Prophecy of the Most Beautiful (34 page)

"Who's there?" Hermes asked in an oily voice that made her feel like this was a deity that was always up to no good. He pushed up his glasses with his index finger. He leaned in closer to the screen and Chloe smiled because she could see right up his nose.

"It's me, father. Lenka." He rolled his eyes.

Hermes finally recognized his son and smiled as he stepped back from the screen. "Ah, Lenka, my boy, and Pythia and the Sun Prince, as well! What's up, kids? You're looking pretty sallow there, son, so I would say probably a whole lot."

"I'd say," Swindle replied, "I had a little run in with the Scorpion. Almost died."

Hermes raised a brow. "The Scorpion, eh? Interesting..." He trailed off into thought. Chloe found it strange that Hermes wasn't more concerned with the fact that his son had almost kicked the bucket. It was like he didn't care, and though it surprised her, it didn't seem to surprise Swindle.

"
Hey! Don't eat that, Bonkers! That's the invoice I've been looking for
!" Hermes was looking down and shouting at something and Swindle's brush with death was forgotten. He cursed in Greek and jerked forward. Chloe was sure he had kicked whatever it was because she heard a loud, pain-filled squawk right afterwards, along with a flutter of long, white feathers shoot up into the screen's view.

"Darn cranes," Hermes muttered, "Why did the Fates stick
me
with the cranes? Why couldn't Hephaestus have gotten the stupid cranes? Or Ares!" Hermes looked pleased with that thought and said happily, "How pissed off
he
would've been! However, he
did
get the smelly boar, which as you know, fits him quite properly." Hermes was clearly satisfied with that synopsis.

He ducked out of sight for a second and came back up holding a crumpled scroll which he smoothed out with a wave of his hand. "Good as new!" He said, "Let me get this out of here before Bonkers tries to have it for lunch again." Hermes waved his hand and a gold pole that had two golden wings attached at the top and two gold snakes intertwined around it, appeared beside Hermes. He slid the scroll into the space between the snakes and the pole and then it disappeared.

"What's that thing?" She whispered to Swindle.

"It's a
Caduceus
," Swindle answered, "A herald's staff in simpler terms––a symbol of Hermes. My father uses it to send messages." She nodded understandingly.

Hermes brushed his hands together. "Now that that's finished, what can I do for you, son?" Chloe heard another squawk and Hermes looked down and gave Bonkers the evil eye.

"Well," Swindle started, when he had his father's attention again, "My friends and I need to––"

"Is that a new watch, my boy?" Hermes interrupted, leaning forward to peer over the screen at Swindle's arm that was resting on his lap.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah it is," Swindle responded. "But it stopped working. Water damage."

Chloe let out a little squawk as the screen flickered and Hermes' hand reached through it. He snatched up Swindle's arm so he could examine the watch further. Strafford looked as calm as he ever was and Swindle looked at her as if to say "See? Our computers are
way
cooler!"

"I like, I like," Hermes said, the screen flickering as he pulled his arm back through it. He nodded approvingly. "How much did such a nice time piece cost you, son?" He eyed Swindle questioningly.

"It didn't cost me anything. I stole it.”

To her surprise, Hermes didn't scold his son, but grinned and said, "Nice, my boy, real nice. You make this old god of Thieves proud. Pay for nothing! Pilfer everything! That's my philosophy!" He winked and gave his son the thumbs up.

Chloe raised surprised eyebrows and looked at Strafford who gave her a "Yes, Swindle is a thief" look. She shook her head, floored by the revelation. Swindle had seemed like such a straight-laced guy, but now that she knew he wasn’t, hell, she liked him even more.

"I will trade you the watch for food for my friends and I, father," Swindle said, "As an offering. We're starving."

Hermes' eyes lit up. "Done." He held his hand out for the watch and Swindle gave it to him, but she knew he hated that he had to. Hermes kissed his prize and slipped it onto his wrist.

It immediately started ticking again. "Food is on the way. Now, what were you saying before, son?"

"Yes," Swindle began again, eyeing his lost watch, "Chloe needs to send a message to Lord Apollo."

"Do you now?"

"Yes,” She said, “and it's an emergency."

She heard papers rustling from inside the screen. Hermes grunted and jerked forward. She heard a squawk. Bonkers had been kicked again. "Emergency, emergency," Hermes said, leaning against the screen as though he hadn't just assaulted his feathered friend, "It's
always
an emergency. Everyone thinks their mail is more important than the next person's."

"It's important, father," Swindle said again.

"Yes, yes, I heard you. It's an emergency. Life or death as well, I presume?"

Chloe nodded. "Yes. It is."

A flurry of scrolls fluttered down from the top of the screen. Hermes groaned and batted a few of them away with his hand. "More messages, more letters. My work is never done…Very well then."

The screen shifted up and a blank space with a blinking winged shoe as the cursor appeared beneath it. "Write your message. Quickly now. I have many more messages to deliver before day's end." Hermes ducked out of sight and scrolls began to fly up into the screen again. One flew through the screen and Hermes reached out and snatched it back. "Sorry!" He called up to them.

"So," Swindle said to Chloe, "what are you going to say?"

Chloe was looking for a keyboard. "How am I supposed to type?"

"You don't. Just say whatever you want. It'll write for you."

"Oh…okay." Chloe looked back and forth between Strafford and Swindle, realizing she didn't know where to begin. "What should I say first?" She asked. What kind of plea did you write to a
god
?

"Something convincing, for sure." Swindle replied with a nod. "Try complimenting him. Gods love flattery." Chloe started biting her nails.

Strafford grabbed her hand and pulled her fingers away from her mouth. "Stop tha'," He said, "Jus' write wha'ever comes to your mind. Tell him wha'ever you feel will convince him to help. You've got him under your thumb right now. Use it to your advantage." Strafford paused, then dropped her hand and looked away. She wondered why, but thought it was all better left alone for now. Instead, she concentrated on the letter. She stared at the screen for a long time, and then out of nowhere her lips took on the task all on their own.

"
Dear Apollo…"
Greek letters appeared on the screen.

"It's the default language," said Swindle. "Gods prefer ancient Greek over any other language, but you can always change it depending on who the message is for." Chloe nodded and continued.

"
It's Chloe. I hope you're doing okay. That's silly, of course you are. You are the great god of the Sun! I'm writing because I need to ask you something. I would like permission to deliver a prophecy that is outside of what I'm allowed to do according to the Oracle's Dictum. It's really important and I wouldn't ask if it wasn't.
" She paused, not sure of what else to say that would convince Apollo to help them.

“
We're in a lot of danger,”
she tried.
“We all might die if I can't come through for us. I can't let that happen. So please say it's okay. Thanks. Chloe.”

"How's that?" She asked Strafford. He had been watching the screen as she spoke.

"Good enough, I guess," He said with an almost smile, "Has enough appeal tha' it jus' might work." Chloe smiled at him, pleased that Strafford could acknowledge that she had done something right.

Hermes popped back into the screen. The Caduceus appeared beside him and he stuffed a bunch of scrolls into it, then it disappeared again. "Did you hit the "Fly Me" button?" Chloe shook her head. "Well, what are you waiting for? Do it! Quickly now! I'm very behind in my deliveries."

Chloe quickly located the red 'Fly Me" button on the bottom of the screen and tapped it. The letter lifted itself from the monitor and vanished into thin air above her head. Hermes' screen expanded again. A single scroll dropped down and bounced off of his head. Hermes caught it before it could fall to the floor and quickly unrolled it. His eyes grazed over the letter, he grunted and then rolled it back up. "Doesn't seem like an emergency to me," He mumbled. His Caduceus reappeared and he shoved the scroll into it. The Caduceus then vanished. "Done!" He said, as more scrolls dropped from above him and he groaned loudly.

"Thanks, father," Swindle said, "We really appreciate you helping us out."

"Anything for you, son," Hermes said as he stuffed more scrolls into his Caduceus. "And of course for our Oracle, Pythia." He smiled, but a frown quickly replaced it. "Bonkers! Scrolls are
not
bird food!"

Swindle rolled his eyes. "We should go before the mountain Griffins get a whiff of our scent, father. And like I said, thanks."

"Oh, you're welcome, son," Hermes said and they started to get up. Then he knocked on the screen to get their attention. "And remember one very important thing––The time is now, or not at all.” He didn’t wait for them to comprehend this, just saluted and the screen disappeared.

"Your dad is pretty cool, Swindle," She whispered.

"See? I told the others he wouldn't hurt you." He pressed a button and the monitor folded back in on itself. He looped the chain back around his neck and tucked the locket into his shirt.

She frowned. "Why would they think that?"

"Here, eat this." Strafford handed her a huge slice of pizza on a plate from a basket Dropper had just found on the cliff's edge. He and Ace were already chowing down on their slices and washing it down with nectar soda. "We're not stayin' here long. You need to get your nourishment up."

She took the pizza, but turned back to Swindle to hear his answer. "Eat up, Chloe," He said, now avoiding the subject all together, "and be thankful that my dad helped us out and Strafford didn't take on the cooking. It means you don't have to worry about food poisoning." He grinned at Strafford's rude gesture and scampered off to eat with the others.

"You suck," She said to Strafford before taking a bite of her piping hot pizza. It was pepperoni. Her favorite. She chewed nice and slow, savoring the taste. "I'm in heaven," She crooned, taking another bite, forgetting about anything else that had been on her mind, "Sweet, blissful heaven. Literally." A few more bites and she would be ready for slice number two, maybe three. She took a swig of soda.

Dropper's laughter burst out into the cave. He, Ace and Swindle were throwing their leftover crusts over the edge of the cliff trying to hit something, such child's play.

"I swear there's something wrong with tha' fella," Strafford said, "Fallen star or not, no man's eyes should twinkle tha' much."

"Aw, give the guy a break," She countered, "A really big dog just tried to use his leg as a chew toy. Besides, I think he's charming."

He raised an eyebrow. "Charmin', wan?" His feral eyes hinted that she should be careful how she answered that.

She didn't back down. "Yes. He's polite and sweet and hasn't caused us any trouble so far."

His nostrils flared. "You're right. The hellhounds and Scorpion were no trouble at all. And the Graces…definitely not his fault."

She crossed her arms. "You're just too busy being a bad ass all the time to notice any of his good qualities."

He grinned. “You think I’m a bad ass?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible.”

Swindle dropped down in front of them. "Had a thought," he said, "If Lord Apollo gives his permission for the Kismet, what's the Dropper going to give him as a tribute?"

Strafford cursed. "I had forgotten abou' tha'."

She frowned, confused. "Tribute?"

"Yeah," Swindle said, "Kismet isn't free. You have to give up something, something valuable to you that has a special meaning for the privilege. It's an offering to Lord Apollo as the god of the Prophecy, and trust me, he'll know its' value. You can't fool him by offering something meaningless and pretending it isn't."

Her heart sank. "Dropper doesn't have anything. That's Ace's shirt and Chiron gave him the mismatched shoes. He fell right out of the sky with just his pants and who knows how he got those. I'm sure constellations don't wear clothes."

Swindle shook his head solemnly. "Well, he's going to have to come up with something to give Lord Apollo or we can forget about the Kismet."

"He doesn't
have
anything," she said again to make sure her words were hitting home.

"He has
one
thing tha' he can give up," Strafford said, "but you're not gonna like it."

"What?" They both asked at the same time.

Strafford looked in Dropper's direction. "His life."

*****

XXIV. Hector and Theseus

"Do you guys really shoot stuff with those?"

The twins froze on their rooftop perch, disbelieving that anyone could have actually caught them spying on everyone from where they were sitting. They had taken special care not to be seen and in the weeks they had been in Adel, not one mortal eye had.

Until now.

Slowly, they turned to see who had discovered them.

"What the––" Hector started to say.

It was Benjamin Clever.

He was a small boy of eight with chocolate brown hair and round brown eyes. He was skinny and kind of frail, even in his thick coat, but carried the same hidden charm in his smile as his big sister. He was cleaner and neater than any child should be and Hector felt a bit ashamed.
His
clothes had more wrinkles and stains than the kid's.

Benjy approached them, his small feet not making a sound. He wedged himself right between them and began eating from a bag of jelly beans.