Chapter 16

"Thank you for agreeing to this, Jay," Hera said.

Across from her, the brown-haired boy nodded in his usual serious nature as he eyed what could have been a blue baseball. "It's not radioactive or anything, right?" he asked, looking up at the goddess. "I won't accidentally mutate and get laser eyes or anything right?"

Hera gave him a bemused smile and shook her head. "The stone is sealed," she said, gesturing to the blue chalcedony. "And it would take a great deal more than just touch to tap into its properties now."

Well, that's a relief anyway, Jay thought.

"I must warn you, Jay," Hera said as he tucked the stone into his pocket. "Don't try to use the stone—not even in the most dire of circumstances. As much good as it could do, it can do far worse. There have been casualties of using such power."

"Casualties?" Jay echoed, staring at the goddess in alarm. He glanced down at his pocket. How could a rock cause casualties? Outside of lobbing it at someone's head. She was joking, right?

But Hera nodded gravely. "There is more than one reason the team from Harper's time... disbanded," she said, a flicker of remorse on her face before she smiled at her favorite pupil again. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Now go—and remember, be careful who you trust."

Jay nodded slowly, frowning in thought as he crossed the room. When he got to the door, he glanced back. Hera had already turned away from him, her attention focused on her plants and birds. So he quietly slipped out, his mind going a mile a minute about what his first plan of action should be.

...

Having a stone that could potentially destroy all chances they had of beating Cronus just sitting in his pocket was unnerving, to say the least. Jay had never exactly been one to let his nerves get to him, but keeping calm this time felt harder to do. Especially since Hera had warned him against telling anyone. Which ended up meaning his team and other gods—after all, who else would he tell? It wasn't as though he strutted around school announcing that he talked to the Greek Gods on a regular basis.

So now he found himself walking from the school with the strange weight of the stone pulling at his thoughts. He understood that the stone was dangerous, but was it really dangerous enough that he couldn't tell the people he trusted most.

"Oof! Hey!"

"Sorry," Jay said quickly, reaching out to steady the person he'd walked headlong into only to find himself staring into a set of ocean colored eyes. "Harper!"

The blonde raised a bemused eyebrow at him and adjusted the strap of her dufflebag. "This is—what?—the fourth time in two days we've met like this?"

"Sorry," he said again, rubbing the back of his head as though someone had hit him.

"No big, there are worse habits," she said with a shrug. "So where are you off to, in such deep thought?"

Jay shrugged. "The dorm, I guess," he said and glanced around.

Harper tried to cover her laughter. "Um. I think you've over shot it by about three blocks," she said. "I'd walk back with you, but I'm off to the newsstand."

She motioned further down the block and Jay looked back at her curiously. "You need the Oracle?"

"And the new edition of a magazine," she said quickly.

"I'll join you," he said, still eyeing her quizzically, but he also couldn't help realizing that the Oracle was probably the best person to go see.

"You really don't have to," she said, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "I have a tail anyway."

The comment shook Jay back out of his thoughts to frown at her. "What?"

She looked back over her shoulder and Jay followed her gaze to see a very familiar blue sweatshirt about half a block away, its wearer looking very interested in a newspaper dispenser. Jay frowned and held in his groan, apparently Archie was still suspicious.

"He's been with me most of the day," she said with a smirk. "Broke off for an hour or two after lunch, but he was there when I got out of tango."

Jay huffed a laugh, then kept pace with her as she tried to go around him. "Then I guess we're both joining you," he said. "I wouldn't mind seeing the Oracle myself."

Now it was Harper's turn to give a curious look, but she kept quiet and simply shrugged as they quickly closed the distance between them and the newsstand. A little, bald old man was sitting on a tall stool while he sipped a cup of coffee. He had darkened round glasses on, but that was probably a good thing. Jay had seen those glasses come off and he wasn't exactly looking forward to ever seeing the white orbs ever again.

But some things had to be done.

"Ah," the man said before they'd even reached the end of his magazine stall. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

"Yeah, right," Harper said with a smile.

The man smirked back at her. "Sounds like you three have problems."

Jay and Harper exchanged glances before looking back at Archie, who was doing a very bad job of blending into the sports magazines. He sheepishly tried to act light he was surprised to see them, but after a second or two of their knowing looks (both resembling scowls) he joined them.

"All of them are linked, of course," the oracle informed them.

"They are?" Archie asked, earning him an impatient glance from Harper.

"Of course they are," Harper said, not that she knew what the problems were, but Archie was beginning to irritate her. "When has something not effected six other things?"

"Ok, good point," Archie mumbled.

"Can you tell us anything that might help each problem?" Jay asked, ignoring the war of glares going on around him.

The Oracle hummed noncommittally. "But not enough to reveal the entire problem to those present, I take it?"

Each of the teens glanced at each other and shrugged, even though each wanted to agree. The Oracle smirked again, then pointed at Harper and Archie.

"You two," he said. "Have a right to be worried, though once you learn to trust each other, those worries can lessen."

"Huh?" Archie looked from the Oracle to Harper, but the girl was just as confused and the Oracle was already turning to Jay.

"You, Jay," the Oracle said. "You have to be incredibly careful. Power is a very strong temptation and one of them will betray you."

Now both Harper and Archie were staring at Jay, whom was currently wishing Cronus would show up just as a distraction. But the titan god had never exactly had the best timing anyway.

"If you want more, I suggest you stop coming together," the Oracle said quietly, then added louder as a customer came to browse. "The new Jazz magazine? Three-fifty-two."

The boys stared at him in confusion, but Harper smiled. She quickly handed over a few bills and coins, plucking the music magazine from its shelf. The Oracle smiled at them and the teens said a quick "goodbye" before heading back down the block.

A/N: *shrugs* I'm in a toybox (though if you're this far in and still think that this isn't entirely fandom, you might wanna go back and restart). More to come as soon as I can ^_^