Iridescence

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

JENNA

Since it was the weekend, I went out for my usual morning run a little later than usual. I still couldn't believe what had happened to Eliza's mom. My heart broke for her. My family meant the world to me. I couldn't imagine losing any of them.

Running always cleared my head. I was hoping I'd be able to relax or at least calm my nerves as I lost myself in the rhythm and the physical release of the thoughts racing through my mind.

I ran as fast and hard as I could. I ran until my muscles ached and my chest burned. When I reached the park, I jogged in place as I took a few sips of water, opening my lungs back up and giving me the strength to continue.

I was very surprised when I spotted Vanessa at the park, standing near the lake. Normally, I didn't let anything interrupt my runs, but I stopped and stood beside her as she stared at the water.

"You're out early, Vanessa," I said. "Is everything okay?"

Vanessa jumped as I arrived. "Oh! Hey, Jenna," she greeted me. Her eyes looked uncharacteristically sad as she studied me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I just keep thinking about what happened with Eliza's parents," she replied. "It's so unfair... And I'm worried about my mom. I can't be the reason she's in danger."

"I get it. I feel the same way about my family."

"I'm scared," she admitted. "I know we're supposed to be Goddesses, but right now, I don't feel like some big, brave deity... I feel like a scared little kid who just wants to wrap my arms around my mom and never let her go."

"It's okay to be scared, Ness," I replied. "I'm scared, too. I think we all are. What makes us brave is facing that fear and still doing what we have to."

She nodded. "Right. And that's what we're going to do," she decided.

The sound of a struggle got our attention then. We exchanged a glance before rushing toward the woods. That's where we found Emily. She had her dagger out and was battling against an army of soldiers from Ancient Greece.

"Emily!" Vanessa cried.

"They're ghosts with bodies!" Emily shouted back. "Don't feel bad about attacking them, just do it!"

I immediately started fighting back. I had enough Martial Arts training that hand-to-hand combat came naturally to me, but I summoned my javelin for extra help. Emily continued slashing at the ghosts with her dagger, striking them down. Vanessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, a winged horse appeared. She climbed onto the horse's back and took to the sky, sending blasts of energy toward the ghosts that seemed to freeze them in place. This made it much easier for Emily to strike them down.

As Emily was distracted, Vanessa noticed the same thing I did. "Look out!" She shouted.

"Behind you, Emily!" I added.

Just as Emily was about to be attacked, a sword came out of the ghost's chest. An emo boy pulled out the sword and smiled at Emily.

"I'm going to tell Hades you suck as a bodyguard," Emily informed him.

"I like to make an entrance," he replied.

"Get lost, Jake. I don't need you here."

As Jake impaled another ghost, he said, "I know you can handle yourself, Pumpkin, but I figured I'd back you up anyway."

"You've been MIA since you enrolled in school with us.."

"That's not true. I've been watching, but you haven't seen me."

"Creepy stalker," Emily mumbled.

"You like me. Admit it."

Watching the two of them battle together, I realized how natural it was for them. Even as they argued, they worked together in perfect sync to destroy the ghosts. It was like they'd known each other for an eternity.

We gained the upper hand. I thought we were going to win for one glorious moment, but then, the creatures came.

I couldn't identify some of them. Others, I recognized. There were chimeras, winged women I identified as Harpies, and even a couple of small cyclopses. The creature that concerned me the most was the minotaur. It reached into the sky and grabbed Vanessa right off of the flying horse.

"Ness!" I screamed. I ran toward the minotaur and threw my javelin with as much forced as I could. The monster cried out in rage and dropped Vanessa on the ground. She was momentarily stunned. The minotaur came running toward me. It was bleeding, but only barely. I realized my javelin couldn't kill it.

As the minotaur rushed toward me, I heard a familiar voice shout, "Get away from my Na!"

The minotaur turned toward Lucky. "Get out of here, Lucky!" I shouted. "Run!"

"In a minute, Na," he replied. "First, I'm going to teach this big, ugly, smelly man-bull that no one messes with my best friend!"

The minotaur roared with rage. Lucky stared it down defiantly and said, "That's right! I called you ugly!" He paused before adding, "I'm sorry. Didn't you know?"

As the minotaur got perilously close to my best friend in the world, I started to panic. Suddenly, the minotaur vanished into thin air.

"What just happened?" I demanded.

"Something I learned in school finally paid off!" Lucky replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"In Greek mythology, the minotaur was defeated by trapping it inside of a labyrinth. And my super power just happens to be making labyrinths. Aren't you glad we're BFFs?"

I hugged him tightly. "Always," I replied.

Emily was staring at Lucky. Jake helped Vanessa get back on her feet while Emily seemed to be trying to make sense of things.

"Ly," she said softly.

"Well, I am an excellent actor, so lying shouldn't be too hard for me," Lucky replied with a laugh. "I'll come up with a way to explain all of this away if you want me to."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "You're him... Lysander, son of Morpheus, brother of Anastasia and Theadora."

"I'm confused," Lucky said. "My name is-"

"Lucky," Vanessa interrupted him.

"Hey, Van!" Lucky greeted her cheerfully, as usual opting for the less common nickname. "Are you okay?"

"Lucky, listen to me," Vanessa said urgently. "Emily's right. You have Lysander's powers. It's a unique gift. You must be his reincarnation."

Lucky hesitated before turning toward me. "What am I missing?" He asked.

"Remember what I told you about Morpheus saving me?" I asked.

"By way of magical cupcake? Of course I do... Hey, do you guys want cupcakes? I'm starving!"

"Focus for a second, Lucky," I said. "I'm a reincarnated deity. So are Vanessa and Emily... And if they're right, then they're your soul's sisters."

Lucky shrugged. "Cool," he said. "I always wanted siblings. It's why I borrow yours, Na."

"That's it?" I asked. "You're just going to accept this?"

"You've never lied to me before. Neither has Van. So yeah, I accept it. Anyway, who's the emo kid?"

"I'm Jake," he replied with a smirk. "It's a good thing you showed up, Ly. I can do a lot, but making labyrinths is not one of my skills."

"It's Lucky... Even if it was apparently Ly before." He paused before flirtatiously adding, "But you can call me anything you like, handsome."

Jake laughed. "You're just as mellow as I expected you to be. Ly always did roll with things."

"You knew him?" Emily demanded.

"A very long time ago, yes... Before I was Jake, I was someone else."

"You didn't tell me that."

"You didn't ask, honey-cakes."

"What did I tell you about using obnoxious nicknames?"

"Sorry, Emily. Some habits are hard to break."

"If you don't break that one, I'm going to break you."

"Noted." Jake looked more amused than afraid.

"Guys, maybe we should get out of here," I said. "I have a bad feeling this isn't over yet."

"Good idea," Vanessa agreed. She waved her hands and the winged horse flew down to the ground. She stroked the horse's nose and muttered, "Good horsey... Thanks for coming to help."

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to leave. A swarm of snakes suddenly came rushing toward us. We were forced to battle once more.

Vanessa immediately got on the horse's back again and flew toward the sky, sending energy blasts at the snakes from a safe distance. I started impaling snakes with my javelin. Emily stabbed them with her dagger. Jake used his sword, and Lucky opened up a labyrinth and started flinging snakes into it. They couldn't seem to escape despite the labyrinth being open.

I let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground as one of the snakes managed to bite my ankle. Immediately, the ground began to shake. A hole opened up and all of the snakes that were close to me fell inside. The hole sealed up as if the ground had opened just to swallow the threat.

"Na!" Lucky shouted.

"I've got her," Jake said. He knelt beside me and slashed open the bite with his sword, widening it before he started to cast some sort of spell. I watched in confusion as venom began to pour out of my ankle along with a minimal amount of blood.

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

"It's a summoning spell. It won't work on a lot of venom, but the snake that bit you was one of the less toxic ones. You'll be okay as long as I get the venom out quickly."

It still hurt, but I could feel Jake's spell working. The venom was almost entirely out of my body when I heard Lucky scream, "Em!"

I was powerless to do more than watch in horror as a sword flew through the air and my best friend jumped in front of Emily and got impaled through the heart.