Oh my goodness! I have failed you all! I am so sorry! I don't know what happened with the stupid document thing and the evil! But this chapter got very messed up when I uploaded it the first time. I am so so so so sorry. I don't quite know what went wrong but you can probably live without rereading this chapter. I'm formating all the remaining chapters now so hopefully the problem will be solved. Also, I was so horrified that I deleted this chapter (which is why you all got another alert for it). Sorry for that too.
AN: So, I'm taking my knowledge of ... um, the new villain from various sources, including Edith Hamilton's Mythology, the Everworld series, and Wikipedia. If you ever get confused about how things work -- well, first wait for chapter 9, then if you're still confused try Wikipedia or ask. I'm always happy to answer questions.
The Return
Chapter 8
They drove all night, but night seemed to last a lot longer than it should have for some reason and now every time Theo looked down at his watch it read a different time -- not a reasonable different time, no, a completely illogical time. First it said 5:41, then 2:19, then 9:58, and it kept going like that. And the road they were on wasn't so much a road as a long strip of dirt that was relatively smooth. His tail bone was sure to be cracked by the time they stopped. Finally the road ended but Theo was not happy with where. Snow was falling around them despite the fact that it was June in California -- at least Theo thought they were still in California -- and before them was a mountain, dark and grey despite the snow covering the ancient stones. The road led into the mountain, into a cave that looked like the mountain was yawning in anticipation of a good sleep or a good meal.
Merrick stepped forward without preamble.
"Well?" he called, pausing at the cave entrance to look back.
"What are we doing here?" Theo asked.
"What must be done."
Merrick stepped forward and the shadows of the cave seemed to swallow him whole. Theo wasted only a second calming his childish fear of the dark before barreling in after him. Theo ran right into Merrick's back and the warrior let out a low shushing sound. Theo nodded, looking over the man's shoulder. He was surprised to see firelight cast on the walls, it was coming from beyond a bend in the cavern but Merrick did not seem eager to go there. Theo could sense the trepidation in the man and was about to question the wisdom of even being there when Merrick surged forward. Theo hurried after him but froze at the turn when he saw what lay beyond. A massive wolf, big as his own zord, was curled around a fire pit, seemingly dozing. Merrick walked purposefully forward, stopping mere feet from the wolf's maw. It could have eaten him in one bite.
"Fenrir!" Merrick said, his voice firm and filling the whole cavern.
The wolf's eyes opened and Theo was struck by the depth of them. It lifted its massive head to look at him for a moment and Theo felt as though the ground had dropped out beneath him. In those eyes he could see --
"Stop it!" Merrick ordered.
The wolf's gaze slid down to Merrick and Theo fell against the wall, trying to catch his breath. He tried to push down the images he had seen, images of death and destruction, of the entire world going black and --
"Merrick," the wolf said, its voice like a growl. Theo was thankful for the interruption to his thoughts and only now that he could look at the wolf without its eyes on him did he see the collar around its neck and the flimsy ribbon that he thought would never be able to hold the beast to the wall.
"I have need of Gleipnir."
The wolf seemed to cock an eyebrow. "Take it, if you can. You will be doing me a great service." It laid down its head on its paws once more and closed its eyes.
Merrick reached out toward the wolf but pulled back. "This is not the time."
The wolf opened its eyes. "No? You are here, you are going to release me. It feels like time."
"I am going to release you from Gleipnir, not Drómi."
"Without Gleipnir I can leave this cave. Even with Drómi I could cause quite a bit of mischief."
"Why? Why do you have to --?"
The wolf snapped its jaws at him but Merrick did not move away. "Shouldn't you be asking Zen-Aku these questions instead of trying to undo events which were foretold long before even your time?"
Merrick's shoulders seemed to sag a bit. "I must stop Zen-Aku, and to do that I need Gleipnir, but I will not release you to harm this world."
"Then you cannot take Gleipnir," Fenrir said calmly, returning to his rest.
"I offer you a deal." When he knew he had the monster's attention he continued, "I will take Gleipnir and you will remain here. Once Zen-Aku is dealt with, I will return to this place and serve you."
Fenrir considered the warrior for a moment.
"Service to a god, even a caged god, is not to be taken lightly."
Merrick nodded. "I know, but I cannot allow Zen-Aku to continue this way. Do you agree?"
"No!" Theo cried, managing to take only one step before Fenrir's eyes found him once again. He looked away quickly, his feet turning to lead beneath him.
Fenrir sniffed the air. "A Jaguar. You don't see many of them this far north. What is this to you, boy?"
Theo kept his eyes down as he said, "Zen-Aku was my master. I want to stop his evil from spreading further."
Fenrir smiled at the anger in his tone. "Do you now?"
"Leave him alone," Merrick snapped.
Fenrir obliged. "You will serve me?"
"Yes," Merrick said, his voice tight.
"You have three mortal days to return or I will come for you." Fenrir leaned forward and bit Merrick's shoulder lightly, but even a light wound from a twenty-foot tall wolf was enough to send Merrick to his knees. Blood poured from a ring around his shoulder and Theo rushed forward to help him up. Merrick ordered him back and, with much effort, stood. He untied the ribbon from around the collar and ripped it from the wall.
"Come," Merrick grunted, walking as steadily as he could from the cave. His motorcycle was waiting where he left it and none of the falling snow had touched it.
"What was that all about?" Theo asked.
"There's a -- first aid kit -- in the pack," Merrick ground out, settling on the ground beside the bike.
Theo quickly pulled the kit out and found nothing but a couple of spider-man Band-Aids and a note that read:
Merrick,
Sorry, we spotted your bike in New York and there was this mishap with Cole and a squirrel and the Central Park Mounties and we sort of used up all our medical supplies. We figured you'd remember to restock before we would so we're switching with you! Sorry we couldn't talk, we're sort of still on the run from the cops.
Love,
Danny, Max, Cole, and the horrified Alyssa
"Um, Merrick, I think there's a problem."
He handed Merrick the note and the man laughed. "Taylor'll get a kick out of that. You know how to drive a motorcycle?"
"What? No!"
"You're going to learn." Merrick slowly pushed himself up, careful to keep hold of the ribbon. "Rule one: if I start letting go of you even the tiniest bit, you stop and pull over because I'm either going to pass out or puke or both."
Lily's day was not going well. She had awakened on her yoga mat, not the most comfortable place to sleep, to the sound of Taylor and Eric being way too friendly for six o'clock in the morning. They weren't doing anything really, just being much more lovey-dovey than she had ever thought either of them could be, but the hour was what was getting to her. She rolled over, only to find Camille sleeping on a yoga mat three feet away. She screamed, jumped to her feet, fell into a defensive stance, and promptly realized that Camille was on their side now -- if only momentarily.
"What are you doing on the floor?" Lily asked. "I left the hammock free for a reason." Taylor and Eric had no qualms about taking RJ's bed, leaving the living room free for the two enemies.
"I spent ten thousand years in a wall," Camille said drolly, "sleeping on the floor isn't much different and it's not like we have the funds to buy those special mattresses with the numbers or the ones that you can drop a bowling ball on or --"
"Camille? You're rambling."
"Oh."
"You really want a proper bed, don't you?"
"No," Camille said superiorly and waltzed into the bathroom first.
Lily sighed, deciding that personal grooming could wait. She checked on Casey once before heading downstairs to get ready for the day.
"Hi, Fran," Lily said, opening the back door for the other girl.
"Hey, Lily, how's RJ today?"
Lily froze, her hand just short of the pizza dough. "Not good."
"Oh, well I hope he gets better soon!"
"So do I. Hey, Fran?"
Fran looked up from the sauce she'd started making.
"Theo quit."
"What! So it's just you and me and Casey?"
Lily shrugged slightly. "No, see, Casey's -- sick."
Fran fell back against the island. "How are just us going to -- I mean I know that I have to do a lot of it myself, but you guys are never gone all day and --"
"We can do it, Fran. We have to."
Fran nodded and the two continued the morning's prep. Lily was actually pretty confident with how things were going. Finally, something in her life was going well, it just figured it would be the pizza parlor.
"Lily?" Fran asked, walking back into the kitchen. She was supposed to be refilling the salt shakers.
"Yeah, Fran?" Lily asked, digging her elbow into the dough.
"There's some girl sitting in one of the booths. She says you let her in, her name's Camille."
Lily choked and rushed out into the restaurant, only to find a very blonde Camille perusing the menu in the corner booth.
"We need to talk," Camille said.
Lily sighed. "It's okay, Fran, she's a -- friend."
Camille looked up sharply at the word but gave Fran a less-than-sincere smile as Lily sank into the booth. Fran nodded and went to finish the prep.
"What's up?" Lily asked, taking off her hat and running a hand through her hair.
"You don't feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"Some dark energy's been released -- some really big dark energy."
Lily's eyes widened. "You think Zen-Aku had anything to do with it?"
"No, he's powerful, but he's not about to release anything more powerful than him."
"More powerful?" Lily moaned.
"The only problem is -- it's not moving. It's just sort of -- sitting there."
"Why would some super powerful evil just sit there after it's set free?"
Camille raised an eyebrow. "I can think of only one reason: it's powerful enough that it can take its time destroying us."
Lily let that sink in; not the terrifying part, the "us" part. She gave Camille the best smile she could muster. "We'll win, you'll see."
"How do you do that?"
Lily blinked but made no further reply.
"How do you take the worst news possible and turn around with a positive attitude?"
"It's called optimism. It's very useful."
"I'll bet. Is that how you always get back up after I've beaten you?"
"Pretty much."
Camille gave a long sigh and looked out the stained glass window. People were beginning their days, unaware of the plans and burdens held by the little restaurant.
"We'll stop Zen-Aku," Lily said, "and we'll stop him from hurting Dai Shi too."
Camille turned back to Lily with the smallest of smiles. "Thank you."
Lily shrugged and slid out of the booth. "That's what friends are for."
"We're not friends," Camille called as Lily walked away.
The girl turned back around with a small laugh. "Just wait, we might be."
Camille frowned and went back to examining the specials.