The Grace Curse

Chapter Eleven

I DIDN'T MEAN TO EXAGGERATE; BUT MOUNT OLYMPUS MADE DISNEY WORLD LOOK LIKE A GYM LOCKER. Huge Carrara filled marble formed countless temples and buildings. The Grace Manor in Verdanburg couldn't compare to this. I looked at sky and winced. The radiant sun was setting gently on the horizon casting a beautiful orange glow. I looked behind me; Apollo was smiling and waving to all sorts of strange looking...creatures. I thought of the Google Images I put in my English project of Mount Olympus, this was nothing like that. The size of the place was breathtaking, it seemed to go on forever. I felt something grip me. Blake was holding onto me for dear life. I looked around, one guy had goat horns and a human body. Satyr, I thought. Flowers were being thrown in our path. One landed in my mouth and I spit it out roughly. It tasted like rosewater; I looked high above me, and saw a giant palace looking temple sitting high on a mountainside. I was in awe of the sheer beauty of this place. Pan Pipes and Lyres were being played, they created a symphony of utter beauty.

"Can we live here?" I asked jokingly.

He laughed. "Yeah! You totally should!" Whoa, major attitude change. I didn't bother asking for his reasoning. A tree-looking woman placed a laurel around my head and Blake's.

"Welcome oh heroes! To the majestic Mount Olympus, home of the gods and the chosen!"

I must have been blushing because Apollo patted me on the back. "It's ok; I know this a lot to absorb," Was he kidding? This place rocked. As much as I disliked being around him, this place made me forget about that. Nine nymphs were playing on something that looked like mini harps. Their music sounded entrancing. They winked at me. I turned away. "Oh don't mind them, that's my squad, The Nine Muses,"

My eyes widened. "You mean the actual Nine Muses?!"

The Sun God let out a loud giggle. "What did you think I'd show you the fake Nine Muses?"

I gave Apollo a quick glare before turning back to Blake. "You were saying Blake?"

"Uh how are we going to get up there?" He asked changing the subject.

The Sun God smiled. "It's a ton of fun actually," He held my hand and Blake's in the other. Apollo gripped mine slightly tighter than I would have liked. "You may want to hold on," He began. "This is going to be a bumpy ride," I was about to ask why when we started floating in the air. My stomach felt like it was going to fly out my throat. I could see Washington D.C. below us. Mount Olympus had to be at least five hundred feet in the air. "We move with our host country," Apollo said reading my mind as we ascended higher. "We still have power in Greece though, it is our true home, even if the Mortals don't see us anymore,"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

He looked away as we ascended. "The Greeks could see through the Mist, even when the rest of the Ancient world couldn't. Over time, it become less socially acceptable for people to believe in us, so in turn, they stopped seeing through this Mist, it's rather depressing. I enjoyed having nude statues of myself built. It's literally the highest honor a God could have, especially when you have a smoking body to show off,"

I was about to hurl my stomach contents up before my body was jerked upwards. It felt as if I were running upstairs and tripping rather than flying straight up. I looked down, the peaceful monsters and Muses were mere specs on the ground now. The palace was coming into sight; huge Greek pillars were perfectly sculpted in the front. The palace was built onto a floating mountain.

"So that's Mount Olympus," Blake concluded.

Apollo smiled. "Welcome to our center of power," I gazed at its awesomeness. I could only imagine what the inside looked like. We were now level with the palace; I could see braziers ahead hung on the pillars with cool Greek key designs. He landed us on the platform connecting the palace. Ferrum was being completely silent, it was almost concerning. Apollo led Blake and I into the palace. Twelve thrones shaped in a U shape encircled the perimeter of the room. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was made of constellations. Actual constellations. Is that how Zeus placed heroes in the sky? The Gods in the room got my attention by their movement. Only five of the thrones were occupied, I was a pathetic fly in comparison to these colossal beings. A red and golden rug with those Greek squiggles ran down the center of the room and led up to the head throne. I looked to the far left and jumped. A large leather stained throne made my heart pound. I looked into the eyes of one of the cruelest, but well put together gods. He made me angry just looking at him. He had a Spartan styled helmet on with the red fluffy feather things. The God would have been on par with Apollo's attractiveness if he didn't wear armor. To his left, a blonde-haired woman sat in a throne full of wheat and flowers, she was glaring at me intently, as if I were some kind of old trash that needed to be taken out. She held a pale looking gardening scythe in her left hand, the blade of the weapon seemed ready to slit my throat at any given moment.