CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

 

 

We strode back through the external doors and into the shade of the portico. Everyone put back on their bracelets and gauntlets. Her arms crossed and her face as deep red as a wild poppy, Hestia had worn a trench in the earth from pacing back and forth. Dust coated her sandaled feet and the bottom of her chiton. Upon our exiting, she almost knocked Rhea over when she rushed over to us.

“So? Please tell me some good news.” Hestia held Rhea by the shoulders.

Rhea’s head drooped. “I don’t know what to say—”

“No. No. No. No. Don’t tell me that!” She turned to Hera. “C’mon. Tell me we nailed him. Tell me he’ll rot in Tartarus forever. Tell me—”

“Fat chance.” Atlas strode by. “Our fearless leader will be back in the saddle before you can clean off your dusty ass sandals. Except, by then, we’ll have a two-pronged offensive.”

“Offensive?” Hera scoffed. “You’re definitely that.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, sweetheart,” Atlas chuckled, and cast a short glance at Metis, and then back to Hera. “You’re not even my type.”

“Brainy?”

“Talkative,” Atlas deadpanned. “Sometimes girls just need to know when to shut up.” Iapetus clapped Atlas on the shoulder, and they continued the walk down the hill toward the Hurler posts.

Tia had become so enraged that fiery sparks orbited slowly around her body. Her eyes glowed red.

Hera clenched her fists. “I’m torn, guys. Was Ouranos really this whacked out, mad chemist, deranged with evil intentions, willfully poisoning his children? I mean, what kind of parent does that, right? Or was he simply trying to do the best he could, the best he thought he knew, and things just went sideways?”

I spoke, “Rhea once said about parenting, ‘We should want our offspring to be more powerful than we are, because if they are not … what are we even doing as parents?’ Maybe that’s all Ouranos was doing … trying to ensure his children were more powerful than he was.” I looked at Hera. “Guilty of caring too much?”

Meter shook her head. “I don’t believe that mess about him trying to kill the Hecaton brothers.”

“Did you see those gargantuans?” I said. “No way he’d have even thought to do that. He’d never have been able to kill one, let alone three. So my guess is the thought never entered his mind. They’d have pulverized him.”

“But then how’d they end up in Tartarus?” Tia asked. “What did they do to get sent there?”

“The Cyclopes said Ouranos had them cast down there for being unruly and disrupting the learning process at MO Prep,” I said. “Remember that?”

“You’re right,” Hera said. “We need to unpack that somehow.”

“Not now. It’s not the time or the place.” Rhea rubbed her eyes. “I promise to have a full debriefing once everyone is back together. I’ll never be able to look at the Cyclopes the same way again.” Her lips tightened. “Nor Ouranos. I guess that’s why he so diligently kept you away from the Sky Throne, not knowing how it would affect your young bodies … not wanting to repeat earlier mistakes.”

“Perhaps. But, we need to get back to Limnos!” Hera said. “I hope they all were able to save the items in the forge.”

Golden-skinned Phanes approached us from inside the court. “Zeus, I wanted to impart to you that we are still in the early investigation stages for the Amalthea and Kouretes incident on Crete. I will need a full statement from you and everyone else who travelled with you that night.”

I nodded.

“Now, we also have this attack by giant … things … to look into?”

Rhea said, “Oh it’s real. I’d never lie to you. Zeus was correct. We did get attacked by some race of giants.” She drew her lips tight. “Pontus died fighting them at Limnos academy. You can begin your inquiry at our campus.”

“Really?” Phanes asked. His mouth dropped open, and he gave Rhea a long consideration. “All right then. Get settled back in at school, and we’ll be in touch.” Phanes turned to re-enter the court.

“Come on,” I said. “We have to go.”

We jogged down the winding, sacred path, past the previous night’s lodging, past Themis’ house, past Iapetus and his sons who chuckled as we scampered by. We huddled around the Hurler. In a matter of moments, we all liquefied and became one with the wind.

 

 

 

 

Several moments later, we reappeared in the midst of chaos. The sky over the volcano that housed the Hearthstone Forge had been consumed by dark, billowing ash clouds so thick and textured that one could see just about anything they wanted to in them. A lion’s head surrounded by an unruly mane. An untamed beard. A dragon’s head.

“Hey, you all are back!” Shade said. “It’s about time. We were about to leave without—”

“How dangerous is the volcano?” Rhea asked. “Is eruption imminent?”

Brontes knelt before Rhea. “It’s been like this all day today. Rumbling. Belching. It’s getting b—”

The earth abruptly shook with such anger that everyone stumbled and fell. A loud explosion erupted, and for the first time, we witnessed actual fire spew into the air as if from a dragon’s mouth. And bright reddish-yellow lava spilled over the summit’s brim, slowly advancing toward us.

“I’ve had enough fun. I really hate that we can’t stick around for the show.” Shade jumped to his feet. “Time to go. And speaking of …” Shade paused. “When we get back to MO Prep. Phoebe and Nemo got cornered by some heinous, winged beasts. They ran and hid under the gym. I barely got out of there.” He stopped abruptly, gazing at the pile of items they’d saved from the forge. “Did anyone find the two amphoras of nectar I brought back?”

“Phoebe and Mnemosyne what?” Rhea snapped. “You left just left them?”

Shade gazed at his feet. “I couldn’t fight them alone. Just wait. You’ll see. I told Brontes about them. We were waiting until you all returned.”

Rhea said, “It’s time to go, little lions. It’s time to reclaim our school, our mountain, our home.” Her dingy chiton ruffled in the swirling winds. “Grab all your armor, weapons, and various sundries.”

I froze for longer than I needed to, mesmerized by the lava flow. Then I sprang into action to scramble to where our supplies were piled. The mountain roared as burning embers rained around us. The earth rumbled again.

After everyone had collected their belongings, Rhea huddled us around the Hurler post on the side of the hill just down from the cave. “We have no idea what to expect once we get back, so be ready for anything. We’ll go in three heats. Cyclopes, you’ll be the final group. To attract the least attention, let’s make our teleportation target the Observatory Hurler post instead of the other two.”

Everyone nodded.

Steropes protested. “Rhea, we’ll never fit in there. We’ll go to the entry gate instead of the Cloudwell. Does that work? And then we’ll meet in the middle.”

As Rhea nodded her agreement, I went with the first group. Rhea, Hera, Shade, and Demeter rounded out our party. I gazed at the volcano one last time before we became one with the wind. We reappeared in the Observatory. The air stood stale like no one had breathed it in forever. We’d only been gone less than a week, but it felt like a lifetime. We dropped our supplies on the lab tables, but kept weapons, and armor on.

Rhea led us out of the door. “All right, Hades … what do you know about where Phoebe and Mnemosyne could be? And did you see Ananke?”

“I never saw the guidance counselor. And last I knew the others were in the Forge under the gymnasium.”

“Let’s do this,” I said.

We crept down the path as the second group hurled into the Observatory. They quickly caught up to us as we all neared the gymnasium doors. Much of the campus had been untouched by the giants who first assaulted our home. A few buildings had sustained minor damage. The theater and barn had been impacted the most. I was certain Rhea had a plan for that, though.

But first, rescuing our professors.

Shade led us to the doors of the gymnasium. He held his fist in the air to halt us. He creaked open the door. Another lump formed in my throat. Or perhaps it simply built on the one already there. Sudden images of Pontus assaulted me. The gym was his domain, where he taught us to push one another and become the best versions of ourselves.

The rotten and foul odor of the air seeping through the doorway stung the back of my nose. Shade waved us inside the gym. Once we’d all filed in behind him, without warning three hideous winged beasts swooped down from the sky. Black death mongers. Snaked hair. Bleeding eyes. I’d seen them before, some of them at least. Hera, Shade, Metis, and I had vanquished some of them before on our way to the Underworld.

Demeter nocked two arrows and loosed them. The flying creatures skillfully evaded them with barrel rolls. They snapped their wings forward and sent a murderous number of feathers sailing toward Meter. Five or more hit her, each one thudding like an arrow into a dead goat.

She crumpled to the ground immediately.

As Tia ran to cover Meter with her shield and she yelled, “Poison! Somebody help me!”

Metis and Phi ran to help Tia scoop Meter up and carry her to the side wall of the gym. Tia, Metis, and Phi interlocked their shields overhead.

Hera spoke into our minds, Fan out, everyone. And keep moving. That way they can’t gang up on one person. Harder to hit moving targets.

Don’s trident glowed blue. He spun it and prepared for battle.

Shade slipped his helmet down into position, vanishing from sight.

Aphro folded her shield in front of her, swinging Heartbreaker in her right hand.

I shuffled side-to-side on the balls of my feet in the center of the gym floor.

One of the demons spoke in a screech, “I am Alecto. This is Tisiphone and Megaera. We are seeking the murderer of Ouranos. Tell us who the guilty party is.”

“I’m glad you asked!” My pulse thudded at my temples. “But first, what exactly is your business with said guilty party?”

Tisiphone spoke next, “We seek retribution. To right imbalances in the natural order.”

“Ahhh, you don’t say …” I glanced around at my friends. Maybe they’d attacked us last term when we were headed for the Underworld because they thought we had killed Ouranos. Eventually my gaze landed on Rhea. She nodded once for me to continue. I turned back to Alecto. “Well … I’m not sure where you came from or how you got here, but we can help you in your quest. But in order to do that, we have to gain some trust.”

“Proceed,” Megaera said as they hovered in the air.

“First, my name is Zeus.” I raised my hands as a gesture of de-escalation. “You clearly injured my sister, Meter, erm, Demeter over there, so we need to ratchet this situation down a few columns. Secondly … land on the ground so we can talk like proper allies.”

“Weapons down then!” Alecto hissed. “Or else we stay where we can defend ourselves.”

I turned in all directions to catch the gazes of my siblings and friends to get them to lower their arsenal.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Don called out.

The creatures slowly descended to the ground, but their wings remained outstretched.

I sighed. “Good. Now then … the person whom you’re seeking is Kronos. He pled guilty in The High Court to the offense you all are so keen on avenging yet received no punishment to match the act.”

“Where do we find this Kronos?” Alecto asked.

“We can take you to him …” I said. “For a fee.”

“What fee would this be?” Tisiphone queried.

“If you hang out here at MO Prep and help us renovate and repair what’s been damaged, I will send Shade, erm, Hades with you and he’ll lead you right to him. Deal?”

Just then, the Cyclopes showed up, having arrived from a different Hurler.

“All well here?” Brontes asked.

“Yes. We’re just finishing up,” I said. “Brontes, Arges, and Steropes … meet Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. Brontes, they’re looking for Ouranos’ murderer. They’ve agreed to help us restore order here first, then Shade will escort them down.”

“They have snakes for hair,” Steropes said.

“Yah, and wings of black death …” Arges added.

Tisiphone glared at the Cyclopes. “None of you are winning any beauty contests either.”

Brontes laughed heartily. “I think we’ll get on just fine.”

“Wait a moment! I agreed to nothing,” Alecto spewed. “How do we know we can trust your bargain, young Zeus?”

“Fair enough question,” I said. “We’re earning trust together, one moment at a time. First we’ll trust you not to inject us with barbed, poisoned feathers …” My hand suddenly throbbed with so much pain I could barely raise it. Yellowish-white and blue energy tendrils radiated from my closed fist. “And you’ll trust me to not completely obliterate you if you step out of line. Deal?”

Alecto conferred with Tisiphone and Megaera. “Fine, but if we must wait too long to enjoy the fruits of our search for this Kronos person, this deal may turn sour.”

“Very well,” Steropes said. “Alecto and friends, come with us. First, we’re going to sweep the perimeter to ensure there are no current threats. Next, we’ll secure the campus. Then we can assess what needs to be rebuilt.”

I glanced over at Metis, Tia, and Phi helping Meter. They’d removed the feathers, and Tia worked her healing magic, as evidenced by the fiery sparks that swirled around her. Meter sat up under her own power, so I knew she’d be fine.

Movement registered in the corner of my eye. Shade reappeared with a huge smile on his face. Professors Phoebe and Nemo came out from under the gym floor. Rhea jogged over and hugged them both. It was a rare emotional display from Rhea. Close behind, Melete and Aoede embraced them as well.

After the embraces, Rhea walked back to my siblings and me, holding Nemo and Phoebe’s hands as if it were the last time she’d ever done it. “Let’s all get bathed, faculty will scrounge up some food, and then we’ll all reconvene in the Andron. Inventory your living spaces for personal items and damage. Report any discrepancies to me as soon as possible. And wash up well. You all smell like goats.”

Metis caught up to me while we all ambled to the campus housing area. “So …” She began with a purely sinful smile. “Do you need any help with your bath?”

Before I could even get a word out, Rhea called from across the quad, “Watch it, you two!”

Metis responded, “I was just testing you, Headmistress.” She patted me on the butt, and then slowly took the fork in the path veering away from me toward her own cabin.