Chapter 25

Albany

I had decided to help Adele find these two goddesses that we were sending to Hell. I thought it would have been more interesting than sitting in the throne room waiting. So the two of us headed out into the immortal city to pick up hot goddesses.

"So, where does Iris and Khione live?" I asked.

"I don't even know if their on New Olympus." Adele admitted. "I didn't think I would have to go and find them. If I had known that, I would have picked people that I knew where to find them."

"Great." I said. "Well we can walk around pointlessly or ask somebody?"

Adele thought it over. "Hey you!"

"Lady Athena, Lady Aphrodite." The god bowed. I saw that this dude had two heads, but like merged into one. "I am Janus."

Adele pretended not to notice this man's very…unique…face. "Hello Janus. Can you help us find someone? Two someones to be exact."

"That depends on your choices." Janus said.

"I choose you." Adele said.

Janus smiled. "Very good choice."

"Thank you." Adele said gratefully. Janus remained silent after that.

"Are you going to help us or not?" I asked.

"That depends on your choices." Janus smiled as he repeated himself.

"I already made a choice." Adele said.

"I say we choose to walk away, this dude is weird." I muttered.

"You made a choice, but not the choice that will allow you to find your goddesses." Janus explained.

"What choice will help me find the goddesses?" Adele asked.

"You should choose to turn around and run that way." Janus said. "And you should choose to do that…now."

"What?" I asked confused, without hesitating Adele grabbed my hand and pulled me with her as she run in the direction that Janus had pointed. I didn't see how this was going to help us find Iris or Khione, and then it hit me. A woman had walked out of a doorway just as we were running past it and the three of us all fell to the ground together in one big tangle of goddess.

"Ladies, may I introduce Iris the goddess of the rainbow." Janus said helping the three of us to our feet.

After examining the cut on my elbow, I turned my eyes to Iris. For the goddess of the rainbow Iris was, not as colorful as I imagined. Iris was a tan woman with darkly rimmed coal black eyes. Her hair was the color of Nyx's skin as was the dress she wore.

"Aww, Lady Athena. Lady Aphrodite." Iris said bowing. "Forgive me for running into you."

"No, it's not your fault." Adele said brushing herself off. "We just made a bad choice." She glanced at Janus.

"Black looks good on you and all, but shouldn't you be more…rainbowy?" I asked looking her up and down.

"Shouldn't you be more worried that your little cut will ruin your looks?" Iris countered.

"No, I'm Albany not Aphrodite. I'm not that shallow." I said a little defensively.

"Well I'm Iris, not a teletubby. You should know that being a goddess of something doesn't make you that thing. You're Aphrodite, yet not Aphrodite. I'm rainbow, yet not rainbows."

"Oh, I can respect that." I said.

"Iris, excuse me. We might have a job for you if you're interested." Adele said. "It's kind of dangerous, but it needs to be done."

"Dangerous?" Iris said stroking her chin. "Good. I need to start doing dangerous things."

Adele was just as surprised as me by that sentence. "Why?" she asked.

"Because when people hear goddess of rainbows they assume I'm some cartoon character that frolics around kissing bunnies. I need to build up a better reputation." Iris explained.

I looked at Adele. "I think you're just what we need." I said smiling. Mars would get a kick out of this rainbow goddess.

"What, I still what to know what this job is." Iris said.

"That's the thing." Adele said. "Well, we need a spy to go to Hell for us." Iris didn't say anything, she just looked at us.

Janus whistled. "What a CHOICE." He muttered. "That's a tough decision."

"I'll do it." Iris said. "That will definitely make people respect the rainbow." She said.

"You're crazy." Janus said. He turned to me and Adele. "I believe there is a second goddess."

"Yes, Khione." Adele said.

"You're going to send Khione to Hell?" Iris asked. "She's the snow goddess, she won't help you."

"A few minutes ago I would have said the same thing about the rainbow goddess." I muttered.

"Touché love goddess." Iris whispered. "Touché."

"What choice will let me find Khione?" Adele asked the god of choices.

"Many choices will do just that." Janus said. "That all depends on what you choose to do."

"Maybe we should send him to Hell." I suggested. "He can annoy the death right out of Hades."

"That is a choice I will not be making." Janus said. "I make it a personal priority to not go to Hell. That's just me though." He added looking at Iris with his left face. "We all make different choices."

"Janus, you need to make a choice right now." Adele said smiling. "Take me to Khione, or Albany and I will choose to send you to Hell."

"Nice." I muttered giving her a high five.

Janus sighed. "Very well. Go put on some warm clothes. Khione likes the cold, and penguins."

"Am I coming too?" Iris asked.

"That depends on your choices." I said mocking Janus. "What do you choose?"

"I'll go get my coat." Iris said waiting back into her house. Being Olympian goddess and all, me and Adele just snapped our fingers and had thick winter coats appear on us. Be amazed.

Once we were all better dressed for visiting the snow goddess, Janus said. "Alright, Iris, I need you to make a rainbow from here to Antarctica."

"Make a rainbow?" I asked confused "How will that help?"

"I always pictured the snow goddess being on the North Pole. Seeing as her father is the north wind and all." Adele said quietly.

"Yes, well Khione used to be up there. Then she discovered the penguin." Janus explained. "And she made a choice."

"She really likes penguins that much?" Adele asked.

"You can hug a penguin." Janus said. "But not a polar bear. It was an easy choice for Khione."

"I still don't get the rainbow making." I insisted. "What's up with that?"

"You ever heard of a rainbow bridge?" Iris asked.

"No."

"Here's an example." Iris said pointed. Suddenly there was a rainbow in front of me. There rainbow gently arced up into the sky until it disappeared behind some clouds. "Come on." Iris said walking up the rainbow.

"No way." I muttered. Since becoming Aphrodite, I had seen some things, but this was the most mindboggling. I followed the others as we ascended the rainbow. "So glad I chose to come with you Adele."

"Yeah." Adele muttered. She glanced over the edge of our colorful bridge and edged back to the middle. "I don't like that its see-through." She muttered.

"Are we going to walk all the way to Antarctica?" I asked. That would be one long rainbow.

"Technically." Iris muttered. "But it won't feel like we are."

"How so?" I asked. Her answer better not be that time flies when you're having fun.

"Rainbow miles are different than normal miles." Iris explained. "One rainbow mile is like five times around the Earth. See, look down. We started walking seconds ago and we're already over Brazil. Welcome to Rio de Janeiro." Iris spread her arms and smiled warmly.

"What?" I looked down and sure enough, we were above Rio. I just see that huge statue of Jesus, the Cristo Redentor standing guard over the city. "Cool." I muttered. I turned around and walked a few steps back. "Adele, look! I'm over Cuba." In just five steps I had gone from Brazil to the Caribbean.

"I don't want to look." Adele whispered. "If I look, then I'll realize how high we are."

"This is awesome." I shouted to Iris. "Why are rainbow miles so big?"

"I don't make the rules kid." Iris muttered. "But it makes it super easy to move around. How do you think Hermes delivers all his messages so fast?"

"Herman doesn't deliver any messages. That guy just sits around and checks me out." I complained.

"Hey guys?" Adele asked. "Can we just walk the rest of the way to the South Pole. I'm sure it's like only seven steps, but I need ground under my feet."

"Sure, right this way Lady Athena." Iris muttered. "It's three steps by the way." We walked the rest of the way and soon found ourselves in a winter not wonderland.

Antarctica was super cold. I mean, I stepped off that rainbow and my lungs instantly felt frozen from the icy air. It was hard just to see. The world was so bright and white, with nothing else in it. Then, from behind a huge snow drift, a herd of penguins waddled into my vision.

There are certain animals that you just can't help but saying "Aww." when you see them. Cute little waddling penguins are one such animal.

"Aww! Look at them." Adele squealed, her fear evaporating now that we were back on land.

"You guys ever seen March of the Penguins?" Janus asked.

"No, why?" I asked.

"Good choice." He said. "Watching a seal kill penguins…it changes a man." Janus whispered. He closed his four eyes and shivered, but not from the cold.

"I see penguins and snow, but no snow goddess." Iris said petting a nearby penguin.

"Did you ask for a snow goddess?" with a loud pop a girl appeared in the snow. I'm assuming she was Khione because, well…the girl was wearing a long, thick, white cloak with a black snowflake drawn one it. Her long white hair was flapping in the icy wind and her eyes shone white like freshly fallen snow.

"Are you Khione?" I asked. The girl looked pretty young, but that didn't mean anything. Gaia was millions of billions of years ago, but she only looked twenty. Khione could have a similar situation going. Looking like a teenager, but being super old.

"Yep!" She shouted. "Don't you just love penguins?" she asked as she belly-slid down a snow drift along with her penguin companions.

"You want to send this one to Hell?" Iris whispered to me.

"Yeah penguins are the world's cutest animals." Adele agreed.

"That is your choice, I do not share it." Janus muttered. "Kittens are the cutest thing alive."

"You know, after you turned out to be the rainbow goddess version of Rambo, I had hope that Khione would be just as…willing to earn a new reputation." I admitted to Iris. "I have now lost my hope."

Iris nodded. "You can't send her to Hell. It'd be a crime against nature."

"You guys want to make snow angels?" Khione asked brushing the snow off of her. "It'll be super fun."

"I'm good." I muttered. Gaia was older than she appeared. Khione was younger than she appeared. I swear this girl was younger than Demi.

"Khione we need to ask you something." Adele said taking the younger girl's hands. "I need to know if you're willing to do something very dangerous for me."

"She's a little girl." I whispered to Adele, as if she couldn't see for herself. "She can't go to Hell."

"You haven't met very many little girls." Janus muttered. "Little girls often make the worse choices. I swear."

"What is it?" Khione asked. "What do you want me to do?"

"Will you go with Iris here to spy on a friend of mine?" Adele said in her best friendly voice. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Iris?" Khione muttered staring up at the rainbow goddess. "I remember you! Rainbows!"

"Yeah, that's why I want to do this job for you." Iris muttered. "That's how everyone knows me. Rainbow!" she said with fake enthusiasm. "You wanna go play with rainbows and penguins in Hell kid?"

"Sure." Khione muttered. "I'll do it."

"Wait!" I shouted. "I'm not sure that I want her to do this."

Adele straightened up and let go of Khione's hands. "She didn't even make me beg. Some goddess of wisdom I am, I totally expected that I'd have to beg."

"Khione, why do you choose this?" Janus asked.

"Well you see, one of my favorite penguins died recently. It was very sad, I cried for days. The whole herd's just not the same without him. So I think that I will go down to H-E-double hockey sticks and bring my friend back. Maybe I can do that thing for you while I'm down there."

I'll admit it. I face palmed. "So we got one goddess that wants to prove that rainbows are tough and another that wants to rescue her penguin?"

"At least they volunteered." Adele said they she leaned in close and whispered just so I could hear. "I feel bad saying this, but it's not like we'll miss them much if Blade does attack. They don't seem to be that powerful of warriors."

"That's true. But by extension don't we want a strong warrior, that way they come back alive?" I pointed out. "I mean they'll need to defend themselves."

"Look at them. I mean I can see Iris starting a fight, but who would attack Khione. She's a little girl." Adele said.

"Who would spit in the face of all powerful Lord Zeus?" I said making a point. "There's no telling what Blade will or won't do."

Adele pursed her lips. "Maybe you're right. Should we send Janus instead? He can give Blade a lecture on the weight of our choices."

I thought it over. "Was that a joke?"

"You coming or what?" Iris shouted. "It's cold and we have a whole hemisphere to walking across."

"Rainbow!" Khione shouted as she penguin slid over the rainbow.

"Ah, the choices we make." Janus muttered as he too walked across the rainbow.