Chapter 15
The rest of the newsies' stay at Alcmene's was relatively uneventful. The question did come up, however, of how
they were going to get back to
"Traveling through time is simple?" Jack asked with a baffled look on his face. The newsies were sitting on the soft green grass outside the house, enjoying the afternoon sun. Hercules paced around the garden as he explained. "Heph told me that if someone, or in this case someones, who are misplaced in time touch the Orb, it will send them back to wherever, or should I say whenever, they came from."
The newsies nodded, murmuring
amongst themselves. As beautiful as it
was in
***
A few days later,
the newsies left Alcmene's, bidding their farewells
to the kindly woman. Hercules and
Iolaus also said their goodbyes, for after they made sure the newsies made it
home, the two cadets needed to return to the Academy. It was only 3 or so
hour's walk to the caves, so they set out after lunch. However,
They were in sight of the caves when out of nowhere Strife decided to appear with his trademark, high-pitched, ever-annoying giggle resounding in their ears. Hercules didn't even pause, just continued to lead the others on their way. "Not now, Strife," he sighed as he passed the tackily-clad god. Strife put his hands on his hips in mock-insult.
"What, no 'what do you want this time, Strife?' or even 'I don't have time for this, Strife!'? Besides," he sniveled, "what makes you think that I'm here for you?" Hercules stopped in mid-stride, motioning for the others to continue. He turned to face the aggravating lackey of the war-god.
"It doesn't matter who you're after. I don't have time to put up with you right now. So why don't you just save yourself some time and leave?" Strife stuck his tongue out at the demigod,
"Naah," and vanished. Hercules turned to rejoin the group, only to find that Strife had appeared beside Scamp and was currently trying to attach himself to her.
"C'mon, why don't you just run with me?" he asked deeply and slickly. "Why hang out with these loser mortals when you could hang out with a god?" He waggled his eyebrows. "I could make you a goddess. What d'ya say?" Scamp tried to pull away from him, her face turning a green color, like she was about to throw up. Next to her, steam was pouring out of Spot's ears.
"Get away from hoir!" he shouted, whacking Strife with his cane. Strife flew backwards into a tree. Grinding his teeth, Spot waited until the lesser god stood before setting upon him with his cane, plus delivering various punches and kicks that he had learned from the Academy. The others stood and watched, snickering. Hercules and Iolaus couldn't help but let out a few full-throated laughs.
All the while, Strife huddled against the tree, entirely forgetting about his zapping powers. Finally tired of being used as a punching bag, he scrunched up his face, whined, and vanished. Dusting off his hands, Spot rejoined the others. "So we can go now?" Iolaus asked, still struggling to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"Yeah, wese can go now," replied Spot, his voice cool, collected, and even, unaware of the entertainment that he had just provided for everyone. Putting his arm around Scamp, he followed the others, who had already resumed walking.
***
"Here we are," Hercules announced. The newsies gazed around them in awe, mouths gaping. Hardly any of them had ever seen a cave, certainly none this big. And there, n the center, was the crown jewel. Proudly the orb hovered a couple inches above its stone pedestal. Once the newsies had had their fill of admiring their surroundings, they decided it was time to say goodbye. Scamp was last. When she reached Hercules and Iolaus, she couldn't prevent the tears from leaking out of her eyes.
"Aww, i'm really gonna miss you two!" she cried as she hung onto both of them.
"Scamp, don't cry," Iolaus soothed. "You never know, we may see each other again someday." Scamp pulled back, confusion clear on her face.
"But how is that possible?"
"Well, I don't know how exactly," replied Hercules cryptically, "but anything is possible." Scamp sniffed and nodded, then returned to Spot.
"Well," Hercules asked with a clap of his hands, "everyone ready?" Amongst the various "yes's" and "yeah's", one voice stood out.
"No." All heads snapped towards Ebony, who moved to stand beside Hercules and Iolaus.
"What do you mean 'no'?" Jack asked. Ebony shifted her weight from one leg to the other.
"I mean Ise not goin. At least not now, anyways. I wanna be a cadet, at the Academy." Before anyone could protest, Ebony cut them off and continued. "Ise shoah we could work something out with the admission and everythin'. And Ise always felt like, I dunno, like I was just there on the street, wastin' air. Since I got ta the newsies, I felt like I had a home, and a family, and Ise really grateful for that. But when we were at the Academy, I felt somethin', like there was somethin' greater goin' on. And I wanna be a part a' that, even if just for awhile." Clover and Becca, Ebony's closest friends, moved in to hug her tightly.
"Hazel's gonna be so mad that she missed saying goodbye to you," Clover wailed during their tearful farewell.
"Yeah, well, Ise comin' back, ain't I? Ya can't get rid of me that easily." When they were done, Hercules instructed the newsies on what to do.
"Alright, before you go, I just wanna say that we're gonna miss you guys a lot, and I want to thank you for all that you've taught us. Now, everyone stand around the orb." The newsies did so. "Good. Now, everyone put a hand on the orb." When they did, there was a blinding flash of white light, then nothing.
Well, thanks for hanging
around this long! We're
almost done, don't worry! One more chapter…you
can do it, we know ya can!