Disclaimer: Still just playing in the toy box! ^_^ Hopefully I can figure out what I'm doing soon enough... Thanks for the feedback!

Chapter 3

"Wow, it's exactly the same as when I left," Harper sighed—now getting a piggy-back ride from Herry, who'd gotten tired of her squirming. "The same, but still, so... different."

"Yeah, we may have broken a few things," Odie said as he led the way from Hephaestus's garage.

Harper let out a small laugh. "Not surprising—I've broken, lost, and melted my fair share of utilities here," she said, staring around at the white marble of the central room. "And that statue of Zeus is as amazing as ever."

Jay smirked. On their ride back to New Olympia, Harper had been quiet and a little anxious—he was happy to see her expression break into an awed satisfaction with each step Herry took. Herry seemed to like it too as he took his time getting to Chiron's room.

"Oh, I don't need to..." The girl's quiet objection trailed off as Jay pushed the doors open, and Herry couldn't help noticing her stiffen a little.

The regular sized centaur was standing by his desk in the back of the room by a large window. Theresa cleared her throat as they filed into the room. Chiron looked up from his scrolls in surprise, but his expression quickly changed to amusement. "Bye Zeus's bolt," he said, smiling at them. "Look who has returned to our door."

Harper gave him a sheepish smile as Herry set her down on the lounge chair, which Chiron used as a medical bed. "Not on purpose, Chiron," she said. "That I promise you."

Chiron chuckled and joined her with a tray of vials. "If I remember correctly," he said, setting the tray down. "You have a talent for injury. So what is it this time? Confront a siren again? Find a basilisk?"

"Close," Harper said, wincing as the centaur examined her knee. "Landed on a loose rock to get away from a river guardian."

"A river guardian?" Chiron repeated, opening a jar of strongly bad smelling ointment. "Aren't you related to a few of those?"

"Not Nessus I'm not," Harper said, folding her arms.

"We'll wait outside," Archie said loudly and turned to push Atlanta and Theresa out of the room.

"Hey! Archie!" Atlanta protested, but eventually all seven were back in the gods' lobby.

"Chiron wouldn't have minded if we waited in there, you know," Theresa said, eyeing him skeptically.

"Yeah, well, it's better to offer privacy," Archie said.

"Since when are you the first to think of privacy?" Atlanta asked, folding her arms.

"Well it's not like she's one of us," Archie said, receiving looks of disbelief. "Maybe she'd like the privacy."

"Whatever," Teresa said and turned to Atlanta. "Wanna come with me to tell Athena?"

"Sure," Atlanta said eagerly sprinting to the door. "She was going to point out the differences between the different archery bows she's got in her store-room anyway."

"Have fun," Jay called after them.

"Guess that leaves us guys," Archie said. "Anyone wanna grab a pizza?"

"Sure," Neil said, eyeing himself in his pocket mirror. "I could do with going out."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," a woman said from behind them. The five boys looked up to see the head goddess, Hera, standing in the doorway of her aviary. "I'm afraid lunch is going to have to wait."

...

"I'm glad you returned early," Hera said as the boys sat next on the two adjacent couches. "Where are Teresa and Atlanta?"

"They went to see Athena," Jay said and sat on the couch across from her. "But we bumped into Nessus—."

"I know, Hermes was just in here," Hera said. "And it sounds as though a former student has rejoined our ranks."

Odie nodded, smiling—the gods were always one step ahead on news, but they explained the days events for her anyway. Hera listened, watching them with a thoughtful expression, but for some reason, Hera didn't seem as happy as Jay had expected her to be.

"Well, I suppose it was smart to bring her here," she said after a moment. "But how strange that she should turn up exactly where you were..."

Archie frowned. "You think it was a set up?"

Hera hesitated. "I'm not sure," she said. "For Cronus to sit idly this long makes me uneasy."

"But he's not," Herry said slowly. Hera gave him a curious look. "It's something Nessus said—that he was ignoring Cronus's orders when he was attacking Harper."

"You mean Cronus gave Nessus the order to attack her?" Hera asked, raising an eyebrow. "But what would Cronus want with... Never mind. I've called you in here for a reason."

Jay watched the goddess curiously as she crossed the room to her desk. When she came back she was holding a badly wrapped cloth which made a faint thud as she placed it on the coffee table.

"This," Hera said, unwrapping the cloth, "is a blue Chalcedony, fairly rare and in astounding condition, and considerably powerful."

"Powerful?" Herry repeated, looking from the pale blue stone to the goddess with a raised eyebrow.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Hera said with a smile. "In this case, underestimating the gem's power could be a deadly mistake."

"What do you mean? It's just a stone," Neil said.

Hera picked up a book which had been sitting on the coffee table and started flipping through the pages. "You've heard stories, I'm sure, of ancient civilizations who found healing or protective properties in gemstones, correct?"

"Yeah, a lot of hocus-pocus if you ask me," Archie said. Jay, Herry, and Neil nodded in agreement.

"Not entirely," Odie said. "Recent scientists have been testing theories involving the vibration pulses given off by elemental supplements, specifically gemstones, and their effects on the vibrations given off by the human body."

The others looked at him in disbelief, but Hera smiled. "Ancient Greek society is no different," she said. "For example, Amethyst was developed when Dionysus fell in love with a nymph, to escape she went to Artemis and was turned into the stone. It was Dionysus who gave her the purple coloring and the power to protect, especially from alcoholism. The blue Chalcedony also has distinct roots in Greece—in the city of Chalcedon in fact."

"Okay," Jay said slowly as he processed the information. "So what does the blue Chalcedony do?"

Hera pointed to the page in her book. "There are many types of the Chalcedony stone, but blue is the rarest and most powerful," she said. "It can ward off negative magic as well as psychic attacks. In mortal hands, this gem is known to amplify physical strength as well as endurance. I'm sure you've heard of Napoleon?"

"And in the hands of someone like, oh say, Cronus?" Archie asked, almost fearing the answer.

"It would be worse," Hera admitted. "Much worse. Luckily we have managed to drain the properties from all other known pieces of the gemstone to a manageable amount for mortals before they caused too much damage."

Jay frowned. "So, you're saying—."

"All that magic has been encapsulated in this stone," Hera finished.

Herry exchanged glances with Jay. "And you're keeping it here because...?"

"Because the only one I would normally trust with matters this pressing is Iris," Hera said. "But with this dry weather, I have been unable to contact her."

"Why?" Neil asked. "Wrong phone number?"

"Iris is her personal messenger," Archie said impatiently. "She travels by rainbow."

"So then maybe she's in Oz. You know—over the rainbow?" Neil offered, then started laughing at his own joke.

Hera rolled her eyes and Neil's teammates groaned.

"If I cannot find Iris," Hera said. "I will need you to find a way to get this gemstone to the only place it will be safe from Cronus."

"And where's that?" Herry asked.

"I will let you know if the time comes," Hera said vaguely, closing the book. "For now, we have the mystery of Harper on our hands."

"Yeah, and why Cronus wanted to attack her," Herry agreed.