The Minoan Legacy

by R G Peterson

  “The Mayans had different ways of calculating when the day began and ended. One of them was the day ended and began at sunset. Today’s sunset was 7:38.”

  “But I always got the rest of my original powers after midnight. Why do you think this was different?”

  “Because that was part of the prophecy. ‘Complete.’ It not only meant it had to start on a complete cycle, it also meant it ended when the last full moon had been officially completed at the end of the day. 7:38 p.m.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” He got a thoughtful look on his face and said, “I wonder if Terry still has one of his elements?”

  Chapter 58

  “I wonder what it means?”

  Terry missed Saturday’s baseball practice. Instead he headed to Greece to tell Thanatos what had transpired, or more precisely, what hadn’t transpired the day before.

  “Are you sure?” Thanatos asked when Terry informed him that Nick didn’t receive the fourth and last element of Earth and assured him he still had it.

  “Yeah, I’m positive. We talked about it all day yesterday.”

  “I wonder what it means?” Thanatos said as much to himself as Terry. “We have all interpreted the prophecy the same. The One Spoken of in the Prophecy would one day acquire all four elements. How could we be so wrong?”

  “I don’t believe we are. Now that we know Nick doesn’t have all four and I did at one time, the prophecy is about me. It always has been. I told you, once Nick has been defeated, the prophecy points to me regaining all of them. Between the ‘one surpasses the other’ in the 8th Mayan Prophecy and the other that says ‘one has to lose to win.’ Don’t you see?

  Thanatos gave him a thoughtful look, and then said. “So have you come up with a plan yet?”

  Terry nodded. “The only thing that will get Nick here is if he thinks something has happened to our grandparents or one of the Clan. I’m thinking that we get GG and Henry out of the house somehow next Sunday then tell Nick they’ve been kidnapped and brought here by you. And seeing as how GG and Henry don’t have cell phones, there’s no way he’ll be able to check to see if they’re okay.”

  “Yes, yes, I like that.” He beamed at Terry with undisguised pride. “Make sure it happens. I’ll be waiting here with my men. You shall get your wish. You will make a great world leader.”

  Chapter 59

  “Hey, that’s great, bro. When did that happen?”

  On Monday they met for lunch. Terry had missed Sunday brunch once more and missed the news that Nick had acquired Earth. When he sat down, being the last one to the cafeteria as usual, they looked at him bursting to tell him the news. Seeing the looks on their faces he said, “So what’s up?”

  Nick refused to look at him. Instead he focused on the tabletop. He had chosen to wear the baseball team’s hooded sweatshirt the last two days and the bracelet. He thought it would be handy to know what his brother truly thought when he discovered that Nick had all four elements. He held his arms under the table and surreptitiously touched his free hand to the band hidden under his sleeve. He kept his head down, but raised his eyes to watch Terry. When Grace told him that Nick had finally acquired Earth, Nick heard him say, “Well, I’ll be…Son of a…” Then swear. When Nick lifted his head, Terry was staring at him with a blank and impassive expression.

  “Hey, that’s great, bro. When did that happen?”

  “Ah, Grace figured it out. It happened that day, but after sunset because that’s when the Mayan day ends and a new one starts. The last full moon had to be completed. That was also a part of the prophecy Grace figured out.”

  “Cool,” Terry said out loud, but Nick heard him add, There goes that theory. Now what?

  It took all Nick had to not ask him what he meant by what he was thinking.

  AJ asked, “You still got Earth?”

  It took a second for Terry to realize that AJ was talking to him, “Yeah, sure.” He glanced at Nick and made a showing of attempting to see Nick’s hands. Nick immediately brought them up and laid them on the table for everyone to see. Terry offered him a disgusted look that said – how could you?

  Chapter 60

  “I love you, GG. I’ll always remember.”

  Three nights later GG tossed and turned in her sleep. She had successfully suppressed the dream for the past four months, but now it was so strong she couldn’t deny it from entering her mind.

  She saw Nick walking through a great hall as the smoke and dust clouded his vision. She witnessed him stumble over the rubble and debris but manage to stay upright. She knew he was searching for Grace and her and Henry and the rest of his friends. But without any success.

  Nick spun as he searched for the sound that caught his attention. But it echoed around the room and he was unable to determine where it had come from. His search became ever more manic. He began to move faster only to have his foot catch on something causing him to stumble. GG watched as Nick looked down at the scorched and bloody face of Police Chief Bourbon staring up at him. Lying next to her was the body of Calvin Robinson. His open mouth twisted in agony.

  She observed Nick continue to move forward as the smoke and dust began to thin. He surveyed the battlefield. Bodies of his allies and foes were scattered everywhere. When he saw members of the Inner Sanctum, and other followers of Alastor Thanatos, he showed little regret. But she also sensed that Nick saw the waste of human life and how tragic and unnecessary it had all been.

  GG tried to wake herself knowing what she and Nick would see next, but to no avail. Nick took in a quick, deep breath as he came to AJ and Maddy lying side-by side. Maddy’s head rested on AJ’s unmoving chest. Tears rolled down Nick’s cheeks as he looked lovingly on his best friend. Although deep in sleep, GG was aware that she, too, was crying.

  A few feet farther on in her vision, Nick came across Anthony lying face down, his arm reaching for something. His eyes wide with despair.

  Then they saw Grandpa Red slumped against a wall, his head hanging unnaturally to one side. Next to him lie Thomas Wade with parts of his skin erupted. As she watched Nick move on he came across Terry’s old posse. Fear frozen on their faces.

  Finally she saw Nick look down at her and Grandpa Henry. They were lying at the foot of the long winding staircase. Grandpa Henry held GG close to him, as he did whenever he felt the need to shelter her from harm or grief. GG whimpered in her sleep when she saw Nick drop to his knees and begin to cry. Her heart was breaking and she wanted so desperately to reached out and hold her grandson.

  She heard Nick say as he took her by the hand, “I love you, GG. I’ll always remember.”

  He shifted his gaze to Henry and whispered, “I’ll never forget those lessons, Grandpa.”

  As he knelt before them, a cold and unnerving voice filled her dream. Nick raised his head. His eyes filled with fury and vengefulness. Expecting to see Thanatos, Nick was shocked to see Terry and Grace standing at the top of the stairs instead, their bodies close together.

  Thanatos’ voice came from behind them and his face came into view a moment later. “I told you it was futile. You and your friends should have joined me and none of this would have happened. Now look what you have wrought. And to what end? You have lost everything – your family, your friends and now your one true love.

  “You would not accept the obvious. Terry has always been the One Spoken of in the Prophecy. Being the first born, he was destined for this moment. You and your foolish ideals never stood a chance to succeed. In the end, only those who are willing to grasp the situation and do whatever is necessary ever triumph in life. You were always too weak. Too idealistic. Too noble. So now you have paid the ultimate price.” Thanatos pointed at the ground and Nick’s grandparents. “You have lost everyone dear to you and what have you gained? Absolutely nothing.”

  Nick answered Thanatos. “You had better kill me now, because as long as I live I will find a way to fight you and your plan every step of the way.”

  “So be it.” Thanatos raised his
hands toward the ceiling and pulled his arms downward causing the ceiling to breakaway and cascade toward Nick.

  At that point in her dream, GG roused herself.

  “It’s just a dream. Nothing more than a dream,” she whispered so as not to awaken Henry who lay beside her snoring. She offered a silent prayer to God that that was all it was.

  Chapter 61

  “It’s too late to stop it now”

  Grace, Nick, Maddy and AJ sat in AJ’s rec room the next morning. Well three of them sat. Nick alternated between sitting and pacing. Whenever he sat back down it was as if someone placed burning coals on his seat.

  “I don’t know, I don’t know,” he kept repeating over and over again.

  “Nick, we’re all a bit on edge. Try to relax. You’re really going to have to be alert and focused. Okay?” Grace said, in a soft calming voice as she patted the place on the couch between her and Maddy, in an attempt to coax Nick to sit back down.

  “Yeah, yeah, I guess,” but the other three could tell Nick wasn’t convinced.

  “How’d yeh mom and dad take it?” Maddy asked Grace.

  “As you can imagine, they weren’t too happy. I’ll never forget the look on their faces when I left. Hopefully they’ll understand it’s for their own good.” She wrung her hands and mimicked Nick, both of them looking forlorn.

  “Yeah, well mine weren’t either,” AJ said filling in the uncomfortable silence that had filled his basement. “I dunno if I’ve ever seen my mom and dad so pissed.” He gave a slight chuckle and said, “You should’ve seen their faces. It was priceless.”

  Grace and Nick shot him disbelieving looks. “How can you make light of this?” Grace asked.

  “What’re you talking about? What light?”

  “No, darlin’, she meant, …”

  “Yeah, I know. I was just trying to lighten the mood. Get it? Lighten.” AJ said giving a nervous laugh.

  Grace, misreading his chortle, said, “There’s a good chance some of us, maybe even all of us, not getting out of this alive.”

  “Sorry, it’s just that I laugh sometimes when I’m nervous. And I know it’s gonna be tough…but you should’ve seen their faces.”

  When Grace shot him another disapproving look, AJ pointed at the Minoan book lying open on the coffee table in front of them. “So you found all of those things in there?”

  “Yeah, there were seven more pages of 3D pictures in the predictions section,” Nick told him.

  “Wow! So how sure are you that what it said is gonna happen?”

  “Well, as much as I can be. You know how prophecies go? The person who tells it never comes right out and says this is going to happen for sure, but that’s the way I read it. Especially the part about Terry and me.” Nick shook his head as if to emphasize the point that he wasn’t completely sure of anything.

  “And you think it’s gonna work?” AJ asked pointing to the book one more time.

  Nick shrugged again, “I haven’t had a chance to test it, but it sounded legit. Anyway, did you get everything on the list?”

  “Yeah, it’s over there,” AJ said pointing to a place beneath the stairs.

  Nick walked over and brought the two heavy canvas shopping bags back to the couch and peered inside. He smiled, raised his eyebrows and said to the others, “Let’s hope this works, too. I understand the concept. I just wonder I can pull it off. And that I’ve timed it right.”

  Grace reached over and took his hand. “Do you think we’re doing the right thing?”

  With a slight hesitation in his voice, Nick said, “We can’t wait for them to come to us. We’ve got to take it to him. Especially after what we found in there,” Nick motioned to the Minoan book. “Besides, I’m tired of waiting and worrying everyday whether he’s going to come after you or AJ or Maddy or any of the rest of us. And what about our parents and grandparents? They’re not safe either. He could use anyone of them to control us. It’s better we do this on our terms and at a time we choose.”

  He looked long and hard at Grace, who, at first, refused to return it, but then raised her eyes and locked into his, nodded and said, “Yeah, you’re right. I know, it’s just…I’ve got this bad feeling we’re not all going to come home from this.”

  “Yeah, but if we wait and let him choose when and where… Our best chance for all of us to come through this is to surprise him where and when he would least expect it.”

  She dropped her head and gave a quick, short nod.

  “Plus, it’s too late to stop it now. We’ve already put the wheels in motion,” Nick added.

  He reached into the bag and pulled the objects out one at a time. He held each for a few seconds, concentrated, then placed it aside. He repeated this until he had touched every last one of the items. He placed them back into the cloth bag, sealed it by pressing his hands along the top edge of each bag, stood up and said, “Let’s hope I did that right. Everyone ready?”

  The other three nodded.

  “Then let’s go.”

  Chapter 62

  “Then let’s get this over with”

  They drove over to the Cherney Maribel Caves and headed to the passageways to the Sacred World Tree. Before they entered Rock Lake, Nick swept his hands over the cloth bags and made them waterproof. He also scooped up a large thermos of water.

  As Nick materialized in the vestibule at Balankanche Cave, a team of security guards rushed forward to grab him. He had seen this in a vision back at Rock Lake and flung the water from the thermos into the air and fashioned an impenetrable wall of water. Nick next put an electric charge through it. He warned the others to be careful and not touch it. The current was not strong enough to kill someone, but would certainly knock down any person who came in contact with it.

  One of the guards puffed out his chest and looked at his frightened colleagues, “Cobardes,” he spat out and tried to step through the barrier. It cast him backward and into a second guard, sending them both sprawling.

  Grace, Maddy and AJ came through the wormhole and saw the astonished look on the remaining guards’ faces as they all stepped farther away. Nick wrapped the water around them and proceeded to the Sacred World Tree.

  As the teens moved down the walkway, the guards drew their pistols from their holsters and started firing them at the cocoon of water. The bullets ricochet, as if they were throwing stones at a trampoline. Two of the guards were wounded. As if they were in the presence of the devil himself, the guards scrambled to get as far away from the teens as possible, dragging their wounded friends with them. From a much safer distance, they watched helplessly as Nick punched in the code for Greece.

  Nick surveyed the surroundings upon landing, but knew from his visions that no one would be at the Acropolis to greet them.

  Nick turned to the others, “So far so good. It’s just as we suspected. You ready for this?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Then let’s get it over with.”

  Chapter 63

  “We’ve been waiting”

  The four of them entered Thanatos’ property as they had in the past. Nick and Grace flew there from the Acropolis, surveyed the grounds and the mansion while Maddy swam there effortlessly despite AJ clinging to her back.

  Nick circled the grounds and searched for the guard dogs that patrolled the mansion. Gliding forty feet above the earth, he spied the first pair, swept down and landed between them, lightly shocking each, knocking them out. He didn’t bother to muzzle or tie them. He launched himself once more and found the other two. When he transformed upon landing he reached out and touched one of the dogs rendering it unconscious. The other dog reared on its hind legs and began to lick Nick’s face. Nick laughed and the two of them proceeded to the rear entry.

  The guard dog bounded up to the sentries, leaving Nick trailing behind in the shadows. It began to bark and turn in circles as if he were chasing its tail. The security guards exchanged curious looks. The first gave an upward nod at his partner and then a sideways gestu
re at the dog and said something in Greek. The second guard gave a quick, disgusted shake of his head, before taking a couple of steps to reign in the dog. As he bent down to grab the circling dog by its collar it morphed back into his human form. Red grabbed the guard’s outstretched arm with both of his hands and gave a violent pull, dislocating it. Red swung around, took hold of the guard’s other arm and snapped it at the elbow. The guard screamed out in pain, dropped to his knees and began to whimper and moan.

  It took a moment for the first guard to react, but by the time he did, Nick had stepped out from the shadows and laid his hand on the man’s shoulder. The guard froze in place and began to jerk spasmodically, then collapsed face first. Red marched over to where he lay, rolled him onto his back and stomped hard on the unconscious guard’s knee. When he realized what Red was about to do, Nick had shouted for him to stop, but too late. He heard the cartilage in the guard’s knee shatter and involuntarily glanced at it. Nick got sick to his stomach when he saw the leg protruding at an unnatural angle. Red raised his foot in the air to stomp on the guard’s face, but Nick was quicker to react. His hand shot out, touched Red lightly on the arm and shook his head no.

  With his foot poised above the man’s face, Red said as justification, “These two were among those that tried to kill me that day in Warrington’s mansion.”

  “They won’t be able to hurt you, or any one else for that matter, with their powers after today. Trust me.” Well, at least I hope so, Nick thought. He reached down and touched the guard in the center of his forehead, then once more on his chest above his heart. The guard’s body went lax.