Children of the Lost Ruler- Ghost Goddesses Book One

Two Truths And A Lie... But Which Is Which?

Proserpina ran up to us, rushed and worried. “I’m sorry to call you guys again like this, but…” Her voice caught as she tried to finish her sentence.
Grabbing her arms to try to support her, I silenced her. “Can you just show us?”
She nodded. I expected a memory or something, but she literally walked us over to the fireplace. “This came this morning.” With a wave of her hand, a… message? started playing.
It was the same scene Properpina described in her dream. A black blob of a man sitting in a throne, with Pluto sitting in chains in the background. The man sat facing the camera, and somehow, through all the darkness, you could see a smile spread across his face. “Well hello there Pros, and anyone else watching. Because I’m such a nice person, and because I’m fucking tired of hearing this bastard whine, I’m going to give you guys a little clue and a hint. The clue is, you can’t find what you need until in Olympia, another joins the fleet. And the hint is of the two things you found in Chicago, and of what I told you today, two of them are the truth, and one is a lie. You won't know which one is which until you get to Olympia, though. Now goodbye.”
I whirled around to face Ligeia. “He’s literally playing games with us now.”
“What did you find in Chicago?” Properpina asked us.
“Yeah,” Ligeia said. “We didn’t find anything yet.”
“Actually,” I cut in. “Right before we were called, I found an inscription under the lip of the fountain in the water. It took me a minute to decipher, since every other word switched between Ancient Greek and Latin, but it read, “Here in the Windy City, you will find a God of the Wind on Vacation. He will give you some helpful information. To find him you must go to Cloud Gate, but be prepared. He is usually in one mood or the other, never both, so you all won’t be able to see him.”
Ligeia looked at me. “This can’t be real. It doesn’t rhyme.”
I snickered. “I think he gave up. Too long to rhyme. We need to get back and find this god, though.”
“Wait!” Ligeia said. “What was the second thing we found in Chicago?”
I stared at her blankly. “I don’t know, but weren’t you having some sort of commotion before we left?”
Ligeia’s eyes widened. “He’s a truth. He can’t be the lie. Not even gonna discuss it.”
“Okay.” I was confused, but I figured I’d figure out what she meant when we got back.
I tuned to Proserpina. “We’ll find him.”
“Please.” As much as she hated and really wanted to defenestrate him sometimes, I knew somewhere in her heart she cared for him.
After giving her a hug, we went back to Chicago. Seeing us become fully animated again, Hazel smiled. I acted like I was checking out the fountain again for a minute before revealing my findings.
After we agreed that we would stop for lunch before we went to Cloud Gate, I walked up to Ligeia to see a tall boy with messy blonde hair, pale skin, and light blue, heathery-coloured eyes. “Who’s this?”
Ligeia smiled. “This is Salem Tolstoy, son of Eirene. We picked him up today.” She had a look, and I knew this is who she meant in the throne room.
I turned to a weary looking Salem. “I’m Mel, legacy of Nox and Pluto. Nice to meet you.” Ligeia looked astonished, but didn’t say anything.
After saying my name, Salem smiled. “Pleasure. But, sorry, who’s Nox and Pluto?”
“Pluto, the Roman version of Hades, is the God of Death and Riches. Nox, the Roman version of Nyx, is the Primordial Deity, one of the original gods, of the Night.”
He nodded, and I smiled. After he walked away to go talk to some of the other mortals, Ligeia pulled me to the side. “What was that?”
“What?”
“You were nice! And you introduced yourself as Mel! What was that?”
“Oh,” I mumbled. “I don’t know. I like him. I think he’ll make a good addition to the team. He doesn’t seem like an asshole. You’re right. He’s a truth.”

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Once we finally got to Cloud Gate, we looked around for any sign of a god. Unsurprisingly, he found us first.
As we were inspecting the gate, a door appeared on the side of it, and out walked a man with long, orange-red hairc and golden yellow eyes.
Seeing as the temperature dropped the second he exited the gate, he just came out of the gate, and what he looked like, I assumed he was Vulturnus, God of the East Winds and Autumn.
Percy and Annabeth ran over the Vulturnus to try and speak with him, but the second he saw them, he started ignoring them. It was probably the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen, him pretending like they didn’t exist, until they finally pulled weapons on him. “What do you demi’s want? I’m trying to have a nice vacation.”
Annabeth spoke up. “We’re trying to get some information, Mr?”
“Vulturnus.”
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, realising what mood he was in. “Give us one moment,” Percy said as they went back to the group. “Jason, Hazel, Frank. You three should try and talk to him.”
I stood there, utterly insulted, but didn’t say anything. The three walked up to Vulturnus, and he smiled. “What can I help you with today?”
“We’re on a quest,” Jason started. “And we were told you could give us information about a man.”
“Who is this man?”
“The man who kidnapped Pluto.”
At that, Vulturnus went seemingly pale. “I’m sorry, but the Fates aren’t allowing me to tell you that. I wish I could help.”
As the three came back to the group, Vulturnus started to walk away. Looking at Ligeia, she nodded, and I covered myself in shadows, slipping away to him. Vulturnus turned to me. “Hello, little goddess. What do you need?”
“Are you sure you can’t tell us anything about the man who kidnapped my dad?”
He smiled. “I can’t tell any of them,” he said, motioning to the group. “But there seems to be a straw in the Fates for you. I can’t tell you much, but I can say that he’s not a god. Only tell Ligeia and that new boy. Goodbye, Melaena.”
With that, he disappeared. I walked back over to Ligeia, and she gave me a questioning look. “He’s not a god.”
“Are you sure? That one sounds like the lie.”
“If it was the lie, why would he only tell me, and only let me tell you and Salem?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure it out in Olympia.”

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Once we got to Olympia, we didn’t really know what to do. The blob man said that we needed to find another member in Olympia, but that could’ve been the lie, and we didn’t tell the others about that, so we had no clue where to go from here.