This makes me pause. I can’t believe I’m faced with the River Lethe. “Do the dead living here drink from it?”
I don’t think I could stand seeing the challengers stripped of their memories.
“They know not to. In a thousand years, they will drink from the river and be reincarnated on Earth. In the meantime, they hold on to their memories.”
I gawk at him. “You’re saying reincarnation is real?”
Hades gloats. “You’re not as smart as you pretend to be. You should know by now that everything you’ve been told is a myth—all of it is real.”
I can’t give him this win. “Even fairies?”
Hades glowers at me. “Foolish girl.”
I forget my next reply when I see Madeline sitting on a swinging bench on the porch of one of the cottages. She’s absorbed in her reading so she doesn’t see us approaching.
Peter’s tending poppies in the garden belonging to the adjoining cottage. He runs the back of his hand against his forehead to push away rogue strands of hair but leaves a smudge of dirt instead. His expression is peaceful.
“Madeline,” I whisper, afraid of startling her.
“She won’t hear us,” Hades tells me. “Those who are here have won a serene afterlife, unencumbered by ghosts from their past. They can’t constantly be reminded of the life they’ve lost, or they would spend an eternity wallowing in regrets.”
This is the first time I discern a hint of compassion in the Death God. I don’t like it. It is easier to hate Hades if he’s pure evil.
“So why do the dead contenders live so close together? Don’t they remind each other of their earthly life?”
“They had a choice and decided they wanted the company. Humans are strange things. They crave contact even if it hurts them.”
“They look happy.”
“They get to spend their afterlives doing what they love in an enchanted place. And the poppies help muddle their minds so they don’t linger on regrets.”
Once again, gods interfere with our memories. They can’t begin to understand how humans work and what makes life worth living. I’d rather spend an eternity tormented by my recollections than forget just one detail of my mother’s face or the feel of Kieron’s shoulder beneath my cheek.
As soon as Heracles mentions Jason, a gigantic dragon materializes before the garden’s open gate. I fiddle with my turquoise dress, a tribute to Aphrodite, waiting for the trumpets to sound the beginning of the quest.
“It’s sleeping,” Sara whispers, her voice drowned by the ominous music.
She runs forth, hoping to evade the garden’s sentinel before the stampede awakes it. Amy rushes after her, but Gabriel and I don’t share her ardor. I’m still far away from the garden when the dragon snaps open one gilded eye and sends a blast of flames toward Sara. She falls to the ground with an ear-splitting shriek, her femur showing through melted skin.
Amy miraculously dodges the flames and slips into the garden unnoticed. Considering this quest requires that we steal the precious gems gleaming from the tree branches, I like our odds of winning with the cunning thief inside.
And yet most of the challengers still need a way in.
“Gabriel, can you charm the dragon?” I ask him.
“Maybe if Melody helps out,” he stutters.
“I’ll stay with you in case it doesn’t work. I can heal you if it comes to it.”
Aphrodite’s challengers creep toward the ruby dragon, careful not to startle it.
“We’ll stay behind with you,” Jared joins us with Georgia in tow. “We can douse the flames.”
I can barely look at Gabriel, his glow is so bright. “Pretty dragon, let us through,” he coos, artfully masking the fear in his voice.
The beast blinks dazedly, confused by Gabriel’s magnetism. Jason rushes to Sara’s half-conscious form on the ground and picks her up while the dragon is distracted. The other challengers use the interlude to sneak into the garden.
I follow them toward the gate so I can convey instructions to Amy. “You need to steal six gems,” I yell just as the dragon snaps out of its trance and aims at me.
I try to escape, but I’m too slow moving. The dragon’s fiery breath snags the hem of my dress and it catches fire. Jared lifts his palms and sends a stream of water to extinguish the flames, using my predicament as an occasion to repay his debt to me from when I healed him. I’m grateful he was so quick. Besides the tiniest blister on my thigh, I’m uninjured.
I run to Gabriel and Melody’s sides, still attempting to tame the dragon. I lift my hands, ready to heal them if the monster attacks. Jason had Medea to help him retrieve the Golden Fleece, but, although Aphrodite’s challengers are not all-powerful witches, so far their magic charm works on the dragon, saving them from being charred into a pile of ashes.
I step to the side again to check on Amy’s progress and attract the dragon’s attention. I just have time to see Amy sitting in a tree, pocketing handfuls of sapphires, before he aims its fire at me again.
“Stop taunting it,” Georgia scolds me, blasting the tunnel of fire with a downpour.
Clearly, some sponsors are better than others at teaching their challengers to master their powers. I wish I could say the same of mine. Although my real sponsor is the best looking.
Melody yelps as flame nips her shoulder. Their influence on the dragon is weakening. An inferno boils in its slit pupils as it tries to shake free of their enchantment. I sprint to Melody and apply my cooling powers to her wound. I’ll need more time to heal it completely, but at least she’s not suffering for the time being. Which is more than can be said of Sara.
I sidestep again to spy on Amy. She dangles from the highest branch of her tree, about to plummet to the ground. From this height she’ll break her neck. I wait for another challenger to help her, but they are too selfish to pay her any attention, too absorbed in their own harvesting to care.
“Cover me,” I yell in direction of Poseidon’s challengers.
Jared looks into the garden, at Amy’s outstretched arms, and nods in understanding. I run past the dragon, snapping it out of the charm spell. It opens its mouth and lets out a torrent of flames. I duck just in time, then Jared and Georgia’s combined efforts douse most of the blaze.
A gust of wind smelling of charred grass and sulfur follows me into the garden. Stephanie, the girl who descends from Aeolus, expulses a great gust of wind from her puffed-out cheeks to counter the last flames at my back. I nod to her in thanks.
When I reach Amy’s tree, I can see her white knuckles grappling the branch. When she sees me, she startles and lets go. I have no idea how I can catch her, but at least I can try to absorb the brunt of her fall. Or heal her after she hits the ground if I miss.
I brace myself for the impact that doesn’t come. Falling has unlocked Amy’s powers at last. I look up to see her floating down effortlessly—a grinning feather.
“I can’t wait to show Hermes what I can do!” she exclaims as she lands.
I slam my hand into her shoulder to release some of my fear. “You scared the hell out of me!”
She shrugs. “Good thing you’re familiar with the place then.”
I bare my teeth at her. As a silent apology, she opens her fist, revealing dozens of precious gems.
“Mission accomplished.”
“You’ll have to give the rest back, you know that?”
Amy’s smug smile turns into a full-blown beam. She laughs as she gazes at something behind my back.
“What is Gabe doing?”
I turn around to discover my friend sitting bareback on the formidable dragon, steering it toward the grandstands as if it were nothing more than a gentle horse.
The dragon barely resists Gabriel’s directions, but the divinities in the audience recoil all the same. Thanks to Gabriel’s insane act of courage, our exit from the garden is clear. We jog after him, Amy taking care to distribute gems between Jared, Melody, Georgia and me on our way back so we don’t
get disqualified.
As he reaches the Olympian gods, Gabriel whispers something into the dragon’s ear. The dragon bows reverently, allowing Gabriel to slide down his neck and onto the ground.
Aphrodite beams with pride at her challenger’s exploit.
“He needs his gem,” I remind Amy.
“I’m not going anywhere near that beast.”
I extend my palm so she can drop a tear-sized ruby onto it. It’s befitting that Gabriel would offer up the gem that resembles his pet.
I creep toward him, staying clear of the dragon, and hand him the ruby discreetly so the gods don’t see our exchange. I’ve never seen him look so grand, still shining from his powers.
“You could have been killed,” I murmur. “Why did you take such insane risks?”
“A god likes me, Hope,” he whispers back. “I feel like I can do anything.”
I spot Kieron, hidden to one side of the grandstands. His shadows cloak him from his father’s attention. Even from this distance, I know his eyes only see me, and when he smiles at me, I understand what Gabriel means. If Kieron loved me I could do anything.
Chapter 32
Gabriel’s resplendent smile hasn’t faltered once since he tamed the dragon yesterday. Especially after it was decided he would be honored that night, at a party hosted by Cupid no less.
I stayed for an hour, gorging on my friend’s bliss before slipping out to meet Kieron in the forest. It was only yesterday and still I can’t wait for this quest to end so I can be alone with him again.
“You both look disgustingly radiant,” Amy says as we set off on our fifth quest.
“Stop complaining,” Gabriel says. “Besides, did you know red looks particularly good on you?”
Amy swats his arm. “I’m only not cringing at this stupid outfit because I respect Hephaestus. Red is tacky.”
“It complements your hair to perfection.”
She rolls her eyes. “Where can we find the nymphs?”
“In Perseus’s story, they lived in a grotto,” I say.
“And they like water,” Gabriel adds.
Amy heads toward the banks of the river that winds down the plain. “Let’s follow the river upstream then. Their grotto must be nearby.”
It is nice for once not having to run and hide from cruel monsters, but I can’t help fearing some will sprout up when we stop looking for them. This task appears too easy—find the nymphs and receive their gifts before sundown. I stay vigilant.
The river coils around the west side of the forest, toward a rocky hill. At the base of the hill, the yawning mouth of a grotto opens over the river. The river flows downward from the grotto, so this must be its source. Water lilies float before the entrance like a floral doormat.
“See? I told you they’d get lucky again,” Joan’s voice comes from somewhere behind us.
I crane my neck to watch her emerge from a bush, Clifford in tow.
“Guess that’s what they mean by dumb luck.”
Amy snarls at him. I wondered if he had forgiven me for my stunt during Odysseus’s quest, and now I have my answer. I nearly cost him his place in the competition, an offense he won’t ever get over.
“Hi!” Bob Jr. greets us merrily from the other bank of the river.
I can’t get over his constant good mood. He looks like a bear, but he’s all soft on the inside. The total opposite of Heath, who seems perfectly amicable but has proven more than once that he’s a snake. They make a strange pair, but, whether to please Zeus or because they’ve built some sort of alliance, they always have each other’s backs during the quests.
Joan and Clifford, although they may not have found the naiads’ cavern without us, go in first. Amy curses them since we’re stuck in second place.
“Glad you found us,” a crystalline voice belonging to a stunning naiad welcomes us.
Her sisters rush to her sides, giggling vapidly as they send flirtatious looks at the boys. Gabriel shifts uncomfortably next to me.
“Don’t worry. They won’t eat you.” I wink. “I think…”
“Well, that’s reassuring. Thank you.”
The first naiad, with flowy pink hair and an outrageously transparent nightgown, speaks up first. “You were sent to retrieve a gift from us. Do not fret, we won’t fight you for them.”
None of us were truly worried in the first place. These pretty dolls look harmless, just nauseating with their sugary smiles.
“But we need a service from you first.”
Here comes the trap I expected.
“This is your chance to right an ancient wrong. When Perseus went hunting for Medusa, he stole something of great value. That something is in this box,” she says, picking up a tiny jewelry case from a low table. “We ask of you today that you return this object to their owners, the Graeae.”
I can’t even pronounce the name, let alone know who they are. Amy’s eyes shine with longing as she gazes at the box. You’d think stealing so many of Aphrodite’s gems would have satisfied her for now. Back in our room, her pillow bulges with everything she’s stolen.
“What’s inside the box?” Clifford asks warily.
“Come and see for yourself,” the naiad flips the lid open.
Amy is the first contender rushing to admire the treasure. Whatever she sees makes her recoil into Gabriel’s arms. Clifford barely has time to bend sideways to throw up after he peeks inside.
“Can someone tell me what’s inside?” I squeak, afraid of the contents of the mysterious jewelry case.
Jared and Georgia step inside the cavern as Amy whispers, “An eye. There’s a freaking eyeball inside this box.”
Poseidon’s challengers recoil, as if considering retracing their steps, away from this mess.
Despite being warned, Joan peeks at the awful gift. “Makes sense. Perseus stole the Graeae’s eye so they’d give him the location of the naiads.”
The naiads shake their heads sadly.
Their spokeswoman explains. “We used to be friends. So much so that they were the only ones who were entrusted with the secret location to our home. But they’ve held a grudge since we’ve had their eye. They won’t even let us get near them to give it back.”
“But there’s only one eye here. Where are the other ones?” Heath demands.
Joan sighs at his lack of knowledge. “They share the one eye. There are no others.”
“Where can we find them?” Jared asks.
“They dwell in the forest.”
I know the forest quite well. It is incredibly vast. We need more clues if we want to find them. “Where exactly?”
“Look for the teeth,” the naiad answers with a shrug.
“I’ll go deliver the package,” Heath offers. “There’s no need for all of us to go.”
I’m taken aback by his selfless offer. Knowing him, I expect he’s just trying to get bonus points by stealing our glory.
“You all have to go,” the naiad says. “Our gifts for you are in the Graeae’s possession. They stole something from us in retaliation—our tears, crystallized in Hephaestus’s fire, which have magical powers. Once you’ve appeased the Graeae with the offering, they should hand back the tears.”
“What if they don’t want to?” Amy asks.
“Then you’ll simply have to steal them.” With a wave of her slender hand, the naiad dismisses us.
And here I thought this task would be easy…
We form a procession out of the cave and into the forest. We encounter Marcus, Jessica, Melody and Kara on the way, and they join our expedition party gratefully. The only challenger missing from our group is Stephanie, Apollo’s single remaining champion and Aeolus’s descendant. Her absence makes me uneasy as worst case scenarios run in my brain. I hope she’s just lost and not harmed—or worse—dead.
The clearing is empty—no centaur or Pythia in sight. I steer the contenders away from the oracle’s temple, as if it were my secret to protect.
“This rock kind of looks like a to
oth.” Gabriel points to a tiny pebble on the bed of dried leaves.
“I don’t think that’s what the naiad meant,” I reply. “We need to find their home, I think.”
“Could they live in a tree?” Melody wonders.
“They are blind without their eye, but they aren’t bats,” Amy snaps. “The eyeball is definitely human.”
A thin plume of smoke rises above the trees. “Does that look like a chimney fire to you?” I ask no one in particular.
Heath looks at the sky. “It does. Let’s go.”
We head north, following the plume of smoke. Our hike takes us to another small clearing, barely big enough to contain a thatched cottage. The roof is made of brown and yellow straw. Hanging over the crooked windows and misshapen door, beaded garlands shield the inside from curious eyes.
Heath, Jared and Bob Jr. volunteer to form the exploratory party. Somehow the box Heath abandons finds its way into my hands. I fight a wave of nausea, knowing what’s inside.
“Guess we’ve found the teeth,” Bob Jr. stutters, his index finger quaking as he points to the garlands.
I step forward to get a better look. There must be hundreds of teeth hanging from the strings. As for the roof, it isn’t made of straw but—
“Is that human hair?” Melody gasps, fumbling to tie her honey blond locks into a bun protectively.
Her exclamation has alerted the tenants of the cottage. The teeth garlands in front of the door sway as an old crone, with two gaping holes where her eyes should be, swings the door open. She tiptoes out of the cottage, her gnarled hands stretched before her to serve as feeling antennas, soon followed by two identical nightmarish witches.
“Who goes there?” she mumbles, baring toothless gums.
The sister to her right grins. “I smell humans.”
“Come forth so we can embrace you, dear children,” the third one says.
The offer is sickening. As one, we all retreat slightly toward the forest. Then I remember the peace offering I carry.
“We were sent to return something of value to you,” I stammer.
“Your hair?”
Olympian Challenger Page 22