Chapter One: The Lost Girl

The first chapter of the Olympus Project

Chronos glanced over her shoulder at the truck she drove out to the desert. She’d followed the long road from their town out into the wilderness, while the clouds gathered overhead. She had a cell phone, in case anything went wrong, and the emergency number of Icarus on speed dial.

Before her was the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen. A spinning mass of clouds, a wedge tornado spanning what looked to Chronos about an hour across. She had a camera on a tripod, and she was already having to strain against the wind. It seemed unnaturally strong, but that was better. That was exhilarating.

Her long hair whipped her face, but the pain meant nothing. Pain never meant anything, especially when it was countered with adrenaline. She took several photos, before watching the storm advancing for another five minutes, she looked at the satellite imaging of the storm and her GPS position.

It was a rough estimate that she was just over a hundred yards away from the circulating expanse of air and clouds, and she could hear a deep rushing in her ears, so loud that it must have been unsafe on her ears.

“Icarus?” She called the emergency number, “I love this. It’s so amazing, so inspiring. I wish I could freeze the moment.”

Icarus answered coldly, his voice coming through sound-blocking headphones, and it was still hard to hear him. “You can, you’re Chronos, remember?”

“Yeah, but I can’t focus for long enough, I don’t want to take my eyes off of it for a moment.” She replied.

Being so close to the something so powerful was awe-inspiring. It felt like true love, the way the experience embraced her, she’d never forget.

“Dana, can you still hear me?” Icarus asked, though it was barely audible over the roaring in her ears.

Chronos nodded automatically, like he could see her, “Literally just.”

Icarus grunted, “Good, so get out of there.” He didn’t even wait for her protest before continuing, “Chronos, it’s dangerous. We can’t afford to lose you over this silly storm-chasing hobby you have.”

She hung up. There was no chance of her taking any advice now, because it didn’t matter to her anymore. She remembered being found, but she’d never appreciated quite how exciting it was to be a rogue.

Chronos couldn’t blame herself for being a lost girl.

~*-@-*~

“Icarus?” Aphrodite asked him when she saw him staring at the screen of his computer, dumbfounded.

His voice was croaky, and she noticed what she didn’t see at first, that he’d been crying, silent tears, “Aphrodite. Affie, she’s gone.”

“What do you mean ‘she’s gone’, Icarus?” Aphrodite’s words caught in her throat, she was trying to think of circumstances in which ‘she’s gone’ wouldn’t sound as bad as it did, “Icarus?”

He pointed at the screen, “The GPS. Signal gone. Obliterated.”

Aphrodite breathed a sigh of relief, but the uneasy feeling hadn’t ceased, “Well, the GPS must have broken, Icarus. Nothing more.” She said soothingly.

“She won’t answer her phone. The tracking in that’s gone too.” Icarus said, “The satellite may be down, but it’s unlikely.” He was shaking by this point, “Can we go and search, it would make me feel better.”

Aphrodite shrugged, “Okay. Okay, we’ll go. I’ll get Hypnos, he should come too.”

“He won’t be any help.” Icarus says, and Aphrodite hears a strange edge to his voice, not mocking but similar, and certainly not normal for Icarus.

Aphrodite scowled at his attitude, “But he deserves to know, Icarus. He’s our friend, and we owe it to him.”

He sighs, and his shoulders drop. He looks so tired, so broken, barely the person he usually was. Aphrodite sat on the arm of the chair, “Sorry, Affie. I didn’t mean that, it’s just.” He trails off with another sigh.

“It’s okay, I understand.” She got up and knocked on the door of Hypnos’ room.

Hypnos’ room was about as grey as him. Pale and gaunt and in all ways a little depressed. Still, when she knocked on the door, he was awake, sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, poring over some search they were doing.

His normally straight hair was messy and flicked up in all directions, and he looked up from his hands when she entered the room. There were a few minimalist posters on the wall, mainly posters from around the wall, and though their colours were bright, it was as if Hypnos’ presence dulled them. Next the document he was reading was the newest photo album, and next to it a pile of postcard, ready to write on and slot in.

Aphrodite walked in and he leant back in his desk chair. “You’re not asleep.”

“No, I’m not. Very observant of you, Aphrodite.”

 She ignored his sarcasm, “So did you hear what’s going on?”

“Equally no. Do I want to know what’s going on?” He shrugged, and then raised an eyebrow as she struggled to answer.

“Chronos is missing. Both of her GPS trackers have disappeared, and her phone’s got no signal. Icarus says we should search, are you in?” She explained, trying not to sound as nervous as she was.

Hypnos looked back at the file on his desk, “Why the heck should I come? It’s nice to have your support Aph, but Icarus thinks I’m useless.”

“You heard that?” Aphrodite sat down, feeling incredibly sorry for him, because out of everything else, that was the part of the conversation he’d heard.

He cursed and stood up, suddenly, slamming his hands on the desk, “He said that?”

“I thought you heard it.”Aphrodite said softly.

Hypnos balled his fists, and he looked like he was about to hit something. “Apparently I’m just very intuitive.”

“He didn’t mean it, Hypnos.”

He sneered, “Yeah, he really didn’t mean it, that’s why he said it in the first place.”

“Your sarcasm is hilarious, Angelis.” She said dryly, calling him by surname.

He matched her tone. “So is yours, Kipadou.”

She got up and walked to the door before asking, “You going to come?”

“I think I’ll pass.” He shrugged and sat back down at the desk, “I need to finish this and sleep. I’m exhausted.”

Aphrodite wandered over and shrugged her coat on, watching as Icarus laced up his boots and donned a waterproof. Aphrodite was wearing her jumper and boots anyway, not that it was particularly cold, it was just storm season. The weather was getting progressively warmer, as the dates stretched towards July.

“She took the truck, so we’ll have to drive the jalopy.”

“I hate that word.” Aphrodite squirmed, it was one of the words that made her cringe, just the sound of it.

Icarus smiled, fake, at her reaction, “What do you call it?”

“I generally use ‘that piece of junk that sits in our yard and decays by the day’” Aphrodite scowled at the rusted car, “Does it still drive?”

“Of course it drives. Unless you want to walk.” Icarus replied, patting the hood of the car, and then brushed the rust off on his jeans.

“I thought you might fly me there.” She said, somewhat sincere.

He replied logically. “Not when there’s a supercell around, I wasn’t planning on it.”

She tried to think of so something else to say, but failed. She submissively sat in the passenger seat, watching as the clouds overhead began to retreat, and she worried further. It didn’t seem normal, but then she debated whether anything in her life had been normal since she joined the Olympus project.

The desert around them looked the same as ever, except for the dusk stirred up in the air. It had been just over an hour since Icarus had last heard from Chronos, and the storm had disappeared almost entirely.

“I’m going to get a bird eye view, alright?” He said, not really asking for her to accept it, more like a warning that he was about to take off.

Icarus stared up into the pale, silvery-blue sky, then felt the air begin to swirl around his feet, lifting him up into the sky. Aphrodite watched, admiring his talents in the same way that he admired hers. The ability to see a world the way nobody else could, the way he could look so elegant in the air, like a statue brought to life.

It was Hypnos, however, whose powers were underestimated. Having powers over the realm of sleep seemed insignificant when it was compared with love or time. She’d always made sure not to exclude him, because she wasn’t sure that the others always realised that they were doing it.

There was nothing. They were at the right coordinates, she was sure of it. There was nothing, nothing for miles around, and that’s when she gave up. At the moment Icarus landed, sadly, and declared that he’d seen nothing.

“That’s it. That’s it, Icarus, she’s gone.”

“I know. The sooner we find our Melinoe, Goddess of Ghosts, the better.” He looked up at the sky again, searching the vast atmosphere for hints of clouds, anything that could give him some hope o cling to. Anything, even a flying pig, would’ve given him hope right then.

Aphrodite felt tears running down her cheeks, Icarus tried to comfort her, but she pushed him, back, “No, don’t try to fix this. You always try to fix it, but what if it’s unfixable? Just face facts, Carmek. She’s well and truly gone, and we can’t do a goddamn thing.”

 

 

Author's Note

Does the first scene work?