Sasha Silver
by Emma J.
I woke to the
sound of snorts and hoof beats at my door.
“Whisper, hold your horses, I just
woke up,” I moaned to the door. Whisper,
my pegasus, wanted to get going on the day.
I know that right now you are like whoa...! A what is at your door?! But
yeah, a pegasus. Hey! A special kid has
to have special pets. Whisper is huge
and black with beautiful peacock feather wings. She has a long, flowing mane
and tail that I permanently tied peacock feathers into. I found Whisper when she was a starved little
foal, since then, we two have been inseparable.
But enough about
Whisper and a little more about me, Sasha Silver. I am sixteen and would say that I am perfect,
but the more you read this the more you will see that I am not. So let’s be straightforward. Like I said
before, I am special, actually very special, because, well, I don’t have a Dad,
I only have a Mom, Hera, queen of the gods.
I’ll be honest, I am mildly self-centered, but I care about other
people. And I am a very good
leader. I am nice to just about anyone,
but to stay on my good list don’t criticize me and you can’t have Zeus’
blood. Zeus, ah that guy – he really
gets under my skin. Enough about Zeus. I have long, straight black hair that is past
my waist – I am very proud of that fact.
And black eyes that are snappy and fierce – like a viper my Mom
says. I am naturally tan and Aphrodite
thinks I have a graceful figure.
I tumbled out of
bed and threw on skinny jeans, a green tank top and cowboy boots. I checked my nails -- good green -- the same
color as my tank top. I smeared on lip
gloss and put on some green eye shadow and some mascara. Good, I looked perfect. Whisper poked her head in and nickered as if
to say “Will you hurry up?”
“Give me a minute
– will you Whisp?” I grabbed my leather
jacket and made sure that my pistols were inside and my lipstick that turned
into a spear when opened – a special gift from Mom.
And yes, I said pistol and
spear. I get attacked and you need self
defense if someone tries to chip your nails – I mean – right? So, today, Whisp and I are going to go visit
Hebe, my sister, over in Greece. Whisper wanted to go soon because Hebe always
gives her a special treat like carrots dipped in molasses.
“Whisper, you
really are a pig,” I said as I jumped on her back. We started down the hall. As we went past the kitchen Hera called out,
“Sasha, get breakfast before you leave.”
“Fine,” I scoffed,
and no, it is not godly-awesome to have a god for a parent. It is
godly-awful.
“Good
morning. Want waffles with whipped
cream?” Hera asked as she gave me a good
morning hug and kiss. Okay, okay I love
my Mom.
“Yeah, that sounds
great.” She clapped her hands and
perfect golden waffles with mountains of snow-white whipped cream, topped with
strawberries, appeared on the table. My
mouth watered. I dug in. Each bite tasted better than the last.
“And now when you
go to Hebe’s…” I rolled my eyes, here
came Hera’s daily speech on what to act like when at another’s house. “Remember your manners, say please and thank
you, Mom. I know. I know. And to always act like a little lady,” I said.
“And that means
that not interrupting when one is speaking,” she said, looking at me
pointedly. “Oh, and be careful of that
Hercules. Although he is married he is
just like his father.”
“Don’t worry, Mom.
I won’t let him come with in three feet of me. And I am very quick to shoot
when faced by a son of Zeus.”
“Did somebody say
something about me?” Zeus asked as he entered.
Oh, great. Just what I needed an early dose of Zeus
medicine. Eeek.
“Bye, Mom. I am going to go now,” I said, making my
escape from Zeus.
“Bye, honey, say
‘hi’ to Hebe for me.” Hera waved.
“Okay!” I jumped on Whisper’s back and cantered out
to the field. And we were off. Whisp soared straight through a cloud with
mist swirling around us and the wind whipped through my hair. I felt amazing; there was nothing holding me
back. I was free with no schedule and no
dumb husband like Hercules or Zeus to stop me.
I threw my arms out for joy and Whisper must have sensed my happiness
because she neighed gladly and went straight through a cloud. It felt strange to be wet and dry at the same
time.
Soon Hebe’s and Hercules house was in
view. Well, actually it was a huge
mansion on a private drive between the pillars of Hercules. We landed and knocked on the door. Hebe opened up. “Oh, Sasha! I am so glad you could make
it!” She gave me a hug.
Hebe looked like
me and my Mom, with black hair and eyes set on tan skin with perfect features,
except her eyes were big and soft like a fawn’s, not like miniature bombs ready
to explode. And her hair was curly.
“Whisper, I got
you a treat!” Hebe brought out a bucket
and my stomach did a flip. It was a dark
liquid with orange, white, red and green chunks in it. And then what looked like peppermint candies
were bobbing at the top. I thought I was
going to puke.
“What is that?” I
moaned.
“Oh, it is
molasses water with chopped apples and carrots and some peppermint candies in
it.”
“Oh.” Whisper started digging in. My stomach was doing acrobatics.
“Sasha, follow me. I’ll show you the house,” Hebe said.
I was thrilled to
get away from that sloppy concoction that was apparently delicious for
horses.
Hebe’s house was
amazing, though not as amazing as Olympus. Each room was huge, with marble floors and
walls. There were beautiful tapestries,
paintings, and animal skins in each room.
We were in a corner and, to my dismay, there was Hercules leaning against
a huge marble column. He wore basketball
shorts and sneakers and a tee shirt.
Hercules was big and burly with bulging muscular arms and legs. He had brown hair and his eyes were like
thunderclouds. Hercules would have been
handsome, I guess, but even the thought of him made my blood boil.
“Hey Sasha, how’s
your Mom? Whose life has she ruined
lately?”
It was just like
Hercules to switch to the topic of how awful Hera was and how his poor little
mortal life had been ruined. I was so angry at him I wanted to take out my
pistol and make him look like a pincushion.
But Hebe wouldn’t like that and anyway he was an immortal god and I was
just a sixteen-year-old kid.
“Oh, Hera-cules!
You poor baby, did you get beaten up by a girl?” I smothered my voice with sarcasm.
Hercules’s face
became as red as a beet and he clenched his fists. “How dare you? I swear I’ll rip you apart with my bare
hands!” he threatened.
Hebe rushed to his
side and tried to calm him down. How she
put up with that guy was beyond me. “Now
dear, don’t be so violent. Calm down,
dear,” Hebe cooed.
After Hercules
calmed down Hebe showed me their yard.
It was beautiful, with exotic plants of every color. Huge, garden statues that almost seemed real.
We reached a cliff that was about thirty feet high, over a beautiful shimmering
lake. The beach below us seemed to have
golden rocks and sand. I stepped forward
to get a better look. I wasn’t looking
where I stepped, just watching the beautiful sailboats that almost seemed to be
flying over the glasslike lake. I
tripped and fell. I screamed a
blood-curdling scream as the knife-life rocks were coming closer and
closer. I reached, grasping for anything
to stop me. I grabbed a dead bush that had been growing out of the rocks. I was so scared. Not daring to look down, I looked up. Hebe was rushing to get help. My knuckles were turning white with the
effort of holding myself up. I was so
tired and my body was getting no lighter.
I felt beads of sweat trickling down my cheeks.
“Sasha.” I heard a
voice and looked up. There he was,
Hercules, coming to my rescue. He
reached out hand, “give me your hand,” he said, his arm outstretched about ten
feet, probably some godly power.
“No,” I said, my
anger giving me strength. “Why would I let you help me?”
“Because you will
die if you don’t.”
Which only made me
more angry. With a quick glance at the
spear-sharp rocks I quickly grabbed his hand, but he didn’t pull me up.
“Your life is now
in my hands,” Hercules said.
I couldn’t believe
it, I was dying and Hercules was going to go boasting about how he had murdered
me.
“I will save you,
but in return you will bring me the three heads of the Chimera.”
I knew what the Chimera was and the
fact that it had a fire-breathing head of lion in its front, with a head of a goat
in its middle, and instead of a tail there was a poisonous serpent head. And I also was aware of the fact that
Hercules was using my life to make me serve him.
“Why on earth
would I do something for you?” I fumed.
“Because I will
save you life,” Hercules answered matter-of-factly, which made steam come out
of my ears.
“No, I’d rather
die.”
“Fine, then.”
Thankfully he
didn’t let go. Well, not yet
anyway. I glanced down at the rocks and
my vision tumbled, because if he did let go, I would die. A gruesome, horrible death. And worst of all I’d have to be buried with a
shattered body. I’d be hideous.
“Oh, fine, pull me
up and I’ll bring you the three heads of the Chimera,” I grumbled, not wanting
everyone’s last look of me to be ugly.
“Now just swear on
the river Styx, to seal the deal,” Hercules
ordered.
“I swear on the
river Styx to bring you the three heads of the
Chimera,” I said.
Now there was no backing out of this. Because if you broke an oath sworn on the River
Styx, well, there are worse things than death. Hercules finally pulled me
up. I’d never been so happy to stand up
before in my life.
“Now go and bring
me the heads by this time next week,” Hercules huffed.
“What!? I just almost died and now you are going to
make me go? No! I should at least get a
cup of hot chocolate!” I yelled, astonished.
Whisper came
cantering over and nuzzled me lovingly.
“It’s okay, Whisp,
come on. Let’s go,” I said, petting her velvet-soft nose. I easily swung up onto her back.
“You are not a
real hero Hercules,” I said, giving him my you-are-totally-a-loser look. “A real hero would save people’s lives just
because they know it’s right, not because they want payment. You, Hercules, are a snobby, self-centered,
careless fraud, who will never lift a finger to help anyone else but yourself!” I turned Whisper to the sky and took
off.
When I looked back
I saw a look in his eyes and I didn’t know if it was a look of anger or shame.
Darkness
filled the sky so we could fly out in the open.
Athens
lay under us glistening with city lights.
I was over a park when I saw what looked like a boy hitting a rhinoceros
with a toy light saber. Then I
recognized the beady, blood-red eyes and razor sharp fangs of a hellhound from
the Underworld. As we got closer I could
make out what the boy looked like. His longish, blond hair was swept to one
side and he had blue eyes and was tall, lean, and muscular. In his hand was a glowing, gold sword, not a
light saber, although armed, the boy was losing the fight horribly. I signaled Whisper to go down to them. She turned and dived right before we crashed
into the hellhound. Whisper let her feet
fly, hitting the hellhound square in the nose.
The hellhound yelped in pain. I
sprang off Whisper’s back with my spear in hand and landed on the hellhound’s
head. I stabbed my spear and the
hellhound shrieked in agony once more and died. The boy, who had watched all this, sheathed
his sword and walked towards me.
“Thanks,” he said
“but, really, I didn’t need any help.”
I was too tired to
argue. I jumped off the hellhound’s head
and went towards him.
“Who are you?” I asked. I assumed this guy was
a demi-god.
“Alex Stone,” he
said, “Son of Hermes, god of thieves, and Aphrodite, goddess of love and
beauty.”
I shook his
outstretched hand. “Sasha Silver,
daughter of Hera.”
“Demi-god?” Alex
asked. “But I thought she only had kids with Zeus?”
“She does. I don’t
have a dad.”
“Really?” he asked, looking very confused.
“Yeah. I’m special that way. How about you? Are you an immortal god? Or just a teenager who gets attacked by
monsters?” I asked.
“Teenager. I am seventeen. Immortal. How about you?”
“I am sixteen and
mortal.”
Alex turned to
Whisper, “Nice Pegasus,” he said.
“Thanks. Her name
is Whisper.”
He stroked her
neck.
“Alex, do you know
a place where I could rest?” I asked.
“No, I just
arrived today, wanted to see what Athens
really looked like.”
“Oh,” I said,
disappointed. I was about to leap on
Whisper and go when Alex yelled, “Don’t go.
You just saved me and now you are going to go and not let me repay my
debt? Gosh, what kind of gentleman do
you think I am?”
“Actually, it
didn’t even cross my mind you were a gentleman! But I have to go. I have a tight schedule I have to keep.”
“Why? Do you have
a quest?”
Okay, he was
definitely a child of Hermes, sticking his nose into matters that aren’t his
business. I just simply shrugged.
“Listen,” he said.
“I’ll admit you just saved my life and the least I can do is help you on your
quest.”
“No, I don’t need
your help,” I said, hoping to offend him so he’d back off.
“Oh, everybody
needs Alex Stone’s help,” Alex said smiling.
“Well, I don’t,” I
said firmly and Whisper leaped into the air.
Alex kept on
yelling protests but I blocked them out. The last thing I needed was a boy who
couldn’t even kill a hellhound. I
thought about the best place to sleep, a place with no monsters and a place
where a pegasus was welcome. No place
came to mind. I thought about my mom and
how she’d be waiting for me and was now probably very worried. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t really
realize the warm body slip behind me and say gently, “Let’s land there in the
woods. I’ll watch while you sleep.”
I was in such a
sleepy, dreamy trance that I thought I had heard my mom.
“Okay,” I
murmured.
Soon Whisper
slowed to a complete stop and somebody carried me off and set me in the soft
grass. I was asleep in seconds.
I woke to Whisper
nuzzling my check.
“Hi, girl,” I
said, petting her.
“Good morning,
Sasha,” said a male voice.
I leaped to my
feet, grabbed a pistol and pointed it a boy who was browning toast over a fire
with a gold sword.
“Alex, what you
are doing here?” I asked, astonished,
once I recognized him.
“Chill out,” he
said and I put away my gun.
“I said I was
going with you so I went with you.”
“Wait a minute. That
was you last night? How on earth did you get here?!” I asked, baffled.
“My shoes, they
are a special gift from Dad,” Alex said.
“Oh, they have
wings?” I asked, because Hermes had
winged shoes but Alex’s shoes looked like just normal Nike sneakers.
“Yeah. To have the work all you have to do is jump,”
Alex demonstrated. He leapt into the air
and little dove wings spread from his sneakers.
And miraculously they were able to carry him.
“Cool,” I
said.
Alex landed.
“I stole some
breakfast for us,” Alex said, throwing me an apple and another one to
Whisper. “I made some toast for us,
too.” He gave me a slice.
“Thanks, Alex,” I
grumbled, not happy to have a boy doing the cooking.
“You, being the
daughter of Hera, I got you these.” He
tossed me a bag. Inside was a hair
brush, a bottle of perfume, and some lip gloss.
“Wow, thanks,” I
said, brushing the grass and knots from my hair. I put on some perfume and lip gloss.
“Ready?” I asked.
“So
I can come with you?” Alex said, surprised.
“Well,
I don’t think I’ll be able to keep you back,” I said.
We
both got on Whisper so I could tell him about Hercules and my quest. It felt weird when he put his hands around my
waist. I almost pushed him off Whisper,
but then I realized he’d slip off if he didn’t hold on. I told Alex all about yesterday. It felt so good to get all my pent-up anger
about Hercules out.
“Wow,
Hercules really is a jerk,” he said when I was done.
“Yeah,
he really is,” I said. Then I asked, “So
has anyone killed the Chimera before?”
“What
do you mean, killed it before? If it is
alive now, how could it be killed before?”
Alex asked, confused.
I
rolled my eyes. He was such a newbie.
“Monsters don’t have souls like you and me. So you can kill them for a while,
but once their body heals they’re alive again,” I explained.
“Oh,
but if you cut off a body part what will happen then?”
“They
are like starfish. They’ll just grow
another one.”
“I
once read about some guy named Bellerophon who killed a monster named the
Chimera with a spear and Pegasus, but that is just a story.”
“No,
it’s not. I remember it now. And he did
have a spear and Pegasus.”
“Well,
that is good because you have those,” Alex said.
“Yeah,
but he had help from the gods and we don’t, and we have a deadline of six more
days to find out where the Chimera lives, kill it, then bring its heads to
Hercules. Do you have any idea where to
look for it?”
“Well,
in the book it did mention that the Chimera lives in a cave.”
“Great,
so in six days we have to look in every cave in the world!” I said, wishing for the hundredth time that
I’d just stayed in Olympus and not gone to see
Hebe. “Let’s start with all the caves we
know of,” I suggested.
“Okay,
how about the Himalayas? The biggest mountains must have caves,” Alex
said.
“Yeah,
they probably do have caves, but the Chimera breathes fire and for fire to
start you have to have oxygen, and the Himalayas
have a very low oxygen content because they are so high,” I explained.
“Oh,
how about all the gold mines in Arizona?”
“Okay,
let’s try that,” I said.
In
a few hours we landed in a quiet Arizonian wood.
“You
stay here, girl,” I said to Whisper. “If I whistle, come to me.”
Whisper
bobbed her head up and down. And yes,
Whisper understands everything that I tell her.
Alex
and I walked toward the sound of cars on a road. In a few hours a city was in view. As we went down the streets, Alex kept
looking around.
“What
are you looking for?” I asked.
“Imagine
how much cash those tourists have! We
could be rich,” Alex said, rubbing his hands together like he was getting ready
to start picking pockets. I elbowed him. “Ow!
What was that for?” he said, rubbing his side.
“We
have to be serious,” I said. “Here we
are.”
“Why
are we stopping at a hotel?”
We
went in. Alex went towards the desk and bumped into some guy.
“Oh,
sorry, sir.”
Alex
came towards me. I turned to the
brochure holder and grabbed a few that were about caves nearby.
“Let’s
go.”
We
went outside and Alex whispered to me, “Look at what I got.” He pulled out a brown leather wallet.
“Alex,
that is so horrible!” I said. “How on earth did you get it?”
“When
I bumped into the guy.”
“Alex! Go return it right now.”
“What! You can’t do that. I’d get put in jail or something. Anyway, now we can get lunch.”
“I
won’t eat stolen food.”
“Fine,
because I will.”
“Oh,
no you won’t!” I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him around to face me. “You
are not going to be a thief while you are with me!” I spat.
He
chuckled and I almost punched him.
“Whatever, Mom! But I am
not going to go until I get a fresh cheese pizza and root beer and ice,” he
said, shaking me off. And he headed
towards a Pizza Hut.
“That’s
just fine with me,” I said to his back.
He
turned. “Have fun fighting the Chimera on an empty stomach.”
I
stalked off. Here is one rule I always
follow. Don’t ever steal, pickpocket,
rob, whatever, and don’t hang out with people who do. I walked down the sidewalk looking for a
shady place to look over the brochures.
The sidewalk needed to be repaved. Gold sand was spurting up through the
cracks and some cactus’ were peeking out, too.
The small town’s shops and houses looked cute and fit in perfectly in
the Old West town, like the Cowboy’s Coffee Cafe. But the Pizza Hut and McDonalds were totally
out of place.
The smells of food streaming out of
restaurant made my mouth water. I
thought about going and getting lunch with Alex, I couldn’t get in too much
trouble, could I? I pushed that thought
away as soon as it came.
I found a bench under the shade of
one of the few trees and looked at my brochures. One was on a turquoise mine only a few miles
away but it was still being used for mining.
Nope, no monster would live in a cave that was bristling with mortals,
although they were good for food.
Monsters were a little skittish around huge machines.
Next was a
brochure on an old coal mine. It said that it was only five feet high. Nope, not that one, way too small. The last one was a gold mine about ten miles
from here. That’s okay, Whisper flies
faster than a plane. It was ten by six
feet and was in a state park and was used for tours. As I read on, it sounded
even better, because at the bottom it said, “Warning: A few deaths have been caused because of
cave-ins.” To narrow-minded mortals it
might seem like a cave-in when it actually might be a Chimera attack.
“You
plannin’ to go there?” somebody asked
me.
I
looked up. An old man was peering down
at me. He had a bushy white mustache and beard.
“Uh, maybe?” I said.
“Oh,
I wouldn’t. The park is probably going
to be shut down.”
“Why?”
“People
who go in never come out.”
I
definitely was going there! I ran back
to Whisper as quickly as I could. She
whinnied, glad to see me alive. “Come
girl, we’ve got to go.” I said
breathlessly, scrambling onto her back.
In a few minutes I could see a big wooded sign that read, “One Vision
State Park.” Whisper landed. I decided that if the Chimera did live here
then Whisper should come with me. Whisper
was dancing around like someone had wound her up then let her go wild. I guessed that meant she smelled monsters.
“It’s
okay, girl.” I calmed her down. The park had a few rides like a Ferris wheel
and spinning teacups. On a sign it said
that the cave was past the food court and animal display.
“Come
on, Whisper. This way.” We headed towards the food court, which was
filled with ice cream shops, bakeries, and hotdog stands. I considered opening the abandoned shops and
getting some food.
“Whoa,
Sasha, you have been hanging out with Alex way too much,” I muttered to
myself. We entered the animal
display. There were eagles, hawks,
cougars, snakes and lizards. None of
them were moving, except for their chests slowly moving up and down and their
bad eyes following me as I looked closer.
I could see that they had no water or food. “Whisper, I’m going to set them free,’ I
said. I didn’t care how dangerous they
were. No animal deserved to be starved, but I didn’t really want to be attacked
by a cougar or something, so I leaped on Whisper. We flew up a few feet. With the butt of my
spear I shattered the glass cases the animals were in. There was a rush of birds flying over my head
and slithering snakes on the ground and jack rabbits hopping off to grassy
spots. The cougar began chasing one
rabbit and caught it. Oh, well, that is
how it was in nature, I told myself. I
hoped that when I found the Chimera that I would not end up like the jack
rabbit.
Finally
the cave was in view. It was obviously
out of order. The wooden beams that I assumed had once been holding the cave
mouth open were rotted out and had caved, so I’d have to crawl to get in. I looked at Whisper. There was no way that
she would be able to come with me any further.
I stroked Whisper’s strong neck. “If I don’t come back Whisper, I want
you to know that you were my best friend and tell my mom,” I started choking up, “tell her that I love
her and that I’m sorry for all the times I made trouble for her and I also want
you to kick Hercules in the face.” That
thought made me feel better. “And Whisper,
tell Alex that I hope his pizza was good.”
I
began crawling into the cave. Whisper started whinnying and pulling at my tank
top. “No, girl, stay!” I said, trying to be firm. I crawled out into the dark. I could stand up now, but I didn’t dare move because
I didn’t want to meet the Chimera by walking into it. I could hear Whisper whinnying and pawing the
ground frantically. I felt bad for her but not as bad as I felt for myself,
being alone in the dark, having to fight an unknown enemy any minute. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark,
so everything had a grayish look, instead of black. I uncapped my lipstick. Oops it was
‘Dior-rose-in-bloom’ lipstick. That’s the problem with a spear in disguise as
lipstick because if you open the spear hoping for lipstick you might accidentally
end up spearing yourself in the head. I
quickly stuffed that lipstick in my pocket and brought out my four-foot-long
steel spear with leather grips and a deathly sharp point. I cautiously moved forward, being careful not
to trip on the bars and planks of wood that the mining carts once rode on. I walked on for a few more minutes. The cave
opened up into a huge cavern that was lit up by an opening in the roof where a
single ray of sunlight spotlighted a lion head the size of an elephant’s head
or bigger. I could see huge fangs the
size of my middle finger. Around its face was a matted blood-stained mane. Past that was an enormous goat head with
horns sharper than my spear’s. The goat head was slumped over, asleep. Past that was the serpent. It was about four
feet long and green scaled, a fork tongue dancing between two shiny fangs. And instead of lion back legs to match the
massive paws and claws in the front there was the shaggy behind of a goat. This creature looked like a really messed up
puzzle. I was glad I found the Chimera
when it was asleep because it took my eyes a few minutes to accept that the
thing in front of them was real. I was
about to throw my spear like a javelin and kill it, but then its six eyes
popped open.
The
monster sprang to its feet and opened its huge lion mouth, the disgusting aroma
of moldy, burnt meat almost knocked me off my feet. Out shot a column of flames. I leapt aside
just in time. The flames missed me just by an inch. The intense heat made my lips crack and the
skin on my face peel. Suddenly, I saw
the figure of a boy wearing winged shoes and carrying a gold sword fly over my
head. I’d never admit this out loud but
I’d never been so happy to see an annoying boy flying around. I charged the monster as the beast blew
another arch of fire towards me. I
stabbed my spear in the ground and used it spring myself onto the muzzle of the
lion. I reached in my jacket for a gun,
but grabbed the perfume. The Chimera began trying to scratch me off. I sprayed the perfume into the monster’s eyes
and nose. It began gagging. A huge paw reached up for me. The three-inch-long
claws raked across my thigh. Pain shot
up through me. I screamed and fell off the lion’s head. I crashed into the cold rocks. I sat up. Alex was swerving around the
fire. I ran to help him. Well, more like
limped.
“We
need water so it can’t breathe fire,” I yelled at him.
Alex
nodded. He tossed me a bottle of water. Where he got it I didn’t know or
care. I ran forward, ignoring the pain
in my leg. While Alex kept the heads
busy I dumped the bottle of water in the lion’s mouth. The flame spurted then
died. I stabbed my spear through it. Blood spattered over me, but I didn’t
care.
Alex flew towards
the goat head. He was about to cut the head off but the goat tossed his horns
into Alex and hit him out of the air and sent him crashing into the cavern
wall. Alex crumbled to the ground. I ran to him but the serpent head sprang out
and sank its fangs into my shin. I felt
as though my blood had turned into lava.
Finally it released. My vision
was fuzzy and I was stiff, but with my gun I was able to shoot the head
off. One down, two to go. I had to stop the poison from getting to my
head. I tore off a piece of my tank top
and tightly tied it above the bite.
Yellow and black dots were dancing in and out of my vision and I felt as
though the cave was spinning. I reached
for my spear and used it for a cane. I
hobbled close to the beast and rapidly shot the monster. Alex was in the air again while I occupied
the lion’s head with my gun. Alex dove
in and sliced off the goat head. The
monster bucked and kicked Alex and sent him flying into the ground again. Alex’s spear clattered to my feet. I picked it up. I shot the monster’s back. The monster turned
its last head around and I quickly went forward and with Alex’s sword I slashed
through the bloody mane and the lion head fell to my feet. Its body crashed to the ground.
I
collapsed to my knees. I was so cold,
yet my hands were clammy with sweat.
Alex came to me. He was holding his side and blood was trickling from
his mouth. I smiled weakly. “We need to
get out of here,” he said. With one arm he picked me up and flew through the
cave. By normal standards I would have been freaking out about him carrying me,
but I couldn’t even see straight much less than walk straight. I tried to wipe
some blood from my tank top but I was so tired that just moving my arm felt
like I was carrying a truck. I passed out.
I heard a shrill
and scared whinny. My eyelids flickered open and I found myself face to face
with Whisper. I was lying on the ground under a tree Alex was lying next to me.
I could see something sticking up through his shirt. It was white and bloody. When
I realized that it was a rib I almost puked. Alex tried to sit up. His face was
as white as chalk. He winced and lay down again. I took out my supplies of
Advil but it wasn’t normal Advil, it was a pill that Asceius, the god of
healing, had created. One pill could cure any injury or sickness in a few
minutes. I popped the lid and swallowed a pill first. I felt dizzy, then I felt
as though I was sinking through Jell-O. Then
the feeling faded away. I sat up. I
felt great, all my wounds had healed and I didn’t even have the slightest
scars. I untied the piece of cloth from my leg so I won’t cut my circulation
off. I looked over at Alex. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head.
“Alex,”
I said. He didn’t respond. I guess that
he had fainted. I opened his mouth. Ugh, I really wanted to wash my hands. Gently, I placed the pill in his mouth. It
slowly dissolved. The blood on his chin
faded away. The rib sank back into place
and color flooded back into his cheeks.
Alex took a deep breath and propped himself up on his elbow.
“What
happened?” he asked. He looked over himself. “I’m healed and I don’t even have
scars!”
“I
gave you some special medicine,” I said.
“So I take it that you didn’t get lunch.”
Alex
shrugged. “Well, I thought that you
might want help so I followed you.”
“Alex,
thank you. If you hadn’t come I would
have died,” I said, gratefully.
Alex looked at me. “I know, and I didn’t want
you to die.”
I smiled at
him. “Come on, we need to go get the
heads.” I crawled back into the
cave. In the huge cavern the heads lay
on the ground, blood was splattered everywhere.
The headless body was still seeping blood. I scooped up the snake head and the goat head
and Alex dragged the lion head behind him.
We pushed the heads through the hole.
“How on earth are
we going to get these to Hercules?” I asked.
“Well, my dad gave
this to me.” Out of his pocket Alex
pulled a white envelope. In red cursive letters it said, “Hermes’ Express.”
“Yeah, like those
huge heads will fit in that little thing!” I said, thinking that Alex couldn’t
be that stupid.
“Watch this.” Alex flipped open the envelope and held it
out to the heads. The envelope sucked
one in at a time, like a vacuum. The
envelope didn’t even expand. Alex
stuffed it back into his pocket.
“Well, that takes
care of that problem,” I said, hugging Whisper.
Alex came astride
Whisper behind me. Whisper flew smoothly
through the clouds. In an hour we were
standing in front of Hercules’ house.
Before I knocked on the door Hercules opened it. “Where are the heads?” he demanded.
I took the
envelope from Alex and handed it to him.
“Sasha, I’ve been
thinking about what you said about me not being a hero. I think that you’re really right and I’m
really sorry, so I got you this.” He
pulled out a shiny black new leather jacket. In the back, instead of tassels,
like the ones on the coat I was wearing, now there were peacock feathers. I smiled. “Well, Hercules, you are not as
dumb as you look.” I was not about to be
nice to Hercules.
His eyes narrowed
into tiny black slits. He was about to
say something mean but Alex began laughing. “It’s okay, man! That’s a compliment coming from her!”
Hercules began
laughing, too, and I had to join them. I
glanced over at Alex, saw his blue eyes sparkling, and thought that maybe, just
maybe, all the trouble might have been worth it.
