It's time for a new chapter. I don't have anything clever or witty to say at the moment so I'm just going to say enjoy the show.
Hours passed by and the day had ended. The Sun had long melted away below the horizon and the night sky was full of stars. The Moon was in its crescent phase, shining a faint but soothing light over the town of Dover. The streets were relatively quiet, or at least as quiet as they could've been following the recent attacks from so many mythical beasts of Greek pathos. It was all through this silence that a lone avian creature was flying overhead, watching out for any forthcoming attacks. Soaring in the clear sky as she did, Athena saw nothing out of place. That was only until she spotted a figure standing atop a roof looking right back at her.
Instinctively, Athena descended like the actual bird of prey her otherwise ghostly spirit currently inhabited. She reached the rooftop and transformed into her once corporeal form. That was all she could do in the grand calculus of life after death. Athena approached the figure as it turned to face her in response. She knew right away that it was him. Hades. The God of the Underworld concealed his face behind the hood of his cloak that flowed ever so slightly in the calm wind. By contrast, Athena's ghostly gown remained perfectly still, another reminder of her lost life.
Despite his face being conceal behind the hood of his cloak, Hades still cracked a sinister smirk followed by an equally sinister chuckle. "You look well for a dead Goddess, Athena."
Even as a ghost, Athena could practically feel the pure malice in Hades' tone. "Why have you returned, Hades? If it is Pandora's Box you seek, you will not find it on my person nor will you find it anywhere upon this world."
Hades cracked a sinister grin underneath the hood that covered his face, and he replied, "I will claim Pandora's Box in time, and I will eradicate all Hope in this world. But that's not why I'm here, Athena."
"Then why are you here?" Athena asked.
"Children," Hades replied, and Athena knew instantly that was referring to Corey and Brad. "Eons after the destruction I had wrought down on Mount Olympus in my hunt for Pandora's Box, you choose to rely on children to stand against me. Foolish, even for the vaunted Goddess of Wisdom."
"Those children you so actively dismiss have more fortitude than you could possibly imagine. Corey Mercer and Brad Vickers are only two now, but I can assure you that others will rise up to defend Pandora's Box and the world against your evil." Athena boldly declared.
"Amusing. Zeus, well, the original Zeus anyway, told me the same thing before I ended his pitiful embarrassment of an existence. I'll do the same to the mortals you so callously throw in my way." Hades claimed.
"My Incarnates will stop you, Hades. You'd best be certain of that." Athena declared.
"Your so-called Incarnates will fall before me just as the original Gods, and Pandora's Box will be destroyed and the world will fall into everlasting despair. You can be certain of that, Athena."
Athena felt an unusual aura around the God of the Underworld and, as a plume of black smoke began to surround him, she said, "Wait. There is something different about you, Hades."
Hades said nothing in response. He only smirked maliciously before vanishing in the black smoke. Athena, despite being merely a ghost now, reached her hand out to stop Hades. It was all for naught of course, and Athena was left in a state of confusion. She felt it; that strange aura about Hades that told her that something felt off about him. Even with her reputation as Goddess of Wisdom, Athena was at a loss. It was as if her godly powers had diminished since her death, ironically at the hands of Hades himself. It unnerved her, but she could do nothing about it. Athena needed to keep this encounter to herself, at least for the time being. She needed to focus her efforts on readiest Corey and his friends for the coming days. Pandora's Box needed to be found and it needed to be found soon.
The following day at Dover High saw Corey and his friends in the middle of Gym Class. Brad was in the middle of a game of Basketball in which Tyler Greyson was also participating, while Corey was busy doing assisted sit-ups. Damien was with Corey, helping him with his exercises. Allegra was not currently present as she had another class opposite of the boys. Corey performed one sit-up after another and as he was doing so, his eyes caught a familiar sight. Serena Laramie was sitting at the benches with her face figuratively buried in a book. Seeing Serena there made Corey halt his exercise routine. Damien was decidedly quick to notice the distracted stare of his best friend and he couldn't be bothered to hide the obvious grin.
"Earth to Corey. You good, man?" Damien said.
Corey snapped out of his stupor and replied, "Oh, uh yeah, I'm okay."
Damien looked over his shoulder at Serena and then back at Corey. "You were eying up Serena again, weren't you?"
"Uh, no," Corey hastily replied, but Damien's wry smirk told a different story. "Okay, maybe. We kind of had a friendly talk at the library before the whole Nemean Lion fiasco."
"What's she like? Nerdy or weird?" Damien asked, clearly being playful with his friend.
Corey appeared to brush a bit, and he couldn't keep from smirking. "She's smart, inquisitive, curious... I kind of like her. I mean, as a fellow student, maybe even a friend eventually."
Damien sported a very wide grin that could've made him pass for the comic book villain Joker, while Brad approached the duo from behind. "Wassup, dorks?"
"You get finished getting owned on the court, Brad?" Damien asked.
Brad ignored the insult, kneeling down beside Corey and whispering, "So, what's the plan for today? Go searching for that Pantera's Box?"
"Pandora's Box," Corey corrected Brad. "And no, it'd be a waste of time. We should focus on getting better at using our abilities more effectively along with building up our team, especially with Allegra joining up now."
"I'm not so sure about that chick," Brad said. "For all we know, she might've painted that mark on her hand just to get close to us. Hell, she Hades might've sent her to spy on us, and then ambush us when we're vulnerable."
"Like how your brother died," Corey surmised, and Brad nodded affirmatively. "I don't think Allegra would go to the trouble of backstabbing us. We should at least give her the benefit of the doubt."
"Whoa, heads up!" a voice suddenly shouted out.
Corey, Brad and Damien reacted to the sound, spinning around to figure out what was the issue. Within a matter of seconds, a basketball came hurtling toward the boys. Brad backed out of the way and the ball was within reach of Corey. Corey didn't have enough to react, but the ball never reached him. Damien had stepped in the way and caught the basketball in his hand. Corey was surprised. He never expected his best friend to react so swiftly. Damien was himself surprised, but he put that aside to see that his friend was okay. A moment after, Tyler Gregson rushed up to the trio with a look of concern on his face.
"Corey, sorry about that, man? You okay?" Tyler asked.
Standing upright and with a subtle breath, Corey replied, "I'm good, Tyler. No harm done."
"That was my bad, Corey. I was making a shot and the ball ricocheted off the rim. I couldn't tell where it was going until I saw you here." Tyler explained.
"Dude, don't worry about it. I'm good." Corey assuredly said to Tyler.
"I'm fine too, by the way." Damien chimed in, allowing Tyler to take the ball back.
"I guess you're not as good as you thought you were, huh Greyson." Brad said with a smirk.
Tyler looked to Brad with a confrontational glare and replied, "I'm still good enough to whoop your ass one on one, Hendry."
"You're more than welcome to try, Greyson." Brad said, stepping nose to nose with Tyler.
Amid the tense standoff between Brad and Tyler, Corey stepped between them so cooler head could prevail. "Whoa, guys, guys, guys. C'mon, there's no need to go full Street Fighter here."
Perhaps it was good fortune that the bell sounded to end Gym Period, and Tyler backed away ever so slightly. "Corey's right; no need for us to go at it now."
"Yeah, you got lucky, Mr. Super Athlete." Brad bit back.
Tyler let the veiled jab slide before returning to his class. Damien said to Brad, "You gotta work on your people skills, Brad."
"On that note, we should meet up somewhere later after school to train. If another monster shows up, or even Hades himself, we need to be ready." Corey said.
"We'll be ready, Corey. Trust me." Damien assured his best friend.
With that, the boys started making their way out of the gymnasium with their classmates. Corey felt a small sense of relief that he had Damien in on the ordeal in which he found himself. He felt confident that Brad would be on the frontline with him. Maybe Corey had nothing to worry about now, as long as he and his friends would have his back. Add Allegra to the mix as another potential Incarnate like himself and Brad, and Corey figured he could be more optimistic.
But then, some sort of commotion caught Corey's attention from the corner of his eye. He looked toward the same area where Serena had been sitting earlier. Serena was still there, but so were several other girls. They were dressed in cheerleading uniforms, and they surrounding Serena. Serena tried to ignore the girls as they hassled her, eventually managing to get away from them. One of the girls made an L shape with her hand pressed against her forehead, which Corey quickly determined was directed at Serena.
As Serena approached Corey, he thought about stopping her to see if she was alright. Serena just walked right passed Corey without so much a backward look. Corey was unsure of what to say to Serena, that was until she actually didn't stop for a moment. She did look back at him, but no words were exchanged between them. Serena managed a small smile, only to look away and run off before Corey could return the gesture. He could hear some faint laughter. Those cheerleaders were snickering amongst themselves, proud of their handiwork and without an ounce of remorse. Corey could do nothing about because he had the sense that it wasn't his problem to solve. Or perhaps it was his problem to solve, and he just didn't know how to solve it.
The school day came to an end sometime later. Corey was on his way out the doors to his waiting bike, preparing to meet his friends at a location agreed upon earlier in the day. Allegra was expected to be there. The intent was to practice use their abilities to better handle anymore threats from any mythological monster that Hades might send their way. Corey was strangely nervous, more so than his first fight with the Minotaur. He had the uneasy sense that things were changing in ways he couldn't comprehend. Perhaps doubt was creeping into his young mind, questions rising about whether or not he and his friends could actually stand against Hades. He'd already seen how much of a threat the God of the Underworld posed. Corey had to put all that behind him for now. He had to put the focus on training with his friends.
It was just as he reached his bike and prepared to leave that he heard a commotion nearby, and this time he knew what was the issue. looking back to the entrance to the school, Corey saw Serena once again being heckled by those same cheerleaders from earlier. One would think once was enough, or that these girls would have something better to do with their time. But no. They seemed to take a perverse delight in harassing Serena in particular. Serena didn't fight back, or maybe she couldn't. She tucked her head down into her shoulders, but the girls wouldn't stop.
Serena finally spoke out, "Could you just stop this already, Dana? I've done nothing to you."
Dana Dawson was a tall, fit girl with brown eyes and long brunette hair, and she slowly closed the distance between herself and Serena. "Oh look at this; the bookworm finally speaks up. You think you can talk back to me, Laramie? You think that having so many dumb books makes you better than me? Is that it, huh?"
"I didn't say I was better than you. I just want to go home and study." Serena said.
"Or maybe you just want go home and play with whatever sex toys you've got hidden away from step-mommy," Dana mockingly accused, and she forced Serena to drop her books to the ground. "You're a loser virgin, Laramie. Even your step-mom knows that, and you're going to die a virgin, alone and with no one to ever love you."
Serena tried to ignore the insults, kneeling down to pick up her book. Dana kicked one book aside and then tried to shove Serena. On instinct or maybe because she'd had enough, Serena pushed Dana back. It was lightest, smallest of nudges, barely enough to even register to anyone else. Apparently, Dana did not appear to like the interaction, and she forcefully shoved Serena to the ground and onto her back. The other girls laughed and mocked Serena. Then, Dana reared her right hand back, preparing to supposedly slap the taste of Serena's for what perceiving slight against her very person. Something stopped Dana from striking, and she looked to see Corey standing behind her and gripping her forearm.
"Leave her alone, Dawson." he said, his tone deep and authoritative.
"Get you fucking hands off me, Mercer. I'll tell the principle about this, about how you physically harassed me."
"Go ahead. Tell the principle about how you and your lackeys were harassing this girl all day, how you knocked her books out of her hands, how you physically pushed her to the ground and you tried to play the victim when I stopped you from going any further." Corey stated with a conviction he didn't know he had.
Dana tried to look tough and unflinching, but she was figuratively shaking. "It'll be your word against mine. I don't care that your old man is a cop." she said with feigned defiance.
"You might if he ever arrests you," Corey coldly replied before he released Dana's arm. "You know, just because you're the head cheerleader of the squad, that doesn't make you're any more special than anyone else. At the end of the day, you're just another arrogant, self-obsessed girl with a misplaced god-complex. You're nothing special and you never will be."
Dana didn't know what to say or how to react. All she could do was wave her hand in more mock defiance before she stormed off with her friends. Corey watched them go until they were out of sight, then turned his attention to Serena. She was still on the ground, steadying herself with her hands and adjusting her glasses. Corey could tell she was shaken. He knelt down beside her and started picking up her books. After gathering the items, Corey helped Serena up to her feet.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm okay. Thanks you for sticking up for me." Serena said, taking her books back from Corey.
"You're welcome." Corey replied.
Serena sighed in relief just as she noticed the familiar limousine waiting in the street for her, and Winston ushering her to the vehicle. "I'd better get going, before my stepmom gets mad at me for coming home late or something."
Corey suddenly felt his heart skip a beat. He said, "Sure, I won't keep you."
Serena managed to smile, albeit small but still noticeable, before she rushed off to the limousine. Corey watched her every move, studied every motion. Serena looked back at Corey, as if she sensed his eyes on her. She didn't appear offended or nervous or scared. Serena appeared at peace, even smiling at Corey as if she was wordlessly thanking him for his help. Corey smiled back as Serena entered the limo, and it drove away moments later. As soon as the limo was out of sight, Corey felt his heart racing again. It was as if a jackhammer was being used on his insides. But in the end, Corey dismissed the feeling and returned to his bike. A second after starting the ignition, Corey rode off. It was time now to meet up with his friends at the agreed upon location. He just hoped that he'd back home before curfew.
Author's Note: That's another chapter in the books. This is a somewhat character driven entry as we get a to know more of the principle cast through various interactions. Athena confronts Hades while Corey sticks up for Serena. Feedback would be nice. Peace.