
STORMCALL

Book One of the E.M.F. Chronicles

by

T.A. Marks
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright (C) 2015 by T.A. Marks. All rights reserved.

Cover art by Elettra Cudignotto.
Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

# Chapter 1

My name is Mark Prior and I am a fugitive, classified by the authorities as an extreme danger to public safety, a real life super villain of sorts. Although, the truth is, I haven't actually committed any criminal activities, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. I haven't hurt or killed anyone, I haven't stolen anything and I certainly haven't, directly, caused any harm to the public. But what I did, I guess, could be perceived by many as equally bad.

On many an occasion, I just stood there watching, in horrific fascination, as people around me got hurt or died, victims of means both uncanny and, some would argue, unnatural. In my defense, most of these people were actively trying to hurt or kill me and my own. Everything that had happened to them was merely a deflection, a form of collateral, from me and my friends trying to act in self defense.

My only regret lies in the fact that somewhere along their numbers I may have unintentionally caused some harm to innocent people as well. People like me, people who had normal jobs, who went on holidays and carried on about their daily lives, unaware of the shadows that lurk in the sideways of their existence, a world both cruel and terrifying to those initiated to its violence. People who reminded me of my former self that felt so distant and unimportant now.

"Puta madre! My hombro is killing me, I think I might be losing a lot of blood or something ... I feel dizzy ..." the sound of my Spanish friend's voice brought my thoughts to an abrupt end. How did he manage to get shot by those soldiers, I wondered. I thought his gift made him invulnerable to malicious intent, as he'd claimed and had proven to us, time and time again, in the past month.

Maybe those special forces units, or whatever they were, who started firing at us were prepared to deal with him this time around. Maybe they had studied my friend's gift, his unique power and how to counter it. Which only brought me to the inevitable conclusion that they had been monitoring us for quite some time now, probably since we made it back to the United Kingdom.

I wish I had taken Richard's advice and stayed back in the hotel, then none of this would have happened, I thought. I tried really hard not to let my anger, towards myself and my friend, get the best of me.

My frantic thinking was interrupted, once more, as I heard Jose's muffled scream. He was lying on the pavement, holding his left thigh with both hands and shouting obscenities in Spanish. There was a small pool of blood, which grew larger by the second, underneath the lower part of his body. This is getting out of hand, I panicked.

The air hissed around us with the sound of bullets flying by. Take cover, I ordered myself, flinching at the realisation of a bullet zipping past my head and straight into the face of a middle-aged woman standing six feet behind me.

There was a scream from the crowd as blood, splinters of bone and brain matter splattered all around me, a portion of it falling on my clothes and in my hair. People around me, in Soho Square, suddenly stopped going on with their Sunday afternoon, their shopping, their strolls around the city or their holidays, and looked at me and my friend in all our gory glory.

There was a pause, which seemed to last for ages, and then a commotion broke out. People started running in all directions, shouting in what seemed to be a mix of London and foreign accents. As for myself, I began to see everything in slow motion as my glands started pumping heavy doses of adrenaline into my blood stream.

In front of me, thirty feet away, there was a unit of six, armored clad and in pure black colors, special forces soldiers closing in on us, their hands tight on their protruded semi-automatics. Jose was still lying on the ground, bleeding and swearing, as they slowly made their way towards us.

One of the soldiers, the unit's leader I presumed, lowered his weapon slightly and started shouting orders. I lowered myself to the ground, just like he ordered, positioning my weight on my knees and raised my arms with my hands holding the back of my head.

This is it, I thought, our recent exploits have finally caught up with us. This was the result of me sitting on the sidelines and letting the others make all the decisions. Especially Jose and his insistence on doing things his way. What is he up to now, I turned my attention to him as the soldiers' circle tightened around us.

He was still on the ground, nine feet away, bleeding but no longer shouting and swearing. Instead, he was now looking intently at the hysterical commotion of people running up and down the length of Soho Square's perimeter. In a mere couple of seconds, a few of those people seemed to stop dead on their tracks and turned around to look, firstly at him then at the soldiers.

The group comprised of a middle aged couple, a young man in his thirties in a suit and carrying a large black leather briefcase and a small group of Asian tourists, South Korean or Japanese, I couldn't distinguish properly. The middle aged couple muttered something to the others and pointed in our direction. Following that, they all started running towards us screaming, their faces locked in an expression of rage and hatred.

The soldiers were caught by surprise as it dawned on me what was really transpiring. I had seen this scene unfold a few times in the past month. The soldiers turned their semi-automatics around and opened fire on the small crowd of our new friends or, as I mentally corrected myself, our new defenders.

Bullet rounds were fired in relative silence, mostly covered by the noise of the crowds still running around us, and the weapons' own silencers. I saw the middle-aged couple, both the man and the wife, fall down holding their chest and stomach in agony. But it was already too late.

The young man in the suit and the briefcase had managed to get through, and he jumped, head first and in wild abandon, unto the soldiers tackling two of them to the ground and giving the rest of our defenders enough time to do the same. Punches were being thrown left and right and the fight was becoming more lopsided as time passed.

Another small group of bystanders joined in, a direct result of Jose's evident skill to put his gift of empathy into good use, and the mass of enraged people piling on the soldiers became larger and larger. All I could see now was a growing assortment of people throwing themselves at our assailants while they punched, clawed and bit their way into their protective gear, their eyes burning with a focused and seething hatred.

"Compadre, you run, I will find my own way out of here!" I heard Jose's voice over the commotion.

"But you are hurt! You can't possibly escape on your own!" I responded screaming at the top of my lungs.

"Go and warn the others! It will be harder for them to track us if we break up, go now!" he shouted back.

"But what I am supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?" I replied but it was already too late, Jose couldn't hear me even if he wanted to. The rabid mob was becoming thicker and thicker around us, all charmed up, a direct result of my friend's uncanny influence on their body's electromagnetic field.

I got violently pushed aside by some of them as I caught a glimpse of my friend being carried away from the scene by two of his new-found protectors. They proceeded to throw him into the back seat of a car before entering it themselves and driving off. There was a loud screech and the car started accelerating down Frith Street.

"Damn it, I am on my own now," I muttered as I picked myself up and started running, once again, this time southwards. The screams and shouts became more and more distant as I made my way south, towards the Thames, thinking that I needed to get out of my bloody attire. Ten minutes and a good deal of horrified looks later I stopped, gasping for air, in Leicester square. My eyes fell on a hip clothes store and I ran inside.

The store itself was full of people but that didn't stop me from grabbing the first coat I saw on a set of hangers in front of me. It was a woman's red Montgomery-styled piece.

No time to be picky, I thought, taking my leather jacket off and putting my new coat on before making my way out again. I threw my bloody jacket into the arms of a wide-eyed, six foot tall security guard, with a smile, as I ran past him and continued down the road towards Leicester Square tube station.

"Where am I supposed to go now," I muttered again under my breath.

"The so-called telluric currents seem to have a focal point somewhere around the region of Glastonbury in the United Kingdom, I need to get you lot down there," Richard Feist's words took form in my mind, an oasis of rational thought inside the raging storm of panic and excitement.

"Glastonbury it is then," I said to myself, breaking a hard left and running down the stairs of the underground tube station.

# Chapter 2

Looking back at myself, at twenty two years old, I never imagined that I was going to experience the life of a fugitive. In fact, I've always considered myself to be your rather average guy. I had a moderately normal childhood growing up in Chelsmford, a middle class part of Essex just outside East London. I was the only child in our family of three.

My father worked as an accountant in a large local firm whereas my mother was what you could call the quintessential housewife. Like most families in our neighborhood we wore sensible clothes, drove a sensible car and went to Spain for holidays, for a week, every summer.

The school that I went to was the usual run-of-the-mill state school in Essex, where I graduated with fairly good marks that were enough to earn me a spot in a quite decent university in South London. In fact, nothing about my life could have prepared me for the extraordinary days that laid ahead of me, in the beginning of the third decade of my life.

It was the fateful summer of the year before, when I received the email from Telemachus and Alice, inviting me and our friend Jose to spend our summer holidays with them in Greece, touring the Greek islands with our backpacks.

I remember now how excited I was to hear from them and how eager I was to recapture the magical moments our little gang had shared in the past when we were all studying together at the university. That email was meant to be the catalyst for the chain of events that unfolded and which were going to alter my life forever.

"Many greetings to the kingdom of rain, mate!" the email wrote. "We know you are super busy with whatever it is you are doing now but we think you could use a holiday down in the land of sunshine! Last time we spoke on the net you sounded all mopey and probably in serious need of some vitamin D. Alice and I are planning to go on a backpack tour around the islands, next month, and we are hoping you could join us. We have, already, spoken to Jose and he's definitely coming! Hope to hear from you soon! Your friends, Telemachus and Alice."

Wow, I thought to myself, having the whole group together again sounds like a real promise for good times. It was, also, the perfect opportunity to break free from the summer drudgery of the big city. It was already the middle of June and I was just finishing writing up the first part of my thesis for my Master's degree.

My days were filled with endless hours of literature research at the university's library and meeting up with other students to moan about our professors. The workload was immense, the professor was always dissatisfied and the prospects of decent pay, after the successful completion of the program, seemed abysmal. But it was what it was, I had already suffered that long and I wasn't planning on giving up right before the end. Thus, the outlook of spending some time with my friends in the Mediterranean was an opportunity I could not pass up. The prospect of seeing all of them in person, especially Alice, made my heart yearn.

Almost a year had passed when Telemachus and she had decided to pack up and move to Greece. Since the day they were gone, alongside Jose who returned to his own home country of Spain, I felt like a part of myself was missing, like there was a void in my psyche that was stopping me from being the real me. After so many years in London, I had only a handful of people that I could call acquaintances, let alone friends.

My romantic life was also in shambles, having my latest relationship end in misery when Susan, a cute and quirky fellow student in the university, decided to take up an offer from an American institution to continue her academic career over the other side of the Atlantic.

We had tried to stay in touch, I even tried to save up for a trip over there, but we eventually gave up especially since neither of us had enough time for a transatlantic long distance relationship. So, once again, I found myself alone and conflicted about the choices that I had made in the past.

Enough with the bitterness and the self pity, I reprimanded myself, trying to get my act together. The future belongs to those with the conviction to take action, I thought as I sipped on my lemonade. I wonder where I've read that. It was a hot Sunday afternoon and I had nothing planned when I started writing my response to my friends.

"Dear Alice and Telemachus," I wrote. "It's very nice to hear from both of you again. It will be fantastic for us to meet up and spend the holidays together, especially considering all the things we left undone last time! I can, only, imagine how beautiful those Greek islands, you mentioned, are this time of the year. I want you to count me in, I'll start packing right away and look for a ticket to arrive in the next couple of weeks. Send me your address and a list of things I should pack. Your friend, Mark."

I put my laptop into sleep mode and got up from my desk. I took another sip on my lemonade and looked at the view outside my bedroom's window. It overlooked the local park where lots of young people were gathering, mostly art students by the looks of it, from the nearby College of Arts. It looked like they were setting up a stage for some sort of music event.

The local college kids were always a reliable source of good, and more importantly cheap, entertainment. Since I had nothing better to do with my evening, I grabbed my jacket and headed out. Summer holidays here I come, I thought with a grin on my face.

# Chapter 3

June passed fairly quickly and effortlessly. The hours that I spent in front of the laptop, working on my thesis and looking out for new job opportunities, quickly became days and those days became weeks until July was finally there. I packed my suitcase, based on the list that Telemachus had sent me, and felt really excited that my summer holidays were finally about to take place.

I was proud that I had managed to pack just the bare essentials to take with me, an assortment of t-shirts, a couple of Bermuda-style shorts, some socks and the necessary underwear alongside my swimming trunks and a beach towel. I didn't pack any fancy toiletry kit other than my rechargeable shaving machine and a small bottle of shower gel.

I felt like going for the rugged-adventurer-kind-of-look since we were going to be camping most of the time. I also made sure I had an adequate amount of reading material, a couple of novels and a plethora of digital material on my phone and tablet. I had already contacted my friends who had informed me that they'd be there to meet me and pick me up from the airport.

There were three days to spare until the day of my departure, so I decided to give myself a break from the hard work I had been putting in my studies the past year and just hang out with the crowd from the university. When the day of the departure ultimately arrived, it felt a bit anti-climactic after having spent the past week hyping myself up for the trip.

I took the eight o'clock train from the local train depot, which took me down to London Bridge station. From there I switched trains and headed southwards towards the airport. I spent most of the travel time browsing the net on my phone and reading about the latest gossip in the music industry.

An hour later, I arrived at the airport. While I was there, I went through security quickly and found a table in a trendy looking sushi-bar where I decided to grab something to eat and people-watch for the remainder of my time. I ordered a conservative dish of Teriyaki fried chicken, no point in experimenting with new flavors before getting on a plane, I thought, coupled with a generous side portion of egg-fried noodles, and stared at the groups of people rushing about.

"Excuse me! Can I have my change back please, it's been nearly two hours now," I told the air hostess in an exasperated but firm tone. I wasn't going to let her ignore me this time, she had been pacing up and down, without throwing a single glance in my direction, while I tried to get her attention. I wasn't going to let her go without getting my change back for the bag of crisps and the can of soft drink I had bought just after the plane's take-off.

"Of course, sir, I am so sorry," she replied with feigned surprise and a mild hint of annoyance. "It's just been a bit hectic, can I see your receipt again, sir."

"Yeah sure, there you go," I passed her the little piece of paper. "I gave you a twenty pound note for a bag of crisps and a cola so I would like my sixteen pounds and fifty pence change back, please."

"Of course, sir, there you go, and please accept my sincerest apologies for this inconvenience."

"Don't worry about it," I replied and turned my attention back to the movie I had playing on the screen of my tablet. I vaguely recalled an article I read in the newspaper about the amount of profit that is being made during air travel from lost and unaccounted change that never finds its way back to the passengers.

The rumor was, according to the article, that this was another huge source of profit for the airlines, which encouraged the staff to be less worried and more forgetful when it came to stuff like returning change to its rightful owners in a timely manner. I turned the tablet off and decided to try and sleep the rest of the journey off.

The aircraft doors opened and we stepped out of the plane, the crowd of cramped people, rushing to get to the small bus shuttle in a mix of gentle and not so gentle pushes and shoves. I went down the airstair feeling a bit nauseous by the wave of heat hitting me. The sun was blazing above me and the cement of the runway was radiating intense heat like a furnace.

Crap, it feels, already, too hot for me, I thought, remembering the trips I used to have, as a child, with my family to similar destinations in Spain. I got on the shuttle with the rest of the herd, while trying to maintain my composure, and eventually got past the passport control and into the inner sanctums of the airport.

My suitcase came out fairly quickly, sparing me the excruciating experience of waiting for my luggage to arrive amid a crowd of sweaty, impatient, and slightly panicked holiday-makers. I went through the arrivals gate and looked out for my friend. He was standing a few feet away from the airport entrance, Telemachus or Mac as we called him, waving at me with a big smile on his face.

"Welcome to our humble city, mate!" he exclaimed as we hugged each other. It had been nearly a year since we had seen each other. He looked good, more slender and much more muscular. He was clad in his usual summer attire, brown leather sandals, a pair of khaki shorts and a t-shirt depicting our favorite comic hero with the bow. His hair was cut really short and he had a pair of ski sunglasses on the top of his head. All in all, he managed to look extremely fit and more fresh than the last time I saw him when he and Alice left the United Kingdom under some not-so-fortunate circumstances. After we broke our embrace he reached for my suitcase.

"Relax! I got his," I stopped him as I picked it up while putting my backpack over my shoulders. "You're looking great, mate, have you been working out a lot," I commented, following him out of the airport and towards the parking lot. The heat of the day felt even more intense outside much to my dismay. I hope I can get used to the weather fairly quickly, I thought and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I don't want to spend the whole summer sweating like a pig.

"Yep, been doing some heavy cycling and some other stuff," he replied. "We've also been on this healthy diet for the past year as well, Alice and I, so I guess this might have contributed too," he continued as we made our way to his old clapped out jeep that was parked nearby.

"Healthy diet? That sounds exhausting," I laughed.

"Yeah, it's all good man," he unlocked the car and helped me stow the luggage in the boot of the jeep. "Time for new things and all that."

"Where's Alice?" I asked as I got in the passenger's seat. "I was hoping she'd be here with you. I have really missed you, guys."

"She couldn't make it, she had this meeting with a local animal charity she's been working with," Telemachus started the car and drove us away from the airport and towards our destination, his house in the suburbs. "We'll catch up with her later, she won't be long."

"Sounds good," I replied, looking out of the window as the car gained speed on the highway. "And what about our hairy Spanish friend, when is he coming?"

"Heh, you won't believe it," Telemachus chuckled. "He's been here for the past week, he said he was bored out of his mind in Valencia, if you can believe that, and just wanted to start early."

"What? Did he really? So he's at your house now?"

"Yep, he's been lazing about all day, smoking and lounging on the roof, waiting for you to get there. He said you had a lot of catching up to do," Telemachus said and accelerated further down the highway. "I guess I find solace in the fact that our friend will never change," he further commented.

"You and I, mate, you and I."

After a while, we arrived at the hilly suburb and we drove to Telemachus' house through a series of funky one way streets. The place looked the same as what I had seen in the pictures they'd sent me. Around it, there was a series of empty houses and apartments, abandoned shops, complete with broken pavements that gave the neighborhood a feel of abandonment. It looked like the area was hit fairly hard by the by the economic recession that had been tantalizing the country in the past years.

"Wow, this place looks like it has seen better days," I spoke my mind out loud.

"Yeah, it has gotten progressively worse in the past years. It almost looks like it is just a hair away from looking bombarded," Telemachus laughed with a tone of bitterness in his voice. "Come on, let's go, you don't want to keep the gringo waiting, do you."

We parked the car and went up the little pathway through the large green garden, full of plants and trees, that lead up to the house. The house itself was a nice change from the depressing scenery around it. It looked really peculiar and strange, even by Mediterranean standards, where you could usually witness the strangest of architectural ideas.

It consisted of a large geometrical block that was made out of cement and painted white, sitting on the top of a small slope with the large green garden surrounding it. Two pugs, one of them white and the other one brindle, came running down to greet us barking playfully and waging their short tails.

"Hey doggies!" I knelt down and rubbed one of them behind its ears while the other one started running in circles around us.

"These are Alice's rescues, Skids and Pebbles. She brought them home one day from the animal charity. A lot of people are abandoning their dogs at the moment because they can't provide for them. It's the reason the city is so full of them."

"That's so cruel," I remarked rubbing Pebbles' tummy.

"Yeah, I know," Telemachus replied. "Come on, let's go, there will be more time to play with the dogs later."

We walked up the small path leading to the entrance of the house with the two dogs running next to us. When we got there, Telemachus unlocked the door and we went in leaving the dogs outside with a look of disappointment on their little faces.

The first thing that greeted me was the pungent smell of tobacco that only one person I knew had the lungs to inhale. To my left, sitting in a spacious open-plan living room, a stocky young man of average height, olive skin and long, raven black hair that flowed down to his shoulders was casually smoking his rolled-up cigarette while flicking channels on the television in front of him.

I recognized my best friend, Jose Maria Hernandez, as he looked up to us and waved. He hadn't changed at all since the last time I'd seen him in London a year ago before he left to return to his home country of Spain.

"My compadre, you are finally here!" he shouted and got up from the couch to greet us.

We embraced each other like good friends who hadn't seen each other in a while and laughed out loud in excitement and joy.

"Just standing next to you makes me feel intoxicated by smoke," I coughed. It was true, Jose's infamous cigarettes were as vile and stinky as ever. "How have you been you old dog? Anything exciting happened lately? Any new career or romantic developments, or both, that you haven't told us about?"

"Nope, nothing new, it's all the same as you know," he replied but not before pausing for a second, a fleeting look of sadness passing through his eyes. "I just missed you, guys, so much, I thought I'd come down here and remind you all how to have a good time!" his face resumed his usual cheerful expression.

"Sounds good to me, mate," I smiled. Wow, we're finally all together again, after all this time, I thought.

"Hey, guys, before we all start catching up, I have some chores to deal with in the city, then I have to go and pick Alice up from her charity place," Telemachus interrupted us. "I am going to show you to your room, Mark, then I am going to take off. Alice and I are going to be back in a few hours or so. There's fresh fruit in the kitchen and a big bowl of brown rice with a bean curry on the side, in case you get hungry," he carried on as he picked up my stuff.

"Wow, brown rice and a bean curry, Mac, I see we are really going to go wild during these holidays," I laughed and followed him up the stairs to my room.

"That's all I had time to cook today, mate," he shrugged his shoulders in righteous indignation.

"Remember, this is a healthy household!" Jose shouted jokingly from the living room.

"Oh joy, I forgot about that. I wonder why," I shouted back.

"Come on, don't be such a diva, Mark," Telemachus said dryly. "There will be plenty of opportunities for junk food down the road, plus there's a gyros shop just a few blocks down from here if you feel like it."

"Yeah, I know, I am just joking around, mate," I said in a reassuring tone. "Hey, Jose!" I shouted down the staircase. "Do you mind if I have a shower and change into some clean clothes before coming down?"

"Don't worry, compadre, take your time," he shouted back. "We've got three weeks ahead of us."

"Great, see you in a bit!"

I made myself comfortable in my room, unpacking a fresh change of clothes, as I heard Telemachus making his way out of the house. I had a quick cold shower, in an effort to cool myself down, and brushed my teeth. I changed into a new set of clothes, a pair of black Bermudas and a plain red t-shirt, and laid down on the bed to rest my eyes for a minute.

I looked outside my room's window at the leafy branches of the walnut tree, hanging next to it, and recollected how our little group had found each other nearly four years ago.

It was the autumn of my first year at university, on a Monday morning, when I had first met Jose. I was waiting outside the entrance to the faculty of my university and he was smoking one of his trademark rollies, casually gazing at the crowd of students walking past.

He was wearing a pair of old faded jeans, black leather combat boots and a leather jacket opened to reveal the logo of his favorite seventies hard-rock band. He had the same long black hair, even back then, that came down to his shoulders, a pair of black thick eyebrows on top of his brown colored eyes, a hawkish nose and a long chin, which he decorated with a hint of a beard.

I was hanging out there as well, being a smoker myself during those years, and feeling a bit nervous about the first day of my new life as a university student. Jose had approached me and he had asked me for a light, seeing I was the only person with a cigarette in my hand and introduced himself.

We quickly found out that we were enrolled in the same course and that we had chosen the same modules for the semester. Jose had come all the way from his home city of Valencia, Spain, to study in London and was a bit wary that his moderate level of the English language could stand in the way of him completing the course. However, he did manage to remain positively optimistic as he had, casually, revealed to me. I immediately took a liking of his light-hearted approach to life and the fact that we were both interested in the same kind of music, literature and comic books.

As the first months of undergraduate study passed Jose and I quickly became the best of friends. We spent most of our mornings together at the university, during lectures and workshops, and most of the evenings at the various student unions or exploring London's nightlife.

Jose proclaimed that his working class background from Spain had equipped him with the necessary street smarts to find the best parties in town and he was right. So the days passed, turning into weeks and then months, until our first academic year was almost completed. That was when we first met Alice and Telemachus.

It was the period just before the semester's exams and Jose and I were spending most of the day studying at the university library, making the odd trip to the student's union for a drink or two. One Friday afternoon, we found ourselves sitting in the student union's cafeteria trying to wrap our heads around the reading material we had been studying all week when a young girl came and stood opposite us.

The cafeteria was packed with people so she asked us whether we'd mind if she sat at our table since there was nowhere else to sit. She looked beautiful so we readily said yes.

She was a delicate thing, of average height and natural slenderness. She was beautiful, with long sun-kissed brown hair, white skin and a pair of teal colored eyes. She had high cheekbones that led to an elegant and small nose, rosy cheeks and a set of red, full bodied lips at the top of a piquant smooth chin. Her arms were long, proportionate to her narrow chest, and led to a set of delicate hands with long smooth fingers.

She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. The sight of her remarkable beauty was not lost on Jose who kicked me, with his foot, underneath the table and motioned to me, with his eyebrows, to initiate conversation.

"Excuse me, miss, are you, by any chance, reading up for the economics and business exam this Monday?" I had asked her while Jose covered his face with his palm.

"No, I don't think so," she replied in a sweet and mellow voice. From what I could gather her accent sounded distinctively Kentish. "I am studying this book as part of an essay I am preparing with my friend for a modern literature module I am taking this semester.

We are thinking of making a point that a lot of the masterpieces, written in the twentieth century, were actually written during periods of economic strife and recession," she continued.

"Wow, that sounds incredibly interesting, I never thought about modern literature from this angle," I said in sincere admiration. The girl sounded as smart as she was beautiful. "That sounds like a great idea for an essay, doesn't it, Jose?"

"It sure does," he chimed in.

"Thank you, are you, guys, part of the department of education as well?"

"No, I am studying business law and my friend here is an economics student. What about you?"

"I am doing a Bachelor's degree in modern literature, I had really good A-level scores in literature and languages at school so I thought this would be a good step forward," she smiled. She took another look at her book then got up to leave. "I think I found the reference that I needed," she said as she stood up. She looked even more gorgeous standing up.

She was wearing tight black trousers tucked inside high leather boots and a red top underneath a black low cut jacket, which emphasized her slender waistline and her rather perky chest. "It was nice talking to you, guys," she waved and turned around to leave.

"Excuse me, miss!" I jumped up from the table and went after her. "Would you like, maybe, to have a drink together later on, after you've finished the work you've got to do?" I said to her while seeing Jose, out of the corner of my eye, covering his face with his palm again.

"Sure thing!" she had replied, much to my surprise. "Do you mind if my friend comes along, as well?"

"Of course not, no worries," I said. "I am Mark, by the way, and my friend over there is Jose." Jose waved from the table.

"I am Alice, nice to meet you, Mark," she offered her hand in a shake. "I'll drop by the union around eight in the evening, so I'll catch you, guys, there."

"Eight it is!" I had replied enthusiastically and turned around to see Jose smiling at me in victory.

Later that evening, Jose and I were waiting by the bar in the union for Alice and her friend to appear. We were there early, mainly because I had been bugging Jose all afternoon since our encounter at the cafeteria. It was ten minutes past eight o'clock when she made her entrance to the union bar, holding hands with a dark haired guy.

"Hey, guys, this is my boyfriend, Telemachus, he's Greek and he came to London to do a Bachelor's in sociology," she introduced him after walking to our spot by the bar.

The sour expression on my face must have been extremely visible because I could see my friend, next to me, ready to erupt in hysterical laughter.

"Nice to meet you, Mac," my Spanish comrade took over gallantly, giving me time to compose myself from my disappointment. "I am Jose, I am from Spain, and my English friend here is Mark." He offered his hand and we all shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, guys," the guy replied. From there, the conversation wandered at random on casual university gossip, the latest trends in music, the list of that summer's festivals, and other similar topics with little participation from my part as I concentrated my attention on Alice's boyfriend.

He was a little bit taller than me, around five foot eight compared to my five foot four, with smooth light olive skin, dark brown hair cut short, thick eyebrows and a long but wide nose. He had a long face, decorated with a short trimmed beard, and a rugged handsomeness about him hinting at a man of both intelligence and a certain physical prowess. He was slender with wide shoulders and a visible muscle tone underneath his tight black top. He was also wearing black trousers over black leather boots making him look even more tall and slender.

He was a fine specimen, if I ever saw one, and way more handsome than Jose and I combined, which added extra salt to the injury. I hated him and admired him at the same time. I felt he had all the qualities that a girl like Alice could possibly want from a man, making guys like me and Jose look a bit underwhelming in comparison. Regardless, I had already made an effort to be polite and friendly to her so I did my best to extend the courtesy to her partner as well. What I didn't imagine at the time, though, was how, over the course of the next years, we'd all end up being inseparable.

During the years that followed our little group bonded together in an interesting dynamic. In that time we spent together, I came to appreciate and befriend Telemachus, or Mac as we started calling him, pushing aside any feelings of rivalry or inadequacy that I had towards him. I came to appreciate his sternness, his controlled enthusiasm for traveling and experiencing new situations and his loyalty, both to his girlfriend and to us.

I also admired his vast knowledge of things, academic and non-academic alike, his optimistic outlook on life and his persistence to overcome the drudgery of the daily grind. He was always kind, supportive and generous with the people around him, especially with our little group.

He came from a struggling, working class background, yet it was no rare occurrence for him to contribute greatly to our various excursions without asking anything back in return, always happy to try and carry the financial burden for the group despite his modest financial means.

Thinking about those years we spent together in university, it was as if I had found in him the older brother that I never had, the one who would always be there for me, ready to offer a helping hand. As for Alice, a deep friendship, despite my attraction to her, developed, as well over the course of the years. We shared the same passion for literature, art and all the things I had not shared with anyone else in the past but mostly kept to myself. She was able to bring out a more romantic and interesting version of myself and for that I was grateful.

I never took the chance to act on the feelings that I harbored for her, though. I had too much love and respect for my new Greek friend, and I'd never dream of doing anything that could jeopardize the glue that held the group together. And so the time passed until the day that I dreaded, for so long, came when our group had to part ways.

Alice and Telemachus, amid emotional turmoil, had decided to move together to Greece whereas Jose had to leave for Spain to sort out some personal issues of his own. I was left on my own, feeling lost and unsure about what to do next.

"Hey, Mark, are you sleeping up there or what?" I heard Jose's voice coming from downstairs. I must have dozed off while lying here, I thought to myself.

"I am coming down, mate," I shouted back at him. "Just a second and I'll be right with you."

"Okay," he shouted back. "I am bored with the television here, come down so we can talk."

I visited the bathroom to throw some cold water on my face before climbing down the stairs and joining Jose in the living room. It was a delightful afternoon, the trees outside the windows were moving with the light summer breeze, and there was a sense of serenity in the air. I sat down on the couch, comfortably, next to my friend and put my feet on the table. It was full of scattered cigarette ash, a couple of empty beer cans and some music magazines.

"Do you want one of those Greek coffees?" Jose asked me. "Mac has showed me how to make them."

"Yeah sure, I'd love one," I replied. "I'd like it with extra sugar and no milk, please," I continued while he got up and made his way to the kitchen. "And extra ice cubes as well, please!" I shouted at his back.

The next hour or so, between drinking coffee and Jose smoking like a train, we caught up with each other and our most recent life developments. Jose was still living in Valencia working two jobs and trying to help out with the dire financial situation his family had found themselves in, in recent years. Coming to Greece for the holidays was as much of a long-awaited break for him as it was for everyone else.

For my part, I told him about life in London and how I was about to finish my postgraduate degree while trying to find a job with a semi-decent wage. We also talked about politics, music and the latest developments in the heroic comic world in between going to the kitchen to grab some food.

As time went past, I started wondering when would the others make their appearance. It wasn't long until our conversation got interrupted by the sound of barking outside.

"It sounds like the dogs want to get in," I commented at the barking.

"No, someone's coming, it's probably Mac and Alice," Jose replied casually.

My heart started racing at the prospect of seeing Alice again after all this time apart. I was almost ready to jump up to the ceiling with anticipation as I heard the dogs become more and more excited. There was a rustling noise of keys and a set of muffled voices coming from the other side of the entrance door.

I was already at my feet and on my way to the door when the couple made their entrance. I stood there for a second, mute and taken aback by her beauty.

She looked more beautiful than ever with her skin tanned a very light brown and her hair a bit longer and a few shades lighter. Her eyes were slightly more light blue than teal and contrasted magnificently to the darker tone of her tanned skin.

She was wearing a cute cream summer dress that was decorated with an array of differently colored flowers and a pair of sandals, which exposed the intricate unicorn tattoo on her left ankle. All in all, she managed to look more healthy, slender and strong, like her short stay in a Mediterranean country had allowed her to blossom into a more beautiful version of herself.

"Hello, Alice," I croaked. "It's really nice to see you again."

She smiled at me with that irresistible smile of hers and gave me a hug. Telemachus stood next to us smiling as well while Jose looked slightly amused with my apparent lack of cool.

"How are you, Mark? Long time no see!" she said in a cheerful tone as she pulled away from our embrace.

"I am great," I replied. "You look great, Alice, living here has done, both of you, tons of good."

"So do you, Mark," she returned the compliment. "I like your new scruffy look. It looks better on you," she giggled.

"Oh that," I mumbled as I rubbed my unshaven cheek. "Actually, I didn't have any time to shave properly, but I am glad you like it," I finally said.

"Come on, guys," Telemachus interrupted us. "Give me and Alice, here, a chance to shower and change into fresh clothes and let's head off for diner and drinks! Plenty of time to catch up with our bellies full and our thirst quenched."

"I want to go to that barbecue place down the road where they grill those fantastic meatballs," Jose chimed in. "I've been meaning to try that place out since I arrived but you said to wait 'till Mark is here."

"Don't worry, mate, that is where I was planning to take you tonight," Telemachus winked at our Spanish friend. "They also have a really fine, and cheap, house wine that we can have with our meatballs so it's all good."

"I'll go get ready then. I promise to be as quick as possible!" Alice gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and ran past us towards the staircase.

"Sounds like a plan," Jose touted. "I'll roll a few cigarettes for the road then."

"Great ..." I muttered as everyone else went about their business. I followed Jose to the living room and picked up a magazine while we waited.

Meeting her again is so much harder than I imagined, I thought. During the past year, I had convinced myself, or so I thought, that all the feelings I harbored for her were buried deep within me and consisted of nothing more than a thing of the past. Now that I'd met her again in person, I wasn't so sure about that anymore.

"Women problems, eh mi amigo," Jose winked at me while lighting his, freshly rolled-up, cigarette.

"Yep," I sighed. "How did you figure?"

Jose laughed.

# Chapter 4

The road trip to the port city where we were taking the ferry to the island of Samothrace, the first stop of our tour, was fairly uneventful. The old jeep was full to the brim, with Jose and I being crammed in the back seats along side luggage, tents, camping equipment and a big container of cooking gas that made me feel all fidgety.

The scorching heat outside and the lack of air conditioning in the car, for fuel conservation, made us keep the car windows open, which in turn killed off any chance for conversation due to the sound of the blasting wind coming through.

I gazed at the landscape as the car traveled, hundreds of miles per hour fast, towards our destination and listened to some, newly bought, rock tunes on my portable media player. The thunderous tunes of the Canadian heavy metal band with the girl singing in a rough but lyrical voice seemed to match well with the yellow, arid environment of the northern Greek landscape.

The dry rocky countryside itself meshed effortlessly with the sapphire blue of the ocean in the distance. I tried to read some of my digital comic books on my tablet but my eyes quickly got tired from all the shaking from the movement of the car. Jose, sitting next to me, had his own headphones on and was trying to smoke a rolled up cigarette without having the cherry fall on him from the wind.

Telemachus and Alice, in the front seats, were having a conversation in a series of incoherent shouts. It was impossible to talk to anyone so I decided to sleep the rest of the journey off. I covered my eyes with my baseball cap and tried to fall into the embrace of Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams.

It couldn't have been more than a few hours when I felt Jose's arm pushing my shoulder in an effort to wake me up. I opened my eyes and realized that my t-shirt was drenched in sweat. It was midday and the temperature felt it could have been nearly forty degrees or something as ridiculously high, for a Brit, as that.

"Time to catch the boat, compadre," he smiled and got out of the car.

"Right," I mumbled and followed him out. The jeep was parked in a long queue of other vehicles waiting to get inside the ferry's cargo hold. Around the queue, the port area was buzzing with a colorful crowd waiting to embark onto the boat as well.

Alice waved at us from the distance. She looked positively reddish and freckly from her exposure to the summer sun but that didn't seem to bother her much. She walked to us, alongside Telemachus, holding a plastic supermarket bag full of water bottles and bags of crisps.

"There's your tickets boys, I didn't get returns because we still haven't decided were we'll be going next," she said in a cheerful tone.

"Thanks for buying our tickets," I smiled back.

"Don't worry, you, guys, can buy the alcohol on the ferry," Telemachus joked.

"Eh, yeah sure," I said and put the ticket in my pocket.

"You, guys, go ahead without me," Telemachus said as the ferry personnel opened the gates to let the crowd in. "I'll park the car in the hold and come join you on the deck. Make sure you find some seats under the shade up there," he said and got in the car.

Alice, Jose and I followed the rest of the crowd towards the inside of the ferry.

The upper deck of the ferry was crammed with people who looked like a diverse collection of locals and other tourists and who were being particularly loud and cheerful. Alice scurried towards an empty bench under a semblance of shade whereas Jose headed straight to the bar to buy drinks for everyone.

I mingled with the crowd occupying the deck and went over to the hand rails that were situated at the back. I gazed at the engine of the boat breaking the waves below us and breathed in the moisture of the sea. The boat started to gradually move further away from the port as the engine gained speed. I glanced behind me and saw Alice, in her big green sombrero and retro styled sunglasses, sitting on the bench with a book in her hand.

She caught my gaze as she momentarily lifted her eyes from the pages of her book and smiled. I smiled back and tried not to stare. I replayed this moment in my head one too many times in the past. Her and I on holidays together, cruising towards some tropical destination. It seemed so close to what I had imagined and yet so different.

Alice was with someone else, someone who, from the looks of it, she loved deeply and who loved her back. I was merely a tag along.

You are not a tag along, they are both your friends and you love them both, I reprimanded myself. It didn't make it any easier.

"So where are you from then?" a melodic voice snapped me back to reality.

What accent is that, it sounds European-y, maybe German, I thought to myself. I turned around and faced two sparkling blue eyes between an array of long, light brown colored dreadlocks and a red, sunburned and freckly nose smiling at me.

"England," I said. "And you?"

"Germany," she answered back, still continuing to smile.

Heh, I am getting better at the accent thing, I mentally high five-d my self. She looked really pretty and had the air of a happy-go-lucky charm about her. She was of medium height, roughly the same as me, with a slender physique and outfitted in brown cloth trousers that reached down to her sandals and a similar top that left her, thin but toned, arms exposed.

She was wearing lots of colorful jingly bracelets and necklaces and projected an aura of positive groove. She had an oval shaped face with a pointy chin and a long jaw line. Her cheekbones were high and wide making her freckly cheeks look cute and ample. Her large, piercing and blue, eyes sat on top of long nose and underneath a pair of light sun-kissed eyebrows that followed the curves of the eyes. Her smile emphasized her full red lips and revealed a series of perfectly white teeth. Her dreadlocks looked thick but well looked-after and came down to her shoulders with a couple of them going all the way down to her waistline. They were decorated with all sorts of red, yellow and green brands and made a beautiful contrast to her complete lack of face and ear jewelry.

I immediately decided that I liked her.

"You are the first person from Germany that I meet," I lied.

"I find that difficult to believe," she laughed and tossed her hair backwards.

She's truly entrancing in her own unique way, I thought.

"I mean that you are the first interesting person I have met from Germany," I carried on, regretting it mid-sentence.

"I don't know if I should take this as a compliment or an insult," she burst out laughing.

What is wrong with you, you buffoon, you are acting like a complete moron, my mind started to work overtime in an attempt to salvage the conversation.

"So, is this your first time in Samothrace?" I tried to change the subject.

"No actually it's my second time here. I visited the island three years ago for the psychedelic dance festival and I had the most fantastic time, so I've been itching to come back since then."

"Wow, that sounds interesting and fun," I commented with genuine interest.

"How about you? First timer?"

"Yeah, my friends and I thought it'd be fun to go on a camping trip and this island seemed to fit the bill quite nicely."

"Oh, you will definitely love the place. It's quite different to the rest of the country. It's so magical and special, it's like the whole island has been ripped out of a spiel, you know," she searched for the right word. "A fairy-tale!" she exclaimed passionately.

"Well you do make it sound very appealing, I have to admit."

"Where are you, guys, staying at," she asked in a casual yet slightly playful tone.

"I don't really know to be honest. I think my friend knows a campsite that's near some waterfalls or something like that," I replied.

"I know the spot!" she cheered. "There's only one campsite that fits the description. We might be staying there as well!"

"That'll be great, maybe we can hang out sometime if you feel like it."

"We'll see," she giggled.

"There you are," a female voice interrupted our chat. "Michael has sent me to find you. We are all sitting in the saloon and we are starting a new round of board games. He wants you to be in his team."

The new girl was much taller than her friend and me, with long black silky hair that flowed down to her waist. She was also outfitted in the same colorful attire. She dismissed me with a mere glance and waited for her friend.

"Okay, I am coming!" she answered her. I detected a slight tone of annoyance in her voice.

"Is that your boyfriend who's looking for you?" I asked her.

Now you sound like a creep, congratulations Mr. Prior, I thought while I mentally pictured me punching my own self in the nose.

However, she didn't appear to be phased by my question in the slightest. If anything, she seemed quite pleased with my bold display of interest in her person.

"No, silly, Michael is just a friend," she smiled. "It was very nice talking to you but I got to run!"

"I am Mark, by the way," I said hastily as she turned around to leave.

"And I am Nadia. See you on the island, Mark," she said and winked at me. She then followed her friend towards the back side of the deck where the staircases were.

"Nice to meet you, Nadia," I spoke to no one in particular and watched her disappear into the crowd.

I decided it was time to find my friends and headed back to the bench where I last saw Alice sitting only to find her surrounded by four huge guys. They all looked like the body builder type with shaven heads, visor sunglasses and retrofitted in hip-hop street wear with lots of shiny paraphernalia.

They were blatantly leering at her, speaking in some sort of Slavic dialect and laughing loudly. She was doing her best to ignore them but she looked quite uncomfortable. I made my way through the crowd and on to the bench.

"Hey, guys, I think you are making my friend uncomfortable," I hissed through clenched teeth. "Plus, you are taking up our group's space."

Alice looked at me with a sign of relief and worry on her face. They all turned their heads to look at me through their visor sunglasses. One of them came and stood right in front of my face. He was towering at least a head above me.

"Problem?" he said in a heavy accent.

I looked up at him. "I think you heard me the first time, mate. You are bothering my friend and you are sitting in my group's seats," I replied.

He turned and looked at his friends. He said something in Slavic and they all laughed. He then turned back to face me. "I think you go now," he barked at me.

"I don't think so," I stood my ground.

Before I even had time to finish my sentence, he pushed me backwards. I staggered clumsily but managed to keep my balance without falling. I clenched my fists and aimed for the guy's ear. I remembered reading in some survival-type book my dad had got me as a child that, when fighting someone in hand-to-hand combat, it was best to aim for your challenger's sensory organs, which are situated in the inner ear, in order to try and disable much larger opponents than yourself.

The other guys are going to slaughter me but at least I am gonna make that goon hurt before I go down, I thought as the adrenaline started to kick in.

Before I had the chance to lung forward though, Alice managed to jump right between us. She had obviously read my intentions and decided to intervene in order to save me.

"That's enough!" she shouted to the goon in front of me. "You'd better get out of here or I'll call the boat security for harassing me and my friend."

The other three guys stood up and formed a circle around us. Finally, the guy who pushed me spoke. "You are lucky your girlfriend here saved you little man. Next time maybe not so lucky."

He then proceeded to say something derogatory, swearing is an international language, to his friends who roared with laughter. He blew a kiss to Alice and they took off towards the direction of the bar.

I breathed out heavily in an effort to contain my anger and embarrassment.

"I don't think you are little, Mark," Alice tended to my wounded pride.

"Thanks, Alice, I am just pissed off at myself. I should have stayed with you so those gorillas wouldn't see you as being on your own," I replied.

"Thanks for the brave display of chivalry, Mark, but I can take care of myself," she retorted.

"I didn't mean to imply that you can't or that you didn't," I started to say but was soon interrupted by Telemachus' and Jose's appearance. They must have met each other at the bar because they were each carrying two huge pints of beer.

"Shandies for the people!" Jose said loudly passing one of the pints over to me.

"You, guys, just missed Mark scaring four huge guys away," Alice winked.

"Did he now," Telemachus mused with a smirk on his face.

"Better not mess with Mark the Man," Jose teased thumping his chest in sarcastic exaggeration.

"Let's just drink our beers," I growled.

The journey to the island lasted for a good three hours, most of which we spent drinking and reminiscing about the times we had in London as students. The buzz of the crowd around us didn't seem to subside at all during the whole time we were on the boat.

People chatted with their drinks in hand whereas some of the most daring ones even started to dance to the popular tunes coming from the speakers hanging, above our heads, on the canopy poles.

Occasionally, everyone erupted in loud cheers when a random school of dolphins made a passing appearance around the ferry, jumping out of the water in salutations. Alice had her camera out the whole time taking pictures of us and of the boat.

Jose indulged her by making his best grimaces or his famous impersonations of Spanish actors that we had never heard of. Before long, we felt the boat start to slow down and break into a maneuver.

"We must be almost there," Telemachus noted and we all ran to the front of the deck to get a proper look at the island.

"Is that it?" I said in mild disappointment. "It looks really dry and empty, like a large piece of deserted rock in the middle of the sea. It doesn't look like the place we've seen on the net."

"Hold yer horses, man," Telemachus replied a bit exasperated. "This is the western part of the island, which is arid. It's green in the north, where we are heading."

"Come, let's get out of here and beat the crowd," Alice intervened.

We went down the staircase, through the saloon, and got in the queue by the entrance doors. As we waited in the queue of people waiting to get off, I scanned the crowd for signs of Nadia but she was nowhere to be seen.

I really hope I bump into her at the campsite, I thought. Her blue eyes and freckly cute face, along with her cheerful attitude, had made a lasting impression on me.

The boat eventually docked and soon afterwards we were in the jeep heading towards the campsite, music blazing out of the car stereo.

"Holidays are finally here, hijos de puta!" Jose cheered and head-banged to the beats blasting from the speakers. I threw my head back and laughed as our vehicle gained speed. I looked around me and felt mesmerized by the scenery.

Mac was right, it truly looks like a paradise, I thought. The northern part of the island was, indeed, a lush green gem of a paradise, surrounded by the deep blue ocean of the Aegean sea.

In the middle of the island, a vast rocky mountain dominated the scenery, covered by dense vegetation and a plethora of rivers and streams forming at the base of numerous natural waterfalls, of all sizes and shapes, that run into the waters of the sea.

The endless forest, populated by a myriad of different types of trees, oaks, plane trees, olive trees and others, span from the top of the mountain all the way to the horizon's end. The beaches across the coastline were mostly covered by tiny white stones and pebbles, giving them a look of pure white that divided the blue of the ocean from the green of the land in a beautiful curved line. It was a sight that was taken straight out of a pirate-themed movie, I thought.

The campsite, where we were staying, was situated in the middle of a small valley that was surrounded by the dense forest and the rocky mountain towering above it. It was right next to the beach so we had easy access to the sea for swimming.

A few miles away from it there was also a small village, a picturesque old town built on the lower slopes of the mountain. The campsite was packed with people of all ages and ethnicities and had an upbeat and cheerful atmosphere with everyone being chatty and friendly.

"Did you know that, according to legend, this mountain was the seat of the sea god Poseidon where he sat on his throne, on the peak, and watched the Trojan war unfold below him?" Telemachus gave us the trivia tip of the day.

We had just finished setting up our tents and we were planning to go for a swim at the beach. I looked at the tall mountain above us, its peak not being visible because of the clouds surrounding it, and tried to imagine what it would be like to gaze upon the same mountain, thousands of years of ago, and worrying that a vengeful deity of the sea would strike you down with his trident.

"It's breathtaking, I can see why it'd inspire such a legend in the minds of the people living here," I agreed.

"And that's not all," Telemachus got encouraged to carry on. "According to local mythology, this island has been the focal point of many a mythological event that shaped the ancient world's belief system at the time."

"Look what you've done now, Mark," Alice giggled. "He won't stop reciting his stuff until we beg him to, our ears bleeding."

"I don't mind," I shrugged. "I love listening to mythology, I always have."

"Now I know why you two are best friends," she carried on giggling. She turned around to her boyfriend and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't take it the wrong way, darling, I am just kidding. I think it's sweet that Mark is so interested in your stories."

Telemachus looked unphased by his girlfriend's comments. "I am not, I am saving my best stuff for when we visit the ancient temple of the gods that's on the island. Apparently, they have a fantastic museum right next to it."

"See, there you go," she erupted in laughter. "Come on, I want to get into the sea, what are waiting for," she squirmed in her white bikini. She looked ravishing in it.

"We are waiting for Jose, he had to run to the bathroom," I interjected. "I am sure he'll back soon."

Indeed, after a few minutes, Jose made his appearance looking somewhat jaded.

"What's wrong, mate," I teased him. "You look like you had a bad experience back there."

"I did," he mumbled. "I've just had the most embarrassing experience of my life."

"What happened," Alice encouraged him on.

"Well, you know how the amenities in this place are, let's say, basic?" he grimaced as he started to recite his story.

Basic doesn't, even, begin to describe them, I thought, bringing a smile to my face. The showers and the toilets were, in fact, nothing more than a few wooden huts, with no ceiling, located in various strategic spots throughout the campsite. At least the plumbing works, I grimaced while I brought the image to my mind.

"I must have found the only toilet that doesn't lock from the inside," Jose continued.

"Oh man, please don't tell me what I think happened actually happened," Telemachus started to laugh.

"These two girls opened the damn door as I was squatting to go for a poop," he covered his face with his palm. "We looked each other in the eye just as I dumped my load, then they ran away laughing."

We all erupted in laughter. I felt tears forming as I held my stomach laughing.

"I bet the whole camp will know the gossip by the evening," he crossed his arms looking annoyed. "There goes my chance of scoring with a girl from the camp. I am off to such a bad start."

"I am sure there are going to be ample opportunities for you to score, sweetie," Alice tried to console him.

"Let's go for a swim," he grumbled.

We strolled down the path to the beach, continuing to laugh to ourselves.

The next few days passed aimlessly with us making the most of our time in the lush paradise. We spent most mornings swimming and lazing around at the beach, whereas our evenings were occupied with trips to the nearby village's bars and cafes or partying, until the early hours of the morning, at the local beach bars. Everyone was having a really good time and the group felt like it hadn't passed a day since we were all together spending time with each other in London.

The only thing missing from making these the best holidays of my life, I often thought, was a chance to spend some time with the mysterious yet charming girl I had met on the boat. She had said that she might also be at the campsite but there was no sign of her whatsoever. It wasn't until our fourth day that fate had decided to grant me my wish and give me a chance to see the freckly, dreadlock-clad minx once again.

It was a lazy afternoon and the sun was mercilessly burning down on us when Jose and I set out to visit the village for supplies. We had ran out of everything back at the campsite, water, drinks, munchies, and it was our turn to make the supply run, plus the couple wanted some quality alone-time together at the beach.

I was sitting in a local open air cafe, with giant plane trees hanging above my head that provided a safe and much needed cool haven from the sun, contemplating if it was too early for a beer when I heard Nadia's cheerful voice bring me to attention.

"There you are!" I heard her say. I looked up and saw that very cheeky smile and those beautiful eyes that I had so sorely missed since our last encounter on the boat.

"Nadia!" I got up from the table to greet her. She was dressed in a similarly colorful attire that I had last seen her in, only this time her choice of colors seemed to be purple and dark blue.

"I've been looking all over for you, but I couldn't find you," I continued as I offered her a chair at our table. Jose and I had resolved our earlier argument on who was responsible for the shopping list, while the other got a chance to relax at the cafeteria, over a round of paper-rock-scissors so I was sitting there victorious and all by myself.

"Yes, I know," she smiled while taking a seat. "It's because we have decided to free camp in the mountain by the waterfalls instead of the campsite," she pointed at the direction of the forest above us. "We came down for supplies and we are planning to go back up again."

"Free-camping? Wow, you, guys, are really roughing it," I commented while looking for the waitress.

"Yeah, it's not that bad," she shrugged. "Once you get used to it, it's fine, plus it's the only way to properly experience the beauty of this place. The waterfalls and the pools up in the mountain are so beautiful and exotic, it's a shame to pass the opportunity to enjoy them."

"I can imagine ..."

"So you, guys, haven't been up there yet," she asked in sincere puzzlement.

"No, not yet, we are just hanging by the beach mostly and enjoying the local nightlife," I replied.

"Oh you gotta come up the mountain. It's a bit of a rough journey, and dangerous in some parts, but once you get up there, there's a whole community of free campers!" she said enthusiastically.

"What do you want?" our chat was interrupted by the growl of a grumpy middle-aged woman acting as the waitress. She looked like she wanted to be anyplace else other than there.

"I'd like a shandy, please," I replied cautiously. "You mix equal amounts of beer and lemonade ..."

"I know what it is!" the waitress growled again. She turned her attention to Nadia. "And you? What are you having?"

"Actually, I should probably go soon, my friends are waiting for me so nothing for me please ..." Nadia smiled at her in an equally cautious manner to mine.

The waitress let out a "humph" and turned around to leave without a second glance.

"Wow, tales of this place's rudeness have not been exaggerated in the slightest," I let out a sigh of relief.

"I know right!" Nadia giggled. She got up from her chair to leave.

"Nadia, I don't want to be too forward but I'd love to see you again and maybe spend some time with you," I said in an eager, but honest, tone.

"I'd love to see you too, Mark," she rewarded me with one of her big smiles. "We are planning to start coming down in the evenings because it can get boring up there in the night. Obviously we can't do it everyday but I am sure we'll bump into each other at the beach bar or elsewhere. Or ..." she trailed off, a cheeky expression on her face.

"Or ... what?" I egged her on.

"You can come up the mountain and visit me silly!" she laughed. "Then we can both go for a swim in the waterfalls and hang out!"

"You know what, that sounds like a great idea."

"It's a plan then," she gave me a kiss on the cheek and turned around to leave. "See you soon, Mark! I'll be waiting for you!" she waved as she walked away.

"See you soon Nadia!" I waved back. I felt butterflies fluttering around in my stomach again.

"There you go!" the rude waitress slammed a glass of shandy on the table so hard that she almost broke it.

"Thank you," I tried to smile. The look she gave me made my smile die on my lips.

"That'll be five euros!" she growled.

"Five euros for a shandy!" I began to protest but quickly went quiet. She looked like she was going to smack me on the head with my drink. "There you go, miss," I handed her over the note.

She grabbed the note from my hand and took off.

I had a sip of my drink and thought about bumping into Nadia. I wasn't going to let a rude waitress spoil my sense of achievement. I felt excited by the prospect of spending time with that girl, she had such a profound effect on me.

I put my drink down on the table and smiled. The vacations had just been upgraded to perfect. I noticed Jose walking over, holding several plastic bags that were overflowing with goodies, and waved at him triumphantly. He stuck his tongue out at me and carried on walking towards the cafe.

# Chapter 5

The rain kept coming down hard on us as we staggered into the cave. I was feeling cold and was cursing myself for being stupid enough not to predict that something like this would happen.

At least I could have gotten a backpack with some extra clothes and proper shoes but no, I kept telling myself. I had to be a know-it-all and get stuck in a cave on the side of a mountain, barefoot and shivering in my wet swimming trunks and t-shirt that was clinging on to me, making me feel more chilled by the minute.

How can it be so damn cold in here when the rest of the island is scorching hot, I thought.

"Guys, are you alright? I think we are going to be okay in here, we just need to wait for the storm to pass," Telemachus' voice echoed in the small cave.

"And how long do you think this will take!" I shouted back. "We are stuck in here and I hate to say it, guys, but I bloody told you so! We shouldn't have taken that turn back there!" I barked in reply.

"Don't be such a prick, mate, remember it was your idea to come here," Jose said dryly.

It was the truth. I was the one who had convinced everyone to join me on an excursion to the waterfalls in the mountain in an effort to find Nadia and her friends.

We had started our excursion earlier the same morning and followed the directions that people had given us back at the campsite. We were to follow the goat trails heading north west until we found the first waterfall. From there, we had to do a bit of hiking and climbing, up the mountain slope, where we would find a new pool every six hundred feet or so.

Most of the free campers were staying by the fifth waterfall, the largest of them all, which would take roughly three or four hours of careful climbing to get to according to the people who were free-camping at the base of the forest.

They advised caution underlining that it was just too easy to get lost in the forest, since it was our first time up there, but by the time we laid eyes on the first waterfall, it was already too late for us to stop. We felt mesmerized by the wild beauty of the icy cold crystal waters smashing into the rocks below them and forming pools where all sorts of wild nature, water snakes, frogs and other magical looking creatures, were thriving.

Everyone agreed that the excursion was a fantastic idea since the waterfalls were of monumental beauty and that they couldn't wait to see the larger ones, which were situated further up the mountain.

The goat trail was hard to follow, steep and dangerous in some parts, but we were determined to carry on so we paid little heed to the black clouds forming in the sky above us.

By the time we realized that we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, we were already hopelessly lost. It was late in the afternoon and we had no way of figuring out out where we were in relation to where we had started.

We had come completely unprepared for such a venture and we were paying the price for it. The storm had started coming down heavy on us and we had scrambled for shelter in a little cave opening that Telemachus spotted on the side of the mountain.

"Alice, are you okay?" Telemachus asked her while putting his arms around her in an effort to keep her warm from the rain.

"Yes, I think so ..." Alice's voice sounded shaky.

She must be really scared, we all are, I thought. Keep it together man, if not for anyone else do it for her.

Lightning struck somewhere too close for comfort as the rain continued to pound the pool below us.

"Sun's going down ..." Telemachus informed us as he stood in the entrance of the cave. "We are going to have to spend the night in here, I don't see the storm subsiding any time soon," he added solemnly.

"What?" I shouted back at him. "We are going to freeze in here like this. We don't have any dry clothes and no way to light a fire to keep warm."

"Feel free to climb down the mountain with this weather," he snarled back at me. "We are going to have to make do," he continued. "Let's all sit down and hug each other to keep warm, it's going to be okay, it's just a storm."

"Let's just do what he says, mate," I heard Jose's voice behind me.

We all sat down next to each other, first Telemachus then Alice, Jose and finally me, shivering in the cold moss-covered opening of the cave, staring at the rain and rubbing our bodies in an effort to keep warm. A faint sob escaped Alice's lips and I looked around to see her holding her head in her hands.

"Alice, don't be like that," I tried to console her. "It's not that bad, it's one of those crazy situations that we are going to look back on in the future over a drink and laugh about it."

"It's not that!" she snapped back at me. "I don't care about the stupid rain or this stupid cave."

"Then what is it," I replied, trying to sound supportive.

"I am cold!" she sounded really exasperated. "All this cold can't be good for my asthma! I have all these things happening to me ... I am not supposed to be stuck in here ... I am supposed to be trying to get pregnant!" she whimpered before burying her head into her arms again and letting out a few muffled sobs.

"Don't say that, I am sure ... wait what?" the reality of her words hit me mid sentence. "A baby? Are you, guys, trying to have a baby? Aren't you both too young to consider something like this?" I looked both at Alice and Telemachus in sincere bafflement. Telemachus looked like his blood was about to boil.

"This is not the time or the place for this conversation!" he snarled at her then turned around to face me. "And you!" he pointed a shaking finger at me. "Mind your own damn business!"

"Hey, guys, I know this is all too impossible for everyone but maybe we should try to stay cal..." Jose was interrupted by a thundering roar coming from the ground above us.

Damn, that was a lightning strike just above us! It's way too close for comfort, I searched for a sign of what was happening outside the cave but the sunlight was almost completely gone and there was nothing but a blur of rain in front of us as nightfall descended.

I moved towards the entrance of the cave and put my head outside, looking for the moon in the night sky. It was impossible to see properly as dark clouds, occasionally illuminated by lightning in the distance, obscured the moon and cast a heavy shadow on the pool and everything else around us.

I turned my head to look at the others inside the cave and asked them if we had a flashlight or any other light source with us.

"We all left our cell phones back in the car. I think Jose is the only one that brought his because it's one of those water-proof ones," Alice answered.

"Yes I have it here in my pocket," Jose chimed in.

"That's good, maybe you should keep checking for a signal or turn the flashlight on now that is getting dark?"

Before my sentence was complete though I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head and realized a stone had just hit me. A rumbling sound followed immediately after, breaking the continuous melody of the storm raging.

What is bloody going on in the mountain above us, I thought and looked upwards trying to make sense of what was happening. That's when I started feeling dirt falling into my eyes.

"Mark, get back! Get back now!" Jose shouted and jumped in my direction grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the entrance.

We fell backwards towards the others. I couldn't make out what was really happening but I felt the force of rocks hitting and smashing the side of the mountain and some of them landing right at the entrance of our hideout, sending little debris of stone and dirt flying in our direction. The noise was becoming unbearable.

"It's a landslide," I heard Telemachus shout and braced for impact. A huge thump followed, sending a force wave that almost sent me flying. I heard Alice scream behind me in terror and I shut my eyes.

Nothing happened for a few seconds so I cautiously opened my eyes and tried to figure out what had happened to us. There was complete darkness inside the cave. I searched desperately for the entrance with my eyes but I couldn't find it. All I felt around me was stone and dirt and more dirt.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked gasping for air.

"Yes, we are all here," I heard Telemachus reply in the distance behind me. "Alice is okay but she's a bit shaken, she's got a lot of dirt in her eyes. Jose says he hit his head when we jumped back to avoid the slide," he continued in a faint voice.

"I am okay, compadre," Jose croaked in the distance.

"Guys, I don't want to freak you out but I think we are trapped in here, I can't find the entrance anymore," I shouted back while my eyes started to get accustomed to the darkness.

"I thought as much," I heard Telemachus reply, still in the distance, but this time below me. "We are going to have to dig or we are done for!"

"Mac, I can hear you but it sounds like you are below me. I can't see you anywhere, I thought this cave was no more than twenty feet wide." It felt weird talking to the darkness in front of me.

"I am coming to you, stay where you are so we don't lose the entrance in the darkness," his voice sounded closer. "The cave floor collapsed under our combined weight," he continued. "There seems to be some sort of a stone tunnel down there and we fell right in it."

"Stone tunnel? In here?"

Maybe there was another way out of this after all, I thought, gaining courage.

"Yea, it's pretty cold, there is definitely a strong draft down there, which means that it has to lead to somewhere," his voice rang in front of me.

He must be right in front of me.

"Okay, I am here," he touched my arms with his hands. "Do you remember where the entrance of the cave was so we can dig?"

"Yea it was right behind me, I was lucky enough to stand right next to it when the landslide happened," I replied. "Here let me guide your hands," I took his arms and moved them towards the direction of the collapsed debris blocking our way out.

"Damn it, I think there is a huge slab of rock standing in the way," his voice sounded coarse. "Let's try to see if we can push it out of the way."

"Okay."

As I tried to push the stone with my bare hands it made me twitch with a collection of sharp pains.

They must be covered with scratches from when I held on, I thought to myself, pushing with all my strength. We pushed for what felt like an eternity until the futility of the endeavor hit us both.

I wish I had taken that weight training course now, I cursed at myself mentally for being such a lazy slob for the past year.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Telemachus managed to sound even more coarse. "I am out of breath already."

"That's just bloody great, come on holidays to Greece, end up buried alive, fan-bloody-tastic!"

"Listen, mate, I know this seems hopeless but please try to keep it together," he said in a solemn voice and put his hand on my shoulder. Our eyes were used to the darkness and we could make out the silhouettes of each other. I couldn't distinguish his face properly but I had a feeling that it'd be bruised.

"We must use the tunnel, there's a draft down there so we won't run out of oxygen," he continued while starting to crawl downwards into what seemed to be an opening of sorts in the cave floor.

"Well at this point, it's either that or suffocation," I replied and crawled after him down the hole.

We hadn't moved more than a few feet inwards when the tunnel suddenly opened up a lot. I stood on my knees and stretched my back. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and felt a wave of cold air hitting my face.

Mac's right, there is fresh air down here, maybe the tunnel will lead to another cave in the mountain that has an opening to the outside. My spirits were momentarily lifted.

"Hey did you miss us," Telemachus tried to sound cheerful.

We must have reached the others, I hope Alice is okay.

"Hey," Alice replied with a somewhat trembling voice. "Did you and Mark manage to push the debris away?"

"Well ..." Telemachus stammered. "I don't think we can get out that way, that opening seems sealed."

"Oh god ..." Alice broke into a sob. "We are going to perish here aren't we?" her voice sounded broken through the sobbing. "I can't die here ... I want to see my family again ... I can't ..."

"No one's going to die here," I moved in next to Telemachus. He had his arms around her shoulders and was trying to console her. "Look this tunnel is big enough for us to stand, and there's fresh air coming from somewhere so there must be another cave further in or something ..." I continued.

"I think it's time to turn the flashlight on, on my phone," Jose interrupted. He was sitting next to Alice the whole time and kept to himself while me and Telemachus delivered the news.

"This qualifies as an emergency and we need to get some light going, I'll put it on dim so we can conserve the battery," he said as the faint white light emanating from his cell phone illuminated our surroundings as well as our little rugged company. Alice looked really frightened, her face locked in anxiety and worry.

Her dried tears were mixed with dirt making her look like a miner. Jose was his usual casual self, although I could make out some congealed blood in his hair on the left side of his head. He was checking for a signal on his cell phone to no avail.

There is no chance we'll ever get a signal in here, I thought. Telemachus was crouched next to Alice, holding her in his arms and whispering in her ear to little effect.

I need to get us going, stop panicking and focus. We are not suffocating, we have this perfectly functioning tunnel that was obviously built by someone with a purpose. We'll be able to make it out of here alive. Look around and focus!

The sterile white light, emanating from Jose's hand held device, was weak but enough to illuminate our surroundings and give me a sense of the tubular structure we found ourselves in. The tunnel itself was made out of stone that felt smooth and cold to the touch.

It was tall and wide enough for us to stand and stretch our legs and was permeated by the touch of a gentle cold breeze that made breathing easy and relaxed. The tunnel seemed to be moving inwards to the heart of the mountain following a steady downward slope.

Behind us, the passage towards the other direction seemed to be blocked by the collapsed debris that came from the cave flooring. There was only one way to go and that was inwards.

"Guys, let's get going, we have no idea how long this tunnel is. The passage is blocked behind us so I suggest we follow this passage further in and see if we can find another way out," I pointed down the rabbit hole. "Time is of the essence."

The tunnel was indeed built by someone for a purpose. The further we climbed in, the more apparent this realization became since the width seemed to increase every fifty feet or so.

There were also some kind of stone grips, made out of stone, that were carved into the walls of the tunnels, which allowed us to secure our footing and maintain a steady pace down the tunnel. I went first, Telemachus followed behind me with Alice and finally Jose plodded along last, holding the flashlight.

We must have been moving for a good ten minutes or so when I started to distinguish a faint aura of a light coming from the distance. I asked Jose to turn off the flashlight on his phone and tried to make out what was going on. There was indeed a faint glow reaching us from directly ahead where the tunnel stretched in a straight line.

That's it! That's our opening, I knew we were going to pull through, a mixed feeling of triumph and relief surged through my senses. "Guys, I think there's something ahead of us, another cave or something, I can see light."

"Great, I thought the draft was getting stronger," Telemachus' voice was also full of relief.

"I thought that was just you farting, amigo," Jose sounded from the back.

"Oh my god, you are so funny," Telemachus spat back at him.

"I think it's funny," Alice giggled.

It's good to hear her laugh, I thought. For a bit, I was afraid she wouldn't pull through.

"What are you waiting for, get on with it!" Jose's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Let's check this cave out!"

We hurried along and after a few minutes, which seemed to last for an eternity, we reached the opening. We scurried through and entered a huge chamber that resembled more of a tomb rather than a cave. The walls towered fifty feet high and looked and felt like they were made out some sort of granite material.

The flooring was also smooth and cold to the touch and was made out of the same material. There was a light blue cream-ish tint to everything, reflected on the walls. The whole inside structure was lit by a strong light source emanating from the center of the room.

It made our eyes hurt looking at it directly so we stood up and examined the rest of the room. There was nothing there, no carvings, no stone furniture, nothing that hinted at the true purpose of the chamber.

If someone did make this, they tried their best to make it as inconspicuous as possible.

"This place is so weird. I feel like I am in a science fiction film and this is the point where something is going to jump out at us and rip us to shreds," Jose muttered half-jokingly.

"There is nothing alive down here but us," Telemachus answered more to himself. He was looking intently at the walls around us while still keeping his distance from the light source in the center, just like the rest of us.

"This cave must be related to the worship of the demigods Kawirs that took place on this island thousands of years ago," he continued as he traced his palms on the surface of the walls.

"The mysteries of the Kawirs are really old, I think around 2000 B.C. and are often associated with all the archaeological excavations in this area. Their worship predates the ancient Greeks, though, and goes all the way back to the Phoenician civilization. It's a really obscure period that is often overlooked because of the Greek dominance after 500 B.C. or so," he concluded.

"Whoa, nothing like a history lesson to lighten the mood," Jose laughed. "So who were those Kawirs, mate. Do you think that their spirits can help us?"

"I wouldn't have thought so," Telemachus continued, oblivious to the joke. "The Kawirs are depicted in mythology as the sons and daughters of Hephaestus, or Vulcan, and they seem to yield tremendous power over fire and the other elements. Some depict them as the original Cyclopes, the sons of Poseidon or Neptune, whereas others underline their demonic nature and their association to the god Dionysus. The details of their origin are scarce but they all seem to agree that they were a breed of supernatural men and women with almost divine power, power that they exercised with immense cruelty upon the mortals who dared challenge their stature."

"That's just great!" I threw my hands in the air in indignation.

"Their worship also included regular human sacrifices of slaves or war hostages and many a great deal of prominent figures of the ancient world sought to participate in them. According to the historian Herodotus, the experience of the mysteries left the participants with a great sense of enlightenment and wisdom," Telemachus had stopped examining the walls and was now focused on the corners of the room.

"Guys ... I don't think we're safe in here ..." Alice's voice came from the center of the room where we had our backs turned to avoid hurting our eyes from the glow.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, it's not all bad," Telemachus carried on. "Apparently, the secret of the mysteries of the Kawirs evolved around the notion of rebirth of the participants into a new higher form of existence and ..."

"Guys ! We are not safe here, we need to leave now!" Alice shrieked.

We were all taken aback by the fear in her voice and scrambled towards her looking for answers. My eyes were starting to get used to the eerie glow, emanating from the center of the room, so I was able to make out Alice standing next to some pedestal with an orb-like object on it, pulsating with the glow. It took me a second to look around the pedestal and that's when I saw it.

The object of Alice's horror was a pile of human skulls laid out carefully around the pedestal in a circle. There must have been at least forty or fifty of them. She was standing next to them with an expression of terror, holding her mouth and pointing at them.

"Crap ... that can't be good," Jose said as the other two caught up with the gruesome sight.

Telemachus said nothing but instead walked towards the pile of skulls, knelt down and started examining them like a child trying to figure out a jigsaw.

"Don't touch anything! It might be a trap ..." Alice cautioned.

Telemachus seemed completely oblivious to her warning. He bent forwards and picked one of the skulls up in his hand. He stared at it intently then put it back down with the rest of them.

"There's no traps here, these skulls are here for decorative purposes only ..." he concluded. "They are a tribute to whatever that glowing thing is."

The light was still hurting our eyes but not so much that our curiosity couldn't get the best of us. We all approached the pedestal and took a closer look at the object on it.

At first, it looked like a sculpture, a clenched hand holding a lightning bolt. The lightning bolt itself was the source of the glow and the more I looked at it the more it seemed like it was alive, jumping and jittering around, ready to strike. I shut my eyes and rubbed them intently.

I am seeing things, I wish this dreadful event would come to an end.

"Guys, I don't want to state the obvious here, but where does this lightning sculpture find the energy to pulsate? I don't think it traps light or anything like that since there is none in this dreadful cave," Jose exclaimed.

"It's got its own power source," Telemachus muttered. "This is an item of worship ... This is probably one of the artifacts that the Kawir mysteries evolved around," he continued, his voice full of enthusiasm. "I can't believe we have stumbled upon such a find, this could be the biggest archaeological find of our times!" he was almost jumping with joy.

"Darling, I thought everything ancient that was worth discovering was already discovered ages ago," Alice said. She looked more composed albeit with a hint of nervousness still present in her voice.

"Not at all, sweetheart. The eastern Mediterranean is still full of archaeological treasures waiting to be unveiled!" his eyes were now gleaming. "The authorities in this state are worthless at organizing excavations. It's only very recently that they uncovered a royal burial site in Amphipolis that is traced back to Alexandrian times and that site existed since the ninety forties when the English started digging there! Imagine all the treasures hidden in an untouched paradise like this island! We are probably going to be really famous!"

"We first need to survive this," I brought him down back to earth. "We are still stuck in this place and there doesn't seem to be an exit anywhere in this chamber."

"There must be!" he answered back. "Otherwise there wouldn't be a draft in the tunnel, the air must be coming in from somewhere."

"True," Jose said.

"We just need to look harder, we'll use this sculpture as a light source and we'll take it away with us when we leave as a prize for our archaeological discovery!" Telemachus reached to grab it but Alice pulled his arms back.

"Darling, I don't think we should touch it," she advised caution. "There's something really weird about this object, it seems like it's alive, the bolt seems to be jittering about."

"Nonsense, it's just tiredness tricking our eyes," Telemachus retorted.

"Compadre, maybe your old lady is right, maybe that thing right there killed all those dudes before us," Jose bounced back.

"That is nonsense!" I could hear the anger in Telemachus' voice. "Even if we didn't want to take it with us, on the grounds of not being labeled as tomb raiders or something, this thing right here is our only hope of finding a way out! Your cellphone battery is all but dead and there's nothing else to do unless we want to wander in the darkness until we eventually die from thirst and starvation!"

"I am afraid he's right," I said. Telemachus looked at me with a face of appreciation. "We need the light to figure a way out or we're as good as dead." He nodded to me and reached to grab the object.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jose shouted stopping him on his tracks. "What if it's radioactive or something. Won't it kill you if you touch it?"

"At this stage, if it's radioactive, we've already been exposed to it, based on how close we are standing right now," Telemachus snarled.

"I've got an idea," Jose said.

"What?" Telemachus looked like he was going to have an aneurysm soon.

"I know you think that those skulls are decorative but what if those dudes died for a reason? I think we should all pick the sculpture up at the same time."

"What difference would that make?"

"I don't know, if it's a trap, maybe it's made to kill one person, but if we all touch it together the damage, from an electric current for example, will be spread among us and we'll survive it."

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Yeah, Jose," I retorted. "You make it sound like it's some sort of a video game challenge. If it's a trap maybe it's designed to collapse the whole chamber on our heads so there goes our chance of mitigating it."

"I don't know, guys," Jose mumbled. "It just feels more right this way ... I mean we are all in it together ..."

"He's right," it was Alice's turn to speak. "We are all in this together so we should do this together, for better or for worse." She sounded really determined, like she had discovered some sort of new found confidence within her. I marveled at how quickly she managed to overcome her fear and anxiety. Underneath the eerie glow of the lightning sculpture she seemed taller and more composed. Her face was locked in a mask of resolve.

"Okay then," Telemachus' answer came nonchalantly. "Everyone move around the pedestal and grab the sculpture on my mark. Ready?"

Alice and I nodded.

"I was born ready," Jose said as he assumed his position next to the pedestal.

"Okay then ... three, two, one, go!"

We all reached and touched the sculpture at the same time.

And then the impossible happened that changed our lives forever.

Where am I? Is this the ceiling? How the hell did I end up hovering up here? I thought to myself as time around me seemed to be all but stopped. I was indeed hovering in the air just below the ceiling.

How is this possible, what is happening to me? Panic ran through me as I witnessed a large chain of lightning surging out of the peak of the sculpture and connecting straight into my heart.

I am being propelled by the lightning, I am going to be fried! My mind scrambled trying to make sense of what was happening around me. How long has this been going on for? Seconds? Minutes? How can someone survive something like this? Where are the others? I tried to turn my head around in what seemed to take eons and looked for the others.

They were all there but not floating in the air like me. They were instead being pushed against the walls by three more chains of lightning like the one hitting me.

They were looking around in horror as well, although I wasn't too sure since all of their eyes had turned into little sapphire blue gemstones.

Have my eyes turned blue as well? What is this thing doing to us? Electricity seemed to cackle all around as if the chamber was one big battery charging up and we were the conduits.

As time seemed to stand still, I realized it had become increasingly difficult to breath in any air at all. There was also a feeling of intense pressure coming from my veins and my heart felt as if it was going to break through my chest. The whole experience reminded me of the first time I was hit by electricity as a child.

I couldn't have been more than eleven when I ripped a plug out of the wall in pure rage. The power cable of my little personal computer was stuck in it and the only way to take it out was by sheer force.

The whole plug came out of the wall and with it a small surge of electricity that jumped straight onto my fist. I remember how mortified and fascinated I was with all the little strings of blue energy that danced on the back of my hand as if they were alive and they were trying to become a part of me.

The whole thing didn't last more than a few seconds until the fuse probably did its own magic, but the experience had stuck with me for the rest of my life. I could still remember, with great clarity, the feeling of the electrical energy on my skin and the tingling sensation of my body being flooded by a cosmic power.

It felt really similar to what I was experiencing at that very moment, hovering around the ceiling of that weird chamber, hit by a giant chain of lightning although the feeling was magnified by a thousand fold.

Something is changing, my thoughts snapped back to my current predicament. The charge of electricity around us began to intensify and the chains of lightning seemed to fuel with more power.

Whatever is going on, it's about to climax soon. Shit, I don't want to die like this ... not before I tell her that I love her ... I looked down, at the other side of the room where Alice was being pushed against the wall by her own chain of lightning like some rag doll. Her sapphire blue eyes seemed to meet my gaze and I saw her open her mouth as if to shout something.

"Alice, I love you! I always have!" I tried to shout but no sound came out of my lungs.

A loud explosion coming from the sculpture signaled the end of the event. A huge blast wave left the sculpture, which dissolved into tiny little stones, and hit us all at once.

The chain of lightning left the artifact at the same time and seemingly got absorbed by our chests. The light went out and I fell on the floor with a huge thump. Then there was darkness again all around me. The fall punched what oxygen I had left inside of my lungs out and I gasped for air.

"I am ...." my words trailed off as I lost all consciousness and oblivion set in. I was consumed by a veil of pure blackness.

# Chapter 6

Telemachus Miliotis had always considered himself a hard working man. He came from an average working class family who lived in a small city in the northern part of Greece.

Since a young age, his folks never missed an opportunity to stress to him the importance of making money in order to be become someone in life and to be able to have the things that they could never have. Succeed in where they had already failed.

At the age of ten, and being the only child in his family, his grandfather, a construction worker until his later years and a known neighborhood tough guy back in the day, took it upon himself to turn him into one of the lads.

He started taking him to football matches where he taught him how to swear, he took him to cafes where the old men used to hang out to learn how to play cards and gamble, and he even spent time teaching him how to punch in a straight line and not fall down in case he needed to protect himself from the school bullies.

Telemachus loved his grandfather and tried to please him by being a good student to his teachings but he wasn't particularly impressed or interested in the things the older man showed him. Even as an impressionable little boy his grandfather's life seemed dull and uninteresting, an obsolete relic of a lifestyle that no one cared about.

Nevertheless, he did his best to accommodate the old man and learn all the tricks he could from him and his band of cronies.

As a teenager at school he was faced with another set of challenges. He discovered, quite early, that he was socially awkward, never having enough patience for the social intricacies of teenage hood. His grades were average at best and he wasn't particularly good at sports although he could run, jump, and throw with the best of them.

Furthermore, he found the coordinated routines of sports games boring and unworthy of his dedication. His social skills with the opposite gender also lacked as he didn't want to spend any time learning how to properly approach a girl and initiate a conversation.

His fairly slender and agile physique, however, combined with his distant attitude, surrounded him with an aura of mystery that made him quite popular with some female students.

Despite the fact that he was regarded by his teachers as a fairly gifted young man, most of them agreed that his case was a hopeless one since he didn't seem to be bothered with anything in particular. He didn't pay attention to the opinion of his teachers because he knew, deep down, that he had the one thing that set him apart from most people. He had conviction.

From a young age, he learned of the joyful experience of reading, which quickly escalated into an obsession of his. He engrossed himself with any book that he could get his hands on.

He had no particular preference as he wanted to draw upon as many experiences as he could from anything that he deemed even remotely interesting. So he spent his time reading, his choices ranging from mystery and adventure to science fiction and tales of sword and sorcery. From classical literature to the post-moderns, and from romance pulp-fiction to heroic comic books. His thirst for acquiring as much knowledge as possible from the characters and events in his books was insatiable. His expanded reading also equipped him with new skills, such as the acquisition of new languages, particularly English and Spanish, to such an extent that his teachers were taken aback by his incredible progress and fluency as a self-learner.

During his last years at school, he'd already started to feel that the small city and its inhabitants had become a boring drag to him and decided to study hard and try to excel at his subjects in order to secure a more exciting future at a university abroad.

With no great effort, he managed to graduate at the top of his class and secure a scholarship to study social sciences at one of the more popular universities in London. His parents were delighted with the development as they perceived it as the confirmation of all their great efforts to teach the young boy the importance of career and financial success in life. Of course, his own reasoning was quite different.

Over the years, he developed a yearning to become something more than what his local society could offer him. He wished to travel to new places and learn new things, build friendships with interesting and exciting people and become a better version of himself, not necessarily richer or more successful by society's standards but definitely someone with a strong sense of personal growth.

However, as with most things in his life, academia in a buzzing metropolis like London didn't measure up to his expectations either.

At first, everyone and everything felt refreshing as he spent his first months raiding the British capital's galleries, museums and libraries. He couldn't believe the amount of knowledge and history that was amassed within the walls of the scientific and cultural metropolis and how lucky he was to get the opportunity to grow as a person by being a part of that city's life, albeit a very small and insignificant one. Furthermore, he felt the people had more interesting things to say about themselves and their lives, both inside the academic lecture halls and outside of them, than in his home town.

It wasn't until the passing of the first six months that he started to feel an old pattern emerging in his contact with that new world. He was gradually discovering things that reminded him of home, boring tropes that seemed to perpetuate existence in that new place as well.

When the initial excitement of the all new, all different had subsided, he started noticing that life was quite similar to what he had left behind. It was by all means more complex and intricate but still locked into a pattern of repetition.

People around him, even the most distinguished and academically gifted ones, were more interested in the latest celebrity gossip, the most recent developments in street fashion and personal gadgetry, and less in the pursuit of the unknown, the forbidden fruit of experience which lies beyond the daily collection of routine tasks.

The people that he found most interesting were always out of reach, locked behind a thinly veiled social barrier of class structure and trans-cultural division.

So he started, once again, doing what he knew how to do best, he read and then he read some more. London, a global cultural melting pot, with its libraries, bookstores and comic book joints, was more than happy to oblige.

It was after a year into his Bachelor's degree that his life turned around in a way that he'd never imagined it could. It was the year he met Alice and the others.

They immediately became friends as they found each others company to be a delightful contrast to the drags of social routine. Telemachus, the boy who never seemed interested enough in girls to try, was immediately attracted to the beautiful young woman from England as she was to him.

They quickly became romantically involved, much to the obvious dismay of Mark Prior. Telemachus became infatuated with his new found love and he missed no opportunity to try and prove it to her. He started doing calisthenics intensively at the local university gym, in order to enhance his physique, and read up on anything he could associate to her interests so that he could be resourceful and witty around her.

He was always very supportive of her and attentive to her needs and she responded to this gentle and kind behavior with appreciation and delight.

The years went past and the four friends were soon rewarded with their Bachelor's degrees. Telemachus and Alice's relationship felt stronger than ever and they both decided to move in together from the student halls to a flat in a vibrant and multicultural neighborhood in Camberwell, South London.

They both quickly found internships and, shortly after, jobs in corporate environments. Life was finally looking good for him. Sure, the couple sometimes moaned about the long hours, the expensive rent and the crap paychecks, but it felt like he was on the right track. It was not meant to last for very long.

It was a Monday evening in June, almost a whole year after their graduation, and he had just come home from work when his cell phone rang. It was his family number from Greece. He picked up the phone as he sat down on the couch of their living room, exhausted from a particularly hard day at work. Alice was not there still as she usually finished late on Mondays, so he was the first one back home and eager to start cooking supper.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" he spoke in Greek. It was his mom this time but she sounded strange, almost like she had been crying for an extended period of time before she decided to phone him.

"Are you alright, my son? Is Alice alright?" her voice came through coarse.

"Yes, we are fine, mom, she's still not back from work, what's going on, you sound like you've been crying."

"Your father ..." her voice trailed off in a sob.

Telemachus felt reality darken around him. "What's wrong with father? Is he alright? Put him on the phone, I want to talk to him."

Her sentences followed through fragmented between her sobs. "He and your grandfather took the car to go fishing on the peninsula."

Telemachus had many fond memories of himself spending his summers there as a child. Now the encompassing dread that he felt, creeping up around him, made the place seem as something taken straight out of his worst nightmares.

"They were supposed to be coming home this morning ..." she carried on, sounding a complete wreck. "There was an accident on the road, a lorry broke down and several cars crashed behind it and ..."

By the time she finished her sentence, he had already stopped listening. His father and grandfather were dead, victims of a mindless accident, a cruel twist that fate had decided to play upon them. He put the phone down as his mother's voice started to aggravate him. He felt really angry with the world and himself for letting something like that happen, even though he knew that there was nothing he could have possibly done to avert it. His anger came in waves making him numb.

After a while, a feeling of hopelessness settled in. He sat on the couch looking through the window at the small street below them and the people going about their business. Life was happening in front of him, yet he felt so detached from it, a foreign object that was separated and discarded. After an hour or so of him sitting there he heard the apartment door open.

Alice was back from work. She called his name but he made no effort to answer back. Eventually, she wandered into the living room and found him there.

"What's going? Why didn't you answer me?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

He turned to look at her. It took all of his willpower to stand up and mutter the words that followed.

"My mother called from Greece. My father and grandfather died this morning in a car crash, I think."

"Oh my god!" she threw herself at him and hugged him with all her strength, burying her head in his shoulders. He could feel her tears running down his neck in the form of a warm little stream. He found the sensation peculiar but it made him feel more at ease as if he was, all of a sudden, more grounded to the world. She pulled her head back and wiped her tears. In a passionate voice she asked. "What are you going to do now, my love?"

"I don't know yet," he answered. He was telling the truth.

A month later, he told Alice about his decision to return to his home country. He explained to her that his mother was in dire need of his support. Without his father and grandfather, she was left to her own devices to fend for herself financially, a task that was becoming gradually more difficult in the rapidly declining economic environment of his country.

She was also responsible for looking after her own mother, his grandmother, who was suffering from the early signs of dementia. He said that he didn't think it would take more than a couple of years to sort things out and then he'd be able to return to the United Kingdom to resume the life they were building there. He asked her to wait for him and try to maintain a long term relationship or, even better, follow him back to his home country.

He was worried about her reaction because he felt it was a big undertaking to ask of her. They had their life on track in London and despite the difficulties, there seemed to be a future for them there. He felt he was essentially asking her to either put all that on ice for a few years or, even more so, have a break from it all by following him to Greece.

Her reaction was quite different to what he expected. She almost jumped for joy when he asked her to move with him to his country. She told him she was really happy that he loved her so much as to ask her something like that and that it had always been her dream to live in a foreign hot country.

She also argued that the arid and warm weather would be beneficial to her asthma. At that stage, it was impossible for him to love her more than he already did, he thought.

By the end of the summer, they were ready to move. They said their goodbyes to the their best friends who seemed to have plans of their own.

Mark was about to begin a Master's degree program so he was going to continue with his academic studies whereas Jose was also returning back to Spain to sort out some family matters. So after a mad weekend of partying like there was no tomorrow, it was time for them to embark on their journey towards the new chapter of their lives.

Life in Greece was much harder at first than they had originally anticipated. Telemachus' mother was caught in a perpetual state of depression with no sign of a timely recovery, hence he had to spend a lot of time and effort with her. Finding decent jobs was also devilishly hard in an economy that was constantly tip-toeing around bankruptcy.

Alice didn't seem to mind much as the house they moved into had a large garden, where she spent a lot of the time gardening or looking after the stray animals, dogs and cats and even a tortoise, that she rescued.

Telemachus marveled at his girlfriend's ability to adjust, her resilience and her emotional capacity to always be able to find something good out of a collection of undoubtedly bad situations. However, as the first year passed he started feeling a familiar sense of resentment burning inside of him once again.

A resentment, firstly, towards his mother who seemed unable to recover emotionally from the loss of his father and the strain she put on his relationship with Alice with her emotional needs.

A resentment that was also targeted towards his own countrymen and women and the worthless governments that kept being elected but were, each one of them, unable to make life any easier. But, more than anything else, he felt a disappointment and a sort of anger towards his own self for letting the circumstances of life get in the way of him realizing his dreams and ambitions. He knew that, sooner or later, he would reach the point where he would have to tell his mother that he had to leave again and take Alice to someplace new, where they could start all over again.

However, he did not look forward to that moment.

So when he got Jose's email asking whether they could all meet up for the summer and stay at their place, or go on a camping trip to the Greek islands, he felt excited with the idea and relieved at the same time. This was the sort of break he felt he needed to sort his thoughts out and find the inner strength, which helped him so many times in the past, to make the move forward.

Alice got really excited by the news as well and they spent a lot of evenings together, in front of the computer screen, surfing the net, trying to find the perfect spot for the little gang's getaway. After a while, the ultimate choice for what they had in mind seemed crystal clear. It was, without a doubt, the island of Samothrace, an unspoiled natural haven in the northeastern part of the country. The drive to the port town, where they could take the ferry, was only three-hours long and the ferry wouldn't take more than a couple of hours to get them to the island.

The island itself, judging from the pictures they saw online, looked like some sort of tropical paradise similar to the ones you see in pirate films, with a huge mountain in the center, dense green forests sprawling around it and a large assortment of natural waterfalls and pools with crystal clear waters.

The island also had the reputation of being a popular destination for the alternative young crowds, from all around Europe, mostly due to the ambiance of its nature as well as the dance festivals that regularly took place on its long beaches. What Telemachus found most interesting about it, though, was its huge archaeological past, which dated back to 2200 B.C. and spanned a huge history filled with all sorts of mysteries and religious practices relating to the ancient pantheon of the gods.

He remembered reading about it when he was a teenager. He also remembered how the worship of the faithful in the temple of the ancient god Dionysus had captured his imagination as a boy. So when the others emailed him confirming their air ticket bookings, he could hardly contain his excitement, July could not come soon enough.

Memories and images of these recent past events flickered through his mind as he stared down at his arms and hands in disbelief. He was where he last remembered he was. He and his friends were all trapped inside the cave they had found after a storm had abruptly cut their expedition to the water pools, on the higher slopes of the mountain, short.

A landslide had trapped them so they followed a mysterious tunnel to the chamber he was now at. The last thing he remembered was the strange artifact, the sculpture of the lightning, coming to life and blasting them with waves of chain lightning.

He was deeply perplexed, where did all that energy come from, he kept thinking. How was it possible for an object to hold such power, and why wasn't I killed when I got hit by the lightning it unleashed? The current state of his arms and hands was even more ludicrous as he stared down at them. He couldn't see his skin anymore, or flesh and bone for that matter, but instead what he was looking at was an intricate system of pulsating protons, neutrons and electrons, which formed shapes that resembled his hands.

He took a careful look at the rest of his body. It was the same. Where his organs once were, covered by his muscles and tissue, there was nothing more than a myriad of bright, blue colored, lights bouncing about with incredible speed. He could still trace the outline of his body, it was still there, but instead it was now comprised by living blue lightning.

I must be dead, this is what it feels like to embark on the journey unknown, he thought as he tried to laugh hysterically. No sound came out of his mouth although he was sure he felt his mouth opening and his lips parting.

He looked around and saw the others lying a few feet away from him on the cold granite floors, unconscious, their chests heaving with their breathing. At least they are alive, he mentally formed a sigh of relief.

He looked downwards and saw a pile of his clothes, his shirt and his Bermuda shorts, his belt and his shoes, all lying on top of each other. However, there was no visible sign of his own body. If I am dead and this is my afterlife, my body must be somewhere, unless it was completely disintegrated like the sculpture on the pedestal.

Memories of what had transpired in the dark cold room flashed before his eyes once more. They had all reached for the sculpture on the pedestal together after Jose's demands. He remembered being angry at Jose, for suggesting this, for some inexplicable reason.

It's because I wanted the sculpture for myself, he thought. That's so uncharacteristic of me. Why did I feel this way for such an object, he pondered. Practical and pragmatic as he'd always been, he quickly turned his attention to his current situation.

I can't be dead, he repeated in his thoughts. As the shock of his condition started to subside, a new wave of sensations overflowed him.

He focused on the room around him and discovered that he could experience the world in a different light. No longer did he see shapes and forms but instead he realized he could distinguish every object inside the room, even in absolute darkness, differently.

He could make out the granite tiles on the floor, the pedestal, his clothes, and even his beloved girlfriend and friends lying near him, as different rectangular and other geometrical shapes made out of little molecules and bound together with dancing chains of electrical waves.

I can see the molecular structure of things, the realization came to him. That's why I see myself as a ghost as well, the blue lightning that erupted from the sculpture must have changed me somehow. He experimented by trying to force his new self to move around. He discovered with great delight that he could fly to his destination. He felt his new brain, made out of electrically charged molecules, pulsate in joy as he flew around the room. For the first time in his life, he felt such an excruciating feeling of joy and complete and utter freedom.

He must have spent an hour flying around in his new form until he decided to experiment some more. He flew close to the ceiling and concentrated on it. He could see the molecular structure of the stone, perfect in form and symmetry, and impulsively pushed his new self towards it. A tingling sensation overcame him as his ethereal form came in contact with the stone wall and passed through it.

I am now inside the mountain, he wanted to scream in joy, gazing at the different molecules forming the mountain's insides. I can fly, I can pass through walls, this must qualify me as a ghost, he cackled in his mind. He flew back down and landed on the floor again, near where Alice was lying.

She was still unconscious. So were the others. The shock of what transpired must have affected them differently, he thought. All of a sudden, he felt the flow of panic overpower him. What if this is permanent, he thought frantically. Alice and the others need me and I am stuck like this flying around like some child's cartoon character. His brain scrambled for solutions but he could come up with none.

There must be a way out of this, I refuse to be stuck like this for the rest of my life, he silently screamed at himself. His panic was taken over by the familiar burning sensation of anger. He welcomed it with a sense of relief. I need to change back to a solid form, my love and my friends need me, anger and determination raged inside of him.

The change in his emotional state had an immediate effect on is current form. He looked down at his own body and started to see glimpses of its former state rapidly flashing before him. He concentrated more, using his anger to fuel his conviction as he'd often done in the past. The flashes became more frequent, replacing the mesh of electrically charged molecules with that of his flesh and blood.

Then, all of a sudden, it was done. He breathed in the musty air of the cold chamber and let out a sigh of relief. He felt cold and realized that he was standing naked, the bodies of Alice and his friends in front of him touching the ends of his toes. The darkness made it almost impossible to see. He quickly used his hands to look for his clothes.

It didn't take long to find them. As he picked them up and put them on he mused, I do have control over this then, pleased with himself. He felt empowered with his new state of being, a spoil of victory that would aid him in his life long struggle for self improvement and the acquisition of new experiences. His lips parted, this time feeling solid and real, and he let out a victorious laugh.

As the laughter left his lungs he looked down at his hands and willed himself to assume his ethereal form again. It didn't take more than a second and he was looking, once more, at the mesh of blue electricity that used to be his body.

The room around him, and everything in it, changed to their molecular structure to accommodate his new senses. He was once again in a world of white and blue sparks. He focused his thoughts on becoming corporeal and the world snapped back into its old self.

He walked closer towards Alice and knelt down. The darkness made it hard to see. He went over to where Jose was lying and searched his friend's pockets for his cellphone. He found it and promptly turned the flashlight on. He then moved back to her.

"Alice, baby, please wake up," he whispered in her ear. He gently grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. There was no response. She was still unconscious, breathing in a calm manner oblivious to his presence. He tried the same with the others. There was no response from them, either.

I need to find us a way out of here quickly,  he thought. He ran to the sides of the chamber and started trailing the wall with his fingers. He used the flashlight from Jose's cellphone to light his way as he moved around the perimeter of the chamber.

Nothing.

He was tempted to turn into his ethereal form and just dive into the walls until he reached the edge of the mountain but he quickly rejected the idea. Even if the chances of success of such a plan seemed quite high the others wouldn't be able to follow him. Plus, he wasn't sure how he was going to tell them about his new condition.

He trailed the walls again. He felt a gentle but distinctively cold draft hit his face as he went past one of the corners. He stopped abruptly.

There is a tunnel down there, the air's coming through, he thought with a sense of excitement. He trailed the wall with his fingers, more carefully this time, trying to find an opening from where the draft was coming but he ended up with nothing. Determined to find a solution, he quickly turned intangible and went through the wall.

On the other side, he examined his surroundings. Seeing through the molecular structure of things, he noticed the absence of matter ahead of him in the shape of a parallelogram going forward.

This is not a tunnel, but a proper hallway, he thought. He turned back to his corporeal self and was promptly engulfed in darkness.

"Curses," he muttered under his breath. "I need to start getting used to this!"

He was naked, the phone probably lying on the granite floor, with the rest of his clothes, on the other side of the wall. He didn't let this stop him, though. He turned around and searched in darkness for a lever or some other mechanism that would open a passage to the chamber.

This must be an entrance to the chamber, not and exit, he thought as searched. His hand touched a hexagonal object protruding from the lower part of the wall that was blocking the way into the chamber. He grabbed it and turned it counter clock wise. At first, there was a fair resistance, probably due to centuries of non-use, but the mechanism quickly gave way.

The wall slid so fast in front him that he stumbled upon the floor on the other side, landing on the pile of his clothes that were there. He started to get dressed but decided against it midway. He turned around and dived straight into the corridor using his ethereal form to fly with exceptional speed. He marveled at how fast he was able to move while being in that state of being.

The walls of the corridor went past him in a blur of motion as he traversed its distance. Then, all of a sudden, he was bombarded with an explosion of molecules and electrical energy waves moving around frantically and forming all sorts of wild geometrical shapes and forms.

There was no doubt about it, he had made it outside. He stopped and roared a laugh of triumph. There was no sound of laughter, though, only the harmonious rustle of the water flowing down the stream into a pool under the glare of the midday sun.

# Chapter 7

I found myself dreaming of a sea that felt so far away. I was gliding just above the surface of the ocean, sprinkles of salt water hitting my shell casing, as I flew towards a green island in the distance. My wings buzzed with the sound of a thousand chainsaws. I had the might of the swarm, the collective force surrounding me, as we migrated towards a new feeding ground. My retinas reflected the rays from the giant ball of fire in the sky, scanning for potential threats in the horizon.

One such potential threat, in the form of magpie flying directly above us, spelled danger. I gave the command and the swarm broke the formation, scattering in the wind, while I dived leftwards to pinpoint a new safer route away from the magpie and towards our destination. After the short circular detour, the swarm finally landed on the flora of our new feeding ground. We were safe with almost no casualties other than those perishing in the sea.

The circular trip around the island's beaches was dangerous but the new feeding ground would ensure the swarm's survival. After a brief pause for rest, the workers commenced the search for a safe spot in a tree where the nest would be built while others left to forage.

I beat my wings in unison with those taking off, my role as the swarm guide complete. A sense of tranquility flooded my senses as I stood on the stone rock amid the cold water of the pool located in the center of our feeding ground.

I crawled forward to drink water, my antennas blowing freely in the cool summer draft. I paused for a second and stared down at my reflection in the crystal water.

The face of a yellow jacket wasp was staring right back at me.

"Alice!" I let out in a shout, gasping for air, memories of the dream dematerializing as my consciousness emerged. I moved forward and sat down on the icy hard floor as I tried to assume control over my sensory input. I felt nauseous trying to recollect my memories of what had happened to me and figure out where I was at.

I dreamed of flying ... and the island ... why did I dream of flying? I looked around and tried to make out my surroundings as the memories of recent events slowly hit me.

The artifact spat lightning at us, I thought blinded by the darkness. The blue lightning connected to my heart ... I should be dead, no one can walk away from that ... My eyes started to get used to the darkness and I made out a faint glow in the distance in front of me.

It's Jose's flashlight, I thought as it all slowly came back to me. The others got hit by that lightning too ... did they survive it as well, I wondered. I felt dizzy remembering how strange their eyes looked, like blue sapphires, during the lightning storm that had blasted us around the chamber. I tried to stand up but my knees gave way.

I picked myself up again, this time determined to get to the source of the light. I made my way there limping and trying to make out the silhouettes illuminated by it.

"He's awake," I heard Jose's voice come through. I almost cried with relief that my buddy was alive and well enough to speak. I heard multiple footsteps as the flashlight came closer. Soon after I felt what must have been Telemachus' arms move around my shoulders to catch me and give me better support.

"We were worried sick about you," Alice's melodic voice fueled my relief.

I stood and looked at them all in the glow of the faint white light. Alice and Jose were standing in front of me, looking rough but wearing big smiles. Telemachus was next to me, helping carry my weight as my knees still felt a bit weak.

"Are your knees hurting, Mark," he asked with concern.

"No, I think I am still just a bit numb from whatever it was that hit us earlier," I answered back. "How long was I out for," it was my turn to ask.

"It must have been twelve hours or so," he answered. "Twelve hours since our ... incident," he added solemnly.

"Telemachus has found a way out of the cavern, he was the one to come round first," Alice interrupted him in a bout of enthusiasm. "There is a door leading to a hallway, which in turn leads to another waterfall outside." She could hardly contain her excitement. "We were looking at it while waiting for you to come round."

"That's great," I stammered. I turned my head and looked at my friend. Although he looked rugged, like the rest of us, he had a strange calmness about him. He seemed in complete control of the situation, a sharp contrast to my stumbling shaky shelf. I felt a spark of jealously, mixed with a feeling of pride, for my best friend. He truly was the best of us. "How did you manage to find it, mate?" I asked him.

"No time to discuss it now, better get moving or we'll miss the daylight again. It's already the afternoon outside and I have no idea where we are actually at in relation to the rest of the mountain."

"You don't have to ask me twice," Jose said. "Let's get the hell out of here, already!"

"Sounds like time is a luxury we don't have then," I nodded and we started to make our way down the stone hallway and the world outside.

The natural pool by the small waterfall in the clearing, just outside the cave's entrance, was equally beautiful to all the others I had seen on the island, albeit a bit more serene and magical since there were no free campers around. The cave entrance itself was hidden behind a wall of thick moss that Telemachus had obviously cleared on his first trip out.

How has this place not been found, I pondered. Is it possible that we were the first ones to discover it, by chance, after thousands of years? What really did happen to us back there? What was the origin of that blue lightning?

My thoughts were soon cut short by the sound of Jose and Telemachus arguing.

"We have no idea where we are, compadre, I am starving and I don't feel like mountaineering without ropes just so we end up in a worse situation than before," Jose argued in a passionate voice.

"So what is the alternative, stay here and hope for a miracle," Telemachus replied in a more calm and composed manner. "We have to find a way down the slopes. There must be a goat trail or something that we can follow."

"A goat trail ... vie de merde ... are you high or something," Jose threw his hands in the air in indignation.

"So what else can we do, we have no food, your phone's battery is dead, we have no way to light a fire or signal someone that we are stuck here," Telemachus continued with his line of argument.

"Well, we have access to water here and I am sure there are fig trees or something around, the whole island is full of them, so I am going to sit this one out and come up with a better plan," Jose folded his arms in a pose of pure stubbornness.

"Damn fool," Telemachus cursed under his breath as Jose took off, a few seconds later, heading to the far side of the pool and away from the waterfall. He was obviously off to try his luck in finding some of the fruit he had been going on about.

I wouldn't mind some figs myself, I thought feeling my stomach rumble. I got up from the rock I was sitting on and moved closer to the water by the waterfall. I felt thirsty so I knelt down and clasped my hands in order to drink some of the cool water from the pool. The water reflected the color of the afternoon lit sky and the trees, around the clearing, in a marvelous way.

I stared down at the surface of the pool and tried to make out my own reflection in the water. I half expected to see the head of a yellow-jacket staring back at me.

Why did I think that, an alarm bell rang in the back of my head. Instead, I was relieved to see the familiar shape of my own human face, sunburned by the relentless Greek summer weather, looking worn out and hungry under the afternoon sun.

"Alice, sweetheart, how are your lungs, do you still have your inhaler with you or did you lose it in the cave," Telemachus's concerned voice reached my ears. They were both standing a few feet away from me.

"I am fine," I heard her answer back. "I haven't even used it since yesterday. There was no need. The mountain air must be doing a world of good for me."

"Must be ..." Telemachus looked concerned.

I walked towards them. "Guys, Jose is right. I don't think we are in a state to climb down any slopes, we are too tired and hungry and those slopes look really dangerous and steep," I said. "We've made it out alive from that place and I don't feel like falling to my death. We need to find a way to signal for help."

"I agree," Alice pulled her long golden hair into a pony-tail. "I don't think I have the strength to make such a dangerous climb down. Besides, it's been almost a day now so maybe the staff at the camp will start wondering where we are."

"I doubt it," Telemachus made a long face. "Those slackers couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag, let alone keep track of who's going in and out of the camp."

"It's true," I said between a huff and a puff. "It seems we are stuck again."

"Maybe not ..." he whispered. I looked at him quizzically.

What does he mean by that, I wondered.

"Have you figured another way out of here then," I spoke my mind. He looked like he was lost in thought, unsure of what to say to me.

"Mate," I carried on. "You know you can trust me right? With anything I mean."

"Yes, yes ..." he replied hastily. He looked like he had made up his mind about something. "Let's wait for Jose, and I'll tell you my plan."

"Where is our hairy friend off to," Alice asked. She had finished tying her hair in a pony tail and was now washing her face and her arms in the pool.

"You, guys, wait here, I'll go get him," I walked towards the edge of the forest where he had disappeared into. I shouted his name twice, mustering all the strength I could find. After a short while, I saw him emerge out of the forest bare chested and with his t-shirt folded into a makeshift pouch.

"What have you got there, mate," I asked him as he approached.

"Figs and almonds," he answered triumphantly. "I told the Greek man I could forage for some food."

My stomach rumbled at the mention of the fruit and the nuts. "That's fantastic," I drooled. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

"No worries, compadre, it's what I do," he laughed. "Let's get the food to the others so we can eat."

"Lead the way, matey," I patted him on the back.

Alice was delighted with Jose's findings, Telemachus less visibly so. They both seemed grateful, however, as we sat down in a circle and ate the considerable amount of fruit and nuts that our friend had managed to amass for our little party. Myself, I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that slightly unripe fruit could taste so wonderful and fulfilling.

After a few minutes of wolfing down the forage, with bouts of drinking water in between to wash it down, we heard Telemachus clear his throat as if he had something important to share. We all looked at him expectantly.

"Guys, what do you actually remember happening inside the chamber with the artifact," he spoke in a quiet but firm tone. It felt like a bomb dropping in the middle of our cheerful summer picnic.

Alice pushed her knees up her chin, in a crouching position, and turned to look at the pool with a melancholic look on her face. Jose started rubbing his chest and stared down at the ground. I kept my gaze on Telemachus and said nothing.

"I see no one wants to talk about it yet," he exhaled loudly and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Regardless," he continued in the same firm tone. "I think we need to come to terms with what actually transpired back there," he waved his hand in the direction of the cave's entrance.

"What did happen though," I interrupted him.

"Let me continue, friend," he answered back. He took a deep breath. "As I've said we need to come to terms with our predicament. I'll go first and try to narrate my own experience, with as much detail as I can bring forth from memory, and then we can compare our narratives." He picked a pebble up and flung it towards the surface of the water. The pebble bounced three times in succession and then vanished to the bottom of the pool with a light splash.

"First things first. The way I remember things is that we were trapped in that ancient chamber that seemed to be a vault, or a place of worship or something, with that sculpture of lightning placed upon a pedestal with the human skulls around it, correct?" he asked and looked at each one of us. We all nodded our heads in confirmation.

"When we tried to grab the sculpture to use it as a light source something that seems utterly impossible happened," he carried on. I heard Alice breathing heavily as if the recollection of the events was putting psychological stress on her. I reached out with my arm and placed my hand on her shoulder for support.

She turned to look at me and gave me the faintest of smiles. Telemachus continued, oblivious to everyone's reaction.

"If I recall correctly what happened after, and this is the fuzziest part of my memory of the event, is that the sculpture blew up with chains of blue lightning hitting all of us in succession before it disintegrated into nothing more than a handful of dust."

"Yes," I said in a calm tone. "This is exactly what I remember as well."

"Me too," Jose added in a whisper.

"That's right," Alice turned to face the group, no longer gazing at the green waters of the pool. There was a moment of silence, with only the sound of the waters splashing from the waterfall being audible, and then she added. "I remember those lightning bolts hitting us straight on our chests."

"I assume the artifact was designed to be some sort of energy conductor," Telemachus resumed his narration. "I can't possibly begin to fathom how an object, as small and as ancient as that sculpture, was capable of withholding such an enormous amount of energy. What is also incredible about our situation is that we are all still here, alive, after being zapped with what must have been tens of millions of volts of electricity."

"We shouldn't be standing here, we should be dead," I concurred.

"Unless," he paused. "That lightning was not supposed to kill us but turn us into something else ..." he trailed off lost in his own thoughts.

"What do you mean," my voice snapped him back to reality. We all looked at him quizzically. He cracked his knuckles as if he was unsure of how to proceed.

"Darling, you know we promised to share everything between us," said Alice.

He turned to face her, first, then the rest of us. "Yes, I do know that ... the thing is ... I don't know how to put it without you thinking I am crazy."

"Don't worry, compadre, just say it, we are here for you," Jose encouraged him.

He took a deep breath. "You know when I told you that I woke up first while you were all still lying unconscious on the floor."

Alice and Jose nodded. I had missed that part, probably because I was the last one to regain consciousness.

"What I didn't describe to you was the means with which I managed to find a way out of the chamber ..." he stared down at his hands as if he was going to conjure something magical out of thin air.

"You used Jose's phone to find the hidden door that led into that hallway, right?" Alice asked.

"Not exactly," he answered back. "God, there isn't really a good way to say this so I am just going to come out and say it."

"You're an alien from outer space and this is you coming out of the closet after all these years you spent studying us earthlings," Jose chuckled. Everyone laughed, including Telemachus.

"No, not quite. I think that artifact was a device meant to alter our bodies in a specific manner."

"An alien device," Jose asked carrying on with his joke.

"Jose, cut it out, please," Telemachus snapped at him. "When I woke up, I realized that my whole body, along with my perception of reality had changed." He lifted his hand to stop Alice from saying something. She looked mildly annoyed but indulged him with her silence. "I found out that my body had entered a state where I could no longer distinguish any material flesh but instead I was made out of a mesh of electrically charged molecules."

It was Jose's turn to whistle but he let Telemachus continue.

"In that state, I discovered that it was not just my body that had changed but the whole world around me. I could no longer see material objects. However, what I could do was, literally, visualize the molecular structure of everything around me. My world was made out of electricity and flying protons and electrons."

"That ... sounds hard to believe," I looked at him incredulously.

"That's not all," he continued, casting my comment aside. "In that ethereal state, as I'd like to call it, I discovered that not only could I levitate myself, but I could also fly around at very high speeds. I was intangible and able to pass through objects. This is how I found that secret hallway that led outside."

"Do you think you can demonstrate this ethereal form of yours for us, darling," Alice's voice was calm and composed. It was as if her boyfriend was trying to explain to us the intricacies of how to fry an egg instead of telling us he could turn into some kind of ghost.

"Yes, sweetheart, I just wanted to prepare you all first," he replied. "It really is unbelievable."

With that comment he focused his eyes forward and disappeared into nothingness, right in front of our eyes. The space he had occupied, in the little clearing by the water pool where we had our lunch, was filled with nothing but air.

"Puta madre!" Jose exclaimed and jumped up. He waved his arms in the space where Telemachus had been standing but there was nothing there. Alice got up as well, looking really shaken. She had a look of worry on her face distorting her fair facial characteristics. I stood up last, my knees still hurting a bit, and looked around. My friend was no where to be seen.

"Mac!" I shouted. There was no reply. "Mac, are you alright!" I shouted again. I felt an aura of a presence behind me and a hand touching my shoulder. I jumped in alarm, only to see my friend materializing out of thin air with a confident smile on his lips.

"Do you believe me now, old friend?" he asked me.

I was left speechless. What we had just witnessed seemed even more incredible than what had happened back in the cave. "How ..." I began to speak but I trailed off mid-sentence.

This is incredible, I thought to myself. This is straight out of a heroic comic book.

Alice and Jose were left looking at him as if he was some sort of fairy tale character, ready to lead us into some magical land.

"What is this ... I don't ..." was all that came out of her mouth.

"A miracle, it's a miracle," Jose added. "Amigo, I think you have become the stuff of legend, as of now."

"We all have," Telemachus smiled back in triumph. "We were all hit by that lightning, who knows what powers were unlocked in each of us. Maybe you were affected in the same way, or maybe your powers will manifest in a unique way."

"But ... I don't feel any different," Alice stammered. "I mean other than the fact that I feel fine, considering that I was almost burned to a crisp some hours ago, nothing feels out of the ordinary for me."

"I don't feel any different either," said Jose. "Although, I admit I am fascinated with the notion of being able to fly."

"Nor do I," I spoke last. "I have a bad feeling about this, I think we should find a way to the mainland and seek medical attention for all of us."

"I don't think so," Telemachus glared at me. "I don't believe there is anything wrong with me, or with you either. What we've been through ... the way I've changed, the things I can see now... this is a gift ..." he sounded so passionate, he was scrambling to find the right words.

"You are missing a shoe," I noted as I saw his shoe lying on the ground, in the spot where he first disappeared from.

"Yes, I can see that," he answered. "When I first discovered my ability to turn ethereal, I wasn't able to take anything with me," he explained. "With a bit of trial and error, I discovered that I could dematerialize my clothes and carry them with me so I wouldn't be naked when I rematerialized back into my body," he scratched his head. "It seems that I haven't got the hang of it yet, though."

Alice walked to him and took him in her arms. She whispered something in his ear then turned to face me and Jose. "This whole experience has, clearly, taken its toll upon us. We need to calm down and find a way out of here. When we get home, it'll be easier to find answers and decide on a course of action."

Jose and I nodded in agreement.

It is the most logical thing to do, I thought.

"So how are we going to do this?" Jose asked. "What is your plan?"

"I will assume my ethereal form and fly down the slopes of the mountain. We must be facing north still, since this is the only side of the mountain with such lush vegetation. It won't take me more than an hour or so, I assume, to traverse the distance downwards. I still don't know the full capabilities of my travel speed," he explained in a calmer tone.

He looked in charge of his feelings. "After I reach the road I will hike a ride to the fire brigade station near the campsite. I will tell them we got stuck on our excursion to the waterfalls and that they ought to mount a rescue for you, guys. I'll tell them I was the only one crazy enough to try to make the descent through the forest."

"Do you think they'll believe you?" Alice asked.

"Why not," he replied. "People get stuck up here all the time. They are always rescuing people here every summer."

"Yeah, but nowhere near as remote as where we must be now."

"It won't matter, if they ask me to backtrack my trail, I'll tell them that I can't remember. I will make sure I point them in the right direction, my new found powers have given me an incredible sense of spatial awareness. What do you, guys, think?" he asked.

Everyone agreed that the plan felt sound enough. There was still one more detail that bugged me.

"What about the cave and the chamber inside it? What are we going to do about it?" I asked.

"Nothing," he answered casually. "We'll pretend we never found anything of the sort. If someone, eventually, discovers that chamber, there is no evidence in there to implicate us or our interaction with the artifact. All that's left there is a pile of skulls and some dust on a pedestal."

"True enough," Jose nodded in agreement.

"Before you do this, I want to speak to you for a moment," Alice told him. "Guys, give us a moment if you may?"

"Sure thing," I mumbled and turned to walk away.

"Come on, compadre, let's give the lovebirds a few minutes to say their goodbyes," Jose tried to cheer me up. "Last one to jump in the water is a chicken full of shit, yes?" he laughed as he pushed me out of the way and ran towards the water.

"It's called chicken-shit, you clown!" I ran after him taking my shoes and top off in the process.

The cold water of the pool took our breath away and rejuvenated our bodies and minds, as we dived in and out of the water next to the thunderous falling waters of the waterfall. It was a cleansing experience that purged the surreal nature of our friend's revelation.

They say that people change after having a near-death experience, that they get a new perspective and appreciation of life.

I certainly felt this way as I dived in the crystal waters of that small Mediterranean paradise, the memories of that black forgotten chamber and its terrible mysteries becoming nothing more than a faded memory.

As I broke the surface of the pool, after a long dive, I felt that the world was a more vibrant and beautiful place. I caught a glimpse of my two closest friends, Telemachus and Alice, holding each other in their arms and smiled. Whatever the future might hold for us I felt that I was ready to tackle it as long as I had them by my side.

After a little while, Telemachus waved at me and Jose. We were still splashing around when he signaled that he was ready to depart on his little mission. We got out of the water, not bothering to put our shoes or our tops on and approached him and Alice.

"This is it," he said to us. "Any last advice?"

"Kali tyxi, amigo," Jose wished him good luck in Greek.

"Mac, please be careful," I looked him in the eye. "I know this newfound power of yours seems incredible but please look after yourself. We don't know the implications of it."

He held my gaze and nodded.

"I will." He turned to Alice and kissed her on the lips. "I'll see you soon my love. Remember, I love you."

"I love you too." She kissed him back. I stared down at my feet. I always did when they displayed such affection to each other, it never seemed to get easier. After their farewell kiss, he winked at us and, without much further ado, he faded away.

We stood there for a while and gazed into the distance, into that great horizon spanning atop of the green maze of trees and the sun getting ready to sink into the ocean.

"Well," Alice was the first to speak. "We'll probably spend the night here, so we should find a spot to set up camp. It looks like it's going to be a starlit sky tonight."

I found her voice soothing as the late afternoon breeze made my skin feel cold ever so slightly. I put my t-shirt back on and made for a nearby cluster of oak trees. "This seems like a good spot for the night," I called out to the others.

Sir Robert Anderson sat at his desk in the underground complex underneath the Tate Modern art gallery, on the South Bank of the river Thames, and looked at the memo that had arrived minutes ago marked as urgent.

That can't be right, he thought to himself as he read the message on his computer repeatedly. In all his time as a Chief Director of her Majesty's Bureau for E.M.F. activity he had never witnessed a pulse of that magnitude, let alone four consecutive ones.

The last activation, almost a year and a half ago in Wudang mountain, was nearly half the size of those pulses and that particular specimen had managed to nearly demolish the region before those incompetent Chinese fools managed to neutralize him.

Four of them at the same time and probably an Aurora Prime among them, he shuddered at the thought of what the implications would be. He activated his voice-comm to his personal officer.

"Officer DN-10, please take note, for the record, that I am invoking chapter 18, paragraph 4, regarding the interception and neutralization of multiple specimens, including that of an Aurora Prime. I am officially, as of now, putting us on Yellow Alert. Everyone needs to report to their stations A.S.A.P. and await briefing."

"Yes, sir," Officer Knoles' shocked voice came through the communicator.

"Get me every piece of intelligence we have on the south-eastern Mediterranean region and possible activation sites. I want a detailed report on all historical sightings of such events, confirmed or hear-say, in the past fifty years. I also want a team of specialists monitoring local media for any possible clues as to where our specimens are. The pulse came from the north-eastern part of the basin, have our people contact any sleeper agents we may have in that area."

"Right away, sir."

"I want you to also contact Downing Street and inform them that we are already working with our allies to deal with the situation, you know how hysterical those upper-crust politicians can be. Oh and have agent Ravenhawk report to my office, immediately."

"Major Wold is on extended leave, sir."

"I don't care what you do to find him. I want him to report to me, personally!" he barked down the communicator. "And get me the Americans on the line, I want to speak to that General Winters straight away."

"Yes-sir, connecting you via encrypted satellite now, sir."

Director Anderson turned off the communicator and picked up the black phone on his desk.

This is shaping up to be a hell of day, he exhaled loudly, pushing the air out of his lungs as an elaborate calming exercise. He cleared his voice and waited for the line to connect.

"General, as you may already know, we seem to have a situation on our hands."

Above the underground maze, a young tourist couple were having a drink in the cafe of the gallery, gazing at the river and talking excitedly about the relevance of Dadaism to post modern paintings, not having a clue about what was transpiring beneath them.

# Chapter 8

"Guys, I am so tired I can't even find the strength to come and eat," I told the others as I unzipped the front part of the tent and threw myself on the inflatable mattress. "I'll have a nap for a few hours then catch you, guys, later," I managed to add before exhaustion took over, then oblivion.

"Knock yourself out, compadre," I heard Jose saying outside the tent, a second before my consciousness drifted away.

The weird dreams came back to me with a vengeance. However, this time it felt different.

The fly that was caught in my web flapped its wings and fought valiantly to break free but my poison was already working on paralyzing its body. It was a bountiful evening, the fly being more than enough of a reward for nearly a week of waiting, hanging on my threads by the branches of the willow tree.

The fly stopped wiggling around signifying the completion of the paralyzing process. I skittered towards it with great speed and stabbed it repeatedly with my fangs to make sure there wouldn't be any surprises later on. I felt the hunger stir inside of me but I ignored it.

The time for feasting would not be long now. I spat my silk out of my spinnerets and entangled the bounty carefully. The digestive process had begun and soon I'd be able to devour my prize. I blinked my front main eyes, while keeping the rest alert for any incoming danger, and bided my time.

"Nadia!" I shouted as I gasped for air. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was. I was lying in the tent at the campsite, the red sky outside signifying that it was nearly dusk.

I must have slept for a couple of hours, I thought. It was only several hours ago that the fire brigade team had found us stranded in the little clearing on the mountain, waiting to be rescued. It was noon when they appeared with their axes, their toolkits and the rest of their gear. They had told us they were trying to find us since the break of dawn, following our friend's directions.

They helped us down the mountain by guiding us towards a clear path and equipping us with ropes and climbing gear. Telemachus' plan had worked out. It took us nearly five hours to get to the campsite by which time we were completely exhausted.

Telemachus was there waiting for us, he said he had spent his morning being interviewed by the local press. He informed us of the reporters' eagerness and persistence to publish our names but he had only agreed to the interview as long as our identities remained disclosed.

I found that detail peculiar, at the time, but hadn't paid much attention to it since I felt hammered by the trials and tribulations of climbing down the rocky slopes.

"Another nightmare?" Jose asked me, in a casual manner, while smoking one of his rolled up cigarettes. He was sitting in one of the chairs outside the tent.

"How did you figure it out," I replied sarcastically while running my fingers through my hair.

I really need a hot shower, I thought.

"Lately, you seem to be shouting the names of the girls you like when you wake up from a nightmare," Jose laughed and puffed on his cigarette.

"No I don't!" I protested while I got out of the tent. The mosquitoes were already out and about and ready for blood.

"Yes, you do!" he laughed, again, and threw the mosquito repellent at me reading my thoughts.

"Damn, I hope it's not too obvious ..." I mumbled as I sprayed myself.

"You mean ... not obvious to Alice that you're in love with her?"

"Yeah ..." I replied.

"Compadre, Alice, and everyone else for that matter, have known this for a very long time," he added solemnly.

"I know. I am just not ready to talk about it openly, yet." My stomach roared in protest. "I've got to eat something, mate. I can't ignore my hunger pains anymore."

"Sure," he said and got up from his chair. "We went to the village earlier, when you were sleeping, and stocked up on supplies. Food and booze. We got all sorts of stuff. We also visited that gyros joint and had diner. We were thoughtful enough to bring back some takeaway for you though."

"That sounds great!" I drooled.

"Come on, let's go to the cafeteria. The others are already there."

I wore my long sleeve hoody, since the afternoon sea air made me feel a bit chilly, and walked with Jose to the cafeteria of the campsite. The place was fairly empty, since most of the campers were on their way to enjoy the village's nightlife. Telemachus and Alice were sitting at a large table, on their own, in the furthest corner of the little terrace.

"Hey, look who's finally here!" Alice cheered as we took a seat next to them. "There's food for you, sweetie, if you're hungry!" She smiled and pushed the little aluminum package towards me.

"Hey, guys," I managed to blurt out as I frantically tore at the package, trying to get to the food as fast as possible.

"Look at him go!" Jose snickered and they all burst into laughter.

The takeaway was the standard Greek fare, an assortment of grilled meat pieces, fried chips and lots of pieces of raw onions, tomatoes, all of them covered with a variety of herbs and spices. I wolfed down the food, but, strangely enough, I kind of felt wrong doing it.

There must be something wrong with my taste, I thought, as gyros was one of my favorite pieces of Greek culture. Yet, the meat felt all slimy and rubbery, the potato chips tasted blunt and everything about my meal was giving me the impression that I was dining on a piece of discarded rubbish.

"Is your food alright, mate?" Telemachus noticed the sour expression on my face. "You look like you are hating it."

"It tastes a bit funny, I think, but I am too hungry to care," I said, my mouth full of the little pieces of meat.

"Let me see!" Jose lunged forward and grabbed a small handful of my food before putting it into his mouth. "Nope, same delicious stuff we had earlier!" He licked the grease from his fingers.

"I don't know what's wrong then, must be my taste buds acting all funny," I said scooping up the remainders of food in my tray.

We all sat there, at our little table, while the sun set on the horizon, painting the sky a deep crimson red. The sea waters were calm, reflecting the rays of the setting sun as the waves gently splashed on the sandy beach.

The light breeze carried the sounds of an orchestra of crickets harmonizing a crescendo of melodies in the summer evening.

This is truly a piece of paradise, I thought, trying to catch my breath after the small feast that I'd just had. The memory of the previous days' events echoed faintly in my head, almost as if they had never occurred.

I turned my attention to my friends sitting next to me. Jose was explaining one of his theories on the power of the human subconscious, and how he successfully learned how to use it to his advantage in order to attract members of the opposite gender.

Alice looked like she was half listening, occasionally giggling at his jokes. Telemachus, sitting opposite them, was too busy reading a series of texts displayed on his laptop's screen, in between a few short bursts of typing frenzy.

"The bandwidth speed in this cafeteria is abysmal!" he groaned.

"We are in a Mediterranean paradise, we are safe and sound after a near-death experience, yet here you are, moaning about the net. It's like a day hasn't passed since you were moaning about the net in the university's halls of residence all those years ago," I teased him.

"Careful," Alice intervened, smiling mischievously. "You're going to get his back up!"

"What, oh yeah," Telemachus mumbled in reply, lost in the text on his screen.

"What's so interesting that you are willing to sacrifice a beautiful sunset for it," Jose asked.

Telemachus looked up from his monitor. "I am trying to make sense of what happened to us, the other day, in the cave and why I am capable of doing all these new extraordinary things like fly around or turn intangible," he replied to him in a hushed tone.

Everyone fell silent. The realization that our lives were possibly changed forever in a manner that we could not even begin to comprehend started to creep back in. I stared down at my hands, then at the others.

They were all gazing into the horizon as if this was a world that had become strange to us. A place that we could never be part of again. Alice took her gaze from the sun, setting on the horizon, and looked at her boyfriend. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line conveying her annoyance towards him.

"You sure know how to kill the mood, darling," she said dryly.

"Uh-huh," was all he came up with as an answer.

I was ready to try and say something clever to lighten up the mood when it hit me. My nostrils flared excitedly as they caught the smell of the most heavenly sweet aroma that I had ever had the opportunity to smell in my entire life.

"Guys, do you smell that?" I shut my eyes and tried to make out the origin of the smell.

"Yes and I've had it with Jose's rollies. He's been stinking us out since the moment he stepped off the airplane," Alice waved her hands in the air, in an effort to disperse the smoke coming from Jose's rolled up cigarette.

"What, I think my tobacco smells good!" he protested. "It's a variety made for the true connoisseur!"

"When do you think you're going to quit that terrible habit!"

"Never!" he answered and puffed heavily in a theatrical manner.

"Guys, I am not talking about the cigarette smoke. It's something else and I think it's coming from inside the cafeteria." I got up from my chair and followed the sweet fragrance inside the small building. In it, next to the entrance, there was one of the staff members holding a large knife above a huge watermelon that was placed on the table in front of him.

The watermelon looked almost as wide as his shoulders and ready to pop. He acknowledged me with a nod and went about his business cutting the watermelon in half.

As soon as he cut the giant fruit in two even hemispherical pieces I felt my sensations flood with that incredible fragrance that emanated from the fruit's red exposed flesh.

I felt my mouth water uncontrollably and my stomach rumble as if the food I had just eaten never actually made it to the insides of my digestive system. The man noticed my fixation on the melon and smiled. He had his front teeth missing, making him look slightly comical.

"Do you want some, friend?" he asked, the hole in his smile reminding me of a popular cartoon character.

I was mesmerized. "How much for all of it," the words flew out of my mouth.

"All of it?" he asked, perplexed. "I can't give you the whole thing, friend. This watermelon is from my grandmother's allotment. I was waiting to eat this bad boy all morning," he explained.

I remained transfixed on the melon. He paused to think for a couple of seconds, then said. "I can sell you half of it for a couple of euros since you seem to be the kind of person who likes watermelons almost as much as I do."

"Yeah, sure, there you go," I reached for my wallet and handed him the coin. I grabbed the half of the watermelon, he handed over, and carried it outside. I sat on the first table that I saw and started eating it using my bare hands.

It tasted like nothing I had ever tasted before. The red flesh of the fruit was crunchy, yet incredibly sweet and filled with an assortment of spicy aromas. It felt like eating tiny crystallized pieces of the sweetest sugar that had ever graced this side of the earth.

I felt every cell of my body tingle as I chomped down large pieces of the fruit. I was like a starved man, allowed to have a taste from the gods' ambrosia after months of abstinence.

"What's wrong with you, compadre," Jose's voice broke my entrancement. "First time you've eaten a watermelon in your life?" he chuckled.

"Eh, no," I stammered as I got a grip to reality again. I wiped my face from the fruit's juices. They were all over my face, trickling down from my chin and onto my clothes.

Why am I acting like a Neanderthal, it's not very becoming to act like that. "It's just, I've never tasted a fruit so sweet, before."

Despite my excuse, Jose, cigarette still in hand, kept eyeing me skeptically as if he was trying to figure out whether I was having some form of a mental breakdown.

"Come to the table, Mac has something he wants to tell us," he said. I washed my face up using the water from a nearby tap and threw the remains of the watermelon in the bin before I ran after him.

Telemachus and Alice were already discussing something in a serious tone by the time we returned to our seats.

"Guys, I think you need to listen to this," she said as soon as we sat down.

"I might have some insight as to what's going on," Telemachus started. "I've been doing some research on the net, in order to find clues on what happened to us, back in the cave."

"Have you used your power since you left us on the mountain?" I interrupted him.

He gave me an icy look. "No," he replied. "I am being very careful with it. I haven't experimented with it, although the temptation was great, because I want to find out more about my condition and the root causes behind it."

He took a deep breath. "I don't want to turn into some kind of freak show and I don't want anyone to know about this, especially the medical authorities. I've seen way too many movies, where the protagonist has some extraordinary ability, to not realize the kind of lab rat they will turn me into if they get a whiff of this." He reached over the table, with his arm, and clasped Alice's hand in his. She squeezed his hand back. "Plus, I've promised my sweet girlfriend here that I won't experiment with my new abilities, in case they have detrimental effects on my health."

"I agree, wholeheartedly," Jose nodded behind a cloud of smoke. "We need to keep everything that has happened to us secret from the governmental scum."

"That's a bit harsh. I've never thought of you as the anti-establishment type, Jose," I commented. He gave me a strange look, one that I hadn't witnessed before. A look comprised of pent up anger and anguish.

"As I was saying," Telemachus resumed his speech. "The best explanation of what might have happened, back in that cave, is some theories I've read relating to the existence of E.M fields around the planet and how they are particularly strong on this island."

"The what fields?" Jose asked.

"The E.M. fields. The initials stand for electromagnetic fields. You know the magnetic currents around the planet that create an electrical shield of sorts."

Jose nodded in understanding.

"Anyways," Telemachus continued. "It seems that there are several spots around the world where the E.M. fields are extremely vigorous. The ancient civilizations were aware of these telluric currents, as they called them, and built places of worship in areas where the flow of electromagnetic energies was intensive. Guess what?" he paused for dramatic effect.

"This part of the island is one of those places, isn't it?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

Telemachus's eyes gleamed beneath the night starlit sky.

The stars look particularly close tonight, I thought. It's as if you could reach up and grab them in your hands.

"This part of Samothrace is one of the few areas in this country where those currents are positively charged. The other major one is in mount Olympus, the mythological seat of the pantheon of the gods. There are some sources, here," he pointed at his screen, "that cite that the worship of the Kawirs is connected to the existence of the telluric currents."

"I don't see how this helps us at all," Jose chimed in.

"Don't you see," Telemachus said in an excited tone. "We have, undoubtedly, stumbled upon an ancient artifact that was meant to be some sort of focal point for these energies!"

"That would explain the electric storm that erupted in the room when we touched the sculpture and the chains of lightning that hit us," I said. "But, there's one other question that is left unanswered."

"What's that?" Telemachus asked.

"What was the purpose of that artifact. Why did it blow up in our hands?"

"Judging from the fact that I can turn my body into a mesh of intangible molecules, I'd say the purpose is pretty clear," he paused and looked at each one of us. "It was designed to equip the wielder of the lightning with extraordinary powers."

"So you think that the sculpture we came across was some kind of item of worship and those mysteries revolved around its usage?" Alice asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes, my love. I believe that when the ancient Greeks, and the Phoenicians before them, spoke of awakenings and rebirths they were referring to exactly that," he lifted his hand in the air studying it with interest.

"But why didn't they use it on themselves. Why did they leave it lying around for thousands of years?" I asked him again.

"This I do not know or even begin to imagine," he answered. "Maybe it didn't work for everyone ..."

"Or maybe it was meant to be left alone!" Alice snapped at him, her face locked in an expression of frustration.

"Alice, sweetheart," he started in a softer tone while reaching for her hand again. "We don't know that. I don't feel any worse for wear or unhealthy even. If anything, I'd say that I feel more alive than ever." He turned his head around to look at the sea, the night sky covered by a velvet of darkness. "I feel that I should explore my new powers more.

Who knows what kind of gold lies at the end of this rainbow," he added in a whisper, almost as if he was talking to himself. He immediately turned his head around to face us, realizing that he had said something out loud that he had ultimately meant for himself and smiled. "Of course, I won't do such a thing until the time is right, just like we agreed."

Alice let out a deep breath and folded her arms. Jose took out his tobacco pouch and started rolling a new cigarette. Everyone remained silent. I looked at the sky and the shadows the trees were casting around us, underneath the light of the starts. It was Jose's turn to speak and break the silence.

"Amigos," he said, unsure of his words. "I've been meaning to tell you this since yesterday but I felt a bit awkward."

"What's up, mate?" I asked him.

"Well, you know when we were standing around the pedestal, with the sculpture and the lightning in the middle, and Mac was ready to grab it because we needed a light source?" he asked. We all nodded in agreement and for him to continue.

"Do you remember how I made up all that fuss and suggested that we should all grab it at the same time?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, I thought it was kind of out of character for you, at the time," I noted.

"Well it kind of was. I mean, and this is the weirdest part. When I looked at that light blue glow, I felt like the sculpture was calling me to take it for myself."

"What?" I said, his words catching me by surprise. Telemachus and Alice remained silent but concentrated on what Jose was saying.

"I can't explain it in a way that makes sense, but ..." he carried on. "It was as if this enticing voice in my head was calling me to reach out and take it. That's why I tried to convince Mac to let us all grab it at the same time." He put his head down. "I am so sorry, guys."

There were a few seconds of silence, then Alice spoke in a stern voice. "I felt the same."

"Me too," Telemachus said in turn. They all turned their heads to look at me.

"If I am being honest, I have no idea what you are talking about," I shrugged.

"Why do you think the rest of us felt this way," Jose asked.

"I don't know, maybe the artifact was there waiting for someone to touch it for all this time," Telemachus looked puzzled.

"Or maybe it sensed something in us," Alice whispered in a hushed voice.

"Whatever it was, I felt like it was destiny for us to be there at that specific time," Telemachus was determined not to let Jose's story sow the seed of doubt in our heads.

I threw my hands in the air exasperated. "Guys, I don't know about you but I am feeling like I need a break from all of this," I kept waving my hands in the air for added emphasis. "Whatever that is. All I know is that we are on this gorgeous island and that my holiday time is ticking away. I don't want to spend all my precious time worrying about ancient artifacts and storms of lightning and what not."

I surprised myself with how passionately my words came out. The rest of the group was equally stunned by my emotional outburst.

Alice gave me a mischievous smile and got up from her chair. "Let's party then," she clapped her hands excitedly.

"Amen to that," Jose said and stood up from his chair as well, in a theatrical manner. "How do you Brits say it? Let's paint the town red!"

We all felt relieved by the change of tone and left the cafeteria terrace in renewed cheerfulness. We grabbed our stuff and started to head off towards the village where a night of unadulterated fun awaited us. Or so we thought, at the time.

# Chapter 9

"Mark, there you are!" my heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice. I turned around and got greeted by Nadia's smiling face coming through her collection of dreadlocks. It was a couple of hours since the others and I had walked the distance to the village, from our campsite, and we had, already, paid a lengthy visit to most of the village's bars.

The night was particularly warm, even for Mediterranean standards, and the majority of the evening crowd around us was drunk and cheerful. I could make out a lot of familiar faces from the campsite and the village, young backpackers that were touring the Aegean like us with nothing more than a tent and a backpack.

All of the modern musical tribes were represented. There were hippies, goths, punks and indies, all mingling and having fun together. Since we started bar hopping, earlier that evening, we had met a few of the friends we had made on the island and had the opportunity to share a drink with them.

Telemachus and Alice stayed together for most of the time, enjoying each other's company, whereas Jose and I felt more adventurous and tried to mingle as much as possible. Jose felt particularly amorous that night and asked me to be his wing man, as he called it, in his quest to find the perfect brunette. I did my duty as his friend but I ultimately stuck with him the whole time because I found his light-hearted attitude a refreshing change to the grim memories of the previous days.

After a considerable amount of drinks and having visited a wide array of the village's bars and cafeterias, including the infamous open air cafe where we got our night's share of laughter from the rudeness of the staff, we decided to head down to the seafront and hit the beach bar there. The bar was buzzing with people as it was a reggae-themed night so there was a copious amount of dreadlocks, colorful outfits and a hint of weed permeating the atmosphere.

Alice and Telemachus hit the dance floor as soon as we got there, joining the rest of the Rastafarian crowd in their boogie, whereas Jose started to chat with some girls we had met earlier in the village.

It was, as usual, up to me to go to the bar and fetch drinks for everyone but I didn't mind. I was having a fantastic time, the alcohol had already started to get to me, making me feel a bit tipsy, and I was being very appreciative of the positive vibes I was getting from the crowd on the dance floor.

"Uh, hello, Nadia!" I tried to greet her while juggling four cocktails in my hands.

"Careful!" she laughed. "You are going to spill your drinks!"

"Yeah I know."

God she looks so beautiful, I thought as I examined her under the rainbow lighting coming from the strobe lights above us. She looked more colorful than ever, wearing a funky, orange and green, cloth outfit that was loose on her but somehow succeeded in showcasing her slender figure. "Wait here for a second, I'll take these drinks to my friends and come back, is that okay?"

"Sure thing," she answered back smiling and took a sip from the bottle of beer she was holding. I couldn't make out Alice and Telemachus in the crowd so I headed straight to Jose who was still talking to those two girls. He was waving his arms a lot, putting up a good show, and the girls showed their appreciation to his antics by giggling in response.

"Perfect timing, compadre!" he shouted as I approached the three of them, cocktails in hand. "There you go girls, Mojitos for everyone!" he shouted and passed the drinks from my hands to the girls who seemed delighted by the gesture.

"But these two drinks are supposed to be for ..." I mumbled as they resumed their chat, now sipping on their new found drinks. "You know what, never mind, I'll catch you later Jose. I need to go and talk to someone."

Jose half-nodded to me as I took off to find Nadia. She was still waiting by the bar, beer in hand and moving slowly to the tune of the music. I waved at her as I approached and she waved back smiling.

"I thought you were coming up the mountain to find me the other day. I was waiting for you," she complained.

"Yeah, about that," I stammered. "The thing is, I did manage to convince my friends to visit the waterfalls that are higher up on the mountain side but what happened was that we ended up getting lost on the way."

"What?" she giggled. "Didn't you, guys, just follow the goat trail?"

"Well yeah, but here's the thing, I think we might have taken a wrong turn somewhere and then we had a storm appearing out of nowhere so we had to find cover. To cut a long story short, we had to be rescued by the fire brigade two days later."

"Oh my god, that sounds horrendous yet funny at the same time!" she carried on giggling. I didn't mind her laughing at me, it made her face look all the more cute. We chatted a bit, talking mostly about our lives back home and some of the stuff we were engaged in until, with a little help from my tipsiness, I found the courage to take her hands in my own.

"I did want to come find you. I want you to know this," I said softly while staring into her hazel blue eyes.

"It's a shame you didn't make it," she met my stare with her own. We stood there for a moment transfigured with each other, unaware of the noise and the crowd around us, underneath the starlit night sky as if we were the only people alive on the island, alone in that small piece of paradise. A few seconds into our stare we noticed the music change, the deejay deciding to switch into something more melodic and less upbeat.

"Would you like to dance," I asked her with bated breath.

"I'd thought you'd never ask!" she smiled and took my hand.

We stood by the edge of the dance floor, alongside the other couples there, holding each other in our arms while we moved together slowly to the melodic downbeat tempo of the music. I felt butterflies fly around in my stomach as my senses got overwhelmed by her gentle touch, the smell of her hair and the warmth of her presence next to me.

Am I really falling in love with this girl, I pondered as I held her close to me. This is one of the best nights of my life. We leaned closer to each other, as if we could read each other's thoughts, our lips coming together in a tender kiss. I closed my eyes and let myself go.

In that moment, as I kissed this beautiful girl who had so unexpectedly entered my life, I felt like nothing else mattered in the world.

Not my old life in London and not my Master's degree nor the cave and the freakish accident we had had in there. It was just me and her, alone in the universe, locked together in a passionate embrace.

Our kiss was soon interrupted by the sound of the crowd breaking into a cheer. The deejay had decided that we had enough of a rest and he was coming back with a vengeance, lining up one blast beat after the other. The dance floor was again filled with people jumping around and dancing to the rhythm of the upbeat tunes.

"Wow, everyone's having a great time," Nadia shouted over the loud music while running her fingers through my hair.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I shouted back as I held her in my arms.

"Do you want to go for a walk by the sea?" she winked.

"I'd love to!"

She took my hand and we made our way towards the seafront. We took off our sandals and ran in the wet sand by the sea laughing while small waves sprinkled water all over our feet. The sea was calm and beautiful and reflected the light from the myriad of stars shining above us creating a dream-like scenery.

We walked holding hands for a bit until we reached the tip of the small peninsula that cut the coastline in two. I grabbed her arms gently and held her close to me. Our lips met again in a kiss that seemed to last for an eternity.

"I think I might have fallen for you, Nadia Adler," I told her as we caught our breath after our kiss.

"I know," her eyes glimmered in the dark with the light of the stars. "I feel the same the way, Mark Prior."

Her words could not have brought me more happiness and I kissed her again, my heartbeat racing like a ticking time bomb.

"I don't want this night to end," I told her, drowning in the blueness of her eyes.

"Me neither," she answered back, a dreamy expression drawn on her face. Just for a moment, I imagined I had witnessed a small fleeting frown form on her eyebrows.

"What's wrong," I asked. "You know you can tell me if something's bothering you."

"I know," she looked down at our feet digging into the wet sand. She then lifted her head up to look into my eyes. "It's just that we only found each other tonight, and my friends and I have arranged to leave tomorrow."

My heart sank.

You can't catch a break, now, can you, Mark, I thought.

"You are going back to Germany?" I finally asked, not being able to hide my disappointment.

"Yes, my friends and I are taking the morning boat to the mainland. From there, we are going to catch a flight back to Berlin."

I sighed heavily.

It doesn't matter, you can still make this work, my mind raced to come up with possible solutions. You've, just, admitted to her that you've fallen for her and you're giving up at the first sign of difficulty?

I lifted her chin up gently and smiled. "It doesn't matter, I am going back to England soon as well. I haven't tried making a long distance relationship work before but I am sure I'll be up to the challenge."

"So, are we in a relationship right now?" she grinned.

Damn, did I say the wrong thing again?

"Yes?" I answered cautiously.

"Good answer!" she threw her arms around my neck before our lips met again.

"I know!" she said enthusiastically a few seconds into our kiss. "It's the perfect opportunity for a night swim!"

Before I had the chance to say anything, she took her top off and started pulling her trousers down.

"You're wearing your swimsuit underneath your clothes," I scratched my chin at the sight of her beautiful figure.

"Always!" she laughed and ran into the sea. She took a dive into the dark waters, highlighting her voluptuous backside, and broke the surface of the sea waving her arms in the air. "Mark!" she shouted, catching her breath. "The water is nice and cool, come join me!"

What the hell, I thought and stripped down to my boxer shorts, throwing my clothes into a pile on the sand just next to Nadia's.

I ran into the sea and dived into the cold waters with a large splash. The coolness of the water electrified my senses, sobering me up. "Wow!" I said, trying to catch my breath. "The water feels electrifying!"

"So do you," she whispered seductively as she swam next to me putting her arms around my neck. I used my lower body strength to hold her in my arms and kissed her passionately. As we kissed, I felt her toned legs wrap around my waist.

I grabbed her thighs and held her there as my legs worked overtime to keep us both afloat. I started kissing her neck towards her chest while she stroked my wet hair. She let out a slight moan and I felt a fire light up inside of me. I kept planting kisses on her neck, when she gently took my head into her hands and looked deeply into my eyes.

"I think we should get out of the water and go to your tent, don't you think?" she whispered.

"I think you are right," I breathed out. We swam together towards the shore, trying to cool ourselves down in the process. We got out of the water and started putting our clothes back on.

"Here, use my t-shirt to dry yourself," I offered her the red clothing item. "I'll go bare-chested until it dries, it shouldn't take long with this heat."

"Well, you certainly have the figure to pull the look off, Mark Prior," she smirked.

I blushed and she laughed. "You are so cute when you're shy!"

"I am only shy around you, I think," I said, thankful of the darkness covering my red cheeks.

"Come on! Let's get back to the bar. Our friends are probably looking for us."

We held hands and walked towards the beach bar. I was reciting all the funny incidents we had since we arrived on the island while she giggled. She had a few funny ones herself mainly involving insects, water snakes and the rest of the creepy crawlies that she and her friends had to deal with while camping on the mountain's side.

As we drew closer to the bar, I noticed something strange going on. The dance floor was empty and the crowd had formed a circle around a group of people. I got a bad feeling about it and searched for my friends.

Telemachus and Alice were nowhere to be seen. Jose, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of the dance floor holding a bottle of beer, the two girls he was with earlier on still by his side, and he was pointing at a group of guys standing in front of him with a dazed look on their face.

After closer examination I noticed that it was none other than the bodybuilder goon squad I had a run-in with on the ferry when we were traveling to the island. They were wearing similar outfits, cropped t-shirts designed to show their muscle tone and tight Bermuda shorts. They were still covered in their ridiculous looking bling and they even had their sun glass visors on the top of their heads.

Nothing like Jose getting into trouble the minute I am away, I thought, and tried to get closer to my friend by navigating through the crowd with Nadia walking next to me. As we slowly pushed through the crowd, I tried to take a good look at the scene that was unfolding in front of us. I was worried that Jose was about to get his head kicked in by those bouncer types but the closer we got to them the more different the situation seemed to be compared to what I had originally thought.

The four guys standing opposite my friend had a very confused look about them. It wasn't like they seemed the intelligent types that first time I ran into them but this time they looked like they were about to start drooling.

Their faces were locked in a permanent state of confusion and bedazzlement. Jose was pointing at them laughing, taking wild swigs from his beer. He was obviously drunk but I couldn't figure out what exactly he was up to. When we finally managed to get to the dance floor, I saw him lift his finger up and point it at the four guys.

"As an apology to me and my friends here," he slurred, in his drunken stupor, and waved towards the two girls who were giggling uncontrollably. "I demand that you show us how sorry you are for spoiling our good time with a gesture of sincere regret!"

What is he on about, why are these guys just standing there looking like goofs, I thought alarmed at the situation.

"What shall we ask them to do girls?" he continued. The girl on his left put her hand over her mouth and whispered something in his ear, before erupting in laughter.

"Good idea!" Jose shouted waving his bottle of beer in the air, his drink spilling all over the people who were standing close to him. Strangely enough, they didn't seem to mind. Instead, they continued to cheer him on. I looked around perplexed at the faces of the people around us.

They all looked transfigured into what was taking place in front of them, like they were locked in a state of mass hypnosis. They seemed delighted with Jose's antics and kept cheering him on.

"It's quite fitting that there's four of you," my friend carried on. "I want you in pairs, you with him, and you with the other guy," he waved his hands at them. To my surprise, they did exactly as they were told, without any sign of resistance.

This is very strange, there's something weird going on here and I am not sure I want to know what it is. I turned around and looked at Nadia. She, too, looked transfixed at the scene, a smile painted on her lips. I tried to talk to her but to no avail, she was, completely and utterly, ignoring me as I stood next to her trying to catch her attention. I started feeling very worried at the prospect of my girlfriend being affected by whatever seemed to be going on around us.

"Now that you're in pairs," I heard Jose's voice coming through. "I want you to punch each other in the stomach really hard. I want you to follow my instructions and time it very carefully so you hit each other at the same time!"

What is he talking about. Everyone in here must have gone completely mad!

"On your mark! Get set, go!" he shouted and the four men complied to his instructions. I must have had the most disbelieving look on my face as I watched the four men punch each other in the gut and double over in pain from the blow.

The crowd went wild cheering and laughing at the spectacle of the four men knocking each other out.

Whatever is going on, I need to put an end to it, I thought and ran to my friend. I put my hand on his shoulder and turned him around to face me.

"Oh there you are, compadre!" he took a chug from his bottle of beer. "You're just in time to witness the show! These guys were acting all tough but I am going to show them what's what!"

"Jose, mate, I don't know what you think you are doing but you need to put a stop to it, whatever it is, before someone gets hurt badly," I tried to talk some sense to him.

"Compadre, I don't like your tone, you are spoiling my good time!" he said through clenched teeth. It wasn't like him to get angry with me like that so I was convinced that something was up.

"Jose, I need you to stop whatever mind trick your are playing with everyone because my girlfriend is getting affected and I am going to have none of it," I continued in a tone of exasperation.

"No one tells me when to stop!" he spat back. "I'll stop whenever I want and you'd better back off if you want to stay on my good side!"

I felt a wave of an unseen force hit me and staggered backwards. I looked at my friend and heard a strange voice in the back of my head, telling me how much I adored him and what a jerk I was for being so rude to him.

Why am I feeling this, what is he doing to me, my thoughts scrambled to make sense of the situation, as an indescribable feeling of adoration for his persona started to overtake me.

I felt completely enthralled and wished nothing else other than him telling me what I could do to please him. I was ready to fall down on my knees and cry for his forgiveness and love when a surge of clarity flooded my senses. It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of icy water over my head dispelling all my previous uncanny notions of adoration for my friend.

I AM IN CONTROL, NOT HIM. ONLY ME, an icy cold voice echoed inside my head. Jose's eyes widened as he realized that his influence on me was broken.

"It's not working on you is it?" he whispered.

"Jose, I am not going to repeat my self. I want you to stop whatever you are doing to these people immediately!" I said in a stern voice. I was angry and wasn't ready to be trifled with again, by him or anyone else.

"Yes, of course," he threw his head down in shame. "I am sorry, Mark, I never intended to do this to you or to these people. I got carried away by the power, I don't know what's gotten over me," he mumbled more to himself than me.

"It doesn't matter, just do what you have to do to end it."

"Yes, let me try," he said and, hastily, moved towards the crowd. "I want everyone to return to whatever they were doing and continue to have a great time. Let's all forget this nasty business and go back to our holidays!" He clicked his fingers in emphasis.

The people on the dance floor blinked and looked around in confusion, a spell lifted from their minds. The deejay panicky resumed the music and everyone went on about their business, albeit looking a bit shaken and confused. I grabbed my friend by the arm and made him follow me to a quiet spot on the beach.

"Do you mind explaining to me what that was all about?" I growled at him.

"I don't know where to start," he said apologetically and turned his head to stare at the sea, a look of longing on his eyes. "The sea here reminds me of my family's house in Valencia." He turned around and looked at me, a bitter expression painted on his face. "I never told you what happened when I left London, did I," he said in a hushed tone.

"No," I replied, taken slightly aback from this apparent display of change to his character. "You can tell me anything you want, Jose. I am and always will be your friend. You can trust me," I said in earnest. "But right now, I want you to tell me about how exactly you have learned to mass hypnotize the crowds."

"Yeah, that ..." his voice trailed off. He exhaled deeply and turned his head again to gaze at the dark waters splashing gently onto the sand. "I think what you saw me doing back there might be my version of the gift," he said, finally.

"What do you mean," I asked him but I already knew what he was going to say next.

"The gift from the artifact in that cave," he replied. "You know how Mac can turn into a ghost now, and run through things and fly? Well I think I might have found what my special power is."

"Go on," I egged him on.

"It all started this afternoon when we went to the village to buy food and drinks. When I looked at the people around me, I was able to see this light forming around them, like an aura of some sorts. At first, I thought I was hallucinating and hoped that it would go away. But the more time I spent around people, the more visible it became."

"Did you tell the others about this?"

"No, mate, like I told you I thought I was hallucinating, maybe because we were all so tired and hungry. But it didn't go away, even after I ate and drank like a pig. It kinda became stronger."

"So you can see my aura around me right now?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes, and it looks like you're a bit pissed off at me," he replied sheepishly.

"What did you say," I blurted out, while trying to form a visual representation of his power in my head. "You can tell how the other person is feeling by their aura?"

"Yes," he said solemnly. "If the person is hostile or angry at me, their aura looks all spiky and jittery, but if they are friendly or if they like me, they look like they are glowing." He paused for a second. "But it's not just that ..."

"You've discovered that you can manipulate that aura to your liking, essentially forcing the other person to feel whatever you want them to, haven't you," I finished his sentence for him, a tone of disapproval audible in my words.

"Well yeah, but it was an accident!" he protested. "I was having a great time with those girls at the bar and I was positive they liked me because their auras were all over the place when they talked to me, until those goons had to come over and ruin everything!"

"Tell me what happened," I tried to calm him down.

"Well it turns out that one of those girls was related to one of those guys, she was his second cousin or something like that. So they all came over where we were standing and he started to shout at her and throw me evil looks. Their auras were so spiky, I thought they'd poke my eyes out with them."

"Carry on."

"I tried to tell them that my intentions, for his cousin and her friend, were pure but I think that got him even more angry."

"I can imagine," I had witnessed this scenario play out too many times in the past. Jose's cheeky demeanor was often mistaken for sarcasm by many people.

"So this guy, puta di madre, he got so angry at me he actually pushed me. I was a bit drunk so I fell down on the floor."

"Ouch."

"And what did the rest of his gang do? They started pointing at me and laughing. So I got up and I swear, I never thought about doing what I did, up until that point. I kinda reached with my mind and turned their auras like a lever, all the way up until they were all glowing."

"Like a lever?" I asked emphatically.

"I don't know how else to explain it. I feel like I can kinda turn the lever, like we do with a wrench, on everyone's auras and change their attitudes towards me."

"Did you do that to everyone at the bar?"

"Yeah, after these guys started being all obedient and eager to please me, I thought I'd turn the likeness meter on everyone else too, so I didn't get exposed."

"Good thinking," I said dryly.

"Yeah well, like Mac said, I don't feel like becoming a lab rat in some governmental experiment, five floors beneath the ground," he shrugged.

"Why did you try to manipulate my aura, Jose?" I locked eyes with him.

He hung his head down. "I am really sorry, Mark, I don't know why I did that." He sounded really apologetic. "I admit I was feeling a bit drunk with all that power over those people, and you grabbing me like you did kinda brought me back down to reality hard." He lifted his head up and met my stern gaze "Can you forgive me? You are my best friend and I don't want to lose you."

I went silent for a few seconds and searched his face for a sign of his old true self. I found it there, hidden underneath the look of regret in his eyes. He was, still, the same lad from Spain, the one with whom I shared some of the best times of my life.

"Of course I can forgive you," I managed to break a smile. He let out a sigh of relief. "True friendship is tested under the hardest of conditions, isn't it? I think this qualifies as a test, having your friend try to mind control you," I said half-jokingly. "Just make sure you don't do it again."

"About that ..." he added, hesitantly. "I don't know if you felt it, but it seemed like your mind was only temporarily affected by my power. After a second or two, your aura seemed to reset itself, like it intentionally countered my influence and broke free of it."

"Yeah, I felt that too. I wondered why that happened."

"Maybe it was because you were touched by the lightning in the cave. Or maybe some people, like you, are naturally more resistant to my power," he shrugged his shoulders again and pulled out his tobacco pouch.

He's right, I thought while I stared at him rolling his tobacco between the little piece of paper. I did feel this strange strength come from within, when I fell under his influence. It felt like I was struck by that lightning storm again, I shuddered as the recollection of the feeling washed over me.

"So what do we do now?" Jose's voice brought me back. He had lit his little rolled up cigarette and was puffing away.

"You are going to go and find Mac and Alice wherever they have disappeared into, and tell them what happened." I checked the screen of my phone again. There were no new messages. "I am going to go back to the bar and see if my girlfriend is alright."

"Okay, I'll walk to the village and check the open air cafeteria and the other places that might be open, still. Maybe they went to grab some food, or something," he replied casually and started walking in the direction of the village.

I watched him walk away, like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, only minutes ago, and this was nothing more than just another night out. As he was walking away from me, puffing on his cigarette, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face me with a doubtful look on his face.

"Did my ears hear well?" he shouted. "Did you say girlfriend?"

I smirked to myself and shouted back. "Yes! Her name is Nadia, and she's the most gorgeous girl in the world!"

He lifted two fingers up in victory, then turned around and carried on walking.

I hope Nadia is alright and still around, I thought to myself worryingly as I walked back towards the bar. It'd be just my luck If she's gone.

# Chapter 10

Sir Robert Anderson walked down the busy street of Euston Road, in North London, on his way to the hospital. It was a warm July afternoon, like any other, and the gentle breeze in the air gave the city a note of summer carelessness.

It was nearly six o' clock and the roads were bustling with the masses of people finishing work and scurrying about to meet their friends and loved ones, either at home or at the various pubs and parks that were scattered throughout the city.

I see people smile and be cheerful around me, and all I can feel is anger, Anderson thought to himself. He was wearing a light summer suit that, strangely enough, felt heavy like it was holding his feet down, preventing him from walking properly, as he got closer to the hospital.

These were the moments that he felt the weight of the universe coming down on his frail shoulders, the unbearable cruelty of fate that poets and tragedians so often wrote about. He was one of the most high ranking officers, both in the country's secret service and in the Order, and yet there he was, walking down the same road he had learned to hate in order to perform his daily ritual of visiting his beloved daughter with nothing more than a bouquet of flowers in hand and hollow wishes of speedy recovery.

Julia Anderson, his one and only daughter, hadn't always been a sick child. It was almost two years ago, at the age of twenty one, when she was diagnosed with a disease called angioimmunoblastic lymphoma, a form of lymph node cancer that was extremely rare for young women of her age.

He remembered how devastated he was when they got the biopsy results and how he had to muster all of his inner strength to remain positive and optimistic for his little girl. The doctors, naturally, advised immediate treatment, specifically a series of chemotherapy sessions that had left his little girl frail and weak.

The initial results of the therapy were quite promising, the cancer had withdrawn and his little girl was able to pick up her life where she had left it. He recalled how hopeful he had felt that this would be the end of her health troubles.

It wasn't long until the cancer made its appearance again, this time more aggressive than ever, metastasizing in her lungs and kidneys.

The doctors had advised an even more exhaustive series of chemotherapy treatments that had drained her strength so much, she had to remain hospitalized until she could recover.

Until she can recover, Anderson clenched his teeth.

Those worthless doctors can do no more than speak in their cryptic tones and provide her with nothing more than a false sense of hope. I know what will come to pass, he thought as he quickened his pace, his anger awakening his muscles. She will either die by the cancer or by the chemotherapy and there's nothing I can do, for all my power, influence and wealth, to save her.

He stopped by the entrance of the hospital and looked upwards towards the sky. His daughter was kept in the intensive care ward for special treatments.

He had pulled all the strings at his disposal in order to ensure that she would get the best treatment that she possibly could, donating large sums of money to various affiliated organizations, which had bought him favors from the hospital's board of directors. At that point, however, even that seemed like a futile endeavor.

I need to be strong for my little angel, I can't let her see me like this, he tried to calm his nerves.

He composed himself, while waiting for the lift in the hospital's lobby, and put on his armor of feigned optimism, the mask he hid his feelings behind. An emotional armor he was certain too many a parent in the world had used before him.

The lift doors opened and he made his way into the ward walking down the corridor to reach the room where his daughter was. He forced himself to look forward not wanting to be distracted by other people displaying the feelings he worked so hard to keep buried. Just before he got to the room, a nurse stopped him and politely requested his attention.

She was wearing a serious and stern expression on her face, one that could only mean that she had been burdened with the task of delivering bad news to him. He stared at her while bracing himself emotionally.

"Mr. Anderson, good evening, how are you today, sir?" the nurse asked politely.

"Let's quit with the pleasantries and cut to the chase," he cut her off straight away. "What is it this time?"

"Yes, sir, well, the doctors advised that your daily visits should be restricted to a couple of minutes at a time. The treatments are particularly intensive at this stage and Ms. Julia requires all the rest that she can get without any emotional stress that visitors could, potentially, burden her with," she said in a polite but professional tone.

"Very well," Anderson answered. He was not in the mood to argue, plus he felt he had to remain composed for the benefit of his daughter.

He entered the room and walked quietly to her bed. There she was, his precious baby, lying on her bed with her eyes shut, looking so tired and weak, a pale resemblance of the energetic and cheerful child she used to be.

He walked to her side table and changed the flowers in the vase that was placed on it with fresh ones from his bouquet. He made sure that she had flowers next to her everyday, it had become a form of ritual for him that helped soothe his tortured soul if only but a little.

He then sat down on the chair and picked up her hand, clasping it inside the comfort of his own.

"I am awake, dad, you don't have to be all quiet," she said, her eyes still closed.

"I know, baby, don't mind your old man," he answered back in a quiet voice.

"How are you, dad? Is everything alright at work?"

"I am okay, baby, I am fine. Work's fine, don't concern your mind with me, just focus on yourself getting better," he replied.

"I am just trying to have a normal conversation, dad. You and mom don't have to tiptoe around me just because I am sick," she opened her eyes and smiled.

Her smile melted his heart. He wanted nothing more but to break down, on the spot, and cry like he never had before, unleashing the pent up grief that was eating him alive like a worm feeds on a rotten apple. Instead, he just smiled back and stroked her hand.

"Did mom come and see you this morning?" he asked her.

"Of course, dad. She comes every morning while you're at work, you know that," she replied slowly as if it required an increased amount of effort on her part to speak.

"Yes I do, sweetheart."

"Dad, I want to ask you something ..." her voice trailed off.

"Whatever you want, sweetheart."

"Dad, I want you and mom to arrange for some people to come and visit me. I want to start saying my goodbyes, before I ..." she interrupted herself with a small cough.

"I won't have you talking in this manner, young lady!" Anderson snapped back at her. It took him a second to recompose himself, then he carried on. "The doctors are very hopeful that this new line of treatment will ..."

"You don't have to lie to me, dad," she interrupted him. "I know it's not going very well and I am okay with it. I have accepted the fact that I'm probably not going to make it in the end. I am ready to go, dad."

"Please, sweetheart, don't talk like that, please don't lose hope. Do it for your old man," a muffled sob escaped Anderson's throat. She squeezed his hand weakly and smiled at him.

"It'll be okay. I love you and mom."

"I love you too, my little angel," Anderson found it incredibly difficult to withhold his tears from running down his chin. "I promise I will do whatever it takes to make you well. I will go to hell and back to get you back on your feet again."

"I know, dad." She rested her head on the pillow and shut her eyes. She had drifted off to sleep again. Anderson leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead. He felt her breathing as a calm, soothing breeze on his tear laden face.

"I'll let you sleep now, sweetheart," he said softly, speaking to himself.

He stood up from the chair and took a moment to wipe the tears from his face with a handkerchief. Then, he stormed out of the room.

"Get me Dr. Peterson. I want to talk to him about my daughter's condition," he snarled at the nurse sitting behind the front desk in the ward's lobby.

"Mr. Anderson, sir, Dr. Peterson is having a meeting with the board of directors, at the moment, and he has specifically requested not to be interrupted under any circumstance," she replied in an apologetic tone.

Anderson felt his veins ready to pop inside his head. "Get me the bloody doctor on the phone now or I swear that by the time I am finished with you lot, heads will roll!"

The nurse's eyes widened in terror. "Yes, sir, I'll try to make the call now, sir," she said hastily and picked up the phone on her desk. She whispered something anxiously, over the phone, then hung it up. "Dr. Peterson will speak to you now, sir. You can use the phone in the waiting room A, which is over there to your left."

By the time the nurse had finished her sentence, Anderson was, already, inside the room. He slammed the door shut behind him and picked up the phone from one of the tables.

"Is this Dr. Peterson I am speaking to?" he growled.

"Yes, Mr. Anderson, the head nurse has explained to me that you are very eager to talk to me about your daughter's condition, yes?" the doctor replied in a tone of impatience. "I understand that the head nurse has, also, sufficiently informed you of my current disposition ..."

"Listen to me, you charlatan!" Anderson shouted, interrupting him. "The last time we spoke you led me to believe that this new experimental treatment, you and the rest of your worthless associates were working on, was about to have some tangible results. Instead, I came in today to find my little girl all but completely gone!"

"Yes well, I understand your concern, Mr. Anderson, sir," the doctor's voice switched to a defensive tone. "You have to realize that, at this stage, all treatments we are prescribing are, like you mentioned, highly experimental and untested. We think we can suppress the cancer from spreading further, but we are unsure of the possible side effects a treatment like this may have on your daughter's other organs. We are, literally, sailing into unknown waters here but I would like to assure you that my colleagues and I remain, positively, optimistic."

"And what about the other tumors. Aren't they going to kill her eventually if all you do is stop their growth without, actually, eliminating them?" Anderson asked, his heart already sinking. He knew the doctor was just doing what all doctors were known to do in the face of impossible odds. He was trying to keep his hope alive.

"One step at a time, Mr. Anderson," the doctor replied. "At times like this, any doctor would tell you that they'd wish nothing else other than being able to transform into some Egyptian or Olympian god and call down lightning to cure their patients from their ailments but, unfortunately, we are confined by the limits of modern medical research and technology. Regardless ..."

Anderson's mind froze in the wake of the doctor's words. "What did you just say, doctor?" he said breathless.

The doctor, on the other side of the phone line, started to repeat himself but Anderson was no longer listening to him. He put the phone down and looked at the mirror hanging on the wall next to him. His face was rigged with excitement, his eyes wide with the realization of a possible solution to his drama.

How could I have been so blind, so stupid, he thought to himself.

The answer was right in front of me the whole time, yet, I was so caught up with the Order's mandate and Julia's sickness, I refused to acknowledge it.

Only two days had passed, since the highly unusual activation of four electromagnetic pulses in the Eastern Mediterranean basin and his department, together with associates from all around Europe and the United States, were still looking for them.

The Clergy has always focused on the elimination of the Lucidi, but they have never, actually, spoken of the positive aspects of their powers ... or how their wielders have chosen to use them in the past. His mind raced like crazy in lieu of this realization.

Maybe if I can capture these newly activated Lucidi, I can explore the possibility of one them being able to cure Julia's cancer. Of course the High Council requires their immediate termination, but what if I got to them first, somehow ...

His eyes gleamed like those of a caged man who had finally found a way out of his maze after years of imprisonment.

Naturally, I'd have to find a way to convince my superiors in the Order that the capture of the specimens would be beneficial to furthering the Order's goals. The High Priests are, most likely, going to reject this idea, which would leave me with only one solution. Find them first, and apprehend them myself.

He shuddered at the thought of what would happen to him, and his wife, if he was found to actively work against the wishes of the Council but that thought didn't dissuade him.

Julia's life is more important than anything else in the world. I will find these Lucidi and I will make them an offer they can't refuse.

He grinned at his reflection in the mirror, revealing a perfect set of white teeth under a well groomed mustache, and stormed out of the room.

I need to brief agent Ravenhawk on my little change of plans, he thought as he ran to the staircase.

"Mr. Anderson, the doctor told me your conversation was interrupted. Would you like me to call him back for you, sir?" the nurse shouted at him as he ran past but it was too late. He was, already, gone.

# Chapter 11

Major Christopher Wold, widely know as Ravenhawk in many a military circle, was a man that knew how to enjoy life's pleasures. At the age of thirty two, he had already more than ten years worth of combat experience under his belt and an array of medals for his valiant contributions to Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

He had enlisted, like many other boys and girls of his generation, to the army for lack of anything better to do in his economically deprived home city of Newcastle, in the north of England. What he didn't realize, at the time, was the kind of good soldier he'd turn out to be when it came to fighting the enemies of the Crown around the world.

Early on, during the period of his basic military training, he showed incredible promise and an astonishing ability for being good with his rifle, which in turn earned him a spot to train with the best in the sharpshooter division of the SAS. After his training was finished, he spent the next two years traveling from base to base, around the world, and putting his gifts into good practice in various peace-keeping related missions.

It wasn't until he was stationed in Afghanistan that his real capacity, as a man who got the job done, became unquestionably visible to his superiors. In the six years he spent stationed in that war torn hellhole of the universe, Wold had managed to achieve a near hundred percent success rate in the missions he was assigned to, leading his company of men, as company sergeant, to one victory after another.

His group's fame, as the perfect band of gunmen, grew rapidly, seeing as they were more than capable of operating behind enemy lines even under the most dire circumstances. His reputation as a very efficient killer also grew in the midst of the enemy Taliban troops and officers who gave him the nickname Ravenhawk, the one who strikes terror into the hearts of those he faces.

After achieving the rank of Major he was approached by Her Majesty's Secret Service and was asked to participate in a new anti-terrorist initiative where he'd be responsible for organizing and leading groups of field agents in mostly espionage operations that targeted high ranking officials from around the world.

He readily accepted since he had had his share of a lifetime of being in the desert and after nearly seven years of risking his life, and that of his fellow soldiers in high risk operations, it was time for him to try something new.

Life as a secret agent was fun and exciting for him. He got to travel around cosmopolitan destinations, all expenses paid by the service, meet beautiful women and have access to all the latest military technology in the form of expensive gadgets.

He felt he had cheated the system, living the life of a movie star without being incredibly handsome or having a wealthy heritage. He was just a regular lad, born and bred in the maritime docks of the grim English north, who managed to climb the social ladder easily, using his god-given gift for killing. Furthermore, the best thing about it was, according to him, that the people who signed his six figure paychecks wanted him to be exactly that.

After two years of being in the service, he managed to cross paths with a certain Director of Operations of some obscure division of the secret service that dealt with supernatural hocus pocus. His name was Sir Robert Anderson and Wold quickly became interested in the older man and the top secret operations he had under his command, which were always entwined in an aura of mystery.

He had grown a bit tired of the life of the eavesdropper on high ranking officials and while getting to secretly sleep with their posh wives and spoiled daughters was an added perk of the job he was itching to get back to the business of military action. His extensive experience as a field operative granted him the audition he desired with the old man and, soon after, he started working in the prestigious Bureau for E.M.F. Activity.

At first, Wold didn't take seriously what the old man had told him about the modus operandi of the Bureau. He thought that all this mumbo jumbo about people being able to control the earth's elements and do all sorts of supernatural stuff, the kind you'd only see in films, was just a cover up for doing other kinds of dirty work, the kind that even governmental officials had little knowledge of.

He had experience of such work, back in Afghanistan, with missions that, more often than not, involved the assassination of high profile politicians or businessmen and had to be wrapped up under the cover of some ridiculous terrorist threat scenario. However, the more time he spent next to the old man, the more he started to experience a world that had been hidden from him throughout his whole life. The old man had taken a liking to him and confided in him more the longer he spent at his side.

Wold learned about the existence of a secret Orders of Knights of sorts called the Clergy and the Inquisition, respectively, who had fought these superhumans since the dawn of human civilization. He'd also gotten the impression that the old man was, almost certainly, preparing him for something big since he routinely asked him to perform certain undercover jobs that were clearly outside the Bureau's field of operation or, even, the law.

He appreciated the old man's trust who, as he once told him, was preparing him to become his successor. Thus, he willingly, and very effectively, performed espionage or entrapment for other field agents or even lesser political and entrepreneurial personas, all to suit the older man's hidden agenda and personal goals.

The highlight of his involvement with the Bureau was, however, when the old man sent him to China, to provide support to Chinese officials going after one of those superhumans in a district of Wudang mountain. It was the first time he had witnessed anything like that in his life.

While keeping above the fray, he saw, with his own eyes on one of the surveillance monitors, a frail old Chinese monk obliterate a whole city, turning buildings and people into dust with nothing more than just a few waves of his hands. Wold was shocked to his core, never in his life had he imagined such a power possible, and yet there it was in front of him performing the unthinkable.

When Anderson had his holidays revoked he knew, in his gut, that the old man was sending him after one of those freaks. He was briefed twice, once in the Bureau and afterwards by the old man himself. The second briefing took place three days later in an abandoned warehouse in South London.

He was used to getting briefed multiple times since those second and third briefings, usually, involved work that needed to take place behind the Bureau's back. When he met him in the warehouse he realized he had, never, seen the old man so excited before. His eyes were gleaming with a hidden purpose as he delivered to him the specifics of his mission.

He was to travel to Greece, immediately, and try to find and approach the freaks as soon as he could, preferably before the agents of the Bureau and the authorities that were working with them did. He was going to be on a live feed from the agency, having all pieces of intelligence become available to him as they were collected by the Bureau's operatives.

His mission was to deliver an encrypted message to the freaks, kept on a flash drive, and, if possible, warn them about the danger they were in, providing them with tips of the tactics employed by the Bureau to capture them.

Wold was puzzled by the fact that the old man was, essentially, ordering him to help those freaks get away but he had learned to stay quiet, since the old man's ulterior motives were, more often than not, incomprehensible to him until the endgame was revealed.

So there he was, one day later, strolling around the cobble-stoned picturesque streets of Mykonos island trying to find a needle in a haystack. Anderson had sent him some fresh intelligence the day before, intelligence that was gathered from hearsay about certain bizarre events transpiring on a boat that had the island as its final destination.

Those bizarre events involved a group consisting of four young people in their twenties, three guys and a girl.

He had managed to keep that vital piece of information from the rest of the field operatives so Wold estimated that he had roughly twenty four hours, maybe less, to find the group of freaks before the island got swarmed by agents. He smiled at the two sexy young things passing by, giggling at him, as he walked towards the most vibrant neighborhood of the island's capital.

He was planning to do a quick sweep of the place as reconnaissance before checking out the rest of the most remote areas on the island.

It was almost midday and the streets were buzzing with people, a mixture of wealthy individuals and high profile jet setters that frequented destinations like this one. He brushed through the crowd and made his way up the steps of a popular cafe, situated in one of the most central locations.

He chose a table that had a perfect view of the promenade below him. It was the optimal position to keep a check on the crowd passing by and elaborate on his next moves. He took out a cigar from the pocket of his white linen shirt and cut the edge off.

"I am sorry, sir, but I am afraid this table is reserved," the, mildly annoying, voice of a waiter standing next to him interrupted his ritual of cigar lighting. "I am sure I can find you another table inside our beautiful establishment, if you don't mind following me, sir."

Wold lit up his cigar, despite the rude interruption, and took a few puffs before acknowledging the young boy. He blew smoke towards the direction of the waiter's face, gauging for a reaction. The boy was trained well, he didn't say anything, but instead continued to smile.

"I kinda like it here, mate," he finally said. "It gives me a perfectly good view of those hot birds parading in their bikinis underneath us."

The waiter's smile didn't falter. "I can understand and sympathize, sir, but as I've said, I am afraid this table is reserved."

Wold let out a light sigh. He put his hand in the pocket of his light brown, linen trousers and pulled out a two hundred euro note from the big roll he kept in there. He passed it, casually, to the waiter whose eyes immediately sparkled at the sight of the yellow note. "Here's a tip for you to bring me a whiskey sour with loads of ice in it. You can keep the change for your trouble."

"Very well, sir. Whiskey sour on the rocks coming right up. Enjoy the view, sir," the waiter's smile widened, as he grabbed the note and headed inside.

Wold put on his expensive designer shades, he had on the top of his head, and took a few puffs from his cigar. Behind the shades his eyes scanned the incoming passers-by like a hawk searching for its prey.

"Yes, is that room service? I want two more bottles of your best champagne delivered to suite A2 please, plus some food, I am not sure what, surprise me with a choice of your best delicacies," Jose's voice echoed in the luxury suite behind us.

The rest of us were resting on the sun loungers outside on the terrace, next to the suite's own private pool, gazing at the blazing midday sun reflecting its golden rays on the vastness of the blue ocean that spread in front us.

The hotel was one of the most expensive art-themed hotels on the island and was built inside the rock of a cliff overhanging the sea. It, literally, gave you the impression of floating above the waters that splashed on the rocky slopes below us.

Alice and Mac were lying on their loungers on my left, their shades on, sipping on their drinks and nibbling on their oysters while giggling about something. I was busy chatting to Nadia on the designer tablet, courtesy of the hotel, asking her about her plans of moving to the United Kingdom.

A week had passed since the night at the bar where we had to part ways. I recalled the details of that night in my head as I typed my responses to her on the messenger application we were using to chat.

I remembered how I had tried to find her at the beach bar, after my little run-in with my friend, just after he had demonstrated his ability to charm people and influence their attitudes towards him and how panicked I had felt when I discovered that she was nowhere to be seen.

I also remembered running into her brunette-haired friend, the one I had met on the boat, who, apparently, was tasked with delivering a hastily-written letter from her to me. As it turned out, as soon as we got separated at the bar, another friend of hers had found her bringing her some unfortunate news.

A girl in their group had broken her leg when she attempted to climb one of the large oak trees that were situated in the village's square. She had tried to pull it off as part of a drinking game challenge. The girl had to be driven to the island's capital, where she was going to receive immediate treatment at the modest medical center. From there, due to the limitations of the medical facilities, she was going to be transferred over in a helicopter to the hospital in the mainland where she'd undergo surgery.

Nadia, on hearing this news, had immediately left to be with her best friend and accompany her on her helicopter journey to the mainland's hospital. From there, after they were done with the surgery, they planned to catch a flight to Germany as soon as her friend was able to travel.

The girl who had given me the letter was responsible for gathering Nadia's personal belongings from their campsite on the mountain as well as passing the letter over to me. The hastily scribbled letter contained her phone number, her email address and her address in Berlin, all written above a huge heart drawn down in the bottom with our initials in it.

I chuckled at the memory of how much disappointment I had felt over the fact that we wouldn't be able to spend the night together but also how quickly I had gotten over it, displaying a level of maturity I thought I wasn't capable of. Nadia had shown me that she was as much into me as I was into her and I wasn't planning on rushing anything with her and blowing my chance of a promising future.

I lifted my eyes from the electronic device and rested them upon the light blue ocean. I had spent the whole morning lazying around messaging her on the tablet, while the others stayed in their beds until early midday, sleeping and trying to recover from the previous all-night partying.

Nadia had, only just, returned to Germany and she was back to work where she acted as a personal assistant to the editor of a popular German music magazine. She had undertaken an internship there, planning to accumulate some work experience in the media industry in order to have a better chance of entry into a good university for post-graduate study.

I had come up with the idea that she should study in London, in one of the city's many universities or colleges, and that she could stay with me until she found a place of her own in my apartment in Camberwell. She had gotten very enthusiastic about it and she said she was giving it serious thought.

I hadn't told her about our stay in Mykonos, since questions would arise as to how we were able to afford such a trip but instead I'd told her that we were touring the rest of the country's northern islands, backpacking and setting camp from one place to another.

I didn't like lying to her but I didn't feel ready either to share the unbelievable circumstances surrounding our incident in Samothrace and the mysterious gifts that were bestowed on some of us. Especially when I replayed my friend's latest antics through my mind.

"Are you still talking with your girlfriend, Mark," Alice interrupted my typing with her voice. She was sitting on her lounger applying sun screen lotion on her arms. She had a cheeky smile on her face.

"He's in love our boy," Telemachus' voice came muffled from next to her. He was lying face down on his lounger in an effort to tan his back.

"You know, darling, I think for the first time that he is," Alice lifted her designer shades, resting them on top of her head, and winked at me. Jose had taken us all shopping at the island's most exclusive boutiques where we had gotten new designer outfits to wear to try and mingle with the rest of the crowd. He had mostly used his gift to charm people into giving us stuff for free then asking them to forget about the experience as we strolled out of their shop. This was happening, for the most part, continuously for the past week since we had left the island of Samothrace.

It was after our little incident at the beach bar, where Alice and Mac were nowhere to be seen, that Jose and I had decided to go back to the campsite, only to find them snuggling in their tent. I had made Jose come clean about everything that had happened that night and how he had realized that he had the power to control people's emotions.

To my surprise, Telemachus became very enthusiastic with Jose's recollection of the night's events to the point that he made me feel a bit uneasy for coming down so hard on him.

Telemachus had started to ramble, continuously, as how him and Jose should start using their abilities in ways that would promote our financial welfare. He also kept going on about how excited he was with anticipation, regarding how the rest of our powers were going to manifest.

At that point, I hadn't given much thought to the prospect of having supernatural powers, it was something that just wasn't on my mind. I was more focused on how I was going to meet up with Nadia again and how our relationship would evolve. Jose was, actually, the one that had come up with the idea of us touring the islands for free, picking the expensive destination of Mykonos as the island to visit next.

At first, I felt uneasy with the prospect of having him force people to do our bidding in order for us to have a good summer time, one that we couldn't afford otherwise, but Telemachus was the one who had rationalized it and had made the whole concept seem harmless. He had said that no one would get hurt and that people in rich destinations would suffer no substantial losses by having the four us enjoy a few freebies here and there.

Alice was also hesitant at first but, just like me, she quickly warmed up to the idea. So it was decided, we were to sail for the cosmopolitan destination of Mykonos and enjoy the rest of our summer holidays there alongside the rich and the wealthy of the world.

Thus, the past week was spent with our gang going shopping in expensive designer boutiques, dining al fresco in restaurants catered by celebrity chefs, and partying hard in the most popular nightclubs, all courtesy of Jose snapping his fingers and having everyone rush to accommodate us. I had to admit to myself that, despite my initial reservations, these were the best summer holidays I had had in a very long time.

"It's not the first time he fell so hard for a girl," Jose's voice sounded behind us as he entered the balcony holding a bucket filled with ice and a bottle of expensive looking champagne. He saw my face turn red and hastily changed the conversation.

"There's some weird looking food sitting on the trays inside the room if anyone's feeling hungry," he said and began to pull the cork out of the bottle. It took but a few seconds and the cork flew in the air with a light pop.

"So what are we doing for our last weekend in Greece," I asked packing the tablet away. Nadia had to go and do some chores so we had renewed our rendezvous, over the net, for the next day.

"I want to go the capital and chill out at the beach," Alice chimed in. She held her champagne glass up while Jose poured her a refill.

"I am game, whatever, as long as it doesn't involve clubbing and loud music," Telemachus said in a muffled tone, still lying on his front.

"Okay well, listen up, I have a plan," Jose took a chug from the champagne bottle after filling my glass. Telemachus was abstaining from alcohol consumption, still plagued by a hangover from the previous night's excessive drinking. "There is this really remote little island a couple of miles from here where they take you with a sailboat, and apparently it has one of the most beautiful beaches this side of the Mediterranean." He took another chug from the bottle. "And I want to see it before we go."

Everyone groaned in despair.

"Jose, sweetheart, I don't think we should go to a remote beach with some of us hungover like this. Plus, how many varieties of different beaches can there be. We must have, pretty much, seen them all by now," Alice started but there was no changing his mind.

"Nope, we are going. I've made up my mind, I am not leaving for Spain before I visit that beach."

"Fine, fine," Alice threw her arms in the air in frustration. "But first, let's go grab proper brunch in that amazing sandwich place on the town's promenade, you know, the one we went to when we first arrived here."

"Yeah, I want one of the giant submarine sandwiches before we leave. I don't think I've eaten anything remotely like that before," Telemachus said and turned around to lie on his back.

"It's decided then!" Jose cheered. "I'll put the champagne in the fridge and we can go!"

He jumped off of his lounger and headed towards the inside of the suite. The rest of us looked at each other and chuckled.

The sandwich bistro, located on the main promenade of the island's main town, was packed with people but, as usual, this didn't stop our little gang from getting a good table with a view to the road. I was relieved to see the waiters and the owners did not recognize us from the previous time we'd been there, before Jose performed his magic again and had them rushing to cater to our whims.

I felt a guilty pleasure as I sat on my chair, next to the others, and chomped down my giant, ham and pineapple, submarine sandwich. We had received a couple of evil looks as we went past the queue to sit at our table but most of the crowd ignored us since queue jumping was a common occurrence on an island filled with celebrities.

"I can't believe you are putting fruit in every single little thing you eat, Mark," Alice commented as she went through her own sandwich. She had gone for the shrimp and salad cream option, whereas Jose and Telemachus had both gotten the fried beef and bacon extravaganza.

"Yeah, I know," I said as I chewed down a particularly big chunk of the sweetest, most juicy, pineapple I had tried in years. "I seem to have developed a taste for fresh fruit this summer."

"Do you know that pineapple actually makes your sperm taste all sweet and fruity, compadre," Jose said cheekily. Alice and Telemachus erupted in laughter.

"No I didn't know, Jose. Thanks for letting me know, I'll make sure I keep that in mind," I answered dryly and carried on eating. I turned my gaze to the crowd walking past us and casually glanced at the funky outfits some of the people were wearing.

All of a sudden, I stopped chewing my food as I took notice of him, a man, sitting opposite us, who was staring at us with increased curiosity.

He was tall, thin, and was sitting, on his own, at the cafe opposite our own on the other side of the road, dressed in colorful shorts and a red Hawaiian shirt. He made no effort to hide the fact that he was particularly interested in our group's affairs.

He seemed to be middle aged, with blonde hair, piercing black eyes, a hawkish nose and a long chin covered by a carefully trimmed goatee.

At first, I thought it was just some random person being casually curious about our group but when he realized I had clocked him, his expression changed to that of a cunning smile.

He put his finger in front of him mouth, motioning me to be quiet, then wore the white straw hat he had on his table and took off towards the inside of the cafe. I turned around and looked at my friends. They were all caught up in their playful banter and looked like they had missed the strange man in the red shirt.

"Guys, I think we should get going, I am not sure I like this place," I said, interrupting their chat.

"Mark, you need to watch out, compadre, or you'll be officially labeled as the company's party poop-er," Jose laughed. Alice noticed the change in my behavior and raised a questionable eyebrow at me.

"Are you feeling alright, Mark," she asked.

"Yeah, I am great," I shrugged. "I just want to get going, this place's buzz is getting to me. I feel like some peace and quiet."

"Yes, I feel the same," Telemachus agreed. "I still have a hangover and all this noise is doing my head in."

"We can grab the boat from the port that'll take us to the little island. Everyone remembered to bring their swimwear right?" Jose asked as he got up from his chair.

"I am wearing my bikini underneath my clothes," Alice said.

"I am not swimming today, don't feel like it," Telemachus added nonchalantly.

"I have my swimming stuff in my backpack," I said and proceeded to follow the others to the exit. As we were walking out, another tall man, this time one that looked in his early thirties and dressed in white and brown linen clothes, bumped into us with such force that Telemachus was nearly knocked over.

"I am terribly sorry, mate," he said, apologetically, offering a helping hand to my friend. "I have a terrible hangover from last night and didn't see you, guys, walking in front of me."

"Don't worry, man, I kinda feel the same," Telemachus managed a weak smile and carried on walking.

That's a bit strange, I thought to myself as we walked down the road. That guy looked very sober to me, definitely not like someone who is suffering from a hangover. I turned my head around to search for him but there was no sign of his presence anywhere.

Oh well, nothing like good old paranoia to compliment the summer holidays, I thought and followed my friends down to the little port by the beach.

The little island consisted of a small piece of white rock in the middle of the ocean, ten miles off the coast of Mykonos. We hired a little fishing boat to take us there since Jose refused to use his powers on the honest hard working men of the sea, like he said.

The journey there lasted no more than half an hour and gave us the opportunity to relax and enjoy the smell of the sea breeze and the sensation of the seawater sprinkling over our feet as the little boat ripped through the waves.

The captain of the fishing boat, an old Greek man who routinely made the trip to the small island for tourists like us didn't forget to give us his phone number after we disembarked at a little wooden pier. He asked us to notify him, well in advance, when we wanted to leave so he could come and pick us up. He also told us not to wait until it was too late because he hated transporting people when it was dark.

We promised him that we wouldn't take too long and got on the little dirt trail that led to the famous beach, which apparently was situated on the other side of the little island. It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon, but the sun above us was as hot as ever as we lazily dragged our feet on the dirt track.

Jose was leading the group, walking first in front us, while the rest of us followed him from behind. Myself, I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness that I had since the encounter with the strange man in the cafe, back in town.

Something feels off today, I thought as I walked on the trail, checking the view around me. There was nothing there, just barren rock, with the occasional bush here and there and the blue ocean surrounding us. Something's not right, my heart started beating faster as the realization hit me. This is supposed to be a tourist attraction but there's no one here, no people, no boats, nothing.

"Guys, stop," I said quietly. The others didn't seem to listen as they were lost in their own conversation. I stopped dead in my tracks. "Guys, we need to stop right now!" I shouted at them.

They turned around and looked at me, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Are you alright, mate," Telemachus asked me, looking concerned. Jose and Alice had equally worried looks on their faces.

"Guys, something is not right. I have a really bad feeling about this place," I said while pointing at our surroundings. "This is supposed to be a popular destination but there's no one around us."

They spent a moment looking around. "He's right," Telemachus eventually said. "In fact, I'd wager that there's no one on this island, other than us and the people who are following us."

"Wait what?" it was Jose's turn to shout. "Who is following us?"

"I don't know but I think we need to get the hell out of here, as fast as possible," Telemachus answered looking really worried.

I took the phone out of my pocket and tried to call the old man with the boat. There was no signal.

"Guys, my phone has no signal," I said, a wave of anxiety starting to creep over me.

"Our phones are the same," Alice said in a soft voice. We looked around in every direction, trying to form a possible escape plan.

"We are trapped here!" Telemachus said finally. "We need to find cover," he looked around in caution. "I think someone might be watching us right now. They can probably see we have figured it out."

Before he had time to finish his sentence, an explosion, ten feet away from where we were standing, knocked us all to the ground. My ears rang as I scrambled to understand what was happening around us. A jolt of adrenaline rushed over me and ensured that my senses were working overtime as I looked around in panic.

Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. Jose had already found cover behind a large rock situated next to the dirt track. Telemachus and Alice were lying on the dirt, both of them covering their ears, a mixed expression of panic and fear drawn on their faces. I tried to cover my eyes from the dust in an effort to make out who was assailing us.

I could see figures in the distance ahead, black clad men, suited up in wet-suits, carrying automatic rifles and running towards us in formation. I turned my head around only to see similar black clad figures emerging out of the water and onto the beach behind us.

We are being surrounded, it suddenly dawned on me.

They have stunned us with some sort of flash-bang grenade and now they are flanking us. They don't know what we're capable of, so they're being cautious, I thought. That means that they know of our unique powers. Bullets started flying in the air above us, zipping just past our heads. Jose had found cover but the rest of us were exposed. We are going to get killed if we stay here.

"Mac!" I shouted at the top of my voice. "Get Alice out of here! I'll go and find cover over there, where Jose is!" I pointed at the large rock next to the dirt track.

Telemachus looked at me for a second then nodded. His eyes flickered with a strange blue spark as he grabbed Alice putting his arm over her shoulders.

Before another second had passed, they had both disappeared into thin air.

I thought he might be able to do that, I smiled to myself that my gamble had paid off. Telemachus had never turned another person ethereal before, other than himself. I always imagined that he'd be capable of performing such a feat, though.

If he is able to carry his clothes with him into whatever it is he can disappear into, why not another person? Too bad it had to be under such dire circumstances.

I rolled over the dirt, as bullets flew past me, and crawled over to my friend before taking cover behind the same rock he was hiding behind. He had his hands over his ears to protect them from the sound of the gunshots, his mouth busy throwing curses in Spanish.

"Jose, these guys are trying to kill us!" I shouted at him.

He threw a look of bewilderment at me in response.

"Do you think you can turn them a bit friendlier, maybe?" I carried on shouting.

He nodded and pointed at the group behind us. They were moving in formation but they didn't seem to have made our location, yet. We kept our heads down, trying to hide as much as possible while lying flat on the ground, and waited. They were moving fast with a kind of agility that only professional army men could have.

I hope they haven't figured out a way to counter Jose's power, I thought and tried to calm myself, forcing my breathing into a slow and steady pace. I didn't have to wait long to find out, however, because as soon as the group in front us came within three hundred feet, my friend threw his arm forward, fingers all spread out, and pointed towards the men in black.

He held his position for a few seconds, his face locked in intense concentration. Then, with one sudden movement, he clenched his fist. The group stood dead in its tracks, looking around confused.

"Protect us with your lives!" my friend shouted at them, while pointing towards the direction of the other group behind us. The group of men obeyed his command, and ran towards the beach he had pointed at, guns blazing.

My curiosity got the best of me and I lifted my head over the edge of the rock to see what was transpiring. I watched, in horrid fascination, as the soldiers under Jose's command opened fire on their fellow soldiers, managing to kill several of them before they had a chance to react.

It didn't take long for the others to respond in kind, however. I put my head down again as bullets flew in all directions, followed by a couple of grenade explosions.

A few minutes later, it was all over. The gunshots and the explosions had quieten down. Jose and I gave a nod to each other and we got out of our hiding place. There were only two men left standing on top of the carnage around them, the rest lying dead on the ground all over the area between us and the shore.

I assumed they were friendlies since they just stood there, doing nothing, certainly not shooting at us. We walked over to them cautiously.

"Who are you people? Why are you after us?" I shouted at them. Their faces were covered by some sort of helmet that left only their eyes and nose protruding.

They were a pretty scary sight, in the wet-suit gear and their weaponry, so I was glad the encounter had turned out the way it did, with us standing and them either dead or under my friend's command.

"I am not authorized to tell you ..." one of the soldiers said through clenched teeth. He seemed like he was about to vomit through his helmet.

"They look like they are trained to withhold information from possible interrogators," I tried to study the soldiers' body language. They did look like they were in great pain.

"We are not interrogating them though, are we?" Jose said exasperated. "Do they have training against someone who can manipulate their emotions," he wondered out loud.

"It would seem that they think that they are," I remarked, still looking at them squirming in their uniforms in front of us. "Which means that they know, at least on some level, that they are not in control of themselves."

"Puta madre," Jose spat. "I'll give it another try," he said and went to stand in front of one of the two soldiers. "Listen, amigo, I want to know everything about you and why you have come after me and my friend here," he started. "It'd make me really unhappy if you didn't tell me and we don't want that do we?"

The soldier looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. He fell on his knees and put his hands over his helmet in an effort to take it off.

"Sergeant ... John Ayton ... SAS 25C division ... under the command of Director Sir Robert ..." he croaked, more to himself than to us. A gunshot was fired and he dropped dead, the insides of his head splattering all over the dirt as well as our feet, before he had time to finish his sentence. Jose and I jumped in the air in surprise. The second soldier, next to him, moved the firearm with the smoking barrel pistol to his own head. He was ready to blow his own brains out.

"No wait ..." I shouted out but it was already too late. The armored figure pressed the trigger taking his own life in the same gruesome way as his comrade's.

Jose and I both stood, silently, next to their bodies in an effort to figure out what to do next.

"Why didn't you stop him, you dummy?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders, looking mildly annoyed.

"Do you think we should search them?" I asked him again.

"I am not touching these dead bodies, compadre, but be my guest," he replied and took his tobacco pouch out.

I looked down at the bloody mess around us. No way am I touching these bodies, either, I thought. I turned my attention to my friend. He had, already, rolled up a cigarette and he was about to light it up.

"How can you smoke at a time like this?" I said. He threw me a look like I was crazy for asking him that.

"What are you talking about, these are the best times for a cigarette!"

"I guess we should try to find Mac and Alice and, maybe, figure how to get the hell off this island," I sighed.

We hit the dirt track again, and headed towards the other side of the island, looking for signs of our two friends. We went past a small hilltop on our way there and scurried down the dirt track to the beach. We saw them there, both Alice and Telemachus, sitting on the sand. Alice looked really ill and was belching whereas Telemachus stood up to meet us as soon as he saw us approaching.

"What's wrong with Alice," I asked him when we got there.

"Nothing I am okay," she answered in a strained voice. She looked a bit green and was holding her stomach.

"I think being turned into a being of energy made her feel extremely nauseous," Telemachus knelt next to her, a look of concern of his face.

"So you can transport other people as well, when you turn into your ethereal form," I commented.

"Yes, apparently I can," he replied. "Although, I could not maintain my concentration for too long moving both of us around and I had to come out of it sooner than I had expected. I just tried to put as much distance between us and our attackers as possible."

"Yeah, thanks for leaving us out there on our own against those soldiers, compadre!" Jose took a puff from his cigarette looking annoyed.

"First of all, it was Mark's plan," Telemachus began to answer him, equally annoyed. "Secondly, I was going to come back for you, guys, as soon as I could. This is all new to me as well, I am still trying to figure out the limitations of my powers."

"It's okay, Mac," I interrupted him. "Jose doesn't mean it. We are just both really shaken. It's not everyday you get special forces coming at you, all guns blazing."

"And you should be, mate. It's what's going to keep you alive!"

We all jumped to our feet at the sound of the stranger's voice coming from right behind us.

"What the hell!" Telemachus shouted at him. "Who are you," he took a couple of menacing steps towards the new figure. "How did you manage to creep up on us!"

I recognized the blonde middle-aged man, in the red Hawaiian shirt and the pointy goatee, straight away. He was the same person sitting at the cafe, opposite us, that afternoon.

"Easy now, gentlemen!" The man lifted his hands up in a sign of surrender. "And ladies, I might add," he looked at Alice who was now back on her feet and looked like she was ready to lunge at him. "I mean you no harm, I come in peace," he smiled at Jose. "Don't waste your time there son, your little mind trick is not going to work on me."

Jose opened his mouth to say something, in shock, then shut it again.

"You are the man from the cafe earlier today," I said quietly.

He turned and looked at me, the smile on his face becoming wider. "Yes, I am. My name is Richard Feist and I am here to help you escape with your lives."

"What kind of stupid name is that," Jose spat.

"The kind you get when you have to evade half of the word's secret services for most of your life," the tall slender man laughed.

"You didn't answer our question, though," Alice said softly. "How did you manage to sneak up on us."

The middle-aged man threw his head back and roared with laughter again, much to my annoyance.

"It's not hard for me, or anyone else for that matter, to get a jump on you lot," he finally said. "I am surprised you are still alive after having two elite SAS teams coming at you. A true testament of your friend's unique abilities," he pointed at Jose.

"Not all of us have powers like Jose," I growled back at him. "Some of us are still normal," I added, almost immediately regretting using the word normal.

"Yes, I know," the man pulled a packet of cigarettes out of the front pocket of his shirt and started fiddling with one of them. "It can take weeks after the initial activation of their genes through an E.M.F. event for someone to realize their full potential," he said. "Hey, mate, can you pass me a light, I seem to have lost my lighter somewhere."

Jose gave him the lighter as the rest of us watched with our mouths hanging open.

"So you know what has happened to us? What that artifact was and who put it there?" I asked in pure exasperation.

"Yes and maybe, to answer your questions, mate," he took a few puffs from his cigarette. "I promise I will answer any other question you may have in due time," he turned his gaze over the horizon. "But right now, I need to get you out of here and back to the good ol' United Kingdom."

I turned my head and looked at everyone else. Telemachus and Alice were both wearing a frown, whereas Jose was scratching his head with one hand and rolling a cigarette with the other.

"You expect us to just follow you based on your word that you'll help us, minutes after nearly being killed by those soldiers," Telemachus broke the silence.

"Yes, I expect you to do exactly that," the man replied with a snarl. "My comrades tracked you down here based on the information we got from your electromagnetic signature. We are usually ahead of the competition, the soldiers you've mentioned, but we can only do so much. I expect reinforcements to catch up with you within the hour. They'll probably bomb this place, this time around, just to make sure that you're dead."

"Why are they after us?" I shouted at him. "Why are they trying to kill us? We haven't done anything!"

The man looked me in the eye. "Mate, they have been trying to kill people like us, and have been successful more times than not, for a very long time," he said in a quiet voice. "They are called the Clergy and their mission is to make sure we don't stick around for long to make use of our acquired gifts."

"People like us?" I asked. "You mean, you have powers as well?"

He was quiet for a second as if he regretted mentioning this vital piece of information. "My powers, as you call them, is to make sure yours don't work."

"That doesn't even begin to make sense!" Alice cried out.

"My abilities, love, revolve around suppressing the electromagnetic waves, the field of electromagnetic energy that's been activated and is alive and kicking in your genes. The same energy field that is responsible for equipping you with those extraordinary and unique abilities," he continued. "I can, usually, suppress someone's field from a distance but, in special situations, I need to be in close proximity to the person for my abilities to work at their fullest."

"That's incredible," Telemachus looked at him in awe.

"That's why your friend's charm won't work on me," he looked at Jose. "That's also the reason I am usually the guy responsible for making contact with newly activated Sparks, more chance of not getting killed this way."

"Sparks? What kind of lame name is that," Jose sneered.

"It's how we call newbies like you in our organization," the man replied. "It's a reference to the blue lightning that has awaken us all. I am sure you have your own experiences with that, don't you."

Everyone went quiet again, as each one of us recollected our experience in the cave. I shuddered at the thought of the blue chains of lightning making contact with my chest. Even now, after all this time, I could still feel the tingling sensation on my skin, like back when the sparks of lightning danced all over my body.

"Listen, kids," the man spoke again, in a serious tone. "We are, really, running out of time. You need to make a leap of faith here and follow me. Trust me, the Clergymen and their Inquisitors will hunt you down like animals and make sure nothing remains of you that could, potentially, stand in their way. I have a soft hull by the beach that is waiting to take us to the hydroplane my associate has parked a few miles from here. We'll use that to fly you lot to the UK," he offered his hand to us, palm opened and facing upwards.

"Please, you need to trust me," he said in a kinder and more gentle tone.

We turned to face each other. Alice was the first one to speak. "I don't see what other options we have. I don't want us to face another repeat of what happened earlier, on the other side of the hill." She turned her head and looked at the man who was now standing a few feet further away from us and was peering intently over the horizon. "Besides, I have a good feeling about him. I feel that we can trust him."

"We are indeed out of options," I concurred. "We have no immediate way off this island, and if what this guy is saying is true, we must be in real trouble. Those soldiers back there looked like they were trained for this kind of thing, and now they might know how Jose's powers work. Maybe they'll have a way to counter them as well."

Jose shrugged his shoulders. "I'll follow you, guys, wherever. Going back to the United Kingdom doesn't sound that bad to me at this point. I don't want to be shot at again anytime soon, that's for sure."

"I think you, guys, should go," Telemachus spoke lastly. "I am going to turn into my ethereal form and fly over to my house to make sure my mother is okay. I am going to try and convince her to stay temporarily at her brother's house in Western Greece. Then I am going to try and find you, guys, in the United Kingdom."

"I am not going to let you go on your own," Alice started to say but Telemachus gently placed a finger on her mouth.

"Please, my love, this is something I need to do before I join you. I think this Richard Feist is telling the truth but I also think he has another agenda that he's not telling us about," he whispered in a hushed voice. "I wish I could transport you all with me but, as I found out earlier, my powers can only take me so far when carrying another person."

"But I don't want us to be separated," Alice pleaded, tears forming underneath her eyes.

"I know, but I promise it's going to be okay," he put his arms around her and hugged her. He planted a tender kiss on her forehead then turned to face me and Jose.

"Please, be safe," he whispered in a broken voice.

"We will, mate, we will," I gave him my promise.

"If we are unable to contact each other, for whatever reason, I am going to be waiting for you, guys, in exactly two weeks from now in the pub next to the university's student halls. You know the one with the purple exterior where Jose fell on his face and almost broke his nose after trying to dance on the bar stool."

"Yes, I know the one," I smiled, the memory of past, more innocent days bringing a sense of joy in those dire moments.

"Good luck, compadre," Jose added, solemnly. "Take care of yourself."

Telemachus took Alice's face in his hands. "I love you more than anything else in the world," he said softly and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back, tears running down her cheeks. When they parted, he used his hands to wipe the tears from her face and, inside the space of a breath, he vanished.

We all peered on the northern horizon, imagining him flying over the dancing waves of the sparkling blue ocean in his ghost form.

"I love you too," Alice spoke to the wind.

# Chapter 12

Sir Robert Anderson entered the great hall. He walked down the stone corridor in solemn silence until he reached the throne room. He took off his coat and gave it to the man who was waiting by the tall oaken doors.

The man offered a black cape in exchange and then disappeared into the shadows without uttering a single word. Anderson threw the black silk cape around his shoulders and tied the golden chains round his neck. Lastly, he put on the cowl. The cowl did a good job of hiding his face, coming down almost to his nose.

The thin silky material only allowed him partial vision of what was happening around him. He calmed his nerves and breathed deeply.

It's highly uncommon to be summoned like this, without following the proper protocol, he thought worryingly. The society followed a strict and rigid set of rules that evolved from thousands of years of tradition. The higher ranked members of the society were simply not known to break those traditions.

Yet, there he was, in his ritual clothing, a black and white suit with a red bow tie just below the golden chain that held his cape on his shoulders. It was three o'clock in the morning when he was summoned and had to rush, from his home in Highgate, all the way down to a little inconspicuous church in East London. The Order usually had a flair for the dramatic but not when the circumstances required immediate decision making.

The little church was out of the way enough for no one, other than the initiated, to even throw it a second glance. He stood in the foyer, waiting, ready to be called inside the throne room where he'd meet his superiors. He studied the two large marble statues of lions, sitting by the entrance, that were gazing at him with their cold unending stare.

He always felt unease around the lion statues, which were ever present in the Order's headquarters around the globe. He found this strange, since the lion was the symbol for his Order's Charter in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries.

It wasn't proper for a man of his stature and rank to develop a dislike for the Order's most holy emblems so he was very careful to keep that little detail to himself. His train of thoughts were interrupted as the huge oaken doors opened inwards almost silently.

He glanced at the carvings on the surface of the wood as he moved forward, which depicted his Order's leaders and their historical exploits in intricate detail. At the same time, he went over in his head how he was going to present his line of defense in case he was accused of being responsible for the latest fiasco in the Mediterranean.

He walked along the red carpet, stretching in front of him on the white marble floors, without deviating from it until he reached the throne. He looked down, as the ritual of offering respect required, and knelt on one knee. The two figures, in front of him, waited for him to complete the ritual before assuming their positions next to the marble throne. They were clad in their steel ceremonial armor, complete with a black and white cape with the emblem of the three golden lions on it flowing over their breastplate.

They were the Order's inner knights, the Inquisitors, who were entrusted with the protection of the High Priest himself. These ones were equipped with two large, two-handed swords that were sheathed on their back. The swords had a skull engraved on their hilts, a symbol of their high stature and deadliness, in the Knighthood's circle. A third figure walked behind them and approached him. He was wearing a similar outfit, the black and white suit with the black cowl, so Anderson assumed he was the High Priest's personal Camerlengo.

"Rise, brother Anderson," he addressed him in an icy tone.

He did as the man asked him.

The Camerlengo walked and stood in front of the throne where the fourth man was sitting concealed in darkness. He, then, continued with the same icy voice. "Brother Anderson, you have been summoned here, before his Most Holiness, the High Priest of the Clergy, under very unusual circumstances, to provide insight into this new threat our Order seems to be facing."

"Your Eminence, I would like to take the opportunity to explain the strategy behind the course of actions implemented to deal with this ..." he started but was interrupted by the Camerlengo's hiss.

"You will only speak after you've been addressed! Such apparent lack of reverence towards protocol will not be tolerated!" he pointed a threatening finger at him.

Anderson bowed his head in a display of obedience to the man's outburst.

The figure on the marble throne waved his hand nonchalantly and the Camerlengo resumed his posture.

"As I was saying, Brother Anderson, we have summoned you here because we are, extremely, concerned with the latest developments in the Mediterranean basin. It is our understanding that there are four Lucidi, whose identities still remain unknown to us, walking freely with one of them activated and capable of basic command of his abilities. Would you agree with that statement, Brother Anderson?"

"Yes, Brother Camerlengo," Anderson answered, his head still bowed in submission.

"It has, also, come to our attention that one of those four might be an Aurora Prime, the likes of which we have not encountered since 1470 when we had to launch the Spanish Inquisition in order to contain and purge the threat. Does our assumption hold any merit, Brother?"

"Yes, your Eminence. The magnitude of the fourth electromagnetic pulse we've recorded, in succession of the other three, strongly suggests that this might be the case," Anderson replied.

"Do you understand the dangers of such a development, both to our Order and the world itself?"

"I do, your Eminence."

"We don't think that you do," the man hissed. "Judging by the speed the team you assembled got neutralized by just one of them, it is clear to us that you have, completely and utterly, underestimated the threat we are facing! How are you planning to contain them when, not just one, but all four of them have realized their unholy abilities?"

Anderson remained silent. The Camerlengo paced up and down then looked at him again.

"You may answer now, Brother Anderson," he said eventually.

"In my defense, Brother Camerlengo, I need to stress that my actions were dictated by the need for utmost secrecy. The Greek island we intercepted the specimens on, is a cosmopolitan destination filled with all kinds of celebrities and press running around. An all out assault would have drawn the world's attention to the Lucidi and, eventually, to the Order's operations. I did not want a repeat of Wudang mountain so I've acted based on the premise that a similar development would cause more harm than good."

"We don't need you lecturing us on the Order's mandate for secrecy!" The other man shouted. "You should, rather, inform us on your current plans for dealing with the situation!"

"Forgive me, your Eminence," Anderson said through clenched teeth. "We have four response teams on the ground combing the island and all possible escape routes for them. Our people in the North African and Balkan Charters are also working with our liaisons in the Greek government. Furthermore, local police and military authorities are alerted to be on the look out for our targets. We described them as a possible terrorist cell from the Syrian border, so their full cooperation is guaranteed under the European Treaty for the Suppression of Terrorism. Our own intelligence has established that they are a group, of young age comprising of three males and one female. We are pretty sure that two of them are British citizens as well. I am confident that their discovery and consequent neutralization is a matter of days. They are immature and they have no idea what is happening to them."

"That's what we are also afraid of. The power of an Aurora Prime unharnessed could threaten the balance of things on a global scale. Our enemies will try and use this to their own advantage. We must prevent this from happening, at all costs!"

"Your Eminence," Anderson hesitated. "It is my opinion that we should try and capture the specimens. Having the power of an Aurora Prime at our disposal would, greatly, assist us accomplishing our objectives and machinations for the establishment of the New Divine Imperium. It would, also, give us insight into how the artifacts from the Great Mesozoic Civilization work and their connection to inter-dimensional travel."

"Insolence!" The other man shouted. "You are not in a position to question his Most Holiness' plan. You are to find the Lucidi and terminate them with extreme prejudice. Any other deviation from this order and you'd be in danger of facing the Grand Jury of Inquisitors!"

The Camerlengo's face looked like his blood was about to boil under the cover of his cowl. Suddenly, he fell silent as the figure on the marble throne started speaking.

The man on the marble throne was clad in white and gold silky robes with elaborate embroidery depicting a series of the Order's symbols. He was also wearing a cowl, a white one, and was leaning slightly on his metal staff, which was adorned with a series of diamonds and other precious gems.

Anderson could not see the man's face but, judging from previous encounters, he had deduced that the High Priest was a man in his seventies. Anderson had amassed, using his own means, a list of possible candidates for the High Priest's real identity from the country's economic and political circles. He did not like not knowing who the old man really was. Regardless, he kept his head bowed and listened to the figure in white speak.

"Brother Anderson, I don't think I need to remind you that the Order of the Clergy has existed since the dawn of civilization. Our people were there when the ziggurats of Sumeria were erected, we were next to the Pharaohs as their pyramids tore the sky, and we stood guard against the corruption of the philosophers in ancient Athens and Rome when they tried to pollute the minds of the people with their absurd notions of progress and freedom. Our clerics have always fought and contained those who would assume godhood using a power twisted and unnatural, a relic from an era of man that is both alien and forgotten. The Clergy's and the Inquisition's mission is to stand guard against the gods who would assert power over the flock, using their fire and their lightning. We were the ones who chained Prometheus, the ones who disarmed Jupiter from his lightning bolt and overthrew Odin from his seat of power."

"Yes, your Most Holiness," Anderson bowed his head lower.

"We have, always, worked from both within the shadows and outside of them. Our grip over the powers that are, throughout the millennial, comes from our unquestionable authority over the Faith of the People. Anything that shakes this authority is a direct insult to us and a grave danger for the people's welfare. The masses look up to us for absolution, there can be no other contender for their devotion. Do you understand this, my child?"

"I do, your Most Holiness, please forgive my doubts. They are nothing more than the conflicted thoughts of a flawed man."

"Do not be hard on yourself, my child," the figure in white continued. "The Aurora Prime and the Lucidi have always proved a thorn in our side. They have assumed their thrones of power, under the false pretense of godhood, too many times in the past. Our noble Clergymen and Inquisitors, the sons and daughters of the Order, have never failed to answer the call to rise and smite those false gods down from their thrones. It is no different now. Our century year old plan of uniting the people of this earth, our faithful flock, into a new global Imperium is, finally, near its end stages. We knew that the possibility of an unexpected activation of the Lucidi could threaten to thwart our plan from reaching fruition. The Council of the High Priests stands united in this matter, we need to nip those who'd threaten our glorious future in the bud. Such is the will of the Order."

"I understand, High Priest, I will deal with the issue according to your wishes."

The figure in white folded his hands as in prayer. "Go now, my child. And remember, there is no higher call than committing one's self to the protection of the weak from those who would threaten them, all in the name of our Divine Clergy."

"Glory to the Clergy!" Anderson mimicked the Priest's action, then turned around to leave.

As the Director of her Majesty's Bureau for E.M.F. activity walked through the giant oaken doors, he could feel the two men's gaze on his back.

I need to tread very carefully from now on, he thought.

"Do you think we can trust him, your Most Holiness?" The cowled man asked the High Priest.

"Brother Anderson has obviously got his own agenda in this. However, men of his caliber have not got to their stature of authority without pursuing their own personal goals. I believe that, for now, he will do as we say. He's not so stupid as to defy the expressed will of the Council," the man on the throne answered. "But that does not mean that we shouldn't remain vigilant during those times of dire need. Contact our agents inside the Bureau and ask them to stand ready for further instructions."

"As you command, your Most Holiness," the cowled man bowed and left the room.

The High Priest sat on his throne, long after the Camerlengo had left. He felt troubled and very thoughtful of his next move. The emergence of an Aurora Prime was an unpredictable element in the game of chess that was unfolding around them, the secret power play between those with the influence to mold the shape of things to come. A Queen piece, no less, neither black nor white, which could topple the chess board and destroy everyone and everything around it.

"I won't be needing you tonight," he told the two armor clad men standing next to him.

"I am dining with the Russian ambassador. I am sure the men and women of our country's secret service will do a fine job protecting me."

It was time to add more pieces to the chessboard.

# Chapter 13

Jose took a look at the wound on his left leg in the backseat of the car while the man in the driving seat tried his best to put as much distance between them and Soho Square as possible. The bullet had grazed his leg, instead of going through it, something that Jose found incredible fortunate, given the circumstances under which he'd procured the wound.

I'll probably still need stitches though, he thought as he tied the leg with a piece of cloth that one of his two protectors had provided him with. He looked through the back window for any sign of police cars following them, but there were none.

"Well done boys, it looks like we've lost them for now," he congratulated his new found protectors. The two men, in the front seats of the car, remained silent but a big smile appeared on their lips. They were pleased they were being useful to him.

"What am I going to do now, I think I really screwed up this time," Jose muttered to himself as he recollected the events of the past days that had, eventually, led him to become a fugitive. It was only a few days ago when they had said their goodbyes to their friend, on the small island off the coast of Mykonos and had followed the strange man, known as Richard Feist, to his hydroplane.

They had flown undercover, initially, flying past the borders of Greece and its surrounding Balkan countries. Their plane had landed, during the early hours of the next morning, on the surface of a river situated next to a potato field in Hungary where they had swapped their hydroplane for another small passenger plane that was being kept hidden in a dodgy looking barn. From there, they had made their way to the United Kingdom, landing at a small airstrip in South London.

Everyone had felt tired, after having spent a whole day crammed inside the confines of two small airplanes, so they were ecstatic when they learned that Richard Feist had booked them rooms in a traveler's lodge just off King's Cross, in central London.

Before he left, he had instructed them, explicitly, not to contact anyone, including their families, and to stay inside the lodge until he returned the next morning. He had also told them that the lodge's owners were sympathetic to their cause, whatever that meant, and that they could order food and drinks from room service to their heart's desire, but, again, under no circumstances were they to leave the lodge without him.

No one could be bothered to argue with him so they had settled by ordering pizza and beer and watching films on the television set in their rooms. The next morning he had woken them up early before laying out his plan for them.

"I need to get you all to Glastonbury," he had told them. When they had asked him why, he simply answered, in a cryptic manner, that it was imperative for them to assist the rest of his organization in obtaining a relic of utmost importance.

A relic, he further explained, that could shed light onto the purpose behind their extraordinary abilities and how they came to be. He had, then, pointed at Alice with his finger before pulling out a strange piece of electronic equipment.

"She's the key to unlocking the artifact's mysterious function," Jose recalled him saying.

"Why me?" Alice had responded in sincere shock. "My powers haven't even manifested yet. Maybe they won't ever ..."

"You see this piece of equipment, here?" Richard Feist ignored her protests and held the strange electronic device up high. "This tells me that yours truly, Ms. Alice Elwes, has an electromagnetic signature that matches the one emanating from the relic in Glastonbury. I think you might be the key to being able, after all this time, to get our hands on it."

He had then taken off, as abruptly as he had appeared, but not before asking them to be ready to leave, at short notice, sometime the next morning.

Jose remembered how he had pestered his friends, that very same day, to go out for a drink in central London. He had reasoned that Feist was just being overcautious and that it wouldn't hurt to get some fresh air after being restricted in small spaces for so many days in a row. Alice was resilient to the idea, but Mark, eventually, caved in and joined him for a stroll outside. It wasn't long until the idea proved to be a disastrous one, with them barely escaping with their lives, when those special forces units ambushed them in broad daylight in downtown Soho. Jose wondered how it was possible for their assailants to recognize them inside the chaotic and diverse mix of people walking about in central London.

He was concerned about the seemingly increased efficiency their would-be captors displayed when it came to tracking them down. Their windows of escape seemed to become smaller every time the soldiers showed up. How long would it be until they'd run out of luck or out of options? His trail of thoughts was, abruptly, interrupted by a sharp pain, coming from his wound, reminding him that the danger was far from over.

"I need to have this stitched," he told the two men. "We can't go to the hospital, though, they'll be waiting for me there. Do you, guys, have any ideas?"

"My wife is a veterinarian, I can call her and tell her to meet us at her practice. They are shut on Sundays so we are going to be alone there," the man in the driver seat said.

"Perfect, amigo. First, we'll have my leg stitched up, then we're heading to Glastonbury," Jose replied. "Do you know how to drive us there?"

"Yes I do," the man answered in monotone.

Jose laid in the back seat, as the driver took a left turn, and stretched out his right leg. It's going to be one of those days, he thought and gazed out of the car window at the ongoing traffic.

Alice Elwes let out a sigh of frustration. She was sick of being left behind, first by her boyfriend, now by her other two friends. It was nearly five hours since they had taken off and there was still no sign, or attempt of contact, from them.

In the meantime, Richard Feist had come back to the lodge, in a state of uncontrollable anger, cursing at Mark's and Jose's idiocy, in his own words, and their apparent lack of foresight. He had then proceeded to spend the next hour on his cellphone arguing with someone on how he was going to proceed without two of his Sparks and what were the chances that the events of Soho square were related to them.

What events in Soho square, Alice had thought to herself and had turned the television on, tuning into the news. She had watched, with horrified fascination, the news anchorman describe the details surrounding a terrorist attack taking place in central London, a few hours earlier, and how the authorities were looking for two young male individuals as the main suspects.

Suspects that were confirmed to have evaded capture by the counter-terrorist units and were, currently, at large. Strangely enough, there wasn't any actual footage of the two suspects, so Alice felt a bit of relief that, at least, their families would be spared from the gruesome details of their involvement in those alleged terrorist activities that had cost the lives of many innocent people.

"Do you think it's my friends they are talking about?" she recalled asking Richard while she stared at their dismantled cellphones lying on the table. Richard had confiscated their sim cards the day before on the premise that they constituted a security leak, one that could potentially reveal their location to their would-be captors.

"Of course it is," he had replied with a sneer. "You need to start packing up, love, we are leaving for Glastonbury in ten minutes," he had continued. "Your friends managed to ruin the small window of opportunity for subterfuge that we had."

Now she was looking out of the car window, sitting in the passenger's seat next to Richard driving, at the dark green colors of the English countryside, as they drove on the highway, making their way to Glastonbury town.

The scenery was making her feel a bit too close to home, bringing back memories of when she was younger, growing up in the small village of Hawkhurst in Kent. She used to be a happy child, the youngest member of her family, her older brother Thomas being the second youngest, at a time when she could call their beautiful detached house, near Ashdown forest, home.

She and her brother hailed from a typical middle class family, like so many others that populated the little medieval town they lived in.

Both of her parents worked as teachers in the local academy. Her mother, a teacher of arts with a love for impressionist painting had taken it upon herself to introduce to both of her children the magical world of impressionism so she'd often take them, from a young age, for long walks into the forest, where they would have the opportunity to study the colors of the trees and their leaves and learn about the intricate ways in which the light of the sun would be captured in the geometry of all things foresty. Her older brother had shown a particular interest in their mother's teachings, even as a young child, mesmerized by the vastness of the forest's color palette.

In contrast, Alice was more interested in the literal arts that her father, a teacher of classical literature, had tried to familiarize her with. She loved reading about the fantastic adventures her favorite characters would have in magical lands and far away places and then try to re-enact them when she played with her brother in the forest.

Being the older sibling, her brother would often accommodate her demands but was always more interested in spending time on his sketchbook, trying to capture, as he'd often say, the perfect picture of the forest. Alice also remembered how it was during her tenth birthday when her world had collapsed around her. No matter how hard she tried to push the events of that fateful day to the corners of her memory, they'd always come back to remind her that she could never again be the person she thought she'd be.

Rain drops started to stain the window, a summer shower breaking the serenity of the scenery outside. She reached for her handbag, in the backseat of the car, and pulled out a candy bar from the stash of junk food she had hoarded earlier on, courtesy of the lodge's mini bar. The candy was sweet and crunchy, momentarily satisfying the fleeting feeling of hunger she felt but doing nothing to sweeten the bitter memory of that day.

She remembered how elated she had been, as a child, on her tenth birthday when her parents let her open her birthday presents early and how she had discovered that she'd gotten a new story book for a present, one that was filled with tales of a brave cat in boots who fought valiantly to save the princess from the clutches of the evil dragon in a far away magical kingdom.

She was so consumed by the story of the little ginger cat's bravery that she had convinced her older brother to run into the forest with her, for a quick game of re-enacting her favorite parts of the book. It was getting late, the sun was about to set, and their mother was on the phone to her grandparents so they had reaped the opportunity to sneak out of the house unnoticed and head for the woods.

Thomas wasn't in the right mood for playing games but he had indulged her by promising her that they could re-enact one scene, and one scene only, from the book since it was her birthday. She had insisted on playing out the part of the story where the cat had to hide in the forest in order to escape the attention of a group of bandits that were after his trail. She'd play the role of the cat in boots, in a game of hide and seek, and try to evade her brother who would assume the role of the villainous thug.

The memory of how exhilarated she had been when she found the perfect hiding spot, behind the trunk of a huge conifer, brought a bittersweet smile to her lips. Alas, she thought, it was exactly those moments of childhood happiness that were destined to be the preamble of her loss of innocence.

A tear ran down her cheek, which she proceeded to wipe hastily with the sleeve of her sweater, pretending that it was nothing more than a speck of dust caught in her eye. She didn't want Richard to become privy to her emotional state. She was already feeling very vulnerable as it was, especially after last week's chain of unfortunate events.

She tried to push the memory of what had transpired in the forest out of her mind but it came rushing through like it always had done in the past. She remembered how she had spent almost an hour waiting for her brother to find her, in her hideout, feeling progressively more nervous and fearful as he failed to show up. Eventually, she had felt scared enough to come out of her hiding place and try to find him herself.

She gritted her teeth, recalling how panicked she had felt when she realized that he was nowhere to be seen or heard, and how she had, eventually, run back to her house to ask her parents for help. Her mother hadn't, initially, taken her display of histrionics seriously but as the night set in and there was still no sign of her son, her lack of impatience for her children's antics had quickly turned into fear and panic.

The days and weeks that had followed consisted of a blur in Alice's memory. The local authorities had launched a village-wide search for the missing boy, which quickly escalated to a nationwide effort when the initial searches came up empty.

Thomas was nowhere to be found. There were no signs of abduction, or him being physically hurt, or anything else for that matter that could act as a clue as to what had really happened to him. It was as if the woods had swallowed him whole taking him away into some magical land, like it'd often happened to the characters in Alice's story books.

Both of her parents had never given up hope that he was alive, though, even after the first weeks of them searching for him turned into months and then into years. They always claimed that since a body was never found, in Hawkhurst or anywhere else in the country, there was still a considerable chance that their son was alive.

She brought the memory of her parents forward into her mind, all the years of bitterness and grief that followed and the looks of pure sorrow on their faces when they looked at pictures of her brother on the fireplace and elsewhere in the house. It was that fateful day that something broke inside Alice's psyche, something that she wouldn't be able to repair, ever again. No matter how hard she tried to rationalize the events of that afternoon, she could not stop feeling responsible for what happened to Thomas.

Her parents never mentioned a thing to her, but, deep down, she could sense the resentment they felt towards her, a resentment that grew from the notion that it was partly her fault that they were in the forest, so late in the afternoon, in the first place. So she proceeded to grow up and become a teenager in Hawkhurst, known as the girl who was responsible for her brother's disappearance. Growing up under these conditions, had, in turn, turned her bitter and resentful towards her parents, the people of the community, and finally herself.

She recalled how she wanted nothing more than to run away from that wretched little town and escape the past, like the heroes so often did in her story books. As a result, when she was eventually presented with the opportunity of becoming a student in one of London's universities, where she could further study her beloved literature, she grabbed the opportunity to get away from it all.

It was during that period when she'd met the first, and only, love of her life, Telemachus, the young man from Greece who made her feel like she could be alive again and have another shot at happiness. She'd found out, early on, that when she was in his company she did not have to prove to herself, or to anyone else, that she was a person worthy of pursuing happiness. Of course, she'd never told him, or her other friends, the story of what had happened to her brother, but, instead, she had pretended that she was an only child in her family, waiting for the right time when she'd feel ready to revisit those painful memories of her childhood.

However, London proved to be nowhere near as far from her village in Kent, as she'd like it to be, so when Telemachus had asked her to go with him to Greece, she felt that it was the perfect opportunity to, finally, rid herself of her emotional burdens.

Her life in Greece wasn't as easy, or financially secure, as it had been in London but not once did she regret her moving there. She had taken the opportunity to rediscover herself as a new person in a place she'd never been before with no dark family history around to drag her down.

She had her garden to work on and an increasingly large family of stray animals that she had taken into her care. She felt like she could, after all these years, shed the chains of guilt and grief from her soul. Now she was back in England, closer to home than she'd like to be, and the feelings of remorse that she'd managed to suppress, so effectively, over the past year were rearing their ugly head to her, once more.

"Right," Richard Feist said, catching her attention, as he took a turn into the parking lot of what looked like a traditional inn. They had, hardly, spoken a single word while they were traveling and Alice realized that she still knew nothing of the man that she was following around, other than the fact that he seemed to be gifted in the same extraordinary ways her friend and boyfriend were.

"It's getting late, so I'll book rooms for us in this charming little establishment," he said while parking the car. "We'll spend the night here, and then look for your friends in the morning. I hope they have the common sense to make their way to the town on their own."

And so they did, Richard Feist booked a single room for each one of them, using the fake identities he had provided them with, when they had first got back to the country. She took a hot shower in her room and ordered a club sandwich and a soda from room service. She felt particularly tired but that didn't stop her from scouring the news for information on Mark's and Jose's exploits. Funnily enough, there was hardly any mention of the events of Soho square.

It was as if the news had, suspiciously, decided to bury the story and avoid mentioning anything that could bring it back into the spotlight.

The next morning she woke up early. She had a shower to wake herself up and ordered breakfast from room service. Later on, and while she was eating her toasted sandwich, her eyes fell on her asthma inhaler that'd fallen out of her handbag. She realized, with a shock, that she hadn't used it for weeks since the incident in the cave.

She pondered whether the, seemingly miraculous, recovery of her health had anything to do with the storm of blue lightning they had encounter in that very cave and the extraordinary powers that were waiting to be manifested within her as a result of that encounter.

I wonder what else I am going to discover about myself ... she thought worryingly. It doesn't matter, I am still here, alive and kicking ... she hastily shrugged off the thought and carried on with her breakfast. A couple of hours later, gone nine o' clock in the morning, she started wondering whether she should leave the warm coziness of her room and try to look for Richard and her friends. Richard Feist had been, explicitly, insistent on her not doing anything of the like, however, after a bit of pacing around the room, she decided that she couldn't live the rest of her life as a prisoner of her own accord.

She got dressed and prepared to go out. She planned to start looking in the local cafes and bistros first then head to the festival area. She'd seen the posters all around the inn and knew that their visit to the town had coincided with the large festival that took place every year in the fields surrounding the area.

It was a massive event that attracted tens of thousands of people every summer so she was at a bit of a loss on how she was going to find her friends in there, should they decide to seek protection from prying eyes inside the anonymity of the large crowds.

Well, it's better than sitting here doing nothing, she rationalized and headed towards the door. Before she had the opportunity to step out of her room, though, the door slammed open and Richard Feist barged in, followed by her two friends.

He stood by the entrance letting them come in first, then looked outside to make sure no one was there and slammed the door shut again. He pointed an accusatory finger towards them.

"I hope you, idiots, have learned your lesson by now," he snarled at them. "No one leaves, or does anything else, unless I bloody say so! Comprendez, amigo?"

"Si," Jose muttered looking like a child caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. Mark had ran into the bathroom as soon as they'd gotten in, locking the door behind him.

Richard Feist turned his attention to Alice. He looked her up and down in bewilderment.

"And you, miss! Where do you think you are going?"

"Eh, I was coming to look for you, guys. I am sick of being trapped inside hotel rooms for the past two days."

Richard covered his face with a shaking hand. Alice thought that the older man was about to have a stroke right there, in front of them. He grabbed the cigarette from Jose's mouth, before he had a chance to light it up, and threw it in the bin.

"Listen, kids, I've just about had enough of you. You, clearly, do not understand the gravity of the situation so I'll try to spell it out for you as simply as possible. You are not to leave this room until I come and pick you up tonight. We'll use the festival crowds and the cover of the night to make a run for a nearby circle of stones," he explained in a stern tone. "Your lives and mine, as well as the future of my organization, depend on this. Do we have an understanding?"

Alice nodded, while Jose simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Where are you going to disappear to, again?" Alice asked him, as he turned around to leave.

"I need to arrange a meeting with my associates. We need to be prepared to secure the artifact and escape the site with it. I want you ready to travel, I am coming to pick you up around nine, when the sun will begin to set," he said as he opened the door to leave. "And don't leave this, bloody, room again!" he spat and slammed the door shut.

"Pendejo!" Jose swore at the door, giving it the middle finger, then turned around and smiled at Alice. She ran over to him and hugged him. It felt good to have her friends around her again.

"So, where have you, guys, been?" she asked him.

"It's a long story, chica," he replied and went, straight, for the mini bar. "Puta madre!" he exclaimed discovering that it was mostly empty.

"Well, we have the whole day ahead of us, and we need to stay in. We can order food and soft drinks from room service. Richard told me, yesterday, that I could order whatever I wanted. So what do you think?" she threw a glance over at the bathroom door. Mark was, still, shut in there. "You and Mark can tell me everything over some pizza and lemonade."

"Pizza for breakfast? Sounds like a plan, chica," Jose laughed and passed her the phone.

It was almost half an hour later, when Mark finally emerged from the bathroom, staggering and looking green, sick as a dog. "I think I must have caught a flu bug or something," he managed to say before collapsing on the bed and falling asleep shortly after, snoring loudly.

Jose explained to her, while munching on pieces of pizza, that he had found him like that, roaming the streets of Glastonbury town lost, when he arrived the previous night in the car he was driven in. They had spent the night in the car, parked alongside the thousands of other festival-goers' cars, not wanting to arouse any suspicions.

In the morning, they had made their way to a local greasy spoon cafe in order to grab something to eat, that's where they'd bumped into a furious Richard Feist. Alice was worried about her friend, especially after learning that he got shot. Jose managed to dispel her worries when he informed her that his wound was only superficial and that he'd already forgotten about it since it was stitched up a day ago.

So they spent the rest of the day like that, watching TV and going over the events of the previous week. Alice was overly concerned about Telemachus and the means with which they'd be able to meet up with him. She was also fearful about the safety of her family in Kent but Jose did his best to put her fears at rest, arguing that he was certain that Richard was a man of many connections and that the older man wouldn't let anything happen to them. She wanted very much to believe him but she wasn't sure whether her friend was trying to convince himself instead, rather than her. Was Richard Feist really a man deserving of their trust?

That remains to be seen, she thought, and tried to divert her attention to other things. During the whole time they stayed in the room, Mark only got up a couple of times, heading straight to the bathroom where he proceeded to have more violent episodes of, what sounded like, retching. The hours passed excruciatingly slow until it was time for Richard Feist to make his appearance again. It was nine o' clock in the evening, just like he said it'd be, when he opened the door to their room and started handing them some stuff he was carrying. He passed everyone a flashlight and a walkie-talkie, instructing them that they were to be used in case they were separated.

"Wake your friend up, we are leaving in ten minutes for the circle of stones," he said before making his way out. He was going to wait for them by the entrance of the inn, making sure that no one followed him there. Alice and Jose put their shoes back on and woke up a grunting Mark, who half-listened to their instructions after drinking, what seemed like, ten glasses of water.

They met up with Richard outside the inn and got in his car. They drove to the field of the festival area and parked their car alongside the other countless cars left in the area by the festival-goers. Richard gave them their tickets and they made their way towards the inner parts of the festival area. When they finally got in, after waiting in the queue for almost an hour, the party was in full swing.

There was loud music everywhere, emanating from various music stages where bands performed, and a colorful crowd of thousands of people, of all ages and styles, engaging in drinking, dancing and other raunchier activities.

They tried to blend in, as per Richard's instructions so they headed towards one of the quieter tents where Richard bought drinks for everyone. Alice felt a hint of regret after finally attending the festival she had always wanted to experience but actually doing so as a fugitive and a criminal.

"So where is this circle of stones situated?" she asked Richard, after a while. "I assume it's not near the festival area, is it?"

"No, love," he answered. "The circle of stones is an archaeological site from pre-Roman times, in a grass field north of here, about a thirty minute walk away. I want us to get there around midnight, my associates will be waiting for us. We'll leave around eleven o'clock, so we'll have plenty of time to walk."

"What are we going to do there?" she pressed him further.

"You'll find out soon enough," he answered in the same cryptic manner she had started to hate. "I suggest you enjoy yourself in the little time we have left here, and try not to stand out too much from the crowd. I know I will," he said before downing his pint of lager and heading off to the bar to get another. Alice sighed and looked at her watch.

Only one hour to go, she thought and took a sip from her drink.

Around eleven o'clock, Richard rounded them up and led them towards the edges of the festival where he used a pair of wire cutters to, inconspicuously, cut through the protective wire fence and walk through. They made their way north, over the hill, following a small hiking trail and leaving the festival's loud music behind them.

They walked silently in the night with only the light of the stars guiding them. Richard knew his way around the trail well and offered them guidance, helping them not to trip and fall down in the darkness. He was hesitant to use the flashlights, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to their unusual stroll in the field so late in the night. However, he eventually caved in and let them turn them on after having Mark, who was still feeling sick, trip and fall down a couple of times.

"I know I am going to regret this ..." he complained before giving them permission to do so.

They couldn't have been walking for very long when Alice heard a strange noise coming from the sky behind them. She stood still for a second and tried to make out the origins of the rhythmic sound.

"Do they have helicopters flying over the festival at this hour?" she whispered to the others.

At the sound of her voice, the others stopped walking as well and tried to listen for the same sound. It was getting louder by the second.

"Shit!" Richard cursed through clenched teeth. "Kill your torches!" he hissed and everyone immediately did so. They remained silent and stood still, waiting for Richard's next order. Alice looked at the middle-aged man. He was straining to listen to the sound in the sky, only his goatee beard gleaming visible in the darkness.

"This is no ordinary helicopter," he said after a few seconds. "This sounds like a military class carrier vehicle." He looked at them with an expression of panic drawn on his face.

"They have found us!" he hissed. "We need to make a run for it, now, or else we're done for!"

Alice and the others didn't have to be told twice. They started running after him, following the trail to the best of their ability while throwing fearful glances behind them. The sound of the helicopter became gradually louder until it seemed it was almost above them. Alice felt her heart throb, the same way she'd first felt it on the little island off the coast of Mykonos, when she and her friends were ambushed for the first time

She also felt the air hiss around her, her eyes widening at the realization that they were, once again, being fired at. A bullet sliced silently through the air next to her and planted itself on Jose's back. He let out a cry of intense pain and collapsed violently on the ground.

"Jose's hit!" she heard herself shout at the others over the commotion of bullets zipping past them. The others stopped running and turned around to see what had happened, but before anyone had any time to react, a myriad of intense flashlights shone upon them.

"Don't move!" a man shouted at them, blocking their path. A group of soldiers, kitted in helmets and rifles pointing at them, made their appearance immediately after. Alice realized, in sheer terror, that she and her friends had been intercepted by their assailants who were now forming a circle around them.

She stared, panicked, at the barrels of the rifles pointing at her and then at her friend who lay, bleeding, on the ground. Her ears were filled with the buzzing sound of the helicopter in the sky flying in circles around their location.

You have been running your whole life, and now catastrophe has finally caught up with you, my young Alice, she heard a voice mocking her inside her head. This is the end, my dearest, and the funny part is that you were, always, so afraid of everyone and everything that you, never, let yourself truly experience life, the voice continued in the same mocking tone, as the soldiers got closer. The man in charge was shouting something at them, but she could no longer hear him.

"I am not afraid anymore," she whispered in a faint voice. Oh but I think you are, the voice inside her head cackled. Little Alice, never able to grow up, never owning up to what she did back in the woods, never becoming a real person, the voice continued in its vicious jest. She thought of Telemachus and how she, probably, wasn't going to be able to hold him in her arms again. The voice inside her head roared in laughter. You've never, really, loved him, have you? How can you love someone else, when you are unable to love yourself?

"Shut up!" she heard herself screaming at top of her lungs. "I am not afraid anymore!" her shriek ripped through the night sky. "Not of myself, not of you, not of anyone else!"

Time stopped ticking for a second. Richard Feist looked at the girl, standing a few feet away from him and shouting something at an invisible entity, one that she could only see, and he blinked. He had seen some pretty extraordinary things happening in his time but witnessing a Spark activating their abilities for the first time was a sight that never ceased to amaze him.

A surge of lightning jumped out of the girls eyes, which had turned into a glowing pair of blue sapphires, and engulfed her, forming a lightning shield around her body. Electrical sparks and chains of deep blue lightning jumped all around her as if they were alive and ready to lash out. The girl seemed to be in some kind of trance, her hair electrified and flowing wildly above her head.

She let out a second scream, a shriek so highly pitched he had to cover his ears in fear of going deaf. As soon as her scream pierced the night sky the soldiers opened fire on her. However, the bullets seemed to stop midair and fall down to the ground as soon as they came in contact with the blue lightning shield.

Her response was immediate and in kind. She shouted something at them but no words came out of her mouth. Instead a chain of lightning jumped from her shield and hit every soldier in succession around her. They cried out in agony as their bodies ignited and burned down to a crisp, their remains an ashen and deformed pile of human husks on the ground. The sickening smell of scorched human flesh permeated the air and Richard felt an uncontrollable need to retch.

The girl's face remained expressionless, behind those cold sapphire-blue eyes, as she turned her attention from her incinerated enemies to that of her dying friend. He was hardly breathing, lying there in a crimson pool of his own blood.

Without blinking once, another chain of lightning left her body and landed on his wounded body. He let out a scream of pain as he was lifted into the air by an invisible force, little shackles of blue electricity dancing all around him and forcing him to convulse to their eerie cadence.

A few seconds later, the lightning retracted back to the girl and he fell with a loud thump on the ground, the little blue sparks that danced around his body starting to fade.

He readily jumped up to his feet with a look of shock and awe on his face. He took off his top and searched for the bullet wound on his stomach, but there wasn't anything there. The girl had used her miraculous ability of controlling the blue lightning to treat his wounds somehow, Richard gasped.

The boy let out a small moan and knelt on his knee, holding his stomach. He was obviously still in pain, even after his shock treatment, thus a liability, Richard thought as his mind scrambled to devise a plan of escape. He looked back at the girl, who was now also kneeling down, the lightning shield around her beginning to fade and disappear into nothingness.

"What have I done ..." she let out a small sob. Richard ran to her and helped her stand up.

"What you were always meant to do," he whispered to her as he held her head in his hands. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was breathing heavily.

She looked drained, and, probably, unable to use her abilities again for a period of time, Richard rationalized. "You are exhausted after externalizing your inner ability like that. You need to catch your breath, but we should keep moving. There must be other response teams on our tracks, so we need to get cracking!"

She nodded in understanding.

"Help your Spanish friend up and I will see to our English bloke myself," he started saying but was interrupted by the boy's voice behind him.

"I am okay," the boy said. He was standing tall, looking a bit shaken, but with a firm look in his eyes. "We won't be able to outrun them, we need a diversion," he told Richard in a stern voice.

"We don't have a bloody diversion mate, we need to get going and hope for the best," Richard replied anxiously. His eyes scanned the area for any sign of reinforcements.

"I am going to be the diversion," the boy continued, unphased. Richard took a deep breath and looked at the boy, standing in front of him again, this time in a different light.

"You know this is a suicide run, don't you, son?" he whispered, taken aback by the boy's display of bravery.

"It doesn't matter," he answered back, his eyes gleaming like pearls inside the blackness of the night. "Take them to safety," he nodded towards the direction of the girl and his friend. "I'll try to lead those soldiers as far away from you as possible."

Richard felt a knot forming in his stomach. "Very well," he finally said, offering his hand to the boy. "It was an honor, mate."

Mark shook his hand and nodded. "See you on the other side," he smiled and started running towards the sound of the helicopter.

"Where is Mark going, why is he running towards them?" the girl's worried voice sounded behind Richard. She had the Spanish boy's arm around her shoulders and was helping him to stand up.

"He's creating a diversion, don't worry, he'll catch up with us at the stones," Richard lied to her. He threw a final glance at Mark running down the trail towards what felt like certain death. "Let's get going, time is of the essence," he said and they darted off in the direction of the circle of stones ahead of them.

# Chapter 14

I took a deep breath. Where am I, I thought while breathing in the coolness of the evening summer breeze. I must have blacked out for a second or two. I was lying on my back on the grass floor of the prairie, the evening sky above me filling with some ominous looking clouds.

I am in Glastonbury, I remembered. Richard Feist had asked us to follow him to that archaeological site, the circle of the stone pillars. The memories flooded as consciousness quickly crept back to me.

I was with Alice and Jose when those special forces troops ambushed us. A throbbing sharp pain coming from my left arm made me gasp for air. Jose was shot and Alice killed all those soldiers with her lightning. It was an impossible feat but doing impossible feats was becoming a bit too common in my life this summer. Then it dawned on me.

I was shot as well! That's why I blacked out! I glanced around my body and saw it. There was a large pool of blood, my blood, on my left that was growing exponentially by the second. I looked, in horror, at my left hand but I couldn't find it. The realization that half of my left arm, all the way to the elbow, was blown off by a bullet opened up the mental barriers that my mind had put in place and unleashed an ocean of pain. I kept gasping for air frantically and heard my own scream fill the night sky.

This is it, this is how my life ends. I looked around for any sign of my friends but I couldn't make out anything in the darkness. I heard a buzzing sound in the air and realized that it was the sound of the military chopper that was after us. I shut my eyes as a strong light was cast on me. I heard a commotion coming from close by and realized that my would-be executioners were, still, after me.

Somehow I don't think they'll just want to have a chat, I thought as I buried my arm in my chest, trying to keep myself from bleeding to death. They were almost upon me when a sudden cold sensation, followed by severe dizziness overcame me. I looked back and could make out the silhouettes of a group of soldiers with protruding rifles forming a circle.

If there, ever, was a time for a miracle, this would be a fantastic opportunity for it, I chuckled and rolled on my back again. I was losing blood rapidly, it wouldn't be long until the inevitable happened. I shut my eyes and thought of my parents, our house in Essex, the face of Alice smiling at me. I smiled back at her, her face becoming blurrier as the seconds passed.

It's not Alice, you dummy, I thought as darkness consumed me once again. It's Nadia ... How are you, Nadia ... Fancy meeting you here ...

"Mark, you better come finish your sandwich, my little sausage, and leave that ants' nest alone," my mother's voice came through the glass windows of the kitchen overlooking our garden in Chelmsford, Essex. I was six years old and I had just discovered the excitement of watching the ants form a line to carry the crumbs, from a biscuit I was eating, back to their nest.

"Mom, come look at all the ants carrying the biscuit," I shouted.

My mother's head appeared out of the window to check up on me.

"Mark, I am not going to repeat myself, sweetie. Leave those ants alone and come and finish your tea." She sounded really impatient so I decided to leave the ants to their work and ran inside. Before I made it to the kitchen door, clumsy as I was, I fell down on the grass, head first. I felt a sharp pain on the front of my head but decided not to let pain get the best of me.

That's when I saw it for the first time. It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. A large centipede was skittering on the grass in front of me as I laid there, mesmerized by its wild beauty.

"Mom!" I shouted with a touch of pretense panic my voice. I knew that would get her attention right away. I wasn't wrong. A few seconds later she opened the door and ran to me, a look of worry on her face.

"Mark, you little clutch, are you hurt?" she asked all worried.

I got up on my knees and smiled at her. "I am okay, mom, but take a look at that!" I pointed at the large centipede scurrying away from us. "What is that thing, mom?" I asked, filled with sincere curiosity about the strange creature in front of me.

"It's a centipede, silly!" she laughed as she took me in her arms. "Centipedes are insects, just like ants. We call them centipedes because they have hundreds of legs that let them move really fast!"

My eyes widened with fascination.

"Can I pick it up?" I asked full of hope.

"I don't think you should, sweetie," she replied. "Centipedes don't like being picked up by little boys and they will bite you with their fangs if you do so!" I was sincerely disappointed.

"Now, come on in and finish your tea!" She put me down and we went inside. The next day she had a surprise for me. We sat on the couch in the living room and she gave me a large book all about insects in which there were pictures of centipedes, ants, praying mantises and others. I was overjoyed and in awe of all the different types of creatures in the book.

For the days that followed, I kept pestering my mom to read with me the little text beneath them over and over again. I was obsessed and learned all I could about the little crawlies. I learned how centipedes were a predatory cousin of insects called an invertebrate and how they used their front legs as fangs to eat plants, or poison and eat other little insects.

What fascinated me the most, though, was the fact that they could regrow their own legs, in case something bad happened to them and they lost one. They were truly the most extraordinary creatures I had ever laid eyes on.

Team Bravo circled their target lying fatally wounded, from the looks of it, on the prairie. The sharpshooters had made quick work of him so there was not much for them to do other than confirm the target's neutralization. Sergeant Winters moved next to the body of the blonde young man facing upwards and took a closer look.

The young man's eyes were shut but there was a hint of breathing. He nudged the body with his boot to gauge for a reaction.

Nope, he hasn't got much left in him, he thought. He picked up his radio communicator and signaled his field commander.

"Target has been neutralized, I repeat neutralized," his voice echoed loudly in the silence of the night.

"Is he dead?" a coarse voice came from the other side of the communicator.

"Might as well be, sir. He doesn't look like he's going to make it by the time the medics arrive to our location," the sergeant replied. There was a short silence before the coarse voice came through again.

"Very well sergeant. Your orders are to secure the location, and be ready to provide support to teams Charlie and Delta. We have three more bogeys on the loose."

"Roger that, sir. Bravo out," the sergeant turned off his radio and gathered his men round.

"Corporal Archer, stay with the boy until the chopper arrives to pick us up. The rest, form a perimeter thirty feet wide. Stand ready to support Charlie and Delta, they might be coming our way."

The men scattered to assume their positions as the sergeant scanned the horizon, ahead of him, for any signs of trouble. There was a little grove of trees that stood in the distance breaking the monotonous scenery of the prairie. He could make out shadows moving towards the cluster of trees.

Charlie and Delta are pursuing the targets into the grove, he assumed. He looked up in the sky and made a mental note of the thick clouds that were amassing, making visibility for the air support harder. At least it's not raining, he thought to himself.

He turned his head sideways and glanced at the other members of his team. They were hardened professionals, all of them, their expression that of grim determination but also a hint of eagerness. An eagerness to test their combat skills against this new and fearsome opponent their superiors were so afraid of. So far he couldn't understand what the fuss was about.

The boy lying thirty feet behind him was half dead before they had even got a chance to engage him. He felt almost sorry for him, just another unarmed civilian, from the looks of it, but he was grateful he didn't have to put his men into unnecessary danger. Two decades of combat experience, behind enemy lines, had taught him the value of playing it safe and having everyone return in one piece. He felt glad this was one of those times.

Damn it, it looks like it's going to rain after all, he cursed mentally, as he felt rain drops fall on the back of his neck. He looked at the sky but there was no sign of rain. That is strange, he thought  and wiped the back of his neck with his hand. The rain water felt warm and sticky. He took off his night googles and looked at his hand more carefully.

This is not rain water, he thought, in horror, realizing that his palm was stained by the deep crimson of blood. He immediately turned around and noticed a large circular object, like a football, roll over to him and land in front of his boots. He took a closer look at the strange looking football, only to find Corporal Archer's eyes staring back at him, an expression of pure terror painted all over them. It took him but a second to make the mental connection that the object in front of him was his corporal's severed head. He felt his stomach churn and acid climb his throat.

How is this possible ... I don't even ... He took a took breath and filled his lungs with air, the military training and years of experience taking over from his terror and disgust. He started to formulate an attack plan in his mind but the image of the thing, wiggling thirty feet away, made him freeze in his tracks. A squeal, instead of a shout, came out of his mouth as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing.

Thirty feet in front of him, roughly in the middle of his team's perimeter, in the very spot where they'd let Corporal Archer stand guard over the boy, a black wiggling insect of sorts was growing larger by the second. Time started ticking slowly for the sergeant.

He glanced at his sides and saw his men holding their automatic rifles, their bodies locked in a pose of utter terror. He then turned his attention back to the creature. The black looking insect had already grown twenty foot tall, in the space of few seconds, and was now turning its attention to them.

It looks like some kind of giant centipede, the sergeant realized horrified. The giant insect turned its head and locked eyes with him. Its eyes were gleaming with malicious intent.

It's preparing its plan of attack, it's going to come after us, it dawned on him.

"Open fire!" he shouted. "Give it everything you've got!" He aimed his automatic rifle at the giant centipede and pulled the trigger.

The soldiers firing at me with their weapons seemed like an easy picking, at first. However, their bullets ricocheting on my armor plated skin brought me feelings of pain and fueled my rage. I lunged forward, propelled by the strength of my myriad legs, towards the nearest soldier and grabbed him by the waist with my mandibles. He screamed as I lifted him in the air and bit him hard.

Blood splattered all over my antennae as the body was severed in half, further feeding my blood frenzy. The rest of the group kept firing at me with their weapons, making me feel all the more agitated. I went after all of them, one at a time, stabbing their soft bodies with my fangs repeatedly, and ripping their flesh to shreds.

Their screams and howls of pain filled my senses with the sweet sound of victory over my prey. I killed them all, in succession, so that they could witness what was going to happen to them after I tore their comrades apart, limb by limb, and cut their bodies into pieces.

A couple of them tried to run but their puny little legs were no match for neither my speed nor my agility. I, easily, intercepted them and crushed them under the weight of my body, making sure their bones were broken and their spines were split.

A few moments later, they were all nothing more than a bloody mess on the ground and I was getting ready to feed. I turned my attention to my body and noticed that a couple of my limbs were missing, probably blown off by the soldiers' bullets. I'd need time and food to nourish my body and prepare it for regrowth. I stood, proudly, over the bloody gore and lowered my head to feed.

The meat was full of adrenaline, making it warm and tasty. As I was feeding on the flesh of my prey, I felt little jabs of pain signaling that my body had started to repair itself, the new limbs growing and coming through to replace the missing ones.

After a while, I became conscious of a buzzing sound coming from above interrupting my feeding session. I scanned the skies by protruding my antennae towards the noise and registered the weird-shaped object flying circles around me. A new opponent had found me, one that I could not reach and fight. It was time for me to flee. I proceeded to jump backwards and scurry towards the grove of trees in the distance. It was the perfect location to hide from my new airborne enemy.

"I think we might have lost them for now," Richard Feist tried to catch his breath. He had led the girl and the boy off the trail towards the circle of stones and into a grove of trees that was situated close by, on the east.

He knew that his choice of a, temporal, hideout would not do much to fool the soldiers who were after them but he hoped that it'd give them a bit more time. Time that the girl could use to recuperate and, maybe, be able to have another go at calling the blue lightning down on their pursuers. He had guessed that the exhaustion the girl was feeling was due to the externalization of her unique power, for the first time.

He was greatly impressed by her. She seemed not only resilient enough to be able to follow him on foot, despite the tiredness she was experiencing, but also ready to try and call forth the lightning. The Spanish boy, however, looked rough, even though the girl had healed him, and his breathing sounded difficult and inconsistent. Richard was worried that he might have some sort of residual damage left in his body after the girl had cauterized his wound shut. He wasn't sure how they'd be able to carry him to the archaeological site with the soldiers after them.

The thought of leaving the boy behind crossed his mind, more than once, but he quickly rejected the idea. The girl wasn't going to abandon her friend no matter how hopeless their situation seemed. They had used up the window of opportunity the English lad had provided them with, probably at the cost of his life, and were now running rapidly out of options.

We're going to have to make a stand here, he sighed wearily. He looked at the girl, who was busy holding her friend's head in her lap, a worried expression on her face, trying to whisper words of courage to him. They were hauled inside a ditch, behind a large tree trunk, which provided them with temporary protection from the sharpshooters' pursuing eyes.

I just hope the girl's feeling strong enough to repeat her earlier feat, he thought. He cursed mentally at himself, like he had done many times in the past, and at his own lack of offensive powers. All he could amount to was the suppression of other people's E.M. fields, a unique characteristic that made him the ideal candidate to approach newly activated Sparks but, ultimately, left him with little to defend himself against such overwhelming odds.

He also felt anger towards his own associates' lack of countermeasures, which had left them exposed to the enemy in such a hopeless manner. If, and when, they made it out alive, he was going to have a proper word with the rest of his team about their methods for subterfuge.

"Keep your head down and be quiet, they are almost here," he whispered to the young girl. He could make out the faint glow of their pursuers' flashlights jumping about in the darkness and on the trees in front of them. Richard was now wishing that he had asked Dancing Wind or even Peter Blaze to help him out with the mission of retrieving these young Sparks.

No, they have a job to do, and so do you, he reminded himself. He heard the faint sound of footsteps and peaked cautiously over the edge of the ditch. He could trace the shadows of the soldiers hurrying about through the grove. They haven't made our location yet but it, probably, won't be long now.

"Do you think you can repeat what you did earlier?" he asked the girl quietly. "You know, call forth your blue lightning and blast those soldiers to smithereens."

"I don't know," she answered, sounding unsure of herself. "I don't even know how I did it, in the first place."

"Don't worry, it'll come to you," he encouraged her. "It's like learning how to ride a bike, you think you'll never be able to do it but then it all comes together and the knowledge never, really, leaves once you've mastered it."

"I'll try," she remained hesitant. "I still feel weak and dizzy though ..."

"I don't want to pressure you, love, but we won't stand much of a chance against those guys if you can't do your magic," he said as he pulled his Beretta pistol out of his trench coat, making sure the safety was off.

The sound of military-issued boots walking on the dry forest floor became louder.

The soldiers are close, any second now and they'll be on top of us, Richard Feist thought, putting his finger over his mouth and signaling the girl to be quiet. The Spanish boy, lying on the floor, looked like he had fallen unconscious again. He held his gun tightly and waited.

A minute passed.

What the hell is going on, why did they stop, he thought. It was then that he heard the rustling sound come from the distance to their right. It was a weird kind of sound, one that he could not recall hearing before. It sounded as if hundreds of little legs were skittering on the ground in high speed and with acute synchronization.

What kind of vehicle makes a noise like that, Richard pondered, but he did not dare lift his head over the ditch and check. From the sounds of it, the soldiers were also aware of the eerie sound and were getting ready to meet whatever it was that was rushing towards them. A few more seconds passed. There was nothing but silence.

Come on, what, in the name of bloody hell, is happening?

The silence was soon interrupted by the sound of automatic gunfire erupting. He pulled the girl next to him and they both ducked down for cover. Bullets flew past above them, followed by the sound of grenade explosions in the short distance ahead of them.

There was a muffled shriek of pain that reminded Richard of a wounded animal crying out in rage and the night started to fill with the horrifying screams of what sounded like people being torn apart alive. The girl put her hands over her ears to stop herself from listening to the sound of bone being crushed and flesh being ripped apart. Richard Feist clenched his teeth and held his weapon close.

His hands were trembling.

The carnage lasted for a good couple of minutes that felt like a small eternity. Then there was silence again. Richard decided it was time to risk a peek. He grabbed the trunk of the tree above them and peered sideways.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw in front of him. Soldiers were lying dead everywhere, their limbs and other torn pieces of flesh scattered all around the small clearing of trees. The ground had turned red by the amount of blood that was spilled over it. Right in the middle of the carnage, a giant black centipede was going over the remains of the soldiers as if it was preparing to feed.

"What is that thing?" the girl cried in terror, next to him.

She must have crept next to me without me noticing, Richard cursed his luck.

"Be quiet!" he hissed. "Or we might be its next meal!"

The girl held her mouth with her hand as to prevent herself from screaming.

"Oh my god! I think it's eating them," she whimpered.

"I told you to be quiet or ..." It was already too late. The giant insect lifted its head from the remains of a dead body and looked towards their direction, its large antennae pointing directly to them.

"Too late now," Richard cursed again.

"I think it's looking at us, Richard," the girl made no effort to conceal her voice anymore. "What are we going to do?" she cried.

Richard's mind raced weighing the possibilities. A plan was, immediately, formulated in his head.

It's a long shot, but it's all we've got, he thought. He grabbed the girl by the shoulders and shook her.

"I want you to do your magic and draw its attention. I am going to try to flank it and get behind it," he said to her.

"But ... but, what can you, possibly, hope to achieve by getting behind it? I mean, it's killed all these soldiers already!" Alice sounded as if she was overtaken by terror.

That's not good, the girl's starting to lose it, he thought.

"Please, listen to me and do what I say. I have a plan and I think it might, actually, work. But I need you to try and keep its attention away from me. Okay?"

She looked at him frozen and nodded.

"That's a good girl," he gave her shoulder a squeeze and started to climb out of the ditch. As he was climbing he saw the girl shutting her eyes and frowning in concentration. A blue aura started to form around her body and little sparks of blue lightning started to appear and crackle.

Here goes nothing, let's hope that thing misses me and focuses on the girl, Richard thought and started running away.

Alice shut her eyes and focused on activating her inner power, the strength she had discovered inside of her, when everything else had failed. She felt afraid, the giant centipede was no doubt coming for her and that made her quake in her boots. She kept her eyes shut and looked for the calmness inside the storm, the sensation that she'd felt when the blue lightning firstly manifested within her. She focused on her breathing and felt the power stir inside her chest.

I hope Richard's plan works, she thought while exhaling slowly. If only Telemachus was here, he'd know what to do. She heard a loud noise come from above her, and the sound of insect legs loping.

The monster is right above me, a whimper traversed her body, a weakness that stemmed from her stomach and forced its way to her legs making them tremble. Focus dummy, she ordered herself mentally and continued with her breathing exercises.

Inhale through your nose, exhale with your stomach, she repeated the mantra her Pilates instructor had taught her a few years back. She imagined her body to be a vessel where the blue lightning lived and cried for its help. She heard the giant insect rattle its fangs, as if it was preparing to strike at her. The sound made her feel sick.

I cannot die here like this, she thought. I have so much to live for, to fight for. Whatever happens here, I am not ready to let go. I will fight this.

She let her breath travel slowly from her lungs and into the world outside. A loud crackling sound followed that was echoed in the night sky. She opened her eyes and they were the color of pure blue. Blue lightning erupted from the pores of her body and formed a shield around her. She lifted her hands upwards, sparkles dancing on her fingertips.

She felt the power inside of her come in waves as it tried to break free from the confines of her body and shoot for the sky. She was turning into a living orb of pure energy, ready to be unleashed on whoever, or whatever, came close. The giant centipede let out a shriek of surprise realizing that its prey was becoming something far more dangerous than it'd, originally, accounted for. It stood on it back legs and exposed its fangs in an effort to subdue this new threat.

Alice did not waiver but stood her ground, facing the monster, the energy shield around her body growing bigger by the second. The centipede started to move backwards, recalculating the risk. Alice stretched her arms forwards, the palms of her hands aimed towards the giant insect's head. She was ready to unleash the blue lightning at the monster when something unexpected happened.

The insect cried in pain and proceeded to collapse in front of her, its head slamming on the ground right next to her feet. She jumped sideways, fearful of being crushed under the weight of its giant body. She looked around and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the man in the trench coat kneeling next to the centipede. Richard's gambit had paid off.

"What have you done to it?" she asked after internalizing the energy shield back into her body. Even though it was only the second time she'd done it, she felt that she was getting the hang of her ability to control the lightning.

"You are getting better at this," Richard noted, a smug look on his face. "Soon, you'll be able to call forth your lightning with a mere thought. It's going to be as easy as breathing."

"You haven't answered my question," she persisted.

"Oh that," he looked down at the giant body. Somehow it looked a lot less frightening than it did a few moments ago, Alice thought. "I only did what I had to. Most Sparks react the same way when I touch them," he said while waving his hands in the air, mimicking the cast of a magic spell. He started laughing. "You see, love, this giant monster right here is none other than the third member of your little group of rascals."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that your friend Mark, right here, just got zapped by my infamous nullifying touch," he replied and reached for his packet of cigarettes. "It usually takes a few minutes with his kind but he'll soon be back to his old self," he picked a cigarette out of the packet and lit it up.

"His kind?" Alice was confused.

"He's not the first metamorph I've encountered and I am willing to bet he's not going to be the last one, either." He took a puff from his smoke. "The moment I laid eyes on that giant centipede I knew it had to be your friend. There's no way in hell, England started, all of a sudden, breeding giant monsters, not that I know of anyways," he shrugged. "I thought your friend was a goner, a heroic sacrifice on his part, no less, but it seems he had an ace up his sleeve the whole time."

"I don't think he actually knew how to do that," Alice muttered.

"Well," Richard chuckled. "That makes it even better." He flicked his cigarette away and spat on the ground. "Check up on your little Spanish friend over there, try to wake him up because we're going to have to move quickly before the reinforcements catch up with us. Plus, I think I can hear that damn helicopter flying around, still. These trees can't hide us forever." He turned around and started to move towards the scattered dead bodies in the clearing.

"Where do you think you're going?" Alice shouted at him.

"I am going to try to find some clothes for your friend," he shouted back. "Judging from past experiences I've had with metamorphs, I think he might need them."

Alice stared at him for a second, trying to make sense of the craziness of her situation. She, then, turned her attention to the body of the unconscious giant insect that was lying by her feet, its body heaving slowly as it breathed.

"I don't think the situation's funny at all," she mumbled to herself and turned to check up on Jose.

# Chapter 15

I took a moment and looked at my hand in disbelief. It seemed like it had never been blown away. I stretched my fingers and clenched my fist, while moving my whole arm around. It's still here, it feels the same like it always has, I thought. I pinched my fingers and other parts of my hand to make sure the pain registered in my head.

Yep, it's exactly the same, I cracked my knuckles and got up. Richard Feist was standing right beside me, eyeing me up and down with a calculative look in his eyes. Alice was just a few feet away, trying to help a staggering Jose stand up. I was dressed in a strange mishmash of torn military clothing, most of them stained with patches of dried blood. They felt disgusting on my skin.

"So why exactly did you dress me up like this?" I asked Richard.

"I am terribly sorry, your highness, that our choice of attire is not up to your usual standards, but, please, forgive me for not thinking to bring an extra change of clothes in case one of you turned into a giant rampaging monster," he replied with a sneer.

He took a hasty puff from his cigarette before throwing the butt on the ground. "We need to get out of here and get back to the trail towards the stones." He took a quick look at his watch, then added, "It's almost twenty five minutes to one, we are going to lose our window of opportunity if we waste any more time."

I stood up and walked towards my friends. I felt strangely invigorated and strong, my senses registering sharper and more acute than ever.

"I'll take it from here," I told Alice and took one of Jose's arms over my shoulders, while putting one of my own around his waist, in order to support his weight and help him stand next to me. He looked as if he was in pain, his face locked in a grimace of mild suffering and defeat. Alice gave me a weak smile and turned her attention to Richard, who was now waiting with an impatient look on his face. She looked tired and drained, bags forming underneath her beautiful eyes.

She was the one who had greeted me first after I'd regained my consciousness, with no clear recollection of what had happened to me or how I'd ended up there with them, inside the small grove of trees. Initially, I found her story, of me turning into a giant centipede and proceeding to murder the units of soldiers that were after us, incredulous but then the memory of lying in a pool of my own blood on the prairie, dying, with half my arm blown off, caught up with me.

There was no other way I could have walked away from something like that alive, other than by doing the impossible, of course, and making use of my manifested powers, that had apparently allowed me to turn into a giant monster.

I was feeling anxious about not being able to recollect any of the events that had transpired, but also mildly grateful, after having a look at the carnage I had caused. I also felt incredibly relieved by the fact that Richard had managed to nullify my terrifying monster form, effectively forcing me back into my human self before I had the chance to hurt him or my friends.

If I am going to make a habit out of transforming into a giant monster, I need to get a better grip of it, before someone close to me gets hurt, I thought.

"Are you lot ready to go?" Richard asked impatiently, his voice interrupting my thinking.

"Do you think you can walk like this, mate?" I asked my friend.

"No worries, compadre, you lead the way," he answered in a coarse voice.

"I am ready, as well" Alice said in a calm tone.

"Let's go, then. I imagine our pursuers are preparing another strike team as we speak," he noted and started walking westwards.

The walk to the circle of stones did not take long to get there, even though we were walking considerably slower, given Jose's current predicament. Richard led the way back to the trail and from there to the archaeological site with the eerie stone pillars that were laid out in a circular pattern. The middle-aged man looked really anxious, constantly throwing fearful glances behind us as we made our way to the monument.

We could hear the helicopter flying in the distance but there was no other visible sign of our pursuers.

We must have scared them enough not to try to come after us directly again, so they are, probably, trying to come up with a new plan of action, I thought as I walked behind the older man.

After what felt like twenty minutes of walking, we finally made it to our destination. I helped Jose sit on the ground, in the middle of the stone circle and took a closer look at the pillars that surrounded us. It didn't seem like there was anything special about them, just another ring of stones that served some obscure purpose for the people that erected them thousands of years ago and was now lost in time.

"I thought this monument was built in the ninety nineties by the original festival goers to celebrate summer Solstice or something like that," I spoke my mind out loud. I recalled reading about it in an old music magazine.

"The neo-hippie monument you are referring to, mate, is situated further to the south," Richard replied. He seemed agitated with something, and was looking around nervously, as if he was searching for a date that had failed to show up. "This one, right here, is the real thing," he pointed at one of the stone pillars. "It predates the Roman period and was built by religious practitioners as a gateway to the structure below."

"Structure below?" it was Alice's turn to speak. She was standing in the middle of the circle, next to Jose, making sure our friend was alright. "I assume this is why we came all the way here," she added. "How are we going to get in?"

"You'll soon find out," Richard replied and kept pacing about.

"Richard, I've had enough of this secret agent crap you keep spewing," I said angrily. "You'd better start telling us what's going on, or we might start thinking that you don't have our best interests at heart."

Richard's face convulsed in annoyance and frustration. He opened his mouth to say something but then shut it, deciding against it. Eventually, he let out a big sigh. "Very well, I suppose you have trusted me this far to guide you here, so I guess it's time for me to return the favor," he said in a calm voice. "This particular spot right here, where we are standing, is one of the major focal points of electromagnetic energy in the whole of England. My associates and I recently deduced that it was built by the druids to serve as a gateway to an underground complex hidden underneath the surface, nearly two hundred feet below. So far, we have managed to verify that this is indeed the case."

"Underground complex?" I asked. "How did it manage to stay hidden for all this time?"

"It's easy," he replied with a snicker. "The whole structure is built from a metal alloy that is all but invisible to modern satellite surveillance. There's also the fact that no one has ever bothered to dig here. It's just a bloody field, in a place with nothing but fields and prairies, nothing extraordinary about it. Plus there are no conventional entrances to the structure."

"So how are we supposed to get in?"

"Like I said," Richard resumed his narrative. "My associates and I, noticed that the electromagnetic focus on this monument forms an invisible energy barrier of sorts, which was probably meant to keep the structure hidden from prying eyes. The only reason we figured out its existence was mostly due to the nature of my own abilities that act as a form of secondary sensory system, allowing me to see the molecular structure of energy fields and their patterns."

"I think Mac can do that as well," I muttered.

"Can he now?" Richard looked like he was caught by surprise. "It seems that your friend is full of surprises, too bad he decided not to follow us, we could definitely find ways to put his skills into good use."

"Richard, you, still, haven't told us how are we going to get in there," Alice was becoming visibly impatient and fed up with Richard's cryptic mannerisms.

"I was getting to that," he replied. "As I said, due to the secondary nature of my abilities, I discovered that the shield becomes weaker during the period between midnight and three o' clock in the morning. That's the window of opportunity, I kept referring to, when certain people, with a particular skill set, can make the leap through."

"What? You mean like turn ethereal like Mac does?" I asked the older man.

"Not exactly, but others with similarly extraordinary abilities, yes. We refer to people with such specific skills as leapers in our organization, and what we are doing right now is waiting for one of them to meet us and help us through."

"Richard-san, forgive us for being late to our meeting, but we were worried that you had been compromised by the Inquisition forces when you failed to show up at the appointed time," a young girl's voice sounded from behind us interrupting our conversation. Alice and I jumped, startled, and turned towards the direction of the newcomer's voice.

A young Asian girl, roughly our age, approached us, followed by two men by her side. They were all outfitted in tight dark blue uniforms that made them look like shadows traversing the night around us. At a closer look, their uniforms seemed to be made out of a vinyl like material, and were padded at the knees and shoulders, outlining the vigorous physique of the people in them, and making them look like something straight out of a futuristic time capsule.

They were, also, outfitted in bulky-looking boots, with protruding metal spikes that, probably, acted as a grip or a weapon, and gloves that were worn under some intricate-looking gadgets tied on their wrists. They all had a symbol of a white lightning bolt on the left side of their chest, just above their heart. Alice and I stared at them with our mouths hanging open, taken aback by how impressive they looked in those outfits.

The young girl walked closer to us and performed a small bow. "My name is Hiroko Watanabe, codename Ripple, and I am pleased to meet you, finally!" she giggled. She stood a bit shorter than me and Alice and looked really petite and agile in her dark blue uniform. Her hair was raven-black with a few red highlights and cut in an elaborate short bob.

"Hi, my name's Mark Prior and my friend over here is Alice Elwes," I said, offering my hand in a shake, realizing that I must have been gawking the whole time. I turned around to point at Jose and was surprised to see him standing up from where he had been sitting earlier.

He looked like he was getting better, dispelling the fears that I had of him having some sort of residual damage from the bullet wound, after Alice had cauterized and healed it. He waved his hand in greeting but didn't make any effort to move from his spot. "My friend over there is Jose Maria Hernandez," I added.

"Who's the morph?" one of the two men asked in a deep voice while making his way forward. He stood in front of me and looked me up and down with increased curiosity. He was quite taller than me and looked really fit and strong, the tight blue uniform outlining, explicitly, the protruding muscles on his arms and chest and the rock solid six pack on his stomach.

His facial characteristics were those of Native American descent and he had long black hair that came down to his shoulders. He was wearing some sort of tribal paint underneath his eyes, a detail that made him look incredibly menacing and awe-inspiring at the same time.

"Are you the metamorph?" he asked me in the same serious tone.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, mate, but I am the one who turned into the giant insect, yep," I replied, still in awe of his incredible posture and physique.

He looked me up and down for another second or two, then broke into a smile. "It's a great honor to meet a warrior of such ferocity and prowess. My name is Dancing Wind and I've seen what happens to your enemies, Mark Prior," he shook my hand in a tight handshake that left my fingers sore.

"Eh, thanks I guess," I replied, rubbing my hand.

"So we've got an empath here, a morph, and what can this charming young thing do?" the third figure walked towards us last, pointing a finger at Alice. He looked much more slender and spoke in a distinct American accent. Judging by his facial characteristics, I wagered that he was in his late twenties or early thirties. He wore his bleached blonde hair in a crew cut, and was playing with a metallic lighter in a very theatrical manner.

"At first I thought she was a tempest, when I saw her tame the lightning, but I don't think we have a category for her yet, mate," Richard said and walked forward. "She seems to be one of a kind, from what I've seen so far." He looked pleased and relieved with the appearance of his comrades. He shook the blonde man's hand then stood in front of them. "This strapping young lad right here is none other than our resident pyrotechnic and pyromaniac, Peter Blaze," he said. The blonde man in the uniform bowed in a dramatic manner.

"Sparks, meet the rest of my team," he held his arms open in presentation. "Team meet the new additions to our cause."

"Cause? What cause?" I interrupted him. "We're only following you for lack of a better option, no one ever said anything about a cause."

Peter Blaze threw his head back in laughter. "I think I like them already!"

"Yeah, I thought you might do," Richard smiled. "Right," he clapped his hands in emphasis. "We need to get on with the mission, and we are running out of time. Everyone please form a circle around Hiroko and hold hands with the people next to you."

We did as Richard instructed, helping Jose stand with us in the circle. A faint sound of the helicopter flying echoed in the distance, signaling that our pursuers were still after us. I stood in the circle, around Hiroko, and held hands with the others, while Richard reached out and held onto Hiroko's shoulder with one of his hands. The girl shut her eyes, her face locked in deep concentration.

"Shut your eyes," Richard whispered. "It will make the leap easier for you first-timers," he further explained. He caught the questioning look I gave him and added in a whisper. "Hiroko is going to ride an electromagnetic wave and teleport us all to the chambers below the monument. She's the team's leaper."

The night just keeps getting better and better, what else is there in store for us, I wondered while shutting my eyes. I took a deep breath and waited. Just as I was ready to pry one of eyes open and attempt a peek, I felt a jolt of energy crackle around us and felt the prairie disappear under our feet. I opened my eyes in panic and managed to catch a glimpse of the world distort violently, before it popped like a bubble.

Sir Robert Anderson waited, patiently, for agent Ravenhawk to unlock the gates to the old warehouse in South London, then walked in line behind the younger man following him into the, seemingly, abandoned building. It was nearly seven in the morning and the old man had gotten, hardly, any sleep.

He'd spent the whole night in the Bureau's headquarters coordinating the efforts to intercept the group of Lucidi in Glastonbury, efforts that had turned, once more, into a unmitigated disaster. These Lucidi were proving to be very resourceful in deflecting their efforts, managing to slaughter everyone that they'd thrown at them before, seemingly, disappearing into thin air. Anderson knew that his replacement as the Head of the Bureau was only a matter of hours away.

None of that mattered much, of course, as long as his plan had a chance to come to fruition. Additionally, there was always the fact that he'd still hold a high position in the Order's ranks, which would allow him to pursue his secret agenda behind their backs. He walked towards the center of the empty warehouse where a single wooden table with two chairs occupied the floor. He gave a slight nod to the younger man, who pulled out an electronic device from his leather jacket and proceeded to hit a sequence of buttons on its keypad.

"We're secure, no one's listening," Ravenhawk announced after a while, and went to stand in the corner of the room.

Anderson took a seat on the chair and folded his arms on the table, facing the door. He felt a growing anxiety as to whether his gamble would pay off. Lisa's life depends on this, he thought. He had instructed the agent to conceal his weapons at all times, as to not scare their contact away. He took another look at his watch. It was two minutes past seven.

He clenched his teeth and forced himself to breath slowly. He had to remain calm, his daughter did not have much time left and this was the only way for her to get a last chance at recovering. It has to work, it just has to, he thought while staring at the entrance. The seconds passed excruciatingly slow, as he kept throwing glances at his watch. It was almost three minutes past seven and there was still no sign of him. Anderson took a deep breath.

There was a small rustle in the air and the figure of a black-haired young man appeared in front him, sitting on the chair on the opposite side of the table. The old man exhaled, caught by surprise, and saw Ravenhawk reach for his weapon. He lifted his hand and signaled his agent to stop. The young man did not seem to worry and had an amused smirk on his face.

"I was worried you might not come," he said to the young man. "We certainly did not expect this kind of entrance, but I guess you have to live up to your kind's reputation."

The young man stared at him for a while, then spoke in a cold tone.

"I am not here to have a chat with you. The message on the flash drive, your man standing over there in the corner, slipped into my pocket back on the island, mentioned that you can provide immunity to me and my own."

"I can, and in fact I am the only person in the world who can give back to you a semblance of a normal life," Anderson replied, eagerly. "As you might have, already, realized you have the whole of the world's armies and secret services after you and your friends. They will never stop coming at you, not until you are all dead," he continued. "I can protect you from them, seeing as I am part of who they are. But for me to put so much at stake I need something from you in return."

The young man folded his arms over his chest and leaned backwards on his chair, giving Anderson another amused smirk.

"I am all ears ..." he said.

TO BE CONTINUED

# About the Author

T.A. Marks is the adopted pen name of a couple in their mid thirties (Theo P. and Abs W.), with a love for traveling, science fiction and the literal arts.

The E.M.F. Chronicles consist of their latest attempt to build an epic fictional world, filled with adventure, drama, and extraordinary events.

They hope you enjoy reading their stories, as much as they do writing them.

Read more at T.A. Marks's site.
