Chapter 18: A Meeting with Dike II “Do we have to wake him?” Cyndia whispered. “I mean he looks so peaceful.” The eleven of them towered over the homeless guy who lived on the street. No other than Dike. “How else are we supposed to find out?” Delta whispered back. He then proceeded to prod Dike in the arm with his foot to no avail. The most reaction they received was a few mumbles as he slept soundly on his tiger skin blanket. “Yo, Dike!” Delta finally yelled. Dike stirred wildly a few times on the skin and eventually got into a sitting position. His ridiculous looking glasses still shielded his eyes. “Ah, the council has arrived,” he said in a raspy voice that lacked the usual edge of craziness in it. “Wait, hold on. Lemme guess. You’re here to pick me up because you lack one member of your little group.” He smiled with some surprisingly white teeth and laughed loudly. “I’m in. Get me the hell out of this place.” He stood up and folded his tiger skin and looked at each of the surprised faces. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, rejoice and be glad! I’m Dionysus all right? Now where are ya’ll going to take me?” Elaine gathered enough strength to choke the word, “Sorry?” Dike frowned and sunk back to the ground. “Never mind, just forget about it. I’ll sleep here for one more night and I’ll just meet up with you when you start training with Chiron.” “We’re, we’re real sorry Dike,” Cyndia stuttered. “We wish we could take you somewhere but−” “Save it Aphrodite,” Dike grumbled. He unfolded his tiger skin and curled up in a ball on top of it. In a few seconds he was sound asleep. “Well,” Conrad said after a few moments of silence. “We found Dionysus. Do we need anyone else?” Hector shook his head. “We only needed to find one comrade anyways. I just want to get the heck out of here, go home, and do homework like a normal kid.” Lorie looked at him almost sadly. “That’s impossible now Hector.” Hanging his head he replied, “I know.” They all stood there (excluding Dike) and after another few moments of silence scattered and went home.
Chapter 19: Protection “Where is he?” Selene whispered impatiently. “He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.” Charles's class sat in the horse decorated English classroom and messed around with the absence of a teacher. “Maybe he won’t show up,” Delta suggested as he sharpened his sword in its knife form. “I don’t really want to see Patrick today anyways.” “Not Patrick,” Selene replied. “I mean Charles, A.K.A Chiron.” After a moment or two she smiled broadly. “Patrick is probably grounded for forgetting his sister at the daycare.” Delta laughed. “At least both of them got free cookies and juice!” The two laughed hysterically for a few seconds until Patrick stumbled into class. He looked disheveled in a wrinkled shirt, a pair of shorts, uncombed hair, and reddened eyes. “Hey Patrick!” Selene greeted as he passed by. “We were just talking about you.” He walked on blindly to his desk and sat down wordlessly. Selene looked at Delta for some help, but he shrugged nonchalantly and continued to sharpen his sword. “May I have your attention?” a voice said from the intercom in the corner of the class. “May I have your attention please? Good. Please send the following students down to the gym A.S.A.P. Hector Daniels, Patrick Sanders, Delta Major, Terrance Spindle, Conrad Hunter, Rory Tract,” the voice took a long breath and continued. “Lorie Pheone, Elaine Heathers, Cyndia Fellows, Selene Hunter, and Sandra Flora. Thank you! Enjoy your day!” “I guess that’s for us,” Hector said as he stood from his chair. The others stood and filed out of the class, with Patrick idling behind. The other classmates glared at them with contempt, jealous of the fact that they got to skip a class. “Do you think training begins today?”Elaine asked excitedly. She had her shield ready in her hand, in disk form. “Why else would they call us down?” Cyndia replied. She gripped her pocket mirror in a fist to the point where it was close to breaking. Her belt was nowhere to be seen. “This isn’t a good idea,” Patrick muttered. Hector glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. “It doesn’t matter what you think, is a good idea, but you’ve got to know that−” “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Patrick snapped. “I know. I mean, why would he even want to send us to war? It’s suicide!” He glared at Hector for a few seconds. “How come you’re suddenly willing to embrace all this? You were the skeptical one yesterday.” “And you were the happy-go-lucky person,” Hector countered without turning around. “I guess the roles switch today.” Patrick didn’t respond. When they were in view of the gym Patrick stopped in his tracks, his hands stuffed into his jacket pocket. He shook his head violently before murmuring, “I can’t.” Hector turned and so did everyone else. They looked at him with quizzical expressions. “You can’t what?” Hector asked. Patrick looked up, his face desolate. “I can’t start training for a war I don’t want to be in. I’m going to find someone who can actually help me.” He turned and began walking in the opposite direction. Hector furrowed his brows together and paced after him. He caught up and grabbed Patrick by the shoulder, turning him around. “What? Who do you expect to help you? What do you expect to tell anyone? No one will believe you.” Patrick tore away from his grip, his shoulders sagging. “I’ll…I’ll lie or something. You know, a bluff. Or I’ll find someone like us who’s a pacifist or something.” Hector glared at him angrily. “You’re willing to tell our secret to someone? Someone who might define us as crazy and send us into an asylum?” Nodding he responded, “Yes.” He continued to walk and called over his shoulder, “Any of you are welcome to join me.” No one moved. Patrick frowned, a forlorn look in his eyes and when he walked briskly away he didn’t look back. Lorie looked at Hector’s blank expression and asked, “What do we do now?” Hector stared intently at Patrick’s retreating back. “It’s obvious. We do nothing.” Chapter 20: The Underworld Patrick retreated blindly, away from the friends he had known since elementary school. He had an empty feeling in his stomach. He glanced up and found that he had walked all the way to the school’s office. He pushed the door open and walked in. The room was empty. Not even the jittery secretary who sat at the front desk was there. As he stood there Mr. Ketchfield materialized from his office. “Patrick?” Patrick turned. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said and nodded. “Come with me please.” Not bothering to object or crack a joke, Patrick followed Mr. Ketchfield into his office where the door closed silently behind him. As Patrick looked around the office curiously he found the vice principal already seated at his desk. The intent gaze Mr. Ketchfield gave Patrick made him uneasy. “You’re inhabited by a god,” Mr. Ketchfield eventually stated. Patrick looked at him with a dumbfounded expression which Mr. Ketchfield disregarded. “Poseidon?” he asked. “I, uh, guess…”Patrick replied slowly, unsure how to deal with a situation like this. “How’d you know that?” “I’m inhabited by a god too,” Mr. Ketchfield replied. Patrick’s interest was instantly piqued. “Really? How many others are like us?” “There are many who are inhabited by gods and Greek figures around the world and may not even know it. But what some do know is that a war is going to happen.” “I know,” Patrick muttered with his shoulders slumped. “A little birdie also told me that this war involves you, your friends, and all the minor gods. Am I right?” Patrick nodded. “My dear boy,” Mr. Ketchfield said in a deceptively tender voice. “You don’t understand the formalities of this war. The minor gods don’t want anything to do with this. Charles is the one who had set up this whole thing.” “Charles?” Mr. Ketchfield nodded sadly. “Indeed. Chiron was such a noble figure, but his spirit has been tainted by Charles. Now all Charles want is revenge on the gods for who knows what. Particularly the twelve Olympian gods. You see, he arranged this war so the Olympian gods can be massacred by the minor gods.” “No,” Patrick whispered. “Don’t worry, Patrick. The minor gods are on your side. They don’t want to kill anyone.” The vice principal rose from his desk and strode over to a blank wall while he retrieved a key from his belt loop. “But I’ll provide you protection from warfare, and I’ll make sure no one has to get hurt. He inserted the key into an invisible keyhole and the blank wall opened to a black abyss that carried its own subzero temperature. “What is that?” Patrick asked, shivering. “This my pupil, is the only safe place in the entire world where you’ll be safe from war. This is my home, Patrick. This is The Underworld where you’ll be safe from the tragedies of life. All you have to do I step in.” Mr. Ketchfield already had one foot in the abyss with darkness eagerly clinging to his leg. Patrick smiled a relieved a smiled. “Thank you Mr. Ketchfield,” he said as he too took a step into the black abyss. Mr. Ketchfield smiled as both disappeared into the abyss.
Chapter 21: Fight! All the lights were brightly lit as they entered the gym. The bleachers were off to one side and the basketball court took up the rest of the space. Two men were talking casually in the middle of the court; Charles and another man in a well tailored suit. “Hello!” Charles exclaimed as he saw his students approaching. He frowned when he got a better view of them. “Where’s Patrick?” “He’s busy with…family stuff,” Hector replied smoothly. “All right then,” Charles nodded. The man in the tailored suit was staring at them intently. His suit was black with purple pinstripes and a purple hanky in the coat pocket. His purple tie had fancy designs and his impossibly black sunglasses mirrored their movements. His graying hair was combed neatly back and a smile with perfectly white teeth sprouted in the middle of a stubble of a beard. “Recognize me?” he asked. They all shook their heads despite the fact the man looked familiar. The stranger lost the smile and frowned slightly. “How about now?” he asked. He whipped off his glasses and replaced them with ridiculous looking tiger glasses. “Dike?” Lorie asked incredulously. “The one and only!” Elaine tilted her head and frowned. “I thought you were homeless. Where’d you get the silk suit and the jewel encrusted cufflinks?” Dike tilted his head slightly with a raised eyebrow. “I own a five hundred acre mansion in Italy and a purple Porsche and green Lamborghini. I’m fairly certain that allows me to buy a suit.” “But you’re homeless…” Elaine said, trailing off as she did so. “I’m a pretty good actor huh? Yup, that’s right it was all an act. You know, just to give ya’ll that little extra push to find your real identities.” Dike replaced the stupid looking glasses with the impossibly black ones and smiled smugly. “Yes, yes. Dike is the new Johnny Depp,” Charles interrupted hurriedly. “But we must begin training immediately. We have only one hour before classes begin coming for gym class.” “Why can’t we just go to a secluded area in the woods or something?” Hector asked. “Because the restrooms here are cleaner and they have trail mix in the vending machines.” “Okay…?” Charles nodded. “Now that’s settled let’s get down to business. I take it that you all brought your weapons and pouches?” Everyone nodded except Cyndia. She had her lips pressed tightly together and gripped her mirror nervously in a hand. “Cyndia?” Charles asked, wearing a serious expression. “Well,” she began, “technically I don’t have a weapon. I have accessories but no actual weapon.” “The belt and mirror you received can be used as weapons,” Charles pointed out. It was Cyndia’s turn to wear a serious expression. “Yes, of course! I can choke someone with the belt and blind someone with the mirror.” “Don’t worry Cyndia,” Delta said reassuringly. “Elaine doesn’t have a weapon either.” “Ahem,” Elaine announced defensively. “My shield can too be used as a weapon! It’s probably as effective as that little dart of yours.” Delta took out his sword in its knife form and began twirling and flipping it expertly in his hand. “Want to bet?” He flipped the knife a final time and let in drop. It impaled the gym floor with a loud crack and… just stayed the same with the handle sticking up in the air. “Um…” “Impressive,” Elaine laughed. Delta turned to Charles and Dike sharply. “What the heck? It was suppose to grow to a sword!” “Yes, but the sword needs to impale a stone,” Charles explained. “The floor in the Student Council room was made out of white granite and thus the sword grew.” Delta groaned and pulled the knife from the floor. “Well, well,” Elaine smiled. She turned the panels on her shield until it grew to its full length. “Who has it best now?” Delta scowled. “Forget it. I don’t need to prove anything to you.” He turned away and added silently, “You’re just a girl anyway.” Elaine’s eyes widened and her face reddened. “What?” Turning to face Elaine, Delta smiled. “That’s right. You’re just a pathetic, idiotic, girl.” Elaine shook and her fists clenched by her sides. She dropped her shield to the ground and got into a fighting stance. “Damn it Delta!” Elaine screeched. “You’re getting that rematch!” And with a loud yell she launched herself at Delta’s muscular frame and took him off guard. Charles stepped back along with Dike while the rest of the witnesses watched in amazement. “Shouldn’t we stop them?” Lorie asked. “Are you kidding?” came Dike’s reply. “This is the best part of training!” Delta and Elaine rolled over and over on the floor, Delta often coming on top of Elaine. “Go Elaine!” Rory encouraged. A few seconds later he whispered to Cyndia, “My money’s on Delta.” Cyndia punched him in the arm in response and continued to watch the fight. “You-are-a-jerk!” Elaine screamed as she slapped Delta in the face with each syllable. Delta pushed Elaine off roughly and as she rolled off in a daze Delta got her into a choking hold. “Say you’re sorry,” Delta whispered into her ear. In her fury Elaine elbowed Delta in the gut and as he gasped for breath she twisted out of his grip and slammed the heels of her hands into his temples. He fell to his knees, his hands covering his face and groaned loudly. Elaine stumbled out of his reach and sat down heavily trying to catch her breath. When she had rested long enough she glanced over at Delta who was still clutching his head. “You okay?” she asked. Delta responded with a grunt. Hector helped Elaine up and held a hand towards Delta. Shaking his head he slowly stood up, staggered, and finally regained his footing. His shoulder length had come undone from its ponytail and now hung loosely and messily around his head. “Not bad,” he commented with a faint smile. “You know, for a girl.” He got a kick in the groin for his troubles.
Chapter 22: Training After Delta and Elaine had recovered from their ordeal the small group got down to business. “Take out your pouches and empty the contents onto the floor please,” Charles instructed as he munched on some trail mix. As he discarded the M&M’s Dike quickly gobbled them up. The ten of them sat in a semicircle and quickly emptied out the contents. Cyndia looked off of Delta’s own pouch. “Medical supplies?” Conrad asked curiously. He picked up a roll of gauze weaved with golden fibers and fingered it experimentally. Selene picked up a delicate vile filled with a honey colored liquid. “This sure doesn’t look like something my mom would keep in a medicine cabinet.” Dike chuckled. “No, it’s not. These medical supplies have multiple uses and are enhanced with magical properties.” Hector sighed. “How did my life come to the point where that sentence didn’t sound unbelievable?” Rory raised his hand and when no one looked at him he began to wave it wildly, smacking Terrance in the head as he did so. Smiling sheepishly he asked, “How come I don’t have that honey stuff?” Instead of the honey colored liquid Selene had Rory held a bag filled with pieces of what looked like candy. “Both are called ambrosia,” Charles explained. “Or in Selene’s case, nectar. Ambrosia and nectar were often interchangeable in a food or drink substance. The ambrosia will change to the liquid substance, nectar, when the situation calls for it, and vice versa.” Rory reached his hand into the bag and pulled out a caramel colored square the size of his thumb. He sniffed at it experimentally and cocked his head. “It doesn’t smell like anything.” Selene opened up the vile and sniffed. “Mine too. So… what does it taste like?” Dike ate a handful of M&M’s before speaking. “Try some of it.” Hector took a piece of ambrosia from his bag and Lorie popped open the vile of nectar. “You go first,” Hector told his girlfriend. “Oh please,” Lorie said, holding the vile away from her mouth. “Ladies first Hector.” “Only eat half of the ambrosia and only have one drop from the nectar,” Charles warned. Glowering and mumbling under his breath Hector bit off a piece of the ambrosia. Despite the firm feeling of the square in his fingers the ambrosia basically melted in his mouth. “Not bad,” Hector announced. He looked at the other half of the ambrosia longingly but eventually put it back in the bag. Lorie took a small sip from the vile and grinned. “It tastes like… honey but fizzier.” She pressed the vile to her lips again and hesitated. “Are you sure we can’t have more?” Charles shook his head. “Nectar and ambrosia is mainly used for injuries and survival situations. Notice that you feel full right now?” Elaine nodded slowly and tentatively raised her hand. “Can’t Delta and I have more? I mean we are injured right now.” “No,” Charles replied firmly. “It’s only used for mortal wounds or broken body parts. Cuts and bruises aren’t worth eating too much ambrosia.” “Then… what happens if you eat too much?” Dike intervened before Charles could utter a word. “In normal terms it would make any normal mortal invincible and allow that person to have god like powers. But because you’re actually inhabited by a god, then too much ambrosia intake−” “Would make you fatally ill,” Charles interrupted with a pointed look at Dike. “You may be inhabited by gods but you’re not completely immortal. Your bodies would try to rid the magical properties from your body if you eat or drink too much of it. Because−” “Your bodies are completely human,” Dike countered. “Too much ambrosia intake would deteriorate your vital organs thus making you fatally ill−” “I just said that!” Charles exclaimed. “And die on the spot,” Dike continued. “You can’t take ambrosia to counteract the magical properties−” “Because it wouldn’t work,” Charles finished for him in an irritated voice. “It would−” “Basically cause your body to burn up.” Dike continued with Charles seething from the sidelines. Turning to Charles he smiled smugly. “Ha! I win!” He stuck his tongue out at him and turned away pouting. “How immature,” Charles muttered to himself. “Okay…” Selene said slowly, putting the nectar away quickly. “Then couldn’t a ‘normal’ mortal just eat the stuff and become a god?” “No not exactly,” Charles answered. He took out a Zip-Lock bag filled with ambrosia squares from his pocket and took one out. “As you can see the squares are basically indestructible.” He then attempted to break the square in half and barely made a dent. He dropped it onto the floor and slammed his foot onto the small square. It had stayed perfectly intact without even any dirt or grime on it. “And they are resistant to dirt, grime, germs, et cetera.” He picked it up from the ground and nibbled a small piece of the corner off. “In the mouths of a person inhabited by a god it will have the substance of peanut butter. A ‘normal’ mortal could eat it, but they’d probably break all their teeth before even making a dent. Delta waved his hand impatiently. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. But when are we getting to something interesting, like what this thing is?” He held up an egg that fit into the palm of his hand. Dike smiled widely. “That is my probably my favorite thing in the whole entire world, well next to wine. Okay that’s my second favorite thing. Although, my Lamborghini and Porsche are very special… That’s my third favorite thing then, but my mansion is pretty sweet. You know now that I think of everything I that αυγό comes in the twenties.” “A what?” Hector asked. He had found an egg in his pouch too. Although it was sky blue speckled with white, far different from Delta’s crimson egg. “It means egg in Greek,” Dike explained. “It’s super cool. Just crush it in your hands.” When everyone hesitated, excluding Cyndia, Dike encouraged, “Just do it.” Lorie bit her lower lip slowly and crushed the egg in her fist. Shrieking she opened her hands. Instead of a handful of eggshells a miniature peacock pranced around in her hand. “This is… random.” “Get it off!” Hector screamed as he swatted at his head. A miniature eagle was soaring around his head, attempting to peck out his eyes. The eagle finally landed on the ground and in a blur of movement, Hector’s hand came on top of the unfortunate bird. When he removed his hand a sky blue egg replaced the eagle. “What the heck was that?” Charles was trying to hide his amusement with a numerous amount of loud coughs. “Every Greek god is associated with a bird and animal. Those are your symbols.” Terrance laughed. “They’re kind of cute.” He petted a quail on its tiny head and in reaction the quail snapped its beak onto Terrance’s finger. “Ouch! Never mind.” “And why do we have tiny pet birds?” Delta asked. A vulture flew around his head and the more irritated Delta looked the more Cyndia and Elaine laughed. “These birds are now your lifesavers and secret weapons,” Dike explained. “The birds can act as spies or messengers. And if something happens to you, the birds can bring word.” “Great,” Delta growled before he slammed his hands together on the vulture. When he opened them up again a crimson egg sat in his palm. “Stupid bird,” he muttered. He held the egg in a fist and held it up high, as if he attempted to smash the egg. Hesitating, he eventually pocketed the egg and glowered. “When does training end?” Delta asked impatiently. Dike checked a golden watch on his wrist which was embedded with purple geodes. “Judging by my time, training ends right…about…now. You’re dismissed.” They all stood up eagerly, waited for Dike and Charles and walked slowly and deliberately out of the gym.
Chapter 23: Dike’s Empty Explanation “Why are you here?” Lorie asked Dike a little shyly when they had left the gym. Dike glanced at her with the sunglasses shielding his eyes and looked forward again. “I just feel like hanging around, you know?” Lorie looked away and then stared at him unconvinced. “That’s no answer. Why’d you even bother to come here anyways?” Dike tilted his head quizzically. Lorie reviewed her question and corrected herself quickly. “What I mean is why you decided to stay in disguise for so long just to help us with this…war.” “When I was inhabited by Dionysus I was originally a millionaire. I went to parties, stayed up late, got drunk, and rarely got sober. I’m not completely sober right now actually.” Lorie looked at him and cautiously took a step away. Dike smiled. “I’m the god of wine Lorie. What do you expect? Anyways, I only realized I was a god when I stumbled across some information on Dionysus. I guess people are drunk every day, but I found that I fit all his attributes. This may sound cliché, okay, it will sound cliché, but when I realized that I had some godly power I had an epiphany.” “A what?” He looked at Lorie with a blank expression. “What do you mean a what?” “As in what’s an epiphany?” He muttered something that might’ve been simpleton but he explained halfheartedly anyways. After Lorie nodded in a miffed fashion Dike continued. “Eventually I realized I couldn’t just sit around and drink all day so I decided to do something with my life−” “That is cliché.” “And that’s when I decided to find the other gods to help with this war I’ve been hearing about.” “How some everyone else knows about this war except for us?” Lorie asked. She got no response because Dike stopped walking. After looking at him for a moment she hurried to her friends, still wanting to hear the answer to her question that had fallen on deaf ears. Chapter 24: A Perfect Day to Fly a Kite The ten of them were now waiting irritably in a longer lunch line than usual. “This is stupid,” Delta muttered. Conrad wiped off his sunglasses he received the day before and put them on. “I know,” he replied. “They replaced tater tots with boiled asparagus! I mean seriously, what kind of person would put us through that torture?” “Not that,” Delta said. “I mean we have all these godly powers cooped up inside of us. We shouldn’t even be waiting in a line like this!” To prove his point Delta walked next to Hector and Lorie who were near the front of the line. When he approached Lorie scrunched up her face. “What are you doing? You know people are going to get peeved off that you cut the line.” Already people were beginning to grumble and complain amongst themselves. Delta shrugged indifferently. “Eh, what does it matter? They’re not supreme overlords like us.” Hector picked up a bottle of water as he passed the drinks and glanced at Delta. “Firstly, we’re not supreme overlords. We’re just supreme gods. And secondly, I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t let this go to our heads.” “We never agreed to that,” Lorie pointed out. Hector shot her an irritated look and sighed an exaggerated sigh. “I thought we agreed to it internally, all right?” Lorie rolled her eyes as she asked for a salad for her meal. “Whatever Hector.” When they all ordered their lunches and approached the picnic tables the students were welcomed with a strong gust of wind. “Whoa,” Delta breathed as the wind undid his ponytail tied onto his head. He sneered and grumbled about his hair coming undone for the second time that day. Sandra screeched as a piece of lettuce flew off of her plate and into her face. Rory screamed louder when his bowl of clam chowder hit him in the chest. Already the area was becoming darker as clouds covered the sun’s light. “I’m eating in the cafeteria!” Delta yelled over the roar of the wind. Many of the other students were also retreating into the cafeteria building. As the ten of them hurriedly walked towards the building the doors to the entrance slammed shut and the winds grew fiercer. “This is messed up!” he yelled. People began to panic as their food and trash floated away in the winds. Through the throngs of people Dike and Charles pushed themselves through until they arrived in front of their trainees. “They’ve come,” Charles said gravely. “Who?” Hector called despite the fact Charles and Dike were in close proximity to him. “The minor gods,” Dike responded. He opened his mouth to begin explaining but Charles interrupted him. “Let’s get to the Student Council room so we can actually hear each other.” His words were carried away with the wind so he just turned and began to walk swiftly. All the rest could do was follow. “Okay,” Dike announced louder than he should’ve. Now that they were all in the Student Council room it was oddly quiet compared to the chaos outside. “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, we’re in a whole lot of trouble.” “That doesn’t sound good,” Selene whispered. Dike cleared his throat before continuing. “The minor gods are here right now. Some are inhabited by people while some gods didn’t bother to inhabit a body yet. Either way they’re here right now. The god who’s controlling the wind right now, those are the gods of the winds. If they’re here then more are coming.” “That means,” Charles continued, “We need all of you to be ready to fight.” Lorie appeared about ready to faint. “You’re kidding, right? We just learned about this yesterday and I still have a billion questions to ask! God, no wonder Patrick left.” Dike turned his head sharply. “What?” Hector groaned and Lorie shrunk into her seat. Dike kept looking at her until she finally gave in. “Patrick’s gone.” “Gone where?” No one answered but Conrad looked especially fidgety until he finally blurted out, “I had a vision he’d go to Mr. Ketchfield for help and then they went through some invisible door, gate thingy.” He looked relieved after he gave up his information but utterly ashamed at what he’d done to Patrick’s secret. “Damn it Hades. Damn it all to The Underword!” Dike screamed. Charles had to clamp a hand over Dike’s mouth to keep any more profanity from spilling out. Even that didn’t help and eventually he had to threaten to shoot Dike with an arrow if he didn’t stop. After swearing a few more times he stopped. “You’re saying Hades, or Mr. Ketchfield, has Patrick?” Charles asked eventually. Conrad nodded. He looked down, with a look of concentration on his face. “Okay. Now listen to me, all of you. You have to swear on your life that you don’t give in to anything. I suspect black mail is about to happen very soon, and it’s very important you don’t give in to anything. One mistake and it’s our down fall.” They all nodded uncertainly. “Okay we have a strategy to allow you to have a few days of battle practice,” Charles explained quickly. “But this means you can’t leave school grounds and this means that you can’t go home. Understood?” Everyone nodded reluctantly. “We’re going to contact Chronos, the god of time, so he can stop time around the school. We won’t be affected by the time stop time but everyone else will and it’s imperative you don’t leave. Everyone get ready cause you’ll all be fighting for your lives now.”
Chapter 25: Day 1 Part 1 Charles walked to a corner of the room to make a phone call. He yelled after a minute or two into his call and the yell turned into a fierce argument. Afterwards he hung up with a satisfied expression. “I called Chronos and he agreed to stop the time at four-o-clock and for seven days. Cyndia that leaves you time to get your weaponry from your house.” Cyndia nodded. “Okay I’ll be back in like twenty minutes. My house is just three blocks away.” She rushed out of the classroom in a flourish. Charles looked at the rest of them as they sat patiently at the table. “Well,” he started. “We might as well go ahead and start. I need all of you to select a partner of a different gender.” Terrance looked at him through squinted eyes. “For what?” Charles zipped his lips and started to hum. Hector immediately turned to Lorie and after a few moments of hesitating, Lorie nodded. Selene and Conrad high fived each other and came to a silent agreement. Delta looked longingly at Cyndia’s empty seat but grudgingly became partners with Elaine. Sandra and Rory paired together and Terrance looked on with a frown set onto his face. “No fair, there’s no one left!” he complained. Dike staggered up holding a water bottle filled with a clear liquid. “I’ll be your partner Terrance! Too bad I’m not a girl though!” he laughed at his own joke while the others stared at him in bewilderment. Charles glared. “Dike, how’d you sneak in a bottle of vodka?” Dike laughed. “It’s not as good as wine but it’s good.” He didn’t really answer the question. Lorie looked at him and sighed. She strode up to him and snatched the bottle from his grasp. Dike looked at her and pathetically grabbed at the bottle. Giving up he collapsed into a chair and was asleep. “He’ll be sober soon,” Charles said, not concerned in the slightest. Lorie gave him the bottle and he dumped it out into a trashcan. Terrance cleared his throat loudly. “Who’s going to be my partner?” “When Cyndia returns she’ll be your partner.” Terrance smiled smugly at Delta who glared at him with eyes like daggers. “Why do we need partners anyways?” Elaine demanded with bitterness in her voice. “These are your battle buddies!” Charles said. “For seven days you’ll be fighting them so you can build up muscle and learn new moves.” The partnered pairs looked at each other with a different look, as if they were sizing up their opponents. Elaine and Delta looked at each other with determination and fury. Charles smiled. “This will be interesting.” Cyndia arrived five minutes early and her face fell when she learned Terrance was her ‘battle buddy.’ “Oh come one Charles!” Cyndia whined. She was unaware Terrance was listening. “Do I really have to be partners with him? He’s in a wheelchair! He can’t fight!” Terrance tried to keep a pained expression off his face and eventually spoke up. “I can fight Cyndia. Just because I’m in a wheelchair doesn’t mean I can’t fight.” She disregarded him with a wave of her hand and continued to complain to Charles. Terrance sunk further into his wheelchair and fiddled with a few nuts and bolts. Delta couldn’t help but snicker while everyone else stayed silent. “Will no one care we’re missing school?” Lorie asked Dike who had become somber rather quickly. He shrugged and drank water from a canteen. “Everyone’s probably evacuated by now. Those wind gods can certainly make a wind storm.” Lorie looked around the room and found Hector in a corner of the room, trying to figure out how his marbles. “Hector!” she called. He didn’t even listen. “Hector, what time is it?” When he disregarded her again Dike told her the time instead. “We’ve got thirty minutes left until the time stop starts,” Dike looked at her to Hector and back to her. “Boy troubles?” Lorie shrugged and sighed. “Let me see that weapon of yours Lorie,” he said. “This is a weapon?” she asked as she pulled out a wax figure about the size of her hand. “How can it be a weapon? It’s a poorly sculpted sword.” Dike laughed huskily and took the wax figure from her hand. “This is a very powerful weapon actually. Hera wasn’t well known for having a weapon, except for her godly powers of course. She did fuel her powers from her jealousy and anger with her husband Zeus though.” Lorie blushed when she realized Dike was talking about her and Hector. “So just like she fueled her anger you can fuel this with your anger.” He held up the poorly sculpted sword and Lorie took it. “How does it work?” she asked. “Just hold it and talk about stuff that troubles you.” “Okay… Well there was this time I asked Hector to fetch me a library book and he made up some stupid excuse. And there was this one time I gave him my lunch and when I asked for some of his he totally dissed me. And once Hector−” Dike held up a hand to stop the onslaught of troubles. “Thinking about it works too.” Lorie stayed still and thought for about five minutes about all the trouble she had. “Okay, now what?” Dike motioned to the figure in her hand but it was no longer made of wax. Instead she held a short sword in both hands. Although the metal shined dully and the hilt was from impressive, she was surprised she couldn’t feel its weight. “Cool. Does it work?” Instead of waiting for an answer she took the sword in a hand and pressed the point up to her finger. It felt rather dull and it took a few moments of pressing until Lorie could actually get a cut into her finger. “It’s not so sharp.” “It’s fueled by your troubles and emotions. If you start to get calm then the weapon weakens too. It would’ve been much sharper if you used it right after you stopped ranting.” Dike took the sword and Lorie looked at him in surprise as he squished the weapon between his hands as if it were made of clay. After a few moments of kneading he handed the sword back to Lorie, but it was now a ball of wax. “Um, thanks Dike,” she said and tried to mold the wax back into a sword. It looked crooked and less sword-like but it was good enough and she put it into her pocket. “Owww!” someone screamed abruptly. Shortly afterwards the smell of smoke filled the room. Everyone looked towards Hector’s direction and Lorie couldn’t help but laugh loudly. The smell of smoke was coming from Hector’s singed hair after he had figured out that the marbles held electrical currents that were released through breaking the marble. He pocketed the marbles and grieved over his hair.
Chapter 26: Day 1 Part 2 Charles concentrated on his wrist watch and began to count down. “The time stop begins in five…four…three…two…one… Congratulation students! You’ve all experienced your first time stop! Now there isn’t a moment to waste. Grab your weapons and let’s head outside!” Selene grabbed her silver bow and quiver of arrows but hesitated when she reached the door. “Uh, are you sure it’s safe to go out now? I don’t want to be in a Wizard of Oz scenario with a giant twister or something.” “No,” Charles disagreed. “It’s safe. If those storm gods took a human form then they would lose power very easily. You might experience a bit of wind, but everything else will be happening outside.” Without a moment’s hesitation he trotted through the door while everyone else followed less confidently. Dike brought up the rear. Conrad nudged his sister with his bow and smiled. His eyes hid behind his pair of sunglasses. “Ready to fight Artemis?” He gave a wink, but realized no one could see his eyes. Although Selene seemed to notice just fine. “As long as you’re ready to get creamed Apollo.” She gave a wink of her own and put her hair into a loose bun. When they reached the doors that led outside Charles gave a mighty push and all of them were met with a strong blast of cold wind. “Whoa,” Delta breathed as he shielded his face. His hair was still down and with the wind blowing wildly it threw his hair into his face. “You said there would only be a bit of wind Charles!” “I thought the wind would die out by now! Don’t be so prissy Delta, it’s not very Ares like.” Charles turned and walked out before he could see the nasty glare Delta shot towards his direction. The students took hesitant steps outside of the warmth of the school and everyone shivered. “Ah don’t worry,” Dike reassured. “Once you get into fighting you’ll be warmed up right down to your toes!” As he said this he slipped on some gloves and stuffed his hands into his pockets. His jaw chattered and he mumbled under his breath. “Okay,” Charles announced. “Find an area to start fighting with your battle buddy but stay in sigh with Dike and I. Oh, almost forgot!” He ran back into the school and when he came back about a few moments later he was lugging around a large chest. “Just some extra weaponry for you to experiment with. When you’re in battle you’ll never know what you’ll have to fight with.” He popped open the chest and weapons of every kind were tucked neatly inside. Elaine and Delta grabbed armfuls of weaponry while mostly everyone else just selected a piece or two. After everyone appeared ready Charles let the fighting begin. “Not a bad sword arm sis,” Conrad gasped. He was already having trouble defending the relentless attacks from his sister. What made it every bit more humiliating was that they were practicing beginner moves learned from Charles. “Thanks,” Selene gasped. She too was having trouble keeping up an unpredictable rhythm. “After this,” she said as she had to go to the defensive side now, “We’re going back to bows and arrows.” She disarmed her brother’s sword and Conrad collapsed onto the grass. “Deal,” he groaned. Cyndia found she was having a hard time getting past Terrance’s weapons. After a few minutes of tinkering with the weapons in the chest, he had improved nearly each and every one. She screeched when a ninja star like object flew towards her. She blocked it with the sword she was using and it fell to the cement in an explosion of sparks and smoke. “Will you quit throwing those things?” she screamed. She ran forward and tossed a knife at Terrance. He waited until the last second and threw a boomerang at it. It stopped the knife and the boomerang came back into Terrance’s hand. “Well, if you insist.” Instead of throwing the ninja star, he tossed the boomerang. Cyndia ducked but made the mistake of keeping her sword high up. The boomerang latched onto her sword and she was disarmed. She glared at Terrance and wiped away a bead of sweat. “I call a rematch.” The golden Converse sneakers had turned out to be helpful after all, although Rory still hadn’t figured out how to use his caduceus. “Hurry up Rory!” Sandra called impatiently. Rory was hitting the caduceus against his palm, trying to make something happen to it. All he accomplished was to turn the caduceus back into a pen. “Rory!” Sandra called again when she saw him hitting the pen against the blade of a sword. “Hold on!” he yelled twice as loud. “Hey Charles!” he said in a loud voice. Charles turned to him and sprinted over. When he came Rory said, “Does it count as an attack if I stab someone with this pen or whack them in the head with my caduceus.” You could plainly see Charles confusion and hear Sandra’s whimper as clear as a bell. “Well,” he said slowly. “I guess any physical damage to someone is considered an attack… but you should really try to practice with a real weapon.” Rory pouted and put his pen away. “Fine, but you’re teaching me how to use the caduceus stick…thingy.” “I don’t know how to use it,” Charles said innocently. “All I know is that it’s used for healing and attacking. You have to figure it out for yourself.” “Geez, thanks for the help.” And with those sarcastic, parting words Rory left Charles’s side to do battle with Sandra. “Hector slow down!” Lorie pleaded. The two were practicing their aim with slingshots. After the fails of practicing with bows and arrows the two had resorted to the slingshot. “You’re just going to have to catch up then,” he replied tersely. He was using his electric marbles to try and hit a certain brick on an old wall. He had already destroyed three bricks and was aiming for a smaller one up high. Lorie was doing no better than someone who was blind. She could barely get a small pebble two feet away from her and the more she tried the more self-conscious she became. “Aren’t you worried you’re going to run out of marbles?” she asked as she pulled back on the string on the slingshot, aimed, and fired. The pebble she was using went up high and fell about four feet away, her personal best. “Not really,” he replied as he prepared to shoot one. “I’ve used like, ten so far and look,” he motioned to his bag that held the marbles and Lorie found that no matter how many he took, more than was physically possible tumbled out. “It’s probably some magical bag or something.” As he said this he wore a peculiar expression, but before Lorie could place a name to it she was distracted by the sparks produced from a marble. “Can I try using a marble?” Lorie asked. “Maybe it will help out with my terrible aim.” She smiled but Hector was in full concentration mode. She sighed and shot another pebble. It flew about two feet. Elaine and Delta disregarded the armfuls of weapons they had grabbed earlier and instead were fighting a deadly dance between person and metal. Elaine was using her shield in full form and a spear with a long point. Delta was practicing wearing a chest plate and was using his sword against her attacks. Elaine was forced into defensive stances as Delta’s sword collided with her shield. It sent a shock wave feeling through her arm and she worried that her shield had been damaged. But when she jumped away from the arc of the sword, she got a glance at her shield and found it was still intact. The two were silent in their fight, the only emotion breaking through were their expressions and body movement. Elaine was beginning to get desperate. The weight of her sword and shield was weakening her. She cursed herself for thinking such negative thoughts. She was Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. She had to think of a plan. “Don’t worry Elaine,” Delta gasped, “This whole battle will be over before you can say−” “Attack!” she yelled, interrupting him. In his moment of glory Elaine had grabbed her egg that contained the owl inside of it. She had thrown the egg at Delta. As the egg dissolved the owl continued flying, towards his face. He dropped his sword and was trying to swat away the owl. In his confusion, Elaine dropped her spear and charged, her shield in front of her. The weight of her shield and her body caused them to fall upon impact, Elaine coming up on top. She held him down with her shield arm and smiled valiantly. “You know I’ve always hated losing,” she stated. Delta smiled back and slightly raised his head from the ground. “I know.” With a free arm he grabbed her neck with a hand. Elaine tensed, ready to fight again, but was surprised when Delta was pulling her towards him. She got the shock of her life when the two ended up in a kiss. Elaine withdrew shakily after a few seconds with a blank expression on her face. Delta dropped his smile and with a low growl pushed Elaine off of him. She stumbled backwards and Delta pinned her to the ground. He leaned down low and whispered, “I hate losing too.” He got up and after brushing himself off helped Elaine up also. She glowered for a moment before glaring at Delta. “What is your problem? I thought you liked Cyndia!” She wiped away a bit of blood on her lower lip and shook dirt out of her hair. “I never said I didn’t,” he replied calmly as he unstrapped his chest plate. He tossed the plate to her and grabbed his sword from off the ground. After a long moment he said, “You…um, better practice with armor. It’s not as easy as it looks.” He cleaned his sword absently. Elaine continued to stare. Delta glanced at her questioningly. “Ready to fight?” She stooped down and grabbed her owl (who was waddling around the ground) in a fist. When she opened her hand a speckled, gray egg replaced the bird. “We never talk about what just happened. Agreed?” Delta practiced lunges and nodded. “Agreed.”
Chapter 27: Day 1 Part 3 After what seemed like hours of fighting Charles put a stop to it and everyone gathered around. During the fighting and training Dike had taken some food from the cafeteria to serve as dinner. They ate a well deserved meal of bagels and fruit by the fountain that stood in the front of the school. Lorie sat with Elaine and Cyndia by the fountains edge while everyone else sat exhausted on either grass or stone. “This is our dinner?” Rory asked in dismay. “You’ve got to be kidding. Even my grandma’s cooking is fancier than this and her cooking ranges from clam chowder to macaroni.” Dike grumbled under his breath (something about the immaturity of the youth today) as he smeared cream cheese onto a bagel. Rory sniffed at his bagel for about a minute until he finally took a large bite out of it. He still looked disappointed but was satisfied that his hunger had been tamed. He devoured it before everyone else and was soon walking around the small group, trying to snag another bagel. Hector looked at Rory and gave a deep sigh, bowing his head as he did so. Lorie looked at him and her mothering instinct turned on. “What’s wrong Hector?” He took a moment before responding. “It’s Patrick. I can’t believe we practically abandoned him.” Charles glared at Hector for a moment. “Don’t say that Hector. It was Patrick’s choice, and his alone.” He softened his gaze and closed his eyes. “But I do hope he’s all right. He’s probably in the Underworld after all.” “Don’t say that Charles,” Elaine muttered, her words muffled as she rested her head on her knees. Delta patter her shoulder before moving away to throw away his trash. He smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry Elaine, but I’m only speaking the truth. But I do believe there’s no need to threat. Hades is no cold blooded monster. He doesn’t take souls just for fun, but there’s always a purpose behind it. That purpose probably is−” Charles was interrupted by heavy breathing. Delta was stumbling towards them. His face was red and he appeared to be slick with sweat. “Charles,” he gasped. His voice was slurred like he’s been drinking. “We’ve got a problem.” Delta tried taking a few more steps towards them, but groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground. Everyone gasped in alarm as they saw his body. His back had a nasty gash that gushed out blood.