Page 18 (1/2)

All three priests nodded in unison as the Pegasus’ moved forward I felt the horse beneathas she carried us higher We sailed upward until ere several hundred feet in the air, flying a the clouds

I titled my face back and allowed the wind to rush over , Ortrera!" I shouted above the noise "You’re so fortunate to fly!"

She twisted around to give me an incredulous look

"Harmonia, you are able to do whatever you wish You don’t require a Pegasus"

I thought on that as we continued through the night We were seely so close to the stars that I could touch the hands The altitude azed at the stars I leaned closer to Ortrera to share her body heat I felt her snored it The Amazon never shoeakness of any sort Ortrera wouldn’t admit she was cold if her life depended on it

We had flown for an hour before an to chat about other things with my half-sister

"What do you think will happen, Ortrera?" I asked hesitantly

She shook her head

"I have no way of knowing, sister I wanted to take a trip to the old witches before I caet their prophecy, but there was no tih It could be helpful"

I thought on that for a second, of the old witches that lived in the cave on the edge of the Spiritlands Their cloudy blue eyes were ageless and had always unnerved htless wisdom It was said that they could see the future, that they breathed fear and ate pain I had never doubted it

"Perhaps, but I don’t wish to delay reaching Caderous"

Ortrera nodded in agreement and we fell back into comfortable silence for awhile It a, yet ere instantly co Others were intimidated by her, but I had always stood in awe of her independence and strength She was an incredible woainst her neck so that she could hear me

There was a pause

"I think that all hell will break loose e release him from bond," she nodded in affirmation "He will possess a fury unlike that ever seen The Fates will tremble and then eventually they will fall But we must focus on one step at a time, sister We must recover Ares and Cadmus before we think ahead"

"They have used rily "I have unwittingly kept s I have encouraged her to do the pain that has been inflicted upon her at my counsel? It is atrocious And they rew inwave It was suddenly all I could think of as hts were consumed by it They had taken the last two thousand years froreat sadness all at their whied to free ods, they would most certainly pay

Calm yourself, Harh she hadat aze tied to eance…for now You cannot becohter, they will pay None of this was your fault You have nothing but love for e that like the priests, we could also co that we couldn’t do? Was it truly as easy as si was possible and then it siasus descended in the sky, I stared below us at the vegetation beneath us We were rapidly flying toward a bubbling spring leading up to a crashing waterfall It was surrounded by beautiful, lush greenery I concentrated and within a few seconds, the vivid green vines and leaves had all shriveled and died I gasped With ain, flexing thelife to return And suddenly, it was so The greenery sprang back to life, the rich green hues spreading quickly throughout the vines until it was once again fresh and new

I was astounded The priests were right Nothing was the sait It was alhtly on their feet and stood still, barely even breathing hard as we dish as their owners As I approached the waterfall, I innately knee needed to do to enter the Spiritlands Water was the key You could only enter through water I could feel the others falling into step behindand approached the waterfall The water was crisp and clean and splattered onto my face as I stood still on the slippery, h the waterfall Instead of stepping straight into a wall of stone as one ed on the other side in the Spiritlands I stood in a streaainst my shoulder blades in fat droplets But on this side, instead of water it was htly and scoopedit to ods The lifeforce that kept us i onto my body but I didn’t care I simply drank more of the wonderfully delicious liquid There had never been anything like it in the history of the world I glanced down and saw the blood stains running down rimaced

As the others appeared behindin Har, a short, airy white shift that floated around e in the empirical fashion And of course, ainst one One more step into the transformation of Harmonia

I turned and found Jade similarly attired as Aphrodite The Ae of the streaood to have you back," Ortrera observed "I take coh As I ht falls"

I nodded and we once again hs so that I could ride astride Not ladylike, but it would have to do The Pegasus’ once again fell into forerous outer rim of the Spiritlands

Before we had even traveled fiveruby eyes landed on my shoulder I should have been startled, but e had been appropriately raised once we had crossed the boundaries ofaway, I stared into its scary eyes without flinching

"Dear Harreatly anticipated," it croaked with its sharp beak "It is time to fulfill the prophecy to restore harmony and peace to Olympus"

I stared at the bird