The sign had a human's palm made out of neon light. Nice he thought, slightly amused. He was still wondering what might have possessed Liz to recommend him here when he knocked on the door.

A woman with long frizzy brown hair and a silver necklace greeted him. "I am Madam Vivian. What can I do for you?" she asked.

"I've come to have my fortune read." Max replied.

"Come in, Come in." the woman said, moving from the doorway to let Max enter. She led him into a back room with a circular table in the center and two chairs on opposite sides of the table. In the center there was a small holder, for a crystal ball Max supposed. He sat in one seat and Madame Vivian sat in the other chair after dimming the lights slightly.

Max watched silently as the woman reverently took out a spherical object covered in a dark-colored velvet cloth. She pulled off the cloth and placed a transparent crystal ball in the small stand on the table. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began murmuring in a strange language. Her hands began to move over the crystal, never touching it, but just drifting. Max was about to roll his eyes when he noticed something. The crystal ball wasn't clear anymore. What looked like smoke wisps were floating around inside it. Must be some sort of trick he thought, but watched more closely now. As the smoke thickened, he thought he could almost see a picture of a dark-haired man wearing green with some sort of gold rug rolled up under his arm, swinging by a rope from tree to tree away from a city. He could've sworn that he heard a small voice call "Yodeleheehoooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Before he could ask the woman about it, the image faded and another appeared. Two men fighting, one short with curly blond hair and brown leather pants, the other tall with very short dark hair and black leather pants, neither man wearing a shirt. Instead of fierce expressions on their faces, Max was surprised to see both men smiling and talking as they fought with long wooden staffs. He looked at the woman and jumped when her eyes snapped open and her gaze was glued to the crystal. He almost didn't catch her voice, it was so soft.

"A storm is brewing."

~~~~~~

"Come on, Jase. You can get more than a week off from your kingly duties, can't you?" Iolaus said as he tried an over head chop at the King of Corinth's head with a practice staff.

Jason promptly blocked Iolaus' attack and made a swipe towards Iolaus' unprotected stomach, but the ex-thief brought down his staff and blocked it. Jason quickly reversed his blow, turning in an 360 degree circle to hit Iolaus' knees, but Iolaus anticipated than and did a flip over Jason's head and landed behind him. Their staffs met again and Jason replied, "I was lucky to get a week off. I thought it would be fun to be king, but now there's less time to even see you and Herc, much less go on adventures like we used to."

~~~~~

That night Jason lay awake in his old cot, going over in his mind the events of the day. He remembered what he had said to Iolaus during training, and was shocked to realize how depressing he had sounded. When had he forgotten how much his people needed him, or the horrors that had befallen them during the brief time that Ares had been on the throne while Jason, Herc, and Iolaus searched for the golden fleece. Thank the gods that that quest had been successful... it had been the first piece of proof that Jason was able to rule as a good king, young though he was.

"KING JASON! KING JASON!" a male voice rang out through the academy dorm.

Jason jumped out of his cot and was nearly knocked off his feet by the youth that was barreling through the hallways in Corinthian colors. The messenger skidded to a stop and gasped as he tried to catch his breath, "The... *gasp* Golden Fleece... *gasp* it's been... *gasp* stolen!"

Jason's eyes widened. If this was true, then his kingdom was in danger. He knew that any of the surrounding kingdoms might attack at any time, but the fleece and the knowledge of what Jason had been through to get it kept the peace. But letting the fleece get stolen would be just the provocation another king might need to declare war. Afraid to delay for a moment, Jason hastily scribbled out a letter for his friends and left it on his cot. "Come on." He told the messenger, "You can tell me the rest on the way back to Corinth."

~~~~~~

*This is strange* Vivian thought to herself. *I've rarely had a reading so clear. What do these pictures mean?* She continued watching. The crystal only showed the two boys fighting for a moment, now the image was fading. Vivian sighed as the crystal began to dim. She had really hoped for more explanation. Suddenly, white symbols began scrolling across the surface of the crystal. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and began scribbling out the symbols. When the crystal finally dimmed, she noticed that she had a paragraph full of Greek letters.

ðñüäùóá áðü þñá êáé äéÜóôçìá ÝÍÁS
áíáæÞôçóç ãéá âïÞèåéá ôþñá ðáßñíù ãëþóóá
Åìåßs ãíùñßæù ü÷é ðùs, åìåßs ãíùñßæù ü÷é
ðïéüs ìüíï ðñÜãìá åìåßs ìðïñþ ôþñá êÜíù
æçôþ íá äù âïçèÜù ãéá Ýíás âáóéëéÜs óå
óôÝëíù Êáé Ýíás âïÞèåéá ÷Ýñé äáíåßæù
Âñßóêù ÷ñõóüs ôï óêÜù åîáéñåôéêüò
ÄéáìÝóïõ çëéêßá êáé äéáóôÜóåéò óôáõñüò
ïõñÜ óõëëáâßæù êáé áðïôÝëåóìá âëÝðù
Ðñéí ôÝëïs, áõôü íá åßìáé!


Sirel was the first person she thought of. The woman had been a whiz at anything Greek, and Vivian was sure that she would help this boy out. "Here." She said, giving the sheet of Greek words to the boy.

"What is this?" he asked.

Vivian sighed, "I don't know. But I know someone who will." She took another sheet of paper and wrote down the last address for Sirel. "Here. This should be her address. She'll be able to help you."

Sirel
Regency Apartments
4521 Oak Tree Ave. Apt # 289

~~~~~

*Two eighty-three...two eighty-five...two eighty-seven...* Max counted silently as he walked down the hallway of the apartment building, *Ah. Two eighty-nine.* Taking a deep breath, he knocked thrice on the door.

~~~~~

What will happen now? What do the greek words mean? Will Sirel even be there? Will Max's hand hurt from knocking? Will Iolaus open the door? Will Hera open the door? Are Max's shoelaces tied together? Will Corinth be destroyed? Will Auto get rope burn?

Find out what happens on the (maybe) exciting next part! (I warned you I suck at cliff-hangers)

Bryn GoUrL
Amazon of Inane Questions