Book of Panacea

by Tineke Peeters

  "You do realize this is a training island? As in ‘The training island?!’" I saw his smile falter.

  "I am aware of the fact, but I also know the gods have decided not to get any more children since there is a lack of islands and no known way to create new ones. I think you have Hephaestus' son here now?" I should have known he knew that little tidbit of information, so I nodded and crossed my arms.

  "Well, he is your last student. So to make you happy and give you something to do, I will ask for the island to be mine and you can live on it with me!" He seemed so proud of himself that he did not realize how much he insulted me.

  Without warning, I slapped him across the face. Shocked, he looked at me.

  "What the Hell, Hecate?!"

  "You left me for that little strumpet of a Persephone, and now you will let me live on my own island!" I let out a shriek only the furies could rival, as my anger consumed the island and trembled under my feet. Hades' eyes widened in shock as he tried to keep his balance.

  "Hades, I banish you off..." Before I could finish my banishing incantation, he transported.

  I let out another frustrated scream and then collapsed on the grass. I was banging my fists on the ground so hard, I barely realized that Panacea and Phatostai had arrived.

  "A-a-are you okay?" Phatostai asked; I could not answer straight away.

  "Just give me a minute, please. Get the Aloe Vera from the Cornucopia and treat Cyriel, I will be back in a little bit."

  Both of them walked towards the Cornucopia. I felt a lick on my face followed by a second and third. Apple had come along and was now nudging me, whimpering. He tried to push my head up with his heads; I guess he felt my grief as Cerberus used to. I gave him a little push and patted him on one of his heads, and he seemed reassured by my response and walked over to Panacea.

  "Uhm, we have the Aloe Vera, do you need anything?" Panacea asked.

  "No, you two go ahead, I will be there shortly." Panacea seemed to hesitate for a bit, but then I heard both heading back.

  "Come here you little mongrel. I will carry you; otherwise, we will take too long to get back." I heard Apple give a happy yip and a loud groan from Panacea, as she picked him up.

  "Gods, I hope you can walk better fast, ‘cause you weigh a ton."

  "I can carry him if you want." I heard Phatostai offer, slightly hesitant.

  "If you don't mind, I would like that." I could hear Panacea answer shyly.

  Shaking my head, I raised myself up to my knees. Those two will put a smile on my face no matter how angry or sad I get; they are just so cute. Just now, I would have pinched their little cheeks. Other times, I wanted to bang their heads together, but now, they seemed to be getting along and it would be interesting how this friendship was going to evolve.

  I knew Hades was not gone forever, but for now, I had to put him out of my mind and concentrate on these two. Hopefully, Artemis can give me some feedback on what to do, now that there are two students. I needed her input on Panacea's background. Her mother I knew, but I had never interacted with Apollo, so had no idea what to expect.

  I got up, brushed the grass off my skirt and decided to walk back slowly while trying to gather my thoughts on what my next step in the training would be, and what I would need to ask Artemis.

  ***

  27

  After rubbing the Aloë Vera on a moaning Cyriel, I took Apple inside. Well, I lifted him over the two entrance steps and made him waddle over to the bed, while I grabbed the ointment to put on his gums. With quite a bit of effort, I lifted him up onto the bed. I put some ointment on my fingers and started rubbing it into his gums.

  "Ouch!" Pulling my finger out of one of his mouths, I saw there was a tiny droplet of blood. I put my finger in my mouth and grimaced at the taste of the ointment.

  When trying to check his mouth, Apple licked my fingers.

  "No, be a good boy and let me look." Sure enough, there were tiny razor-sharp teeth coming through his gums. No wonder they hurt so much.

  "Well, that is that. No more ointment needed, I will not stick my fingers in your mouth again." Apple was wagging his tail and looking at my finger going up and down, while I talked to him. Suddenly he grabbed my finger in his mouth and started suckling. The other heads bumped together while trying to get to my finger.

  "Apple, no!" I tapped the same slimy covered finger on his noses.

  "I will feed you, but my finger is not the sponge nor a nipple. You know that!" I tapped the noses again. He put his heads down on his paws giving me his best puppy eyes.

  "Yeah, yeah, you are sorry, I know. But this will be the last time to try it." I tried to look stern, but he was so cute. His tail thumped on the bed as if he knew he was already forgiven. Last night, I woke up with two fingers of one hand and one finger of the other in his mouths. He had been suckling on them, and the slime covered fingers were wrinkled.

  Turning around to grab the sponge and cup, I felt him crawl onto my lap. I turned towards him, and he more or less attacked the sponge. I was glad I had a good grip on both the cup and sponge, as I would have an ambrosia covered bed otherwise.

  When he almost finished the third cup of ambrosia, he fell asleep. It was his first day of walking around and sleeping less; he was clearly exhausted.

  I stretched my aching back and decided that a nap would be a good idea until I heard a commotion outside.

  Sighing, I got up. Maybe Hecate got back and decided to start the training again.

  My mouth dropped open at the scene in front of the temple.

  Maria held drama queen Cyriel in her one hand and a stick pointing at Phatostai. Phatostai had his hands up in surrender.

  Cyriel was telling the whole story, only it was double the drama. Maria soaked it up in her protective fury.

  "And then he pointed in my direction; he told the flame to attack me!" Cyriel said. The said flame was hiding behind a surrendering Phatostai.

  "I-I-I did no such t-t-thing!" Phatostai stumbled over his words.

  "Cyriel, mark my words, I will pluck your feathers one by one if you don't start telling the truth." With my hands on my hips, Cyriel realized I was serious. Suddenly he was sitting up on Maria's hand; he smiled at her sheepishly and flew off to a nearby tree.

  "Cyriel, you-you-you- aaaagh! How dare you?!" Now Maria was running after Cyriel with the stick, this was the point where a tired Hecate returned. I winced as I saw Maria smack the stick very close to Hecate when Cyriel flew over her

  "Sorry Hecate, I am trying to smash that lying imbecile into smithereens!"

  "I completely understand Maria," Hecate made a gesture with her hand. "Carry on," she said. Cyriel panicked at this. He looked at me and I crossed my arms and looked away. I hate liars...

  Hearing Cyriel plead with Maria while she chased him was quite amusing; I saw that he wasn't flying straight. So he was still having problems from the burns? Not enough to get caught by Maria though. The two fairies were laughing so hard; they fell onto each other.

  "So, I guess the Aloe Vera helped?" Hecate asked.

  "Yes, and guess what?! Apple stopped teething. His razor sharp little teeth are through." I jumped up and down like an idiot, clapping my hands. Both Hecate and Phatostai were looking at me as if I had grown a second head.

  "A girl can be excited about small things you know," I grumbled, and turned around to go back inside.

  "Panacea wait, please. Apple will need to eat meat soon, and you need to teach him how to hunt." The ever unhelpful Lottie spouted out the sentence, my shoulders sagged.

  "And how am I supposed to do that with nothing to hunt except for the two of you?" As I said, ever helpful... not. Lottie flew a bit higher into the tree she was sitting in and shrugged her shoulders.

  "Stay away from me!" I heard Charlie squeal.

  Looking in her direction, I gaped again. I promise you, my jaw is starting to hurt from all the gaping and grinning.

  Phatostais 'flame' was following Charlie around. I looked at Ph
atostai, who was looking at the scene trying not to grin. Hecate didn't even try, she just laughed her head off. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lottie hiding behind a branch looking worried.

  When she finally caught her breath, Hecate said: "Phatostai, we need to contain your flame. You can use him as you please, but same as Apple, he needs to be trained." That last part was said with a raised eyebrow in my direction. I had the strangest urge to stick out my tongue but kept a blank expression on my face.

  "Tonight we are going to relax around the fire; I will get the flame to relax with the fire I will make. Tomorrow, however, the training of both needs to change towards training both of your companions. If you want them or not, these creatures have decided to attach themselves to you. Your powers and responsibilities are linked."

  Watching Hecate build a mumbo-jumbo fire, I was wondering how I was going to teach Apple to hunt. I watched the flame relaxing with the other flames,as Phatostai heaved a heavy sigh and his shoulders relaxed. He being the one, who helped with feeding Apple in the beginning, was my best bet to get some help.

  Hecate could be helpful, but she did not look in a good mood. I still had not heard the story of what went on in the meadow and I hoped Phatostai would tell me.

  I looked towards the bed from the entrance of the temple to make sure Apple was still sleeping. Surprised to see that Charlie and Lottie had decided to sleep on his back, I realized that Maria was still somewhere running after Cyriel.

  Turning around, I almost ran into Phatostai who was one step below me.

  Putting a hand on my heart to keep it from leaping out from the fright, I looked at him. With him being a step below me, our eyes were level. Goodness, he had beautiful eyes. I was so lost in his eyes; he had to repeat his words.

  "I am sorry Panacea, I did not mean to hurt Cyriel." He was speaking softly.

  "I know, I should be the one to apologize, I went absolutely nuts on you for no reason. Cyriel was the one flying away, and there was nothing you could have done about that or your flame. We were training in what was supposed to be a safe environment, but I took Cyriel with me, so it was actually my fault." Sighing, I continued. "Seeing Cyriel hurt, was one emotional situation to many. The overload resulted in me going nuts." I grimaced and looked from under my lashes to see his reaction.

  He was smiling gently at me.

  "I understand completely and I want you to know that if you want to talk about anything, I will be there for you." I swear my heart skipped a beat, and I felt flushed again. With my hand, I tried to cool my hot face down.

  "Is it hot here suddenly?"

  "I think you are hot." He winked at me, turned red and then turned around, leaving me confused. Hecate came up behind me and patted my shoulder, making me jump.

  "If I can give you some advice: he is one of the good ones; don't let him slip away." Upon seeing I was still frowning, she joked, "Did no one tell you about the birds and the bees?" When I got hot this time, I knew I was blushing. At the sight of my bright red face and bulging eyes, Hecate moved away smirking.

  ***

  28

  How was I going to look Phatostai in the eye after that enlightening tidbit of information? He is gorgeous looking and sweet, but I was too young for the birds and the bees. I am going to need to say it in my head: make love... It sounded weird.

  Plus I still want my first kiss. No, I need my first kiss first! That is how you know if you love someone; at least, that is what mom told me. When she winked at dad, he turned away blushing, I guess that is where I got the blushing from! It is not as if I can ask mom about dating advice right now, I already know this is going to turn into a disaster, now I know he likes me. Ugh!

  Dinner was already in the works, made by Maria and Hecate; I wondered how it is that they are suddenly getting along. I am sure it has something to do with man problems, but what man problems Hecate has, I did not know! Not sure I wanted to know, but I could ask Phatostai. But then again, how was I going to face him when he told me he thought I was hot?!

  "Apple baby, come! You need to come outside for a bit before bed." Apple yawned and stretched, putting his little butt in the air, he got off the bed without my help. He fell on the ground before I could get there, all heads and ears and whimpering.

  "My poor stupid baby! You are getting bigger, but you still need to learn to walk properly before jumping." Leaving him on the ground, I yelled for Charlie.

  "How can I help?" Charlie asked.

  "Can you maybe make some stairs for Apple to get up and off the bed? Or maybe it would be better to get him his own bed, mmm? What do you think?"

  "He fell off?" She asked; I nodded.

  "It might be best if I do both, but it is too much magic for one day. So you will have to choose which one you want today." Charlie said.

  "The stairs will be best for now." As soon as the words left my mouth, a whole lot of sparkles emerged from Charlie's hands. I could see the strain on her face from all the magic, but when nothing happened, I got worried. Then she let out a final burst of sparkles, and the stairs stood next to Apple and the bed. Apple looked up and sniffed at them.

  Turning to Charlie to say thanks, I realized she was already gone, probably to sleep with Maria.

  "Come Apple, come on little one." Apple refused to move; he just sat there looking at me. All three heads were cocked to the side, I crouched down.

  "Come to mama, baby. Come on. You can do it." I tried to coax him, but he kept looking at me with those puppy eyes.

  "I know you can walk, you little..."

  "Panacea, are you coming? Food is ready!" Hecate yelled at the top of her lungs.

  "I am coming!" I yelled right back at her. "Apple, I will not pick you up, you better move your little butt." I got up and walked towards the entrance of the temple. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the stubborn pup still sitting next to the little stairs.

  "Suit yourself." I turned around and walked outside.

  "Whoa there." I ran into Phatostai, again. I think I need to get my eyes checked. He seems to be everywhere, but I never see him before bumping into him.

  "You okay?" He asked, I nodded, not getting any words out.

  "Where is Apple?" He asked while still holding me steady by my arms; he looked behind me to see where Apple was I guess. Gods, he smelled nice.

  I am sniffing a guy, what is wrong with me?! When I didn't answer his question, he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I answered him by pointing over my shoulder with my thumb towards the temple.

  "Oh, okay, I will go get him." Before I could say a thing, he went inside and started cooing to Apple. Apple was lapping it all up, wagging his tail, giving small licks (yes he can give small kisses if he wants to. I get the slobbers.) It was so cute watching those two together that I forgot all about getting mad that Apple needed to walk on his own. Phatostai picked him up and walked towards the fire, saving me a spot on the tree trunk.

  "Where is your flame?" I asked, happy that I got my voice back.

  "It is in the fire, quite frustrating that thing. This time it was trying to hit on Lottie as Charlie had disappeared. Thankfully, Hecate needed a fire for the cooking and made the magical one. It is amazing how the thing gets so transfixed by this fire, it just joins the flames and looks like it is sleeping." Together with Phatostai, I was squinting into the fire but saw nothing. Like an idiot, I nodded, thinking he would think I saw the flame as well. He looked at me and his smile widened.

  We all got a bowl filled with some mysterious food; it looked like nothing I have ever seen before. Upon looking closer, it looked like something I had seen before. It looked like long white worms, covered in something chunky and red. I pulled a face.

  "Eat up all, it is power food. On Earth, they used to make this as a source of energy." Hecate announced.

  "What is it called?" Phatostai asked. It smelled good, but it looked horrendous.

  "Not sure really, but this is the perfect drink to go with it!" With a large smile, she procured tw
o cups from a table behind her and handed one to each of us. I looked into the cup and retched and had to put it down. It was green and looking at Phatostai, I saw that he was turning as green as the stuff in the cup.

  "And what might this be?" He asked in a tiny voice.

  "Just eat it and drink it, will you! I put in all the work, now you only need to put it in your mouth and shut up!" She was turning an alarming purple color. I quickly drank from my cup and smiled at Hecate; she looked at us expectantly.

  I chugged the whole thing down in one go. Only upon swallowing it, did I realise that it tasted remarkably good. Putting it down, I decided to give the worms a try; at least they were not moving! Hecate was still watching us, so I took a tentative bite, at least I tried. The damn worms were not moving, but seemed intent on escaping!

  Looking at Phatostai, I saw that he was still regarding the cup of green goo, with barely concealed disgust. He looked at me and I nodded, hoping he would understand that it tasted good. He raised an eyebrow and I showed him my empty cup. Looking at me in surprise, I gave him a small encouraging smile. He didn't chuck it down like I did, he sipped it. After the first taste, he saluted Hecate, who beamed at us.

  The utensils we got was not the spoon I was used to, it was like a spoon but then three pieces cut out. I looked over to Phatostai and I nearly dropped my bowl; he seemed used to the spoon-like thing. I imitated him by sticking the thing straight into my bowl of worms, then turned around and scooped the stuff up. Huh, it worked. The scoop was large, but deciding this might be the only time this trick worked, I opened my mouth wide and stuck it all in there. Ladylike? Nope, not really. Delicious? Yes, yes it is!

  "Mmmm, this is good!" With my eyes closed, I enjoyed my first blissful bite. Opening my eyes, I took a second and third and soon realized that my bowl was empty without having struggled once. I looked at Phatostai and grinned; he grinned right back and stood up. I thought he was going to take my bowl, but he reached out to my mouth.