASAP!”
“Got it,” she replied. “Art, we’ve gotta move! Hang tight, Henry! We’re on our way!”
“All right. Meet us where we camped last time.”
“Will do. Good luck.”
“Thanks. You too. See you in a bit.” She hung up as we were leaving the state of Massachusetts.
“Where are we at with manpower?” Aeola asked.
“Everyone’s on their way! We’re meeting up where we camped last time we were there!”
“Good!” Katie exclaimed, directing Cerberus around a turn. “That should set us up for a coordinated attack!”
“Let’s worry about that after we take care of these assholes!” I exclaimed, notching three arrows and taking out three enemies that were coming at us from our right.
“Where the hell did they come from?” Paul looked around.
“I don’t know,” Aeola shook her head. “But, keep your eyes peeled.”
“Up ahead!” Katie exclaimed. Sure enough, there were more enemies. These, however, were taken care of by Cerberus’ three gigantic heads…its sometimes a good thing to have one of the most powerful creatures of all time on your side.
My phone started ringing. Adam’s number popped up. “Hello?”
“Henry,” he whispered. “I finally got my cell out of my pocket. Juno and I are being held captive. Not much we can do.”
“I know,” I nodded. “Just sit tight. The whole team’s on the way.”
“No rush,” he explained. “If they were gunna kill us, they would have by now. Just be careful when you’re coming in…I think they’re planning on everyone coming.”
“We will. Thanks for the tip.”
“I’m gunna go check on the half-gods,” I heard a voice laugh in the background.
“Gotta go, man. Talk to you later.” On that note, he hung up.
“Who was that?” Aeola asked. “I thought you’d already called everyone!”
“I did,” I sighed, putting my phone back in my pocket. “That was Adam. He snuck out his phone and tipped me off. They’re not planning to kill Adam and Juno. They’re using them as bait to lure us in. When we get there, we need to map out a specific plan…they’ll be expecting us.”
“All right,” Katie replied. “Let’s go, Cerberus! Keep it up! Almost there, buddy.”
Don’t ask me how, but we were somehow passing the sign that said “Welcome to the Sunshine State.”
“What the hell,” I called. “How in god’s name are we already in Florida?”
“Cerberus has picked up a new skill recently,” Katie smiled, patting the dog on the head. “Shadow Travel. He can only go a certain distance. But, in simple terms, it’s like the hyper speed on Fluffy.”
“Cool,” Paul laughed. “As if this guy wasn’t bad ass enough as it is.”
“All right,” Aeola said as we sprinted into the clearing that we had camped on so long ago. “Let’s get to work on the schematic before the others get here.” It was probably close to two in the morning, now and we needed a fire to see.
“Okay,” Katie laid out a piece of paper. “My house is designed on two floors.” She drew a rectangle on the top of the paper and one on the bottom to represent the separate floors.
“Where are the doors?” Aeola asked.
“Here and here,” she replied, circling two locations on the first floor. “Now, I think half of us should penetrate this door and the others should come in the other.”
“No,” I protested. “If they’re waiting for us, that’s where they’ll be expecting us to come in. We need to catch them off guard.”
“He’s right,” Aeola agreed.
“Then, what do you suggest?”
“Where are they being held?” Paul asked.
“Second floor,” she said, circling two rooms. “They separated the two of them.”
“Are there any windows?” Aeola asked.
“Yeah,” she shrugged. “Right at the end of the hall, there’s one. Why?”
“That’s our point of entry,” Aeola ordered, pointing at the end of the hallway. “We need to infiltrate here and take them out.”
“Forget different entry points,” Paul added. “We just need to bust in there and take them out.”
At that moment, the sound of a galloping landing came from the forest. Soon afterwards, Hermes and Brad emerged into the clearing.
“Hey, guys,” Hermes huffed, giving Paul and I a high five. “How’ve you been?”
“Not much of a summer,” I shrugged. “But, I’m not complaining.”
“So, what’s the plan?” he asked, looking at the model Katie had made of her house.
“We’ll enter through this window,” Aeola explained. “From there, half the team will make their way downstairs and the others will take out the enemies on the second floor.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “About how many enemies are we talking about?”
“Twenty to twenty-five,” Katie sighed. “It’s a long shot, but, with everybody, we should be able to pull it off.”
Hermes shrugged. “We sort of have to, but I agree. It’s a long shot.”
“I don’t even think it’s possible,” Brad shook his head. “I mean…ten against twenty?”
“I forgot to show you something that may help us a little bit,” Katie smiled, rising.
“What?” I asked, anxious for anything that would make this mission more reasonable.
“Well,” she explained. “Cerberus hasn’t been the only one working on his skills…I have to…some powers of my dad.”
“Hades’ powers?” Aeola scratched her head. “Summoning the dead?”
“No,” Katie scowled. “This.” All of a sudden, Katie disappeared. “See?” said a voice from the nothingness. “I can disappear.”
“That is useful,” Hermes smiled.
A characteristic rustling from the edge of the clearing signaled the approach of a familiar creature. “Sounds like the rest of the crew is here,” I rose.
“Where’re we at?” Bella jumped off, Art not far behind.
“Going in through the second floor window,” Paul summarized. “Twenty to twenty-five enemies and both Juno and Adam are being kept on the second floor.”
“Sounds good,” Art nodded as Cery turned to his human form. I must say that I had much more respect for the creature after he turned down Olympus to stay with us. It also felt like he was a more permanent member of the team than he had been just a few weeks before.
“Can I be of any assistance?” he asked.
“I’m sure we could use your unique skill set,” Hermes nodded. “I think that Cerberus should wait outside for us so we have a quick escape route.”
“Katie,” I began. “I think you would be most helpful if you snuck into the top floor rooms and untied Adam and Juno. After that, you can help with the others.”
“I can’t do it indefinitely,” she shrugged. “Ten seconds at a time, and that’s pushing it.”
“Then, use it to clear the rooms and then we can go in and untie them, etc,” Aeola backed me up.
“If I may say so myself,” Cery suggested. “It would be beneficial to save Adam and Juno and then stay in one room, waiting for the majority of the enemies to come to us. If they don’t, we can clear the house room by room.”
“Good idea,” Art nodded. “I second that.”
“Yeah,” Aeola nodded. “So, that’s the plan. In through the window, save Adam and Juno, wait for the enemies to come to us, and then clear the house. Everyone clear?”
We all nodded. “Then, let’s go save our friends,” I called as Cery transformed back into his animal form to help with transportation.
We all jumped to our old positions on Snowball, Cery, and Cerberus.
“How are we going to get to the window?” I asked.
“Cerberus will reach a branch on the tree that we can use to start our climb up to the window.”
“All right,” I nodded. “Works for me.” In no time, we were at Katie’s house and all of us piled onto Cerberus…poor dog.
We all climbed onto the branch and up to the second floor window, where I put a hand up, as there was a patrolling enemy nearby. When he turned around, Cery turned to the rest of us.
“I’ll go in first,” he whispered. “You guys follow.”
We nodded. “Take him out,” I pointed to the enemy that was about ten feet away from the window by this point.
“I know what I’m doing,” he snorted. He launched into the window breaking it and slicing through the enemy like it was nothing. The rest of us followed and in a matter of seconds, we were all in.
Surprisingly, Cery made absolutely no noise when he broke the window. Aeola signaled for us to look into the first room on the left. Juno was there, tied up.
When she saw us, she kept a completely straight face, but moved her foot. She tapped four times and moved it to the right and five times and moved it to the left. She was telling us how many enemies there were.
Aeola used her fingers to count down and we infiltrated the room at the same time, hustling in and stabbing all of them almost simultaneously. Although we did our best, they made quite a lot of noise and there were hurried footsteps coming up the staircase.
There was no longer any reason to be silent. “Paul, cut Juno loose,” Aeola ordered. “Henry, go get Adam.”
“On it,” I ran out of the room, smacking an enemy in the head with the butt of my sword as I left. I turned left and ran down the hallway, enemies chasing me. I had been nailed by arrows at least five times before I heard slicing behind me and I turned to find Cery.
“Thought you could use some help,” he smiled.
“Let’s go,” I ordered. “We have to get to Adam quickly before they kill him.”
We ran down the hallway and entered the room where Adam was being held just as the enemy was holding a knife to his throat. “Hey,” I called. “Over here.”
He whipped around and Adam took his opportunity, swinging his feet around and taking him out. Cery and I took out the rest of the enemies in the room with ease and untied Adam.
“Thanks for the assist,” he grunted as he wrestled his hands out of the rope.
“No problem,” I helped him up. “Aeola,” I yelled. “We’ve got Adam!”
“Downstairs now!” I heard Hermes order.
“I guess we better get going,” I pulled Adam along, running out the door and slicing through enemies along the way, running down the stairs and fighting through the pain from the arrows as I ran towards Cerberus where the others were waiting, egging us on.
As we got outside, Cery transformed and we jumped onto our respective animals, taking off just as more enemies came pouring out of the house.
I looked around at everyone and I was perfectly happy. Everyone was here. Everything was back to normal.
Chapter 3
The Godly Version of Skype
We went back and set up camp in Orlando. “Thanks for the assist,” Adam gave me a high five.
“No problem,” I smiled.
“What the fuck is going on?” Juno exclaimed. “I thought the gods said we would be fine until September.”
“Well, the gods were wrong,” Aeola retorted.
“I told you we shouldn’t have trusted them,” Hermes threw his hands up. “I told you.”
“Hermes, that’s not it,” I protested. “They informed us to the best of their ability. Even the gods make mistakes sometimes and complaining isn’t going to help.”
“You’re right,” he sighed. “I’m sorry…I’ve just been against the gods for so long that it feels weird to have them as allies.”
“I know,” Art agreed. “I feel the same way.”
“Maybe we should go to Olympus,” Cery suggested. “And tell the gods what’s happened.”
“No,” Bella shook her head. “That’ll take too long. We need a faster way to get into contact with the gods.”
“Agreed,” Katie nodded. “Something much more serious than the gods were expecting is going on here. We need to get to Egypt and enlist the help of other half-gods as soon as possible.”
“Dad,” I spoke to the sky. “If you can hear me, I could really use some help right now.”
There was no response. “It was worth a shot,” Paul sighed. Suddenly, the air began to shimmer behind the fire and my father’s image appeared.
“Henry,” his voice came through the image. “What’s wrong?”
“Dad,” I said, relieved. “Look, Hades attacked us.”
“Something really big is going on right now,” Hermes added. “Much bigger than we expected.”
“You’re right,” Helios put his head down. “Hades must be planning a large undertaking if he is attacking in the middle of the summer. I apologize that we misinformed you. But, we assumed that Hades would lay off during the summer…He usually does.”
“It’s all right,” Aeola waved it off. “That doesn’t matter. We’re all fine. But, we need to get to Egypt…and soon.”
“Zeus,” he called. Helios moved out of the way and the image of Zeus took his place.
“What do you need, children?” he asked.
“A way to get to Egypt,” Juno explained. “Hades attacked us already and we need to get out of his jurisdiction soon before we get ourselves killed.”
“Okay,” Zeus nodded. “Where are you right now?”
“Orlando, Florida,” I replied.
“All right,” he said. “Go to the Orlando Airport and catch the next flight to Cairo.”
“What about tickets?” Paul asked.
“Don’t worry about that,” he smiled. “When you get to the gate, they will be in Juno’s pocket: first class.”
“Sweet,” Adam pumped his fist. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. Now, I want Cery to be in his human form so he can ride with you.”
“What about passports?” I asked.
“I told you,” he replied impatiently. “Don’t worry about it. Everything you need will be in Juno’s pocket when you get there. I am the King of the skies. I control all flights and anything related to flights. I think I can handle a few passports and tickets.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Now, about Katie’s dog, leave him somewhere in the US. It will simply complicate things.”
I had completely forgotten the gods only knew the identity of Katie…and thought that Cerberus was just a normal dog.
“Uh…” Katie began. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“Excuse me?” Zeus sat up, close to getting angry.
“Look,” Juno explained. “Katie’s dog isn’t…just a dog.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s Cerberus,” I revealed plainly.
“He’s…he’s what?!” he asked. “What do you mean he’s Cerberus?”
“The ten-foot dog that protects the Underworld,” Katie elaborated. “We found him protecting one of the pearls. Don’t worry, he’s on our side. But, he has to come.”
“…I don’t believe you,” Zeus shook his head. “That beast responds to Hades and Hades, alone.”
“No,” Katie corrected. “Hades and the bloodline of Hades…I’m his daughter.”
“And, if you don’t believe us,” Aeola shrugged. “See for yourself.”
“Come here, Cerberus,” Katie called. The puppy ran over and gave her a kiss. “Let’s do a little demonstration for Zeus, okay?” Zeus watched intently as Cerberus stepped back and transformed into the roaring three-headed monster that he really was.
“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary!” Zeus exclaimed, falling over backwards. “That’s…that’s…”
“Cerberus,” I finished for him. “We know.”
“You’re taking him with you,” Zeus ordered.
“Well, no shit,” Katie laughed. “That’s why I told you we weren’t leaving him behind.”
“But, put him in a bag or something. Do NOT put him in the back of the plane with the other animals. If he freaks out, he’ll transform and…well…it won’t end well.”
“Okay,” Aeola nodded. “Thanks, Zeus. We’ll head to the airport right now.”
“No problem,” Zeus replied. “Be careful and contact us when you land in Cairo.”
“Will do,” Juno said. With that, Zeus swiped his hand through the air and it disappeared.
“What the hell was that?” I asked as we all ran around, packing our things onto Snowball.
“What?” Hermes asked.
“The whole shimmering air thing.”
“Iris message,” Aeola replied, as if this explained everything.
“Uh…what?”
“Iris is the Goddess of Rainbows,” Art explained. “She will work with the gods and with allies of the gods to create a fast method of communication. It’s like the godly version of Skype.”
“Katie,” I said, turning to her as she lay on her bed, looking at the top of the tent.
“What’s up?” she sighed without looking at me.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” I sat down next to her. “I’m not going to say that I understand because I don’t…I can’t even imagine…I hate my parents and I still don’t think I’d know what to do if anything happened to them.”
“Thanks,” she smiled. “It’s tough, but I’ve got a whole other family here. I can’t complain. I’m still glad you guys came to find me a few months ago.”
“I am, too,” I replied. “You’re a great asset to the team and, much more importantly, you’re a great friend. We’re always here for you.”
“Thanks,” she said, giving me a hug. “I might need it.” As I got up and looked over at Bella and Hermes, I was reminded of what Hermes had said when we had lost Bella: “I loved her and now she’ll never know!”
Was he going to take the initiative and tell her how he feels? After a scare like that, I couldn’t imagine he’d let too much time pass. For both of their sakes, I made a decision to have a conversation with Bella.
“Hey, Bella,” I said. “Can you come here a minute?”
“Sure,” she smiled, following me outside of the tent. “What’s up?”
“I wanna talk to you,” I replied, walking towards the forest.
“Uh…Okay,” she shrugged.
Once we were out of earshot, I turned to her. “I want to talk to you about Hermes.”
“What about him?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” I sighed. “It’s just that…when you went missing a few months back, Hermes was pretty devastated.”
“I know,” she pushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Look,” I explained. “I’m not trying to make anything happen between you two, but when we lost you, Hermes said that he loved you and that now, you would never know.”
She froze. “Oh…well…”
“I’m sorry,” I put my hands up. “I know it’s weird for me to be telling you this, but I think that Hermes really meant it and I’m afraid that now, he doesn’t want to tell you because he doesn’t wanna risk your friendship after he almost lost you once.”
She nodded, “Thanks, Henry. I appreciate the heads up. I’ll talk to him about it.” With that, she turned and walked back to camp, me close behind.
How this was going to turn out, I didn’t know. But, what I really didn’t know is if I had done the right thing in mentioning it to Bella.
“Hermes,” she called when we got back into the tent. “Come with me.” He hopped up and followed me out of the tent. “You too, Henry.”
“Shit,” I thought to myself. “She just had to keep me involved in the situation.”
“What’s up?” Hermes asked. I didn’t need to ask…I already knew what this conversation was going to be about.
“Hermes,” she began. “Henry tells me that last year, when I went missing, that you said you loved me.”
Hermes glared at me. “Uh…Well, I…”
“Look,” she put a finger up. “Either grow some balls or walk away! Do you love me? Henry had the sack to ask Aeola.”
“Okay,” he sighed. “I do. I love you. I have for years, but I just didn’t want to risk our friendship, especially since I almost lost you just last week.”
“Why would you think that anything would ruin our friendship?” she asked. This was getting off on a tangent that I wasn’t part of, so I started to inch myself away. “Henry, get back here. You’re a part of this, too.”
“I don’t know why I thought that,” he shook his head. “I just didn’t wanna risk it.”
“Hermes, from now on, you’re going to tell me what you think and what you feel,” she ordered. “Got it?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Okay,” she smiled. “Now, onto the important thing.” She suddenly leaned in and kissed him. I almost had a heart attack! Talk about sudden. I could only imagine what Hermes was feeling right now.
They separated and smiled at each other before starting again. At this point, I walked away and Bella didn’t protest.
“Well,” I clapped my hands as I went back into the tent. “That’s taken care of.”
“What is?” Paul asked.
“Hermes and Bella are dating now,” I smiled. “Thanks to me, of course.” Everyone jerked their head up right away.
“Well, it’s about fucking time,” Art laughed. “They’ve only been dancing around the bush for the past 6 years!”
At that point, Bella and Hermes entered the tent and everyone started clapping, causing both of them to blush.
Hermes walked over to me and I was a little worried that he was going to rip me limb from limb. “Hey, man,” he patted me on the shoulder. “I just wanted to say…thanks for the help.”
“No problem,” I replied. “You think I wanted to be part of the only romantic relationship in this place?” At that point, we all went to bed, two more of us happier than we had ever been.
Chapter 4
Cery’s Distraction
“What the hell are we going to do with Snowball,” Hermes asked as we all packed our things.
“Leave him here or set him free,” Aeola replied plainly.
“Why?” Hermes asked. “He’s quite useful, you know.”
“There’s no way in HELL we’re going to get him on a plane,” Art exclaimed. “The Pegasus stays.”
“Well, how are we all going to be transported?” he protested.
“Cerberus can carry all but one of us if he doesn’t have to carry the baggage,” Katie shrugged.
“Fine,” Hermes sighed, cutting the horses ropes and shooing him away. Without protest, the Pegasus took off like he had someone riding him and didn’t look like he was coming back.
“Let’s get going,” Paul ordered. “We should get to the airport as soon as possible. The sooner we get out of this country, the better.”
The airport wasn’t far away and with the speed of Cery and Cerberus, it only took us a few minutes to be trotting through the parking lot of the busy airport.
“Let’s move,” Aeola said, jumping off of Cerberus and retrieving our things from Cery’s back. As soon as Art was off, Cery transformed into a human so he didn’t draw attention to himself.
“How are we going to hide Cerberus?” Katie asked as he turned back into the cute puppy.
“Put him in your bag,” I suggested. “We’ll try to sneak through security without putting that bag through the machine.”
“Shit,” Paul hit his head on his hand.
“What?” I asked.
“The metal detectors are going to detect our weapons!”
“No, they’re not,” Aeola waved it off. “The metal detectors were made by mortals and, therefore, cannot detect any godly objects, such as weapons used by half-gods.”
Katie shoved the dog into her suitcase and we walked into the airport as if everything was normal. “Keep an eye out,” Hermes whispered. “Hades could have one of his servants lurking among these people in case we tried to make a run for it.”
I nodded, looking around. “Everything looks fine right now.”
“All right,” Aeola said, looking at the flight screens. “The next flight to Cairo is in fifteen minutes.”
“We’ve gotta hurry, then,” Juno exclaimed, picking up the pace. I followed her lead, even though this entire plane concept was entirely new to me. I had never flown on a commercial plane or ANY plane, for that matter. I had no idea how long it was going to take to get through security.
“Juno,” Aeola called after her. “You’re gunna have to help me out cuz…I’ve never flown on a plane before.”
“At least I’m not alone,” I laughed.
“Fine,” she rolled her eyes. “Just follow my lead.”
“How are we going to get Cerberus through security?” Katie asked.
“We need to create a scene,” Juno responded as we followed her through the maze of lines and booths.
“I’ll take care of that,” Cery raised his hand. “Katie, when I create the distraction, you come through right after me with your bag without putting it through the scanner. Their attention will be on me.”
“Okay,” Katie nodded. “I can do that.” When we reached the security line, Cery stepped in front of us.
“Watch and learn,” he smiled. When we got to the front of the line and started to put our bags into the bins and take off our shoes, Cery ran through the metal detector full speed.
“Help!” he screamed. “Help! Help! Get them off of me!”
“Sir,” one of the security officers explained as they all ran over to him. “There’s nothing on you. You need to calm down!”
“Don’t tell me there’s nothing on me!” Cery yelled, beginning to hyperventilate. “They’re all over me! The snakes! The scorpions! Ahhh!” He wildly swatted at his body, squashing insects and reptiles that weren’t there.
Katie hustled through the metal detector and we all followed, putting our shoes back on. When Cery saw we were all ready to go, he immediately stopped and looked around, seemingly oblivious.
“What are you staring at?” he asked the awed crowd. “Can’t a guy walk through the airport without being discriminated against? Jesus!” With that, he walked away and hurried us onto these horizontal escalators that I had never seen before…must be an airport thing.
“That was awesome,” I exclaimed, giving Cery a high-five.
“Talk about a distraction,” Art agreed.
“Enough talk,” Juno demanded. “We’ve only got five minutes until this flight takes off. We’ve gotta get to the gate and board. Aeola, what gate was the flight taking off from?”
“Uh…29A,” she replied.
“Shit,” Juno mumbled looking up at a near gate and seeing it was gate 1B. “We’ve gotta run!” We followed her and, by the time we got to the gate, we were all out of breath and we ran into the boarding line just as they were pulling the CLOSED line across the lane.
“Just on time,” the attendant smiled. “May I see your tickets and passports?” I hoped and prayed as Juno reached into her left pocket and found nothing. Then, she reached into her right pocket and found enough tickets for all of us with matching passports.
“Wow,” I laughed after the woman had checked the passports and sent us on our way into the plane. “Zeus knows how to travel in style.”
“Damn right,” Aeola smiled as we found our seats. “But, I hope he put us in the same area.”
“He did,” Juno sighed. “But, the seating isn’t ideal.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean that Paul’s next to Brad, you’re next to me…”
“We’re switching tickets around,” I cut her off. I loved Juno to death, but there was no way in HELL I was sitting next to her for 6 hours.
“We have three seats here,” Juno pointed to the middle row, looking at the tickets as other flyers pushed past us.
“Paul, Henry, and I will sit there,” Aeola stated, throwing her bag in the overhead compartment and taking the seat on the near side. I took the one in the middle and Paul sat on my other side. This was perfect: my girlfriend and my best friend sitting next to me.
“Hermes,” Bella called, pointing to the two aisle seats to our right. “We can take these two.” He obeyed and Brad, Art, and Cery took the row in front of us while Juno, Katie, and Adam took the row behind.
“This is nice,” Art smiled, sinking into the comfortable seat. That famous message about safety, emergency exits, etc. came on and everyone ignored it, as usual. I think we all know to reach for a lifejacket if we’re plummeting towards the ocean!
One of the flight attendants, a large man, walked by and did a double take as he passed before letting a smile creep across his face.
“Uh…did you just see that?” Aeola looked at me, pointing to the man who had now passed.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Hermes, we need to keep an eye on that guy. I think he can see us for who we really are.”
“Impossible,” Hermes dismissed it. “There’s no way in hell he can see through the mist unless…”
“He’s a monster,” Bella finished for him.
“I’ll watch him,” Cery glared at the man as he passed into the next cabin. “If anything fishy happens, I’ll take care of it.” Quite frankly, I had to say that having a kick-ass mythical creature on our side helped. I felt incredibly safe and out of harms’ way when the Ceryneian Hind was watching over us.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” a perky flight attendant asked Aeola, Paul, and I.
“Can I just have some water, please?” Aeola asked.
Paul and I both ordered the same and she wrote it down and moved on. It didn’t take long for it to return and I was ready to take a sip when I smelled something odd.
“Stop!” I ordered as Paul and Aeola were just as close as I was to drinking it. “Put the glasses down. Something doesn’t smell right.”
“Well, yeah,” Paul shrugged. “That one guy is weird.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I mean that something literally doesn’t smell right.”
Aeola smelled her water, too. “Ohhh,” she contorted her face. “You’re right. What the hell IS that? It smells like…”
“Rotten eggs,” I sighed, finally remembering from science class. “This water had sulfur in it.”
“What?” Juno exclaimed. “Jesus fucking Christ! Can’t we go ANYWHERE without someone trying to kill us?” As we took off, I realized that now, we were really trapped.
“Well, this is just wonderful,” Adam threw his hands. “Stuck in an enclosed space, 5000 feet in the air, with people who want us dead!”
“Calm down,” Cery whispered urgently. “The last thing we want to do is let them know that we’re onto them. Just don’t eat anything, don’t drink anything, don’t fall asleep, and let’s try to get through this without getting killed.”
“All right,” Hermes sighed. “That guy’s coming back down the aisle. I’m going to stick my sword out at the last minute. If he’s normal, he’ll walk right through it and won’t hurt him. If not, we’ll have one less monster to deal with.”
“Good idea,” Art nodded. At the last second, Hermes threw his sword out, but the creature reacted and wrenched the sword from his hand.
“Very tricky, half-god,” he laughed in a hearty voice as the others in the plane turned around, trying to figure out why the hell this guy was calling a normal kid a half-god. Hermes had a look of terror on his face.
“Bow in the name of Artemis!” Cery ordered, leaping over the seats and putting a machete at the creatures’ throat.
The creature gasped. “My master didn’t tell me that there would be mythical creatures with the half-gods.”
“Well, you know now,” Cery retorted, stabbing him in the throat and sending him crumbling to the ground.
“Is that all of them?” Cery asked.
“I think so,” I sighed, sitting back in my seat as Cery handed Hermes back his sword.
Now, everyone in first class was looking at us, confused. They had just seen someone randomly crumble to the ground because they couldn’t see Cery’s weapon.
I stood up and bowed, thinking on my feet. “Thank you. That was sneak peak of our rendition of the Egyptian battle of…Tamtarus that we will be performing tomorrow night in Cairo! Please come! Free admission!” With that, I sat down and everyone slowly clapped, still a little confused. But, they eventually went back to what they had been doing.
“Nice job,” Paul smiled. “I just hope there are no Egyptian experts in this section…because that was a bunch of bull shit…the battle of Tamtarus? Really?”
“Shut up,” I punched him on the arm. “I did it on a whim.”
The rest of the flight passed without drama and we stepped off of the plane in Cairo with a sigh of relief.
“At least that’s over,” Juno shook her head. When we stepped out of the airport, the hot, desert air hit us.
“Well,” Hermes sighed. “At least we’re out of the territory of Hades…hopefully, there’s not another powerful god trying to kill us in THIS country, too.”
We jumped onto Cery and Cerberus and took off down the sidewalk. I smiled at him. “Don’t jinx us!”
Chapter 5
A Black Goose…seriously?
The country of Egypt was…fucked up to say the least. “What is with this place?” Aeola shook her head in disbelief as a guy took a piss right off the side of the road.
“I don’t know,” I laughed. “But, let’s just…”
“Whoa,” Paul pushed my head down as an arrow came flying in. I whipped around to find a giant lion charging us.
“Oh, come on,” Hermes rolled his eyes. “More vicious animals? Didn’t we have enough of this in New York City?”
We all jumped off and I jumped forward, stabbing him the stomach as he came in for the kill. Then came a fucking Ibis, attacking from the sky. At first, I laughed, but that thing could BITE!
“Ow!” Aeola grabbed her head. “Art, just take the damn thing down.”
“On it,” she smiled. “Nighty, night, birdie.” She shot an arrow, but it just deflected it with its wing.
“Stop! Everyone stop!” I exclaimed as I turned around to find a blond teenage boy holding his stomach where I had stabbed the lion!
“Who the hell are you?” Bella exclaimed. “And, why the fuck are you coming after my friends and I?”
“We don’t normally see other magical creatures,” he grimaced. “So, we saw you and we attacked.”
“Still I ask,” Bella shrugged. “Who the hell are you?”
“Ted Anut,” he moaned. “Would you mind helping me out a little bit with this…wound?”
“Patch him up, Adam,” Hermes ordered as the Ibis landed and transformed into yet another teenage boy, this one ripped with black hair.
“Who the hell ARE you guys?” Paul threw his arms up.
“Are you half-gods?” the black haired one asked skeptically as Adam took care of the other’s wound.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Prove it.”
“Okay,” I shrugged. I summoned a few balls of energy and threw them at the ground.
“We’re half gods, too,” he shook my hand. “Sorry about the attack. We just have to be careful. You know how it is.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Juno smiled. “No harm done.”
“That’s a cool little trick,” the one who called himself Ted felt his stomach in awe, totally healed.
Then, I heard a sudden cawing from behind us. I turned to find a black goose flying towards us…seriously? Ted held up his hands, telling the creature to stop. She, too hit the ground and transformed into a human, this one a teenage girl with wavy blond hair.
“What is with the transforming?” Hermes asked.
“We’ll explain later,” the black-haired one waved it off.
“Who are these people?” the blond girl asked, just entering the conversation.
“Other half-gods,” Ted explained. “Look, let’s get back to base to have this conversation.”
“Not sure I trust you,” Cery cocked his antlered head.