The Necklace of Goddess Athena by Effrosyni Moschoudi

Author:Effrosyni Moschoudi
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2014-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

It was the last Sunday of June, two weeks after the wand had responded to the word ‘Sounio’.

Everyone except Phevos had suggested visiting the Temple of Poseidon, but Phevos said it made sense to try to find his mother first. In the old address book that Ksenia had found in Pallada, the word ‘Sounio’ was scribbled out and replaced by ‘Anavyssos’ to indicate she had moved there at some point.

It had proved difficult for Phevos to convince the others to plan a visit to Anavyssos instead, but his arguments won them over in the end. If Poseidon was their God-Protector, then his temple in Sounio should be their last point of visit, with his mother present as well. Furthermore, Phevos believed they should only go there after a sign that would suggest the right time had come. To him, the glow in the wand in response to the word ‘Sounio’ was not a sign from Poseidon they should go there, but simply a confirmation of his identity.

By now, everyone trusted Phevos’s instinct and unwavering faith. He was the one who had worn the necklace of Goddess Athena and was now the keeper of Poseidon’s sacred wand. He had powers of prophecy through dreams and incredible insight. No one could have picked a better leader for any given quest.

And so, they were all now headed to Anavyssos, standing in a crammed bus they’d taken from Syntagma Square. Their trip had been delayed for a week due to a large number of guests in Pallada the Sunday before. It happened sometimes in high season. Both the girls had spent the day helping out Mrs. Sofia, cleaning rooms and checking-in new arrivals.

This delay meant they were now even more excited, despite being squashed against strangers, feeling hotter by the minute in the simmering heat. None of them had ever been to Anavyssos before. Ksenia had studied a map and calculated it would take at least an hour for them to get anywhere near their destination. They were still in the eastern suburbs of Athens, on the coast.

The bus cruised along the busy Poseidon Avenue passing by residential buildings, department stores and nightclubs. When they finally left the suburbs behind, they marveled at the quaint landscapes of outer, eastern Attica along a much quieter road. As they enjoyed generous sea views of deep blue under a cloudless summer sky, the bus carried on up and down the coastal highway, its engine making grunting noises.

Since leaving the outskirts of Athens behind, the vast majority of travelers had alighted, and all four of them were now seated across one row. Phevos was sitting with Ksenia on the left side and Daphne with Manos opposite. Daphne had opened her window fully as the windy road had made her queasy. The sun warmed her face, and the sea breeze caused a long strand of her auburn hair to do a mesmerizing dance before her half-closed eyes.

A young man was standing in the aisle, his eyes glued on her as he admired her beauty, but Daphne didn’t notice.

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