It looms over the bow, powerful and angry. The crew scurry hurriedly around me, focusing on trying to evade the monster from the deep. This is my chance to escape.
I adjust my position against the main mast and pull myself into a squatting position. I look around but nobody’s noticed.
I trust myself enough to stand and my eyes find a young sailor with a dagger sticking carelessly out of his back pocket. Carelessly enough for a light-fingered thief to slip it out of his back pocket and start to work it gently across the ropes binding my hands.
‘Everybody hold onto something, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!’
I duck behind a barrel as the captain steps put onto the deck. His eyes flash cruelly at the sea creature in front of us and a smirk drifts easily across his face.
My hands are nearly free when the ship rocks violently. I’m thrown against the starboard side and push the oncoming barrel away with my feet.
Flecks of water begin to move up to the storm clouds above. I stare at the columns writhing in awe. But my gazing doesn’t last for long as the ship rocks the other way and I’m sent skidding across the deck as the rain starts falling.
I see the captain’s eyes trained on me when I look up.
‘The prisoner has escaped!’ he bellows. ‘Get them!’
Before anyone has a chance to move, the sea beast raises its tail and smashes it into the water. A giant wave hurtles towards us and soaks the ship in water. I notice a foot as someone is dragged overboard.
Naiads.
Two of them spring up from the starboard side, coral swords in hand. The sailors look terrified as they rush over to the other edge of the ship. I gulp. I know why they’re here, I know why everything has happened.
‘Have you got the trade?’ one of them asks. Its voice is laden with softness yet his face appears twisted.
‘Yes,’ the captain says. He turns to me. ‘They’re right there.’
The whole ship seems to creak and turn to look at me. Two sailors start to move towards me.
No way am I going back.
I rip my hands out of the ropes and climb quickly onto the rail of the ship.
‘Don’t come any closer!’ I say. ‘Or I’ll jump.’
A Naiad cocks their head at me. ‘You wouldn’t.’
‘I would too.’
‘But you humans value life so much.’
I growl. We’ll see about that, I think.
And I leap off the edge and dive into the water
My eyes flutter open. His face comes into view and my lip curls with disgust. He mimics my action and squats down beside me. That’s when I realise where I am - on the floor of what looks like a warehouse, bound and gagged. Seems like they got me. He rips the gag off and laughs menacingly. ‘I guess you regret swindling is of all that cash, don’t you?’ ‘If you’re meant to sound scary, it’s not working,’ I say. Then his face hardens. He grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me up. ‘You stole a million pounds from us, and now we’re going to get revenge!’ He dropped me back on the floor with a thud. ‘Well that’s gonna be hard,’ I tell him, ‘since I have an appointment to bail my dad out of jail - a jail your father put him in.’ ‘What makes you think you’ll be alive in a minute’s time?’ he asked, turning to me with a deranged grin. ‘Because,’ I say, ‘you should’ve tied my legs.’ I spring up, and masked figures come at me from all sides. I charge at one of them with all my might. He falls on impact and I continue running. I reach the door and smash into it with my shoulder, but it’s locked. I guess I’ll just have to face them. I raise my hands above my head as the first person stampede toward me. They are a few metres away before I pull my hands down, releasing them from their duct tape bonds. I punchthe person in the face, causing them to stumble, and I knee them in the ribs. They collapse in front of me. ‘Who’s next?’ I say, grinning. Two of them run at me this time, from either side. I wait until the right moment, slide out of the way and they collide, knocking each other out. Three down, two to go. A lean woman wearing a sequinned mask steps forward and we circle each other. She looks trained. I make the first move, kicking at her with my boots. She nimbly doges and lashes out with her hand in a karate chop. She hits my shoulder as I twist out of the way, grabbing her arm in the process. Defending against her lethal kicks, I twist the skin on her arm. She lets out a cry of anguish and temporarily stops, allowing me to hit the side of her face and pushing her into the wall. Suddenly I hear a roar behind me and turn to see him running at me.. I am just in time to block his attack. I block hit after hit until I’m too exhausted. He grabs me and wraps his hands around my neck. Squeezing. Spots cloud my vision. I do the only thing my brain can think of. I kick him in the balls. He squeaks before sinking to the floor. Stupid man. He’s underestimated me. I manage to kick the door down and leave.
As I sprint out of the city, a voice pierces my thoughts. You’ve failed, E, it hisses. You’ve failed. And I have. I’ve failed to get Z back.
Z was my best friend. We lived on a boat. It was just us, it always had been. The two of us against the rest of the world.
Then we docked in Port Trowmouth, one of the deadliest places in the whole world. We had just finished buying supplies for the next few months when we noticed that some Trowmouth kids had stolen our ship.
“We have to get it back,” I remember him saying, and I just followed along.
We rented out a rowboat and began to pursue them. A storm was brewing overhead, and the air was full of the promise of lightning. We just didn’t expect it to hit us.
The blast exploded into the centre of our rowboat and splintered in down the middle. I clung to my half and desperately tried to spot Z among the wreckage. But the waves were too big and the storm was too feral for me to find him. I watched the bottom of the sea in terror as sirens lurked behind wrecked boats with fangs of sharpened glass.
The next thing I knew I was awake on a beach with a crowd of children around me. The same ones who had stolen our boat.
“You made me lose Z!” I yelled and hurled myself onto the nearest child, punching and smacking.
And then suddenly I was in the air, smashing against a tree. They were Life Reapers, I realised. So they would know where Z was.
After questioning them thoroughly we came to an agreement: I would give them passage on my boat in exchange for passage to Grea, the City of Death.
We were both looking for people we thought to be dead.
We sailed for weeks, rationing food, fighting off Reapers, pirates and Guardians. Then we reached the City.
I parted from the Life Reapers then. I had admittedly grown fond of them, especially Chalk, their leader.
Grea was just like in the books - morose and grey and hopeless. Rain contstantly fell from the heavens and the fountain in the town centre hadn’t produced water in forever. The dead wandered around solemnly. Apart from one boy I seemed to recognise.
Z.
Z who was walking with Lady M, the princess of death.
“Z!” I cried out. “It’s me.”
But he barely even noticed me. His eyes were transfixed on Lady M and he stepped up to the fountain. Lady M gestured grandly around him and then suddenly white light spurted from his eyes. He levitated absorbing bodies from the crowd.
I rushed forward and stared at Z. He was now wearing robes and a black mask.
“Z, what are you doing?” I said, grabbing his hand.
He turned his head and looked at me. “I’m not Z anymore, E. I’m Wraith. And you will soon be too.”
I regret nothing. He deserved it. Here’s how it happened....
It was my sister Ammi’s hen night and we were out at a night club with 10 of her closest personal friends. We were slightly drunk - I was probably the most sober out of anyone, since I had arranged the night.
“Journey to the next club starts in 2 minutes!” I declare, pointing a finger into the air.
“Yay!” Ammi said drunkenly. “I gotta go pee.”
She stumbled up from the chaise she was sat on and staggered her way over to the toilets - the male ones.
“Oh god,” I said. “What the hell is she doing?”
“D’you wamme to go gedder?” May, Ammi’s maid of honour, slurred. And that would’ve probably ended up even worse, so I said, “No, May, let me go.”
I climbed up from my chair and worked my way through the crowd. The crowd was jumping to the music, throbbing and pulsing like they had merged into one entity. I squeezed through the mass of people and pushed the door to the male toilets.
And that was when I saw it. A stupid drunk man with huge abs had pushed Ammi against the wall and was... doing stuff to her that would have made me kick him in the balls. I cried out, my mind going blank.
I didn’t remember taking the toilet rolls off the holder, picking it up, and bashing the man - later known as Aaron Mack - until his skull caved in on his brain, killing him. It was only until after it happened and I was holding a bloody holder that I realised he was dead.
And, honestly, I didn’t regret a thing.
Evie and her family are stuck inside, with rumours and whispers fluttering around like butterflies. The neighbours know. The town knows. Evie reckons the whole world knows. Knows what happened last summer, when everything went mad. When Evie and her family visited the sunny seaside town of Seashells.
I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I’m invisible. This is great. Absolutely fantastic. Now what do I do? My parents can’t see me like this, no one can. I guess I’ll have to take my clothes off and disappear for the day. I hate Power Hopping.
My room is literally a jungle. I put a hand on my wall and a spray of vines grow in its place. This power would be cool if I was an explorer. But a high schooler? Not so much. You can’t where gloves around all day. You also can’t have the power to turn everything you touch into a jungle scene, but today I do. This is way worse than invisibility. Power Hopping can be the most terrible thing.
Mum walks into my bedroom and she’s...bright yellow! She’s smiling and jabbering on about how great I am and how much fun we’ll have together today, because apparently we’re going shopping ‘like we did when I was little’. I stopped doing that after my powers manifested. Shoppers probably wouldn’t like to see a little girl who couldn’t keep her feet on the ground, or could shoot lasers out of her eyes so had to wear sunglasses. The day is spent at the shopping centre, seeing soft pink couples, bright yellow groups of friends, grey mothers with screaming red children. It is awful. We don’t buy anything because I’m too scared of the blue shop assistants.
I wake up on the ceiling. Everything else in my room is floating, and I yelp. Then suddenly everything changes and I hit my bed with a thump. Dad runs in, shouting “What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” and leaves with a puzzled look on his face, because nothing seems to be. But as soon as he leaves I drift a few feet off the ground. How am I supposed to go to school like this? And why am I even asking this question. No school! Whoop!
Today I have a great power. I literally understand anything. In Spanish I had a complete conversation with the teacher and in Drama I ‘accurately’ translated The Tempest into our style of talk. Apparently it’s called innate capability, and it. Is. Awesome.
Ok, today is not the best. I’m glowing with a strange light. It’s scaring me. The neighbours have probably seen me and called the government. I’m going to be taken away. Away from my friends, family, life as I know it. I need to do something about it. I need to run. Run fast.
As Poseidon pulls up to Mount Olympus, I feel sick to my stomach. If this goes wrong, what will happen to us? Will we die? Will we be plagued by the Furies forever?
Apollo seems to sense my worries and puts a comforting hand on my shoulder.
‘Don’t worry, Artie,’ he says. ‘We’ll be fine.’
Then we turn to Poseidon, waiting for the game plan. He already looks like a hardened criminal.
‘Ok, so we have to be in and out, as quick as a flash,’ Poseidon says. ‘Well, I won’t be in, I’ll be waiting under the bridge that takes the two o’clock train to Thessaly. You just have to be on that train. I don’t care about your methods, as long as you don’t kill anyone.’
‘Of course Uncle,’ I say.
Then we hop out of the boat and begin to walk up Olympus, leaving Poseidon to sail away.
At the top, the others are having a feast to honour Hermes’ birthday. Everyone is here, even Hades and Hestia. Luckily they don’t see us. We creep past them and find our way to Hera’s treasury. No one is in there. We open our sacks and begin to fill them with jewels and pieces of coin. It doesn’t take long for them to be spilling over with precious things. Suddenly we hear a cry. ‘Artie, Apollo! What are you doing?’ We turn to see Hera, Athena and Ares walking into the grand hall. Damn. Double damn. ‘We’re sorry Hera, but we have to do this,’ Apollo says. I can see our stepmother’s face becoming redder and redder until it’s practically purple with rage. ‘Apollo, run!’ I yell and we sprint off down the hall and out the exit, and then we’re falling, falling down Mount Olympus. I keep catching on the rocks, cutting my arms and legs. Without my powers I’ll have no way to heal them. We crumple into a heap at the bottom, all the breath knocked out of us. But we can’t stop. The skies have turned dark and stormy and thunder crackles above our heads. Dad. In the distance I can see Ares and Athena coming down the mountain on golden horses. ‘Artie, come on it’s almost two.’ Apollo yanks me up and begins to lead me to the human city of Macedonia. We dash down the roads, hills and country lanes and finally reach the train station. But Ares and Athena are hot on our tails. We quickly board the train and weave through the mass of passengers and carriages until we reach the one next to first class. As the train pulls out, I breathe a sigh of relief. But I wonder, when this is all over, will we be allowed back into Olympus or will we be exiled off to Earth?
‘He watches from afar. What shall we do about him?’ I ask Apollo. ‘Don’t worry Artie, if he comes I’ll protect you,’ my brother teases. That makes me laugh. I’m the one with the bow and arrow after all. Our uncle, Poseidon laughs along with me. We are all out in his little boat The Medusa, bobbing and rolling along the calm sea. Sometimes Dad let us come down from Mount Olympus to hang out in the human world so here we are. I spot a little boat rowing out from the shore towards us. It looks vaguely familiar. ‘Uncle, pass me the telescope will you?’ I say. I hold it up to my eye and focus on the rowboat. No. It’s the man. The one who has been following us ever since we left Greece. ‘Uncle!’ I cry. ‘It’s him, it’s him, it’s him!’ ‘Use your powers!’ Apollo implores Poseidon. ‘Get us away from him.’ But Poseidon just laughs it off. ‘Whoever is in that boat, they will be no match for three Olympians. Just let them come.’ As the boat nears, a strange feeling overcomes me. It makes me breathless and I feel like all the air is being sucked out of me. It must be fear. The boat is only a metre away and about to pull up right next to us. I can now see that there are two men in the boat. One is tall and muscular, the other one having a pixie-like quality. I can almost see the danger vibes rolling off these two. It pulls up alongside us and I can fully see who they are - Heracles, one of my half-brothers, and Dolos, son of Gaia and Aether. They don’t look like they are here for good reason. Poseidon doesn’t seem to notice and asks, ‘What are you two doing here?’ That’s when Heracles gives us the most devious smile ever given and blows a pink powder in our faces. Suddenly I feel really sleepy. I fall into the sea.
I wake up, coughing and spluttering water. My head feels like I was hit by a harpoon. I try to move, but can’t. My hands and feet are bound. Once my eyes come into focus, I can see that Apollo and Poseidon are tied up next to me and Dolos and Heracles are standing in front of us, dangling vials in front of our faces. ‘What’s in those bottles?’ I ask, my words coming out slurred. I guess that pink powder did something. ‘Your powers.’ Heracles cackles maniacally. Not something I’d expect from a Greek hero. Apollo suddenly becomes really angry. ‘Give them back!’ He yells, pulling on his restraints. That smile again. It always seems more evil every time I see it. ‘You have to do something for us,’ Heracles says. ‘What?’ Apollo spits in our half brother’s face. ‘You must complete twelve labours. And your first one is to go to Olympus and steal Hera’s treasure for me. Thanks.’
I can see them. The others are coming towards us. I take my brothers hand and shake it to let him know. But his eyes are already fixed on them. ‘What we gonna do?’ I ask. ‘We’ll just have to wing it.’ He gives me his best reassuring smile, but I’m not stupid. Sooner or later they will catch and kill us for what we did. Before I can say any more, my brother pulls me out of my seat and down the train carriage. We walk fast so we don’t attract attention - or any more than we already have, seeing as we are carrying massive bags of money that chink as we walk. The others follow. As we near the end of the train carriage, we break into a run. My brother flings open the door and we scurry out onto the back of the train, barricading ourselves outside using my rifle. ‘This way, up the ladder!’ I cry, and we scurry up it onto the top of the train.
The wind whips my hair and stings my eyes but we still run, unafraid of being knocked off our feet. We’re already dead men. I wish my brother had never persuaded me to do this. We come to the bridge where we’re supposed to make our exit. Then, the others break the window beneath us. Toned arms lunge at us, with nails that scratch and lash. It’s Ares. ‘Damn it, Apollo,’ I say. ‘You said it would be easy!’ ‘Soz, Artie,’ my brother says, ‘but you didn’t know what you were buying into.’ ‘I needed cash!’ ‘Yeah, well, this is the best way to get it.’ We are coming up to the checkpoint. I can see Poseidon in his little boat waiting for us. Thank Olympus. Without thinking, I jump. Over Ares and Athena, arcing into a perfect arrow, descending on my target. And then I’m safe on my uncle’s boat. ‘Hey, Uncle,’ Apollo says, climbing up after me. ‘Good catch guys,’ Poseidon says. ‘I should put you on more jobs.’ ‘Uncle,’ I say, ‘is this what it’s really like to be powerless?’ ‘Yep, Artie, and we’re all better for it. Just jump straight in and enjoy the ride. We have more thieving to do.’ And, with that, we sail away down the river, away from Athena and Ares and anyone who has tried to stand in our way. The sun is setting as the train fades away into the distance. That’s a good thing: I would hate to meet with Athena and Ares again and face their wrath. I just really want to finish our mission and get our powers back again. I hate that the stupid guy. He shouldn’t be able to do this. But there’s one thing I know that is not going to be hidden from me - when you’re powers have been taken from you, you will go to great lengths to get them back. And I am definitely that desperate. Oh well. Any means.......
There was a man stood outside my house. Well, not really a man. The remnants of him. His hair and body were fading away into nothingness. The resonance of his scream rang in my ears. The disintegrated man had left nothing behind - apart from a pair of perfectly pristine white trainers. I shivered at the sight of them and closed my curtains again. As I dressed I thought to myself why did this happen, who was that man, what had actually occurred? Then suddenly I heard a scuffling noise coming from outside my bedroom. As if something was trying to get in. I couldn’t do anything, I just stood there petrified, paralysed with fear. What was outside my bedroom? And why was there the shadow of an antennae peeking out from underneath the door?
