Jay watched as his mates flew over the forest, the murky barrier, a cool vapour on his skin.
“I think we’ll get an early night, I’ll make myself some dinner,” Hecate said as everyone landed successfully.
“Are you sure?” Amy asked.
“Yeah, you lot go run off to your huts, I’ll see you in the morning,” Hecate repeated.
“Seeya.” They waved the goddess, Mormo and the dragon off to the temple.
“So, today’s been cool,” Liam said as they walked over to the campfire.
“Too right, I am totally gonna be in that cave every day,” Jay laughed.
“D’you imagine drinking an apple and raspberry one, ooh, that’d be absolutely scrumptious.”
“Pineapple,” Jay suggested.
They continued naming flavours that there could be all the way back to their dorms.
“Ok guys, we’ll all meet out here at nine, have a lie in if you want. We’ll go over to the temple together,” Amy informed.
“What’s the time?” Jordan asked.
“Don’t know.” Lochlan pretended to look at his wrist, looking at his band instead.
“You always wear that band,” Jay said.
“Because it gives me energy,” Lochlan replied.
“It’s a sweat band.” Jay raised his eyebrows, recalling a conversation he had had with Hollie about a gift Lochlan had been given.
“And it gives me energy,” Lochlan repeated.
“Whatever, see you in the morning guys.” Jay walked off into his dorm.
After a bit of reading in his book about gods and goddesses, he ate his dinner which his oven cooked for him. A luscious cottage pie, nice homely comfort food.
Then, after he took a quick look around his workshop storage cupboard, he went to bed.
Jay woke to his alarm screaming beeps at him from beside his bed. He pulled off the cover, scrambled into some clothes and trotted down the stairs.
One bowl of cereal later, he was ready, and just in time he realised, as the time was nearly nine ‘o’ clock.
He rushed out the door to everyone else sat around the campfire, all waiting for him.
“Well at least it wasn’t me who was last.” Hollie chirped.
The sun was already rising in the blue sky and a few rain clouds drifted around it.
“Sorry about that,” Jay excused, shutting his dorm door.
“Don’t worry, let’s go then guys,” Amy declared, leading the way wearing her Athena’s descendants t-shirt.
As they made their way over to the temple, more rain clouds formed in the sky, darkening the hideout. It had never rained at the camp since Jay had been here, he had presumed it never did.
They reached the temple and walked into the main hall all happy and laughing.
“Guys,” Amy hushed as she entered the room.
Jay looked around and saw that there, lay on the oval table, was a scroll with Greek writing scribbled on it.
“What is it?” Jay asked.
“It’s a note,” Alice replied.
“From Hecate,” Amy added, picking up the sheet.
Jay and his mates huddled around Amy as she read the note aloud,
“Sorry about leaving without warning, Zeus, as you can probably tell, was getting fidgety with me not on Olympus in his hands. The rain will soon pass when I arrive. So, yes, I’m sorry about the sudden leave and I would have loved to stay longer. Though I know we shall see each other soon and we can catch up about what you’ve done since I’ve been away. I will tell Athena about our discoveries and changes, I hope she likes them. If you ever want to talk to me just send a message via Porseus. He should answer to his name if you hold out something tasty. I will get some satyrs and nymphs to train him for me. So, I look forward to seeing you soon. Love, your friendliest goddess, Hecate. P.S. Mormo says high, and if you do anything bad you better watch out for bites. She is returning to her job as child biter,” Amy finished, putting the sheet down on the table, her uplifting smile too.
“She can’t have just left.” Philippa sprinted down the hallway to the guest room, opened it up and craned her neck. She shut the door and came running back still wearing a puzzled expression.
“Well that explains the rain clouds,” Amy said.
“She’s more powerful than Zeus, couldn’t she just ignore him?” Bobby suggested.
“Definitely not, Zeus would lock her up again good and proper. He’s got the support of all the other gods,” Hollie answered.
“Well what do we do now?” Liam asked.
“Back to normal I suppose,” Amy replied unenthusiastically.
Jay wore a drained face, just like most of the others. He’d only known Hecate for two days and he’d loved every single moment, she was awesome, like the best goddess ever! He had so many questions to ask her about spells, the lost and forbidden ones and stuff to do with Greek mythology, ancient times. He could ask Hollie but Hecate seemed to explain things more bluntly and truthfully. He was quite angry with her in a way.
Hopefully their paths would meet in the future.
Everyone exited the temple wearing sad and drowned faces, no one said a word.
That’s when the clouds began to clear.
“Looks like Hecate’s got to Olympus safely,” Cameron moaned.
“Anybody up for a game of archery?” Bobby asked.
“Me,” her brother, Liam, unsurprisingly replied, but he didn’t seem that excited either.
“I’ll have a go, but I don’t know how to do it,” Jay volunteered, thinking maybe a good spot of fighting might life his mood.
“It’s simple, you just pull back the bow, aim and…” Liam paused aiming at the sky with his imaginary bow and arrow.
“Then?” Jay questioned.
“No. Look. Up there. Is that Porseus?” Liam pondered, pointing into the air.
Jay looked up to see a miniature bird soaring towards them in front of nine other smaller ones.
“It is Porseus,” Broudie called.
“What’s Porseus, whoa, what are those things behind him?” Amy asked.
“Wait a minute, isn’t that how Lochlan’s gift came down?” Alice pondered.
“That’s how Hollie’s came down as well,” Jordan told.
“They’re gifts?” Jay questioned, “Like your gooble watch?”
Porseus flew swiftly down to the ground. He raced up to Amy and sat down obediently. He lifted his paw which had lots of little scrolls attached to it.
“Our gifts from Olympus, the gifts of the gods,” Amy revealed.
The small birds turned out to be small wrapped up presents gliding through the air via red balloons.
Each of the nine presents landed one by one on the floor. Jay had a present that landed at his feet, it had red wrapping paper and yellow ribbon. Around him others stood with present at their feet.
“I’ll read the letters first.” Amy bent down and untied the nine scrolls of paper from Porseus’ foot. She unrolled each one in turn and read them out, starting with Jordan,
“To my ring bearer, Jordan Quelch, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. I feel this will help in future battles and will help control your powers.” Amy’s voice turned to a mutter at the last words like she was trying to hide it, as she rolled the paper back up and handed it to Jordan. Jordan gave a faint smile to the others around him, and placed it on the floor as he picked up his tiny present.
“Shall I open it?” Jordan asked.
“Yeah,” Liam replied enthusiastically.
Jordan pulled at the white ribbon that surrounded the electric blue paper and untied the knot. He pulled off the present lid and the present disintegrated.
Jordan, in shock, stepped back.
The ashes built up into a long stick that split into two at the top. It reminded Jay of the Panotii’s sticks that they used on the Eiffel tower. It was a shining brown staff, neatly polished and carved.
As he opened his clenched fist, the staff was sucked into his h
and. A shock of electricity shot down the staff, disappearing into the ground.
“Wow!” he said.
“Anybody’d think you were ninety,” Broudie laughed.
“I’d watch your mouth, the clouds haven’t gone yet,” Hollie warned, checking the skies as if a thunderbolt was going to shoot down from it.
“So next up we’ve got.” Amy unravelled another piece of paper. “To my ring bearer, Amy Robinson, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. I feel this shall help in planning battles if ever you need to. This will hopefully strengthen your battle strategy power and will be of great help. Only your touch and your voice can sketch out the plans.” Amy picked up her present, pulled the grey ribbon and opened the yellow box.
She picked out a map, the typical burnt and stained piece with ragged ends. The map was completely blank.
“I’ll have a look at this later,” Amy said happily.
Jay shuffled in his place, eager to find out what he was going to get.
“Next,” Amy read out the third piece of paper, “To my ring bearer, Alice Challinor, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. This piece of jewellery may help you with persuading others. Its power can hypnotise or possess people or animals, plus some other handy things. I hope it will help you.”
Alice untied the turquoise ribbon and opened the box. She pulled out a beautiful necklace, made with silver chains. The necklace held a glimmering red stone encased in a golden frame.
“I love it.” Alice hugged the necklace and stared at it longingly.
“To my ring bearer, Broudie Morris, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. Use it as a lethal weapon only against enemies. A touch from the blade will slice an incurable cut in the victim’s skin. A true weapon for a great ring bearer.”
Before she’d finished Broudie had untied his red ribbon and lifted the box lid. Just like Jordan’s, the box disintegrated and built up into a gleaming, long sword. There were three red, purple and yellow jewels in the golden hilt of the sword. Its blade shimmered in the morning sun.
“Slice.” Broudie picked up the sword and swung it through the air. Ripples of terror shook through Jay, his vision distorting, as it swung in front of him.
“To my ring bearer, Liam Joyce, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. Shoot at will with one of my prised possessions. Similar powers to your current bow plus this bow and arrow has an unlimited amount of ammo. Accuracy only I can beat,” Amy read.
Liam opened his box, which widened as he untied the ribbon. He picked out an elegant bow and arrow. The wood curved at the edges, the string thin and long.
There were no arrows, but when Liam pulled the bow, an arrow appeared between his two fingers. He nodded in delight as Amy continued reading off the scrolls,
“To my ring bearer, Bobby Jo Joyce, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. This gift may confuse you a lot, but use it in a hunt, and you will know how useful it is. An amazing sense of smell,” Amy wore a confused expression at this part, “will always lead you to your victory.”
Bobby, just as confused as everyone else, untied the ribbon and the box disintegrated, reforming in the shape of four paws, four legs and a wagging tail. They realised how the ‘amazing sense of smell’ part now made sense.
Bobby smiled and crouched down to stroke the dog, who sat down to attention and steadied Bobby’s hug.
“That can’t be.” Hollie squinted at the black, short furred dog. It was like an all-black spaniel, with bulging black eyes.
“He’s so cute,” Bobby cried.
“It is Hollie, its Laelaps,” Amy agreed.
“Laelaps?” Jay questioned.
“The dog destined to always catch his prey. Turned to stone during the Teumessian fox hunt and cast into the stars by Zeus,” Amy said.
“Right-ee-oh,” Jay said.
“Well, next we’ve got…To my ring bearer, Claire Hamer, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. A beauty I give to you. With powers beyond the magic of Hecate, this gift shall help you through all your struggles.”
Excited, Claire untied the pink ribbon and opened the lid. It disintegrated and immediately set a patch of grass alight.
Jay watched intensely as the flames began to fade and a beautiful orange and red bird replaced it. The bird had an elegant curved beak and colourful yellow and red plumage. Its tail was long and the actual size of the bird was massive, about the size of a 4yr old infant.
“A phoenix,” Jay blurted, remembering the bird from a fantasy book he’d read on one of his boring days at the foster home.
“Beautiful, truly beautiful,” Claire gasped as the bird shot up into the sky. It burst into flames and drew a giant heart made of flames in the sky.
Jay stared at the sky in disbelief as the bird plummeted to the ground and came to a stop beside its owner’s feet.
“To my ring-bearer, Jay Perry, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. This shall protect you and develop you in many ways in just a beat of the chest. Use it wisely in battles, you’d be surprised what it can do.”
“Right,” Jay said aloud, confused. He untied the ribbon and opened the lid, and as he did, the box grew wider and a gift appeared. Jay leant down and picked out a bronze breastplate. He looked at it, still confused, thinking he could make this himself. Then, Amy unravelled the last scroll,
“And our final letter. To my ring bearer, Philippa Jennings, I hand this gift as a sign of my pride. Unrecognisable in ancient mythology as this is a gift I have made myself. It was woven from one grain from each grass on earth to create an amazing beast capable of travelling and hiding anywhere between our element. She is very obedient.”
Philippa was quite careful opening the box, probably because of the ‘beast’ part.
The box disintegrated and rebuilt an elegant creature that was hardly noticeable. It was camouflaged into the grass, but Jay could still make out an outline. It was like a panther with tiny ears and a long curly tail. It had claws as long as your finger that looked deadly sharp.
“I can’t see it?” Cameron complained.
As if listening to Cameron, the panther-like creature changed colour like a chameleon into a rich burgundy colour. The beast glanced at Cameron with its thin slits of eyes and returned gaze to its owner, Philippa.
Then it exploded, just like Philippa did when she changed into grass, and made small rustling around Philippa’s feet. She went down to stroke the air and the panther reappeared.
“That’s it,” Amy concluded.
Jay looked at his breastplate once more and then took a look around at all the other wonderful gifts they’d been given. A breastplate, how exciting.
“Zeus as well, that’s a bonus,” Hollie said, shocked.
“What are you going to call her?” Broudie asked Philippa, swinging his sword again.
“Something Greek,” Philippa replied.
“He’s called Apollonectris,” Liam joked, looking at his magnificently carved bow.
“Huh, really?” Bobby laughed.
“Yeah really, Apollonectris sounds Greek and it has a meaning.”
“My owner called me this, I’m ever so embarrassed,” Jay chuckled.
“It’s a good idea, most famous weapons have names. Aegis was given to Zeus’/Athena’s shield, Harpe was the sword Perseus used to slaughter medusa, Caduceus and Thyrsus were both staves of the gods Hermes and Dionysus. Well not really Dionysus but one of his followers,” Amy said.
“Why didn’t Lochlan get one, or Cameron?” Jay questioned.
“They’ve already had their gifts. Flying shoes and energy bands can be very useful,” Amy answered.
“I did tell you.” Hollie shook her head.
“Oh yeah. Anyway, let’s go test these things out,” Jay said enthusiastically.
“At the fighting area, that’s cool,” Hollie agreed, “me, Cameron and Lochlan‘ll just sit and watch then.”
“That’s fine.” Amy smiled and led the group over towards the fighting area. Their moods had brightened as the
y skipped across the hideout grounds, leaving the empty present boxes thrown on the floor.
They jumped over the stream and walked through the gap in the trees into the fighting area.
“Let’s get this thing on then.” Jay took off his jacket and slipped the breastplate over his head and into position. It was a perfect fit. What did Hephaestus say in the letter, something about beating his chest to get it to work?
So Jay clenched his fist and thumped on his hard metal breastplate. When he did his fist went bronze and shiny just like his gift. He looked down and realized that his whole body, excluding his face, was covered in shiny bronze metal.
“Whoa!” Jay squealed.
“What happened to you?” Liam raised his eyebrows.
Jay quickly thumped his breastplate and the all-body armour disappeared.
“What on earth is this thing?” Jay looked down at his metallic gift.
“Some sort of changeable clothing thing, maybe you could coat yourself in some stronger metal, try focussing on a real strong metal like titanium or diamond,” Liam suggested.
Jay looked across and saw that everyone was testing out their own gifts across the field. Claire was watching her phoenix dart around the sky, whilst Lochlan and Broudie were playing with Broudie’s new sword.
“Go on then,” Liam urged.
So Jay thumped his chest and pictured the finish dishwasher tablet advert in his head. The bit where they say ‘the diamond standard’.
Jay looked down and saw he was now covered in a glass-like metal, he could see through the diamond material to the grass behind him, it was as if his whole body, inside and out had turned to metal. He could see through himself!
“God that’s bright.” Liam hid behind his arms, sun reflecting beams of light as if Jay was glowing.
“I prefer titanium.” Jay beat his chest again and the diamond metal changed to a silver metal.
“Can I try out my arrows? You can try covering your face and then I can try shooting you,” Liam told.
“My face?” Jay thumped his chest and, to his surprise, a sheet of metal swept over his eyes. He squinted and then the metal seemed to fade as if he had x-ray vision.
“Right I’ll try shooting and you try to not get hit,” Liam ordered.
“Alright,” Jay said, soon wanting to take back that statement.
Liam kept pelting arrows at him constantly, they were really hard and really strong, some of them even made him stumble.
Every time an arrow fell to the ground, it disappeared into thin air.
After a few minutes of tiring dodging, the pair moved on to have a look at what everyone else was doing. They played fetch with the dog Laelaps, trying to use the controlling spell to stop the dog from catching the stick, but it was no use, somehow the dog always seemed to always catch it.
Then they stroked the phoenix, which set alight and burnt Liam and Claire’s hands.
They talked to Amy about her map and she showed them how it worked. To be honest, Jay thought it was a pretty rubbish present at the start, but it was amazing. You could plot out the battle ground, enter little men and animals, work out paths and underground tunnels that they could use. It could even say where the less dense soil was, meaning it was easier to dig there.
Jay and Philippa also had a go at catching Philippa’s pet, which was impossible as all it had to do was change colour and trip them over. Which they did many times.
The morning rolled on as they played around with their gifts, no one noticed that Porseus had gone till the sun hit midday heat,
“Guys, where’s Perseus? He’s not here,” Broudie hesitated.
“Maybe he’s just wondered off,” Amy suggested.
“Well no one gave him much attention,” Jay said.
“We could do what Hecate said, hold some meat out and call him,” Cameron thought.
“He’s gone, I sent him off with a thank you from all of us,” Hollie told.
“Well I’m a bit knackered now,” Jay hinted, wanting to put his feet up and do some good old pondering.
“What happens now?” Bobby asked as silence fell on the field.
Suddenly, there was a powerful misty grunt from behind. Then Jay felt a misty fog creep around his neck, it was cold, eerie and bitterly mysterious.
“We prepare,” Liam said sternly.
“What?” Jay turned around and saw that Liam’s eyes had gone all green and sparkling. He was the one giving out the ice cold mist. “Are you alright,” Jay asked, walking over to him.
“Leave him, if it’s what I think it is,” Amy ordered urgently.
“Why is he ill? Some mythical illness? Is he being possessed?” Bobby cried.
There was a terrible silence as Liam closed his eyes and then reopened them, this time wide and bold - his pupils bulging black,
“Three shall leave for the land of the severed,
Must fight off the ones who guard one that’s tethered,
Must sail the seas to talk with the sun,
And finish the quest before it’s begun.
The twelve will unite for the first time,
Against one of the ones of the deadly crime,
The sky is poisoned and the twelve are tried,
As the one sandaled man carries at his side.”
Liam spoke the poem in a hushed misty voice which left everyone stunned in silence as he took a gasp.
His eyes returned to his normal colour and he shook his head.
“That was a…a prophecy wasn’t it?” Bobby asked, terrified.
“That was, and it was a prophecy for us,” Amy agreed.
Bobby ran over to her brother and hugged him, he didn’t say a word as she squeezed him to death.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, what just happened?” Liam questioned.
“You just told us some gobaldy goup about what not, and told us to go on another bloody quest,” Jay told.
“You told us a prophecy Liam,” Hollie translated.
“A prophecy? Aren’t those them weird riddles that tell people how bad their lives are going to be?”
“Yeah, and you didn’t exactly give us the heads up, talking about fighting and death doesn’t sound good at all,” Broudie said.
“That was a prophecy Liam for sure, your ring is of Apollo, and he is the god of prophecies. But I don’t like the sound of it,” Amy sighed.
“But how come I don’t remember it?”
“Good job you don’t, you’d have nightmares,” Bobby said, holding him close.
“Do you not remember anything?” Cameron asked.
“No.”
Jay looked around him.
His new friends were all stood as dead as the night, shocked and motionless. Jay had grown so close to these people. These people he’d just met not even a month ago. These people that finally made him feel like he belonged somewhere. These people, his true family.
This was his life now. They were his life. ‘And it’s going to be a good’n. No matter what dangers or hurdles we face, we’ll face them together, and, as a family, Athena’s Descendants are going to save the world. No matter how unreassuringly difficult our paths are described to be. We’ll do it.’ Jay smiled.
This prophecy, whatever it was babbling on about, was just going to be one simple hurdle. And there’s going to be so many more hurdles to climb in the future: higher ones, harder ones, scarier ones, this was just simply the beginning.
‘The beginning of a monstrous journey to the moon, to the sun, to the z8_GND_5296 galaxy and back. In fact, to the invisible ‘hide-and-never-seek’ galaxy that’s only visible to those of Greek mythology.’
Jay raised his eyebrows at his own magical mind of nonsense, and then looked, once again, to the blank faces that hung around him.
Then his eyes met Amy’s, who reflected the same courageous dream as his,
“Looks like another challenge awaits,” she smiled…
The End.
Spells.
&nb
sp; FREEZE TIME - “Kareymas” (ka-ray-mas) gooble watch
UN FREEZE TIME - “Karomas” (ka-ro-mas) gooble watch
TWIST - “Tornadius” (tor-nade-ee-us)
RISE - “Votaldea” (vo-tal-dia)
FLAME - “Degradium” (de-grade-ee-um)
GET BIGGER - “Ginormius” (gee-norm-ee-us)
INVISIBILITY - “Polacify” (po-lass-if-i)
WIND - “Gustarmia” (gust-arm-ee-a)
FLY - “Relacian formalios” (ree-lass-ian for-mal-ee-us)
DOWN - “Decendio” (de-send-ee-o)
OPEN - “Misgardio” (miss-gar-dee-o)
CHANGE INTO SYMBOL - “Hokvalmia” (hock-val-me-a)
SHOW SOMETHING - “Aperium” (appear-ee-um)
DRY - “Exothius” (eg-zo-thee-us)
TEMPERATURE CHANGE (HIGH) - “Flaixor minthamya” (Flake-sor min-tham-ya)
TRANSFORMATION SPELL - “Repuntas” (ru-pun-tas)
SCARE SPELL - “Hauntus” (haunt-us)
DUPLICATE SPELL - “Dublicatius” (dube-li-cate-ee-us)
BRIGHT LIGHT - “Sparkinum” (spark-in-um)
LEG HOLDING WEEDS - “Vinatonius” (vine-a-toe-nee-us)
DANCING CURSE - “Iglormafy” (I-glor-ma-fy)
CONTROL SPELL (GOOD) - “Alovium” (a-low-vee-um)
PROTECTED SHIELD - “Ructomalius” (ruck-toe-mal-ee-us)
NUMBING SPELL - “Gollia deserlium” (go-leea deh-zer-lee-um)
CAPTURING SPELL - “Baffoliam” (ba-foe-lee-um)
BUBBLE SPELL - “Pamollia” (pa-moe-lee-a)
STUNNING SPELL - “Hortalia” (hor-tay-lee-a)
KNOCKOUT SPELL - “Citarlium” (see-tar-lee-um)
SLICING SPELL - “Delargio” (de-lar-gee-o)
BREAK THE FALL - “Lekisia” (le-key-zee-a)
BLESSING SPELL - “Wongarmiant” (won-gar-mee-ont)
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends