Chapter Seven: Sailing North
Trent
"YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Trent stood with his feet locked into the lower rail. His hips were pressed against the upper rail as he held his arms in the air. The salty North Atlantic Ocean bounced below him and sprayed his clothes with its kisses.
Meredith stood next to him on the bow of the ship, but at least she was holding onto the rails. Her long chocolate curls were whipping behind her like a banner, "THIS IS GREAT!" She yelled.
"I KNOW!" Trent responded. "WE NEED A BOAT!" He closed his eyes as he filled his lungs with the salty sea air. Trent could not remember ever feeling this free.
"MOM…" Meredith's smile turned into a frown. "I HAVE TO CALL HER. DO YOU WANT TO COME?"
"SURE!" He stepped down off the rail he was standing on and walked across the bow back toward the doors entering the Salon.
The captain lowered the window and smiled at them. "Enjoying the sea air?"
"Absolutely, I could even go for a swim!" Trent's grin stretched from ear to ear.
"The water's a bit too cold for that, sir." She held onto her cap as the wind started to pick up again.
"I know." He felt his sister's hand on his arm as she pulled him toward the door.
The captain gave them one last nod before closing the window.
Within seconds both Glews were in the upper Salon. It was a deceit size area with white cushion benches out lining the windows and a glass door that lead to the stern of the ship. In the center of the salon was a dining room table that could seat eight comfortably. A serving table stretched across the wall that was shared with the bridge area. The wall above it had several functions. It could be used as a television, a mirror, or it could be opened to have direct conversations with the captain.
Lyra was sitting on the floor with her head in-between her knees and her back against one of the benches.
"EWE you look green!" Trent grinned; he bet she was going to puke any second now.
"Shut up Trent." She moaned as she gripped her life jacket. "Are we there yet?"
"Sorry, Lyra, we still have a ways to go. Do you know where we can find Rachel?" Meredith pressed her lips together as the look of pity crossed her face.
"Oh… I don't know… Downstairs?" She turned over and curled up into the fetal position.
Trent felt a tug on his sleeve again. Meredith motioned for them to go down to the lower Salon on the main deck. The main deck was much larger than the upper deck. There was the master suit and bath, a galley, kitchen, powder room, an office space and Salon. The Salon was twice the size as the one above it. Equipped with a gaming table and indoor movie theater, the windows blacked out with the push of a button. There was even a door that lead out to a sunning area in the back of the ship.
Zillah was sitting on one of the couches watching some vampire show while Rachel was looking out the window with sketch pad in her hands.
"Hey excuse me Rachel?" Meredith wrapped her hands around her waist.
She looked up from her drawing. Trent couldn't get a good look at it. Not that he cared about what she was drawing. He was just a bit curious.
"Could I umm… Iris message my mom? Is that right?" Mermaid looked and sounded pretty uncomfortable.
Rachel stood and placed her pad on her seat. "Sure, you need a rainbow though." She walked across the Salon toward the master bedroom. "There is a mist setting on the shower."
"What's an Iris message?" Trent asked.
Rachel tilted her head as she thought about the best way to answer his question. "It's kind of like a video chat."
"Oh, that's sweet." Trent grinned as he thought about how cool it would be to talk to someone like that.
The master bedroom wasn't huge or anything. It was nice though. Bigger than Trent's own room at home, but that's okay. Who needs a huge fluffy looking bed anyway? Trent shook his head as he dismissed the idea of being envious. It never did him any good and normally got him in super trouble. Another few steps and they entered the bathroom.
Rachel pressed several buttons on the panel next to the shower. Only mist came out of the shower head. "Okay."
"I just toss this in and umm…." Meredith pressed the golden drachma into her palm.
"I'll do it for you. What's your mother's name?" Rachel took the coin from her.
"Sophie Glew," Meredith started to chew on her lip.
Rachel threw the Drachma into the rainbow and then stated, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering and allow me to speak to Sophie Glew from North Jersey."
The rainbow shimmered; their kitchen became visible with their mom standing over the stove. She looked like she was making a hamburger.
"HI MOM!" Trent grinned as his mom jumped a foot into the air. Her jaw dropped seeing them in the Iris message.
"What the…" She blinked, "Trent? Meredith? What's going on, where's Zillah, and who is that girl? And how in the world am I seeing you?"
"Mom, we're fine. Zillah's fine. We're talking to you through an Iris Message. You remember Iris the messenger goddess from the Iliad? She allows demigods to speak through her rainbows. You just have to pay her a golden drachma, that's all."
"Like a pay phone…" She blinked as she processed the information.
"Exactly, look mom, we aren't at the school anymore. We're kind of on a quest. Rachel here," Meredith pointed to Rachel, "is the oracle of Apollo and she gave us a prophecy. So, we're heading north to umm… figure out the prophecy."
All of the color faded from her face. "What do you mean you're heading north? Meredith where are you exactly?"
"We're on a yacht! It's sooo cool mom, I want one for Christmas!" Trent gave her his 'I want another cookie, please mommy, I'm a good boy' face.
"I'm sure you do." Her brows came together as she processed every word that she heard coming from the image of her children. "And where are you going on this yacht?" Flames from the stove jumped around the pan behind her.
"Newfoundland. It's a Vikings settlement. We're going to find a dragon's lair too!" Trent started to jump up and down. It wasn't every day they got to see a dragon.
Several tears poured out of Sophie's eyes. She had spent the last thirteen years of her life protecting them with every ounce of strength in her being, and now when she trusted them to stay overnight some place without her, they abandoned her.
"Mom, we're okay. Please don't cry; we're not going to get killed or anything like that. It's just a little adventure. We'll be home before you know it." Meredith's lips trembled.
"I can't protect you… how could you do this without me? Meredith… Trent…" She started to hyperventilate. "I'll go to Newfoundland, I'll get on a plane and I'll fly there, right now." She was crying and shaking at the same time.
"Miss. Glew we don't know what we're going to find once we get there. It might just be a clue to the rest of the prophecy and then we might have to go somewhere else." Rachel calmly stated, but her face looked like she was beside herself with regret.
"I have to do something." Sophie whipped her face with a paper towel. "Please tell me the whole prophesy."
Trent took a breath, "In Vin-land seven heroes will assemble; The screams of the sea will cause the earth to tremble; From Dragon's Lair only silver may be taken; Those who were once thought dead will soon awaken."
Sophie gasped.
The Iris message started to flicker.
"Miss. Glew we're almost out of time. We'll call you again when we know what we're doing next," Rachel promised.
"Wait, Meredith and Trent I love you. And Mermaid remember that I made you promise never…"
"Please Deposit another Drachma."
"I don't have anymore." Meredith turned back toward Rachel.
"Neither do I, I'm sorry."
Trent looked back at the shower. It looked like nothing had ever happened.
Meredith sniffled and then she whipped her face with her sleeve.
"She'll be okay, Mermaid. Mom's just over protective, that's all." Trent gave her a hug, something that he rarely did since he was little.
"Thanks Sponge." She kissed the top of his head. "I feel so bad; I should have called her the night of the Ball. But I didn't think of doing that." She sniffled, "I'm so stupid and selfish, it's unreal."
Rachel looked down and sighed, "You guys are lucky that your mom cares so much about you. Everything will work out the way it's meant to be, you'll see." She gave them a half smile, "come on, I have a feeling Lyra's going to be running in here any minute."
The following day Trent was up early, yeah real shocker, but this was a once in a life time opportunity. At least that was the way he saw it. He was back at the bow of the ship. The temperature had dropped to near freezing, but it didn't bother him.
Off the stern side of the yacht a long snake like sea monster dipped in and out of the waves. Trent gulped he wasn't sure if the monster was friendly or not. A few seconds later another two appeared by its side.
"Leviathans!" Meredith joined him. She looked surprised and well kind of freaked out.
"Are they friendly?" Trent knew that if there were monsters on land there had to be monsters in the sea as well.
"I have no idea! Maybe we should go inside. This way they might not notice us." She started to edge back from the rails.
Several more just popped out of the water, "I… I think that's a good idea." He slowly backed up and into his sister.
They cautiously made their way back toward the door as another dozen popped out of the water.
"Look at those dolphins!" The second in command, who had steered the ship overnight pointed out as they entered the bridge. He gave them a smile, "you should be taking photographs."
"Oh… I umm… forgot my camera." Trent tried to give the guy a look of disappointment. He looked back over his shoulder at Meredith.
"We're going to watch them while we eat. Can I get you anything?"
"No, little lady, I'm good. I got me a fresh cup of Joe, right here." He pointed to his coffee mug.
"Okay," She gave him a smile before pulling Trent through the door that lead into the upper Salon.
"We should be safe in here, right?" Trent swallowed.
"I hope so." Meredith went straight toward her bag of provisions that they dumped along the wall. She pulled out two bottles of Febreze. "Start spraying everything."
Trent took one of the bottles. "Ok…" He smirked seeing the label. After squirting several rounds, he looked back over toward Meredith who was spraying the door knobs. "Do you think Leviathans have noses?"
"I… I don't know. I'll finish up here, go do the downstairs Salon." She continued to spray the perimeter of the room.
Trent sprayed the rail that lead down the stairs. He nearly ran into a fairly sleepy looking Rachel.
"What are you doing?" Her hair was unkempt and her pajama didn't match.
"Spraying down the interior." He sprayed Rachel.
She coughed and waved the mist from her face. With a raised a brow she asked, "Why?"
"Leviathans off the port side of the ship." He sprayed the floor as well.
"Do you do this often?" She asked.
"Yep, we spray everything, and we wash everything as often as we can. This way our sent isn't as potent." The yacht rocked a bit back and forth. Luckily, Trent sensed the pod of Leviathan's changing directions.
After spraying everything down, showering, and eating breakfast they watched a movie. The twins were still experiencing motion sickness. Rachel didn't mind giving up the master bedroom to them so that they could use the attached bathroom whenever they needed it.
By midday the Captain came on over the intercom. "We'll be reaching Saint Anthony, Newfoundland, shortly. With any luck our reserve tank will take us the rest of the way and then we can refuel once in port." She paused, "Miss Dare, I called a head and there were no limos available. However they do have car rentals. Shall I order you one?"
Rachel walked over to the intercom and pressed the response button. "Yes, that will be great. Also make sure that they can give us directions to the Viking colony. We're going to be performing the Beowulf saga for my multimedia class."
"Yes, Miss Dare. Shall I find out if there are any Viking costumes available as well?"
"That would be great, thank you." Rachel turned back toward everyone and smirked, "what? I need to have some excuse for coming up here. I have a 'C' in that class right now. This will pull me up to an 'A' for sure."
