Pegasus and the Origins of Olympus (3 page)

Emily always felt better when it was just her and Pegasus. But this time, soaring high with the magnificent stallion wasn’t helping. She felt so lost. Like no one in Olympus would understand how she felt – and then she remembered.

She leaned forward on the soaring stallion. ‘Pegs, can we please go and see Alexis and Agent T?’

Pegasus whinnied once and changed direction. Before long they were passing over a different kind of landscape. It was not as green and blooming as the surroundings of Jupiter’s palace. Instead there were fewer trees in an area of smooth golden earth. The terrain turned rocky with high sharp mountain ranges. A few buildings dotted the area, but it was basically isolated. Up ahead, Emily saw a tall, lush, willow tree standing alone and looking strangely out of place in the desert-like area.

It had been a long time since Emily had visited the ex-CRU agent. After Jupiter saved his life and turned him into a beautiful willow tree, he was planted in Olympus and lived with Alexis, the Sphinx.

They had built a large platform in the branches of the tree for Alexis to live on. Now Alexis rarely left it and hadn’t been seen in Jupiter’s palace in ages.

The moment they touched down and approached the willow, the slender branches started to quiver and wave.

‘Emily, Pegasus, hello! What a lovely surprise.’

Agent T’s voice was light and leafy, but it was there. In the beginning, it had disturbed Emily that he had been turned into a talking tree, when he didn’t even have a mouth. But somehow, in Olympus, everything was possible.

Emily slid off the stallion’s back and approached the tree trunk. She gave it a greeting pat. ‘Hi Agent T.’

The leaves seemed to laugh. ‘Emily, I am not Agent T any more, as I am no longer a CRU agent. I’m not even human. Surely by now you can call me Tom.’

‘She will never learn,’ called Alexis from her platform high up in the thicker branches. ‘But as you are here, you might just as well come up.’

Emily stroked Pegasus’s neck. ‘I’ll be back in a bit, Pegs.’

She climbed up the rope ladder and crawled on to the sturdy platform. The Sphinx’s lion legs were curled underneath her human upper body as she lounged on a soft silken pillow pressed up against the tree’s side. Her eagle wings were folded neatly across her back.

‘What brings the Flame of Olympus to our home?’ Alexis asked. ‘You are not planning another adventure to Earth, are you? Because if you are, I will not be joining you.’

‘Alexis, please,’ Tom said. ‘Let her speak.’

Emily was stunned at the change in the ex-CRU agent. Since arriving in Olympus, his cold exterior had melted in to a warm and friendly personality. Emily could now see what had attracted Alexis to him. The Sphinx was completely devoted. Nothing could draw her down from his strong branches save an order from Jupiter or Juno.

‘Actually, I came to speak with Agent … I mean, Tom.’ Emily said awkwardly.

‘If you must,’ Alexis sighed. ‘Take a seat.’

Emily had wanted to speak with Tom alone, but Alexis wouldn’t budge. The Sphinx was as stubborn and single-minded as she always had been. Emily sat on the platform. She crossed her legs and stared down at her laced fingers.

‘What’s wrong?’ Tom asked. ‘I don’t need human eyes to see that something is bothering you.’

Emily inhaled deeply. She looked at the smooth bark of the strange willow tree. ‘Tom, are you happy?’

‘Me?’ he laughed. ‘You came all this way to ask if I am happy?’

‘Are you?’

The tree turned serious. ‘Yes, I am. I can honestly say I am the happiest I’ve ever been.’ Tom paused. ‘Back when you first entered my life, I cursed you, Pegasus and all the Olympians. I hadn’t been content with anything around me, but at least I thought I had a place where I belonged. But after everything we went through together, you showed me how much I was missing. Now, even though I may not be the man I once was, I couldn’t be more content.’

‘Even though you aren’t human any more?’

‘Yes, even though I’m not human. Although …’ he paused.

‘What?’ Emily asked.

‘Well, if I could ask for just one more thing, it would be to have real arms so that I might hold Alexis again.’

‘Oh, Tom,’ Alexis mewed softly. She rose from her cushion and brushed up against the bark of the tree like a cat does to its owner’s legs.

Emily was stunned by the soft, loving expression on Alexis’s face. The deadly Sphinx had totally lost her heart to the ex-CRU agent.

‘But apart from that,’ he continued, ‘I am very happy. Why do you ask?’

Emily looked down at her hands. They were starting to tremble. Unable to lift her head, she whispered, ‘I don’t know who or what I am any more.’

Alexis tilted her head to the side. Her piercing green eyes bore into Emily. She sat down beside her and put a large paw over Emily’s hands. ‘What is wrong? What troubles you so?’

Emily fought back her emotions. ‘Back in the beginning, when I first entered the Temple of the Flame and changed …’

‘You sacrificed yourself for us. Because of that, you saved Olympus and we will always be grateful to you.’

Emily nodded but wouldn’t look up. ‘It was hard to get used to the changes in me, but everyone here was so kind and made me feel like I was one of you.’

‘You are one of us,’ Alexis said.

Emily looked into the Sphinx’s beautiful face. ‘No, I’m not.’

‘What do you mean?’ Tom asked.

‘Jupiter said not to tell anyone yet. At least not until we are certain. But if I don’t talk to someone soon, I’m going to go crazy.’

‘You can trust us,’ Alexis said. ‘Tell us what is wrong.’

Emily looked from Alexis to the trunk of the tree and started to speak. She told them of the recurring dream and ended with the revelations of the morning where she could read the language of the ancients.

‘That was actually Xanadu you sent me to!’ Alexis said breathlessly. ‘And you are Xan?’

Emily sniffed and nodded. ‘That’s what Jupiter says.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Tom said. ‘What’s so special about Xanadu? We had that name on Earth too. It was an ancient city in China and I think it was even a 1980s roller-skating movie.’

‘You knew of it because of us,’ Alexis explained. ‘We often spoke of Xanadu when we visited your world. But it is so much more than an ancient Earth city.’ Alexis explained to Tom what she knew of the Xan and then looked at Emily in complete awe.

‘See!’ Emily said. ‘That’s what’s driving me crazy.’

‘What is?’ Tom asked, shaking his leaves. ‘I couldn’t see what happened.’

‘Suddenly everything’s changed.’ Emily stood up and walked over to the trunk of the tree and leaned her forehead against it. ‘Jupiter bowed before me this morning. So did his brothers and even Pegs.’ Emily looked back at the Sphinx. ‘And now even you are looking at me differently. I don’t want that. I want to be one of you. Not treated like I’m some kind of ancient queen. I’m the same person I was yesterday. But now everyone who knows is treating me differently. It was hard enough when everyone called me the Flame of Olympus. But at least then, I was part of you. But if I’m really Xan, what am I part of? Who am I?’

‘You are Emily,’ Tom said.

‘But I’m not even alive,’ Emily moaned.

‘What do you mean?’ Alexis said. ‘Of course you are alive.’

Emily shook her head. ‘That’s not what the CRU scientists told me.’

The tree sighed heavily and its leaves drooped. ‘Ah yes, the CRU, of course. I might have known they would still be causing you grief. What lies did they tell you?’

‘It’s not lies. It’s the truth. When I was at their laboratory in Area 51, they ran tests on me. They said I don’t even exist! I have no cells and no physical matter. I’m not alive, I’m not dead. I’m nothing but contained energy that imagines itself alive.’

‘Ridiculous!’ Alexis spat.

‘I understand now why you came to me,’ Tom said gently. ‘You asked if I’m happy. You meant, am I happy now that I am no longer human but a tree. My answer is still the same. Yes I am. I have changed in ways I could never imagine. We both have. But despite all the changes, in essence we are still who we were before. Perhaps we’re even better than before. I was never a kind man and never cared for anyone. Now I know what it is to love and to be loved. What we are physically is only one small part of who we are. And, Emily Jacobs, whether you are a human, the Flame of Olympus or Xan, you are still you. I doubt anything could ever change that.’

‘But if people find out I’m from Xanadu, they’ll treat me differently.’

‘First off,’ Tom said seriously, ‘you are not from Xanadu. Perhaps your powers are. But you are still a girl from New York City. You were born there and went to school there. And secondly, if people discover that you are part Xan and treat you differently, just show them that you are still Emily. They will soon learn. Look how you felt when you first saw me as a tree. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you looked at me. But eventually you got over that and now I am just Tom to you. Or at least, Agent T. You are what you believe you are, Emily. You have family and friends who love you. What more could you want?’

Emily threw her arms around the trunk of the tree and pressed her face to the bark. ‘Thank you, Tom,’ she said gratefully. ‘I knew you’d understand.’

The leaves around her quivered. ‘I do, Emily. And I am always here if you need to talk.’ Suddenly the tree burst out laughing. ‘Besides, it’s not like I’ve got anywhere to run to!’

Stella Giannakou packed her travel bag, muttering to herself and complaining because she couldn’t stay in Athens while her parents went to the new find at Cape Sounio. She was almost sixteen and could take care of herself. She didn’t need anyone to stay with her while her parents were away. But they wouldn’t listen. So she was once again forced to go with them on yet another dig.

Her parents were the archaeologists, not her. So why did they insist on dragging her away with them? Stella had spent most of her life travelling all around Greece while her parents moved from one ancient site to another, trying to unravel the past.

To Stella, history was boring. The only thing that interested her about the past was the myths. But despite being Greek and living in the land of the ancient stories, her parents didn’t believe in them. All they cared about was digging in dirt and finding pieces of broken pottery.

‘Stella, please hurry. We’re ready to go!’ her mother called from downstairs.

‘Then go,’ she mumbled to herself. ‘Leave me here. I don’t want to see some stupid old broken pots anyway. It’s my holiday too, you know.’

‘You heard your mother,’ her father shouted, anger rising in his voice. ‘Finish packing and get down here. We leave in five minutes.’

Stella threw the last of her clothes in the bag. She looked at the stack of engineering books on her bedside table and then over to the project she was building. She was trying to design a new kind of wheelchair that would make life easier for those who needed them, like herself.

She had planned to spend her spring break working on the project. Now all she could look forward to was watching her parents digging in the dirt and pretending to be excited when they found a chip of pottery or the toe from some broken old statue.

Seated in the back of the car and surrounded by her parents’ tools and camping supplies, Stella looked out of the window at the grey water of the Aegean Sea. They were leaving Athens and heading along the coast to Cape Sounio.

Being February, Greece was in the middle of winter. It wasn’t overly cold, but it was dull and grey. The sky above was filled with scuttling clouds that promised a long day of rain.

‘Why do we have to stay there?’ Stella complained. ‘It’s not that far. We could drive home at night. It would be so much easier for me.’

Her mother turned from the front. The expression on her face showed that she was growing tired of the argument. ‘I told you before, Stella, we will be working long hours. Your father will be too tired to drive all the way back to Athens each night.’ She sat forward in her seat. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you. You used to love coming on digs and camping on site.’

‘That was when I was a kid. Before the accident, when I could get around on my own without help,’ Stella spat. ‘This is your dream, not mine. I don’t want to be an archaeologist.’

‘Well, what do you want to be?’ her mother demanded.

‘An engineer,’ Stella fired back. ‘I want to design new things to make people’s lives easier, not spend my time digging in the dirt and finding old junk. It’s boring!’

A heavy silence filled the car as it drove steadily towards the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounio. It was only yesterday they’d received the phone call saying part of the rock face at the temple had collapsed down into the sea and some items had been revealed. That one phone call had ruined Stella’s school holidays.

Rain started to fall as the car made its way along the narrow winding roads of Cape Sounio. Finally her father turned along the path that led up a tall hill and drove towards the temple’s parking area. The site was now closed due to the find and red-and-white tape covered the entrance area. A warning sign was posted in the parking lot which said the ground around the temple was now unstable and that the ancient site would be closed until further notice.

‘Let’s get up there and see what’s happening before we unload,’ her father suggested as he opened the door.

Stella could see the growing excitement in his sparkling dark eyes. He may have had greying hair and beard, but suddenly, her father looked very young. He always did when there was something new to discover.

Saying nothing, Stella lagged behind her parents as they made their way to the top of the hill that overlooked the sea. It was at the very top that they would find the Temple of Poseidon. Stella had been a young girl the first time she’d been here and had marvelled at the stories surrounding it. The Athenian hero, Theseus, had left to go to Crete to fight the Minotaur in the Labyrinth of King Minos. And when his father, King Aegeus, had thought his son had died, he came to the temple and threw himself into the sea far below. That was why the sea was now called the Aegean.