We jumped out of the portal and we fell into what my grandma and grandpa called “the red room”.
“Ow…” Groaned Slithers.
I gently fell on the ground, followed by Cuddles and Tori.
“K!!!” Yelled a familiar voice. “Did you drink a potion?!”
“Yeah!” I called back, ignoring the silent-mouthed warnings my friends were giving me.
“Why?!” The voice called.
“Because we need to hide!” I called.
“COME DOWN HERE!” The voice yelled.
“Okay!” I called.
“We are so dead because of you!” Spatted Cuddles.
“Don’t worry, that’s my grandma.” I calmly spoke.
“By the gods K, please tell me that is true.” Slithers grasped his hands around my shoulders and shook me.
“Ahem, you would always believe her, you are just trying to find an excuse to” Cuddles began but there was thumping.
“Come on, let’s go meet my grandma,” I said and I walked downstairs, Slithers still grasping my shoulders. Cuddles and Tori trailed behind us.
“Hi, what are you doing here?!” My grandma asked in a calm tone “And who are these people?”
“They’re my friends.” I introduced them.
“Uh-huh, the gentleman that is grasping one of your shoulders tightly is a friend.” Grandma raised an eyebrow. “And why are you and your friends needing to hide?”
“Because we are going to destroy some monsters.” Cuddles barged in.
“CUDDLES!!!” I growled.
“What?” Cuddles asked.
“Oh, dear.” My grandma heaved a big sigh. “Follow me, I… have something to show you.”
We followed her into her bedroom, which was full of figurines, old family heirlooms, and other old antique stuff.
“What are you wanting to show us?” I asked.
“A hidden secret room, full of different ancient Greek hero relics.” My grandma said. Then she turned a knob twice on the door we went through, suddenly the floor began to shake and a golden door appeared on one of the sides of the wall.
“Follow me,” My grandma opened the golden door and slipped through. We scurried behind her.
When we looked inside, we were speechless. Inside was a room full of gold, armor, potions, cauldrons, shelves with skulls and bones and books, crystals floating, and in the middle of the room, a glowing silver orb.
“Welcome to my study room.” My grandma spread her arms wide in a gesture for us to look around.
A study room?! It looked like it was an amazing place!!! There were too many words to describe what it looked like!
I looked around and noticed floating pixies and fairies.
“Whoa…” My mouth gaped open.
“How long can we stay here?” Tori seemed nervous, and couldn't stop bouncing her legs.
“As long as you need to.” My grandma smiled.
“Okay…” Tori trailed off as if something was wrong.
“Follow me.” She walked over to a shelf.
As we followed her, I noticed some snakes slithering across the floor, familiar snakes that sent shivers down my spine. Suddenly, I got that sickening feeling when Medusa’s presence was near.
“Guys, I think we should go.” I bit my lip.
“I agree,” Slithers admitted. “I can sense my mom’s presence.”
“Me too.” Cuddles chimed in fearfully.
“Guys, we should go.” Tori’s pupils were dilated from fear.
“Let’s go…” I trailed off when we heard the door slam shut behind us.
My grandma stopped, “Kids, we do need to get out of here.”
“Yes, you do.” Cackled a familiar cold blood hearted voice.
I turned around and saw Medusa.
“What are you doing here?” Slithers narrowed his eyes.
“Who are you?” Medusa asked.
Slithers froze.
“These are some of my workers.” My grandma burst into the conversation.
Thank the gods… I thought.
“Okay, that issss good.” Medusa smiled. “Just make sure they are fed the food.”
“Okay.” My grandma whimpered as Medusa walked away.
After Medusa was gone my grandma said, “You guys have to get out of here before she comes back!”
“What about you?” I asked.
“Don’t worry, I’ll fend her off.” My grandma forced out a melancholy smile.
“Grandma goes god mode.” Tori jokes.
“Famous last words Tori.” I hissed.
I didn’t care to know how Medusa was still alive and what she was doing right now, I’ll I cared about was getting out of there right this second.
“Fine.” Tori rolled her eyes.
“I’ll open a portal.” I began to get a blade out but Slithers grabbed my arm.
“Don’t! My mother can smell magic anywhere. We cannot risk her knowing our identities!” He warned.
I let go of the blade and zipped my backpack right back up.
“We’ll have to go a different way.” I heaved a sigh.
“How about, my magic?” Grandma suggested.
“That will work, probably but only if we play it right,” Cuddles murmured.
“Okay. Let’s see…” My grandma floated in the air and muttered an incantation over and over again in Greek. Her eyes glowed and suddenly, everything below us disappeared and we fell. I looked up and the hole began to seal, I could not see my grandma anymore.
“YOUR GRANDMA IS INSANE!!!” Tori screamed.
“Hey, don’t blame me, it runs in our blood,” I growled.
Tori rolled her eyes.
Suddenly I felt a sharp pain kneading at my back, everything in my vision began to go dark.
“Wake up!” A faint voice called in my ear.
“You gotta wake up!” The faint voice croaked in my ear.
My vision began to clear, I was still in midair but at least I was safe.
“What happened?” I asked, my head and body still exhausted, especially my spine.
“Well, you grew wings. That is something that happened.” Cuddles looked at me behind my back. I looked where she was looking and then I saw it, huge golden wings!
“Nike must have given her the wings,” Tori murmured.
“Why would Nike give me wings?” I asked.
“We must have won!” Slithers jumped triumphantly through the air. “It’s a sign!!!”
I frowned, something was just wrong, something I felt like I couldn’t remember.
Suddenly my mind clicked, waves of emotions and memories flooding over me.
“This is where you learn.” Murmured the voice.
I did learn that day, I learned about who Halo was… she was my protector, and Jaccob was my childhood friend. Then I learned who the mysterious voice was, it was Nike! And I learned that Nike had favored me a bit because I served her one time when I was little, maybe 4 or 5. Everything became all mended again and clear. Then I remembered something, something dark and bad, my Aunt Athena was still sick and it was not good… and something else, Medusa was still alive and well!
“Are you okay?” Tori asked.
I snapped out of my daze, “Yep!” Then I stood straight in the air. “We must find a cure for Athena’s sickness!”
“But…” Cuddles began. “When a goddess or god gets sick… they get really sick, and most of the time, you always have to find stuff that is rare!”
“But we gotta try!” I protest.
“I agree.” Slithers had hope in his eyes which made me stare at them like I was in some sort of trance.
“Hello?” Tori waved her hand in front of me.
I shook out of my trance.
“Were you-” Cuddles began.
“NO, I DID NOT!” Slithers grunted in protest.
“Slithers, what did you do?” Tori asked, bringing a spoon up and shaking it as if it were a weapon.
“I know what he was doing, he was trying to make her kiss him!” Cuddles growled.
“NO, I WAS NOT!” Slithers protested.
Then the Medusa twins started a big fight.
“How long do you think we are gonna be down here?” Tori questioned.
“I don’t know but all I know is that Medusa is alive and my Aunt Athena is sick.” I frowned.
Cuddles turned around and stared at me sympathetically. “We gotta fix this.”
Everyone murmured in agreement this was the only thing Cuddles and Slithers could agree on.
“Tori, you are the cousin of Apollo. Is there any cure for Athena’s sickness?” I stared at her in hope.
“I don’t know what she is sick from, no one wouldn’t tell me.” Tori gritted her teeth in anger.
“Well, there has to be a cure!” I looked around. “There has to be.”
“K, I don’t know if….” Slithers began until BOOM!!!
We crashed on some earthy ground, black-colored earthy ground.
“Ow…” I groaned, trying to get up from the impact.
“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ABOUT?!” Tori burst right up, clearly not hurt from the impact.
“Well someone was not able to fly.” Cuddles groaned as she got up.
“Hey, it is not her fault, she just barely got her wings!” Slithers got up angrily.
“Guys,” I wobbled up. “Stop!”
“Why?” Tori giggled.
“TORI, STOP!!!” Everyone yelled in unison.
“Guys,” I hobbled on the ground, “we gotta find Medusa and destroy her, then we gotta help heal Athena!”
“We can’t just heal Athena without knowing! It is just common sense!” Tori protested.
“I think I can call my dad,” I explained and whipped out my phone. I pressed the button and tried to press it again when it didn’t turn on. I groaned when the” empty battery, need to charge screen” popped up.
“What?” Everyone asked in unison.
“My phone is dead!” I growled.
Tori sighed, “Well, there is no way we can get it charged without electricity.”
“What are you guys doing here young travelers, or should I say young gods and monsters?” A voice spoke.
We turned around and saw an old woman in a dark cloak, wrinkles marked over her face and harsh cold green eyes that made her look like she lived for a thousand years.
“How do you know who we are?” I asked. Then I looked at Slithers and Cuddles. “They are not monsters, they are friends.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Really? Are you sure about that one,” She pointed at Cuddles. “wouldn’t follow in her mother’s footsteps?”
“Don’t you dare accuse my sister!” Slithers eyes glowed an angry green at the woman.
“I am saying she could be glorious to lead an army of monsters.” The women hissed.
Cuddles looked at the ground nervously, full of guilt.
“Come on Cuddles, you signed the contract.” The woman showed a scroll.
“Cuddles…” Slithers had his face a mix full of concern, sadness, and anger. “Did you…”
“Yes…” Cuddles shuffled her feet, refusing to meet his eyes.
What did she do?!
I blinked hard at the woman, she was no longer a woman, she was a giant spider. The spider’s eyes were showing no intention to attack.
“I’m… sorry…” Cuddles walked over to the spider’s side. “Bye…”
Then they began to disappear into the air.
“No…” Slithers eyes were now flooding with tears. “Not again…”
“Slithers… you okay?” I asked.
“I just need some space…” He murmured.
“Come on,” I grabbed Tori’s wrist and we walked at least twenty feet away, still having Slithers in our sight so we wouldn’t lose him.
“Tori, I have an idea to charge my phone, and I might sound insane,” I whispered. “You cannot laugh, I know this sounds silly, but I will turn my staff into a metal pole and…”
“Yeah, we're gonna do this.” Tori immediately got my staff from my bag.
“Nun.” I grabbed the staff and formed it into a metal pole.
“Now all we need is-” Suddenly there came the thunder. “There it is.”
“Tori, can you grab me?” I asked.
“Fine.” Tori crouched down and I stood on her.
I raised my pole as high as I could.
“What are you guys DOING?!” Screamed a voice.
I looked down and saw Slithers, his eyes red from crying. Before I could answer, the thunder came, BOOM!!
It was official, Tori and I were being electrocuted just to charge my phone.
“AHHHHH!!!” I screamed in pain and shock.
“THIS WAS A MISTAKE!!!” Screamed Tori, shaking from the thunder.
Suddenly the thunder stopped and Tori and I collapsed to the ground.
“Oof!” Tori and I groaned.
“Are you guys okay?” A blurry Slithers appeared.
“Get us some ambrosia, it is in my messenger purse.” Tori whimpered.
There were some zipping sounds and ruffling.
I strained my eyes to look around and I saw Slithers walking toward me.
“Here.” He put some ambrosia gently in my mouth.
I chewed it slowly, thinking it might harm my mouth, but it tasted like delicious brownies and cookies.
I instantly felt better.
I stood up and wobbled a bit, then I saw Slithers shoving the ambrosia in Tori’s mouth.
“WHY DID YOU ALLOW HER TO DO THAT?!” He yelled.
Tori stood up, “Because it worked.” She pointed at my phone, which was charged all the way up, “See!”
“Yeah, but you guys could have died!”
“Gods and goddesses can’t die,” Tori growled.
“But Ks and Toris can!” Slithers argued back.
“Guy!” I spoke calmly. “Stop fighting! Yes, I know we could have died but at least we can call the gods now.”
Slithers sighed, “You are right but you guys still could have died.”
I looked down at my shoes, then looked back at him. “You are right, we could have died.”
“Thank you!” He said, his tense shoulders relaxed a little. “Now we have to help heal Athena.”
I nodded and then called my dad.
“What’s going on K?” My dad’s voice echoed from the phone.
“Dad, what is Athena sick with?” I asked in all seriousness.
My dad let out a long sigh and then paused for a moment before continuing the conversation. “She is sick with the unknown.”
I was confused, “What are you talking about?!”
“It is a sickness that is difficult to cure.”
“How can we cure it?” I asked, shaking off what my dad said.
“Well, the only known cure that can be found is…” My father trailed off then continued, “The blood of the golden tree.”
Tori and Slithers must have overheard because they immediately gasped.
I ignored them and asked, “How can we find this cure?”
“You will have to go to an island, it is near Hawaii, full of monsters and man-eating chickens, but the tree’s blood is worth it.” My father explained.
I nodded, “Thanks, dad. Bye!” Then I hung up.
“We can’t go there!” Slithers blurted out. “It is full of so many horrific monsters and soldiers!”
“But we have to!” I bit my tongue.
Slithers thought for a moment, “I know we have to, and we can… but we have to be careful.”
Tori and I nodded in agreement.
“So, what’s the plan?!” I tilted my head.
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