CHAPTER FOUR

The Bells of Moria

I sat in my room silently as my mom tried to get me out of trouble again.
She was arguing with the teachers and the police.
I was such a bad influnce, I thought, sitting out my window and glaring at a gargoyle that sat next to it. Our apartment block was old, victorian like and very french for some bizzare reason.
I had an ugly gargoyle next to my window, it's mouth wide open, and a bluejay nested in it. The bluejay had no mate.
But the white dove in the gutter did. I had never known birds to nest so close to each other, let alone live next to the same window. But they seemed to get along in harmony.
I sighed. Life as a half-blood wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Suddenly, I could smell salt water, and hear seagulls chirping. I could even feel the cool ocean breeze ruffle my hair.
What the hell?
I whipped around and practically fell off my chair in shock.
Dad laughed. Poseidon had never visted me in person before.
But then he became serious. His black beard was trimmed neatly, and his bright green eyes glittered.
He wore khaki shorts and a blue hawaiian tee-shirt.
He put a weathered, brown hand on my shoulder and handed me a bandolier of brass bells.
"There may come a time when you need these." He said seriously, his voice washing over me making me dazed for a moment. Gods had that effect on humans. Even half bloods.
I looked at the bandolier.
"What are they for?" I asked cautiously.
"They are to protect you. The dead are reawakening. Not even Hades can calm them to rest."
He said.
I stared at him in disbelief.
What?
"Why me? Why do you want me to carry them? They're too powerful."
I tried to hand them back to him, but he pushed them back to me.
"You are the only one who can weild them. The Oracle made it clear, and you are my only child who has not perished, the only child of mine who is a half blooded human." He answered. His voice was confident, but his eyes showed worry.
I gulped but wrapped my hands around them.
The Oracle was basically a dead egyptian goddess who was mummified. She was a friend to the gods of higher rank. In other words, the greeks.
The order of Gods and goddesses;
God; The christan one, the one who controls all; the others are his helpers.
Greeks gods and goddesses,
Egypitan gods and goddesses,
Indian,
Chinese,
Thai,
etc... (all that jazz)
Anyways, the goddess was a friend to the greeks and had the power of telling futures. Even after she was dead, they posted gaurds in her tomb, for her tomb was not in a pyramid, and she would still tell prophecies even though she WAS dead. Everytime she did so, a gaurd would come out and tell the King who would send a message to God Almighty using a trained dove, for that was the sign of the Almighty Lord.
Every big god and minor god would be notified of the prophecy by the use of the great horns, which could only be heard by the gods and Half bloods (very faintly for us halflings)
Thankfully, only the greeks were aloud to have halfling children, or else there would be a hell of a lot of children of the gods.
If the prophecy was important enough, a council would be held in the great temple of Christ Almighty.
The prophecies normally concerned halflings, who would have to attend the meetings, some of which never returned.
"The bells have names and each a certain use, Rhianna, you must know which is which, which is why I shall tell you them." Said Poseidon, bringing me back into the present.

"The smallest Bell is the Sleeper. Her voice is sweet and calls all that hear it into slumber.
The second bell is the Waker. He balances Life with Death. Wielded properly, it will bring the dead back into life and send the wielder from Life into Death.
The third, is the Walker. It grants the freedom of movement to the dead, or it can be used to make the dead walk where the wielder chooses. Yet, it can also turn on the bell ringer and make them march, usually where they don't want to go.
The fourth bell, the Speaker.
It can grant speech to the dead, it can reveal secrets, and even read minds.
It can also still a speaking tongue forever.
And the fifth. He is the Thinker.
He can mend the erosion that occurs in death frequently, restoring thought and memory to the dead. It can also erase thoughts, in Life as well as in death Sometimes it can splinter the mind of it's own ringer, for He likes the sound of his own voice and always seeks to sing.
The sixth is the most favored of all. She is reliable and trustworthy. She is powerful and true. She is used to dominate and bind the dead, to make them obay the wishes of the wielder.
The last is most dangerous and the most powerful of all. You must never use it unless all else is lost.
She is the Sorrowful.
The bell that sends all who hear it into death.
The seven bells are dangerous. You must use them wisely, and carefully.
They are part of the beginning, the end, the past and the present and future. They were left over from the creation of the world, as were the parts that turned the gods into gods.
Be careful." He finished finally, whisking his hand away and turning into sea mist. But not before he gave me a warm encouraging smile.
All essence of the sea was gone.
All through his introduction to the bells I had been frozen in shock.
Great. I was now the Bearer of seven sycopathic bells with minds of their owns.
Just damn peachy.