The Great Eight (Temporary Hiatus)

Chaos 101 III

The luxurious sounds of a harp wafted through the air inside the designated room for the Goddess of love and beauty herself. Who, in her poise and grace, lounged in a ginormous scallop shell that was opened up and fitted with cushions, pillows, and glitter. All of which that matched her fitted, red toga along with her golden bangles that were practically weights on her wrists from how large they were. All the while, two of her assistant nymphs were kneeling beside her and helping her with painting her nails a similar red color.

"Let's go a teenie-weenie easier bit on the gloss this time. I wanna glow not glare." The sound of a polite knocking interrupted their makeover session. Though, in Aphrodite's room it was always makeover time. "Oh! Visitors!" Aphrodite exclaimed in an incredibly high voice, "I love visitors! Come in, come in! Feel the love."

The teens, now beckoned, filed in to see Aphrodite and her nymphs poised to perfection before them. Because the Goddess of love, standing before her impressive scallop shell settee all the way up the aquatically carved marble dais and fluffing her impossibly thick blonde locks was an intimidatingly beautiful sight to say the least. And one of the nymphs was cheeky enough to wink at the teens as they stood astounded by the vision before them. The boys, more so than the girls, were struck dumb.

"Uh, yeah!" Jay finally stuttered out once Theresa gave him a particularly hard jab in his ribs. Theresa and Atlanta were none too impressed with Aphrodite's effect on the boys. Mel, though, seemed in awe of the harp in the corner too much to care either way. "Ms. Aphrodite, can you tell us where to find Neil?" The question broke the Goddess from her modeling moment.

"Neil?"

"Yes, Neil? You're responsible for bringing him here to Olympus High?" Theresa tacked on, sighing gustily.

"Oh! That Neil!" The Goddess brightened up more if it were possible. "Such a good looking boy! He's having fun in the city somewhere." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and waved that same hand their way as she nonchalantly walked back to lounge on her clam seating.

"He's right here in the city? Where?!" Theresa gawked, forcing the Goddess to answer more questions.

"Really, you act as if a Goddess didn't have more important things to do than answer silly questions all day." Aphrodite groaned out, "If you really need to where Neil is, you should ask the Oracle."

"The Oracle," Archie sighed out for the first time since entering the room, "Oh, great idea Ms. Aphrodite!"

"Yeah, thanks for all your help." Jay tacked on, the girls beside them giving them incredulous and affronted looks.

"Jay?" Theresa waved her hand in front of Jay's unflinching face before sighing and pinching his nearby ear and dragging him out of the room. "Let's go." Their exit followed by a chorus of the boy's yelps. Atlanta, meanwhile, took the time to scowl at Archie before she took up both Archie's and Mel's elbows and yanked the pair of them away from their distractions and back to the group.

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Now clear headed since they were away from Aphrodite, Theresa had jam-packed the six of them into her red convertible. Since Herry had been found wandering around Flying down the streets without a care, as she took a squealing right turn down onto a shopping district's street.

"Next time your daddy buys you a new car, Theresa, could you ask for something a little roomier? Atlanta complained as she sat stuck in the middle of Archie and Herry. Though, Mel cast her a sympathetic look as she was unfortunately stuck sitting beneath Herry's arm to Atlanta's left. So much so, that it could've been forgotten that she was there at all.

"We could've used my truck, but someone stole it." Herry bit out. But now that the complaint was out in the air, Herry calculated his own bulk against his fellow back-seaters and managed to carefully swing his mammoth arm over and behind the blonde girl that was squished to oblivion beside him. Though, now this incited a different kind of unsettlement even as it was now more comfortable. So the blonde midget just bit her lip and tried to repress any heat going to her face, but that was impossible to do for her. All the while Herry merely turned his head away from the others, looking for all the world as indifferent as could be, but Theresa caught the barest hint of a blush on his cheeks in the rearview mirror too which made a small grin to grace her lips as she continued to drive for a few more quiet moments.

"There he is!" Jay pointed out abruptly, forcing Theresa to forcefully stop the convertible along the curb as they were greeted with the site of a balding man sitting on a stool next to a food stall.

"Ah, I knew sooner or later you would come to see me." The old man grinned knowingly, eyeing up the youngsters before him.

"That's an encouraging sign for an Oracle," Jay stated, feeling awkward by the Oracle's weird vibes as he began to rub the back of his neck, "Listen! Could you tell us where to find Neil?" The Oracle didn't answer them right away, rather preferring to look at the scenery around them. Specifically at a public bus which bore a particular advertisement of a male model lounging below its tall windows.

"That's Neil?!" Herry sputtered, "He's a model?"

"Hey!" Archie retorted, surprising everyone with his defensiveness up until they heard the rest of his sarcastic spiel, "Maybe he's a super model." Making Herry and the others crack up.

"With super powers like stunning good looks or a killer smile!" Atlanta added on, causing everyone by then to start laughing but they were halted when the Oracle returned the attention back to himself.

"-So do you have any difficult questions, that you might actually need an Oracle for?"

"Yes" Mel answered, forcing herself sober from the laughter so as not to insult the power man before them anymore than they might've already.

"Where is Neil?" Theresa inputted, coming to stand next to her fellow heroine in support. But they both were rendered utterly shocked as the Oracle, with the agility of an athlete, darted forward and pulled the two girls towards him. Unveiling his superhuman, prismatic eyes as he gazed at each of the two teenagers knowingly but at the same time leeringly.

"You don't need me to find him." He spoke ominously. "The ability is within you " The two girls, frightened from him, yanked themselves away to the detriment of their balance. Thankfully, Jay had quick reflexes and caught the two girls as they unsteadily rushed backwards. Everyone in their group was now wary of the unassuming man. But seemingly reading the room and perhaps not wanting to come across as some creep or worse a pedophile, the Oracle jauntily shifted the mood with a lighthearted tone along with a helpful hint. "But if you must now where he is this minute " He sucked in a breath before blurting out, "Try the train yard."