Chapter 16

A Message from the Gods?

I woke up to the sound of Connor and Hermes laughing about something, and Connor almost stepping on me. He said he was sorry and offered his arm to pull me up. I took it, but pulled him down instead. Hermes and I then started laughing.

I shouted, "The prankster got pranked!"

Connor shook his head in disbelief, and then started laughing along with us. We both got up, and it was then I realized how high we were. I could almost see all of the US and half of Canada. Suddenly the air started to get a little misty, and I realized we just passed through a cloud, you could tell that a few feet below us, it was raining. It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. It was like the rain was coming out of nowhere. Hermes and Connor seemed to think it was pretty cool as well because they both stopped their talking.

But as soon as the moment had started, it was gone. We couldn't see the rain anymore and the sky was pretty clear where we were. Then I saw a small little rainbow. I thought that was pretty interesting as well and I pointed it out to Connor.

Connor then said, "I wonder if Iris is here."

I then asked him, "Iris, as in the other messenger of the gods, and goddess of rainbows? I've heard of her but I've never seen her."

Connor then told me that he'd seen her a couple of times, and that you could communicate through her. All you had to do was throw a drachma into the mist and hope she'd come.

But before I could even think about doing that (Yes, we demigods have drachmas. You never know when you need one.) I saw a figure coming out of the sky. It was a woman, and she had beautiful golden wings that kind of looked like a butterfly's. She was wearing a multicolored, flowy dress and had her long black hair braided and to the side. She had an old looking Greek jug on her back as well. When she got close enough to see her face, I realized that her eyes kept changing colors and then they settled on brown. She had a kind look to her face, and she made me feel comfortable.

Then she started to speak. "Arrow, daughter of Artemis, I have something to tell you. As you know, I am a messenger between the gods. I can also hear all of their conversations, and many of them have been about you. I can only tell you this, before I interfere too much. Zeus is plotting against you; he thinks you're an abomination because you technically shouldn't even exist. Your mother hated men, and suddenly she found one that she liked and gave him a child? Seems a little extraordinary to say the least, at least in Zeus's point of view."

I said, "Wow. I kind of suspected he didn't trust me, but this is crazy. Why did he give us the chariot then? Did he put those bags of wind under the floorboards and make us crash? I would feel so bad if that was all because of me."

Iris then said, "I'm sorry, dear, but that's all I can tell you. I have to go now."

Iris then said her goodbyes to Connor and Hermes quickly, but before she left I asked her something.

"Iris, can you take this drachma to my friend Mitena? She lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin at Secret Brooks Stables. Tell her how to use Iris-messaging, please? I would like to be able to have some contact with her. She's my best friend."

Iris seemed to dislike that idea, but she took some of my drachmas and was gone in a flash of multicolored light.

Connor and Hermes seemed stunned, and Connor told me that he had never actually seen Iris in person. He then told me it wasn't my fault that Zeus didn't like me.

Zeus always seemed like kind of a jerk to me, anyways.

I am so, so sorry for not posting anything in a LONG time, but I had total writers block, and this story wasn't really at my top list of priorities. Hopfully you aren't too disappointed.