"Are you ok?" I asked tears streaming down my cheeks, but my heart pounding in harmony.
"I'm fine." He met my eyes, his piercing mine with that gaze. He wrapped me in his arms and we kissed. Our lips locking together, my heart gently pounding. The same thrill I got every time I kissed him came back. Soon enough though, a little voice had to end it,
"Penelope, Phoenix! Hurry, it's starting to wave!" Jordyn screamed on top of her lungs. I looked and saw what she was talking about, further out a small wave was beginning to build, and guess who it was none other the rogue, Pearl. She stood on the dock building it.
"She's gonna die, if I have anything to say about it." I stated, anger boiling in my blood. Phoenix formed into his bird form, I grew my wings, and we shot into the air, I grabbed Jordyn by the hand and held her close to me. She smiled up at me. I smiled back.
"You have to find the last spot that's not contaminated by the acid. It's going to be deep in the ocean, then when you find in take a straight dive." Jordyn instructed. We flew over the ocean, spotting a few spots that looked like they were clean, but Jordyn just shook her head wildly. Finally a green piece of ocean came into view and Jordyn pointed. I dove and saw it was like a chamber of some type, if you continued to swim down you could see the shimmering image of Camp Half Blood. I treded water in wait for Phoenix, but while I was waiting I looked into the distant water past the column, death was all around, fish drifted through the ocean, pieces of trash floated, but the most gruesome part were the skeletons at the sandy bottom, their bones slowly dissolving. I gagged.
"Don't look my goddess." Phoenix dove in, that second and gestured for me to go ahead. I dove deeper and deeper. I awoke on the sandy beach of Camp Half Blood.
"Hey look Jeffrey, it's a nyrad! Is it dead? Go poke it with a stick, maybe it will bite your hand off." The boy guffawed, annoying me. I whipped my claws at him they formed within a second, they screamed and ran away. My claws sank back into my hands. I got up and saw Jordyn was studying the flowers that grew in a patch of grass. I walked to her,
"I never thought these grew any where else, I thought they only grew in Morphina." She said. Her eyes watering, then she wiped her tears away and runny nose, she glanced back at a boy coming towards us. I turned and saw Phoenix jogging over. He put an arm around me.
"You have never looked more beautiful." He said. I smiled at him.
"Yeah, defiantly, with a frekin fish on top of my head and my hair smelling like a godforsaken fish smorgasbord. Your cute, honey." I said laughing. He kissed my cheek, I hugged him. I missed him, I really did. Being with him was making forget all those lonely months I spent in the jungle. I pulled away when I realized a little girl was watching us.
"Sorry Jordyn." I said, she smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Jeffrey, what in the name of Zeus are talking about it's just the friendly goddess, Penelope." Chiron came trotting over with the boy Jeffrey.
"Chiron!" I squealed, I ran and hugged him. He laughed.
"Been awhile since I last saw you, now hasn't it my dear."
"Certainly has, anyway I'm on a mission, just stopping through. You remember Phoenix. This Jordyn, she's the daughter of one of my warriors. I'm sure you're familiar with the term, mirawi humans."
"Yes Zeus's human warriors, they are the only existing humans that live past the age of a hundred, if I'm correct." He said shaking hands with Phoenix.
"Yes, that's right." Jordyn eyed his half horse body form.
"I know your brother." She said plainly.
"My brother, why my dear I only have cousins?" He gave her a puzzled smile.
"Exactly, you don't know of him and he doesn't know of you. But you are one the same. Split at birth, you will never know one another." Chiron's brow furrowed and he shook his head, like he was shaking his worries away.
"Excuse me Chiron but we must be on our way, I have to get back to Olympus."
"I see…well I suppose I'll see you later then won't I?"
"Yes in the near future, I can promise on that." I smiled, hugged Chiron once more, then took hold of Jordyn's hand and grew my wings; I waited for Phoenix to go full bird form. I was about to take off when a voice stopped me.
"You thought you could just leave me, without saying goodbye, I didn't even get to see you go when you went to Mount Logan. Penelope Rondervin, Miss. Big Shot, to big to say hello to her good friend Rodney!" I smiled and turned and saw Rodney. He held an apple in his hand, and tapped his hoof impatiently.
"Of course Rodney, it's so good to see you!" I hugged him, he slowly hugged me back.
"I missed you kid. Really did, I kept remembering your stupid little act back at the school, I felt like I've become an older brother to you, that of course could just be me. But I missed you, and I don't usually show that I miss people. But I am always at your service even though you got a pretty godly boyfriend. Don't forget about, your old boy. Ok?" I smiled at him.
"Rodney, I will never forget you. You have become an older brother to me. I'll come back, I promise. I just got some things going on right now…"
"I understand, see ya around Miss. Goddess." I kissed him on the cheek and hugged him, then turned and jumped into the air. I pictured a jungle of Peru, and its various trees and vines. I grabbed Phoenix's giant wing, and held onto it. He squawked in protest, but I shushed him. He grumbled. I attached my vineal cord, as Nevleon said it was called, to a palm tree, and we soared through the sky with the speed that was faster then light. I came out of a cloud… soaring over the vast jungle. I spotted the drive, and dove down. Phoenix followed after me. I landed on the gravel clearing; I pressed the button that was buried beneath the gravel. The ground shook and I flew upward, Jordyn smiled. Phoenix took my hand. We smiled at each other.
The drive opened and we ran inside. I saw just the normal scene of Augustus playing cards with Markus. Nevleon going through some old book. Everything as I left it.
"Father!" Jordyn cried.
"Jordyn, my sweet!" He picked her up and swung her around, she giggled, and the years of pain and violence she had seen disappeared from her face. Nevleon turned and looked at me; he gave a small smile and a nod. I gave a short nod back to him with a smile; I don't know what we shared that second maybe the fact that Jordyn was alive and well.
"Phoenix this is Augustus, Markus, and Jeiphif, that's Nevleon, they are the last of the mirawi humans. The only survivors." They shook hands and bowed to Phoenix. He smiled and gave his thanks to each one for serving his grandfather. I counted the seconds of silence to break the news to them that Fiona had an actually full blooded god that was like millions of years old on her side.
"Nevleon a few hours ago, maybe more like a day. We encountered Fiona, I battled her and she fell weak, I froze time with my cry of panic, but she still remained unfrozen. I almost cut her head off, but her own knowledge saved her. But my little brother Jake…his father is…on Fiona's side."
"I'm sorry my goddess… I truly feel for you. There must be some way to beat them; we always have the plan of knocking Fiona out just long enough to throw her down Tarterus, along with Kronos and all the other titans. Atrocious things." He shook himself and then picked up the golden blade he was working on. "Look at this you know the weapon Kronos, Backbiter? Eh? Well this sword will have three types of metals, not only bronze, silver, but gold!"
"Ok, but why gold Nevleon?" I asked.
"Ah, my goddess, you do not know the story of gold do you?"
"No, I don't." I shook my head, while thinking, Ug Nevleon, I like you a lot but your stories are kind of useless and never get to the point.
"Well then your in for a treat, Jordyn's heard this one many times," Jordyn bobbed her head up and down, "well it happened many years ago in the year of before the man, the prophet Jesus Christ, was born. About 500 B.C. Now that I think of it, do you know what B.C really stands for?"
"No…what?" I asked, see what I mean, never getting to the point.
"Before Callipygos, also known as Aphrodite. Ah, such a lovely name."
"Ok Dad, she gets it." Jordyn said, Nevleon got realization in his eyes.
"Ah yes the story…Ok 500 B.C, there was a boy by the name of Zare, he was the son of Zeus and Alana, Zare spent his days training and fighting, till finally Zeus became so proud of Zare that he gave him a beautiful sword. The sword was gold, and was described as comparable to the beauty of the sun. Apollo even envied it in a way. So Zare, always training, ran into a deep forest one day when he was running. A noise spooked him, but he stood his ground. There standing before him was the god, Molan. The god of rocks, and dirt."
"Well that would suck to be the god of something like that." I laughed.
"Well anyway, Molan was angry because the boy was standing on his shrine without any reverence. Molan flung a rock storm at him, but Zare well trained and fast. Sunk his sword into Molan's heart, killing him permanently…"
"Permanently, that would mean that you could kill a god with the sword!"
"Yes, that's exactly right my goddess."
"So let's say I got my hand on that sword you're creating, could I kill Fiona?"
"I would think so. I mean don't take my word for it, but I think it could."
"This is awesome, when do you think it will be done?"
"That my goddess is a mystery, I fear not for some time…"
"But Fiona already has a gold sword, if I could get my hands on that sword, it would actually be a fair battle. Please Nevleon you have to get it done as soon as possible."
"Alright my goddess, I will work with urgency, but do not hope for it tomorrow. It will take maybe a little over a few moon phases."
"A few moon phases, that's a few months!"
"I understand my goddess, here take mine, it is an older one, but it is gold."
"Nevleon I can't, I have two already, if only one could be gold…"
"Switching the blade isn't hard; you just have to have the right materials. Which in fact I do." I pulled my falcata from my waist belt and handed it to him, he studied it.
"Who gave you this?"
"Chiron."
"I see." He took a wrench of some type, and pinched the delicate blade. The blade screamed in protest and he ripped it off with a great strength. The blade flew at me in anger like it was alive. I flipped my vine from my hand and wrapped it around it quickly. It soon fell to the ground, my vine unraveled; it flew back into my hand. I picked the blade up and tied a piece of string to it. I tied it around my neck, and it clanked with all my other necklaces I wore. Nevleon fiddled with my blade for a short time and then pulled out a small gold blade from a tool box. He twisted the new curved blade onto it. The new blade shined brightly a green light. Then dimmed to a lackluster glow, he handed me the blade. I smiled at him.
"Thank you Nevleon, I appreciate it."
"No trouble my goddess." I was hit by a wave of nausea,
"Excuse me; I have to go get a breath of air." I walked up to the stairs and looked out on the past Morphina. I sat down on the table that sat in the room, and studied every single detail I could. I wondered what exactly happened that made the great city fall. Jordyn had told me acid had taken over the city's water, which probably meant it ran through the pipes, making people die from contaminated water. But it couldn't have been just that… I was studying the city, and then something caught my eye. Jordyn and her mother stood on the central square I watched. Her mother whispered something into the girl's ear. Jordyn nodded, and then her mother pointed to the sky. Jordyn cocked her head and gave a puzzled look; the woman grabbed her daughter's hand and dragged her along through the streets. I was losing sight of them. I pressed my hand against the glass it buzzed with energy. I removed my hand, and my imprint was on the glass. An idea formed into my head. I wrote the name Jordyn on the glass, and the scene followed Jordyn. Her mother pointed over the sea. Jordyn covered her mouth and fear came into her eyes. Her mother hugged her, then Jordyn stepped onto the dock and dove in, she disappeared from sight.
The woman looked out on the ocean, wiped away a tear. Then looked up at the sky, it became clouded and a rain drop fell on her. She screamed in pain, she dropped to the ground and started to shake. Her skin started to dissolve and the grotesque scene disappeared when I removed my hand. I found myself crying, poor Jordyn, poor Ada, (Forgot to add that in too, Ada is Jordyn's Mom), poor Morphina. I sobbed into my knees as I dropped to the floor. My tears made little blue flowers growing through the concrete. But I just ignored them. I felt a warm arm wrap around me. I didn't have to know everything to know it was Phoenix.
"What's wrong?" But one look at the dieing city was enough to explain everything… "Penelope, look at me." I looked at him; he steadied my shaking heart just with that gaze. "It was in the past, leave it there. There is nothing you can do." He kissed the top of my hair. He held me close, shushing me. I relaxed my aching heart calming. I felt my eyelids droop, and close. I fell asleep in his arms.