Prophecy of the Most Beautiful (13 page)

"Where are we going?" She asked as the walkway rounded back on itself, then made a sudden left.

"The courtyard. It's where we hang, have some of our meals…you know, chill out."

The sounds of arguing voices drifted over the hedges. "Looks like they're already here," Ace said with a roll of his eyes.

"Who's here?"

He smiled. "More demigods." He looked at Swindle and they spoke in unison, "
The Bowmen Brothers
."

*****

X. Chloe

"There's no way in hades that counted!" One blonde boy shouted at another blonde boy who shared the same irritated blue eyes, average height and stature, and charming scowl as he did. Right away, Chloe knew they were twins.

The courtyard was a massive layout of red brick and mortar, built up at least two feet at the surrounding edges. Beyond the short walls was a maze of gardens and foliage and at each entrance into them was a stone mosaic of a sun. There were lounges and chairs and a round, marble table in the center covered in food. There was a small pool of water for cooling your feet, which Bill headed straight for. He slapped the water with his wings and sprays of water rose up, splashing him. Nearby, the twins had a game of archery going, which had come to a halt as they argued over the validity of the last play.

Ignoring the twins for the moment, she turned to look at the great Chateau behind them and gasped with surprise. She found it was more than just a mansion like she had first thought, it was a
palace
.

It was a grand structure with obelisk towers and peaks, a geometric prism made of a shiny black material that Ace explained channeled sunlight making the Chateau a solar operated edifice. There were no designated windows as the entire palace seemed to be one big, shaded window of a sorts. More trees and gardens surrounded it on all sides that she could see, behind it were mountains and valleys and above it was a sky of the bluest blue and a vision of the sun that was like no other she had seen. Where could a palace like this actually exist? Where in the world did the sun shine so bright, and the sky was so blue it looked like a sapphire had melted over the entire atmosphere?

She knew one terrible thing for sure: It wasn't in Georgia.

"Tell him, Ace!" The boy shouted again. He threw the bow he had been holding over his shoulder and crossed his arms. Chloe could see a pack of arrows dangling across his back.

"Why do you let him get you like this?" Ace groaned. "You know if the frickin’ arrow falls off the target, then it doesn' count, Hector."

The twin, Hector, who was the one guilty of foul play, smirked. "Of course, I know," He said, "But you know how easy it is to aggravate Theseus into an argument. I couldn't resist."

Theseus, the offended twin, socked his brother in the arm.

"Chloe! It's about time!" Hector said, ignoring his brother and giving her a warm smile. "We've been waiting
ages
to meet you. And woah, look at that red hair! It’s awesome!" He approached and shook her hand. Theseus followed suit. They were dressed in designer jeans and striped
polo shirts––but not matching ones––and loafers. Even though Hector was kind of disheveled versus Theseus, who also wore a light blazer, the look fit them.

"Meet the Bowmen Brothers from New York," said Ace, "The other two Quad frats and my annoyin' lil' brothers."

"We're the same age, Ace! Seventeen!" Hector said.

"But I'm four months older."

"That's hardly anything to be proud of.
Annoying little brothers
.
Pfft!
"

"Wha'ever." Ace took a seat at the table next to Swindle and began to build a gigantic sandwich on a plate. Chloe's mouth watered at the sight of it.

"We have different mothers."

"Huh?" She refocused her attentions back on Hector, who had spoken. He had a cute little bean-shaped birthmark on his right ear, and she filed it away as her reference point for telling the twins apart.

"Us and Ace…and Strafford too," He said, "Their mother isn't ours. All of our siblings have different moms."

"Is…is that normal?" She asked carefully.

"Pretty much. Gods like variety."

"Um…ok…"

"We were the ones watching out for your family in Adel."

"You were? Thanks." Her tone softened. "I'm really sorry about Summer."

"Don't be," His smile was proud, "Dying in the gods' service is the only worthy way for a demigod to go. She was buried with honor."

"Still…"

"I know, Chloe. And thank you."

"Join us for a game of archery?" Theseus asked, holding out his bow and lightening the mood. "I don't even know why I play with Hector. He cheats every time."

"Yeah, come play," Hector insisted, ignoring his brother. "I'll take it easy on you and won't cheat…
this
time."

She really wanted one of those monster sandwiches that Ace and Swindle were devouring. There was an endless smorgasbord of sandwich stackers, like their own personal
Subway
, and she would try to get every single ingredient on one of those bakery fresh baguettes.

"You can go first," Hector offered, as if that was the reason she was hesitating.

She sighed and ignored her stomach's latest grumble. "No, you go first. That way you can show me how to do it."

Archery wasn't such a bad sport. In fact, she felt like one day she might even like it. It was a game of aim, precision, and a steady hand. She found she was not so good with that last part though. Her feet had always been the only thing she'd needed to rely on to have these qualities.

Hector gave her a crash course in the rules and the proper way to hold the bow. She watched him stance himself, sink an easy bullseye, then she gave it a try. Her first attempt was horrendous. The arrow sailed to the far right of the target and into the garden maze, never to be seen again.

"You have to keep your eye on the target," Theseus said, helping her to position herself again. The next three attempts were just as bad and she gave up and let Hector take back over the game.

"Where is…um…Strafford at?" She didn't bother to resist asking when it was her turn again.

"His royal highness never frolics with us peasants," Hector said in a sarcastic tone. "And hanging out in the courtyard with his little brothers?
Pfft.
Beneath him."

She smiled. "Why did you call him that? His royal highness?"

Hector paused to roll his eyes. "Oh brother, they didn't tell you." He took her turn and sunk an arrow right into the target.

"Didn't tell me what?"

"That Strafford's a chosen son. He's a Prince." He shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

"
What?
" But she thought of Mystic curtseying to Strafford and it made perfect sense.
Now explain the forehead kiss…

"Sun children are royalty, Chloe," Theseus said, "They're only born once a century, maybe less, and because of that, they're regarded as special. If they're a girl, they're a Princess. A boy, a Prince."

"What are sun children?"

A groan came from Hector. "Honestly, Ace, thought you were supposed to be filling Chloe in. Too busy ogling over how pretty she is to do your job?"

She blushed like crazy at being called "pretty". The word still sounded weird being referenced to her.

"Shut your bloody mouth, Hector," Ace replied, while looking a bit sheepish. "I jus' hadn' gotten around to explainin' abou' Strafford yet."

"Obviously." Another arrow hit the bullseye. Christ, Hector was accurate. "Look here, Chloe. Our dad has a lot of kids. Because he is largely an Archer god, most of us are archers like Theseus and me, though none of them are as good no matter what they claim. The rest are healers like Ace. They're good with medicines and fixing up injuries and broken bones, which we end up with a lot. Then, every century or so, the Fates give our dad a sun child. They're so rare that they're considered to be royalty. Strafford is our Sun Prince. He's been declared since he was born. He's like a god among demigods, if that makes any sense."

Chloe nodded, in a daze. "I think it does…", though she wasn't quite sure what Hector meant by Strafford being
declared
.

"Cool. Now it's your turn." Hector moved aside and let her take his place. "Square your shoulders. Line up your feet. Bend that elbow a bit…"

She tried to follow his instructions but her mind was on Strafford. The
Sun
Prince. Just when she thought he couldn't get any more amazing...

But a
Prince
…No wonder Ace didn’t want to get into it. It had to be hard for him to live in the shadow of someone like his brother.

Thinking of Strafford, her next arrow missed the target by miles.

"Well, at least you got in the general
direction
of the target this time," Hector tried to be supportive.

She gave a small smile. "It's okay. I know I suck pretty bad." She retreated and let him demonstrate how a pro did it.

"Are there other Princes and Princesses?" she asked minutes later, her mind unable to stop pondering it, "Like children of other gods?"

"Yup," Theseus replied, "but not every god has one. Zeus does, and his brother, the Underworld
Lord of Dominion,
Hades does…"

"The
witch
," said Hector with a look of utter hatred. "Varney Bane, but
witch
is how I usually refer to her."

"Och, get over yourself, eh?" Ace said. "So she shot down your pathetic come-ons––multiple times, but so wha'? You should be used to it." Swindle laughed and Hector flicked his brother off, then turned and punished the center of the target with arrows.

"Ares has a Prince named Skirmish," Theseus continued as though he'd never stopped, "There's the Desire Princess and a couple of other minor gods have royal children, but they're low ranking in comparison with the Olympian royals. Like I said, royalty among us demigods is rare. This is the most Olympian royals there's ever been at one time. Their abilities are special and the Fates don't just dish that type of power out. It's really weird."

"I heard the Oracle was up and about!" A female's voice rang out across the terrace. All heads turned to see a lovely black woman with thick black hair that hung to her shoulders walking with a brisk stride towards them. She was wearing a white lab coat over a pretty mid-length yellow dress and Chloe was sure she was looking at Dr. Life.

The doctor made a beeline straight for her. "I'm Dr. Lucy Life," She said, shaking Chloe's hand, "Glad to see you're doing so much better. I wish our first meeting could have been more like this!" Her pretty smile tensed for a second, but it faded as fast as it came. "But look at you now!" She checked Chloe's temperature with the back of her hand, smiled, then fluffed her locks. "And your hair looks wonderful!"

"Uh, thank you," said Chloe, admiring the doctor's smooth cocoa-colored skin and high cheekbones.

"Happy to see you're engaging in a little physical activity," Dr. Life said, gesturing towards Chloe's bow, "It will definitely help speed up your full recovery."

"Oh, I wouldn't say there's much activity going on. I pretty much suck."

Dr. Life smiled. "I'm sure you're not as bad as all of that. Besides, not many can measure up against the Bowmen brothers. They're some of the best archers in the kingdom."

"We
are
the best archers in the kingdom," Hector corrected the doctor, "And we'll prove it at the Olympic Games this Summer's Solstice. The archery gold medal is
ours
." He high-fived his twin.

"Of course it is," Dr. Life said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I came out to collect some herbs for my medicines. I'm working on an advanced bone mending agent for you godlings and it's looking promising. So long!" With one last pretty smile at Chloe, the doctor disappeared into the gardens. A round of good-byes followed her.

"The Olympics?" Chloe questioned as soon as she could, "Like with swimming and gymnastics…and track and field?" Her heart stung just a bit. She missed running and competing so much.

"Exactly," said Swindle, as he and Bill joined them near the archer's circle. He brushed a few crumbs from his tee and Chloe had to stop herself from dropping to her knees so she could catch them in her mouth, she was so starved. "The ancient Greeks invented the Olympics and every
Olympiad,
or fourth Summer Solstice, a
Games takes place in Olympus."

"And this year will be our first Games," Theseus said, "Same for Ace. He's only been declared for a couple of years now and we barely made the cut only a few months before you came. But Swindle's been, and of course, Strafford has."

"It's the best time you'll ever have," said Swindle, "You'll see."

"I don't doubt it, my friend," Hector replied, wiggling his eyebrows. "Nymphs, nymphs, and more nymphs."

"Nymphs?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"Pretty nature divinities," said Ace, "There's like, hundreds of 'em."

"Now his royal highness?" Hector said, handing his bow over to Swindle, "That's the guy to talk to about nymphs. He
loves
Oceanids."

"And they love
him
," replied Ace, "Our mother doesn' call him the
Casanova of the Seas
for nothin'." He rolled his eyes.

Distracted, Chloe almost shot herself in the foot.

"Uh, I think you've had enough practice for one day," Hector said, slipping the bow and all extra arrows out of her unsteady hands. "We'll pick it up some other time." She didn't fight him on it and relinquished the equipment into better hands.

Snip, Snip. Snip, Snip. Snip, Snip. Snip, Snip.

SNIP.

The abrasive sound of large pruning shears severing limbs and leaves made Chloe turn to see who was tidying up Apollo's beautiful gardens. The others followed suit. Swindle seemed indifferent towards them, but Ace and the twins appeared to be rather irritated by the intruders' presence.