Sorry for being a day late! But it's my longest chapter yet, so hopefully it's worth it. In case you aren't following the SYOC info story, Chapter 1 and 2 have been revised. Enjoy!
William Harrison
Will wasn't looking forward to the next meeting. The encounter with Apollo had been far from ideal, they didn't even get his support, that and the truth song caused tensions between him and Alec, he didn't even like to think about it. Apparently Alec felt the same since he seemed to be avoiding him. It was luck Cleo left during that song.
William had offered to drive the van; it was a way to get him focus on anything else. They had been driving for hours and just passed into West Virginia. Their destination was New York.
Unlike usual Chase wasn't sitting in the passenger seat, instead it was Leonata. She is usually always sleeping, but to his surprise she was wide awake, messing with the radio trying to find a station.
"Are all of the channels here country?!" She exclaimed. With a huff she left it on one of the many country stations, giving up.
"There are some of Argus's CDs in the glove compartment," William offered. "But I'm pretty sure they are all classical," he added.
"Ugh, that's even worse than country, this'll have to do I guess," Nata groaned leaning back.
"How much longer 'till we get there?" Cleo asked.
Drey was the one with the map and he pulled it out. "We just need to make it through here and Pennsylvania so-"
Quinn interjected, cutting him off, and receiving a glare from Drey, "six more hours."
"Six?! I don't know how anyone survived time sensitive quests," Chase joked.
"I'm pretty sure timeliness is still really important," Nata pointed out.
"But it still isn't any of that 6 day limit," Chase retaliated.
Their argument was interrupted by Cleo, "Guys what is that?" she asked, looking at the back of Will's seat.
"I think it's an Iris message," Quinn said questionably.
"Wait, I thought that Iris was taken out by the Titans," Drey said confused.
Chase started to snap his fingers like he was trying to remember something "wait… Artemis just said Iris was missing, maybe she is just in hiding," he said. Will wished he wasn't driving so he could see what was happening.
"Wait, it's starting," Cleo said looking intently into the image forming. Nata jumped into the back to get a better view.
"Can you explain what's happening?" Will asked. "I can't see anything."
"It's less of a message and more of a video of something happening," Quinn observed.
"They're in like a coliseum looking thing," Nata said looking closely. "I think that's… holy sh- I think that's Tethys." Looking in the rearview mirror he was shocked to see Cleo's face pale.
"The image is a little blurry so we can't really see super well," Quinn explained.
"Tethys just walked into the coliseum, with who I think is Oceanus; we can't hear anything that they're saying," Drey added. "And now two people were led into the coliseum, they are in like chains, and I'm pretty sure they're goddesses, but I can't tell who."
"Will, I think they are going to execute them," Cleo said shocked.
"Didn't know one know how the titans got rid of the gods?" Drey asked.
"Well you're about to find out," Nata said grimly. Will quickly pulled the van over to the side and jumped into the back, sitting next to Cleo. Now he was able to see what was going on.
"Are you okay?" Will asked her quietly. Cleo nodded, staring straight ahead at the video.
The two goddesses looked like exact opposites. One was wearing all black with completely black eyes, her black hair was in a crazy braid. The other was in all white with pale blonde hair and light blue eyes.
"Oh, I think I know who they are!" Chase said excitedly. "The one in all black is Eris, and the other one is Harmonia!" Everyone was surprised that he of all of them knew.
"And how do you know that?" Nata asked him.
"I try and make sure I know who the gods are," Chase said sticking his chin up. Quinn quickly shushed them, turning Will's attention back to the scene before him. Tethys, or who he thought was Tethys, they could only see the back of her, pulled out a weapon that Will recognized as a harpe. A mix between a sword and a scythe, and this one in particular had a strange eerie white glow.
Eris shouted something, and shot a black blast at some nearby monsters, causing them to fight each other. With a single swipe of the harpe, Tethys cut clean through Eris, but surprisingly she was still in one piece, causing the goddess to laugh. A second later, she started to turn to stone, and once she was rock from top to bottom, the same light from the blade started to glow around the stone Eris, and in an instant the statue burst into millions of little pieces of light. Turning to Harmonia, who had a look of absolute terror that would be burned in William's memory; Tethys took the harpe and swung at the other goddess. Right before the impact the image just turned off.
The car was silent for a while as they all just took in what happened.
"That's terrible," Cleo said quietly, breaking the silence.
"They must've scattered her essence. That's the only way I can imagine how that just happened," Quinn thought out loud.
William cleared his throat and sat back down in the driver's seat. "We will tell the others about this as soon as we can, but the quicker we get to New York the better."
Leonata seemed the most shaken up out of all of them, which surprised him, she usually never shows that much emotion. She slowly got back into the passenger's seat and stared out the window.
He drove the rest of the way with hardly any conversation. With having just seen such a gruesome video, and Tara soulless in the back, it was making it hard for casual conversation to come back.
"We're here," Will announced as he parked in a big parking complex outside of Prometheus Global Media. Anyone who was sleeping, which was pretty much everyone except for himself woke up and yawned.
"There they are," Quinn said pointing out the window to the rest of the group, who had already parked.
Will got out of the van and walked over to the others. He had been driving for six hours straight, and Will was pretty tired, but he had told himself he wouldn't sleep until after they got Zeus to help them. Well, they were all pretty sure Zeus was here because Apollo did hint at that.
"Hey guys," Charlotte greeted. "How was the drive?" she asked. He was sure she probably wasn't expecting much of an answer.
Everyone who was in the car with William looked down, waiting for someone else to respond to her question.
"We saw an Iris message," Drey stepped up.
"It was more like a video, less of a message from a specific person," Quinn interjected.
Drey glared at him before continuing, "We saw the Titans kill Eris and Harmonia."
"We didn't see Harmonia die," Quinn mumbled, and Drey looked like he wanted to punch him in the face.
"How?" Alec asked with a collected expression. He was a master at keeping it cool and hiding any emotions, but that was all part of his upbringing, with a strict dad and all.
"They used a harpe and it just turned Eris to stone before she exploded into light," Quinn finished, not at all helping his situation with Drey.
"How could a harp do that?" Jose asked confused.
"Not the instrument, the weapon. It is a mix between a sword and a scythe, "Alec explained. "But, I think I know how."
"I thought that it was able to scatter the essence of the god so much that it couldn't return back together," Quinn spoke up.
"A harpe was the type of weapon Perseus used to kill Medusa. It nullified the divinity of her, allowing him to inflict wounds," Alec continued. "After Perseus used it, it was given back to Hermes who supposedly put it somewhere safe."
"Apparently, it wasn't safe enough," Drey scoffed.
"Hey!" Chase declared.
"Okay," Will said stopping any arguments from breaking out. "We have an idea on how the Titans are killing gods, but now we have a more immediate problem, meeting Zeus."
"Three people, of course?" Charlotte said questionably. That had been their plan so far. Anytime the group separated it was usually a small group of three.
"Of course I'll be going, anyone want to volunteer?" William asked looking around. He was a hurt to see Cleo take a step back. He could've really used her to help get through this meeting which he was not at all looking forward too.
"I'll go," Charlotte offered.
"That probably isn't the best idea," Ace spoke up. "Your mom probably isn't one of Zeus's favorite people; same can be said for my dad." Charlotte looked disappointed as she looked at the ground.
"I guess I could go," Chase said, not very enthusiastically. Will gave him an encouraging nod.
"What about Alec for the third?" Ace asked. Will almost forgot that no one knew about what happened at the concert except for the two of them.
"I think I need a break from meeting gods," Alec replied with an emotionless expression.
"I could go than," Jose meekly offered. Will was glad at his volunteering. Ever since what happened with Hyperion it was evident that Jose thought it was his fault and had been quieter than usual, which said a lot.
"The rest of you stay here and wait, we'll be back hopefully soon," Will finalized as he turned to the doors, Chase and Jose behind him.
"So, what are we gonna say to your pop?" Chase asked.
"We can start out by getting his attention with the harp story, than about Apollo and the prophecy, and hopefully he'll help us," William said, trying as hard as he could to sound confident.
Will took in his surroundings as he walked in. It looked exactly like the lobby of a big enterprise thought one would think. There was a modern interior with a few people waiting in leather chairs, and a bored, petite receptionist sat behind the main desk. William could obviously tell she was a wind nymph, with an almost translucent body and her light brown hair was flowing as if there was a breeze, but there wasn't. Her name tag said, "Stacy."
"May I help you?" she asked with a thick European accent that Will couldn't quite place his finger on.
"We're here to see the CEO," Will said with a commanding voice.
"Do you have a meeting?" she asked.
"No, but this guy is his son," Chase interjected.
Stacy rolled her eyes, "I'll see if he is willing to meet you. Please wait a few minutes," she said gesturing to the chairs.
"Thank you," Jose said for them as they sat down. Chase picked up a National Geographic magazine and flipped through it, and Jose just leaned back quietly.
A few minutes later Stacy spoke up. "William Harrison, Jose Sanjas, Chase Keldheart, he's ready to see you. Go to the top."
The three of them stood up, and walked to the elevator, Jose pushing the button.
"You ready?" Jose asked them both.
Will had almost said the cliché ready as I'll ever be, but thought against it. "Hopefully," he decided on saying, staring straight ahead at the door. After a few minutes of elevator music, that sounded eerily like the tune to one of Apollo's songs the door made the familiar ping and opened up.
The architecture inside was amazing, with a mix between Greek and modern. There were columns supporting everything and gold lining, but the modern twist was chrome coloring and straight platforms.
Hera was sitting on a gold couch, glaring at Will.
"Welcome son," Zeus said walking over from around the corner. "Jose, Chase," he greeted nodding at them. "I can guess why you've come, to ask me to help right? With the whole clandestine god's line from the prophecy," he said. Even though he sounded nonchalant with how he spoke, there was still a stern and authoritative edge in his voice.
Will had to find his voice. "Yes, in order to stop the Titans you and the other gods have to come out of hiding and help fight them."
"Do you expect us to just come to the help of mortals at your beck and call?" Hera snapped venom in her voice.
"Darling, could you please leave us to talk, go wait in the lobby or something," Zeus commanded. Hera turned up her chin and strutted out of the room with a huff.
"Tethys is using the harpe used to kill Medusa on the other gods, which is how she is killing them all," Will explained.
"That's impossible, I made sure Hermes put that somewhere it never could be found," Zeus seethed; he started to cackle with lightning.
"We saw a sort of Iris message thing that showed her well… executing Eris and Harmonia," Chase said a little weakly.
"This is worse than I thought than…" Zeus said looking in thought. "Gods though, do not need to rely on mortals, and some of the others think this is exactly what we would be doing by agreeing to help you, so gather the other ten Olympians and four other gods and I'll get them all to help with your problem," Zeus finalized. The way he said it, it seemed like he was doing only them a favor, and not like defeating Tethys would save them as well. "Now, let's see, get this all done by the summer solstice," he added. "Good luck son, don't disappoint me." Suddenly the three of them found themselves back at the van.
"Wha-"Will was cut off, instead standing back in the parking lot.
"Oh, where'd you guys come from?" Quinn asked shocked at their sudden appearance.
"Go ahead and explain," Will urged Jose.
"Oh uh…" Jose said nervously. Taking a deep breath he explained everything with surprising detail. When he was finished, Quinn was the first one to speak.
"The summer solstice?! That's on June 21st… that's only ten days away," Quinn pointed out shocked.
"Is this time sensitive enough?" Nata said to Chase, referring to their previous argument. Chase responded by looking at disbelief, probably because of her terrible timing.
Ten days, ten days to convince fourteen bipolar and irrational immortals to help them, ten days to stop Tethys from taking over the world, ten days to succeed.
Alec Calloway
"We can't possible achieve all of that in the time given," Alec pointed out; he couldn't help but show shock in his response.
"We would have to split up into groups," Ace said, and he looked like he regretted it, which was a rational response, since breaking up into groups is always a terrible idea.
"That may be our only choice…" Charlotte chimed in.
Will sighed, "Their right." He looked around at all of them before continuing, "Three groups are our best bet," Will stopped abruptly as he pulled his hand out of his pocket holding a small rolled up cube. "I have no idea how this got in my pocket…"
"I think I see a lightning insignia on the back of it," Charlotte said squinting to look.
Flipping it around, Charlotte was right, and as soon as Will touched the small lightning bolt, the cube unfolded into a flat plan with a map of what looked like the U.S. and a bunch of gold dots, 106 to be exact.
"That must be like a map of where all the gods are," Quinn said.
"This makes it a lot easier task than. Two groups would get four gods, and the third would get three. I'll be in charge of one, Ace another, and… Nata, you'll have the third."
"Wait, did you just say me?" she responded confused.
"Yep, you have the ability to lead, and this will help it show," William replied confident in his answer. "Too make the groups fair, anyone got any ideas?"
"Why don't we just draw names from a hat?" Ace suggested.
William nodded, "Charlotte, you wanna write down all of our names?" Charlotte grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and wrote all eleven names, putting them in a random baseball hat she found in the van.
"Can I choose first?" Leonata asked.
"Sure, go ahead," William said with a wave of his hand. Nata reached into the hat, looking up at the sky so she wouldn't see and pulled out the first folded up piece of paper.
She groaned upon seeing the name. "Chase," she said exasperatedly.
"It's not like you just chose an ogre," Chase said with crossed arms.
"I might as well have," she replied sticking out her tongue.
"Anyway, I'll choose," William interrupted, reaching between them to grab the next name.
Alec hoped his name wouldn't be called, but still kept a neutral demeanor. He was actually pretty mad at what their argument had been about. It was so unlike him to be hung up on this sort of thing…
"I'm gonna go… uh bathroom," Cleo said quickly as she rushed out of her seat.
A few seconds after Cleo had left the next song came on.
"Lies get you nowhere, causing stress and losing hair. The only way to go is the truth!" Apollo sang. Alec widened his eyes in shock. He had missed the title of the song, and according to what happened at the other songs, this didn't seem like it would end well.
"I don't know if I will be good enough in the end, ya know? I mean, my dad's Zeus, and he is already disappointed in me, than there is the fact that as soon as the war started everyone looked at me to guide because of who my dad is," William randomly blurted to no one in particularly. "Why am I saying this?"
Alec suddenly felt like talking about his past, stuff he never told anyone, and telling about every lie he has said, which would happen to be a lot. He managed to control the urge by mumbling it under his breath, making it not understandable to anyone but himself. William seemed to be trying to hold in what he was saying, but failing miserably, whilst everyone else in the audience was spilling their secrets out to their neighbors.
He couldn't keep it on the down low anymore, and he could feel the bigger secrets of his about to be blurted out. Knowing what was going to happen Alec tried to change up the wording, so it would be true, but puzzling to decipher. Unluckily he ran out of time.
Alec's memory was interrupted by Will announcing his first pick, "Jose." The hat went around to the next person.
"Okay, well, Cleo," Ace said, he gave Cleo a wave.
"Quinn," Nata announced. Next was Will, choosing Charlotte.
"Alec," Ace called as he held up the paper. Alec nodded, keeping a nonchalant response, risking a glance over at Will, he saw the son of Zeus glaring daggers at him. Before anyone else could see though, William turned away.
The groups ended up being as follows:
Will, Charlotte, and Jose; Ace, Alec, Cleo, and Tara; and Leonata, Chase, Drey, and Quinn.
His group was assigned in watching over Tara, which was a pretty heavy burden, since she was vulnerable and susceptible to attacks.
"So, Ace, you'll get at least four gods along the east coast, Nata, your group will get at least three to the left of Missouri, since there aren't as many on that side, and my group will get any four in-between," Will said showing them the map.
"How are we supposed to keep track of where they all are, since a lot of gods will probably be moving, and there is only one map?" Ace asked.
"We may have to get phones…" Quinn suggested.
"I think it would be worth the risk," Charlotte said quietly.
"Do we have enough money for that?" William asked Drey, who had taken role as treasurer of the quest.
"We can probably buy 3 cheap ones," he responded.
"Well, okay, we'll get 3 phones, exchange numbers, and anytime you wanna know where a god is just call my group and we can supply the answers," Will finalized.
"We can just take a train to the west," Nata suggested. After more debate on what to do, and how to do it, Drey distributed the rest of the money to the three groups, they got the phones, first destinations, and transportation was sorted out. Will's group got the rental car, Ace's the van, and Leonata the train.
After getting phones, they were about to go their separate ways, Will stopped Alec. "I don't want us to say bye on a sour note, considering how something may happen, but that's a little hard. Just watch out okay," Will said sternly.
Alec nodded, "sure, same for you."
"You know what I meant, bye Alec," he said before turning around to his group. Alec followed suit, and left to the van. Their first destination was Baltimore, Maryland.