The team felt like they had stepped into a fairy tale book when they arrived in the quaint little Greek town. Tiny homes and businesses lined the narrow streets. Everything felt centuries old minus the cars and streetlights. Even the people seemed stuck in time. No one was glued to a cellphone or an iPod. Thick woods grew all around the village, creating a feeling of being cut off from the rest of the world.

"Places like this still exist, huh?" Ezekiel pursed his lips as he looked out at the forests surrounding them.

"Everywhere, man. You just have to look," Jake breathed as he pulled the chair away from the outdoor café table they were preparing to sit at.

A stout man in his late 50s waddled to the table as they took their seats. "Yassas!" he chirped.

"What?" Ezekiel's face twisted up.

"Oh, sorry, I did not realize you are Americans. I simply said hello," the man answered.

"Hello," they all replied.

"May I bring you anything to drink or eat?"

"Just a coffee service is fine, we're in a bit of a rush," Eve replied.

"You Americans are always in a rush… not good for body," he teased.

"Too true." Eve's eye twitched slightly. "Any other bits of wisdom for us poor American tourists?"

The man grinned largely. "'Cherish wisdom as a means of travelling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession.'"

"Bias of Priene- a wise sentiment," she replied. "I've always liked Pythagoras myself. 'Choose rather to be strong in soul than strong in body.'"

"For a strong soul can overcome that which the strength of body loses to exhaustion."

Eve's brow rose in appreciation. "I'll have to remember that one."

"My name is Stephanos Loukas. A pleasure to have such distinguished souls in our little town. Welcome to my café."

"Eve," she answered and pointed to the others as she spoke. "This is Jake and Ezekiel."

"I have to tend to a matter quickly but I will take you to one who can show you what you seek in a few minutes. Blessings my friends."

"Thanks, Steve…" Ezekiel laughed. Stephanos frowned and disappeared back inside.

"I don't think he appreciates 'Steve'," Eve shook her head. "Don't be pissing off the friends we do have."

"Fine, Stephanos," Ezekiel snorted.

"You are certainly not what I expected," Stephanos stated. He led the team down a trail through the trees toward his home.

"We get that a lot," Eve sighed. "Too many movies, I guess."

Stephanos howled with laughter. "I think you are right! Well, my boarder- Cyrilla, lovely young woman, she has seen Cyrene many times."

"Cyrene?"

"That is the name we have all come to know for her. No one has spoken with her to know her actual name so that is what we call her."

"Like everyone calling the Loch Ness Monster Nessie," Jake offered.

"I suppose," Stephanos replied. "Cyrilla is a quiet woman, so please be patient with her as she may take a little time to open up and speak up. She is not like me at all… haha."

"Not a problem," Eve smiled.

The team was relieved to arrive at Stephanos' small home and find an end to the man's rambling. A petite woman, appearing in her thirties, was tending to some flower boxes out front.

"Cyrilla, my dear! These are the people who wish to meet Cyrene," Stephanos shouted.

The woman put down her watering can and came to greet the team.

"Hello," she said meekly.

"Hello, Cyrilla. My name is Eve." The two women shook hands before Eve continued with the introductions. "This is Ezekiel."

Cyrilla gave a small nod to him and turned to face Jake who approached with his right hand extended as Eve introduced him.

"And this is Jake…"

The young woman's nostrils flared as Jake stepped close. Her large eyes grew wider and she reared back. In a matter of moments, her arms rose, fists clenched and dropped against his torso. One fist landed on his right shoulder joint, the other at the front of the collarbone. She let out a cry and vanished into the trees as Jake dropped to the ground like a rag doll.

"What the hell was that all about?" Eve's jaw dropped.

"She's never done that before…" Stephanos stared in stunned silence.

"Come on, man. You've got at least six inches and 100 pounds on her. What a wimp," Ezekiel laughed at Jake still curled up on the ground.

Eve cocked her head to the side as she watched him a moment. Jake was partially on his back, shielding his right arm and shoulder towards the ground. His body was shaking slightly and she could hear him fighting the urge to cry out. She squatted next to him and craned her neck to look him in the face.

"Jake? You alright?" she asked.

He gingerly turned toward her, sitting on the ground. His face was red, his bottom lip trembled. His left arm held his right arm against his body as he breathed shallow and rapid. The pain radiated off his face as he shook it slightly.

"No..no," he managed to spit out.

She narrowed her eyes a moment. Her fingers reached out and down his shirt collar. She slid it down a few inches to look at his collarbone. A large bruise shown where Cyrilla had hit him. The shape was not in a fist, but something smaller and more rounded.

"What the hell is that?" Ezekiel frowned as he looked at the bruise.

Eve huffed a knowing laugh. "That would be a hoof print. Congrats boys, looks like we found Cyrene."

"Didn't look like a giant deer to me," Ezekiel scoffed.

"Some kind of shape shifting or optical illusion. Who knows, but that was her."

"I'm sorry," Stephanos apologized.

"I'm sure you were just trying to protect her. No need to apologize for that."

"We can't be too careful. I think I know where to look for her. There's a spot she goes when she is upset or wanting to be alone."

Eve fingered around the bruise on Jake's chest. He clenched his teeth and groaned.

"Broke the collarbone," she stated. She pulled her hand back and moved to his shoulder. As her fingers pressed against the joint, he let out a sharp cry he had been holding back.

"Stop helping!" he hissed.

"Dislocated the shoulder too," she smiled.

"Hurts like hell."

"Don't be such a baby."

"Says the one without the dislocated shoulder!"

"I've broken and dislocated more bones than you could count."

"Really?"

"Really. Once it's back in place- it's no big deal."

"Okay," he relented.

"When you're ready." She braced the shoulder, ready to pop the joint back.

"On three…" he breathed. She nodded.

"One…" he counted. Eve slammed the joint back into place. Jake screamed.

"What happened to THREE!?" he demanded after the cry of pain had cleared.

"It's better if you're relaxed," she replied.

"That hurt like…" his brain struggled to find a comparison.

"I told you it would feel better after it was back in place. Putting it back in place… well, that's pain like you won't believe," she smiled.

"Sometimes I hate you…" he huffed.

Her pocket began vibrating. "Perfect timing…" she sighed. She stood up and pulled the phone from her pocket. An incoming video call indicated on the screen. Her finger swiped the icon and brought up a screen of a nose.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"HEY, Eve!" The image on the screen pulled back to reveal Flynn in a darkened hallway. "I had a few minutes and decided to check up on how you're doing. Did you make contact with her yet?"

"Yeah… about that," she began.

"FLYNN, my friend!" Stephanos pushed his way in front of her to see the screen.

"Stephanos! Hey, how're you doing?" Flynn grinned.

"You must come back here soon. Athena perfected her chicken spinach… it's to die for!"

Flynn's jaw fell, "Oh, you know I love her chicken…"

"Would you two ladies like us to give you some privacy?" Eve interrupted. Stephanos lowered his head and backed away.

"Sorry, anyway, you were saying?" Flynn asked.

"We DID make contact, and we kind of lost her before anything could really be said."

"Okay…"

"Well, we were told we were meeting someone who could take us to her… and it turned out it WAS her…"

"And all three of you were there, weren't you?" Flynn nodded understanding as he spoke.

"Yeah."

"How not good did it go?"

"She tried to snap Jake in half."

"Oh, that not good. Guess that confirms what we suspected."

"Suspected what? It would really be nice to know what the heck is going on."

"Well, remember the story of the Hind… she's been captured once in her 3,000ish years of life."

"Yeah, by Herc…" Eve's face dropped. "PLEASE, tell me you are not about to say he's a descendant of Hercules."

"What? No, no, definitely not," Flynn panicked.

Eve huffed in relief. "Okay, so what about the story?"

"Well, Hercules captured her on his cousin Eurystheus' order. Now records aren't all that complete or even well kept from that time but we're pretty sure Jake is related to Alycone- Eurystheus' sister who fled to the Urnfields. We couldn't be positive from our research but I'm gonna say her reaction is pretty much the best certainty we can ask for."

"So you're saying Jake is one of the people who can use this dagger to become immortal?"

"Yes..NO…yeah, well," Flynn debated. "Yeah, I guess that is what I'm saying, yeah."

"And we didn't feel this was important information to have?"

"We couldn't say for certain so we didn't want to complicate anything."

"Well, that failed."

"Yeah, got that."

"Who thought this was a good idea?"

"It wasn't, but we couldn't take the chance of sending just the two of you without knowing what we were up against. You needed the man power more than we worried about sending him. He's not really a danger to her, unless you think he'd use it. You don't think that, do you?"

"I may be hurt, but I'm not dead. You guys know I can hear you, right?" Jake muttered from the ground.

"I'm on speaker, aren't I?" Flynn sealed his face in an awkward toothless grin.

"Yeah, video conference tends to be speaker." Eve closed her eyes in frustration.

"Sorry," Flynn apologized. "Oh, hey, we did identify who stole the dagger by the way. His name is Percy Countrace. This is a really bad guy. He's a former member of both the Scorpion League and Serpent Brotherhood. Guess he was even too bad for them. He's got a couple of guys as far as we can tell."

"That's good to know."

"The problem is… he isn't a descendant of Alycone. He can't use the dagger, so we aren't really sure what his plans are yet but if there is a way to get around that- he's smart enough to figure it out. So the sooner you can secure the Hind, the better we'll all be."

"We have a lead on where she might be, but Jake's in no shape to continue. I reset his shoulder but it's not going to be real useable for a while and the broken collarbone isn't going to help either."

"I patch him up and get him to the airport, no problem," Stephanos chimed. A small look of panic crossed Jake's face at the prospect of being left alone with the constant talker.

"See, there you go. Stephanos is good at fixing things. If you guys need help, I can be there in a couple hours, no sweat," Flynn offered.

"Aren't you working on something important there?" Eve narrowed her gaze.

"Ha, it's Atlantis… trust me, the city isn't the only thing lost. Just spent three days trying to locate the directory. Technological marvels… and really excellent cell reception but their organizational skills are nonexistent. I'm ready to be done," Flynn sighed.

"You should finish what you're doing. Ezekiel and I should be able to handle this. We'll call if we need you, I promise."

"Okay, good luck." He hung up.

"Looks like we're going deer hunting," she breathed.

"Fun," Ezekiel frowned.

"You aren't seriously leaving me here," Jake pleaded.

Eve shook her head. "You need to be patched up and seeing how THIS meeting went, I'm not real keen on the idea of bringing you along for round two."

"I don't know, I think it'd be fun to watch," Ezekiel snickered. They both glared at him.

"You stay here and get patched up. Hopefully we can find Cyrene, Cyrilla whatever her name is and be back before you leave. If not, you should go. That collarbone needs attending," Eve ordered. Jake frowned but stayed silent.

"I'll get him fixed good," Stephanos promised.

"First we need to know where to look for Cyrene," Eve reminded him.

"Yes, about three kilometers that way is a stream. Follow the stream south 'til it forks. On the far side you will see a grove of trees. She hides away near there," Stephanos explained, pointing toward the east.

"Thanks. Let's go." Eve headed out east, Ezekiel falling in behind her. Jake sighed watching them disappear without him.