LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 03 – The Cherinians on Mt Olympos

^{“I dare you. If you or your friend win I offer you a week, all expenses paid, anywhere in Greece.” Alki offered.}

^{Mt. Mykitas-Olympos}

Picnic where the gods live

I asked the girls whether they would enjoy a picnic on Mt Olympus. The list of kids grew as the children of Tasso were invited and then those of Socrati and Lua. The next thing I knew the craggy mountain peak was going to be covered by Cherinians. This is a first for the three aliens, plus all the Gillians, being on an Earth mountain of this height, and they enjoyed being taught the mythologies of the ancient Greeks.

There was food to feed any army, drinks to satisfy all, even fresh milk for my Gilli and her parents. We arrived there at about ten in the morning and I think the grownups were a little shocked when the kids all decided to tan evenly and ran around in the nude.

It was not something I could do, but I loved watching them – I know, this does seem to be a departure from my usual prudish small-mindedness, but with all the kids doing as my girls, I could not allow myself to be so petty. Because nobody was self-conscious, among the kids, and none of the adults were emoting any prurient feelings, I let myself go and enjoyed watching them have fun. They made it look as if the days of ancient Greece have returned and they are the children of Zeus.

As we doled out food on paper plates, two young men appeared. All the kids instantly dressed, using their gifts for speed.

The newcomers stared at us, their elation at having reached the summit made to seem silly by the sight of so many of us. When they saw even five year old kids, it deflated them. The one was scowling.

“How did you get all this up here?”

“We used a helicopter. I imagine after that climb you must be thirsty. Come and join us.” Socrati genially offered.

“We did not hear a helicopter.” His eyes were suspicious.

“You must have been on the wrong side of the mountain. You are British?”

The other chap, obviously far more friendly and easygoing replied. “Yes, I am. We wanted to tell our friends we have stood where the ancient gods lived. We will have to tell them that the children of the gods still live here and they won’t believe us.”

He has ‘laughing’ eyes and the kids all took to him. They made him sit with them and he soon had them playing games while he used little conjuring tricks to tease them, pulling coins out of their ears and other easy magic tricks. The surly one sat with us for a while.

“How did you get the children up here?”

“They climbed. They are all tough little blighters, don’t let their frail looks deceive you,” my father replied.

“I can’t believe it.”

“I’ll give you a challenge.” I replied. I pointed. “That steep slope you just climbed. Choose the weakest of them and have a race with them, starting from halfway, or higher if you choose, and coming all the way to us.”

“That would take well over an hour for an adult to climb. They could not do it.”

“I dare you. If you or your friend win I offer you a week, all expenses paid, anywhere in Greece.” Alki offered.

The two of them were obviously students, travelling with backpacks and the offer too tempting and easy to win for him to refuse. He called his friend Andrew and explained. Andrew laughed, delighted.

“You do it Carl. You are fitter than me. I’ll sit here and cheer you on. Just be careful, they might beat you,” he added laughing. He turned to us. “Carl is actually from Iceland and does a lot of climbing.”

“Choose the girls you think are the weakest.”

He would not and chose Aganthi, Claude, Klo and Tina who appeared to be the eldest. I added Candy to their list.

“But she is too small!”

“You have to be beaten by all of them or else you win Carl. Off you go now.” Alki was obviously amused and this irritated Carl. Not out of kindness, but as a way of showing his contempt he turned to Candy.

“Come, I’ll carry you down. It is too dangerous for you.”

“No thank you.” Having been polite, she began to run downhill. She scared me and I reminded the protector to watch over them.

“Alki, do you really think they can beat him?”

“No. I thought it could be a good way to test the girls without one of us having to do the hard work. Those born to us should come very close. What made you include Candy?”

“She wanted to go.”

I think Carl was very upset to find he was the last one to get to their starting point. Being normal he had to climb down carefully, while the girls just ran down, knowing their feet will land firmly.

In the beginning he led the way. Three quarters up the hill they caught up with him. I think he could have wept when Candy passed him twenty metres from the top. What must have been even more humiliating was that he was panting while the girls were still fresh.

“They are not normal girls.” Andrew remarked, his eyes serious now.

“No, they are not. They have been trained from birth.”

The girls pulled at his hand and he walked off with them. Carl gathered his things, called to his friend and then left, climbing back down. Andrew wanted to tell the girls about the gods, but they told him all they know and he was amazed. Tina, looking wilder than ever, her gypsy-like hair unruly, her mind emoting mischievous intent, spoke.

“Did you know that at certain times, if you look carefully, you can actually see the home of the gods? It is nearly time now.”

The girls taking their cue from her all faced in the same direction, so Andrew joined them, a smile on his lips. The air began to shimmer and in the haze columns of white marble could be seen. For a second it seemed to become clearer and the building could be seen and then it vanished. Andrew stood there stunned, unable to believe it, while the girls acted as if nothing special had happened. Cherine came over to us.

“Robert. He should be a Cherinian.”

“Your choice love, go for it.” She walked away, her back very straight, proud that she is to be allowed to handle the bringing of Andrew into our group. I called out to her, “Cherine, be careful of his friend. He must never tell him, that Carl is not a nice person.”

There was now great excitement among the children and they made way for Cherine to sit in front of Andrew. Not one adult spoke a word, all of us watching and listening through the kids, as the first ever Cherinian is brought in by only the young ones.