Happy Canada Day fellow Canadians! Okay so I'm writing this on Canada day but it won't get up until later so happy belated Canada Day. Disclaimer: I don't own Class of the Titans. On to the chapter!


Another Chance
Chapter Five: Reveal

"This all seems pretty familiar, Atlanta," Archie said sharply as a thick vine shot towards him and he jumped to avoid it.

"What are you implying?" Atlanta shot back, not taking her eyes off the attacking forest surrounding them but knowing full well what events were replaying in Archie's mind.

"Oh I don't know, could an old DJ friend have anything to do with this?" he questioned with such sarcastic innocence that Atlanta almost wanted to kick him instead of the approaching root that writhed away.

"Really Archie, you had to bring that up?" her voice was so laced with disdain that Archie had to grimace. "Pan is smarter than that," (Archie rolled his eyes) "besides, Cronus would never use the same plan twice, and Pan said he was going somewhere where Cronus couldn't find him!" Atlanta had said all this while she wrestled a squirming vine into submission before Archie used his whip to cut it from its source. Atlanta dropped the heavy trunk and turned to Archie. "It couldn't be Pan. Are you just jealous again?"

Ignoring the last comment, Archie deflected an oncoming branch and shouted, "then who is doing this?" as a barrage of vines twisted out of the forest. The peaceful clearing had erupted into frenzied battle, the two teens fighting the very nature in which they usually took refuge (oh the irony).

The voice from before laughed as the flowers beneath their feet began to enlarge, "I am," it replied.

A petite maiden, only years older than them, emerged from the thick trees, though she was floating at least two feet above ground. Her long brown hair waved gently at the bottom and both her light blue toga and her chestnut hair were embellished with delicate pink dogwood blossoms. Her face was pleasant but her eyes were clouded and stared straight in front of her, which was above and to the left of the heroes' heads.

Archie and Atlanta exchanged a knowing look. She's being controlled, they both thought, but nothing more was shared as the suspended moment ended when the woman laughed again – not a sparkling giggle like before but a throaty chuckle that was not her own. She rose higher into the air and raised her arms, the flowers of the field rising with her. Their stems had become thick and thorny and they quivered with power.

"Uh, Archie?" Atlanta entreated, all notions of arguing set aside.

"I've got your back."

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Theresa stood up suddenly and gasped. "They're in trouble!" she exclaimed, anxiously turning to her teammates who were seated comfortably on the couch.

"Are you sure it's 'trouble'?" Neil asked with a smirk and the raise of a perfectly coiffed eyebrow. (You know what he's referring to ;) )

"Yes I'm sure! They're in the forest, and it's not good," she implored with open arms. Archie and Atlanta needed their help and they were just sitting on the couch making wisecracks?

"Okay guys, I think this is serious," said Jay, getting to his feet and standing next to Theresa. "Theresa's visions haven't let us down before," he added with a smile to the orange-haired girl whose cheeks tinged pink.

The rest of the team grumbled incoherently as they got to their feet. Herry began washing his many dishes and Neil made sure his hair was perfectly placed in his three-sided gold mirror.

"Guys?" Theresa questioned with disbelief.

They groaned again but followed after Theresa and Jay as they ran out the door. "I just thought we should leave the house a little tidy," Herry tried to justify.

"I don't think that house can even be a little tidy," Odie laughed as they reached the track. "…And I don't think there's any doubt that they were definitely here," he added, observing the marks in the dirt of the track.

Theresa squinted in concentration. "We're still pretty far from them," she yelled behind her, breaking into a run again.

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"Theresa, I'm all for saving our friends and whatever but this forest does nothing for my hair," cried Neil, picking another twig out of his now-matte hair.

"We're almost there," Theresa told the others, ignoring Neil's complaints and brushing a branch away from her own face. "They should be right…"

Theresa cut herself off, staring in front of her. "They should be right here!" she exclaimed, confused. The rest of the team looked around.

"Uh, all I see is trees, Terri,"Herry said helpfully.

"I know, I don't understand it. I can sense them right here!" She reached her arms forward and waved her hands as if feeling for their presence.

"Heeey!" they heard Neil protest angrily. His blonde head appeared from behind a tree. "Stupid… tree… caught my… pants," he explained, pulling with both hands on a root that had snagged his pant leg. With a snap the root broke and sent Neil falling onto the ground. "Ouch," he whined, rubbing where he had fallen.

Averting their attention from Neil, a new sight now met the team's eyes. Through the dark trees they saw Archie and Atlanta in a clearing, giant, dangerous-looking flowers towering around them, and a small chestnut-haired woman floating above them. They heard her laugh as she raised her arms and the flowers began to rise.

"It looks like she's controlling the plants," Odie whispered, gesturing to the woman.

"Talk about being one with nature," Neil snickered, earning him a dry look from Theresa.

"Okay guys, here's what we'll do," explained Jay, keeping his eyes fixed on Archie and Atlanta's predicament. "Odie, you stay here and try to find what – if anything physical – she's using to control the plants. Herry and Neil, you help out Archie and Atlanta with those overgrown shrubs while Theresa and I try to figure out who that is and what she's doing," he organized, his eyes darting between the woman and the pair of heroes in the small clearing.

He paused. "…GO!" he shouted, leaping from the trees with his xiphos unsheathed and he comrades right behind.


Oh no I have to cut you off here! Hopefully y'all enjoyed this chapter, and the whole clearing thing is making sense (by breaking the root Neil broke the spell hiding the forest). The nextchaptershould come in quick succession. Yay!