Chapter 20
"Someone tried to take it last night," Odie reported quietly over his cereal.
Jay looked at him sharply, but Odie gave him a tired smile.
"Don't worry, nobody can get past my defenses," he said confidently. Down the table, Archie looked from one boy to the other, exhausted but curious all the same.
"For what?" was the tired question along with a yawn that announced Harper's arrival. Not waiting for an answer, she dragged herself over to the fridge.
"Well you're having a late morning," Archie said, waiting for a reaction of any kind with a narrowed gaze.
Finding a small plate of pancakes, which she promptly shoved into the microwave, Harper rounded on him with a glare. "Yeah, well I had a late night," she snapped. "And I could say the same about you, AJ."
Archie blinked. "What?"
Jay and Odie exchanged glances.
"What?" Harper asked, turning as the microwave beeped loudly.
"You just called me AJ," Archie pointed out.
"No I didn't," Harper said, her cheeks burning slightly as she joined them at the table. "I said 'Archie,' get your ears checked."
He scowled at her and started to respond, but Jay stepped in first. "So what'd you do last night, then?"
"Met up with some friends at Jean-Luc's," Harper said, cooling down a little as she focused on her food.
"Jean-Luc's?" Jay repeated.
"Underaged club downtown," Archie supplied, earning him another glare from Harper.
Jay and Odie exchanged glances again, but both shrugged and let whatever issue was between the two teens go unsaid.
"So, what's our next step?" Odie asked lightly, looking back at Jay.
The taller teen shrugged. "Look for Iris, I guess," he said. "But where would you hide the goddess of rainbows?"
"Desert," Harper chimed instantly, though she didn't look any more awake or interested in what was going on than she had when she'd first walked in.
"Huh?"
She frowned at Archie's response, but looked at the other two. "She needs places that are damp-that have mists going on or lots of rain. Think Vancouver or Seattle. She can pass over dry areas every now and then, but her powers probably aren't as strong."
"And how do you know all this?" Archie asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Because I read, dipstick," Harper sneered back.
"Makes sense," Jay said, as Archie opened his mouth again, fully trying to avoid a headache this early. "She's goddess of rainbows, right? She needs moisture. But what dessert? There's a dozen or something, right?"
His questioning gaze was met with blank stares from the feuding pair. But when his gaze turned to Odie, the shorter boy grinned proudly. "Yeah, I'll string up a list of the most likely places by time Teresa and Atlanta get up."
.:.:.
"Amazing," Atlanta huffed as she trudged up what had to be the biggest sand-dune on the planet. "It's the middle of spring break. Other kids are on cruises or camping trips-what are we doing? Scouring deserts for the goddess of rainbows."
Somehow looking more 'put together' than anyone in their position should be and striding a good five to ten paces (and growing) ahead of her, Teresa turn to hike backward as she grinned. "We've been through worse."
"Doesn't make this any more sane," Atlanta growled, pausing to drink from her water canteen. This was quickly becoming her favorite upgrade of Hephaestus's—a water bottle that was light, durable, and magically refilled with water! There were no words to describe how much she adored that particular god at the moment.
Though she'd have loved him even more if he'd thought of those dune-rider hover crafts before they's been sent off into the middle of nowhere.
"Just think of it this way," Teresa said, chuckling a little. "At least we're on the same team."
"True," Atlanta said, smirking. "Plus with Neil here, maybe we'll find a spa out here or something."
Teresa snorted. "Yeah, that's wishful thinking."
Atlanta shrugged and broke into a grin. "A girl can dream!"
Their giggles rang through the air, before each girl sighed and Teresa looked over the large expanse of desert ahead of them.
"Urgh!" Atlanta groaned. "How the heck are we supposed to find a goddess of rainbows out here?"
"Well, to some extent, she'd probably stick out," Teresa offered with a shrug.
Atlanta snorted. "Yeah, as a needle in a haystack. And where is Neil?"
Teresa glanced around again, then frowned and shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she gazed barely five feet away over the crest of the dune. "Tanning."
Both girls looked down at the lounging model and let out groans of disbelief. It wasn't that they didn't believe it, but finding him chilling in the way too hot sun while they were supposed to be finding Iris was drawing the line.
"Neil!"
"What?" the blonde asked, moving his sunglasses ever so slightly to give them an innocent look. "When am I ever going to get this kind of lighting in New Olympia?"
"Neil, we're supposed to be looking for Iris!" Atlanta reprimanded.
The part-time model simply shrugged and went back to smiling upwards as he basked in the sun's overbearing glow. Atlanta shook her head and Teresa fought the urge to roll her eyes as she pulled out another device that Hephestus had whipped up that morning. The best she could understand of it was that it could project twenty square miles as a 3D map, complete with buildings, trees, caves, and anything else that could possibly be in the area with just a quick scan.
So she held it high and pressed the blue button, then watched in amusement as a ray of green light took in everything. Once the light disappeared again, she lowered her hand to look at the holographic display screen. Instantly digital waves of nothingness appeared, along with tiny image of the three of them on the dune's crest. Teresa sighed.
Next to her, Atlanta had a hand shading her sunglasses as she peered around the desert. "Can we just call it a day?" she asked. "Ya know, it's not like we're gonna find anything. We've already gone... how far?"
"Not far enough, apparently," Teresa muttered, still squinting at the ocean of sand.
Atlanta flopped back in the sand. Neil looked down in surprise then, finding her down there, he smiled and said, "See? Aren't the rays great?"
Rolling her eyes, Teresa pulled out her PMR and called Odie.
"Yo," was the tired answer. "Found anything?"
"Nothing but a new tanning spot for Neil," she reported glancing back to smirk as Atlanta busied herself sprinkling sand all over the model's feet. "You get anything over there?"
"Less than you have," her teammate reported. "Jay, Harper, and Herry haven't had much luck either. I just talked to them."
Teresa sighed. This was looking even more hopeless than it did when Odie had suggested the idea that morning. "Alright," she said. "We're giving it one more hour-."
"Ah, c'mon! Seriously?" Atlanta groaned.
"-and if we haven't found anything then you'll find us in the Florida Keys," Teresa finished, casting her teammates a smirk. Instantly the two teens looked up and grins spread across their faces.
"Oh I am so up for that!" Neil cheered.
"Yeah, great," Odie's voice said wryly. "If Archie keeps complaining, I'll race you there."
Atlanta let out a sound of disgust. "Let me guess?" she asked loudly. "He thinks Harper's trying to get us all to bake out here so she can take over New Olympus?"
"Something like that," Odie said with a tight laugh.
"See you at the Keys, then," Atlanta shouted towards the PDA with a cheeky grin.
Odie gave another small laugh and the call ended.
A brief moment passed. Teresa gazed out at the desert again, but Atlanta looked between the two of her teammates. "So," she said slowly. "What are the chances we could just go to the Florida Keys now?"
Teresa raised an eyebrow at her, but smirked. "Not high."
"Well we could always just go towards that shiny thing," Neil said, blandly gesturing across the dune to the crag-rock formations a good three more miles across the desert.
"Seriously?" Atlanta groaned. "Can't we not and say we did?"
Teresa gave her a tired smile but shook her head. "I don't want to be out here any more than you do," she said and gave her friend's arm a tug. "But, with our luck today, that's probably where she is."
"Fine," Atlanta said as Teresa pulled her to her feet again. "But if she's not there, we're heading to the keys!"
"Ooh," Neil cooed, bounding to his feet. "I'm all for that!"
Fighting back chuckles, Teresa rolled her eyes. "C'mon."
She led the way, finding it just as tricky to keep her footing on her way down as it had been on their way up the dune, but at least sliding down the sand would get them where they needed to go. It wasn't a cave, per say. More like an overhang of rocks, but at its base was a large opal that glistened even more than any she'd ever seen. And Teresa had seen her fair share of semi-precious stones.
"Oh well!" Atlanta said, almost too happily. "Not here, guess we have to head to the coast!"
"No, wait," Teresa said, quickly grabbing hold of the other girl's arm. "Look at this. You never see opals like that in the middle of nowhere."
"I thought Opals came from the desert," Neil pointed out. "So what's the big deal?"
"They do?" Atlanta asked, looking at her two friends curiously before looking down at the stone.
"Yes, somewhat. But look at this, its already been carved," Teresa said, running her finger over the smooth edge. But maybe she shouldn't have.
Instantly she froze as a prickling feeling crawled over her skin. In the time it took to gasp, she was somewhere else. Most might have been alarmed, and she had been once too, but now moments like these were almost as familiar as her reflection. It was a vision.
Everything around her was lacking color and sound, leaving the scene to look something like watching flashes of an old silent film, but at least she knew to pay attention. The first image was of a young girl with long hair that even with out color seemed to have hundreds of different shades to it as she hopped down a waterfall. The next was of Cronus in his lair somewhere dark and creepy, but he had a spotlight on and a strange looking glove on one hand while the other fired a spray bottle in front of the light. She could only barely make out the shades of the rainbow as the vision shifted again, closing in on the spray Cronus had created. In a moment almost too quick to see, the titan lord had grabbed at the rainbow he'd created.
A girl's face-the same girl from the waterfall-appeared momentarily in the falling mist, but soon she was gone. The vision shifted again, showing Cronus laughing as he held up his gloved hand. And the glove was moving on its own. The vision shifted again, showing Cronus trekking across some unremarkable sand-dunes as fist-sized droplets fell in his wake from the glove on his hand. When the scene shifted again, it showed the titan lord peeling off his glove only to toss it into a deep pit of some kind before vanishing into thin air.
Then it felt like Teresa was thrown back into her own head.
Neil and Atlanta quickly steadied her, both looking fairly anxious.
"What was that all about?" Atlanta asked.
"Not used to dealing with Opals?" Neil asked, earning him a reprimanding glare from Atlanta.
"Vision," Teresa said, rubbing her temples to make the strained ache go away. "This is from Iris."
"You're sure?" Atlanta asked, looking back to the gem warily.
"And you didn't want to go look at the shiny," Neil teased, avoiding Atlanta's reaction to hit him by leaning down to pick up the stone. He turned the opal this way and that, before discovering that its back side had a smooth reflective surface. Then he spent the next few moments admiring himself. "Now I get it," he remarked, grinning at his reflection. "I totally get it."
"Get what?" Altanta demanded as Teresa got back to her feet.
"Why those vampire books are so popular," he said, still entranced with himself. "Look at how I sparkle! I look amazing!"
Atlanta groaned and shook her head. Teresa smirked, then pulled out her PDA. "Odie?"
"Yo!"
"I think we've got a problem."
.:.:.
"She's trapped in a glove?" Jay repeated, unable to keep the skepticism from his voice as he, Herry and Harper looked down at Odie's image on the tiny display screen.
"Yep," the image affirmed with a nod. "According to Teresa."
"So she's got the glove?" Harper asked, looking confused.
"Uh, no," Odie admitted. "She got a vision off an opal."
"What?" Harper asked, her eyes widening.
"Yeah, apparently Iris's tears or something turned into opals while Cronus was getting to wherever he hid her," Odie explained.
"Oh."
"But they're close, right?" Jay asked. If nothing else he wanted to get the weight of having the blue chalcedony off his shoulders before someone actually did break through Odie's securities.
"Teresa thinks so," Odie reported with a nod. "She said that Cronus walked across a sand dune and the glove was leaving opals like bread crumbs."
"She saw Cronus?" Harper gasped.
"In her vision," Jay clarified before returning his attention to the screen. "Alright, let Teresa know we're on our way-."
"Atlanta and Neil may not like that," Odie said with a chuckle. "They've been threatening to call it quits and hang out in the Florida Keys."
Jay gave a dry laugh. "They can go later," he said. "Can you get Hermes to open a portal?"
"No sweat, see ya in a few," Odie said and, with a smirk, cut the transmission.
"S-so, uh, Teresa gets visions?" Harper asked, picking at the end of her sleeve.
"Yeah, she kinda sees snippets of things that have happened," Herry explained. "Or are happening."
Harper looked up in surprise and practically jumped away when she saw how closely he was standing. "Really?"
The tall boy nodded. "Yeah, she used to read minds too," he said. "And a whole bunch of other stuff, but her powers kinda went haywire and shorted her back to just visions again."
She stared at him, then glanced to Jay for confirmation. The older boy nodded absently, still working on his PMR. "With any luck, that won't happen again."
"Yeah," Harper mumbled.
"Huh?" Jay looked up.
"I-uh-why?" Harper asked, hoping she wasn't blushing too deeply as she struggled to change the focus. "I mean, uh, wouldn't that be a good thing? You know, if you could see into Cronus's head?"
"That part was cool," Herry said enthusiastically.
He blinked at her, then looked thoughtfully at his PMR again. "It did help with that," he admitted. "She nearly beat him because of that..."
She waited a moment or two, as a sinking feeling entered her gut. "But?"
"But it ended up being a bigger hindrance than a help," he said.
"Oh," she said, twisting the charm on her necklace.
"You don't have to worry," Herry assured her. "We'll beat him another way."
"Right," Harper said, forcing a smile though she didn't stop twirling her necklace. "Another way."
Jay gave her a strange look, but at that moment a strange sound filled the air and the teens found themselves looking at what might as well have been a rip in reality. Leading right back into Hermes' tech-filled rooms.
"Portal's here!" Herry announced. "C'mon!"
The boys quickly strode towards the out-of-place scene, but Harper hung back. Still twisting the necklace charm as she glanced back across the empty desert.
"Harper," Herry called to her. "Are you coming?"
Jay was looking back at her too when Harper looked up, though his expression wasn't as eagerly expectant as Herry's was. She forced another smile. "Uh, yeah. Coming. Of course."
The taller boy held out a hand towards her with a smile. She tried to give him an appreciative smile, but she felt like it was more of a grimace as she avoided his hand and followed them back into New Olympia.
A/N: Holy crow that took a long time! You have every reason to yell at me for taking so long. I have a long list of reasonable excuses, but when it comes down to it, excuses do little more than slow up life in self-defense. So anyway. Hopefully there's not too many errors and such and even more hopefully I'll be able to carve another chunk of this story out sooner than this one took! Oh, and for those of you who are getting irritable about Harper and Archie going at it, it's in their DNA so, sorry, but you'll have to deal. And Herry... well... go back a couple chapters...