Chapter 4

I ANGER A GOD

My dream was one that I'd never really had, and one I never wanted to have again. Purely because of the strangeness of it.

I was searching through a bush. Light brown horse reins, glistening with magic were sitting under a cluster of red berries. I picked them out. I saw the word 'PEGASUS' written in Greek writing on the rein. A bright, gold light shone behind me and I looked around.

A man in a Greek tunic with gold rims was standing there. He had a caduceus with two snakes intertwined on it – one red, one green – and an elfish, mischievous look on his face that said "I'm going to steal your wallet and play endless pranks on you!"

"Hermes." I greeted. My voice sounded deeper, like that of a young man's.

"Greetings, hero. I have come to give you one more weapon."

I snorted. "I already have one. Is that not enough?"

"No." Hermes said. "It is not. A spear built by mere mortals will not be enough to destroy the beast you wish to destroy. This is enchanted." Hermes took a quill out of his pocket and took of the end off. It grew into a two foot blade. It was bronze and had circuits running along it from a trident on the blade. An owl was engraved on the metal under the hilt. A golden thread was handing from the hilt. Hermes gave it to me.

"Well balanced." I commented. "What should I name this blade?"

"Tidescour." Hermes said. "The destroyer of the legion. Now, I feel you must harness Pegasus. Farewell, hero. Avert your eyes from my departure."

I turned away as Hermes departed with the light of a supernova.

Then I woke up.

I was on a soft bed. I was in a large white tent. I moved my head to the right, which took stamina. A desk had a candle on it and a glass topped with gold liquid. I reached out for it and tried to pick it up to drink. It almost fell out of my hand.

"Whoa, there." A familiar voice warned. "Take it easy. Let me get that for you." I looked for the source of the voice. Serena was sitting on a tripod stool holding out the gold liquid. I mumbled a barely audible "thanks" and took the glass. I sipped the liquid cautiously. It tasted pretty good. It tasted like my mom's home-made blue chocolate-chip cookies. My mom made them because my father's mother liked to make them. Before I knew it, I had drunk the entire thing down.

You know that feeling you get when you drink two cokes in a row and you feel like you're going to explode and be sick at the same time? It was like somebody had pumped 10 coke bottles' worth of carbon dioxide into liquefied cookies . I still felt better.

"Taste good?" Serena asked.

"Very good." I replied.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I could throw Deimos a hundred yards."

Serena laughed a little. "You've done that once before." She paused. "What did it taste like?"

My brain felt like it was going to explode from guilt. "Sorry, I should have let you try some..."

"No! That's not what I meant! If I drank any, I would be incinerated. What did it taste like?"

I paused. "Blue chocolate-chip cookies." I said. "Home-made."

She nodded in approval. "I don't think we should risk any more of that."

"Why?" I asked.

"That was Nectar, drink of the gods. Heals demigods but mortals and monsters can't have any or they'll be incinerated. Demigods can only have a limited amount or they'll catch fire." That explained the sick feeling. "Come on. You should be well enough to see Chiron now."

Then I remembered something to ask. "How long have I been out?" I asked, sitting on the bed.

"About a week." Serena replied.

"A week?" I repeated.

"A week." She confirmed. "By the way, here's your spoil of war from the Phoenix."

"My what?" I asked, puzzled.

"This." She picked up a small navy-blue box. She gave it to me, which I opened. There was a pile of red powder topping off the box and a little piece of wood in a side pouch. "It works like a tinderbox. That piece of wood there is enchanted. Can't be burnt. It can only sustain fire. Dip it into the powder, and some sticks on the black bit, you will it to catch fire and it burns. But the wood never burns out until you run out of powder in the box." Awesome. "Let's go see Chiron."

A half-hour later, I was walking along a paved path. People were stopping and looking at me. I heard one of them murmur "She killed the Phoenix!", though I didn't like the attention.

Then we reached a large farmhouse. It was laden with torches and a patio had a large ping-pong table that looked like it could take 20 or more people at it. The two people sitting there was a pudgy man who smelt like grapes, had a white "WINE MAKES ME CLEVER" shirt with a bottle of wine underneath the letters, and purple shorts. The other person was no other than my old mythology teacher. The two were playing a card game that I recognized as Pinochle from lessons by my mom.

"Mr Harper?" I exclaimed.

"Indeed. Although Mr harper is not his real name, Liggy."

Liggy? Who the Hades did this guy think he is? "It's Lizzie, random person in a white shirt."

Mr Harper put his cards down. "I would think that most people don't refer to a god as a random person in a white shirt." he warned.

The Wine Dude (great nickname, right?) had gritted his teeth. "And I suggest you don't refer to me as a random person in a white shirt or the wine dude. I had horses calling me that and I don't want another shoal of you annoying brats learning from them." the Wine Dude ground out.

"What is your name, anyway?" I huffed.

"I'm Mr. D."

"Meaning..."

"Dionysius, god of wine." He said impatiently.

Somehow I wasn't daunted by that news at all. So I didn't tremble at the sight of him, I actually said... "Explains the grape smell."

Everybody froze. An awkward silence went out and the only thing that broke it was. "THE GRAPE SMELL?" Dionysius bellowed.

"Maybe we should go." Serena said in a small voice.

"OH, NO YOU DON'T!" He yelled. Vines sprung up from the wooden patio and ravelled themselves around me. I knew what to do before they reached my face though.

I concentrated, and they froze, immobilized in time. I concentrated more and they backtracked along their paths, fading back into the patio. Dionysius looked puzzled. I summoned a temporal tornado, snatching items and distorting vision. Except mine, of course. I willed it to force against him but he blasted me off of the patio and onto the floor outside the farmhouse. Someone threw a sword to me and I caught it out of the air. Before Dionysius could turn me into a grape, I ran to him and drove the sword into his arm. He screamed in a mixture of pain and outrage then gazed at something above my head. A large group of people were around us, watching me and Dionysius fight like it was an interesting tennis match. But now they gasped, and were looking at something above my head. Finally, I looked above. No amount of premonition could have predicted the surprise I got.

Above me, floating like a holographic image, was a sundial.

"Perseus, God of time, king of the North Sea, and lord of the Pegasi has sired this child. All hail Elizabeth Chase, daughter of time."

As I said: No amount of premonition could have predicted that.

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