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Emma, healme13, classofthetitans711, HoneyGoddess57, Neonz, and Tinian I'att.

Also, thank you to everyone who keeps up with the story, I appreciate your support. It makes me feel better to know that I'm writing a story many people enjoy reading.

You guys get hugs and muffins!

…

Chapter 20

Bridges and Belfries

"Go!" Theresa demanded, simultaneously tossing the bloodied cloth she'd used to repress Jason's wounds at me. "And swipe some of that on your clothes while you're at it."

"What?" I held the fabric away from me, some of the blood streaming down my arms; it was still warm. "Why?"

She shot me an impatient look, "Everyone watching saw Jason get injured, you can't just walk back into a fight without looking a little beaten and bloody."

"Ugh, fine," I wrung the rag in my hands and mopped my clothes and shoulders with its contents, doing my best not to heave. "Toss me the salve," I ordered.

"No time." Theresa got up and shoved me towards the mouth of the cave, "Now get out of here before someone comes looking."

"But-"

"You'll be fine, Jay." She gave me one last edgy jostle and I landed face-first in the boiling soil beyond the cave, my sword in my palm being my only solace. I could hear the crowd muttering from behind their stone fence, some ordering women and children away from the scene to prevent them from seeing any gore, some taking charge and ordering a party to search for Jason's body. Most of the onlookers only murmured anxiously, many in fear; but it was obvious that no one planned on peeling their eyes away from the scene until they knew what was going on.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and slowly got to my feet, twirling my sword in my hand to reassure myself that I hadn't forgotten how to use it. I took a small step further up the tiny crest of long-grass, then another, calmly making my way into view of the crowd. My heart pumped loudly in my ears. There was a sharp intake of breath from beyond the fences, everyone drinking in my presence, noting that I was for the most part unharmed. Jason's blood dripped down my arms, streaming along the blade of my sword and staining its tip; it was rather uncomfortable but I tried to ignore it as best I could. Sweat trailed down my temples and stuck the ends of my longer hair to my face and neck.

The bulls were before me, one already yoked and tethered to a leather plough, looking worn and defeated with several dents in its metallic torso; the other stood nearby and glared at me with merciless fury, a smattering of dark red blood at the tip of one of its razor horns. Its eyes were on fire, sending anger and heat waves into the air above its body in ripples. The grass around the beast was charred, some of it still flaming and sending up plumes of black smoke. The bull snorted at me, steam billowing out of its monstrous nostrils.

There was silence in the field: no breezes to rustle the leaves or whistle through the long grass and thistles around me. My audience, like me, was holding its breath. I gripped my weapon tighter, letting my muscles strain and tense. The wind in my lungs escaped me slowly, assuredly.

I took a step forward. The bull clipped at the ground and I sped my pace. My breaths came quicker as I slowly circled the beast, still tense. Its flaming eyes followed me as I arced nearer, sword at the ready. The bull sent up a fresh veil of smoke and steam, and then… it charged.

I ran towards it with equal determination, dropping into a crouch and jumping out of its path at the last second. I got back onto my feet as the creature turned and skidded angrily in the soil. It charged and again I dodged its advance. The onlookers cheered suddenly and loudly with vigorous energy; everyone that hid behind the fences was now trying to become a part of the action again.

The beast turned again quickly as I pointed my sword at it. It surveyed me coldly and snorted again, waves of steam flitting across its smoky path. It began circling me, odd and catlike. Its feline approach was almost unnerving considering how fluidly its bronze skin moved. It was too quiet, too much like a practiced predator.

It began drooling.

Not the usual slobbery kind of animal drool; instead of saliva its metal mouth bled tongues of liquid flame that fell to the ground with flaring vehemence. Slowly but surely, all the dry grass beneath the slinking animal's hooves caught fire as it surrounded me in a ring of white-hot heat.

It slowed down and glared at me, before dropping the last bit of dribble to the ground and completing its loop, leaving me trapped inside a sweltering halo in the centre of the field. It didn't take long for the flames to grow to impossible lengths and mask my peripheral vision. Sweat guzzled down my back and arms, I could taste the salt of it in my mouth. I looked up; forks of flame were licking at the sun, caressing the bright orb with envy.

The worst part was the smoke. Slowly, it began blackening the sky above me. Violent clouds of grey swarmed my lungs as I breathed, choking me like vengeful ghosts. My vision started getting fuzzier as flames trailed languidly along the grass towards me, charring it with ruthless ferocity. I could no longer see the bull lurking about behind the veil of thick smoke and fire. The only sounds that reached me were clicks and crackles from the flames, an occasional roar of wind joining their ranks.

I kept rotating on the balls of my feet despite how dizzy I felt, my sword pointing at the flames regardless of whether or not they were still masking the beast. Then I started choking. There was no more clean air for me to take in, my brain was starting to go haywire. I had to think, come up with a plan, something. Considering the fact that the bulls were made of metal and had a habit of exhaling fire, chances were likely that they were created by Hephaestus; and one thing I knew for sure was that his inventions were corruptible, especially the older ones. It was all a matter of finding a sweet spot.

For Talos, it was his wonky heel; his other robots and automatons either had lazy gears or a fatal affinity for the god himself. A lot of them ended up sacrificing themselves to the god because of it. But I doubted very much that these creatures could display any form of emotion, especially to a god that tended to make himself relatively scarce.

I choked again. The only way I could do anything constructive was to get near the bull, but so far I couldn't think of any way to get out of my fiery prison. My coughing was getting too intense now, and it didn't help that sweat kept dripping into my eyes, my sword felt heavier and heavier with every sudden heave. It was when I had the sudden nerve to collapse in a heap on the ground that I heard a snort behind me.

I turned on my heel to face the blurry wrath of the bull. It stood with its torso engulfed by the wall of fire, if anything I would say it looked smug. It snorted again and began clipping at the ashy soil. I had to think, what was the weakest part of any bovine being? It obviously wasn't its torso, nor its mouth and nostrils for that matter. It had to be somewhere hard to reach.

It charged me and I made a slash for its thick neck. Instead of getting a shot in against the bronze I barely managed to escape its horns; it picked me up with its massive forehead and carried me straight through a wall of flame as it ran. The pain of having boiling plasma licking at my spine and the agony of having simmering metal against the bits of flesh exposed by my clothes and against my arms was enough to make me scream out of agony in battle for the first time since Cronus had broken my arm.

The bull came to a sudden stop and I was thrown in an arc across a quarter of the field that was still left unburned. The soft soil scratched my tender burned skin as if it was gravel and I curled up into a painful ball. My sword had left me, lying somewhere within the ring of flames; but my mind was absorbed by the intense amount of torture my body felt, the worst patches of my skin still bubbling from the heat.

The ground shook beneath me as the bull charged once more. It loomed over me within an instant, and, without thinking, I snatched the nearest rock and crammed it against the underside of the beast's hoof. It made an odd loud groaning sound and froze in its position, the angry flame in its eyes dimmed until only two empty, black crevices remained. The result of my action left the bull, simmering in its heat and steam, petrified with its two front legs in the air, one of them inches away from trampling my hammering heart.

It took a moment for the steam around me to clear; and there came a sudden roar of noise and loud cheering as the crowd went nuts. Cheers and whistles filled the air, an occasional huzzah! echoing off the cliffside. My head spun frantically as I tried to orientate myself, and I could still taste the smoke circling my throat and lungs. I craned my neck in search of the cave and found that it was not too far off. I could see Theresa looking at me from the hillock that kept it hidden from the crowd's view, her hair glowing like its own fire in the sunlight. She looked like a deer trapped in headlights, beckoning me over to her.

The pain overtook me and I let out a hefty sigh. All I wanted was to fall asleep. But then I noticed the new danger; the uncontained blaze. It followed after the bull and trailed over to me with renewed energy, engulfing what was left of the unburned field around me. Sheer panic grappled at my resolve and I flipped over onto my belly, silently cursing as I began to leopard crawl towards the cave, the ground digging into my burns.

The crowd suddenly caught onto my motivation for vacating my perch and let out a collective gasp, screams replacing the former echoes of joy. Another wall of fire zoomed past me, blocking me once again from the crowd's view. It kept going though, and this time the wall of flame barred my way to safety and flitted across my only path to the cave where I knew Theresa was waiting for me. Smoke filled my lungs once more and I coughed, crying out as the nearing heat stung my burnt skin. My vision went fuzzy again and this time I let the pain and fatigue force my eyes closed. Theresa's doe eyes burned in my mind and her last words crackled like its own fire in my ears. You'll be fine, Jay.

There was no way I was getting out of this.

After what felt like years of smoke filling my lungs, I was comfortable with the idea of dying; as long as it meant I could get some sleep.

Then I felt arms around me, strong but gentle.

I was sure I let out a whimper as I was hoisted up and a shoulder connected with my ribs. Fingers gripped my wrist as my arm swung across another shoulder and a cold, round something stuck to my palm. Then I was lifted up and felt I was being jostled as this person, my saviour, hauled me to safety with a steady but almost panicked pace. Panting, my saviour sped up; and before I finally let myself drift away into darkness, he whispered, "You're safe now."

…

"Can't you hear the sirens?" Theresa beamed at me. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, stray curls falling out by the nape of her neck. Herry laughed cheerily in the driver's seat next to her, swerving to avoid a car.

"What?" I asked her, completely confused. "I don't hear any sirens." Then they started, a wailing cacophony of electric noises. Police? An ambulance? The fire brigade? I had no idea; they all seemed to bleed into one loud, tinny noise. The Welcome to New Olympia sign flew past my window as we sped up. Herry laughed again.

I looked around frantically; Odie was typing away hysterically on his laptop keyboard in the seat beside me and Archie was leaning against the window beside the small boy, using his nails to chip at the glass with a bored expression. They were the only other people in the truck. I was getting restless; the noises were getting higher and louder.

A laugh bubbled through the radio speakers, low and smug. It became familiar, twisting like a devious smile. Everything got louder, all the sounds of sirens, laughter and swerving tires melting together. My ears rang and I looked at Odie, except, it wasn't Odie anymore. A faceless, colourless… creature sat beside me, pawing at me with its many liquid limbs. I backed off as it grabbed hold of my wrist. I wanted to yell for Theresa to help me, but she and Herry had gone, vanished, leaving two empty seats and a self-motivated steering wheel behind. The creature came closer, its gel-like body closing in around me. The sound of my own thoughts was drowned out by a mechanical hum that had replaced the dramatic ringing from before. The cold creature pounced until it covered me completely.

I screamed.

"Jay! Jay, calm down. Please, be quiet!" two cold hands pushed my shoulders back down onto scratchy ground. "You have to stay still, Jay."

I stopped screaming and tried to open my eyes, my heart thundering in my chest. I immediately regretted it as streams of dim light filtered into my irises and my head began to buzz. "Wha- what's going on? Where-"

"Shhh!" a cold finger hit my lips. "Stay quiet, Jay."

I lay still and tried to focus my vision. The light wasn't as bright as I'd originally thought, it was actually rather dim. Theresa had moved her hands to the sides of my face to keep me still. She made hushing noises as the kneeled down beside me, her face anxious and creased with worry.

"Theresa," I whispered, "what-"

"Don't move," she ordered. "I haven't done your back yet." As soon as she mentioned it I could feel the skin on my back stinging and prickling against the gravelly floor. From that I knew I was back in the cave again. It hurt more than the fiery pits of Hades, and I could feel my eyes beginning to tear up as I tried to keep my painful gasps under control.

"How did I get back here?" I asked softly, letting out another painful gasp.

Her fingers worked against the blistered tissue that I used to call a bicep, applying a sort of balm that soothed the stinging. I was acutely aware that I was only in my boxers, my toga lying somewhere off to the side of the cave in a burnt heap. "You crawled as far as you could before the fires blocked your path. Jason ran out of the cave when he was safe from being seen by the crowds and carried you back here."

A million thoughts swarmed through my mind at once. I almost sat up and had to grit my teeth when a new wave of burns shot over me. "Jason? But his leg… how did he-"

"The same salve I'm applying to your wounds now. What Medea gave you to protect you from the flames, I had my suspicions. It's a healing salve, not a fireproof one. It's the same one I gave you for your battle scars after you got mauled by poultry." The memory drizzled back and I still felt embarrassed by it. Theresa gently put her hands on my shoulders again and helped pull me up into a sitting position. She sighed, "In all likelihood it would have left you in ashes if you'd applied it before facing the bulls. It's a miracle Jason didn't get lit up very badly since he'd nearly drowned himself in the stuff."

She motioned for me to turn onto my front and I winced with the effort, doing my best to suppress my cries. "Where is he now?" I managed to choke the question out. "How long have I been lying here?"

She dropped another rag into the last pail of water and wrung it out over me to wash off any gravel that would have stuck to my raw skin. It was cool and I welcomed it. "Not long, about an hour at most. Jason had to wait for the flames to die before he could go outside and impress the crowd again. It actually helped that the whole field was burning; ashy soil is easier to plough so he should be close to finished with his work in the field, considering that he only has one bull to help him plough instead of two. But thanks to you, Jay, you single-handedly managed to make a day's worth of work only take up a few hours."

"Yeah, well… I'm not entirely certain that the whole ordeal was a fair trade. How long exactly will it take for these things to heal?"

"Give it roughly an hour. But you'll stop having any burning or stinging sensations once the salve has settled in against your skin."

"You're joking."

"What do you mean?"

"Burns like these should take weeks, heck, months to heal. You're telling me I only have to wait an hour and I'll be good as new?" I wanted to turn and face her but my body protested at the movement. Theresa started applying the balm to the seared skin on my back.

"Normally yes, it would take that long. But this is a powerful concoction. It was blessed by a god, a fire god no less, so normal is not an option." Her cool hands helped soothe a bit of the irritation, and after a while I didn't even feel the burns anymore. Theresa spoke up after a little while, "Your chest and arms got the worst of it, and that's saying something. It was smart of you to do what you did, though I'm curious as to how you knew where to hit the bull."

My throat was irritated by all the smoke I'd inhaled so my voice sounded oddly rickety, "You and me both." I paused. "Theresa…"

"Hmm?"

"About you and Jason, I-"

"Let's not talk about this now, Jay. Just have some water, you sound awful." She stood and picked up a pail of water, almost shoving it at me with a playful smile.

I grabbed at it greedily, gladly guzzling as much of it as I could. The water wasn't as cool as I'd hoped it would be, but I was thankful for it nonetheless. I heard the crowd cheering again outside and I wondered how Jason was doing. If my calculations were correct then it was already early afternoon, and we still had two tasks left to complete before sunset.

Then I thought about my dream. Something was different about it this time; I just couldn't put my finger on it exactly. I could still hear the metallic hum of the tune to Theresa's music box, and it gave me a sudden idea. The box itself was still in my satchel beneath the floorboards beside my mattress in the Argo's kitchen. If I had some means of getting it, I could show it to Theresa and see if it triggered some sort of response in her memories from before she was brought here. Granted, it was a long shot that had no guarantee of working; but she had told me it was a christening gift from her grandmother, so she would definitely have gotten it before she turned six.

My mind reeled, and in my excitement I didn't notice Jason's sudden reappearance. He exhaled heftily by the mouth of the cave with a caustic grin, "I am never going to plough another field for as long as I live. The crowds are going absolutely mad all of a sudden." He grinned at Theresa, sparing me no eye contact whatsoever. "I'm going back up to see the king about the next task; that should leave you about ten minutes before the crowds disperse. Don't leave the cave until then." He narrowed his eyes and used his captain's voice for the last bit.

Theresa stood up and turned her back to him, making a small noise as if to confirm that she'd heard him. Her lack of appropriate response seemed to ruffle him and he took a step towards her, catching her shoulder roughly.

"Wha-" she couldn't finish her outburst. Jason pulled her hastily against him and planted his mouth over hers. Theresa was too shocked by this sudden display of authority to push herself away from him.

I could feel my ears turning red with shock and anger. Jason didn't pull away from her for almost a full minute, and before he removed his face from hers, he winked at me over Theresa's shoulder. Then he fluttered out of the cave indignantly with one last command, "Meet me in front of the palace when you leave, Theresa. And make sure he isn't visible when you get there.

Theresa's face was crimson. I could almost hear her growling at the trail of audacity Jason had left behind. She snapped at me, "Don't just sit there, Jay. Get up and put something on."

I stood anxiously, "You know I'm all for getting myself clothed and not having to walk around in my underwear, but don't you think it would rally more attention from onlookers if I were to step into the daylight looking like this?" I gestured at my attire: burnt, torn leather sandals and a pair of boxers a brighter scarlet than my face at that moment.

She picked up my burnt white tunic and said softly, "I suppose you're right." She sighed, "Do you have anything else to wear that isn't too noticeable?"

I thought about the sweatpants and T-shirt I had in my satchel back on the ship and suddenly felt self-conscious; I missed wearing pants. "No," I sighed and lifted my tunic up in front of me, "I guess I'll just have to make due with whatever's left of this thing."

There wasn't much. The tunic had holes all over and was crisped along its hem and sleeves. The red of my boxers would definitely be poking through; but no matter. I'd had more embarrassing experiences than walking around in public in my underwear.

…

Archie was livid.

"Where have you been?" he snapped. "Do we not have a mission that demands our immediate attention? Is it really so hard for you to stop disappearing without a word and then turn up in front of me looking like a steamed lobster with a bad haircut. Then you go and make it worse by telling me you were farming with Jason and Theresa? What is the matter with you, Jay?"

"All I did was ask the time, Arch." I held my palms up in surrender and slipped on an extra tunic I found in Neil's satchel. I'd slowly made my way back up to the ship with Theresa in tow, who was now waiting outside my so-called 'bedchamber' that I shared with Basil while I searched Neil's things and got changed. As it turns out, there wasn't much need for me to be incognito as we snuck past the crowds; they were far too absorbed in what was happening at the palace than by Jason's fiancée and a boy in red underpants keeping cover on their way to the docks.

I'd kept Neil's bag next to mine since we'd lost him, but I hadn't gone through its contents until now. All that was really inside it was a comb, his odd bottle of cologne he'd sprayed at everyone who walked by, his usual outfit, and an extra chiton tunic. At the same time, I grabbed my sword from my own satchel and slipped the hilt into the belt of my boxers. After what happened today, I reveled in not being able to have the blade near me. But I kept Theresa's music box in my hand, its long chain tickling my palm. I said a silent prayer that my plan would have veritable results.

Archie kept on rambling, "I don't care. Either way, you should have said something to someone – and I don't mean Theresa. What would have happened if you'd gotten hurt, Jay?" his ever-present scowl intensified. "You can't come back again if you…"

I looked at him. "You really don't have to say it, Arch. And for the record, I'm not as dimwitted and spontaneous as you may think I am. I have a plan."

He glared at me, "You've been saying that for weeks."

I gave him a shrug, "I've been lying all those other times."

"Oh? And what makes this time any different?"

"Because I can predict the future." I wiggled my fingers at him mysteriously.

Technically, I wasn't lying. I could predict the future, because I knew my mythology. I already knew about the other two tasks Jason had to complete, and I knew how to synch a win. Suffice it to say, I was feeling oddly confident in my plan. Theresa opened the door a crack and peeped into the room with a sour expression.

"Jason and Medea are looking for you."

Archie muttered something unintelligible and kicked at the dust on the floor of the room as the captain came in with his new stalker. In the original myth, Aphrodite made Medea fall in love with Jason to help him complete his tasks with her knowledge of sorcery. This explained her seemingly sudden infatuation with the sailor, whereas the only effect he had on me was making my skin crawl when he entered the room. Right now, she was clinging to his elbow like a cat would cling to a scratch post. Theresa filed into the room warily after them.

I clutched her music box pendant behind my back.

Jason started, "The king has issued the next task, in which we must-"

"Let me guess," I interrupted. "You have to sew a handful of dragon's teeth to grow an army of skeleton Spartan warriors and fight beside them with your crew to defeat the Amazon warriors that have started making camp on one of the island's beaches."

Jason looked thoroughly perplexed by this, "I… yes, how did you-"

"And of course your third task," I continued, beginning to pace slowly in the small space, "Is to enter the caves of the northern volcano, slip past the dragon that sleeplessly guards the Golden Fleece, and successfully bring said sheep fuzz back to the king where a great feast will be had in your honour." I took a breath, "Any questions?"

Everyone in the room gaped at me, except Archie, who looked like he wanted to slap me in the face. But I felt suddenly euphoric as the cogs started slowly grinding away in my brain, forming an impromptu plan in my mind that seemed so impenetrable, there was no way I was going to give up the floor to anyone else.

I went on, "Very well. I've decided to hurry along the process a bit to ensure we don't miss our deadline. Jason, you and your crew will proceed with the second task and defeat the Amazons, just remember to throw a stone into the ranks of the Spartan army before they try and strip the flesh from the bones of you and your men. Meanwhile, myself and a select few will sneak into the caves and get the Fleece from the dragon. It shouldn't take more than about three of us, with the help of the sleeping draught I assume Medea is housing up her sleeve as we speak, no doubt having already known what the third task consisted of."

Medea looked too stunned to be angry and slowly slid a corked porcelain vial out of her pocket and looked at it. "How did you know about this?" her eyes narrowed. "About all of this?"

I tightened my grip on the music box behind my back and thought about the Theresa I'd lost in space. Her soft golden tresses, her kind, tired eyes, her mint-green T-shirt with that ridiculous pink ice-cream cone on it, and the sweet scent of fresh green apples that rolled off her body in waves. Most of all I missed her playful innocence, and her soft, sugary kisses.

I looked Medea in the eye and answered tersely, "The right motivation." A new surge of confidence overtook me as my lips moved. As the words left my mouth, my mind reeled with a repetitive promise.

I'm coming, Theresa.

…

Whoop! Another chapter done! And this one is actually longer than most of the previous ones. Half the time I tried to make it really lighthearted, because I knew the upcoming chapters are going to be somewhat intense (if anyone cares).

What I'm really trying to do is establish a difference in character between this Theresa and the one I wrote in chapter two. Because while Jay is still very fond of this Theresa's spirit and genuine emotions, he misses the way she would be more lighthearted and less secretive. Do you guys notice a difference between the two ways I wrote Theresa? Or should I try a little harder to emphasize it?

Secondly, I would love to know where you all think this story is headed? Because I have thrown in a lot of foreshadowing and I'm curious as to whether anyone has picked up on some of it.

Reviews very much welcomed! Constructive criticism strongly suggested.