Marcus DimascioThe Hurricane Throne

CHAPTER NO.5

We continued to plummet to the earth.

I gripped my horses reins tightly, afraid that the beast would shake me off. My body pumped with adrenaline, keeping me warm from the sheer cold of the air. I have never felt so alive in all my life - I was finally free from the Storm City. No more prison, no more torture and misery. Freedom at last, the wind blew in my hair for effect.

Chloe kept on looking down, her face looking pale. She looked as if she was riding the scariest roll coaster ride ever and she wasn't anything to keep her in her seat.

"Gods," she shouted over the roar of the wind, "I hate heights!"

The ground below us came closer and closer. We kept spiraling downwards, going at a ridiculous speed that my mother would not have approved of.

Head on collision in ten...nine...eight...

"Chloe," I screamed, "level your Pegasus out!"

Chloe looked terrified, but she nodded and pulled her winged stallion's mane. The horse neighed and spread its wings, using the wind to slow itself down.

Doing the same, I tugged at the mane of my Ventus, gradually making it slow down. I could sense it complaining, wanting only to go faster. But it did as it was told and spread its black vapour wings, the ozone smell now apparent.

Before I could brace myself, the stallion landed on the ground at a galloping pace. The wings disappeared and the horse's body stopped flickering with thunder. It became almost normal.

It changed color from a dull grey to a pure black color.

I quickly did a scan of the area, my training instincts already kicking in. I had landed in some sort of park. It was surrounded by fences, like we were some sort of wild animals. Light snow covered the ground, and in the background I could see the early morning light shining on the buildings of Denver. There were several trees outside the fences, their withered brown branches covered completely in snow. The wood looked soaked, but my eyes were firmly fixed on the city in the background.

Chloe landed behind me, her horse panting ever so slightly. Chloe's horse took on a brighter tone of white.

"I am not doing that again," my sister muttered shakily.

You're such a wimp, I told her telepathically, while laughing all the while. One of these days, we need to get you in a plane so you can get over your aerophobia.

Oh, shut up, she scolded me. Where are we?

I looked back at the city. "We're in Denver alright. I can see the Republic Plaza from here."

Chloe looked around. "I think we might be in Denver's City Park. I guess it could take twenty minutes to get into the city, but that's if we walk there."

I thought for a moment. Then I climbed off my Ventus Pegasus.

"What are you doing?" Chloe frowned.

I placed a hand on the horses face. "Listen to me. Can you do that?"

The horse - which was one of Poseidon's sacred animals - bobbed its head just once. That was the thing with horses and me. They could actually understand us children of Poseidon, mainly because Poseidon created them supposedly out of sea foam. And there was that whole story with the almighty Pegasus, the son of Medusa the Gorgon. After Pegasus had done his job with Bellephron, he went around the world freely, siring some of the greatest horses we knew today in the world.

"When I whistle," I continued, "you and this other Pegasus that Chloe is on come and find us. This is when we want to make a quick getaway. This is very important and I really need you to remember that. You understand me?"

The Pegasus bobbed its head again.

"Okay then," I told it, "go graze. We'll call you when we need you."

The Ventus's wings appeared again and it flew into the air, followed shortly by Chloe's winged horse.

Chloe rubbed her bare arms. "We need to get some clothes," she said, her teeth chattering. "Otherwise, we'll catch hypothermia."

I nodded my head. "Well...there's only one place where we can get that sort of thing..."

I pointed at the city of Denver in front of me. "...and it's in the city."

Chloe groaned. "Are you saying we have to walk to the city? Why couldn't we just use the Venti to get to the city?"

"You know why, Chloe," I sighed with impatience. "You know perfectly well why we can't use any of these creatures in public. It would cause confusion and possibly chaos. We can't afford to let people know who we really are, and if that does happen, the worst case scenario is that we get captured and locked away for life."

I leaned in close and looked her dead in the eye. "Worse still, we'll get questioned about our houses destruction. We've got to keep a low profile until we can figure this out."

Chloe hesitated for a moment, but then decided I was right. "Okay. But we really need to get some clothes. We might be invincible, but we can still feel the cold. We can't afford to catch hypothermia."

I nodded. "Okay then, let's get going."

Then we jogged lightly through the road that led to Denver.

After buying a set of new clothes from Jonvals Coat Shop and several other stores - Chloe has an obsession with clothing, just like most girls do - and walked down the streets of Denver. I felt much better now that I've got new clothes on - dark blue jeans with navy blue trainers, with a plain black T-shirt under a new army jacket from a local army shop. Chloe wore a grey, short-sleeved top under a sleeveless denim jacket, with skinny denim jeans and beach shoes all the way from Jonvals. The choice of clothing made her look like one of those Californian beach girls.

We stopped at Smashburger, a burger restaurant. Just outside the restaurant, a thirty-year old guy was trying to sell a jet black 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle SS to some old man. It didn't sound like the elderly man was interested. I was actually more interested in the overwhelmingly strong smell of fried burgers. I remembered at that moment that I hadn't had anything to eat in two months.

"Oh, my stomach kills," I groaned, clutching my abdomen as my stomach rumbled.

Chloe dug into her pocket and brought out a thick roll of cash, waving it triumphantly. "Good job that I have this then."

My eyes widened at the sight of all the fifty dollar bills she had in her hand. "How in Hades name did you get those?"

"Maximus," Chloe sadly said.

Maximus, I thought with an incredible pang of guilt.

It's already been two hours, but I was certain that Maximus had been imprisoned - perhaps being tortured for helping me and my sister escape. He risked everything for us, and now he's paying the price for it.

Idecided to put it out of head. "Come on," I told Chloe. "Let's get some food."