The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Chapter 10: Missing

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After I found Alec hiding up in a tall tree, I radioed Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo, so we could meet up somewhere. Eventually the five of us headed over to Pan's hideout to drop Alec off after finishing playing reverse hide-and-seek. We were about a few yards away when we heard Alec's baby brother, Felix, start to cry again. Alec groaned, looking annoyed. He probably wished he were somewhere else, but he couldn't leave Persephone to take care of Felix all of the time, especially when she had to go back to the Underworld at the end of the summer. That was only about a month away, and we still had to save the world sometime or another.

Stepping out next to the river pool, we saw Pan sitting on his, rock throne brushing moss off of his furry goat legs, and Persephone was sitting on a blanket, cradling the bald Felix in her arms and desperately trying to calm him down so he wouldn't attract any monsters. Persephone looked up at us, sighing gratefully as she forced Felix into the strong arms of Alec, who still had his armor on. Suddenly, Felix started to cough, and then he threw up all over Alec's shining bronze armor. Alec threw his head back and groaned again in annoyance, while Poseidon, Zeus and Apollo snickered at him. Frowning, Alec shot a glare at the three gods, and I just looked apologetically at him.

Then Persephone quickly shooed us away so she could make some dinner alone, and the rest of the Monster Watch and I made our way back to our homes, as it was already getting dark. Where had the day gone?

We were passing through the small meadow when Zeus, who was leading our single file line, pointed out something on the other side of the meadow. It was a hooded figure dressed all in black, riding on the back of a huge, well-muscled black horse. The person, whoever it was, was heading our way, and I was pretty sure that he hadn't noticed us yet. When he looked up, we caught a glimpse of his pale face, and I immediately knew who it was, even if we only saw the face for a single moment.

Hades.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Poseidon muttered angrily in Greek, and I frowned, knowing full well Hades was supposed to be in the Underworld. Technically he was only allowed into our realm if he had an invitation from Zeus, or when he was delivering Persephone.

"Let's find out," Apollo whispered back to us. Then he followed Zeus and took another few steps towards Hades, who sat frozen on his horse, his dark, creepy eyes narrowed and locked on us.

"Hello," Zeus said, raising his voice so Hades could hear. "What are you doing up here on this lovely day?" I could tell that Zeus was trying to sound as friendly as possible, so he wouldn't send Hades running the other direction.

But it didn't work.

Hades slammed his heels into the horse's belly, and it turned around on a dime, quickly bolting in the other direction, back under the trees. Without stopping to think about what we were doing, the rest of the Monster Watch and I all started racing across the meadow after him. He was obviously avoiding us for a good reason, and we had to know what it was.

Sprinting as fast as we could, we jumped over logs and large tree roots, ducking to avoid low hanging branches, but even when you're a god in the best shape you could ever be in, you can't quite outrun a galloping horse (especially when you're wearing heavy armor). Unless you're Hermes. So still running, I yanked the walkie-talkie off one of my belt loops and yelled into it, "Hermes! If you're listening, we spotted Hades in the woods. He's heading east towards Main Street, on horseback. You need to cut him off now before he gets away!"

After almost falling on my face from tripping, I heard a reply from the walkie-talkie, "On it."

The four of us ran endlessly through the night, following the trail of broken branches left by Hades's horse. Branches whipped our reddening faces as we carried on, unsure when Hades would stop. The Monster Watch and I could only hope that Hermes could find Hades to cut him off in time...and that we weren't running through poison oak. We then started following the trail uphill as fast as we could, but by now the four of us had fallen behind Hades and his horse, and we still hadn't heard another word from Hermes, our only hope at this point.