The Prophecy Of Heroes; When Relationships Turn

Wisty

Luckily, Kio's roar was longer than the others, so we followed it. But while the roaring was nonstop, so was Veronica and Erika's bickering.
"It's just a necklace!" Erika said.
" 'just a necklace?' That's like saying that scar on your arm is
'just a scratch!' " Veronica replied frustratedly.
"Or like saying this fight is 'just a little disagreement' " Tori whispered to me.
"Can we please stop fighting! You guys sound like my mother when I got my wings!" Savannah complained.
"Speaking of which," I said trying to change the subject,"how did you inherit wings if your mom is Gaea?" I asked.
"My dad, he was half dragon" Savannah answered.
"But there's no way a dragon can mate with a human" I said.
"Just my mom doing what she does best, defy the laws of nature because she is nature"
"Oh" I said.
"What happened to him?" Nico asked.
"Yeah, he isn't down in the underworld" Tori said.
The roaring stopped.
"That's because your mother shoved me down here" said a man. He had red hair, and was wearing a green T-shirt with khakis.
"Dad?" Savannah asked.
"Hey Sav," He said. Savannah ran towards him and hugged him.
"Are these your friends?" He asked.
"Yeah, we're looking for Kio" she explained.
"Your friend Kiodragon? Haven't seen her or Starling in years! I've meet Star's mate though!"
"You actually found Jake???" I asked.
"Hey! Wisty O'Connor, right?"
"It's Wisty Freeman now" I said.
"Ah! So you finally went and did it, huh?"
"Um, how do you guys know each other?" John asked.
"Remember when I said I've been to Dragon Forest? With my sister?"
"Yeah" he said.
"We met then" I explained.
"Dad, what about Jake? How'd you find him?" Savannah asked.
"He came to me" he replied.
"But that's impossible! He flew near the Doors of Death when we went down here and he never moved!" I recalled.
"I know" he said.
"Are you saying...we are actually near the doors?" Erika asked.
"Yep!"
"Well then why didn't you come back?" Savannah asked.
"Because if I did your mother would have killed me" her dad replied.
"Literally" Veronica said.
"How do we get to the Doors of Death?" Teresa asked.
He pointed to an opening behind the Hermes temple.
"See that cave?" He asked.
"Yeah" I said.
"Go through there, and when you reach a fork in the path, take the left path, then you'll see a bunch of trees, a forest. But the trees are crystal"
"That's where I saw Kio!" Savannah said.
"Great! Keep going straight and it takes you to the doors" her dad finished.
"Thank you so much mister...um" John said, not knowing his name.
"Call me Max" he said.
"Thank you, Max" I said.
"Hey, Dad?" Savannah said.
"Yeah, Sav?"
"Can we take Jake? I bet Starling would love to see him again"
"That's a great idea, when you guys get to the doors, have Kio tell me, I'll send him over"
"But she's Dark Kiodragon right now" Nico said.
"Nope! Come look at this," he said.
He took us to a crater that was half a yard long, and a foot deep. The crater was filled with...
"Water from the Lethe" I realized.
"Yup!" Max said,"with a little twist, if you use the right potions, you can use this water to see what's happening anywhere in Tartarus!"
"Whoa" Tori said.
Max stuck two of his fingers in and spun them around the edge of the crater.
"Kiodragon" he said as he took his fingers out after the fifth spin.
Inside the water, an image appeared of Kio, in human form. She was sitting by a boulder with a broken ankle. She had covered her ankle with her green over shirt, now she was just wearing a white tank top. Then the image disappeared.
"This is very helpful, thank you" I told Max as I pulled Savannah to my side.
"I thought you said we had to give her memories of the past to calm her down" I said confused.
"Because when she's Dark Kiodragon, she has amnesia," Savannah said,"so maybe when she broke her ankle she went into shock and she came back"
"Okay well, I'll admit that's reasonable" I said.
"Listen we should stay the night before we go to the doors, we have two infants, a woman who just gave birth, and five tired half-bloods, eight counting you, me, and the new mom over there" Savannah said.
"Good point" I said, and turned to the group.
"Guys we're gonna stay the night tonight okay? We're all tired, let's rest before we go through that forest, okay?" I said.
"Good plan, I'll set up some room in my tent" Max said.

So he brought us in, we all met Jake (who the twins went nuts over, especially Luke, who kept patting his tiny hand on Jake's head), and soon we all fell asleep.