by Zachary Howe
“Dasos,” Gordie said. Apollo looked down at him in surprise.
“Truly?” His voice almost broke. “You believe you know her whereabouts?”
“I can’t say for sure, but I’ve got a feeling.” He remembered the little silver jaguar that marked where the werewolf had died. “How many planes, or realms, or whatever, are there?”
“Oh, that is very difficult to say.” Apollo tossed a hand up in the air. “Most likely they are infinite in number.”
“What? Infinite?” Hot lead dropped into Gordie’s stomach. His certainty of Artemis’s location evaporated into thin air.
“Well, yes, most likely. But we never explored very far. I frequented a few realms myself: Earth, of course,” he started to tick them off on his fingers with as much consternation as a human, “Atlantis—mostly out of curiosity; Europa—it seems I have an affinity for water; Paraliamaia—yes, I see now I definitely tend towards water; here obviously, Koryfion—”
“Okay,” Gordie cut him off, “but how big is each place?” He felt a little better about her possible location, but anxiety was still rising inside him. He pictured the great mountain looming over the forest of Dasos. How far away was that peak? Miles to be sure. Was Dasos an entire world? She could be anywhere in that dense forest.
“The size of each realm varies. I have never been to Dasos, so I cannot say.” Apollo seemed unperturbed by Gordie’s interruption. Gordie wanted a better answer, but resigned himself to an arduous search. Only, after that, he would have to somehow play the role of family therapist, which was definitely not in his wheelhouse.
“All right, so can you shoot me over there?” Gordie looked around as if he expected to see a door marked Dasos.
“I’m sorry?” Apollo looked down at him.
“Ya know, send me to Dasos?” Gordie explained.
“I do not have the means to do that. I can return you to your world,” Apollo offered. “Giorgio will have the equipment necessary to transport you wherever you need to go from there.”
“All right, that works I guess.” Gordie shrugged. “I better get going. Clock’s ticking on my muscles.” He patted his swollen biceps.
“Indeed.” Apollo raised his arm towards the center of the room with his palm out and fingers extending stiffly towards the ceiling which, Gordie hadn’t before realized, was adorned with painted cherubs. He thought this was heavy-handed because hovering just beneath the ceiling was a gaggle of these flying-naked-babies who appeared to be playing tag with their bow-and-arrows. “Gordon?”
“What the—” Gordie stared at the impish infants.
“Gordon? Your bonny lass awaits,” Apollo said. Gordie looked at him and was pleased to see he was smiling.
“Right.” Gordie turned his attention towards the center of the room where a green portal floated above the ground, identical to the one he had used to arrive. “Well, thanks. I’ll try my best. With your sister, I mean.” He looked down.
“I know you will, Gordon.” Apollo grasped Gordie’s shoulder. “And thank you. It was not my intention to involve you in this, but I am eternally grateful for your assistance. Good luck and tread carefully.” Apollo nudged him toward the ghostly doorway, and Gordie surmised his time in Koryfion was over.
He looked up as he approached the portal. A cherub had paused his game of tag and was looking down the shaft of an arrow pointed right at Gordie. His face was split in a mischievous grin full of sharp little teeth.
“I dare you,” Gordie growled as he stopped to fix the aeronautical baby with his sternest gaze.
“Pew!” the cherub made a faux-shooting noise and zipped off, cackling madly.
“I apologize.” Gordie turned at the sound of Apollo’s voice. “He is a peevish fellow.” Apollo nodded toward the zooming baby who was now terrorizing his fellow taggers.
“Peevish indeed,” Gordie replied. He approached the portal and stepped through the green gloom.
***
Gordie’s bare feet pressed against the cool marble of the underground temple. Somehow, he had known that the portal would no longer be floating fifty feet in the air and had stepped through confidently. When he emerged, he was facing Bridget and Giorgio, who were sitting side by side on the great statue’s plinth. Bridget rested her head on her hand while Giorgio fidgeted. A second later, their eyes lit up as they both realized that Gordie had returned. Bridget stood and took a quick step towards him, but he was already being embraced by the laughing Giorgio.
“Meester Gordie! You have returned! Did you see him? Was he magnificent?” he squealed, as he squeezed a disgruntled Gordie.
“Yes, yes, I saw him, he was great.” Gordie patted Giorgio on the back, and then applied gentle force to separate himself. Bridget walked over and the butterflies (or cherubs) reemerged in Gordie’s stomach.
“Took you long enough.” Bridget smiled.
“I’m sorry.” Gordie threw up his hands. “You’re aware I was talking to a god, right? Besides, I was only gone for like fifteen minutes!”
“Try an hour!” she said. Gordie thought about it and was sure there was no way he was gone that long. Giorgio chimed in.
“This is true, sir. It has been an hour since you left.” He held his wristwatch up to Gordie’s face, who read the time. It was just before noon. He had accomplished a lot by lunch, but there was no denying that the time he spent in Koryfion was shorter than it had been in this realm, significantly so. He found this notion curious, but shrugged it off.
“All right, I guess it was an hour here. By the way, don’t call me sir,” he told Giorgio.
“Of course. I apologize, Meester Gordie.” Giorgio bowed his head, looking crestfallen.
“Don’t apologize and don’t call me mister, either. Gordie is fine.” Feeling that he had been a little too snippy, he smiled and gave Giorgio a gentle pat on the shoulder.
“As you say, Gordie.” Giorgio grinned.
“Okay, enough bromance,” Bridget interrupted. “Where to next?”
“Where to?” Gordie looked at her, bemused. “I mean, shouldn’t you go back to your parents?”
“Well, I don’t know . . . I mean, I guess.” She shifted uncomfortably. “But this stuff is just so cool! Gods? C’mon! I have to see more!” She was almost jumping up and down with excitement. Gordie hadn’t expected this attitude and had no idea how to respond.
“I don’t know. I mean it’s really complicated, but you literally can’t come with me. I have to go to this place called Dasos and it’s sort of like . . . another world, and you can’t come with me ‘cause you aren’t descended from . . . I mean I can go because I have the blood of . . . you have to be part of that world.” Gordie pointed up to where the portal once floated. “Otherwise, it’s actually impossible.”
The disappointment was evident in Bridget’s eyes.
“I see. I just didn’t really want to go back to my family.” She looked away. Gordie was taken aback, and felt a little sad for her.
“Well, I do have to go find my mom and grandpa, and then go back to Chiron’s, I guess. Maybe you could come . . .” She looked at him with the excitement rekindled in her eyes.
“Oh yes, please take me!” She grabbed his hand, and he definitely wanted to take her.
“All right, but you’re gonna have to stay in Chiron’s cave.” He quickly tried to recover as she looked offended at the notion of being quarantined in a hole. “It’s not like a normal cave! I mean, it’s huge! And there are a bunch of rooms with beds and a hot spring thingy.” Relief flooded through Gordie when her sneer faded as she seemed to accept the accommodations.
“So, are there like separate beds? Or would we be sharing one?” She smiled at him and he became very dizzy.
Gordie was ripped from his daydream by a loud throat-clearing noise. He looked over at Giorgio who was looking around the room and up at the ceiling . . . anywhere but toward the young paramours. Gordie shook his head to collect his thoughts, then backed away from Bridget.
“All
right, uh, yeah . . . What were we talking about? So, we should probably get going, huh?” A small part of him, tucked away in the back of his mind, told him his situation was time-sensitive, and that he should get a move on. Bridget smiled and winked at him. He swooned again, but hid it more effectively this time.
“Indeed. Where do you wish to go, Gordon?” Giorgio smiled.
“It’s Gordie, remember? Never mind. Do you know where Portaria is?”
“Absolutely! We can go there now if you wish!” His eyes were wide, almost insane. Gordie suddenly became uncomfortable.
“Um, well, the thing is . . .” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at Giorgio out of the corner of his eye. Giorgio’s brightly lit features began to dim until they read only disappointment.
“I understand,” he said, in a somber tone. “I cannot go with you. That is okay. I will help you return there.”
“I’m sorry, there’s just a lot of crazy stuff happening, and I don’t really know . . .” Gordie stopped talking because he really didn’t know. He thought that the less people he included in this craziness the better, even if they had ties to the deities with which he was dealing.
“It is not a problem. It was an honor to help you, Gordie.” Giorgio forced a weak smile and turned away. He pulled a little green ball out of his pocket, put it up to his lips and whispered to it, then gave it a halfhearted toss into the center of the room. A familiar green portal popped into existence, swirling in the air.
Bridget walked over to Giorgio and gave him a hug, then pulled away. “No hard feelings about kidnapping me.” She smiled, and Gordie thought that would have to lift Giorgio’s spirits, even if she had just told him his puppy died. “We had fun, right? I think Gordie has something to tell you, too.” She turned Giorgio’s shoulders so he was facing Gordie and made a ‘come on’ face behind his back. Gordie fought to not roll his eyes.
He walked over and put a hand on Giorgio’s shoulder. “Thank you very much for all the help, G. I promise I’ll come visit you soon,” he added, for lack of consoling sentiments, but he regretted it. Giorgio wrapped him in a great hug and thanked him excessively, telling him how excited he was to see him again, and rattling off his work schedule at the Itea Palace Hotel, and that Gordie could drop in anytime.
After unsticking himself from Giorgio, he asked Bridget if she was ready as they faced the portal.
“Yeah, I think so,” she said, staring into its green depths, apparently trying to make out the scene on the other side, which looked like a back alley. She turned back to Giorgio. “You have a way back, Georgey?” Gordie felt a strange annoyance at her use of a nickname.
“Yes, Meess Clem-uhns, I have one left.” He smiled and held up another green ball that he had withdrawn from his pocket. Gordie looked closely at it this time and noticed it had that same fluid, smoke-like aura swirling around it as the full-size portal.
“Good. Then we’ll see you again soon.” She smiled once more, and turned back to Gordie.
“Ready?” Gordie asked. She nodded and he turned over his shoulder. “Take it easy, G.”
“You take it very easy, as well, Meester Gordie!” Giorgio called back. Gordie rolled his eyes and held out his hand.
“Ladies first,” he said. Bridget looked up at him apprehensively. “Never mind, I’ll go first.” Gordie stepped through the green wormhole.
When he emerged on the other side he was standing behind a dumpster in a back alley. The scent of rotting garbage smacked him in the face. A wet cardboard box lay folded next to it, fostering mold. Gordie wrinkled his nose. A second later Bridget stood next to him and the portal shrank until it winked into extinction.
“Nice spot,” she said, scowling at a black banana peel hanging over the dumpster’s lip that was crawling with flies.
“Yeah? You wanna hang out here for a while, dumpster girl?” Gordie smiled down at her before a brief moment of panic kicked in where he wondered why he would be so stupid as to call her that, but he relaxed when she laughed it off.
“You know me. I’m gross.” She smacked him on the arm.
“Totally, but let’s get outta here anyways.” The alley looked out onto one of the quaint flagstone streets that paved Portaria. People walked by in ones and twos. Across the way was a little mortared building with a bright-blue door. Gordie stepped forward, but Bridget grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” she said. He looked back at her. Her demeanor had changed. She looked fidgety.
“What’s up?” he asked. His stomach churned. He thought he knew what this was about and was terrified of having another falling-out. His heart raced and his palms started sweating.
“I just . . .” she sighed. “I just wanted to apologize about before. Ya know . . . on the plane?” She studied the floor of the alley.
“Oh, uh, it’s no big deal. I’m sorry too.” Gordie tried to smile, but it was shaky. Then she looked up at him, beaming.
“Great!” Bridget said, and she grabbed his hand, returning to her cheery manner. All Gordie’s concerns melted away.
“C’mon,” he said, grinning as he pulled her away from the dumpster, feeling like this day couldn’t get any better. They walked to the end of the alley and smiled at each other before they stepped into the sparse foot traffic—
“GORDON LEONHART!”
Gordie froze as his mother’s furious voice echoed through his brain from somewhere nearby on his left. He turned and saw that the alley was adjacent to the little café he had left a couple hours earlier. His grandpa was sitting at one of the tables looking at Gordie with a look of fearful giddiness. His mother was stomping towards him from just down the street. Apparently, Atalo had been taking a more passive approach to searching for Gordie, while his mother scoured the area. People were turning to look between him and his mother, a few sniggering, probably assuming that a sixteen-year-old boy was about to be reprimanded for no more than running off to a quiet place with a sixteen-year-old girl. Ellie grabbed him by the collar, sparing one crazed glance in Bridget’s direction with no sign of recognition, before rounding on her son.
“Where the hell were you?” she whispered through gritted teeth. “I have been looking for you for hours. What do you think you’re doing running off like that? Are you ever going to stop making boneheaded decisions? Were you off with this floozy?” She jerked her head towards Bridget without releasing Gordie from her gaze or her grip.
“Hey!” Bridget said.
By this point, Gordie’s embarrassment had become paralyzing. His face was on fire, and all he could do was splutter as his mother accosted him.
“Why was your phone turned off? Were you planning to run away the second I was out of sight? Do you never think? What was—”
“She was kidnapped!” Gordie finally found his voice. This stunned Ellie, but he was only mildly relieved by the respite: he was certain that he was dying from embarrassment. Ellie turned and looked at Bridget with a confused expression. After a moment, she recognized Bridget and her breathing slowed.
“You’re the girl from the airport,” she told Bridget. “The Clemens girl.”
“Bridget,” she spat.
“Right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you a name.” Ellie released her son and took a deep breath. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Her tone was less soft when she turned back to Gordie.
“Yes, but let’s go sit with Grandpa.” Gordie glanced in Bridget’s direction while avoiding eye contact and muttered, “C’mon Bridget.” He slid past his mother carefully, as if touching her would burn his skin. As they reached the table, Atalo beamed at them.
“Well, fancy seeing you here, sweetheart!” he said, and stood up to pull out a chair. The metal made a loud squalling noise on the stone pavers.
“Thanks!” Bridget responded cheerily as she sat. If possible, Gordie was even more mortified by the way his grandfather addressed her. Fortunately, she seemed to have shaken off the insult from Gordie’s mom. Gordie felt his mother behind him breathing down
his neck as he made his way to an open seat, and felt a cool gust as she slid past him to take the next chair.
“All right, we’re here.” Ellie placed her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers while she glared at Gordie. “Why don’t you tell us your little story?” she said, in a soft voice. Gordie was reminded of a mob boss. He tried not to quail under that frosty stare.
“Well, it all started when Apollo showed up at Chiron’s . . .” Gordie went into the tale of seeing Apollo’s floating head, clarifying his confusing statement, and assuring them that the God of the Sun had never actually stepped foot in the cave. He went on to tell about the text messages and his decision to go after Bridget (at this point Ellie’s glare narrowed). He told about Thetis and the disembodied voice of Poseidon (Bridget and Atalo gawked at this point); then onto Giorgio and the ruins at Delphi, and the discovery of the underground temple; how he had found Bridget there and visited Apollo (he left out the part about climbing the statue because he felt his mother was angry enough).
He stopped there and regarded his mother, wondering if he should tell her about the task. Feeling the guilt of leaving her out of his plans earlier, he decided to leave nothing out. He told the entire story of Apollo, Orion, and Artemis, and the task that was set to him (Atalo also voiced his disapproval for the lack of ‘pizzazz’ in the trial).
“I think it’s kinda sweet,” Bridget said.
“Either way, I’m gonna have to go back to Dasos,” said Gordie. “Considering the not-so-warm welcome I got the first time I showed up, this trip is bound to have some excitement.” He shook his head with unfixed eyes trained towards the table, thinking back to the werewolf and the forest’s eponymous hulking satyr. Dasos’s club materialized in his mind’s eye, patting against the giant palm—Gordie could almost hear the moist smacking sound it made.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Ellie leaned back in her chair. Gordie was relieved to see her demeanor had softened. “We need to go back to Chiron’s. And I don’t see any reason why this task has to be completed with any urgency. As much as I hate to say it, I think you need to do some more of your little training.” She made a shooing gesture to reinforce how little she cared for Gordie’s training regimen, but he was actually encouraged by her sentiment: it seemed that she was finally on board with this entire endeavor. However, he also felt a rising sense of panic at her dismissal of the task’s urgency, and this emotion won out.