The Search for the Lost Mousai
Chapter Nine
Morning came, the sun peeked through the windows of the Golden Sun Library. The wraiths were still outside, hovering around any window they could find. They were waiting, but for what?
Standing in her office looking out the window at the wraith, Helen remained silent. She tilted her head, and the wraith did the same. Helen's eyes narrowed.
Sighing, Helen took a few steps back. So did the wraith. A shiver washed over her body the moment a thought came to mind. It was mirroring her. But why? Were the other wraiths doing the same? Something was not right. What were these wraiths really waiting for?
Moments later, Helen's cell phone rang. Picking it up she noticed the wraith was no longer looking at her, but her cell phone. Shutting her cell phone off, she put it back on the desk. Soon after, someone knocked on her door. Helen pressed a button on her desk, which locked the door.
"We've been trying to reach you," Louise said through the door.
"Go back to your station and stay there. That's an order," Helen said.
Helen's eyes remained fixed on the wraith, who looked right back at her.
"Whatever your think you're getting, I won't let you have it," Helen said as she continued staring at the wraith.
Meanwhile, sitting at his desk in his office, Aidan's eyes glowed. He slammed his hand on the arm of his chair as a frustrated sigh escaped his lips. After blinking a few times, Aidan rose to his feet.
The door to his office opened and in walked Josh with a flask in his hand. He walked over and placed it on Aidan's desk.
"I know about you losing the flask in the jungle," Aidan said.
"But I brought you another. It's from Erato,"
"That you did," Aidan said, looking at Josh. "You will be the one tasked with getting the essence from both Terpsichore and Melpomene."
Josh stiffens as he swallowed hard. "Yes sir."
Aidan nodded as Josh disappeared.
Picking up the flask, Aidan looked at the sparkling pink liquid dancing around inside the bottle. Smiling, he placed it with the other two on the shelf.
"Three down, six more to go,"
Meanwhile, in the infirmary at the encampment. Jessica sat down beside Elizabeth, who was lying on the cot asleep.
Jessica remained silent as she looked over at Elizabeth. From the bandages wrapped around her chest to her labored breaths, Jessica was glad to see her again. Her eyes wandered over to the flask on the end table. She watched as the sparkling blue teal liquid dance around in the bottle.
"What is this? Jessica said to herself, as she kept looking at it.
Jessica raised her hand and took the top off the flask. She was about to dip a finger inside when the sound of someone clearing their throat stopped her. Turning around, Jessica put the top back on the flask and smiled as she looked into the eyes of Elizabeth.
"Still as curious as ever," Elizabeth said, followed with a wince.
"Welcome back," Jessica said, sitting back down.
"That is Terpsichore's essence," Elizabeth said.
"So, they're extracting it from them now…. great," Jessica said, followed with a sigh.
"Any word from Helen?" Elizabeth asked.
"I sent Thomas to call her." Jessica said, before looking down at the ground. "Um...I'm glad you're okay."
"And I am glad you're okay too… I know I should have called in but..."
"I get it. You got caught up."
"Yeah, next time if this happens again, you'll be the first one I call."
Jessica smiled. "Good."
Elizabeth looked up at the ceiling. "So, Percy is helping you?"
"Yup."
"Think he remembers me?"
"Maybe, the question is, are you ready to deal with your past?"
Elizabeth sighed as Thomas entered the tent. He bowed to both Elizabeth and Jessica holding a crystal in his hand.
"Were you able to get Helen?" Jessica asked.
Thomas shook his head. "No, but I got Louise."
"Good enough. Hand it over."
Thomas handed Jessica the crystal before leaving.
The crystal glowed as Louise's image appeared.
"What's going on? "Jessica asked.
"I don't know. Ms. Williams told me to return to the lab and stay here." Louise said.
Jessica sighed, scratching her head. She didn't like the sound of that.
"Maybe Helen found out something," Elizabeth chimed in.
"Seems like it," Louise said.
Elizabeth noticed Jessica staring at the ground again, but this time, her eyes were not blinking.
"What's on your mind?" Elizabeth asked.
"I think Helen didn't want you involved with what's going on in the rest of the library." Jessica said looking up at Louise.
A beeping noise interrupted them. Louise looked down.
"I am getting a message…. It's encrypted, it's from Ms. Williams," Louise said.
Louise grew silent as she typed away on her keyboard. After a few moments, she looked back up.
"It says all non-essential personnel please remain at your stations. "All messages from here on will be encrypted." Louise finished.
"Things are getting serious," Elizabeth said.
"Yup," Jessica said, looking back at Louise. "This will be the last time we'll be communicating for a while. Stay where you are and keep quiet."
"Understood," Louise said as her image disappeared.
Elizabeth bit her lit as she sat up in the cot.
"Looks like we're on our own."
"Not like we haven't done it before," Jessica said.
"This time we have something to protect."
"Yeah, Jessica sighed. "We're in a rough spot."
"That we'll see through to the end," Elizabeth said.
Jessica sighed as she stood up. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she looked at Elizabeth.
"You better get some rest; I have a few things I need to do."
Elizabeth laid back on the cot as Jessica picked up the flask and left the infirmary.
Walking through the camp, Annabeth and Percy watched some warriors throwing away broken pieces of wood, cloth, and other debris. While others walked past them with fresh pieces of wood and cloth ready to replace it. Annabeth and Percy reached out, offering to help, but the warriors shook their heads. Shrugging, Percy and Annabeth continued walking through the camp.
"So, let me get this straight you went on vacation?" Percy asked.
"Yup, I took the plunge, but I ended up lost in the jungle and found Terpsichore," Annabeth said. "Have to say this is a lot more fun than my vacation."
"Glad you see it that way. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you, but I've been trying to have a nice summer vacation with mom for a while now." Percy said.
"You will get to have it one day, but now just isn't the time," Annabeth said. Also, I am glad to see you too."
The two bumped into Jessica, who had just stepped out of the infirmary.
"Hey you two," Jessica said, with a small smile.
"Hey, so how is Elizabeth?" Annabeth asked.
"She's on the mend." Jessica said, looking at the two of them. "Do you remember Elizabeth?"
Annabeth nodded, which Percy looked confused. Then a thought came to mind.
"Hm, I remember an Elizabeth King, who fought with us to save the world from her mother, Natalia.
Jessica smiled. "Yeah, well I think she is ready to talk to you two now."
Percy smiled as he looked over at Annabeth, who nodded. "Then let's go. We have a lot to talk about.
The two of them walked into the Infirmary.
Jessica nodded, smiling. She sighed and continued walking.
Elsewhere in the camp, Mel watched Thalia and Clio teaching Terpsichore how to punch and kick. She smiled at Terpsichore, who was doing a few flips mixed in with her kicks. When the others tried to do the same Thalia felt flat on her face, with Clio falling right after.
Mel chuckled; it's been a long time since she's seen them like this. She wished it could be like this forever.
"I can help."
Mel looked around; it was the voice again.
"Who said that?"
"Behind you."
Turning around, there was the dark spot she saw before. Mel watch as it morphed into a familiar female silhouette, but she couldn't make out who it was.
"Who are you?" Mel repeated.
"Someone you know very well, but you're not ready yet." The mystery woman said.
"Uh okay," Mel said.
"You want to find your sisters faster?"
"Yes," Mel said with determination.
"Summon the scythe and it will be easy."
Mel raised an eyebrow. "Scythe?"
The mystery woman motion for Mel to follow her. Nodding, the two of them stopped at an open area of the camp. With everyone busy with cleaning up, the two of them were standing alone.
"Close your eyes and focus on saving your sisters," the woman said.
Taking a deep breath, Mel closed her eyes. She thought about her sister still held in captivity. She needed to set them free, for they all needed to be together again.
The mystery woman smiled as a black aura formed around Mel's body. She watched as a ball of black light slowly formed into the scythe in front of Mel.
"Yes, you're doing it," the woman said.
Mel gasp as she opened her eyes and the image forming in front of her disappeared. Dropping to her knees, the woman helped Mel stood up. Mel looked back at the woman, whose long black hair and black eyes looked just like hers. Except her skin wasn't as pale as hers.
"I am sorry. I couldn't summon it," Mel said.
"It's okay, you're close. So, I will help you."
Mel stepped back as the woman stood in front of her. A scythe appeared in the woman's hand. Mel stared at the black, glowing scythe. She noticed the blade looked familiar.
"Having one vision is nice, but two is better." The woman said, bringing the scythe up as she slashed the air.
Mel watched as the space showed a circle sliced in half. One side showed a general store while the other side held the image of a rundown astrology facility.
Moments later, Jessica, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Clio and Terpsichore emerged, noticing the double portal.
The mystery woman looked back at Mel.
"Remember, focus on summoning the scythe. When you do, we shall meet again," the woman said, touching Mel's cheek as she disappeared.
"This is amazing," Annabeth said.
"Yeah, how did you do this?" Percy asked.
"Uh, I don't know, but now we can find two of my sisters instead of one."
Percy nodded. He looked at Jessica, who was examining the portals. Cracking her knuckles, she turned back to everyone.
"Okay, we split up into two groups." Jessica said.
"I'm heading to the Astrology building," Mel said.
"Me too," Percy said.
"Same here," Annabeth said.
"Which leaves me with the general store," Jessica said.
"Correction, us," Elizabeth said, as she walked over and stood beside Jessica.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Jessica asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I have healed enough," Elizabeth said.
Sighing, Jessica shook her head. Thalia took a step forward, grabbing her staff.
"I want to go too."
"Thalia," Mel said. "You don't have to do this."
"But I want to. Besides, you're gonna need all the help you can get."
Jessica nodded. "Alright, come with us."
Thalia nodded, standing beside Jessica.
Clio and Terpsichore nodded as they stepped back.
With their weapons secure and their determination flaring, Percy, Annabeth and Mel ran through one portal while Jessica, Thalia and Elizabeth ran through the other.
Clio and Terpsichore watched as the portal closed.
"I hope they make it back, Clio said.
"I know they will. Come on, let's go back to training," Terpsichore said.
Clio and Terpsichore walked away. Clio stopped as a chill ran up her spine.
"Are you okay?" Terpsichore asked.
"Yeah, just a chill," Clio said, followed by a smile.
Terpsichore nodded and ran ahead. Clio's smile disappeared as she looked back at the spot where the portals were.
"I have a bad feeling about this…. please don't be true."