by Zachary Howe
“I think you’re about to learn why my job is so hard.” Ellie smiled at her son and the group laughed, even the baby gryphon screeched up at the ceiling. The sound of Chiron’s hooves approached and he placed his hand on Gordie’s shoulder.
“We have much to discuss,” he announced to the room, his eyes roving to all present, pausing briefly on each individual, until he finally smiled and said, “but tonight we toast our victory!”
“Hear, hear!” Atalo bellowed and began chugging his brew. The party broke into renewed laughter that filled the Great Hall.
Epilogue
The echo of revelry rang out of Chiron’s home and drifted over the trees of the Forest of Pelion. The critters in the forest were touched by the merriment and they went about their daily chores with a pep in their step. But one large, leathery bird did not share their joy, although she did have her own sense of grim satisfaction.
The scaly harpy—who had seen Gordon Leonhart’s face before, deep beneath the earth—began to beat her long, bat-like wings as she lifted off the branch of a dense olive tree. She rose silently into the sky, heading west into the setting sun that bathed the land in a bloody red glow, until she became an unremarkable black dot in the distance, like a pupil in a furious red eye.
***
Gordie awoke that night in a cold sweat, his heart racing. He had gone to sleep the happiest he’d been since losing his father, but now he felt a sense of impending doom. The thunder above tore apart the night sky, causing the very mountain in which he slept to tremble. He told himself it was just a storm as he lay his head back down on the pillow. Another burst of thunder rent the night and Gordie knew it was his imagination, but he thought it sounded like the insane laugh of a madman.
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About The Author
First of all, if we ever meet, call me Zack. I know: I’m sending mixed signals. But Zachary is too formal! Oh, and Zack is spelled with a “k” because when I was learning to read I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that the “ch” at the end of my name did not make the -tch noise that it made in almost every other word. My name was not then, and is not now, Zatch. Moving on. I was born May 6th, 1988. You don’t have to get me anything on my birthday, but it would be greatly appreciated. I love comic book movies, but not comic books. I’ve spent virtually my whole life in Madison, WI, graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and now work for the University of Wisconsin Hospital. My fiancée Jody and I are the proud parents of a four-year-old boxer named Mick, but he will answer to Mickey, or Mickey Bear, or Monster Man, or Mickey Moo-Beans Monster Man—really any combination of the like. We are what some might call “Helicopter Parents” . . . to our dog. I am currently in the process of writing the second book in this series titled The Heir of Olympus and the War for Hades. If you want updates and other fun stuff, check out my website http://heirofolympus.com.
Thanks for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, please feel free to leave a review at your favorite retailer.
Zack Howe
Connect with Zachary Howe
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/@ZackEHowe
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