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

Chapter 10: The Disappearance

Kyra and Tessa sat in the library and compared everything they knew so far. Kyra wished she could tell her cousin everything, but it was not fair to put the burden on her. It was told to her and was her weight to carry. Cassie and Alexis walked in during the conversation and added their thoughts when Zeus showed up and chaos seemed to follow in his wake.

“Have you made your decision about the trials?”

“A decision has been made, but everyone needs to be in here first,” Kyra said and glanced over to her sisters and cousins. As if reading her mind, they went to find the others while she glared at Zeus, stilled angry about everything he had done.

Within a couple of minutes, everyone had walked into the library. Kyra’s parents chose the position next to their daughter while everyone else filled in behind her. Kyra heard what sounded like a buzz of energy. When she turned around to see if anyone else it, only Tessa nodded her head. When her glare returned to Zeus she could see on his face that he heard it to and it surprised him.

“We’ve decided that hiding is only a temporary solution so I am taking the trials. However, we feel that I need to wait until we are our grandmother’s house,” Kyra informed him.

“We are leaving tomorrow so she can begin her training the following day,” Kyra’s dad spoke up.

“I am glad you have chosen to follow your path to immortality. It will be a hard road but once you complete your trials, you can stand next to me on Mt. Olympus. Your powers added to my own will ensure peace for everyone. I will make the claim immediately and send your family protection.” Zeus disappeared in a flash which everyone quiet for just a minute.

“Arrogant much?” Kat asked and everyone laughed at her question.

“Of course, he makes this all about him,” Helena interjected.

“This is about our family,” Kyra’s dad added, and everyone agreed.

“Now that Mr. AllAboutMe is gone, we have to drive into the city to tie up a few loose ends with the community leaders. I don’t think we really know how long we will be gone and I want them to be aware there will a new person helping out here,” Kyra’s mom said.

“We also have to pick up the new vet from the airport. Her name is Dr. Eva Fredericks and she will help Dr. and Mrs. Cooper with the animals and the property. We’ve renovated the office in the clinic, so she’ll be comfortable until her cabin is built,” her uncle Chris added.

“And we probably won’t be back until after dinner,” her aunt Emi continued.

“Okay. What time are we leaving for Grandmother Mei and Uncle Theo’s house?” Kyra asked as they started to walk out.

“We have airline tickets to leave early tomorrow morning. Make sure you have enough packed to get through a month. I doubt you’ll have anytime to do any of your studies but bring it just in case.”

“Drive safe,” Tessa called as the girls watched them get in the jeep and drive away. 

The girls headed back into the library and grabbed a seat at their usual spots when Cassie went completely still and closed her eye.

“What’s wrong?” Helena asked but she was shushed by Alexis who grabbed Cassie’s hand with both of hers.

“Helena and Ellie. Take out your cells. Helena, try calling your parents. Ellie, can you try calling my parents?” Kyra asked and both girls grabbed their phones and starting dialing.

There was a sound from the kitchen when the door opened and everyone except Cassie and Alexis looked up and saw Dr. and Mrs. Cooper walked in.

“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Cooper asked as she placed a hand on Cassie’s shoulder. 

“Cassie has gone quiet and we have a bad feeling,” Kat replied.

“Tessa, the wolves are outside. They scratched at the door and howled until I went outside to see them. Next thing I know one of them went into the clinic to grab Mrs. Cooper and we are both being nudged here.  They seem really agitated.”

“Maybe I should go out and check on them. Kyra, they found you. Do you think they know if something happened?”

“I would believe anything at this point. Go see them. Maybe you can learn something from them,” Kyra replied back to Tessa who headed outside.

“They only just left a short while ago,” Dr. Cooper tried to sound confident, but he even seemed a little rattled. “Are you really that concerned Kyra?” Dr. Cooper asked and Mrs. Cooper went to sit on the other side of Cassie.

“We’ve learned to trust our intuition and mine is telling me that something is definitely wrong,” Kyra answered him. She could hear the confidence in the voice but didn’t feel it.

“I just got their voicemails,” Helena said.

“Me too,” Ellie added.

“Maybe they’re just out of signal range for now. We should try again in an hour,” Kat spoke up with a little bit of hope in her voice.

“They’ve only been gone a few minutes. We have strong cell service for 10 miles past the gate, and there is no way they got that far already.”

Tessa walked back into the library followed by the wolf who always seems like the leader of the pack. “By the way, I have named him Max. he insisted he come in.”

The wolf sat next to Tessa who gave him a pat on the chest. “You have our attention. Do you know if something has happened to our parents earlier?” 

Max looked at her and lowered his head.

“Are they somewhere hurt?” she asked.

Max shook his head no. “That is at least some good news,” Dr Cooper said.

Cassie opened her eyes and they were full of tears, her face showed fear and anxiety. She started to speak until she saw Dr. Cooper and his wife in the room with them. “I just got a really bad feeling” and looked at Kyra for help.

“Dr. Cooper, we can’t reach either of our parents. Do you think we should contact the authorities or do we have to wait a specific amount of time before they will get involved?”

“I believe they usually require the person to be missing for 48 hours but, your family is a valuable part of their community so they may make an exception.”

“Would you mind calling some of them and see if they can get started on the investigation?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Come on dear. Let’s go make some phone calls. Kyra, please let me know if you have any news and I will do the same.”

“I will. Thank you, Dr. and Mrs. Cooper. We really appreciate you being here for us.”

As soon as the Cassie heard the kitchen door closed, she started to cry which made it hard for the others to understand her when she said, “Don’t bother. They’re gone. I felt them. They were a little anxious but okay for a minute. Then I felt their terror and now nothing.”

“We’re going to figure this out,” Alexis told her.

“Could it be the black void,” Kyra asked Tessa.

“I didn’t think dreams were supposed to be taken literally.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a dream.”

Tessa nodded at her and turned towards Max. “Did you see what happened to them?”

He lowered his head again.

“Did they disappear into a blackness?”

Max looked at Kyra first and then to Tessa before he lowered his head again.

Finally calmed down, Cassie looked at Kyra. “You think the black void from your nightmare took our parents?”

“I don’t think or know anything right now. Max, is there anything else you know that can help us?” Kyra asked but Max only shook his head.

“Come on Max. I will take you back outside to your pack,” Tessa replied.

“One more thing Max. Thank you,” Kyra told him, and he huffed back to her. “It is possible that they were taken and someone or something used a black void to do it.”

“You’ve seen this in your dream?” Cassie asked.

“Sort of. I see a black void going after Tessa, and then everything disappears.”

“What do we do?” Tessa asked.

Kyra took a breath and closed her eyes for second when she realized what she had to do. She took the cell phone out of her pocked, dials the number and puts it on speaker. “Hello?”

“Grandmother.”

“Are you and the girls okay?”

“Yes, but …. “

“I already know. We should be there in about 2 hours.”

“How are getting here so fast?”

“We flew out early this morning.”

“How did you know?”

 “That is a story when we have time to talk. I forgot how bumpy these roads are,” she said and the call ended.

“I guess we should not be surprised,” Kyra said as she and the others started to laugh. 

#####

Dr. Cooper called to let everyone know he notified the authorities after trying and failing to reach any of them for over an hour. “Even if they had reached a dead zone with no signal, they would have been back in range by now,” he said. “I called a few people in town to see if anyone had seen or heard from them since they left and no one has spoken to them since breakfast. 

“I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation on where they’re at,” Mrs. Cooper said sounding like she was trying to assure us as well as herself and Dr. Cooper. 

As soon we disconnect the call with Dr. Cooper, a knock on the door startled them making everyone jump. Cassie ran out to get the door. 

“Grandmother Mei, Uncle Theos,” she yelled before hugging them both.

As soon as they walked into the library, everyone got up and hugged them, happy they were there.  

“It’s going to be okay,” their grandmother said.

“It’ll be better as soon as we can get our heavy bags out of the way,” Uncle Theos said in his normal calming voice.

“Come with me upstairs. I’ll take you to the guestroom. You’ve been traveling most of the day to get here. Do you want to get a shower?” Kyra asked and grabbed one of their bags.

“That is a great idea. And when we come back down, we can figure out what to do from here,” their grandmother replied, and Kyra led them to their room.

“While they are upstairs getting settled, why don’t the rest of us head to the kitchen and maybe makeup some snacks and drinks. I have a feeling its going to be a long night,” Tessa suggested. Everyone picked a job as they walked towards the kitchen and quickly got to work.

“Look at you guys all working together in the kitchen. What can I do to help?” Kyra asked.

“We could use someone to make the iced tea,” Cassie suggested.

“Perfect. I’ll make the iced tea. Can someone help me and get glasses with ice and put them on the table?”

“I’ll do it,” Kat volunteered.

#####

Mei and Theos made their way back downstairs cleaned up and ready to get to work. “We’re in the dining room,” Ellie called out when she heard them down the hall.

By the time they made it to the dining room, there were sandwiches, snacks and iced tea setup for everyone. “This looks wonderful. Thank you, girls,” their grandmother praised and she and their uncle sat down at the table with them. “I’ve already confirmed with the airline that we all leave early tomorrow morning. Make sure everything is packed and ready before putting head to pillow tonight. Let’s see what we can accomplish before tomorrow morning. We’ll start with what you know and then we can go from there.”

The girls filled them on everything from the dreams that started with story time and to the nightmare with the void to Zeus showing up, and the message from the wolves.

“That is quite a bit. Theos, did you see what I saw in what they told us?” Mei asked.

“It is very interesting.”

“What did you see?” Ellie was the first to ask.

“All 7 of you provided unique information and when those pieces are put together, they formed a complete puzzle. I guess part of that is to be expected because you are all so close, but there is definitely something there in your relationships,” replied their grandmother.

“I don’t know what it is yet, but it is something,” their Uncle Theos added more for himself and Mei and quickly changed the subject. “You said that Dr. & Mrs. Cooper already called the authorities?”

“Yes,” Kyra and Tessa said at the same time.

“We have to keep up appearances and let the authorities do their official search,” Uncle Theos said.

“If we try and tell anyone what really happened to your parents, we’ll all be locked up in the crazy house,” their grandmother joked.

“How did you know something happened before I called?” Kyra asked.

“We knew something was going to happen but wasn’t sure when or what. We fear that we have run out of time to find answers and that all of you are in danger,” Uncle Theos answered.

A knock at the door made everyone jump. “Could that be the authorities wanting to ask more question?”

“I’ll answer it,” Kyra replied, and she walked towards the foyer to see who was at the door.

A few minutes later, Kyra returned with a woman behind her. “I would like you all to meet Dr. Evangeline Fredericks. She is the vet that our parents hired to help Dr. Cooper. Tessa, would you mind calling him and letting him know she’s here?”

“Yep, already on it,” she replied with her phone already up to her ear.

“Please call me Eva. I’m sorry to hear about the disappearance of your parents. I knew something wasn’t right when they weren’t at the airport to pick me up. I tried calling their cell phones, but all of the numbers I dialed went right to voicemail, so I figured I’d rent a car and drive out here.”

“I’m glad you were able to find it okay,” Mei replied.

“This is such a beautiful country. I can’t wait to get to work helping with the animals. I spoke to several colleagues before agreeing to come here and all of them speak highly of your parents and all of the work here,” she said and smiled as she glanced at everyone in the room.

“Dr. Cooper said he will be here in a minute.”

“We are happy you are here and hope you see this as your home.”

“Thank you. I am sure I will. Everyone I have met has been very kind and I am looking forward to working with Dr. Cooper.”

“Eva, I am sorry there was no one there to get you from the airport,” Dr. Cooper replied as he walked into the room.

“I can’t imagine what you all are going through right now. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help,” she replied

“You are doing it by being here,” Theos added.

“We are taking the girls back with us in the morning. We are not sure what happened to their parents, so I want to keep them close to me.” Mei took out a piece of paper with writing on it. “I wrote down my cell phone and included Theos’ as well.  I know this is putting a lot of pressure on you but if you need anything, just give one of us a call. Oh, I almost forgot, some of the staff who are already here helping you with the renovations, will be staying. I am sure you will find plenty of work around here to do once the renovations are completed.”

“Thank you, Mei. If you hear anything about them, will you let me know?”

“Of course.”

Dr. Cooper put the piece of paper in his pocket, hugged all of the girls wishing them a safe trip and turned to Eva. “Why don’t I show you the clinic, and where you’ll be staying until more formal accommodations will be completed?” Dr. Cooper asked her and grabbed one of her bags. It is only a short walk from here.”

“Thank you. I would very much appreciate that,” she said as he led her out.

“Are you sure you’re not leaving anything out?” they grandmother asked, and the girls looked at each other before they all realized at the same time who they were talking about.

“How did we forget about Phoebe?” Kyra asked and filled them in on what her sisters and cousins already knew about her.

“Are you talking about me?” Phoebe asked as she phased into the room.

 “Phoebe, it’s good to see you,” Mei said as she and Theos embraced her.

“You never said you knew my Grandmother or Uncle,” Kyra said and looked at Phoebe a little irritated for the surprise.

“I know a great many people. Do you wish me to tell you everyone I have met during my existence?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Kyra replied. “Things are happening, changing so fast that I feel a little dizzy.”

“I understand.” Phoebe glanced over to the other girls. “And how are all of you holding up this evening?” she asked.

“We’re confused,” Alexis said.

“Worried about our parents,” Kat replied.

“I’m pissed at Zeus. He said he’d provide protection. It’s not even been a day yet and already, we have learned that we cannot rely on “him,” Kyra said as she folder her arms.

“All of those emotions are expected. I am sorry that your parents have disappeared, but I am very happy to see all of you are still alive and well,” Phoebe replied. “I am not a fan of Zeus and have never made that a secret, but you only know what you see. Zeus is many things but he would not lie to you,” Phoebe assured.

“Then how were our parents taken already?” Ellie asked and everyone looked at her in astonishment. She was normally very quiet and allowed the other girls to do the talking so she could just listen.

 “Zeus is king and has many he is responsible for. Not only does he have to protect them but now all of you. When your parents left, a choice had to be made of where to focus his protection,” Phoebe explained.

“Think about it from a strategic perspective. Where could an attack make the most damage? It would make more sense to go after the immediate target or the largest group,” Theos added.

“Now that we have that cleared up, what news have you brought us,” Mei asked.

“I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I have learned that the Nymphs or fairies as you may know them may be able to help in finding your parents.”

“That is really good news. How do we find them?” Kyra asked.

“That is where the bad news comes in. Kyra, you must go into the forest and seek their help.”

“How can I do that?  We leave in the morning,”

“There is a forest within walking distance of where you’ll be. What humans do not know is that the forest is a realm onto itself. Humans see each forest as separate and distinct, but just because they are not connected geographically, doesn’t mean they are not connected.”

“Can I go with her?” Tessa asked.

“That is an interesting question. Kyra is the only one of age, but they may allow you to enter as well because of the gift you have,” Phoebe said and glanced over to Mei. “You know them as well as I do. What do you think?”

“She is only going to see the Nymphs to ask for their help in finding her parents, and Tessa’s gifts with the animals may carry a little bit of weight with them.”

“Nymphs are not very trusting. You must first prove you are worthy to enter their world before you are granted an audience with their queen. She is the one that you need to see,” Phoebe said in explanation.

“Does Eufime still hold the throne?” Mei asked.

“Yes. You know they do not like change,” Phoebe replied.

“Or strangers especially men, if I remember correctly,” Theos added and began laughing.

“How do you know so much about them?” Kyra asked.

“That, my dear is a very long story,” Theos responded.

“And not one that we have time to share tonight,” Mei added.

“What can you tell us about them?” Cassie asked.

“Nymphs are considered the protectors of nature. There are different groups, each one separated by where they reside. Land Nymphs include Dryads who live in the forests, Oreads who live in the mountains, Limoniads who live in the meadows, and Meliads who live in the ash trees. Water Nymphs include Naiads who live in springs and rivers, Oceanids who live in the sea, Nereids who live in the Mediterranean Sea, and Limniads who live in the lakes, marshes, and swamps,” Mei explained.

“The queen of the Nymphs who reside in the water is Amphitrite, who is married to Poseidon. The queen of the Nymphs, who reside on land is Eufime, who is married to Apollo. It is Eufime who you must see. She is not only powerful and loved by the other Nymphs, she is also well connected outside of that community because of Apollo. They are opposites of each other because Eufime finds it hard to trust but is very calm whereas Apollo gives his trust easily, but then has a really bad temper if that trust is broken,” Phoebe said.

“You will be given three challenges to measure if you are worthy and allowed into their world. Each challenge will force you to look within yourselves so that they can see who you really are,” their grandmother said. “You are lucky to be female because men are treated harshly and are rarely even given the chance to take the tests.”

“Is there anything we can do to help Kyra and Tessa get ready?” Cassie asked.

“There is not much we can do to help them with the temptations because to pass those you must have a true heart and keep to the path of why you are there. They will help in preparing for the physical challenges and we do not have much time,” Phoebe replied. 

“Why don’t we have much time?” Tessa asked.

“The harvest moon is in three days and is the only time that the gate to their world is open. The Nymphs know they are vulnerable so there will be a guardian at the gate. She will decide whether to allow you a chance to proceed or not. If you do not make it in time, you will have to wait another month and I fear that the danger which is coming will not need that long to find you,” Phoebe replied.

“We will spend most of the tomorrow traveling so that only leaves 2 days to get them ready,” Theos commented and he sounded concerned.

“I know it will be hard for everyone but try to sleep as soon as you are packed and ready to leave tomorrow morning,” Phoebe added and then disappeared into the air.

A calm surrounded the house and the girls began to yawn.

“Sleep now children, but pack your bags first,” their grandmother told them in a hypnotic voice and each of the girls went to their rooms and did as they were told. They would have a deep restful sleep because each one would need all of their energy for what was ahead.