Treasure of Calliope: Chronicles of Zeus' Daughters - Book 1

Chapter 3: Hidden Letters

Dinner that night was exceptionally quiet. Kyra's dad Alex and her Uncle Chris got called to go to town to meet with some men about taking in more exotic animals. They asked if Dr. Cooper would come with them and they brought the truck with two of the larger cages. Neither Kyra's mom or Aunt looked like they were feeling well. Both were pale and neither had eaten much at dinner.

Kyra, Cassie, Helena, Ellie, Kat and Tessa started a game of Monopoly in the library, while Kat continued to work on her drawing and Helena wrote in her notebook.

"Kat, do you see anything different with our parents?" Tessa asked.

"They've been different. I don't remember ever seeing them in so many different meetings before," she replied back and threw her playing piece at the box, missing it completely. "I don't want to play anymore."

Tessa stood up from the couch, picked up the playing piece and put it quietly in the box along with her piece. "You don't need to throw it just because you don't' have all of the answers, Kat."

"I'm tired and I'm going to bed," Kyra announced as she put her playing piece in the box and started putting the game away.

"I'm right behind you," Cassie said as she helped Kyra clean up. "I know mom and dad said that they wanted us to spend time together before Kyra leaves for school and Tessa heads for veterinary school next year, but we spend every minute together here. This trip isn't necessary except to see Grandmother Mei and Uncle Theos."

"Unless they are trying to take us somewhere where they can better protect us," Kat replied.

"You may be onto something. Why can't they just tell us then? Why all of the secrets?"

"I don't know Kyra."

All 7 of them made their way upstairs to head to bed.

"I think a change of scenery would be fun," Tessa said as she followed everyone up the stairs.

"Maybe they'll let us go exploring. I'd love to see some of the older towns around and maybe find some new trouble to get into," Kyra said laughing.

"Just what we need, more opportunity for you to get into trouble Kyra," Tessa said with sarcasm in her voice.

After a long hot shower, Kyra decided to try and read before going to sleep for the night. After glancing between the desk chair in front of the computer and the fluffy chair in front of the fireplace, she decided to go for something comfy. "I wish all decisions were this easy," Kyra says out loud. She tucked her feet under her while she sat on the fluffy chair reading a Jane Austen book. Instead of reading the pages all she could do was stare into the fire and think about the man from her dream.

Without realizing it, Kyra's eyes closed as her fingers ran over the gems of the bracelet and she found herself back in the field again with the sun setting on the horizon. This time there was a calm feeling instead of fear which had plagued her dreams for almost a year. The grass was bright green and tall, tickling the backsides of her knees. She could see the mountains in the distance and there were even butterflies flying around her. Her heart dropped when she found herself alone.

She chastised herself. Instead of have a peaceful dream she was disappointed not to see someone she only just met. She had no idea where her head was lately.

"Kyra," a familiar male voice said from behind her.

Startled, she turned around and saw Atlas standing there.

"Will you sit with me so we can watch the sunset together Kyra. This is the first one I have seen in a very long time," he told her as he took her hand and led her to a bench that Kyra was sure was not there before.

"Will you answer my questions if I do?" she asked as they sat down. This time when she saw his half-bare chest, she noticed that he was wearing white cotton pants and she was grateful that it's not just a short rectangle of fabric, pinned at the left shoulder and wrapped around the midsection. Kyra blushed when she saw Atlas smiling at her. He caught her staring at his form but instead of admonishing her for it, he only squeezed her hand.

"I do not know how much time we have here, but I will try to answer your questions."

The sun had set a little more and the colors of the sky filled with warm oranges, yellows, and reds.

"Why is this your first sunset in a long time?"

"It is a long story but the short of it is that I fought a battle that my side lost, and I was banished as punishment. I can only see this now because you have opened a door that I could only hope was there. The Fates said that I would meet a young woman on her 18th birthday, and she would bring light into my world, but I had to warn her that she and her family were in danger. I know that danger is coming from many directions, but I do not know who or what the danger is." Atlas looked at Kyra intensely like he was trying to search for something as if trying to read her mind. "I know you are worried for your family, but it looks like something else is troubling you. What happened today?"

Kyra was surprised by his observation. She always thought she had a poker face. "Please tell me you can't read my mind," she replied feeling her face flush bright red for the second time.

"I can do many things but thankfully, one of them is not being able to read the minds of women. That is not something any man should or would want to be able to do," he said and they both started to laugh.

"I received flowers for our birthday. There were beautiful blue roses which my father says are very rare. And I noticed that there was a note but when I asked my parents about it, they said it wasn't for me. It's like they are hiding something."

"You must follow your intuition Kyra. Locate and read the letter that came with your flowers. The Fates mentioned you and your family. Things and people are not always as they appear, and the world for you and your family is about to become very different. Right now, your family is living a life like a puzzle where all of the pieces fit neatly together, but what is coming is going to change all of that. You must be ready if you want to save your family."

"How do we get ready when we have no idea what is coming?"

"I wish I knew."

"Can you tell me more about this bracelet?"

"That question is best answered by the Fates. Although, they would tell you that it is something that you must find on your own. The journey of knowledge can not be explained but lived. At least that is what they tell me when I ask a question. I think it is mostly because they enjoy watching us flounder around."

"As frustrating as the answer is, it sounds like something my parents would say too."

"How about we not think about anything else and just watch the sun set behind that horizon?"

Kyra nodded and smiled in response and they sat back and quietly watched the sun go down.

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"Kyra, wake up!"

"Cassie, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Kyra responded while looking like she was trying to figure out where she was.

"I'm fine. It's after nine in the morning. I got worried when I noticed the time and you hadn't come downstairs to breakfast yet. Do you feel alright?"

"I'm fine. I feel a little stiff from sitting here all night." Kyra got up and stretched while looking around. It only felt like she was with him for a few minutes. "It feels like I just fell asleep a few minutes ago. Do you know where mom and dad put that note they got yesterday?"

"If they kept it, they probably would have put it on dad's desk or in mom's filing cabinet. Why?"

"I think we need to find it. I will bet that there were other notes every year with the flowers, but dad slipped and forgot to hide this one before giving me the flowers."

"What are you talking about?" Tessa asked as she and Alexis walked into the bedroom after seeing the door was open.

"Remember when I told everyone about a man in my dreams who gave me this bracelet? Well, I saw him again. He said that our family was in danger and that I should follow my intuition and find the letter that came with the flowers yesterday."

"You know how crazy you sound, right?" Alexis asked as she sat down on Kyra's bed.

"You guys have to believe me. It was kind of like when we would share our dreams growing up and that older man would come by and tell us stories. It was that real," Kyra said while taking a second to look around her room at her sisters and cousin. "I need you to believe me, please."

"We do believe you," Tessa responded but sounded like there was more she needed to say.

"What is it Tessa?"

"You're not the only one getting messages in dreams. So am I. Only in my dreams, it's one of the wolves talking to me. She says we have to work together to save our family. She says that each of us have special gifts, but we have to find those on our own. And we won't begin to see them until we are 18."

"That explains why my dreams have changed so much. But we need to get back to these notes and how to find them."

"We were just downstairs and, on our way, up here, we overheard our parents all in your dad's office talking. They said they had to discuss what to do about the animals they brought home last night. Mom told me last night when I ran into her in the kitchen getting milk, that they are gorillas and severely malnourished. She was surprised that either of them could walk, and they looked like they would not have lasted much longer without help. She said Dr. Cooper is going to call in a few friends who are more familiar with the species and find out how best to get them back to their strength," Tessa said.

"I don't know how people can be so cruel to animals. Are you going to get to see them today?" Alexis finally spoke up.

"I asked but they said I should wait. They need a couple of days of food and rest first before they are safe to socialize with."

"Maybe we should just ask them about the letters?" Cassie asked.

"And 1 of 2 things will be said. They will either deny that the letters have anything to do with me or 2 say that they need more information before they can share them with us."

"So, we'll wait until after dinner or when they head up to bed for the night," Alexis responded looking less confident than she sounded.

"We can say we are going to stay in the library and study a little more."

"With everything on their minds, they probably won't think twice about it. Oh, how are the wolves? Are the mom and baby doing well?" Kyra asked to help change to a happier conversation.

"They are wonderful. They let me hold the baby. As soon as I got to the clinic, they all acknowledged me and left. The only one that stayed was its mom. I was thinking about coming up with names for them, but that feels like I am trying to make them pets, which I'm not."

Out of the momentary quiet, the growls from multiple stomachs could be heard.

"Let's go eat breakfast and see what the parents have to say this morning," Kyra said as she stretched on more time before heading out of her room.

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Once all of the girls were sitting at the dining room table eating their breakfast, the parents walked in and announced that they had to run into town again but would explain everything when they returned. Kyra, Cassie, Alexis and Tessa just looked at each other with a knowing look. As soon as the parents left, they spoke with Helena, Ellie and Kat about what was going on so everyone could help look for the letters. Kyra started looking at the desk, Cassie and Alexis started looking through the file cabinet, Helena, Ellie and Tessa checked through the bookcases while Kat walked methodically around the room paying special attention to anything that may have a secret compartment.

No one spoke as they looked so it startled everyone when Kat spoke up. "Has anyone noticed this creaking floorboard before?"

Immediately everyone stopped what they were doing and focused on what Kat was doing. She walked to the edge of the rug and rolled it up to expose the floorboard. "Somebody hand me a letter opener so I can get this floorboard up."

Kyra grabbed the letter opener from the top of her dad's desk and handed it to Kat. It took less than a couple of seconds to get the board up and underneath they found a silver locked box. "Okay, now we need the key," Kat said as she lifted the box out of the hiding space and placed it on the desk.

"What are the chances the key is in here too?" Helen asked.

"It's got to be in here somewhere, and it will be in a place that he can access without too much bother," Kat answered back.

"There is a vase on his bookshelf that I've never seen flowers in and a candy dish next to it." Ellie interjected as she went to check the vase first but found it empty.

Ellie was standing in front of the candy dish, so she checked it. She started by removing the lid first and she found it was empty, she picked up the dish to examine it but still did not find a key.

"If I was trying to hide something small, I would hide it in plain sight," Kat said and when she looked over at Kyra, a small smile flashed on both of their faces.

"Tessa, that picture with the boat. Do you see it?" asked Kat.

"Oh, my goodness, I've never noticed the key is part of the picture." Tessa opened up the back of the frame, pulled out the key and handed it over to Kat to do the honors.

Kat took the key and when she turned the key in the lock, the lid opened allowing everyone to see the stack of plain white envelopes inside. Kyra picked up the top envelope and looked at it carefully. Her formal name Kyramae was written on the front in a very formal style of writing, almost old world and in a different handwriting was the current year.

"The handwriting for the date looks like it was written by either your mom or mine. Do you want to read them alone?" Tessa asked knowing that everyone was hoping she would say no.

"No. Stay here. This affects all of us and if we divide them up, we can figure this out sooner than if it was just me." Kyra counted 18 envelopes, each one having a year written on it and then gave out 2 to each person to start with. Everyone grabbed a seat and started reading. Kyra read the one from yesterday first and then read it out loud.

Kyramae, your lineage has become known to those who would see you harmed. You must take your family away where others can help you and increase the protection of them. The dangers are fast approaching, and caution must be immediate and vigilant. Those who you have trusted in the past will further protect, but beware of others who come with smiles, for they may bring the most danger.

"This is why they talked about taking that trip," Cassie said with certainty in her voice.

"They think Grandmother Mei and Uncle Theos can help protect us," Tessa said.

"Why are they keeping this secret from us? Do they think we are too young to understand?" Kyra asked. No one answered. Some of the letters were short and some were long. As each letter was read, the person who read it would talk about its contents. Everyone took turns reading each and every letter with more questions asked then answered.