The Heir of Olympus and the Forest Realm (7 page)

It was 11:59 pm and the terrors were no less pronounced. Gordie began to fear that he would not sleep a minute as he watched the second hand tick towards the twelve. Just as his angst reached its peak, the clock struck midnight—his body was instantly consumed with an overwhelming exhaustion and he plummeted into the deepest sleep of his life.

4

An Airport Surprise

It had been ten days since Gordie’s father was killed. The pain was still constant, but muted. The anger he occasionally experienced at the thought of it had become ever-present. The cause of his father’s death was still fresh in his mind, even though it had not been mentioned since the day they had arrived there at his grandfather’s house.

Gordie had succumbed to his grief for a few days after his world had been upended. He had wallowed in sadness, cried for hours on end. He had not left the guest room for two days after that first night. The thought of walking downstairs and not seeing his father at the breakfast table was gut-wrenching. He didn’t know why his sorrow was more severe the day after the incident, but it seemed that the reality of his loss had not truly hit him until then.

What tore at him the most was the knowledge that he was responsible for his father’s death.

His father died because Gordie had overslept. He dwelled on this. He was reminded of it in his dreams. He was aware of it during each endless, waking moment. Later in the week he had learned that over two hundred people had died as a result of the blast, which only exacerbated his depression. The devastation was unimaginable.

After Gordie had finally emerged from his den, he started devoting most of his thought to the possibility of his powers. He kept these thoughts to himself, however. He was afraid that bringing up his relationship with Mount Olympus might upset his mom. But now he felt it was time to end the embargo on discussing the elephant in the room; he couldn’t take it anymore. They were still living with Atalo, and every day was as monotonous as the last. Gordie hadn’t been back to school, neither did he have any intention of going back. He just felt that he needed to act, in some way or another. Idleness would no longer suffice.

It was midmorning on a Saturday. Gordie was distractedly watching TV in the living room. Next door in the kitchen, his mom and grandpa were making breakfast together. They were having a cheery conversation when he entered the room. He decided his mom’s spirits were whole enough for him to broach the subject of gods once again. He was nervous, and he didn’t really know where to begin, so he just dove in.

“We need to talk about Zeus,” he announced to the room at large. Both Ellie and Atalo turned around looking startled, not having noticed that he entered the room. As their surprise dissipated, their faces transformed to express very different emotions. A small smile graced Atalo’s lips as he tried to keep a lid on his excitement, glancing back and forth between his daughter and grandson. Ellie’s look was more difficult to read: she seemed to be studying Gordie, her eyes narrowed like an eagle fixated on a mouse scurrying through a field hundreds of feet below—Gordie would not be made a meal of. He returned her gaze to impress upon her how serious he was.

The silence dragged on until Ellie’s gaze finally softened. “I think you’re right,” she said, with a look of resignation. Atalo looked elated and ushered her to the table.

“Sit,” he urged. “Pancakes are ready. I’ll bring ‘em to the table.” Gordie’s enthusiasm matched his grandfather’s, but he fought to remain stony-faced. She and Gordie sat at the table and were joined by Atalo as he hastily set down a steaming pile of pancakes, forgetting plates for them all.

The scene was tense, save for Atalo’s giddiness. It almost felt to Gordie as though they had never left the table from their first night at his grandfather’s house. Ellie watched him expectantly, but he was unsure how to start, so he just asked, “What do I do now?”

“
You?
” she asked. “You won’t be doing anything. You can go back to school next week and we will continue our lives.” There was a definite finality in her voice.

“How can you say that, Ellie?” Atalo looked shocked. “The boy is being hunted by the ruler of Olympus, and you think he should just go back to high school?”

“He
was
being hunted,” she said. “As far as I can tell he’s not anymore. Nothing has happened since Robert died—who’s to say it’s not over?” The mention of his father stung Gordie, but he was determined to keep the conversation on course.

“You can’t possibly think that, Mom? He’ll figure out that I’m alive sooner or later.” Gordie didn’t use Zeus’s name because he assumed they were all on the same page. Plus, it just felt
weird
. “You want me to just wait for death back at school?”

“He’s right, Ellie,” Atalo said. “According to the myths, Zeus is not omniscient, but I think we’re lucky to have made it this long without another incident. It’d be unsafe to stay here much longer.”

“So where do you suggest we go?” Ellie asked. “Mount Olympus?”

“Of course not. I don’t even know if it exists, but I think Greece would be a good place to start,” Atalo suggested, ignoring the look of shock on his daughter’s face. “More specifically, I say we head to the island of Lemnos to get the Nemean Lion Skin from Hephaestus.”

Ellie was dumbfounded, staring at her father with her mouth open. “You can’t be serious? Even if Hephaestus is real, how would you know where to find him?”

“I already told you,” Atalo said. “My father traded the Skin with Hephaestus. He wasn’t happy about parting with such a valuable possession, so he told me where I could find the blacksmith, in case I ever wanted to retrieve our heirloom. His workshop is inside Mount Mosychlos, which is now a submerged, inactive volcano. But there’s a way to reach it from the island.” He leaned back with a sheepish grin, relishing in the hungry look on his audience’s faces as they waited for him to expound. Gordie felt his grandfather’s tendency to be overdramatic was annoying in this circumstance.

“Well, how the hell do we do that, Dad?”

“There’s a large peninsula on the southern edge of the island that’s sparsely inhabited. From there, there’s a tunnel. It’s not manmade, but it’s not natural either. I haven’t actually been there myself, but my father told me where it was.”

“And what exactly is the point of us traipsing across the Mediterranean to find a glorified man-shawl?” Ellie asked. Gordie hadn’t really thought of that, but she made a fair point. He had been so enthralled with the prospect of fetching the Herculean garb that he never stopped to think about the purpose of such a quest.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Atalo said. This was a bad move. Gordie peeked at his mom, knowing full well that he would see a look of triumph on her face. Fortunately, Atalo recognized his slip. “This is a unique situation . . . obviously. It just makes sense to collect an artifact linking our family to Hercules! It’s as good a place to start as any. Not to mention the fact that we’ll be able to consult with an Olympian in doing so.”

“This is so ridiculous!” Ellie threw up her hands in frustration. “How can you possibly be considering this, Dad? If you think—”

“Enough,” Atalo said. Ellie’s eyes widened with indignation, as if he had just struck her. Ignoring her fierce look, he continued in a calm but stern tone. “Your husband’s death should have conveyed the gravity of our situation. To ignore it any longer would be ignorant and careless. I will not sit back and watch you put yourself and my grandson in danger. We cannot stay here and wait for death.”

The mention of Gordie’s late father had a sobering effect on him as well as his mom, judging by the softening of her expression. “I just don’t know how to process this,” she sighed. “How are we supposed to evade
supernatural
beings?”

“That I really don’t know. We need help, and if we have access to somebody related to our attacker, then we need to take advantage. Do you agree, Gordo?” His grandfather’s consultation of him was so unexpected that Gordie’s mouth went dry when he tried to respond. He had barely even contributed to this conversation that he had demanded in the first place.

“I-I think that’s a good idea,” Gordie spluttered. The truth was he had no idea what to do. He just wanted somebody to instruct him so he didn’t need to make decisions. He agreed that it would be cool to have the Lion Skin, but now that they were considering seeking out the Olympians, he was feeling apprehensive.

“Good,” Atalo said. “I think we should leave tomorrow.”

Gordie and Ellie were taken aback. Even Gordie was disconcerted by his grandfather’s rashness. Ellie’s face showed the same disbelief that her son was experiencing. They exchanged looks; their mouths open in mirror images of one another. Gordie looked down, studying the wood grain of the table. It reminded him of his bat and excitement flared inside him. Atalo studied his grandson as intently as he was inspecting the table.

“How ya feelin’ about this, Gordo?” Gordie heard concern in Atalo’s voice, but he didn’t want his grandfather to think he was scared.

“Great!” Gordie said. “I’m pumped. I bet I’d look damn good in that Lion Skin.” Atalo’s hearty chuckle assured Gordie that his grandfather was appeased by his response, but Ellie was still watching her son with worry—there was no fooling her. She may have even known Gordie better than he knew himself, because he truly didn’t know what he was feeling. He
was
excited that they could meet an Olympian in a matter of days, yet he thought waltzing into the neighborhood of a homicidal deity would scare the hell out of anyone.

“Gordie,” Ellie’s tone was soft, “you don’t have to do this. We can just move somewhere far from here and everything will be fine.”

Gordie longed to say yes just by virtue of the sadness in her voice. He took a minute to digest her proposition. He imagined moving to California and living near the beach surrounded by sun and palm trees; hanging out on the warm sand every day drinking piña coladas as the waves rolled in. It was a wonderful fantasy, but it was not realistic.

“No, it won’t,” he said. “Zeus found me once and he will again. Besides, if we just go hide somewhere then Dad died for nothing. I will
destroy
the person responsible for his death.” Gordie slammed his fist on the table for emphasis, but it was a weak display without the power of his heroic ancestor coursing through his veins. Ellie’s expression only saddened more by her son’s childish bravado, but she seemed to accept the inevitable.

“Okay. Just know that your father would have died a thousand times over if it meant protecting you. Revenge is dangerous, but I would go to the end of the earth to keep you safe. That may even be necessary given our situation.” She smiled weakly, but it somehow looked even sadder than her look of pained resignation. Gordie wished she would stay there in Madison, move in with her father and continue teaching at the high school just down the street; lead a normal life and eventually recover from her husband’s murder—but he knew there was no way he could convince her to do so.

“Thanks, Mom. So how do we get there, Grandpa?”

“We’re gonna fly of course. How the hell else would we get to Greece?”

“What?” Gordie said, bewildered. “We’re just gonna take a plane? Can you do that on a, I don’t know . . . a quest?” Flying to Greece using modern transportation with the intention of looking for gods who were thousands of years old was not something Gordie could wrap his head around. It just didn’t
fit
. But he supposed his Grandpa was right: How else were they supposed to get there?

“Let’s be careful about calling this a ‘quest,’ Gordo.” Atalo had reverted to a cautious tone. “That word fails to express the seriousness of our situation. Your mom’s right—we aren’t ‘gallivanting with gods.’ This is no Easter egg hunt. We’re dealing with incredibly dangerous and unpredictable beings. We need to remain vigilant.” His grandfather’s chastisement felt a little hypocritical considering his giddiness with this whole business, but Gordie nodded politely. He caught his mom roll her eyes; she apparently felt the same way.

“So let’s go get those plane tickets, huh?” Atalo clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “I’m gonna need some help using the internet though,” he said, with a crease running from his hair line to the bridge of his nose.

While Ellie and Atalo went to his office to use the computer, Gordie remained at the table lost in thought. He had no idea what to expect from this endeavor and the uncertainty was the scariest part. Was he actually going to see Hephaestus? Would Hephaestus try to kill him? Was the god even real? Gordie kept trying to determine how Hermes could have been a hoax, but he knew in his heart of hearts that the youthful deity was all too real. Gordie was still excited, but an impending sense of doom had started to take hold of him; it was an odd combination. And it persisted.

***

At 11:00 pm Gordie was in bed. Atalo had bought the one-way plane tickets to Athens out of O’Hare with a layover in London that was too long for Gordie’s taste. It was fifteen hours of travel time, excluding the drive to Chicago. They would leave the next morning. Why not? Why stay any longer and prolong the inevitable? There was nothing left for any of them here.

Atalo was retired, which he referred to as ‘waiting to die;’ he could not have been doing a worse job of masking the childish glee he was experiencing over this adventure. Ellie was more solemn. After her husband’s death, she took extended leave from work. Gordie didn’t know what she was thinking: whether she intended to come back here, or to just wander around the Mediterranean. He guessed the latter was
his
plan. Before he went off to bed, Ellie had asked Gordie one last time if he was sure that he didn’t want to go back to school. Her heart hadn’t been in it though. There was something deeply defeating about his Mom—a teacher—asking him if he wanted to go back to school, and knowing she didn’t even care. But why should she? Why should he?