Athena's descendants and the Jewel of Barthimia (Greek mythology)

Chapter 2 - The last of the twelve.

Chapter 2 - The last of the twelve.

They walked under the banner and straight in front of them was a large hill, and to the left and right was open space bordered with loads of fruit-filled trees. “That’s Mouvast Mountain. It’s where we go to speak to the Gods.”

“The Gods, of course! So how many people are there here?” Jay’s words came out slurred and pointless to himself. ‘How many people are there here? What a question to start with? Try something more important, when will I get fired by the crazy creature again?’ Jay’s mind spoke to him in frustration, as it loved to do. A habit.

“Oh, there are 12, including you. They each resemble one of the twelve Olympian Gods. Like you here, have the ring of Hephaestus, who is God of the forges and fire,” Hollie said as they trotted around the left-hand side of the hill.

“So what God is your ring then?”

“Ah, mine is Poseidon the God of…”

“Sea isn’t it. I remember seeing it in a book.”

‘Smart arse! Now you’ve done the calm conversation get your but over to those trees, magic up a phone and call nine, nine, NINE!’ His thoughts faded and the calm that kept him sane took over completely. He couldn’t understand why he just suddenly felt as though everything was okay. A warming sensation soothed inside him and his shoulders relaxed from their hunched up position.

“And earthquakes yeah.”

They walked around the mountain, which was hiding a wonderful stream and a large Greek temple. There was a bridge in the middle and a waterfall at the far end.

Jay was taking in all the scenery when Hollie said, “That over there,” she was pointing to the temple, “is where we meet up and then that over there, if you can make it out”, she now moved her hand to point at a stadium, “is the games area where we play squally ball. It’s a magic game.”

“What about that bridge?” Jay asked.

“Ah you probably won’t need to use it because we use our powers to cross the stream when we need to. Anyway, we’re going over that way so as you can get to your house.”

Jay was wondering what Hollie meant by a house, did she mean a mansion, a flat, or a bunk bed. Anything would be better than sharing a room with a screaming eight year old.

They strolled along the verdant bed of grass towards the stream, then in the distance there was a rustling in the trees and a girl made of pure green grass scurried back into, what seemed to be, a tree trunk.

“What was that?” asked Jay, pointing to the trees ahead with a slightly concerned voice which somehow managed to fight the calmness and bring his reality self, back into the fight. It was a bit like a yoyo: reality, calm, reality, calm, reality…

“Oh, was it green or brown?”

“Green, why?”

“It was a tree nymph, they’re alright but can be quite annoying at times.”

“A tree nymph?” Jay pondered as they drew closer to the river. They reached the bank and Hollie took a deep breath and just walked.

“Where are you going, you can’t walk over wa…..”

Before he could finish his sentence Hollie had started walking, quite casually, over the stream. Like it was just solid ground.

“C’mon it’s safe,” she said as she reached the other end.