Iridescence

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

JENNA

I knew something was wrong. Not only was Eliza not picking up her phone, but I could feel it in my gut. I'd called the other girls to meet up with me, but I had also called Lucky. I figured having the extra help couldn't hurt.

I was mildly surprised when Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Ares showed up. Ares looked like he was ready to start a war, and not just for kicks this time.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"I had a vision," Apollo explained. "Eliza's hurt... And Krissy's in very bad shape."

I could tell how terrified Apollo was. Hermes looked almost as frantic. "I'm not losing my daughter again," Hermes said.

"We'll find them," Artemis said with determination.

"Did you bring Ares to be extra muscle?" Faith asked.

"Darrell and Della are missing," Ares replied in an annoyed tone. "This is personal."

"Do you know where they are, Apollo?" Vanessa asked.

"I can feel Eliza," he replied. "I think Krissy's in a different location. I can't sense her."

"Is she... Is she dead?" Lucky asked.

"No," Emily replied firmly. "I'd feel it if she was."

"I believe Krissy lives," Apollo agreed, "but she is critically wounded. If Theos decides to kill her, she won't be able to defend herself. For whatever reason, he is currently keeping her alive."

"She was his closest friend," Hermes said, shaking his head. "They were constantly having adventures together... I trusted him with my daughter because he was practically my brother, and look what happened..."

"Hermes, it wasn't your fault," Apollo said soothingly. "None of us ever suspected he was a monster."

"I did," I said softly. "I mean, Alexia did. She should have told someone... But she was positive no one would believe her without evidence."

"The past doesn't matter," Ares snapped. "We can't change it, but we can get it right now. We know what he is. We won't be fooled again."

We arrived at a seemingly abandoned building. I tried the door. "It's locked," I said.

Faith smirked and said, "I've got this." She immediately began to pick the lock.

"Do I want to know why you know how to do that?" Artemis asked.

"Hey, a foster kid needs to pick up unique life skills sometimes," Faith replied with a laugh. "Liana taught me," she added a bit softer. "She spent a lot of time on the streets when she'd run away. If it was cold, she'd break into places to stay warm overnight."

Artemis put a gentle hand on Faith's back. I could see the way this comforted Faith and gave her strength. The door opened and Faith smiled at us triumphantly.

"This way," Apollo said. He began leading us through the building toward a door. It led to a dark stairwell. "Eliza's down here," he informed us. His skin seemed to glow faintly in the darkness, providing us with a small amount of light.

Vanessa was visibly nervous, and I noticed stars starting to appear around her. Every time she took a step, a constellation lingered behind her for a couple of seconds. Emily took her hand. This seemed to calm Vanessa's nerves a bit.

Ares nearly attacked as a figure jumped out of the shadows. I grabbed his arm to stop him as I realized the figure was armed with only a paintbrush.

"Abby!" I said in relief. "Are you alright?"

Apollo glowed brighter so we could see her more clearly. Abby was wearing paint-covered overalls and had a couple of bruises on her arms and face, but she looked relatively uninjured.

"Oh, thank God!" Abby cried as she recognized me. "Eliza's hurt, and I was determined not to let them get anywhere near her."

"What were you going to do?" Ares asked sarcastically. "Paint their faces?"

"I'll have you know that I take kickboxing classes," Abby replied. "And if I shove the handle of a paintbrush up someone's nose hard enough, it can kill them."

Ares seemed to see Abby in a new light. "I like you," he decided. "You're feisty."

"Abby, where is Eliza?" Apollo asked.

"This way," Abby led us deeper into the darkness. Eventually, we hit an area that was lit by lamps.

Eliza was sitting on the floor. Her head was bleeding and her ankle was at an odd angle. "Eliza, are you okay?" I asked.

"She fell," Abby explained. "I think she hit her head on the way down, and she landed awkwardly on her ankle. I'm pretty sure she broke it."

Eliza looked confused. "Krissy," she said. "We have to find Krissy..."

"You're concussed, Eliza," Apollo said gently. "Allow me to heal you."

"But Krissy-" Eliza protested.

"We will find her next," Artemis said soothingly. "You are in no condition to move right now, Eliza. Let Apollo heal you." She turned to Hermes. "Please take care of Abby."

"Of course," Hermes replied. He quickly examined Abby and assessed her minor injuries before healing them almost instantly.

"Wow," Abby mumbled. "Thank you for that."

"Thank you for taking care of Krissy," he replied. "I'm rather fond of her."

"So am I," Abby said with a sad smile. "We'll find her, right? We have to find her..."

"We won't stop searching until we do," Artemis promised. "She's alive. We're certain of that much."

Eliza was starting to look more coherent as Apollo finished healing her head injury. He moved on to her ankle. "It's a nasty break, but it's nothing I can't fix," he promised.

I was very concerned as Eliza started to cry. "I was falling," she whispered. "I was falling, and I crashed to the ground, and I..."

"And you flashed back on Kleia?" Apollo guessed.

She nodded. "I hate heights. I always have. Now, I understand where it comes from."

"You're lucky you survived the fall," Emily said.

"I called Air to slow my momentum. It put up enough of a resistance to keep me from crashing against the floor, but I lost control when I hit my head on the way down... And then, I landed badly and broke my ankle. That part is no surprise; I've always been clumsy."

"So was Kleia," Apollo replied. "It was kind of endearing."

"She dragged herself across the floor and over to me to make sure I was okay before she went kind of blank and zoned out," Abby said. "I guess the concussion kicked in once her adrenaline wore off."

"The only clear thoughts in my mind were making sure you were alright and finding Krissy," Eliza replied. "After I found you, I didn't have the strength to focus... Gods, if anything happened to Krissy, I won't forgive myself."

"Krissy's alive," Emily clarified again. "I'm sure of it."

"But he might hurt her," Eliza replied. "He probably already has. I feel him around her."

"The first thing we need to do is get you and Abby out of here," I said.

"Na's right," Lucky added. "We have no idea when the bad guys might show up, and I don't think we're ready to face off against them just yet."

"Speak for yourself, Kid," Ares said.

"Ares, Della and Darrell are-" Eliza began.

"Missing," he cut her off. "I know. That's why I'm here."

"We need to get Abby somewhere safe, and preferably Eliza, too," I said. "We know Altheos took Krissy somewhere else."

Eliza hesitated. "He wasn't the one who physically abducted us," she said. "I fell into a portal. I think Krissy did, too. Portals are my fa..." She paused. I could tell she was struggling to consider her father and the traitorous deity to be the same person. "Portals are Viktor's thing, right? It had to be his doing."

"She's right," Hermes said. "I feel Viktor's energy all over this place. And it would explain how Eliza and Krissy vanished from the same spot but ended up in completely different places."

"So how do we track Krissy down?" Faith asked.

"Viktor was a tricky guy to follow," Ares admitted. "He liked to jump from portal to portal. He was a real pain that way."

"Maybe I can find Krissy in her dreams," Vanessa suggested.

"That will only work if she's asleep," Lucky pointed out.

"She has to sleep sometime."

"I think she's unconscious," Apollo admitted. "Which means that, at least currently, she's not dreaming. We can try that later, after she regains some awareness."

"How will we know when that is?" Abby demanded. "My niece is unconscious! We can't just wait for her to appear in the mystical realm of dreams or whatever. We need to find her."

"Abby, I promise we'll find her," I said. "We aren't giving up, but you are in danger, and we can't leave you in the middle of this."

"I'll bring you and Eliza home," Apollo volunteered. "I'll ask Nike to guard the house with me while we wait for news. You'll be safe."

"Apollo, Krissy needs me," Eliza protested.

"And you'll help her, Eliza, but not until we have a solid plan," he replied.

"I agree," Artemis added. "You two shouldn't have run off on your own to begin with."

"We weren't planning to go into any dangerous places," Eliza replied softly. "We were going to track Abby and then wait for everyone else to arrive. We were afraid she was hurt and didn't think we had time to wait... But you're right. We shouldn't have even done that much. I'm sorry. If anything happens to Krissy, it will be my fault for not stopping her..."

"Krissy is as unstoppable as a tidal wave once she sets her mind to something, Eliza," Hermes said. "This isn't your fault."

Eliza looked devastated by what had happened. Even Artemis seemed to see that. "Teenagers are impulsive," she said. "I understand that. Next time, learn from this and wait for help to arrive."

Eliza nodded numbly. Apollo guided her and Abby out of the room, and I knew he'd summon his chariot as soon as they were far enough away.

I felt the energy that was around us. Being in a subbasement was basically the same as being in the Earth, and as I realized that, I could feel life around us. Much of it was plant life, but I also detected something much more human.

"Come on," I said to Lucky without further explanation. Being the greatest best friend in the world, he didn't question me and simply followed me deeper into the darkness.

Vanessa ran after us. Emily and Faith were right behind her. So were Artemis, Ares, and Hermes. "Where are we heading, Jenna?" Hermes asked me.

"To find Della and Darrell," I replied. I was positive that was where my instincts were leading me.

"Now you're talking," Ares said.

"Everyone, stay close together. When we get to the right location, I don't know what we're going to encounter."

This turned out to be good advice. As soon as I found the spot that felt right, a burst of fire came toward us.

Faith jumped in front of me and turned her body into flames. She absorbed the attack and seemed to grow stronger.

"It's a chimera," she informed us.

The chimera tried again. Faith continued absorbing its attacks. Her reflexes impressed me. Suddenly, more fire came at us from above. I stared in surprise at the enormous creature that was flying around in the underground prison.

"Is that a dragon?" Lucky asked.

"It's beautiful," Vanessa whispered in awe.

"It's trying to roast us alive," Ares argued. "It can't kill a deity, but getting burned will still be unpleasant, and you kids can die."

"I can only handle one fire creature at a time," Faith said. "You guys will have to think of something!"

"My talisman keeps me fireproof," Artemis said. "Stay behind me, girls."

The dragon swooped down and tried to attack me. "Na!" Lucky shouted in warning before wrapping a labyrinth around both of us.

"Thanks for the save, Lucky, but we can't leave everyone else alone with a dragon and a chimera," I said.

"I know. I just panicked," he replied. "My bestie is not getting burned to death on my watch." He cautiously opened the labyrinth. We stepped back out just in time to see the dragon go for Vanessa.

Emily suddenly raised her hands into the air and started speaking in Ancient Greek. I could see the energy of her spell as she wove it together. The dragon hesitated and turned its attention to her, forgetting all about Vanessa.

"Emily, be cautious," Artemis advised her.

"I've got this," Emily replied. She resumed reciting her spell. I watched in fascination as the dragon landed in front of her. It began rubbing its head against her hand, demanding to be pet.

"Good girl," Emily said soothingly. "It's okay now."

"Whoa..." I mumbled.

Lucky let out an enthusiastic cheer of, "Woo-hoo!" It echoed through the room. This caused the chimera to try to set him on fire, so Faith kindly rescued him, absorbing the flames yet again.

"Whoops," Lucky mumbled. "My bad. But that was awesome, Emily!"

"How did you do it?" Ares asked.

"Photeus was a dragon deity," Emily replied. "As his consort, Anastasia had a bond with dragons, too. Like most dragons, this one isn't evil. She was being forced into service to Altheos. I freed her."

"That was so cool!" Vanessa said.

"Hey, guys?" Faith said as she continued battling the chimera. "A little help?"

Vanessa looked at the chimera, closed her eyes, and smiled. When she opened her eyes, the chimera was no longer breathing fire. Instead, when his mouth opened, flowers popped out. They continued growing as the chimera became more and more frustrated. It was hard to take the monster seriously when its rage manifested as a colorful garden.

"Talk about flower power!" I joked.

"Groovy!" Lucky added. He proceeded to trap the very annoyed chimera inside of a labyrinth.

I heard a groan from nearby. I immediately turned serious and raced toward the source. Della lay in a pool of blood. A jagged rock had punctured her side and she didn't look like she had much blood left in her body.

"Hermes!" I called.

He made it to my side in an instant. "Oh dear," he mumbled as he looked at Della's injury. He immediately began stitching her wound closed. I had no idea where he'd gotten the medical supplies, but I decided it wasn't the time to ask.

Ares finally made it to us. "Della, what happened?" He demanded. "Where is your brother?"

"I'm fine, Dad," she replied dryly. "Thanks for asking." She looked like she was on the brink of death, but her sarcasm was clearly still going strong.

"She needs blood," Hermes said with a frown. "There's no time. Ares, I need some of your life force."

"Excuse me?"

"You're a deity. You have plenty to spare. As her father, your essence can easily save her life."

"Right, of course. Save the girl, and do it fast."

"I do everything fast," Hermes reminded him. He shoved a bizarre-looking golden needle into Ares's arm. I watched in fascination as red energy poured into the syringe. When it was full, Hermes pulled it out roughly.

Ares cursed spectacularly in Ancient Greek. "You made that hurt on purpose," he said.

Hermes looked at him innocently. "Would I do something like that?"

"Yes," Ares replied firmly.

Hermes ignored him and injected the red energy into Della. She began regaining her color rapidly. I was stunned by how quickly she healed. Hermes finally removed the stitches he'd given her.

"Are you okay, Della?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so... Holes opened up beneath me and Darrell. I don't know where he is." She kept a tough exterior, but I could tell she was worried about her brother. "This guy came down wearing a fencing mask, so I didn't see his face. He tossed me a sword and attacked. I held my own for a bit, but he knocked me down, and the next thing I knew, that rock was embedded in my side."

"We have to find your brother," Ares said.

"No kidding," Della replied, rolling her eyes. "Are the girls okay? Eliza and Krissy?"

"We found Eliza," I replied. "She's okay now. Krissy's still missing."

Della cursed even more impressively than her father had. "We had one job," she mumbled.

"You did the best you could," Vanessa replied. "You fell into portals that opened up beneath your feet. That's not your fault. We'll get Krissy back."

I spotted something on the ground. As my eyes recognized it, my heart sank. I picked it up while no one was watching me and put it in my pocket.

"How do we get the dragon out of here?" Vanessa asked. The dragon had followed Emily to our current location.

Lucky focused. He wrapped a labyrinth around the dragon. She vanished as he smiled. "Portable dragon carrier!" He declared. He moved his hands around in the air until the labyrinth took on the physical form of a marble, which he handed to Emily. "Take her somewhere safe. Then you can release her... Do you remember how to open my portable labyrinths?"

"Yeah, I do," Emily replied. "Thanks, Lucky."

Faith looked exhausted. The others didn't look much better. "We need rest," I decided.

"Jenna's right," Artemis said. "Go recharge for a few hours. We'll meet up when the sun rises and resume searching for Krissy."

"And Darrell," Della reminded her.

"Right. Get as much rest as you can." Artemis paused. "Faith, I'll take you home. We can accompany Emily while she releases the dragon, since neither of us will burn. Ares, bring your daughter home so she can finish recovering. Hermes, bring Vanessa home and then see if you and Poseidon can work together to locate Krissy. Ask Tethys to help you. Jenna, Lucky, see each other home safely."

We all agreed to her plan and went on our way. When Lucky and I were alone, I stopped walking. "Na, what's wrong?" Lucky asked.

I held the charm I'd discovered in my hand, tracing it with my thumb and still trying to wrap my head around my suspicions. "I think I know who Altheos is," I said.

"Really? Spill the tea!" He said eagerly.

"I need you to help me prove it first... Because if I'm right, he's close to most of the members of Iridescence, including me. You can't tell anyone. Not until I know for sure that I'm right."

"Na, just tell me. The suspense is killing me."

I opened my hand up and showed the charm to Lucky. His eyes widened in shock. "Holy crap," he whispered.

I sighed and mumbled, "Exactly."