To Disturb the Harmony~Chapter 15

We ran back toward the train station as fast as we could. We had to be careful because ice still lingered on parts of the sidewalk, while the sun started to melt at least some of the snow that was around the city. I heard someone on the street mention a news report about a freak snow front moving around the east coast, but I didn’t pay it much attention.

“Come on you slow pokes!” Aisling yelled as she sprinted in front of us, while Nala poked her head out from her bag and meowed at us, as if to inspire us onward. I was keeping up ok, but it looked like Kimi was about to pass out or something as she took in deep breaths. “If we keep running at this speed, we should be there in about…two and a half minutes.”

“Just that long,” I said sarcastically, but it seemed to go right over her head.

“I know, we’re making good time,” she said as she spun around and started running backwards, watching us try and keep up. However before I could tell her to look out, she crashed into a tree and some built up snow on the branches fell onto her head. “Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.”

Kimi stopped for a second to see if she was fine, but I grabbed her hand and kept going without her.

“Hey, get back here!” Aisling yelled as she stamped her foot on the ground and started running after us shaking her fist the entire time. Kimi let out a little laugh and we made it to the train station. I looked at the large board of trains arriving and departing from the station, while a few had big red Delay lights blinking because of weather.

“Good, we haven’t missed it,” Kimi explained as she tried her hardest to take in air. Aisling entered right behind us, taking an extra lap in the revolving door, getting a few strange looks from the passersby.

“Alright, we better get going. Even with the delay, we only have a few minutes to spare,” I said and we headed for the platform. A conductor was checking tickets and we showed him ours. He looked them over real quick and ran them through some kind of scanner.

“Everything seems to be in order. Good thing that freak storm came through or you may not have made it. Have a safe trip,” he said as he handed us back our tickets and gave us a wink. We found some empty seats in the dining car and decided to grab an early lunch after that battle with the ice warriors.

“That was awesome how you burst those creatures into flames. How did you do it?” Aisling asked, her eyes wide waiting for an answer as she dug into a sandwich.

“Ya, what happened to you out there?” I asked her. I was more curious about what had happened to her at that moment when she grabbed the bow. It was like she was a completely different person that was about to go on a rampage, unlike the shy quiet girl I knew up to now.

“I’m not sure,” she said awkwardly. All the attention focused on her seemed to be a bit upsetting, but it didn’t help that Aisling slid a bit closer to her until she was almost in Kimi’s lap, wanting an answer. “It was like that bow pulled something from inside me and poured it into the bow as an arrow.”

While it was a simplistic explanation, as most demigods drew power from within them, I wondered what would happen if a demigods power ever went out of control. She attacked those ice monsters as if she had a personal vendetta against them and in those few moments, Kimi kind of scared me. My train of thought was interrupted by the voice on the intercom.

“Hello passengers, thank you for using Shining Light Railways. We are currently on route for Memphis, Tennessee and should be there on schedule. Please enjoy the ride,” and just like that there was a blip of static and the radio cut out.

“That isn’t right,” Aisling said as she looked at the speaker system, as if waiting for the voice to come back and tell them something different. “Our train doesn’t go to Memphis, at least it isn’t supposed to.”

“Did we get on the wrong train?” I asked her, hoping that we didn’t.

“That’s impossible, the conductor checked our tickets before we got on the train and said everything was in order,” she said as the gears continued to turn in her head.

“And everything is in order,” said a man that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He was a young guy, maybe in his mid twenties and he had a pair of sun glasses on that hid his eyes. He had some clothes on that would be cool, but they looked hopelessly outdated to even be considered retro. Parachute pants and some kind of bright neon long sleeve shirt, as well as a piano tie. However, even with all these outdated clothes, he still had some kind of music player as he had a pair of earphones in his ears and I wondered if he could hear us if we responded.

“But we are on the wrong train!” Aisling protested, somewhat missing the fact that we had just speared.

“What? Oh sorry, give me a second,” the man said as he pulled the two ear pieces from his head and placed them in his breast pocket. “Couldn’t hear you there, I do love music.”

“You’re Apollo,” Kimi said as she looked on in shock as the god just sat there, as if getting ready to be praised. However, when the praise seemed to be on hold, he seemed to grow a bit impatient.

“Please, don’t be shy. I now I’m awesome so please feel honored to tell me so,” he encouraged, but we just looked at him a bit annoyed.

“Why did you make us get on the wrong train?” Aisling half asked, half shouted and the god put his hands in front of himself, a bit defensively as if showing he came in peace.

“Listen, as the god of prophecy I can see into the future, but that sometimes leaves me blinded to the present. Someone in Memphis has stolen one of the most important items ever made, or they are about too. I’m not really sure, time tends to get away from me sometimes…” Apollo trailed off.

“You’re clothes are proof of that,” I remarked under my breath.

“Hey these are at the top of the fashion ladder right now,” he said with a smile as he gestured to himself. “But back to the matter at hand. The sun is about to go down and I will no longer be able to watch over this item. If you help, I’ll provide you with some help on your quest. What do you say?”