Pegasus and the Origins of Olympus (24 page)

The crowds roared and cried Jupiter’s name.

Emily and Joel looked at each other. ‘Delphi – isn’t that in Greece?’ asked Joel.

Agent B was watching the crowd. ‘Something is very wrong here.’ He shook his head.

‘How do you know?’ Joel asked.

‘I can feel it,’ he said darkly. ‘Maybe Neptune can enlighten us.’

They made their way through the dense crowd until they reached Neptune, who was locked in deep conversation with Chiron.

‘Neptune, what’s Jupiter talking about?’ Emily asked softly. ‘We need to go to Tartarus, not Delphi.’

The two Olympians looked around to be certain no one was within listening distance. ‘We have been suspicious for some time,’ Neptune whispered, ‘but now we are certain. There are Titan spies living among us in this camp.’

‘How can you be sure?’ Agent B asked. ‘Has anyone been interrogated?’

Chiron shook his head. ‘No. That would give light to our suspicions. But as a fighter yourself, you must realize we have been left untouched far too long. Emily draws the Titans and their Shadow Titans everywhere she goes. And yet, after all this time here, we have not been disturbed once.’

Agent B nodded. ‘I was considering the same thing. Saturn knows of the danger Emily poses to him and his people. He also knows about the flame-swords. He’ll be playing for time while they finish the weapon.’

‘Precisely,’ Neptune agreed. ‘So we are all heading to Earth. While most of our fighters engage the Shadow Titans at Delphi, some of us will slip quietly away and head to Tartarus and then Titus. This war will be won with stealth, not open battles.’

‘Good plan,’ Agent B agreed. He turned to Emily and Joel. ‘This is it. One way or another, our fate will be determined tonight.’

In record time the camp was struck and everyone prepared to leave. Even those who had never fought before had been trained and outfitted with weapons. Only the very young would be exempt from fighting. This was to be the final battle in the war. Its outcome would determine everyone’s future.

As the sun set, Vulcan, Stella and the twin centaurs found Emily, Joel and Agent B. Stella had a large grin on her face.

‘Here it is,’ she said proudly. She leaned over and pointed to a covered box suspended from her seat. ‘It’s the golden box, just as I remembered it. Maxine is going to carry it for us.’

Emily and Joel knelt down and pulled the cover from the box. Emily traced her fingers along the imprint of the Big Three. ‘It’s really beautiful.’

Agent B joined them. ‘I told you it was a piece of art.’

‘You were right,’ Emily agreed, ‘but I can’t wait to bury it in the ground.’

‘Amen to that!’ Joel said.

When they stood, Vulcan handed out several small packages. ‘I myself do not believe in luck. However, I hope these bring us all the best of it.’

Emily opened her gift. Inside was a small, silver Pegasus charm on a braided chain. The stallion was in flight and looked as young and powerful as he always had.

‘I made these from the ashes of Pegasus,’ Vulcan explained, ‘so that he might be with us in this final battle.’

Emily was too touched to speak. Joel had always cared a great deal for Vulcan, but she never knew just how quietly thoughtful he really was. She threw her arms around the grimy Olympian and hugged him tightly.

‘I’ll never take it off!’ she cried. ‘Now we can’t lose. Pegasus will protect us!’

Joel also gratefully received his pendant. He helped Emily put hers on before fastening his own.

Emily watched in surprise as Agent B also put on his pendant. When he caught her watching him he shrugged. ‘It can’t hurt.’

Emily raised her hand in the air. ‘To Team Pegasus!’

The others cheered. ‘Team Pegasus,’ they cried.

‘Now, if you are ready to go,’ Vulcan said, becoming serious, ‘we have been asked to join Jupiter. He wants us all to stay close together.’

‘We’re ready,’ Emily said. ‘Let’s finish this.’

The Olympians arrived on Earth in their thousands. At Delphi, the locals greeted their arrival with relief and gratitude. The Titans had been killing everyone they caught and destroying village after village.

Emily and Joel looked around in wonder. They were halfway up a high mountain, surrounded by other, even taller, tree-covered mountains. Delphi looked nothing like Athens or even Cape Sounio. It was hard to imagine they were even in Greece. It looked more like the mountain ranges in West Virginia or the Carolinas.

‘I haven’t been here since the accident that crippled me,’ Stella said. ‘It looks so different. There are no ruins.’

‘What ruins?’ Seren asked.

Stella pointed to a large marble temple further down the mountainside. Its tall pillars climbed high into the sky and it had solid sides and a marble roof. It looked very much like an Olympian building. ‘The ruins were there.’

‘How?’ Jasmine asked. ‘This place is new. The humans have only just completed it.’

‘It’s a long story,’ Stella said, ‘but one day, there will be ruins here.’

‘What is that temple?’ Emily asked.

‘That’s the Temple of Apollo at Delphi,’ Stella explained. ‘It is in there that the Oracle sat to foretell the future. It was said she could channel Apollo and speak to all the gods.’

‘Who is Apollo?’ Jasmine asked.

Emily started to explain about Jupiter’s son, but Agent B stopped her. ‘That’s enough, Emily. Remember, what you say can affect the future. It’s best not to say more.’

‘Sorry,’ Emily said to the twins, ‘he’s right, I shouldn’t say any more.’

A shouted warning came from further down the mountain. There were thousands of Shadow Titans converging on them. The sky above was filled with the dark-winged Blackbird Shadows and, mixed amongst them, were monsters of all shapes and sizes. Some walked, while others crawled, slithered or flew.

Agent B cursed. ‘Neptune was right. There were spies in the camp. The Titans have been waiting for us. It’s a trap.’

‘This is perfect.’ Jupiter sounded unfazed as he turned to Emily. ‘You, my brothers and I will engage the flying Shadows. We will destroy as many as possible while our other fighters take up their positions in the mountains. The Titans must believe we are making our final stand here.’

Vulcan and Chiron approached Joel and Agent B. ‘Everything is set. We are just waiting for our armour to arrive. We have sent several crabs to collect it all. We will leave the moment it gets here.’

Higher on the mountain, Emily stood shoulder to shoulder with the Big Three. Jupiter was on her right. When he caught her looking at him, he winked and grinned, rubbing his hands together excitedly. ‘This is going to be good!’

On her other side, Neptune and Pluto weren’t quite as enthusiastic as Jupiter, but their excitement showed as they gathered their powers together to take on the Shadow Titans.

Emily grasped her new Pegasus pendant, brought it to her lips and kissed it for luck. ‘For you, Pegs!’

‘Now!’ Jupiter shouted.

With the most powerful Olympians at her side, Emily unleashed the Flame and fired great blasts of fire beams into the sky, which instantly vapourized every Shadow Titan they touched.

Beside her, Jupiter shot lightning and thunder bolts at flying snakes, dragons and Shadow Titans as they swooped down towards them.

Neptune and Pluto directed their powers at the creatures climbing up the sides of the mountain, taking out large groups of monsters with every blast.

Further below, the battle intensified as Olympian went up against Titan. Giant crabs fought dragons. The Hydra took on a flying snake and made quick work of it. The Furies and Harpies caught hold of Titan monsters and carried them away. Even the smallest satyrs raised their flame-swords against the Shadow Titans.

‘Emily, look!’ Joel cried.

On the neighbouring mountain, the most terrifying monster Emily had ever seen was cresting the top. No creature from any horror movie could compare to the ‘thing’ that was coming for them.

Its overwhelming hugeness made the tall mountain look like a tiny hill. It was shaped like a twisted octopus with at least twenty tentacles that flashed and flew in the air around it. The creature had an undulating bulbous body that moved like a half-filled water balloon. Its wet, slimy, mottled brown skin left a trail of smouldering acid behind it. There were no eyes that Emily could see. But the monstrosity had vision, as it tore up huge trees and tossed them at the gathered Olympians.

‘What is that?’ Agent B cried.

Jupiter turned and sucked in his breath. ‘It is the Copac-ra!’

‘No, you must be wrong,’ Neptune argued. ‘It is locked deep in Tartarus. Not even the Titans will approach it.’

‘And yet, there it is,’ Pluto said.

‘How could Father get it here?’ Jupiter asked. ‘No one can command the Copac-ra.’

‘It doesn’t look like anyone is,’ Emily cried. Above them the Copac-ra caught hold of a flying Shadow Titan and pulled it to its moving body. A hole opened and the Shadow Titan disappeared into a grotesque mouth. Another tentacle caught hold of a screaming human fighter who suffered the same fate.

‘It’s eating everyone it catches,’ Joel cried. ‘It doesn’t matter what side they’re on.’

Emily raised her hands in the air and prepared to fire at the monster.

‘
No, Emily, you must not!
’ Riza cried. ‘
The Copac-ra is the last of its kind. It must be protected. In the future it will live peacefully on Xanadu
.’

‘That’s the future!’ Emily cried. ‘Right now, that thing is about to eat all of us.’

‘
Use your powers, child
,’ Riza called. ‘
Send it to Xanadu. Set it free
.’

‘How?’ Emily said.

‘
Trust me
,’ Riza said softly. ‘
You know what to do. Just focus on sending it to Xanadu. I will do the rest
.’

Lifting her hands again, Emily summoned all her powers. ‘Xanadu,’ she called. ‘Go to Xanadu!’

Emily felt Riza working with her and guiding her powers to send the Copac-ra to Xanadu. The air around the monster sparkled and the creature vanished.

‘Father is sending everything at us,’ Jupiter cried. He looked around at the monsters and Shadow Titans swarming the mountains around them. The Olympians and humans were badly outnumbered. ‘This war will not be easily won.’

‘We need the Hundred-handers,’ Chiron called. ‘Keep the Shadow Titans occupied while we collect the last of our armour.’

Emily and the Big Three focused their efforts on stopping as many Shadow Titans as possible while, lower down the mountain, the Olympians engaged the Shadow Titans in hand-to-hand combat. The glow of flame-swords rose from the mountainside as they used their weapons against the Shadow Titans.

As the long day progressed, Emily feared they would never beat the relentless Shadow Titans. They never tired. But the Olympians and humans did. Despite their best efforts, on sheer numbers alone, the Shadow Titans were gaining ground against them.

Chiron appeared behind Jupiter, wearing part of a Dragon Shadow’s armour. If the situation had been less desperate, Emily would have laughed. The front half of the centaur looked just like a Dragon Shadow Titan. But when he turned, his back end was still that of a chestnut horse.

Behind him, Joel was dressed as a Minotaur Shadow. His whole body was covered in armour with only his head exposed. He held a Minotaur helmet in his hand. Even in these critical moments, Emily allowed herself a moment to appreciate how attractive Joel looked in the armour.

Agent B was shockingly convincing as a Blackbird Shadow. The wings of the warrior hung limp at the back, but he had learned to mimic their walk. Minerva and Venus were also suited up and looked frighteningly like the Turtle Shadows.

Venus was lightly binding Seren and Jasmine’s hands to give credibility to their presence on Tartarus. The plan was to deliver the twin centaurs and Stella to the prison as ‘prisoners’.

‘We have your armour ready,’ Chiron told the Big Three.

Emily continued to fire her powers at the masses of Shadow Titans. As she stopped to take a breath, she turned to Chiron. ‘How did you get the armour?’

‘Each suit is made up of several Shadow Titans destroyed by the flame-swords,’ Chiron explained. ‘Joel has chosen a Turtle Shadow for you.’

The Big Three took over from Emily as she put on the Turtle armour. Before Minerva secured her breastplate into position, Agent B pulled Emily aside. In his armour-covered hand was a small leather-bound book.

‘Would you hold this for me?’ he asked, handing her the book. ‘Put it with your own journal. I’ve been keeping one too. If anything should happen to me—’

‘Nothing is going to happen to you,’ Emily insisted, feeling very uncomfortable at the turn in conversation.

‘I hope not,’ he continued, ‘but if anything should, I want you to have this. Then if you succeed in destroying that weapon and hitting the reset button, I’m asking you, as a friend, find me in London – my address is in the front of the book. Find me and please, get me away from the CRU.’

He tilted his head to the side and smiled. ‘You know me now. You know I’ll fight you. Get me to Olympus or Xanadu, it doesn’t matter which. Show me this journal. Force me to read it –’ he grinned again ‘– as only you can. I have written secret messages to myself that only I would understand. I have warned myself to leave the CRU.’

‘Why are you doing this?’ Emily asked.

‘Really, you don’t know?’ he asked incredulously. ‘After all this time here, I have come to care a great deal about you, Joel and all these crazy Olympians. He said. ‘I can no longer be part of any agency that seeks to destroy them and exploit you. Once the other “me” reads this journal, I’m hoping he will help you bring down the CRU. I know things, Emily. Things that can expose the Central Research Unit for what it really is.’

Emily could see the sincerity in his intense blue eyes. She accepted the journal and slipped it in her tunic pocket beside her own. ‘I promise,’ she said finally. ‘Whatever happens, I will find you and make you read this.’

‘Thank you,’ Agent B said. He pulled on the Blackbird helmet. ‘Now finish getting suited up. We leave the moment you’re ready.’