by G. E. White
Once finished, the outline suddenly exploded into a white light in the shape of the arched doorway that glittered and glistened like sun hitting the sea.
“Cool…” the teen breathed.
“Yeah, damn things sting though,” Jared commented. “Just a couple steps and we’ll be on the Greek Isle of Delos.”
“Just a couple of steps,” Quinn echoed as he walked forward in wonder. Surina took him by the crook of his elbow. She gave him a reassuring squeeze before pulling him forward through the gate.
~ Chapter 16 ~
A wave of dizziness swept over Quinn as they stepped across the threshold of the gate. For a moment, he felt weightless, unsure what was up or down, both all-seeing and blind. The disorienting sensation left quickly as a bright beam of sunlight blinded him momentarily.
A hand on his shoulder steadied the young man. Quinn shielded his eyes against the bright sun and looked up to see Jared beaming down at him.
“What a rush huh?” he asked the teen.
Surina stood on the other side of him, unflinching in the harsh rays thanks to her dark glasses.
Quinn nodded dazedly and was about to step forward when an irritated honk startled him. He turned toward the sound before stumbling back into the others. “Whoa!”
There sitting on the flagstone walkway flapping its wings in agitation, was a giant pelican. Apparently, the animal had been sleeping when the three of them gated into the back alley.
Backing away seemed to calm the bird, though Surina practically hissed at the creature. “Petros, I’d know that bill anywhere.”
“Huh?”
“The pelican, it’s a mascot of sorts for the island of Mykonos. That idiot Russo sent us to the wrong island,” she growled.
Jared patted her on the shoulder exiting the alleyway, she and Quinn followed behind him. “Relax; Delos is just off the coast, no big deal.”
Quinn glanced about the narrow streets lined with white plaster buildings weaving down towards the coast. Many were filled to the brim with knick-knacks engraved with the name of the island, or small statues or pictures of the ancient Greek gods. Others sold post-cards or local handmade jewelry. Some even offered ancient and medieval weapons, such as swords, shields and daggers.
“But the gate should have dropped us right on Delos,” Surina argued.
Jared shrugged, strolling down the sloping streets towards the harbor. “Hey, this isn’t Leo’s normal gig. He was probably just following the instructions that Erica left behind, made a small mistake and was a little off.”
“I’d say a lot,” the demi-god said grumpily.
Quinn glanced about, his gaze moving to look down at the sun and shadow covered streets. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but shouldn’t it be later? We left sometime after two o’clock right? So shouldn’t it be night time?”
“See!” Surina hissed at Jared while gesturing to Quinn. “Leo couldn’t even get the switchover right, now we’re over twelve hours behind schedule. You know it’s going to be a royal pain getting into the First Realm unnoticed.”
Jared dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. “Whatever, we’ll just catch a ferry over to Delos. It’s like a half hour ride at most. We’ll just have to make sure that no one is watching while we make our exit.”
Surina stopped up short, causing Jared and Quinn to pause and turn around.
“Something wrong?” the younger of the two asked.
“Maybe she’s worried she’ll get wet and the water will melt her,” Jared joked.
Surina glared at the man from behind her glasses. “Its fine, we’ll take a ferry,” she said, rushing past her two companions and down the street.
Both Jared and Quinn shared a look but said nothing as they hurried to catch up the woman.
After speaking to one of the local ferrymen Jared ushered his two companions onto the boat and soon they were motoring across the choppy water to the island. But about ten minutes into the trip the two men realized just what had caused Surina’s strange behavior.
The young woman now sat on one of the small benches of the ferry, her head and arms sprawled awkwardly over the side of the boat. A pained groan escaped her lips as the boat hit another rough wave. Her normally lightly tanned skin had gone from creamy gold to an off-green shade. Somehow her glasses had miraculously managed to remain on her face despite the choppy waters, not that they brought her any comfort.
Quinn couldn’t say he was the most comfortable either, what with the gritty feel of the salt from the sea spray clinging to his exposed arms. But then that was a minor inconvenience compared to Surina’s suffering.
He looked down on her with sympathy and gave her a light pat on the back. “You could have just told us you get sea-sick. I’m sure we could have found another way to get there.”
“Like what?”
“A helicopter or something, I don’t know. I mean, you said the gods have money, why not use it?”
Surina gave a belch of exhaustion, “No… it would have taken too long, ugh…”
Jared snickered in the background, prompting a scathing look from the woman who had taken on a greenish hue.
“Besides, Jared here has a horrible fear of flying,” she sneered causing, the Death God to choke on his laughter.
“Really?” Quinn asked with amused interest.
The older man turned away pretending to no longer be concerned with their conversation.
“Oh yeah,” she replied, swallowing heavily. She continued loud enough for the prim young man to hear, “I heard when his older brother tried to take him on a trip he had a freak-out on the plane and they were forced to land immediately.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m serious,” she said with a low chuckle which tapered off into an agonized moan as the boat dropped down the backside of a wave.
Jared shook his head wandering toward the back of the boat where the Captain stood. The teen followed him with his eyes, but couldn’t see any trace of actual anger - annoyance perhaps, but not anger.
Quinn turned back to the sea-sick demi-god and presented her with a bottle of water and blister pack of Gravol. “Here.”
“Where did you get that?”
“Picked it up at the kiosk while you and Jared talked to the captain,” he said with a shrug. “I used to get nauseous while on the bus to school; figured I might need them but I’m actually feeling okay. So here, take them.”
“Thanks,” she replied, popping one of the pills out of the package and into to her mouth chasing it with a swig from the bottle provided.
Surina gave a sigh of relief as she waited for the medicine to kick in. Quinn sat down beside her, studying her profile with a soft smile gracing his lips. “You know, that was pretty cool back there," he said.
"Huh?”
Quinn pointed over at the Death God who was now engrossed in a conversation with the Captain. "That. The fact that you can joke with the God of Death, make fun of him, and you are cool with one another."
"What do you think he would do? Kill me over a little good-natured ribbing?" She scoffed. "I'll admit the gods have a reputation for being petty, but they've grown. Besides, if Jared ever wanted me dead he would have to do his own dirty work."
Quinn folded his hands in his lap, unsure of what the woman meant. "I thought he could just kill someone with a touch."
"Only if it's their time – if not, he has to kill someone the old-fashioned way, but it's not really in his nature."
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked, but before Surina could elaborate the object of their conversation sauntered over to them looking far too cheery.
"We’re going to be docking soon," he said.
"Already?"
"Take a look for yourself." The older man gestured behind Quinn, who turned around in his seat to follow Jared's hand.
The island appeared to be mostly made of rock with only three modern buildings visible from the port.
“That’s it?” he asked.
&n
bsp; “It’s not a huge island. No one actually lives on it save for the caretaker and his family.”
“How come?”
“Delos is a holy island, technically no one is allowed to be born or die here. People come in to work here at the museum or come with the visitors to give tours, but that’s it,” Jared explained.
Quinn inspected the landscape assuming one of the buildings had to be the groundskeepers’ house. The closest one to port appeared to be some sort of small office or ticket booth, while the one further back was probably the Museum.
The remains of what used to be a city wound up the hilly beige landscape while white columns in various states of erosion poked out like stubble on a pubescent teenager’s face. Most of the stone walls were in some sort of state of collapse, while only one temple high on the mountainside seemed to be whole.
"Is that the Temple of Apollo?" Quinn asked pointing at the structure.
"Actually it’s the Temple of Isis," Jared replied.
Surina moved to stand in the entry/exit way anxious to be the first one off the boat. The Captain waved to the groundskeeper and his son as he moved the boat into docking position.
"Isis? Isn't that an Egyptian god?" Quinn said.
"Yes, and one of the other names Aphrodite went by, at least in one incarnation,” Jared explained. “Delos is kind of special that way – it was considered one of the first multi-cultural and multi-theological hubs of the ancient world."
Once the boat had come to a complete stop, the three quickly disembarked, Surina faster than the others. She took a moment to collect herself and settle her stomach, waving the other two ahead.
Jared stopped by the small building that acted as an entry point, flashing some sort of I.D. to the middle-aged man behind the glass. “Kali’apogevma, Belen,” he greeted.
“Kali’apogevma, Mr. Doyle, haven’t seen you in a while,” the tanned man replied, the Greek greeting rolling off his tongue, displaying the mastery of his first language.
“Work’s been keeping me busy; you know how it is.”
“Right, I see you brought a new face with you this time,” Belen said tilting his head to get a better look at Quinn, who stood partially behind the taller man.
“Quinn this is Belen, Belen this is Quinn.”
The teen gave a small wave. “Hi…”
“You’ll probably be seeing him again,” Jared continued seeing as his companion was unsure of what else to say.
“It’s always nice to have more visitors. I’m assuming that Miss Malik will be joining you as well?”
Jared glanced back at the woman in question who now hung her head as she braced her arms on her knees.
“Yeah, once she regains her dignity.”
“Ha!” Surina barked.
Quinn shook his head as he plucked one of the visitor’s pamphlets from a plastic display case and began to examine the map inside, while Jared turned to the straggling woman. “You gonna be okay?”
Surina straightened inhaling deeply before trudging over to the three men. “I’ll be fine, we should really get going.” Focusing on Belen she dipped her head in apology. “Sorry we can’t stay for a chat.”
“I understand,” the Greek assured. “Another time perhaps. Anyway, have a good trip.”
Jared gave a final nod before ushering the three of them past the entrance and farther onto the sand colored island.
Once out of earshot of Belen, Quinn turned to Jared, “Won’t he notice that we haven’t left by closing time?”
“Relax kid,” he reassured. “Belen and the other caretakers of Delos work for us. They’re the distant descendants of demi-gods and make sure that no one accidentally stumbles upon something that they shouldn’t. Not that it’s very likely, but it’s good to have someone running the place who will turn the other way when you don’t make it to the final ferry.”
Quinn bobbed his head in understanding, absently taking note that they had moved from a dirt road to a worn and weathered stone pathway and were now trailing behind a small tour group that stopped occasionally at a couple of the ruins.
The tour guide paused at what had been a circular stone storeroom or wide well dug deep into the earth. Quinn chuckled as the man kicked his leg out toward the pit giving a cry of “This is Sparta!” as he jokingly reenacted the famous scene from the movie ‘300’.
The tour group soon moved on leaving the three of them to linger at the storeroom. Quinn looked about the ruins trying to picture how the city had once been but couldn't put the pieces together. What had once been a multicultural metropolis had been reduced to stone and dust. Only partial walls and statues remained, though many were so degraded only the illustrated guide posted in front of the roped off site showed what the remaining rock had once been.
The small tour group now stood ahead of them, gazing up at the famous Lions of Delos. From the spacing of the statues’ bases it was obvious that at one point there had been six of the statues, but now only the majority of five stood facing the terrace.
A couple of caretakers sat on a large rock watching the tourists. One blew his whistle at a young girl who attempted to step over the guardrail to get a better picture.
Using the distraction Surina motioned the others to join her standing at the edge of the circular pit.
“Alright, time to go,” the young woman said before vaulting over the edge of the stone barrier and into the storehouse, but Surina didn’t land at the bottom but appeared to fall through the ground and disappear.
“Okay, your turn,” Jared said.
“What? Just jump?” Quinn asked incredulously.
“Yep.”
“Uh, okay,” he replied shakily, but still climbed up to perch on the edge, swinging his legs over, his pack hanging from his shoulder. “So all I have to do is jump?”
“That’s the idea.”
“But what’s below?”
Jared smirked. “You’re about to find out.” With that he gave the boy a light shove and Quinn was suddenly falling down into the pit and into a twilight abyss.
~ Chapter 17 ~
As Quinn fell he clenched his eyes shut, a sense of weightlessness taking him for a moment, but only for a moment as he was jarred by an abrupt stop – the sensation not unlike the sudden shunt of an elevator reaching a lower level.
He opened his eyes and was greeted with a bright and colorful light that filtered in through the stained-glass roof that now lay over his head. He blinked a couple of times, taking in his surroundings, seeing that they were not in the pit of an ancient storehouse but at the center of some sort of gazebo.
He had barely moved; however, he knew that where he now stood was not the same. While the terrain was similar, none of the machinations of modern society were visible; yet what remained in its stead were structures of an ancient world beauty.
The gazebo the three of them now stood in was made of the same carved stone that they had stepped over, but was better maintained, or perhaps had been replaced with nearly identical stones over time.
A stone pathway, cut through light green grasses, and led away from where they stood toward the Lion terrace.
Quinn’s eyes widened as he took in the grand structures of all six lions, pristine and majestic in their beauty. The lions faced a lake across the terrace to the right of the pathway.
He dug into his jeans back pocket and pulled out the small pamphlet he had taken from the entrance into Delos. He unfolded the map, displaying where the wonders of the ancient world had been.
According to the map the lake they looked at was known as the Sacred Lake, yet in the Second Realm all the water had dried up hundreds of years ago, leaving only barren and rocky plains. But what was even more impressive was the structure that sat in the middle of the lake.
The massive temple that seemed to jut out of the water was without a doubt the Temple of Apollo, looking as it had once been in all its glory; immaculate as the day it was built.
Yet Quinn knew on some level that this wasn’t
the original temple as it had been in the Second Realm. First of all, it was in the wrong place and secondly, was obviously larger than it had been in the past.
The young man continued to gape at the majesty of the Temple as Jared and Surina stepped down and out of the gazebo. But before Jared could continue to the terrace Surina stopped him with an arm on his shoulder.
“Surina?” he questioned.
“I want you to take the lead when we get inside,” she said.
Jared pulled back, confused. “What? But you know temple politics better than I do.”
Quinn, hearing their conversation, stepped closer.
“That might be,” Surina continued, “but it would be unwise for two gods to be seen taking their cues from me.”
“I don’t understand,” Quinn said jumping in.
“I might have more knowledge in this situation; but you two still out-rank me. I doubt they’d appreciate someone like me ordering you guys around. Besides, they’ll be more likely to help us if the order comes from one of you.”
“Even though we don’t have any real authority here,” Jared persisted.
Surina gave an unconcerned snort. “You’re a god, what other authority could you possibly need?”
“But we’re not their god.”
“Apollo has been missing for decades, so unless you know where he/she’s been hiding out we have to make do with you. On the bright side, if they don’t listen to you, they will listen to him,” she said gesturing at Quinn.
“Me?” the teen questioned. “Why would they listen to me?”
Surina adjusted her sunglasses as she turned to face him. “Athena has always been a well-respected god, even among the followers of other gods. Athena’s considered the peacemaker of the gods, so to disregard you could be taken as an insult.”