HARRY'S POV
I checked on my phone again for the time. It was already 8 am. I sighed in frustration. Hyacinth was a half hour late for our gathering to go back to the Isle. We were supposed to go back and choose a next batch of kids to be able to come to Auradon. She promised she would come but now she had us standing here by the Auradon prep school entrance for almost a half hour.
I opened my inbox and texted her the same text for the fourth time. "Where are you?"
Minutes tick by and she doesnt reply as usual. I groaned in impatience and disappointment.
Evie throws her hands up in exasperation and pocketed her phone. She had been trying to contact Hyacinth as well. "I don't like this. She never answers"
"I dont like it either. Shes always late. She never answers our calls. Almost never replies to texts" Mal says shaking her head and sighing in disappointment.
"You know I've been wondering for a while now, what's going on with her?" Carlos asked with a concerned frown on his face.
Harold turns to me "Yeah Harry, how is the lass? I barely see her these days" he curiously looked around for her as if expecting Hyacinth to suddenly show up somewhere.
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. "How would I know how she is? I barely see her these days myself"
Jay knit his eyebrows together at that. "Did you two get in a fight?"
I shook my head in reply. "No thats not it. Shes just been distant lately. Always cooped up somewhere with her Dad and Apollo trying to look for some cure to her immortality. She won't stop until she finds one"
"She has some spirit for not giving up I'll give her that. Its been almost a year since she became mortal. But when did it start? Her being distant?" Mal questioned.
I search my head for some memory of months ago. "Well we were fine a couple days after her waking up and realizing shes mortal. But then after she recovered from getting sick that one time, it just wasn't the same anymore"
"I think you need to talk to her. That you want some time with her. Couple hours wont hurt wouldn't it?" Evie adviced.
I scoffed in return "To her every living hour without her immortality is what hurts"
Just then, I feel the phone in my pocket vibrate. It was Hyacinth. She finally replied. It was a short text as well. All it said was "I'm at the library. Can't come. I think we finally found something"
"Hyacinth finally replied" I announced to everyone.
They perked up and turned to me hearing that. They were eager to know her reply. Mal nodded her head towards me and asked "So what did she say"
"She said she can't come because they're close to finding something"
The group shared looks and a silent conversation through their eyes. Finally Mal sighed and said "Guess we have to go without her"
"I'll stay behind. I want to know what they found" I replied.
Mal and the rest only nodded before rushing off to get to the Isle.
I dragged my feet to the library. The halls weren't so busy compared to the weekdays when classes were in session so I was able to get there without much disturbance. I turned left to a huge mahogany double door and went in.
The library is one place I've never really been to that much. The only reason I would ever even go here is because of Hyacinth. There weren't that much libraries in the Isle so she loves to spend her time here when she does nothing. But now, she goes more frequently with her father and Apollo to look for a cure.
To be honest, we dont even know why Apollo is bothering to help and Hyacinth herself wonders why he is putting in effort into it but doesn't try to ask him. She hopes he could actually be of some help not just "a myriad of terrible haikus" in her own words.
The library was one of the biggest rooms in Auradon prep other than the event hall. It was rows and rows of different books organized into different sections and within those sections were also subsections. In the middle of the maze of tall shelves was a square area where all the tables and chairs for studying were. It was here where I found Hyacinth, Apollo and her father Hades buried under mountains of books both from Auradon and Olympus.
Hyacinth slammed a thick golden book shut and added it to a growing pile by her right. She muffled a scream of frustration and pulled at the roots of her hair, banging her head on the table. Apollo and Hades were a bit too busy with their own research to notice.
"Dad, Apollo, it just won't work. Nothing else will. The Golden Fleece may be my only hope" she argued with them.
Apollo huffed and threw a book aside. "Hyacinth, the Fleece is missing. Something lost isnt really your best bet now is it?"
"Something lost can be found. Honestly if the Fleece was such an important artifact why'd you lose it in the first place?" Hyacinth snarked back at the sun god.
"Well why dont you ju-" Apollo's remark was interrupted by Hades.
"You kids aren't gonna find any solutions bickering mindlessly with each other" he said closing a book and putting it aside. It was around this time I made my presence known.
"Hyacinth" I called her trying to get her attention.
Her head whips toward my direction. She sent a small nod to me in greeting. "Harry, I thought you went with them?" She wondered out loud.
I went to stand beside her planting a kiss on her cheek "Well you said you were close to finding a way to be immortal again so I decided to stay behind and see what that was"
My eyes scanned through the page of the book she had open. It was about the Golden Fleece. Apparently it was of high value and could heal almost anything. But it became missing a couple thousand years ago, as Zyron stole it and hid it away from everyone. Of course its always Zyron.
"No one's found the fleece in almost a thousand years. No one knows where Zyron dumped it. And there are no witnesses, well except the Fates. They see all" Apollo explained to an exasperated Hyacinth.
Hyacinth threw her hands up and rolled her eyes. "Yeah and what help would the Fates even be?"
Thunder rumbled in the sky somewhere in the distance.
"Now dont piss them off. You dont want them cutting strings for fun" Hades warned Hyacinth with a stern look.
I turn back at the book and stared at the picture of the Golden Fleece. I brushed my hand over the image on the aging and crumpled brown page of the book. As if Ive been transported to a different world, my vision goes dark and I gasp. I can see nothing and hear nothing. I feel myself zoning out of space, like I was physically going into my thoughts. What the bloody hell was going on?
Through my own eyes I see flashes and fragments of memory. Like in my dreams some nights ever since I found out I had a past life. I see flashes of the Golden Fleece in front of me. I was lying on the ground, covered in my blood. The whole place was blurry. I see glimpses of sunlight and some trees. Zyron stood in front of me. The bastard with his pathetic lightning, crown, ancient dress, and everything. He held the Fleece. He was cackling. My vision was beginning to darken once more. But before I felt myself slip away, I see fragments of a silver cave with the symbol of a dragon.
I see the library again, but my vision was slightly blurry with dark spots. Feeling lightheaded, I slightly stumbled and leaned on the table for support. Hyacinth immediately noticed and shouted a shocked "Harry!" while holding me by my arms to help me stand straight.
"Are you alright?" She asked placing a hand to my forehead. "Your temperature's normal atleast. You dazed off for a while. What happened?"
I stare at her for a few seconds trying to get the blur away. I blinked hard twice and cleared my throat before speaking "I know where the Golden Fleece is"
At my statement, Apollo and Hades' heads whipped around to me immediately. They made a small semi circle around me. Hyacinth looked at me with a gobsmacked look. She was speechless.
"W-what?" She managed to stutter out.
"How is that possible? The Fleece was hidden a thousand years ago. How could you know where the Fleece is?" Apollo questioned.
"Your past life" Hades immediately concluded like a lightbulb dinged above his head.
I nodded to say he was right. "Just now I saw a flashback. There was Zyron with the Fleece. I was bleeding on the ground. I think it was one of my deaths"
One of my deaths. How many people gets to say that? I shake my head with a small smile.
"Anyway, I saw flashes of a silver cave with the symbol of a dragon. Maybe thats where the Fleece is" I assumed, basing my conclusions from what I've seen.
Hyacinth shared a look with her Dad. She smiled widely, a rare sight these days, exclaiming "The Cave of the Silver dragon! So that's where Zyron hid it. Is the cave still there?"
"If the Cave's still there is the least of our concerns. The concern is if the dragon is still there" Hades answered. "The Cave of the Silver Dragon was known as a cave filled with silver. The silver was meant to be a trap to lure men in so the dragon could eat them. Zyron used to control that dragon. Now that he's dead we have no way of knowing if the dragon is even still alive"
"It's not likely" Apollo butt in. "Dragons tend to die when the god who controls them dies. We just have to see if the Cave is still there"
"I will go with you" Hyacinth volunteered immediately.
"No" Hades and I immediately responded.
She glared at the both of us "Dad, Harry, remember Im mortal not fragile"
"I know that dark flower. You're still capable of taking care of yourself" Hades assured her with a small smile. "But the fastest way to get there and find the Fleece is to shadow travel a long distance and no mortal body can withstand that. So you're not going"
Hyacinth sighed in resignation and disappointment. "Fine"
"I promise we'll find the Fleece and you can be immortal once more" Hades vowed kissing Hyacinth's temple.
"Besides we still have to help Ben with his proposal to Mal" I added.
She looks at me with a shocked face and wide eyes "Wait, he's proposing? Why didnt you tell me about this?" She exclaimed.
My face dropped but I tried not to make it noticeable. I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. "I did tell you"
"Oh..." was all Hyacinth could say. "Maybe I forgot"
"Yeah. Forgot"
"Ben's proposing to Mal?" Hades asked with a raised brow and a hard face.
I only nodded in response. Hades and Hyacinth shared a knowing look as if silently communicating with each other. Something told me Hyacinth didn't need to be immortal for them to understand each other just like that.
Hades then nodded and said "Well I need to get to the Underworld. Prepare for the journey to the Cave. Apollo come on"
The sun god groaned, obviously in distress "We're going to the place without sun again?"