“Waiting for Ops to arrive with the Crown. Do you have her?” Stavius eagerly replied.
“No, were we supposed to bring her? Why didn’t anyone tell us?” asked Reggie.
“Oh, I’m sure they did, Reg. But you probably didn’t pay attention, as usual,” grouched Bea. She was tired from their long trip back from Florida, uncomfortable in the cramped room, and grumpy that they still hadn’t had a chance to unpack.
“Nope, the only thing we were asked to do was to slow down the unicorns, which are almost here, by the way. You’d better hurry up and do whatever you need to do.”
“Unicorns!? What are they doing out?” asked a woman’s voice. It was Larsa, standing next to Ops in the narrow hall leading to the Soul Reapers’ room.
The travelers’ hearts soared when they saw Ops. Nariana quickly ordered all the dragons to go outside and stave off the unicorns as Ops handed Janus her Crown of Helios. Stavius thanked her and asked how she traveled to the cave. Ops simply noted that it was handy to have a vampire friend who could teleport when Larsa interrupted her and repeated her question regarding the unicorns.
Versera explained how Stavius had reenergized the ancestral horns in exchange for Queen Esthara’s agreement to assist them in the fight. The unicorns honored her contract and left their haven behind the walls of Equous to save the Lachian army. Queen Esthara even helped them acquire two of the talismans before trying to steal them.
Larsa shook her head and said, “Well, you’d better hurry then. Those horses will be here soon, and you will never escape them. You see, the walls around their kingdom weren’t built to keep the world out of Equous. They were constructed to keep the unicorns in.
“Unicorns once ruled this entire region, enslaving everyone, except for dragons and a few vampires with their telepathic abilities. The unicorns had complete control over humans, but their powers were less potent with centaurs, satyrs, and vampires. A rebel alliance formed between the unaffected races hundreds of years ago, and we overthrew the unicorns. The centaurs built the wall. They became the unicorns’ prison guards while a community of satyrs agreed to live inside to care for them.
“The only way the unicorns were defeated was by me sneaking into their royal vault and draining the energy from their ancestral horns. They will be unstoppable if they get their hooves on a talisman. You must either fulfill The Prophecy or destroy those talismans before they break in!”
Janus said, “Well, then let’s fulfill The Prophecy. The motor is ready.”
The travelers nervously settled into their positions while Larsa dashed out of the cave to help the dragons. Janus was struggling to turn the motor’s shaft when Stavius offered to help. He drew a bit of magical energy up from the ground through one of Janus’ cables. The power surged through the motor and returned to the ground through the other wire. The shaft began to spin.
Janus and Stavius joined the others on their mats and waited as the motor spun faster and faster. Five minutes later, Nariana asked, “Are we there yet?” and everyone burst out in nervous laughter. There was a flash of light a few seconds later, and the seven travelers were suddenly surrounded by darkness.
Versera said, “Well, that was disappointing.”
Nariana added, “Yeah, it looks like we blew a fuse.”
Janus disagreed, “No, I don’t think so.”
Nariana asked, “What makes you say that?”
Janus replied, “Because I’m a girl.”
Chapter 32
Prophecy Fulfilled
May 2, Earth
Everyone scrambled to find their flashlights and were soon examining themselves in the dim light. Their minds were still conjoined, but they were in their host bodies back on Earth!
“I can’t believe that we did it! We really did it!” exclaimed Nariana/Nancy.
Versera/Veronica said, “This is so cool!”
Stavius/Mark groaned, “Oh man, I’m going to have to go through puberty and my early teen years all over again.”
Elisa/Raquel held his hand and cooed, “Don’t worry. Maybe they’ll be more fun this time with a girlfriend.”
Stavius blushed and Ops/Ms. Datta exclaimed, “Raquel, you can speak!”
Elisa commented, “Yes, my conjoined mind seems to have remedied Raquel’s cognitive issues. I feel great with none of the sensory overload she used to experience.”
Saturn/Mr. Narwani said, “But I think that Nariana is right. The transfer did appear to have blown a fuse. Come with me, Mr. Panagopoulos, let’s go find the circuit breaker and get these lights on.”
Stavius grumbled, “It’s Mr. Stavius, Saturn.”
“Actually, it’s Mr. Mars. You should all begin using your proper names now,” corrected Saturn.
”If it’s all right with you, I’d prefer waiting until we actually become gods before switching names,” suggested Elisa. “I’d kind of like being Elisa a little longer.”
The rest agreed and began nervously chatting among themselves. The thought of being torn apart into gods and Soul Reapers was terrifying, and no one wanted to discuss it. Instead, they talked about how they were going to use their new abilities at school. They excitedly described how they planned to show their Mearth counterparts all their favorite things in this world. Their Mearth visitors had memories of their shared experiences, but this would be the first time they felt them. The kids schemed about what to tell their families. They chattered about anything they could think of other than their next task.
The cave lights came on, and Stavius and Saturn returned. They listened to the conversations for a moment before Saturn assumed his classroom instructor role again, stomping his foot and shouting, “Class, listen up!” to get their attention.
“You all do realize we have a major problem, we haven’t yet solved, right? The person who is supposed to teleport us to the center of the Earth can’t do magic. Do any of you have a suggestion on how to resolve this obstacle?”
Ops said, “For that matter, we don’t know whether any of us can perform magic on Earth, Dear. There is no magical energy field here yet. All we have are the generator and the dragon stones we brought with us.”
Her question was immediately answered as a giant, glowing, neon-pink bat swooped down and slimed Saturn with bright green poop.
“Thank you for proving that magic works here, Mr. Janus. Now, would you kindly clean this illusion off me?” growled Saturn as everyone else laughed.
Janus ignored Saturn and asked Stavius, “How do you know you can’t do magic here? It seems to me that this was Staven’s problem back on Mearth. Perhaps Mark doesn’t have that disability here. In fact, Stavius first began to be able to control magical power after you two were conjoined. Earth Stavius might actually be the most powerful wizard of us all.”
Stavius felt his neck and face warm with blush and admitted, “Well, even if you’re right, I’d have to learn magic from the beginning. It’ll take years of training to be able to do something as advanced as teleportation. We’ll have drained the talismans and your dragon stones before then.”
Janus disagreed, “Nonsense. I watched you in Ms. Birquel’s class. You actually paid attention to her and really tried all her exercises. You probably know more about how to do magic than the rest of us, who just rely on instinct to do it.”
Ops put her hand on Stavius’ shoulder and agreed with Janus. “I saw you trying to learn how to teleport from Larsa and noticed something you might have missed. You are correct that you were unable actually to teleport anything. However, you were trying so hard that the entire building throbbed with the power from your attempts. I believe that you know how to perform magic but that something was blocking you on Mearth. Why don’t you give it a try? Start with something simple.”
Stavius was nervous. He was used to failing to cast spells on Mearth, but he felt different here on Earth. What if he couldn’t do it? He decided to be safe and try one of the few things he could do on Mearth. He brought his hands together and fired a little lightning
bolt at the far wall.
Nothing happened.
Stavius tried again and again, but not even a spark left his fingertips. The boy slumped his shoulders in defeat.
“Dude, stop with the battle magic. You know that isn’t going to work,” shouted Janus.
Stavius looked at his friend in confusion, as Janus explained. “You blast people with lightning bolts by drawing energy up from the ground. There is no energy in the ground yet, so that isn’t going to work. Try something simple, like an illusion, man.”
Janus’ observation made sense, but his suggestion was somehow more intimidating. Stavius said, “But I’ve never created an illusion. In fact, Staven was never even able to see illusions back on Mearth.”
Saturn said, “But you can see, and probably smell, the illusion of guano which is still dripping from my hair, can’t you? Now, if you don’t mind, Mr. Janus?”
The glowing guano, which had smelled like raspberries, disappeared with a wave of Janus’ hand. But Saturn was right that Stavius had been able to see the illusion. He took a deep breath and decided to try a simple illusion. A gray ball that cast no shadow instantly appeared at his feet. He waved his hand, and it turned into a brilliant, purple toad. A moment later, a second toad appeared on Janus’ head and peed down his back.
Janus yelled, “Hey, cut that out!” but Stavius was too busy to notice.
Stavius picked up a rock, turned it into a tennis ball, and tossed it across the room to Nariana. It grew and transformed into a soccer ball mid-flight, and she headed it at the last second. The ball bounced off her head and straight toward the generator. Ops yelled, “Watch out!” but the ball vanished before it struck the invaluable device, and they heard it ricocheting down a passageway elsewhere in the cavern.
They all turned to stare at Stavius, who was holding the ball and grinning from ear to ear. “It looks like you’re right, Janus. I can teleport objects here on Earth!”
Janus said, “Fabulous. Now, clean this illusion off of me, old friend. It’s sticky, and it smells like sweaty gym socks.”
Saturn asked him to leave the illusion for a few more minutes, but Stavius was in too good of a mood to torture his friend any longer. He released the spell, and they walked over to the generator.
Janus moved the dragon stones away from the generator and placed them in three small piles at the sides and at one end of the device. The heap at the end had three stones, while the others each had two.
Jissika’s image appeared and instructed the four heroes to each grab a corner of the generator. Janus had stashed Jissika’s and Merlin’s memory balls in his pockets on Mearth and placed two similarly-sized rocks in his pocket here on Earth.
She then explained that Janus, Ops, and Saturn would spin the generator. They would step away as soon as it sparked and Stavius would teleport the device to the Earth’s center where the others would enlarge it as much as possible. She added that the extreme effort of this process would cause the heroes’ spirits to separate from their bodies, which would remain in the cave.
A chill shivered through everyone’s body as Jissika spoke those words. This was the moment they would transition from being people to being gods … and Soul Reapers.
Nariana nervously joked, “Well, the good news is that Stavius doesn’t have to worry about going through puberty again, after all.” But nobody laughed.
Janus said, “Not to burst your bubble, but you might be wrong about that, Nariana. You see, I have a theory and want your permission to try something different.”
Every eye turned to stare at Janus. The four heroes’ eyes were filled with hope, while Jissika’s were filled with anxiety.
“Don’t screw this up by changing the plan, Janus,” she warned.
Janus ignored her and explained why he believed that Jissika’s heroes’ bodies and souls were split apart. His theory was that they used all their energy to place and expand the magic generator and had no power left to rejoin. Janus then pointed toward the three piles of dragon stones and said, “We do.”
He explained, “Ops, Saturn, and I will step away from the generator, just like Jissika instructed, but then we’re going to try something new. Ops is going to stand by one pile and place her hand on Versera’s shoulder. Saturn will do the same with Nariana. And, I’ll stand by these three rocks and put one hand on Stavius’ shoulder and hold Elisa with the other. We’re going to use the extra magic we brought from the dragons to keep your bodies and spirits together. If you want to try.”
The heroes agreed without hesitation and helped create handles to attach to either end of the generator’s shaft. They assumed their positions while Janus and Saturn began to crank the generator. There was still no spark after two minutes, but Saturn was sweaty and out of breath. Ops relieved him, and thirty seconds later, the team saw a small spark arc between the generator’s terminals.
Ops and Janus continued to crank the generator until three more sparks flew out. Then they stepped into position and grabbed onto their friends, who had their hands on the four corners of the generator. Nariana counted backward from three, and everyone closed their eyes and concentrated when she hit zero.
The room spun, and the seven travelers felt as though they were repeatedly turned inside out and back. Brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds swirled around their minds. Everything finally stabilized after what felt like an eternity. The colors were still spinning, but the sensations of vertigo and of being continuously stretched and squeezed went away.
Janus, Ops, and Saturn opened their eyes and looked around the room. The generator was gone, and the piles of dragon stones were steaming. The heroes were still standing beside them, but they were unmoving.
The three hero assistants silently stood there for a few moments before letting go of the unmoving Soul Reaper bodies. Ops said, “It was worth a try, Janus. At least they fulfilled The Prophecy.”
Stavius opened his eyes and said, “Darn right, it was a good try, dude. I did not want to be either a ghost or a Soul Reaper. I’ll take a puberty do-over over that any day!”
The girls opened their eyes and seconded Stavius’ statement. They made it back! Versera hugged Ops, Nariana hugged Saturn. Janus, Stavius, and Elisa fell into a group hug. And, everyone started uncontrollably laughing.
Janus cried, “Stavius! It is wonderful to see you again! I thought we had lost you.”
Stavius held up his hand and said, “Dude, please. The name’s Mars now. I’m a god, and don’t you forget it!”
“All teenagers think they’re gods. Now get down to the campsite before your breakfast gets cold. And don’t forget to wash your hands!” commanded Mark’s mom, who had just stepped into the cave.
✽✽✽
The travelers spent the rest of the morning trying to explain what had just happened, but it didn’t go well. There was no magical energy around because the talisman device was still coming up to speed at the center of the planet, and the dragon stones were utterly depleted. That meant that there was no proof of their magical, godly abilities. But it was a warm and sunny Saturday, and the group had the weekend to relax and hike around the hills of Rockcastle County.
The air was cleaner than it was in Cincinnati, but not as pure and fragrant as it was on Mearth. Not having any fossil fuels to burn and not needing to burn wood for heat or light clearly had a dramatic impact on air quality. Still, the pure joy of being alive and on Earth put the heroes in a fantastic mood.
The parents kept commenting about how they needed to go camping more often. None of them had ever seen their children so full of energy and so happy to be playing outside. Raquel’s parents were positively in shock. Their daughter was speaking, laughing, and running with none of her lifelong issues. They were at a loss as to how this was possible. Both her parents wanted to rush home and have Raquel examined by her doctors, but she refused.
She said, “Mom, Dad, I already told you. It’s because I am a god. You may call me Terra, Goddess of the Earth.” Then she laughed and rejoine
d her friends in a makeshift soccer game.
Mark’s parents couldn’t believe the change in their son either. Not only was Mark willingly playing sports – he was the one who started the soccer game! He trotted over to them out of breath a few minutes later for a drink of water and to try to get them to join the game. He then patted his already-much-reduced gut and said, “This has got to go. I’m going to start running every day,” before dashing back to the game.
Everyone was happy and exhausted by the time the sun sank behind the hills, and they settled around the campfire for dinner. The families had even joined in the game of calling their kids Mars, Luna, Venus, Terra, and Janus. Shontelle’s parents wanted to be named after Roman gods as well after learning that Mr. Narwani and his wife were calling themselves Saturn and Ops. Mr. Panagopoulos appointed himself in charge of naming due to his heritage, and they spent the remainder of the evening playing the naming game.
The only disappointment of the day was that their cell phones did not seem to be working. The remote valley had terrible cell coverage, and there appeared to be a virus affecting all the networks. The last communications any of them had received were strange texts, tweets, and emails talking about some sort of prophecy. Dr. Jackson claimed that this was a sign that they should just put their phones away and enjoy a few, blissful days without technology.
The next day was not as carefree. Mr. Latouche was furious that his brand-new tent had a hole in it. Then several water bottles leaked and soaked Mrs. Meyers’ clothes. Problems kept arising throughout the morning, and the group was done with camping and ready to head home by lunchtime.
They never left the valley, however. None of the cars would start, and Dr. Jackson identified the problems being due to short circuits. The insulation on all the wiring was brittle and looked like it was fifty years old.
Dr. Jackson was just delivering the bad news when they heard a series of pops and thumps. They turned to stare at their cars in disbelief. Nearly all the tires were flat.
Prophecy Page 35
