by Kate O'Hearn
“It’s not a simple rock,” Joel answered as he drove the car along the empty rural Greek roads. “It was a weapon created by the Titans.”
“The Titans!” Stella repeated. “They’re real too?”
“They were,” Emily said. “Jupiter defeated them. But right before he did, the Titans created a weapon that could destroy the Olympians. Luckily, Jupiter and his brothers got to it first and sealed it in the gold box. It has remained undisturbed all this time.”
“Until we found it,” Stella mused. “What happens after you destroy it?”
“We don’t know,” Joel answered. “The survivors are old and sick. I hope by destroying it, we will reverse the damage. If not, then even if we do destroy it, we may be too late to save them.”
Joel had said the words that Emily had been dreading. She’d thought the same thing herself time and time again. Could the damage be reversed? And if it could, what would happen to the survivors?
It was approaching midnight when they reached central Athens. As in any big city, there were a lot of cars on the main roads, but not on the inner, smaller routes.
“This place is crazy,” Joel complained as he maneuvered the car through the quiet streets. “I thought driving in New York was bad, but Athens is impossible! How can anyone get a car down these narrow streets?”
“My father doesn’t have a problem,” Stella said.
“Your father must be crazy,” Joel muttered.
As Stella directed them to the Acropolis Museum, Joel turned down a particularly narrow road; he miscalculated the width and smashed into a parked car.
“My father’s car!” Stella cried.
When they inspected the damage, they saw that the entire side was caved in.
“What am I going to tell him?” Stella groaned.
“Nothing,” Joel said. “He’ll think the car was stolen. We’ll use another car to get you back to the temple.” He looked around the area. “But it’s too dangerous to leave it here in the street.”
“I’ve got it,” Emily said. She stretched her right arm in front of her toward the damaged car—it lifted off the road and over the top of the parked cars, and then it was lowered on its side to the narrow sidewalk. “Let the police try to figure out how it got there.”
“I am in such trouble.” Stella sighed.
“Not as much as the Olympians,” Emily said. “Take us to the museum.”
Joel once again took the position behind Stella’s wheelchair as they made their way through the deserted streets of Athens.
Apartment buildings, shops, and boutique hotels lined the way. It almost reminded Emily of New York. But the comparison ended when she became aware of graffiti on all the buildings and closed shutters of the shops. It seemed there wasn’t a single doorway or wall that had escaped the street artists’ spray paint.
Another difference was the calm feeling of the place. Despite it being the middle of the night, the few people they passed on the street gave them friendly greetings and smiles instead of the suspicion that was built into all New Yorkers. Of course, Emily reasoned, it could be their Olympian dress that caused all the smiles.
Somewhere along the way Emily became aware of a large chocolate-brown dog following them. When they stopped, the dog came straight up to Emily, wagging its tail and wanting to be petted.
Emily knelt down and stroked the dog’s pretty face. “You look just like my mom’s dog, Mike. Go home now; I’m sure your family is missing you.”
“He has no home,” Stella said. “That red tag on his collar means he is a street dog. He has been abandoned. The government has veterinarians who treat them. But it is the public who feed them.”
Emily looked at the red tag. It had a date and serial number on it. “Who would do that? He’s so sweet.”
“Look around you—there are lots of abandoned dogs in Athens. Sometimes pets grow too large and people release them to the streets. Just leave him and he will go away.”
Emily became aware of the other dogs sleeping in doorways or wandering the streets. “Are they all homeless?”
Stella nodded. “It is normal. There are dogs everywhere. Cats, too.”
“Normal?” Joel said. “It’s not normal to abandon pets on the street. That’s awful.”
“We have always done it,” Stella said.
“That doesn’t make it right,” Emily said. She gave the dog a final pat. “I’m so sorry; I wish we could take you with us,” she said to the dog. “But you can’t come where we’re going. Stay here.”
But the dog refused to leave and continued to follow them.
“Just ignore him,” Stella said. “He will leave eventually.” She made Joel stop pushing her chair and pointed up. “There is the Acropolis.”
Emily and Joel gazed up to the top of a tall hill rising out of the ordinary city streets and graffiti-covered buildings. They drew in their breath at the amazing sight.
The Acropolis was actually a series of several ancient temples built closely together at the top of one of the highest points in Athens. Spotlights shone brightly on the white marble, showing off the large monument.
“How many buildings are up there?” Joel asked softly.
“A lot,” Stella said. “The largest is the Parthenon—the temple to Athena. Behind it is the Erechtheion, which is dedicated to Athena and Poseidon, and at the very front you can see the Temple of Athena Nike. It’s really tiring to climb up all the stairs to get there, but worth it. Even with all the scaffolding.”
“My mom always dreamed of seeing the Acropolis,” Emily said. “She used to show me pictures of it from books she collected. It’s so beautiful.”
“But it really looks out of place here in the city,” Joel said. “Down below, this could be New York. But the moment you look up and see it, you know you’re in Greece.”
Emily frowned. “Joel, doesn’t the Parthenon remind you a bit of Jupiter’s palace with all those pillars?”
Joel nodded. “Only Jupiter’s is much, much bigger. And it doesn’t have all that construction scaffolding around it. . . .” His voice tapered off, and he looked away.
Emily dropped her head and felt a pain tearing through her. “I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
“Who?” Stella asked.
“Jupiter,” Emily said sadly. “I told you, he died a couple of days ago. So did his brothers, his wife, and my teacher, Vesta.”
“So Zeus is truly dead?”
“His name was Jupiter!” Joel shouted.
“In Greece we call him Zeus, not Jupiter,” Stella challenged. “You are here now, so you must also call him Zeus.”
“It doesn’t matter what we call him; he’s dead!” Joel said angrily. “They’re all dead! And unless we destroy that weapon, the survivors will die too. C’mon, let’s go!”
They traveled the rest of the way in silence with the dog trailing behind. Before long they came upon the museum. The building was large and strangely shaped, made of glass, steel, and concrete.
“They designed the museum to look like a modern version of the Parthenon,” Stella explained.
“That’s supposed to look like the Parthenon?” Emily said. “It doesn’t look anything like it!”
“Some say it does,” Stella said defensively.
Emily’s heart pounded harder, knowing that the rock that was killing all the Olympians was locked deep inside that building. “How do we get in?”
Stella led them around the building. “In the daytime when the museum is open, visitors go in through those front doors,” she said, pointing at the high glass front of the building. Tall pillars ran the length of the structure, and the ground leading up to the entrance was covered in thick glass panels. Emily peered down through one of the panels and saw a lighted archaeological dig running deeper under the building. At any other time she might have been in
terested. But now all she cared about was getting in and out as quickly as possible.
“Visitors can walk on the glass,” Stella explained. “They can follow what the archaeologists are doing and finding.” She moved toward the side of the building. “When the museum is closed, we go in through the side, here.”
They followed the building around. Up ahead was a set of heavily secured doors. Stella held up her hand. “This is the way into the research area. My parents enter from here.” She indicated a security box with a number pad and swipe terminal. “But you need a special code, pass card, and keys. I don’t have those.”
“We don’t need them,” Joel said. “Em, can you open the doors or shall I force them?”
“It might have alarms—I’ll do it.”
Emily approached the doors and released the Flame from her hands, directing it into a laserlike beam to burn a large, round hole in the center of the solid security doors.
Stella stared in complete shock. “How do you do that?”
“I don’t have time to explain,” Emily said. She passed through the hole and used her powers to lift Stella’s wheelchair.
The dog followed them into the building.
“He should not be in here,” Stella said. “The rules say no animals allowed.”
“We’ve just broken in—it’s not the time to start caring about rules,” Emily said. “Just take us to where they would keep the rock.”
Stella glared at the dog but led the group through the maze at the rear of the Acropolis Museum. “My mother’s office is on the lower level. There’s an elevator on the other side of the building. We go this way. But first I need to show you something.”
They entered the general public area of the main level of the closed museum. The primary lights were off, but each display cabinet was lit to show the contents. They walked past some of the museum’s older exhibits.
“Here.” Stella stopped her wheelchair before one of the lighted cabinets. “I told you I had seen your picture before.”
Emily and Joel peered at the terra-cotta amphora with the ancient black, cream, and orange artwork. Despite the cracks and seams where breaks had been mended, there was no mistaking the image on the front. It was the profile of a girl in an Olympian tunic. She was holding up her hands and shooting flames at tentacled monsters. Standing directly behind her were two men. One was a tall, muscular young man holding a spear. Emily’s eyes landed on his right arm. It was torn open, the mechanical insides on display.
“Joel, look!” Emily said. “That really does look like your arm.”
“It can’t be!” Joel said. “But look at the fire from the girl’s hands. That really could be you. How is this possible?”
“I don’t know.” A chill ran through Emily as she studied the ancient pot. Then her eyes landed on something else, and her breathing stopped completely. Beside the girl figure on the pot was a large dog. It was snarling and baring its teeth at one of the monsters. The dog was chocolate brown, apart from its right front leg, which was white.
“Joel, look.” Emily pointed from the pot down to the dog. “Look at his front leg. You don’t think . . .”
“No, it’s impossible. There’s got to be some mistake.”
“There is no mistake. It is you,” Stella insisted. “I knew it the moment I saw you. I can take you to the other amphora to show you with Zeus and Poseidon.”
Emily shook her head. “No, I don’t want to see any more. I just want to destroy that rock and go home.”
Stella led them through the darkened museum. From the main public area they entered a freight elevator.
Stella pushed the bottom button. “This is where they store some of the pieces that will go on display later. My mother’s office is at the end. Beside that is the workroom where she dates and restores pottery. Her assistant, Stavros, came back here a week ago with the golden box and the rock. They should be in there.”
As they made their way down the long hall, the dog slowed and started to let out a low, rumbling growl.
“Something’s wrong,” Emily said.
“He is just a silly street dog,” Stella said. “There is nothing here.” She approached the workroom and pushed open the door.
All of a sudden the lights flashed on. The room was filled with at least ten men dressed in black suits, all holding up weapons pointed directly at them. In the center of the room stood the same reporter from the temple at Cape Sounio. He smiled smugly as he stamped out a cigarette.
“Emily Jacobs and Joel DeSilva. What took you so long to get here?”
16
EMILY RAISED HER HAND TO fire a blast of Flame. Beside her the dog lunged for the closest man by the door and caught hold of his arm. The agent struck him with his gun butt and knocked him, stunned, to the floor.
“Stop!” the fake reporter shouted. He fired a warning shot into the ceiling before turning the gun on Joel. “I know we can’t hurt you, Emily. But Joel is still human. So is your new friend, Stella. I can shoot them in a heartbeat. Now drop your hands.”
“Who are you?” Joel demanded.
The man leaned casually against one of the work tables. “Oh, I think you already know who we are.” His eyes settled on Joel’s silver arm. “It didn’t take the Olympians long to replace your arm. I never saw the other one, but I heard it was a masterpiece.”
Joel looked down at his new arm. “You’re with the CRU.”
“Got it in one,” the agent teased. “I’m Agent B.”
“You’re not Greek,” Stella accused.
“No,” the agent said. “I’m British. But I had you fooled, didn’t I?”
“British?” Emily repeated. “I thought the CRU was an American organization.”
“You foolish girl,” Agent B said in his deepest English accent. “We’re a worldwide organization. Bigger than any one government. You should know that by now.”
Beside them the dog began to stir. When he sat up, he growled.
“Shoot it,” Agent B casually ordered.
The nearest agent pointed his weapon at the dog. But before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Emily knocked him backward with an invisible force. He smashed against a wall unit filled with pieces of restored pottery. They all crashed to the ground in a heap.
Emily knelt down by the dog and glared up at Agent B. “You try anything and you’ll be sorry.”
“It’s a street dog, Emily,” Agent B said contemptuously. “There are hundreds of them in Athens. You’ve got bigger problems to worry about than that filthy animal.”
Emily raised her hand and fire flashed in her palm. “I’m warning you. You hurt him again or anyone here and I won’t hold back. Remember what I did to Area 51.”
For an instant, fear flashed in the agent’s clear blue eyes. “Calm down, Emily. No one is going to hurt anyone here. Put your Flame away; we just want to talk.” He walked over to one of his men, undid the tie at his neck, and tossed it to her. “Just tie up your friend and keep him under control.”
“Take it easy, Mike,” Emily said to the dog as she attached the tie to his collar. “They won’t hurt you again.”
When Mike was restrained, Emily returned to Joel’s side. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
The agent shrugged. “Do you think you’re the only one who knows the significance of that golden box? When we discovered what it could do, we knew you’d have to come for it. From the moment you arrived at the temple, we’ve been watching you.” He chuckled softly. “That was a clever move with the car on the sidewalk. But I’m afraid we’ve had to remove it. We can’t have the local police asking too many questions.”
“I don’t understand.” Emily said. “How did you know about the box?”
“We’re the Central Research Unit. If someone sneezes, we know about it.”
Emily’s heart pounded in her ches
t. They were losing precious time. Pegasus’s life was depending on her, and she didn’t have time to play games with the CRU. She summoned the Flame again and raised her hand threateningly. “We don’t have time for this. Just hand over the box and we’ll go.”
Agent B shook his head. “You can kill us, Emily, but it won’t change anything. The box isn’t here.”
“Where is it?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
The agent was in no hurry as he started to explain. “The moment that box was opened at the Temple of Poseidon, it killed all the clones we’d had stored around the world. No matter what we did or how we tried to protect them, they all died.”
“There were more clones?” Joel asked in astonishment.
“Of course,” the agent said. “Come now, Joel, don’t be naive. You really didn’t think the CRU would put all its eggs in one basket, did you? They were created at the Area 51 facility, but then moved on. We had over two dozen in our UK facility alone. Unfortunately, due to the death of all the clones, the entire program has been mothballed.
“However,” Agent B continued, “it wasn’t a complete loss. After a bit of investigation, we learned about the golden box discovered here in Greece. At first we thought it was the box itself. It really is a piece of art—I’ll have to show it to you sometime. We’ve moved it to one of our facilities in the States. That and the archaeologists who found it.”
Agent B focused on Stella. “Actually, Stella, your parents and George Tsoukatou are on their way there right now.” He paused and checked his watch. “They should be landing in a few hours.”
“No!” Stella cried. “Who are you?”
Agent B pretended to be hurt. “Emily, you didn’t tell Stella who we are and about all the fun we’ve had together?”
Emily’s nerves were ready to snap. “Where—is—the box?” she said. “Tell me now before I lose my temper!”
“Calm down, Emily; I’m getting to that,” Agent B said. “After some testing, we discovered that the box itself wasn’t the prize. The real treasure was the rock inside. When we saw what it did to our clones, we wondered what it might do to real Olympians. So we took the last of the blood from Diana and Paelen and exposed it to the rock. Do you want to know what happened? It was destroyed—turned to dust. Poof—and it was gone!”