The Story of Paul Cooper: Book Two

The Council Continued

“Only a few weeks…” Hera muttered.  Zeus held up a hand to prevent her from continuing.

                “The most important thing for you two right now is that you understand your past to understand your future,” Zeus boomed. “Paul, your father, above the rest of us, should know that better than others.” Yeah, Apollo’s the god of prophecy. That didn’t embarrass me at all.

                Jack and I nodded.

                “A few weeks ago,” began Poseidon, “the Five Hesperides put you to a test. If you passed, you were revealed to them as the Two Sons, and, thus, you passed. However, since we hadn’t heard of the Sons for years, and the fact that a rumor was spreading of their return, we had to act in order to save Olympus.”

                “I personally spoke with Jim at your camp,” Athena added, since she was Mr. Jim’s mom. “He prepared a girl, Leah of Demeter, to go on a quest to find and stop the Sons from future war. She was, and still is, mysteriously missing. Jim assigned five of you to go on a quest: Paul, Son of Apollo; Jack, Son of Hermes; Kate, Daughter of Poseidon; Zachary, Son of Zeus; and finally, Arlia, the only daughter of Delia that the Council knows of now.

                “The five of you went on a quest, and searching for the Sons, and headed to the Garden by Zachary’s suggestion. Along the way,” Athena continued, her grey eyes piercing through my soul, “you met my friend Nike, who gave you passage. Your father, Paul, aided you with the…whistles, and soon you arrived at the Garden itself. There you were put to the test.”

                Athena didn’t look too happy about the whistles. I bet she would have given us something cooler. Oh, well. Then, there was a pause. I knew that at some point, the discussion of the ‘love triangle’ would come up. Great. And who should start talking but Aphrodite? Yeah, you guessed correctly.

                “I’m guessing that you both know about your parents,” Aphrodite said, her wavy blonde hair tied back in a faded pink bow. Thankfully, I wasn’t affected.  Jack shuffled next to me, like he had when Hailey commented on our outfits. “Lady Delia…she somehow used old magic that sent you down to Hades, as if you were dead mortals. Hades knew this would cause trouble in the future, so he kept you with him for thousands of years, allowing you to wake up now. Delia is his…least favorite neice, if that gives you perspective, since you two are her sons.”

                A teenage boy, not much older than Jack and I (if you still count us as fourteen, even though we’ve really been around since a little before the Trojan War) was sitting at the foot of Aphrodite’s white marble throne, checking a bow and a few arrows, with red and gold tips; he had a gold Grecian crown on his head, much simpler than mine, and wore a sleeveless white toga; Eros, or commonly known to the Romans, Cupid, son of Aphrodite.

                Great, the whole family’s here to watch Jack and I get talked at.

                “Was Hades right to do so?” Hera spoke, suddenly and sharply. “Perhaps it’s better that he chose this long to return the Two.”

                “Was Hades right?” Demeter said, for the first time, her wheat-like crown blowing like it was in the middle of a gust of wind. “Hades? When has he ever been right?”

                “Demeter has a point,” Hermes said, who was quickly shushed by all of the gods at once.

                “I, personally, agree with Hera,” Ares said, looking proud and somewhat of a kiss-up.

                “You always agree with Hera!” Athena snapped, but didn’t lose her ‘calm, cool, and collected’ attitude. “You just want these two to start a war, so you may join in and make everything worse! What sense is in that? The family is link to our past, bridge to our future! They have a right to know!” Good, the wisdom was coming out. I hoped we wouldn’t have to sit through a family argument.

                “And you always agree with Zeus! What sense is in that, I wonder?” Ares shouted, but that was definitely the wrong thing to say, because suddenly Zeus seemed about twenty times larger, even more powerful, and a lot more angry.

                “WHAT SENSE IS THERE IN AGREEING WITH ME?” he boomed, and Ares seemed to shrink. “FOOL, YOU DARE SAY THIS IN MY PRESENCE, OR AT ALL! YOU ARE THE WORST OF MY CHILDREN, ARES, AND WILL NEVER LEARN YOUR PLACE!” With a grunt, a lightning bolt appeared in his hand, and Zeus hurled it out the nearest gigantic window.

                Ares seemed even smaller than before Zeus began shouting.

                Now, Zeus returned to ‘normal’. Hermes and Apollo were clapping, and I was surprised Zeus didn’t start on them.

                “Bravo, I say,” said my dad, trying to sound like an old-time British person. “Most excellent, Lord Zeus.”

                “Agreed, agreed, Master Apollo,” Hermes grinned, doing the same thing. “Quite exciting, if you ask me.”

                Zeus glared at them, and they were silent. At least it was them and not me.

                They were right, though, things were ‘quite exciting’ around here so far.