ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

GRAPE JUICE IN LAS AMERICAS

"What are these horses?" I asked, as we jumped out of their way.

"Diomedes's mares. These are flesh eating mares." Tina said.

"How do we kill them?" I asked.

"I don't know. They were never killed in the ancient times." Tina said, as she jumped away from one mare, unsheathed her swords, and crossed them like Black Panther crosses his hands. Stylish!

As another mare attacked her, Tina struck faster than the monster. She stabbed the mare through the heart, or rather, she tried. Her sword ran through the mare, doing nothing. And just then, Mom decided to enter my mind. I had a splitting headache, fell on the ground, and blacked out.

I heard Mom's voice inside my head, "Son, these creatures can't be killed by your regular weapons, since they haven't been killed before. Your magic can hurt them. Their life forces are bound to one of their most significant body parts. Find that, and hurt them there."

Mom left my mind after this, and now, I got to thinking what these animals' weakness could be. Tina was keeping all four at the tip of her sword all by herself. Her hand had taken a horrible cut, she was bleeding. And I, her boyfriend, was here doing nothing. So, I decided, I had had enough. "Any plans?" Tina asked.

I spread my arms out, and took control of the winds. It started to change its pace. Around me, the air shrieked, and gained more and more power. I used all my energy to turn it into a storm. Then, I hurled the winds at the mares, resulting in them thrown far away. But something inside me said that these animals would be coming back. So, I helped Tina on her feet, and fed her some nectar. The storm spell had rendered me weak, so I drank some myself. As soon as we healed, ready to go, I said, "Put on the armor, and lets get a move on."

We put on our armors and helmets, and walked out of that street, and got in another one, again, deserted. But sadly, the mares caught up. Now, with armors on, and nectar in our system, we attacked the mares like hungry lions (one lion, one lioness). I used my pain inflicting curse on two of the mares, who were taking steps back, groaning. Tina was keeping the other two at bay through her slashes. One of them came behind and bit Tina on the neck, but couldn't break her armor (Atlantium was that strong). Instead, the mare hurt her teeth. She nickered in pain, as blood oozed out of her gums.

So, that were their weakpoints. As soon as I got it, I shouted, "Tina, their teeth. Attack their teeth." Tina needed no second invitation. She slashed her swords, and drove one through one of the mares' gums. Instantly, the creature turned to red smoke. I kept my pain curse on, and with the newly found knowledge of dark magic, I concentrated the pain to their jaws. The mares nickered in pain, and turned to red smoke together. Tina jumped onto the back of the last mare, and stabbed her gum, before she could start running. The mare turned to red smoke, and Tina fell flat on the ground. That made me laugh. Tina didn't like it. "You are laughing?" She glared at me, "I nearly died, and you are laughing?"

I stopped laughing, went forward, and kissed her. When we separated, her glare turned to a soft frown, and she said, "Aren't you a charmer? Thanks."

"Lets find the beach." I said.

We found the beach soon enough, as soon as we got out of the streets. On the way, we passed a few restaurants. I checked my phone for the time. It was twelve o' clock in Greek time (Themiscyra was in Greece). That meant that it was eleven here. That reminded me that we had had our breakfast about three hours ago. That made me hungry. But, we were on duty.

We reached the beach within a minute. This was the famous Las Americas beach. The beach was slightly hilly, and there were houses, resorts and hotels that were built on the hills. In front of that, the sea waves latched on the sand. The sand was blackish, since these were volcanic sands. The sea was pretty calm now. Given everything that was going on under the sea, this seemed comforting. Maybe, my sisters were winning it under water.

I told you that this part of my tale got easy for us. Here's why. Tenerife is an island city on the Atlantic Ocean (just like Atlantis). It has beaches for about forty one miles, which means, there are about fifty beaches (I could be wrong). And yet, we found Dionysus on the first beach we visited. Probably because we came to the biggest and the most famous beach in the city. Or probably because we were lucky.

We walked through the blackish sand and finally found Dionysus, along with his wife Ariadne. The two were sitting on easy chairs. While Ariadne seemed relaxed, and was actually sleeping, Dionysus was entertaining himself with grapes. Both were in purple beach dresses. Dionysus saw us as we approached, and said, "Hello, demigods' power couple! Want some grape juice?"

"Nope!" I said, "We know very well that your grape juice has some funny stuff. And we are underage."

"Well, it was worth a try."

"Lord Dionysus, we need to talk." Tina said.

"Oh. Okay! Dear Ariadne, please wake up. The power couple need our help."

To that, Ariadne slowly opened her eyes. She looked around, lost for a bit, and then, sat straight. Then, she looked at us and asked, "What up?"