Chapter 45 - Another challenge awaits.
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 hand. 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.